One With Nature

Out for Blood: 2

I flew as fast as I could towards the Gorgons' house. The new energy just appeared out of nowhere which means the first group was actually just a distraction.

After I reached the house... I didn't know what to think about what I saw.

There was blood. Lots of blood, but thankfully none of it was the Gorgons' sisters. It belonged to a fallen warrior that was covered in a black cloak. I didn't even bother to check if it was Perseus as I checked on the Gorgons.

Medusa was on her knees, holding her bloodied weapon, panting with her white dress stained red from blood. She was panting, looked shocked at what happened, and just mentally exhausted. Stheno and Euryale were besides her, patting her shoulders.

"What happened?" I asked as soon as I landed.

Euryale turned to me and glared. "Where were you!?"

"I was dealing with a group that came from the South."

"And you just let this one pass by!?"

"I didn't sense anyone el-"

"HE JUST WALKED TO US! WHAT GOOD ARE YOU?! YOU LITTLE-"

"Enough," Stheno stated firmly and caused her younger sister to look at her in shock.

"But he-"

"Get Medusa inside and out of those filthy close, now," Stheno leveled Euryale with a 'we'll talk later' look and the younger sister just followed through with the order.

Medusa looked at me and I just nodded towards the house. She picked herself up and followed her sisters, blood dripping from her weapons as she walked into the house.

That just left me and Stheno outside. I just hung my head in shame. "I didn't sense... I... I just-"

"I know," Stheno walked towards the corpse while avoiding the blood spots and held up one part of the cloak on it. "This is one of Hades' cloaks. It conceals someone's whole presence. There would have been something wrong if you actually knew about it. Even we didn't notice until he was right in front of us."

I noticed then that the cloak was an unnatural shade of black. No light was reflecting off it and it was still clean despite the body inside it being bloody. It was like Stheno was holding an actually empty spot in the world.

"So... Hades had a hand in this?" I asked suspiciously.

The eldest Gorgon shook her head. "No. Hades would never help Athena in her petty grudge against us. If anything, he would even cut off one of her limbs for the sheer disrespect of asking him to help in something so meaningless."

"Then... how did these guys get it?" I asked looking over the corpse under the cloak. It was just another nameless grunt.

Stheno hummed and stepped away from the body and blood. "If I had to guess, this was stolen. Athena has very little respect for anyone along with having many personal issues. She either bribed one of Hades' proxies or killed them and took this off their corpse."

"And Hades was okay with that?" I blurted out without even meaning to.

Stheno looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Who do you think we're talking about? Hades is probably the most busy god in Greek. Add that he always tries to make time for his wife, and one cloak being missing won't be noticed for quite a while," she explained and I admit it makes sense. "Now, why don't you clean this mess up? I don't want to see a single drop of blood left. Got that?"

And she's back to normal. Well, besides being demanding and sadistic, Stheno is actually a good source of knowledge on the gods and how they work.

Things didn't exactly stay the same after that.

Third POV:

It was nighttime in the Shapeless Isles and the sky was covered in clouds, concealing the moon and stars that would usually dominate the sky. Zack was standing outside the house, gazing at the clouded skies.

"What are you doing outside?" Asked the eldest Gorgon as she exited the house.

"You should go back in," Zack replied without turning around.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's a bad idea," Stheno stated firmly, leveling him with a glare.

Zack simply looked at her over his shoulder. "I'll be gone for a while, as the oldest you should take care of your younger sisters."

"It's not worth it! She's just a jealous idiot!" Stheno raised her voice, almost shouting.

Zack stayed quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. "I let a goddess do what she want before," he started as he turned to his wind element. "I won't let that happen again."

There was a flash of lightning and Stheno lost all hope she had of talking the Elemental out of what he was planning to do when she saw he was gone. She couldn't help but sigh as she saw a tornado move away in the distance.