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B2 Chapter 1: Aboard the Argo
🕑 Added 2023-05-17 12:20:22 +0000 UTCAN: I made some minor changes to the last two chapters. Fixed the math error on his status. Removed the quest from the end of the last chapter. In chapter 69 Luke now stays consicous long enough to hear Zeus say that he's taking Arke to Olympus for questioning. Enjoy!
Jason led them through the halls of the Argo to Rex’s quarters in the stables. After some casual questioning about the location of his boots, Heracles had divulged that he was the one that had made off with their artifacts. Considering that he was a part of their party, and Lukeus’s brother on top of that, none of the Argonauts had found a reason to deny him.
Luke wished that they had. He wanted nothing more than to not worry about anything, and just play around with the new aspects of his powers and find his limits. See how fast he could fly and how much he could lift.
The universe, it seemed, wasn’t that kind.
Glancing at Lukeus’s face, Luke found him entirely unconcerned about his own missing belongings. It made sense, he realized. The emperor’s grandson was unlikely to own anything that was truly hard for him to replace, and the one that had taken his things was his brother.
He carefully schooled his own expression in response. While he was both concerned and curious about why Rex had taken his stuff, he didn’t want to let on that not all of his belongings were anything more than what they appeared to be.
The boots are awesome, but strictly speaking, I don’t really need them any more. The sword and ring Cyzicus gave me are also nice, but the ring was a Warrior-tier artifact meant to help mortals develop their Arcana. I doubt it’s even useful to me anymore, if it still works. That was a lot of pressure I put it under, and it did get really hot. The sword, while cool and probably pretty valuable for the average person, is also something I can live without while also being something that I can replace.
Bellerophon’s Blade though… that’s an entirely different matter. As far as I know, it’s unique, and cultivating with it is magnitudes easier than without. Maybe some gods have similar stuff that they hand out to their kids or something, but unless Prometheus gets himself free, I doubt I’ll get similar treatment.
He suppressed a wince as he remembered the progenitor of his bloodline. Having a divine ancestry was bound to be useful, and figuring out what his bloodline did and how it worked nearly had him salivating. It was the fact that Prometheus both looked insane, and admitted to it that made him nervous. Added to the fact that apparently their bloodline connected them somehow, was nerve racking. Just remembering the vision, and the Titan’s pitifully gross form, strange blue eyes, and his bloody stomach, nearly made him wretch.
Added to that, it wasn’t long ago that Luke had witnessed Jax be killed because his family had some way to track him. To learn that there was something like that may be in the cards for him was… disconcerting.
I’ll definitely need to look into that. The Blood Compasses are supposed to be rare, so there's a chance that I’m worrying about nothing. Besides, even if one does exist, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Prometheus has any ill intentions. He’s definitely not well, but at the same time… would he harm his family?
He discarded that train of thought. For the moment at least, it wasn’t an issue. He was still imprisoned, hopefully, somewhere far, far away, and for a long time. If he ever did escape, Luke decided, he would worry about it then.
Besides, if nothing else, the Seed has proven to be somewhat reliable in getting out of these situations. Nefkha and Arke are proof of that. If there is something that will let Prometheus track me, there might also be something that will hide me from him. Once I get a quest telling me to do so, is when I’ll really need to be worried.
“Rex is through there.” Jason said standing beside a large brass door, he pried it open so that he was standing beside it. “I’ll wait here.”
“Is Nutbutter in there too?” Lukeus asked eagerly.
“He is.” He nodded, looking at the two of them with pity. “Good luck with that dreadglare. It was hard to even convince everyone to let him on board it. They all think your brother is insane. Heracles was adamant about not leaving him behind though, and he wouldn’t come unless we also let his pet demon aboard.”
Lukeus frowned in confusion. “Since whe– shit.” He crossed his arms and turned to Luke. “Why didn’t you tell me he hatched it?”
“I forgot.” Luke shuddered slightly at the memory as he stared at the open door. “It did look like it was tamed, so there's that.” Luke cupped the back of his neck, suddenly feeling chills running down his spine at the horror that awaited them past the door. “I think he was using it to fly when he shot Zeus.”
Jason broke into a coughing fit. “Wait a minute… Rex shot Lord Zeus?”
“The arrow bounced off of him.” Luke clarified.
“How?” He sputtered. The mere idea of a mortal firing an arrow at, not just a god, but the King of Gods himself, ludacris.
“Honestly,” Luke grinned, “I think Rex can do just about anything at this point.”
Someone who attempts to suckle the teat of a sheep, won’t ever be stopped by conventional limitations or sense. It’s probably wise not to try as well.
Lukeus sighed and shook his head. “Can I borrow a sword? I’m not going in there without one.”
“Me too.” Luke pitched in.
“Yeah.” Jason nodded. One of his gold earrings glowed a dim white, and two bronze blades appeared in front of the pair.
Luke snatched it out of the air, and felt its weight in his hands. It was heavy. Heavier even than his gold blades.
“They’re basic Warrior-tier blades. They won’t do anything special, but they cut admirably well, and have served me well. My teacher gave them to me when I awakened my mana. I want them back when you come out. I’m only giving them to you now because, well…” He nodded at the door.
“Thanks.” Luke nodded gratefully. His eye lingering on Jason’s earring. It was the first time he’d seen someone put one anywhere other than their fingers.
