“I always wanted peace to some degree. I wasn’t interested in anything but keeping my children alive. However, as they continued disappearing, my rage grew. Typhon, having enough of it, decided to go to Zeus, seeking his position as the top God to protect his children. At least, that’s what he had told me initially. I later found out that a lot of the people disappearing my children were doing it at his behest.” She took a breath and stopped slithering, facing us.
“Long before you were born, Adaela, Zeus and Typhonbattled. Vada may remember it.” Echidna pointed at her, and she confirmed it, but told us she was already in Hell when that battle took place, so she only knew the secondhand accounts. “As I’m sure all of you know, Daedalus in particular, Zeus was quick to anger and quick to retaliate. What you may not remember is that Zeus and Typhon both were children of Cronus. Typhon was Cronus’s favorite, and the two of them had a fierce rivalry because of it. When they battled, Zeus took the empty jar he gifted to Pandora, hit Typhon with a bolt of lightning, and threw Typhon’s body into the jar as if he were a firefly.” Echidna sniffed, still mourning the loss of her mate.
“So when I tell you that you’re in a worst-case scenario, I mean it. Typhon, as I learned, never wanted anything to do with his children. He wanted warriors, and he wanted to be the ultimate power of not just the universe his children inhabited, but of all of them. He was sent to Tartarus, a mistake on Zeus’s part, as I’m sure Cronus was gleeful that his favored child was imprisoned with him. They’ve had thousands of years to plot and scheme. I’m sure they both have made airtight plans for universal domination,” Echidna said.
“So, if that’s the case, why are they only starting with thePax?” Valen asked.
“My best guess is to sow division. He has children who have strayed from his path living in thePax. He wanted them to fight for him, but the best thing you ever did, Adaela, was show them a life I only ever dreamed of giving them,” Echidna replied, a sour look on her face at her reluctance to give me a compliment.
“He’s certainly sown the division, but the question remains. Who knew Adaela had Pandora’s Box? And who would have had the power to get through the portals to steal him from under our noses without detection?” Daedalus asked, pensive. “It’s a puzzle I’ve yet to crack myself.”
At this point, we had some of the puzzle figuredout, but we didn’t have enough information to be able to determine the rest of it. I stood up, stretching my limbs. My clothing was almost dry, and I was thankful for that. I needed to change my ostomy bag, and it was another awkward conversation I wasn’t sure how to navigate with creatures who likely had never heard of one before. Instead of fretting, I excused myself to the back of the cave with backpack in hand and tried to subtly change everything out.
I thought over everything Echidna told us. We were fucked if Typhon was on the loose. His children in St. Louis were in grave danger, and I needed to figure out who was opening the portals before Echidna had even more children taken from her. She wouldn’t take kindly to them being lost on my behalf. I would need to talk with Elizabeth, the head of the Cryptid Faction, to see if she could add any extra layers of protection on Echidna’s children. Between her, the monster of Lake Elizabeth, and the Piasa bird, a cryptid from local lore in the St. Louis area, I was sure they’d be able to come up with something.
We were given all the information we would get here, and as I tried to find a place to throw away the contents of my used pouch, I couldn’t begin to fathom where to begin. My assumption was that our next stop would be back to St. Louis briefly to update thePaxon our findings. It wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation. Due to the sensitive nature of the noses in the room, I decided to step out onto the steep cliffs leading to the cave to finish cleaning up. I placed the pouch in a magical, airtight bag with an air freshener in it, placed it back in my pack, and continued to think. I was grossed out carrying around the used pouch, but I also wasn’t about to leave it here either.
“What does everyone think about heading back to thePax?” I asked.
Everyone else began to pack up as well, and we made our way out toward a little-known portal at Echidna’s direction.
“I will do everything in my power to make sure your children stay safe, Echidna. Are you sure that you don’t want to come with us?” I asked her.
“No. I need to protect the ones living here. Go, devise a plan, and make sure it’s impenetrable. I’m positive they’ve been planning this for far longer than you’ve been alive.”
