Damon straightened up, wiping away his already dirty coat. A pain shot through his side.
Viktor watched Damon warily as he rose to his feet. A crowd had begun to gather at the source of the noise. Lady X and the rest of the rebels had vanished into thin air.
"You let her go?" Damon whispered, his knuckles tightening.
"Yes," Viktor's eyebrows arched, "you were trying to kill her. I shall not allow it."
Damon's hair began to turn into black spikes, shadows curling over him all the way to his fingertips.
Viktor threw his cigarette butt on the ground, stamping the lights out. He turned to face Damon. He smiled widely as flames erupted all over him in a blaze.
The crowd grew larger as they whispered excitedly, giving the two demigods a wide berth. There was a feverish excitement among the crowd.
Damon moved.
He dove straight towards Viktor, who prepared himself for impact as he raised his hands up in defense.
"You clueless fool!" Damon seethed. "What made you think…"
Both of them barely had time to react. They merely glimpsed whatever it was.
Masked. Hooded. It had no eyes, just a gaping hole.
Damon briefly felt the hit before he began to lose consciousness.
He groaned. Not again.
Darkness fell over him as memories began stirring.
*******
The council chamber reeked of incense and oil.
Twelve-year-old Damon Fallenstar stood before the elders. His face was devoid of emotion, even as his stepmother's anguished screams echoed against the walls.
"Murderer!" she shrieked, her face contorted with grief. The crowd murmured loudly, their displeasure clear.
She lunged at him, her fingers curled like talons. Two guards restrained her, though their expressions suggested they'd rather let her tear the boy apart.
"You killed my son! My beautiful boy!"
Damon barely flinched. His gaze remained fixed on the polished stone floor. The council members watched from their elevated seats, five ancient men with their expressions unreadable beneath heavy ceremonial headdresses.
A figure who just entered the room shuffled into Damon's peripheral vision.
Anti, the boy with a pronounced limp and eyes that glittered with malice. He bowed slightly to the assembled elders before joining the other clan members who filled the room.
One of the elders cleared his throat to signal silence.
"Damon Fallenstar, you stand accused of fratricide. The blood of your step-brother cries out for justice."
A second elder leaned forward. "Our laws are clear. Life and death must exist in their sacred balance."
"Your punishment is decided," said the third, his voice like gravel. "You will bear your brother's remains upon your back, up the Tatylus mountain and back. A three-day journey."
The fourth elder gestured to a decaying bundle wrapped in linen strips in the corner. Damon's stomach churned at the sight of it.
"Your brother begins to return to the earth. His decay will be your burden. His death is your shame. Should you fail to return, our hunters will retrieve both your bodies."
Damon was escorted out of the chamber, the corpse tightly bound behind him.
Anti volunteered to escort Damon out of Olympus.
"With any luck, I'll never see your face again," Anti murmured as Damon began to ascend the mountain.
The weight of the corpse was substantial. The wrappings did little to mask the smell of early decay. Village children watched from a distance, their expressions mixed with fear and disgust as he began his journey toward the looming mountains.
The hair behind his neck rose as he felt something following him.
********
By the second day, Damon had made it up without a hitch to pray for the dead and cleanse himself. It was on the return journey that the mountain's cruelty began to reveal itself.
The biting cold penetrated Damon's threadbare cloak, and the burden on his back had become a nauseating stench.
The linen wrappings had begun to darken with seeping fluids.
"Even in death, you still find ways to make my life difficult," Damon muttered to the corpse, his sanity ebbing away slowly.
Night fell quickly in the mountains. Damon had just settled beside a meager fire when the howls began. Sharp, hungry sounds carried on the wind.
He reached for a fallen branch, quickly sharpening one end against a stone.
Yellow eyes suddenly appeared at the edge of the firelight. Three wolves…no five…seven?
"Come then," Damon whispered. He rose to his feet, grabbing his makeshift weapon. "I bet my stepbrother wouldn't mind pets in the afterlife."
The first wolf lunged from the shadows. Damon pivoted, driving the spear into its flank.
It yelped and jumped backwards, but didn't retreat. Another circled behind him, snapping at his ankles.
Damon fought like a maniac. Years of his father's brutal training etched into him.
Three wolves were already dead before the Alpha decided to emerge. A massive beast with a scarred muzzle and eyes that reflected intelligence beyond hunger.
He stared at Damon for a minute.
It suddenly to stalk forward, unafraid of the bloodied spear in Damon's hands.
Damon braced himself, knowing his strength was fading.
The Alpha charged.
