War of the Gods: Creatures and Critters

A small drip of water continuously tapped my forehead until I eventually woke up. I found myself in a very dark and barren stone cell. The walls were damp, and the floors were slippery. There were no windows either, excluding the extremely small eyehole placed on the door to the cell. The only light and warmth available were coming from a little red flame dimly lit above the door. As I inched closer to the light, and began to smell a putrid odor coming from just outside the cell. It was worse than rotting flesh, but at least it wasn’t sulfur. This guaranteed me the fact that I was not in the underworld. However, it still did raise the question, “Where am I?” The moment the words left my mouth, I was filled with regret. A deathly roar suffocated the damp air. Moments later, the flame above the door flickered green in a flash. The door slowly began to unlock itself, swinging open into the hall. I peeked around the corner, praying that I would see an exit of some sort. Instead, I found a long and narrow hallway filled with more cells and walls covered in blood. It was as if, in place of water, like in my cell, the hallway was instead dripping blood. I quickly decided to start walking down the hall, gagging each time my bare foot hit the blood-soaked floor. The putrid smell seemed to be getting better, but it was hard to tell as the rancid smell lingered in my nose. Screams, accompanied by a similar roar from before, began to pierce my ears. They echoed through the hall and seemingly got louder and louder with every passing moment. Suddenly, a blood-curdling cry leapt out of a man’s throat, “What in the gods are you?” It sounded close, too close for comfort. I began moving down the hall even faster, trying my best to ignore the drops of blood dripping on my face. I rounded a sharp corner, still hoping the exit was just at an arm’s distance. Amid the fear and confusion of where I was, I found myself halting to a grinding stop. A man was lying in the center of a large cave-like area, gurgling on his blood as he gasped for his final breath. Crouched in front of him was a beast half obscured in the shadows. The thing appeared to be gigantic, as it covered the dead man’s legs completely just by squatting over him. An eerie droplet of blood hit the floor, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. Then suddenly, as if the hairy monster realized another person’s presence, it quickly stood up. Blood started pouring down its body, sprinkling on top of the corpse underneath him. With the man now fully visible, I noticed the monster was eating from the man’s stomach. The beast slowly turned its body and head to look in my direction, and the grueling sight petrified me to the core. The beast was easily over seven feet tall and was as muscular as a bull. Its head had a snout and sharp horns poking out of it. Its body seemed human up until I saw its hooves for feet and noticed the fur covering all of its body. As the beast met my eyes, it huffed hot steam from its nostrils. Just moments before it began to charge towards me, another man rounded the corner. He quickly decided to shove me out of the way into a nearby pool of blood. I scrambled to get up, but the blood held me down like a slimy yet sticky weight. I looked up to find the man who shoved me was being torn in half. His legs were thrown at me, and his torso dangled just in front of the beast as it began to eat his innards. I freed myself from my gooey prison and sprinted past the beast. Luckily, it was so engulfed by its meal that it didn’t notice me running past. I took turn after turn, as I began to slowly realize I was lost in a maze with a gigantic, blood-thirsty beast. Soon after this realizaAon, I heard what sounded like machinery clanking in the distance. Then suddenly, the hallway I was in began spinning, changing its pathway completely. I continued running forward, even though I wasn’t sure where this new path would take me. After about the fourth or fifth turn, I started to hear loud thumps of the monster’s hooves chasing behind me yet again. As I began losing hope of escape, I started seeing a bright blue light illuminate the hall in front of me. I bolted straight for it, disregarding any hint of danger that may lie in wait. Anything would have to be better than the c*****e that was chasing me through the bloodied maze. As I got near the light the air became denser, and as I turned the last corner, I found an odd sight. A mysterious yet familiar older man with greying hair was standing in the center of the room. The bloody floor and walls were startlingly clean, and as I fully entered the room, I became instantaneously clean as well. “You’ve traveled far for such a callow king,” the man wisely said. As I began to look closer, I noticed he was holding a brilliant golden trident. With a closer look, I saw a jewel in the center of the head of his weapon glowing the bright blue light I had seen before. The man chuckled “I suppose you need a weapon to face the creature you made me create?” “Yea, I need a weapon, but I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” I responded, slowly realizing who was in front of me, “Uncle.” A blinding light illuminated the man, and he turned around, ignoring me and facing the light, “This began with your greed, don’t you remember?” he started, “Yet, I never foresaw the cruelty of your little tinkerer surpassing that of my own. What he’s built is beyond thought. I am sorely tempted to deliver the boys form unto you, for his very existence is filled with the torment and sufferring you deserve.” The light grew brighter, completely engulfing the room in a white light. As I tried to understand what Poseidon was speaking of, I became even more confused. Was he truly saying he created this creature due to my greed? To my understanding, I was a fair and just ruler, giving my subjects any and everything they ever needed. I continued contemplating his words in my mind until the man and light suddenly vanished in a blinding flash. When I regained my sight, I noticed the room was back to its bloodied self, except for the center of the room. There, lying on its side, was a golden sword, just as pure in beauty as the trident the god had held in his hands was. I hobbled over to the sword and bent down to pick it up. I winced in pain as I grabbed the sword. I hadn’t noticed until now, but my ankle was swollen and radiating sharp pains through my leg with each step. The monster bellowed a horrendous roar as it entered the cavern and saw me. My back straightened instantly, and goosebumps began to form across my body. The blood began to pool back into the center of the room now that the sword was no longer there, and I began to turn around to face the foul thing, with my hands trembling around the sword’s hilt. The beast began charging at me, with its head faced down, and its jagged horns pointed at me. I very nearly dodged them, but not its gigantic arms. His hand covered my entire face as he continued his charge towards the wall. My head smashed into the wall, adding my blood to the millions of others drenched in it. I immediately blacked out as my body crumpled to the floor, covering the glow of the golden sword.