We made our way through the portal one by one. I was the last through the portal, and as I started stepping through, a new portal opened behind Echidna. Slowly, something resembling a hand with snakes for fingers make its way out of the portal, a massive eye taking up the mass of the remainder of the portal. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would’ve never guessed something so massive could use such stealth. Before I could yell out, Typhon sliced the human side of Echidna’s body from the snake side by wrapping his snake fingers around her body, constricting until both pieces were severed. I screamed, and Typhon’s attention zoned in on me with mirth. I was already being sucked through the portal, but saw his entire face come into view to mouth, “You’re next.”
St. Louis
Adaela landed on her knees, screaming and pounding the concrete beneath her fists. I had no fucking idea what happened between the moments of me crossing through the portal and her crossing, but she came out screaming, “Close the fucking portal!”
I went to my knees to tug her close to me, but she gently pushed me away, tearing at her skin as if she couldn’t get whatever horror out of her mind. “What happened? Adaela, are you okay?” I asked her, frantically checking her over as the portal guards rushed around us to halt the travel from the portal in both directions. We had a failsafe for a reason.
“I just watched Echidna get sliced in half by Typhon as I was stepping through the fucking portal. He knew we were there and waited until we were leaving to make his move.” She stood up, angrier than I’d ever seen her, and started pacing, her arms up, fingers entwined behind her head as she tried to get herself back together. “He’s even more monstrous than I could have ever imagined, Vada. Fuck.”
“Fuck. We need to report this immediately,” I said, stillstanding back so she could pace. I started moving my weight from foot to foot, thinking.
Poe, Daedalus, Icarus, Loki, Valen, and Gon rushed toward us. “What happened?”
Adaela, struggling to get her emotions under control, gestured toward me to tell them the story. Everyone had different reactions ranging from going pale, still, or cursing. The ones who weren’t with us didn’t know, except that they heard Typhon was back on the loose.
“I need someone to take me to the bomb shelter now. Quick. I’m not sure I can hold back this power much longer,” Adaela said, sweating.
Daedalus grabbed her and launched into the sky, flying toward the bomb shelter located in one of the caves underneath the city. It could withstand her powers, and I wanted to rush to be there with her, but alas, I could not. I was torn between my duties now that we were back in St. Louis and helping Adaela through this. I needed to help put out the fire here first.
“Let’s make our way somewhere secure,” I said to Valen. “We have a lot to tell you guys, and it’s not going to be good.” I shivered, the weather in St. Louis turning cold, and the clothing I wore was not made for it. The sky was overcast and it smelled like it would snow soon. I’d forgotten what that smelled like, and I couldn’t even stop to take it in.
We gathered in the conference room at thePaxbuilding. Someone must have called ahead, because every single faction was present. Samael sat in my stead, Aibell in Adaela’s. All the Fates were in the corner, including Baba Yaga, whose grim expression indicated just how bad this was. I swiveled my head to see several of the Gods and Goddesses in the room, and multiple Elves including Phirem. I was surprised to see them here, since they lived in Alfhame.
The tensions were high, and the claustrophobia from all thebeings in the room was ramped up by the apprehension all of us were experiencing. But, the more beings here, the better. It helped us to spread the word quicker. I wasn’t a fan of public speaking, but Adaela needed me to step up, and so I would. Flashbacks to the look of pure terror and devastation on her face when she crossed back in from the portal crossed my mind, and I steadied myself on the fact that she needed me right now.
“Thanks for being here,” I started. “We have figured out some of the clues, but we’re not out of the woods just yet. This is going to get worse before it even begins to get better.”
I swallowed a couple of times, pausing to give myself time to think. The best course of action would be to just give them the facts without any fanfare. I told them everything, including the long-held secret of Pandora’s Box. There were shouts of outrage from dozens of people at that, and I held my hand up to stop the noise. I waited for it to die down before I said, “You have to understand, Adaela’s powers are unmatched in many ways. If you had a relic in your possession that you knew could potentially be the end of all worlds as we knew it, would you want that known? Would you have been tempted to open it to see what was inside?”
Folks quieted down then. There were some grumbles from the crowd as they came to terms with what I said. I was ready to bolt out of the room when Daedalus walked in, discreetly giving me a thumbs up that Adaela had made it safely. My racing heart calmed, and I took several deep breaths before asking if anyone had any questions.
“So, we know that Typhon is involved. Does anyone remember who he was aligned with before he went to Tartarus?” asked Ma’at.