Damon thrust, but his arms had grown tired. The wolf's jaws clamped around his forearm. Pain exploded through his limb as they both crashed to the ground.
Damon's life briefly flashed before his eyes before something massive suddenly struck the Alpha, sending it flying.
A gigantic python, its green scales glittering in the firelight. It coiled protectively between Damon and the remaining pack.
The wolves retreated, dragging their wounded Alpha with them.
Damon stared at his savior, blood flowing freely from his mangled arm.
"You fought well, for one with two legs." The voice was not spoken, but felt, resonating in Damon's mind.
Damon's eyes widened. "You... speak?"
The python's head swayed slightly in surprise.
"And you listen? Hmm…That's unusual."
Dawn found them traveling together. Damon, with his decaying burden. The python glided alongside. Damon bound his arm with strips torn from his cloak, the wound still throbbing in pain.
"Why does a living boy carry death upon his back?" the python asked as they navigated a narrow ridge.
"Punishment," Damon responded simply. Then, after a long silence, "I killed my stepbrother."
The python's tongue flicked out, tasting the air. "I smell no satisfaction in you when you speak of it."
"There was none to be had."
They continued in silence until making camp. Damon ate dried meat from his provisions. While the python swallowed a hare that it caught nearby.
"I have a biological brother," Damon sighed. "He left home when I was young."
"I was weak, but my brother was strong," Damon said as he stared into the flames.
"Father trained us mercilessly to fight, to survive, to honor the legacy of our bloodline. We both broke. My brother is worse than I."
The python coiled closer to the fire's warmth. "Weakness is not always what it appears."
"He protected me. Covered for my failures." Damon's voice hardened.
"Until he started running with the wrong crowd. Guys who sought dangerous strength. Father confronted him, and he left the next day. I haven't seen him since then."
"Family," the python sighed deeply, "is a complex burden."
"What of your family?" Damon asked.
The python's eyes betrayed no emotion. "Slaughtered. A demigod seeking gold near our caves. I alone survived, hidden beneath their bodies."
Damon nodded slowly. "We carry different deaths, you and I."
By dawn, they reached the outskirts of Olympus. The mountain settlement Damon's clan had settled generations ago.
Figures appeared on the path ahead. A search party, surprise was on their faces at finding out he was alive.
"We were coming to retrieve your brother's remains," said the leader, glancing at the wrapped bundle on Damon's back and eyeing him with distaste. "You've surprised us."
Damon was escorted back to the settlement, the python following at a distance. The council members watched as Damon completed his punishment, placing his brother's remains before them.
The wrappings were immediately taken by attendants for proper mummification.
The momentary relief vanished when one of the guards whispered to the others and pointed toward the python.
"He was speaking to the serpent! I swear I saw him!"
The whispers grew louder till everyone became aware of the talk.
The council's eldest member rose slowly. "Is this true, Damon Fallenstar?"
Before Damon could respond, guards surrounded the python.
Despite Damon's protests, they drove spears through its massive body, pinning it to the ground. The python's eyes found Damon's one last time before dimming.
"The murderer of the gods was a serpent-speaker," one of the elders whispered in fear.
Rage boiled through Damon's veins, but he maintained his rigid composure as the python's body got dragged away. Not even he could fight an entire clan.
Later, as Damon sat alone in his quarters. He found it hard to control his rage. His hands shook uncontrollably.
Anti appeared in the doorway. Wrong timing.
"Two deaths now on your hands," he taunted.
"First our brother, now a monster. The elders were right to fear you. You bring nothing but…."
Anti never finished. Damon moved with lethal speed, his hand closing around Anti's throat, slamming him against the wall.
Damon's face flickered with fear. He stepped backwards staring at his own hands like it was a monstrosity.
His stepbrother died instantly, the entire room collapsed from the impact.
*****
Cold water splashed across Damon's face, jolting him awake.
He gasped. Heavy chains bound his wrists and ankles to the floor. He was in a strange, dimly lit chamber, the air thick with the scent of dust and something metallic.
The walls were covered in unfamiliar symbols, swirling lines, and geometric shapes that seemed to move in the flickering candlelight.
Viktor Grim, his crimson hair plastered wetly to his forehead, sat chained beside him, equally disoriented.
Black-clad figures, their faces hidden behind silver, featureless masks. They moved silently around them, their presence unnerving.
"Where… where are we?" Damon croaked, his throat raw.
The masked figures ignored him, their movements precise and ritualistic. Like a dance.
Viktor finally stirred, his spectacles askew on his nose. He adjusted them with a grimace.
His eyes took on his environment as recognition began to dawn on him.
"We are screwed," He sighed.