His thoughts drifted to Cyzicus’s vault, and all the treasures contained within, he wondered if the Emperor had any of the rings lying around. So far every warrior he had seen possessed one, to the point that he would find it weirder to meet one that didn’t
I wonder if I can convince him to give me one. I can finally have a reason to randomly have stuff that I should have no business having.
Alright. Focus. There’s a monster and an idiot inside that door, and they have my stuff. He gulped. His eyes meeting Lukeus’s, he tilted his head to the side, indicating for him to go first.
“Why me?”
“He’s your brother.”
His mouth opened and closed, as he tried to find some way out of it. Unfortunately for him, Luke wasn’t Nel. “Fine,” He said. Then squaring his shoulders he strode into the shadowy door with bravado. A moment later, Luke nodded to Jason, and followed him into the hallway on the other side.
His sword drawn, he preemptively activated the minor stage of the First Truth of Death. On the lookout for any surprises.
“Rex.” Lukeus called out. “Are you there?”
No one answered. Sharing a nervous glance, they traveled further down the wooden, dimly lit wooden corridor.
Eventually it widened, revealing rows upon rows of stables and cages. Most of them empty, but some filled with all manner of strange and not so strange mounts. Everything from lions and horses, to large birds and even a few hybridized animals.
Luke stopped and stared at a particularly odd one. A beaver with large and mesmerizing cobalt blue butterfly wings jutting out from its side, flapping slowly.
It hissed quietly at him, displaying rows upon rows of sharp canine teeth and climbing onto its hind legs in an attempt to make it look menacing.
“This one’s kind of cute.” Luke grinned, before stepping past the cage. He didn’t want to provoke the animal needlessly.
“Nutbutter!” Lukeus gasped, as he took off towards the back of the room, having spotted his giant pegasus’s frame and distinctive chestnut coat. His feet lifted off the air, and his body became parallel to the ground as he flew towards his steed as fast as he could.
“Careful.”
Luke tensed, tightening his grip on his sword as he followed behind him on foot. More out of caution, than to hide the fact that he too could fly or that he too had become a warrior. He knew that he didn’t want to hide his breakthrough, and that even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to.
“It looks like they gave him a healing potion.” Lukeus grinned, as he flew over the gate and next to his familiar. He stroked his hands through its fur, making the creature neigh softly.
“Is Rex in there?”
“No.” He shook his head,
Thought so. Luke sighed, briefly stopping in front of the pair before walking further in. That’s heartwarming, but not what I came here for.
The uncountable eyes of the dreadglare blinked at him nervously from a stable a few down from the pegasus, its hair like tendrils merging perfectly with the shadows, making them near impossible to see. It was… sitting, for a lack of a better term, pressed tightly against the corner of its stable.
His Skill whispered in the back of his head, telling him exactly what needed to be done to kill the thing– destroy each and every one of its eyes.
A single boot was laid on its side right in front of it, and Luke could see the blue tassel attached to his sword poking out from within its mass, alongside the handle to Lukeus’s own sword.
What the fuck! He resisted the urge to groan, and forced himself to look through the rest of the stable for any signs of a human. Where’s Rex? He gulped as the creature fidgeted. Taking that as his cue, he slowly stepped back and out of its sight. He did not want to go in there and try to pry his stuff loose. Not when there was literally any other option available. Nor did he think that Jason, the crew of the Argo, or even Rex himself, would take kindly to him chucking a dozen explosive talismans into the stable, and picking the remains of his belongings from its dead corpse.
He knew it would work too. Likely because it had just been hatched, but the dreadglare was quite frankly, a lot smaller than the one they had killed in the desert. Only the size of a horse, compared to the sprawling multistory monstrosity its parent had been.
“Lukeus,” he whispered, “I found the eye monster. It has our stuff, do you think I could get a little help?”
“Is Rex not with it?” He said, flying out of the stable, and touching down softly next to Luke.
“No.” Luke said, as the emperor’s grandson poked his head past the corner. He stepped back a moment later, his face pale.
“Well.” He drummed his hands on the side of his legs. “I think it’s pretty obvious what happened.”
“It is?”
“Yep. That thing ate Rex, and our weapons are a lost cause. I say we just forget about them, and let Heracles or Jason or whoever, deal with it. It’s not really my problem, they were stupid enough to let that thing on their ship, you know?” He said, beginning to march his way back out. “I’ll just take Nutbutter and fly back to the Capital, deliver the bad news, and you can just ride into town with them.”
“Nope.” Luke grabbed a fistfull of his robes, and yanked him back. “Your brother did this, and it's your job to fix it.”
“Is it really? I have a lot of family Luke, I don’t think its fair for you to hold me personally accountable for everything that they do. Frankly, that’s kind of unfair.”
“Is it?”
“It is.”
“Do you think I care?”
“Do you?”
Luke resisted the urge to yank his hair out and stab Lukeus. “Look, Rex isn’t dead, there’s no blood anywhere, and I really doubt that thing is a clean eater. Let’s just go find him. That stuff has a lot of sentimental value to me, and I’m not going without it. Okay?”
“Would you two keep it down?” A voice echoed out from behind them. A hatch, near flush and almost unnoticeable, opened up on the ground, and Rex climbed out of it, lethargically rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“No.” Luke said. “I want my stuff.”
Rex sighed. “Can’t you just let Blinky play with them a little longer?”
What? Luke stared at him incomprehensibly.
