Dreams

Chapter 6



I stretched and opened my eyes from the deep sleep I had been in. The only problem is that when I opened my eyes I still could not see. I went to reach my arms up to my face only to find that my arms had been tied behind my back. Trying to move my legs, I found that they were also tied. I felt someone pick me up by and hold me in their arms. “What in the world is going on?” I say starting to get desperate from not knowing what was happening. Seriously, how many people wake up tied and blindfolded?

“Shh… You’ll be fine. You remember that trial I told you about that all the gods and goddesses came up with? It’s about to begin, and you’ll see why you’re blindfolded soon. I love you Faith. I know you will do great.” I hear Artemis say. She sets me down, unties my bonds, and takes off the blindfold. Artemis hugs me before she vanishes and reappears with the other gods and goddess on a balcony overhanging wherever it is I am.

“Faith, it has come time for your final test. Your goal is to find your way through the labyrinth and find the monster Aries has so generously provided. You must slay this monster and find your way out of the labyrinth.” Zeus’ booming voice finally ends, and I take a look at my surroundings. Giant stone walls surround me, and they are to high and smooth to climb on top of.

I glance up at the gods and goddesses. “Your task doesn’t sound to hard. Do I get any weapons for this little task.”

“You will have a sword. Let the challenge begin.” Zeus replies to my question. Artemis tosses down the large sword she got me a couple of years ago. I catch the sword by the hilt and begin trying to make my way through the labyrinth. I come upon dead ends and almost have to retrace my steps at every corner.

It has been almost an hour, and everything is beginning to look the same at this point. That is when I hear a sound other than my footsteps. Heavy breathing and a loud slithering noise are coming from somewhere near me. The problem is figuring out where. I decide that my best bet is to stay where I am. I hear the slithering get closer and a shadow approaching the corner. I slip behind the turn on the other end and peek my head out to see what I am facing. I won’t lie… what I saw scared me. Never really have been a big fan of snakes. It was a monster that appeared to be half woman and half serpent. I thought that she was only a legend, but Echidna was real. I waited on Echidna to approach the corner I stood behind. When she was close enough, I swung my large sword around the corner taking a slice out of the snake woman.

Hissing, Echidna lunged at me striking out. Before I knew it, I was wrapped in the snakes coils. She was trying to constrict the life out of me and crunch my bones to tiny pieces. I am still holding the sword, but it is between two coils and not against me. I take a chance and twist the sword. Echidna does not notice until she has almost cut two of her coils in half. She quickly releases me, and I fall to my knees catching my breath. Echidna lunges at me again, this time out of anger. She is blinded by her anger and no longer thinking logically. I stand up quickly and twist around and she runs herself onto my sword. I pull the sword out and take the snake woman’s head off. I walk over to the stone wall and lean back against it. I am pretty sure a couple of my ribs are broken, but I still have to find my way out of this place. Uggh… this is going to take a while, unless I can come up with an idea. I wonder if there’s a way for me to get on top of the labyrinth wall. I look at the monsters body, now seeing a use for the long serpentine body. I lift the body and toss it to the top of the wall. I walk around to the other side and pin the body to the wall with my sword. I walk back around and climb up the body to the top of the wall. I look around and see the expanse of the labyrinth. It is huge, but I happen to be near an edge. I walk the short distance on top of the walls and hop down on the outside of the labyrinth. As soon as my feet hit the ground, Artemis is there hugging me.

“You did it, I knew you could.” She squeezes me in a tight hug. I wince and let out a groan when she does. “Oh god, you’re hurt.” She starts slowly feeling up and down the side of my body. “You’ve got four of your ribs broken.” She takes hold of me, and the next thing I know we are standing on the pedestal above the labyrinth that the gods and goddesses were watching from.

“You’ve done very well Faith. I will allow Artemis to bestow upon you the Powerbands. They will allow you to focus your abilities and strengths and control them better. They will help you to understand the harmonies of the land and your body. They will also cause a bit of a change in you. I will let Artemis explain this to you later.” Zeus uncovered a pedestal and four, white gold, gleaming, arm bands laid there. Artemis picked them up one by one. She slipped the first one up my right arm and set it on my bicep. The band molded to the size of my arm, fitting perfectly around it. She slid the next band up my left arm to the bicep. The other two she slid right below my elbow on my lower arm. The bands gleamed in the light and the gods and goddesses nodded towards me. I had achieved their approval. I bowed towards the gods and goddesses, showing my respect towards them.

“I hate to cut the party short,” Artemis started,” but Faith is hurt and I want to go ahead and get her wounds taken care of.” Everyone nodded at her as she transported us back to her room.

“What were these changes your father was speaking of?” I asked as she stripped off my top and began to bandage my torso.

“You will become part demon. That is the effect of the bands. To not leans toward good or evil, you must be partially both. The bands accomplish this and allow you to focus and harmonize with everything. I doubt you will change that much, just some little things. You will probably have fangs and maybe pointy ears.”

My jaw drops. Everything just keeps getting more and more complicated. “How fun… Artemis, I have a favor to ask of you. I want to go back to my village and try to talk to my parents. Maybe give them some money to help them out. I want to see how my brother is doing also.” I know it was quite an odd request, but it has been on my mind for a couple of days.

“You can go see them as soon as your ribs have healed.” I begin to protest, but she shushes me with a look. “You need rest right now, so go on to sleep. I love you and I was amazed and so happy with your performance today.” I crawled up the bed and laid down. I felt Artemis crawl in beside me and carefully hold me. She kissed the back of my neck as the days tolls began to wear on me. I finally drifted off to sleep in the arms of my lover, my goddess, my everything at this point.







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I hope everyone's still liking the story so far. hehe.

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Exile-thanks for the review, and I had planned on taking my story there. It was just getting it to that point. I'm glad you like it, and i've always liked the greek gods. I thought it would be fun to write a story about them.