kind.” In response to this the Harpy became furious and crouched low, at same time opening her wings. This was in preparation, as if ready to pounce and attack the one who had insulted her entire kind.
“Erm…yeah, good one,” my mother muttered sarcastically before Aurora released a frustrated sigh, as if she didn't have time for any of this and it was all so very taxing.
“You die traitor and with it I will cook the flesh of your mortal over your burning corpse to share with my sisters!” the Harpy threatened, painting a gruesome picture and making my mother’s face wince as if she could see it herself. Then in another comical and classic way of my mother’s nature, she asked the woman next to her,
“Seriously though, do you have any friends?” However, Aurora ignored her and instead focused on enraging the Harpy further, basically goading her into attacking.
“Zeus should have killed you!” Aurora said making Podarge charge at both of them instantly. However, in a surprising twist of events Aurora pushed my mother out of the way just before the Harpy could use her talon tipped feet to rip into my mother’s form.
And with my mother now out of the fray, they both ran at each other. A vision I had to confess made for an odd sight to witness, especially when one of them looked like they had just come out of a business meeting from a New York office board room. But then, it wasn't just the business suit that looked out of place, but that of the bladed weapon she pulled from her back and used to slash out at the Harpy. And she certainly hit her mark, first to her back and then one to the neck that had the Harpy stumbling backwards. She tragically did this whilst trying to hold together the gash that almost certainly meant her death.
However, as she went stumbling backwards, she tripped to the floor, which meant now being forced to look up helplessly into the face of her killer. It certainly made for a pitying sight, when seeing her now silently begging for her life to be spared.
And what did Aurora do in sight of this but pull her knee up and hammer down a foot, quickly impaling a stiletto heel in the eye of the Harpy. Podarge’s body seemed to curl up around the impact reminding me of a dead spider on its back, before all her limbs and wings relaxed back flat to the floor. My mother looked in total shock at the ruthless cold glint in Aurora’s eyes, who instead of looking affected simply pulled her foot from the Harpy’s head. Then she pulled down on her jacket and smoothed back her hair before walking past my mother saying,
“Fucking Harpies.”
***
The moment I was slammed back into reality, I dropped the Eye and stumbled backwards. The moment the Crimson orb touched the ground it turned everything around it to black sand being that of a reminiscent representation of its own past. The Harpies all saw this and quickly retreated backwards to the circumference of ground that still remained part of the castle.
As for me, I had fallen onto my backside and my body shuddered with the strength it took to breathe. I lifted my hands in front of my face and looked at them shaking uncontrollably. And there, travelling down my arms, were the tentacles of crimson snakes slithering under my skin, reaching up through my pores like an overload of power was trying to escape me. Because what no one knew yet was this time, I had been granted a lot more than just a glimpse of the past or that of the future.
A lot more than Lucius’ brother was expecting, that was for damn sure! Because this time I had been granted some of its power, like a lingering essence of a God. So much of it in fact, it was buzzing inside me and so desperate to get out that it felt as though it was clawing at my skin. It forced me to question whether this was what it felt like for those like my father or Lucius whose demons felt trapped inside their own vessel. This untapped power desperate to get out and believing that its vessel was the cage that prevented it.
It was of little wonder why then those like Lucius and my father spoke about their demon side like a different entity. As if they were carrying around with them