Chapter 6: Praise Jeebus

Chapter 5

The catacombs of the Vault of the Gods was a bunch of rock. Seriously, just rocks. Weird, glowy rock. We walked for what seemed like miles, and still on track following the thief according to Steve.

So we walked. After what felt like a month, but was probably only about an hour we started to hear the noise. It was hard to identify at first, but after a few minutes we figured it out. Pick axes.

“Someone is digging through the walls?” Alex asked.

“That has got to be insane.” Steve replied.

“Maybe they want out.” I said. They looked at me.

“What? Stuck in here for Gods know how many years? I would want the hell out of here in whatever hair-brained scheme I could come up with to get out.”

“Good point.” They agreed. Then we came across one of the oddest sights I would ever see.

At first, they looked like chickens six really big chickens. Then I saw that their wings had hands or some sort of claw. They were wearing yellow helmets with flashlights attached to the top, lighting the piece of wall they were attacking. At last, I saw their faces. They were extremely ugly, and that was putting ugly at a disservice. As we got closer, they stopped attacking the wall and turned to look at us.

“What have we here sisters?” The biggest of the ugly chicken things said.

“I don’t know Jane, it appears to be three newcomers.” Replied another.

“Who are you children?” the one called Jane asked. Alex took the lead.

“We are demigods, sent here to follow a thief who stole the shield of Ares. Who are you, and why are you here in the vault?” She asked.

“We are the Spelunk sisters, Harpies who prefer the depths of the earth to the open skies. Odd, we know, but that’s how it is.” Jane responded.

“We learned from dwarfs how to dig” said one.

“And how to make tools!” said another.

“Joana, George, don’t bore these children with details. They are children of those who banished us here.” Jane said. She moved towards us. Alex drew her bat, Steve flipped out a couple of knives. I figured I should follow their example, I brought out Glacius as a shield and Ignus as a sword. Jane stopped. The second one moved forward.

“Let us make a deal children, you promise to not tell your parents about what we are doing, and we shall tell you a secret about this place.”

“Alexis, shut up!” Jane yelled. Alexis ignored her. Alex looked at Steve and I. Seemed simple enough.

“I swear that I will not tell my parents about your trying to dig out of here,” I said. I doubted I would meet my Godly parent any time soon, and my mortal parent probably wouldn’t care. The two unnamed harpies snickered at me. Alex and Steve repeated after me.

“Good enough,” Alexis said. “Roxan, Hanna, get back to work, same with you Joana and George. Jane, you can come with me.” She waddled towards us on her claws. When she an Jane got closer she started to speak again.

“We are the Spelunk sisters, Harpies who prefer the depths of caverns to the open air. For being such oddities Zeus, Lord of the Skies, banished us to the catacombs. The Magic of the Catacombs are what I will tell you about children.

“Since the Gods did not banish you here the magic will work based on your need. The stronger your need to find what your looking for, the sooner you shall find it. But it is not as easy as it sounds. The Catacombs shall give you three tests before you find what your looking for. The first test for you is most likely us, you could have killed us as you wished - we would have simply reformed in a different part of the tunnel system. The second and third tests will not be as simple. What they are, I cannot tell you, only the Catacombs know.” She finished.

“Be prepared, if you face the hunters, you will surely die, for they hate the children of Man with a passion. Man destroyed their home you see. Also, you will probably die if you face Jeebus. The catacombs may present you with more tests than three, for there are three of you, but you should receive no more than six challenges.” Jane concluded for her.

“Sounds straightforward enough.” Alex said. After that we left the Spelunk sisters to their digging and moved further on into the tunnels. Steve in front to lead us with the tracking spell, me in the middle because of ‘versatile weaponry that can respond to whatever situation,’ and Alex bringing up the rear, keeping an eye out in case hungry harpies came-a-callin.

We set up camp after what we approximated was three hours of uneventful travel. I pulled out the collapsible tent, which Alex took. Steve and I used sleeping bags, figured out the watch rotation and set to it. I had first watch, so I pulled out a sketchbook and let my hands do their thing, keeping an eye out for whatever could come after us and taking some glances at what my hands were doing. Apperantly I was drawing a hummer with notations and formula’s that, if I read them right, would make the American military quite jealous of this bad boy. Once my watch was up, I woke Alex to take her watch, and went to sleep in my sleeping bag.

My dreams totally sucked.

I saw a city on fire, old roman buildings being lit by happily dancing flames. I walked down the paths and saw people being burned alive, but completely ignoring the fact that they were burning. The went on with their lives as if nothing was out of the ordinary, cooking, cleaning, and doing other chores like this was any old normal night. Then I reached the center of the city.

In front of a tall, temple like building I saw a strange looking man. He wore a silk shirt, and pants, both in the color purple. Over that, a purple toga. Dude liked purple. In his hands he held a round shield. The shield was designed with images of battle, and in certain lighting seemed to glow red. It made me angry.

“No you don’t child. Last time you got near me, and got angry, you ruined my plans. I brought you here to talk to you. Stop following me. If you and those other Roman friends of yours continue to follow me, I will destroy you. I really do not want to waste the effort it would take to do that. So stop.” Said the purple toga man. Before I could respond a voice thundered across the dreams city.

“Leave the Child alone pretender. I may no longer be of my brethren, but I still have the power to stop you!”

Naturally, I freaked.

I tried to jump out of my sleeping bag. Let me tell you - it did not work. Instead I looked like a jumping bean till my Gladii burst from the cloth, destroying the bag and leaving me looking very confused and covered in cloth scraps. Standing in front of me was a strange man with white eyes and no eyebrows. In fact, he had no hair at all that I could see. He was wearing a simple white bathrobe.

“Hello child” the man in front of me said. It was repeated from at least thirty other voices from the surrounding cavern. Alex jumped at that. Not at my tearing the sleeping bag to shreds, at the man speaking.

“Where did you come from?” She asked, drawing her sword.

“Hm? Oh, me, or them? No matter. We came from everywhere, and no where. We...or should I say I...or should it be he is...anyways. One of us, is Jeebus.”

Chapter 7