TAMING APOLLO | completed

37. crap, not another maze

A/N:

sooo... im sorry for disappearing on yall, it's just that school has been very stressful of late, and i havent had any time to write. today has been my first free day in MONTHS. so i figured i would write a lil something for yall🥺♥️ thank you for all the love an support, enjoyyy

[this is VERY unedited btw, i was just really excited to have something for yall. apologies]

37. crap, not another maze

G A Y L E

Isn't it funny how a month ago, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what in the gods' names is the difference between a maze and a labyrinth, and now I'm stuck in my second labyrinth... or maze, oh whatever, looks like I still can't tell the difference.

It's almost poetic, really. Somehow I've wound up in Cyrene's seriously puzzled up jungle of a subconscious, fighting my way through to find her, the same way I'd been trapped in a maze not too long ago.

Boy, do the gods love fucking with me.

It took me a while to figure out what's really going on, why I woke up on the outskirts of this really big dome.

I don't know, maybe hanging out with all these Greek gods and creatures has made me smarter, but it finally hit me after hours upon hours of trying to get away from the dome, and winding up right where I started, like in a video game - this isn't real. well, it is real but it isn't happening in the physical realm.

This is Cyrene's subconscious, and I came in here to find and help her before she kills me.

So I entered the dome... which happens to be yet another maze or labyrinth or whatever, and I've been travelling for hours, hitting a dead end every five steps I take. I don't know if time out there works the same as time in here, but if it does then we're all screwed because I've been walking through this maze for weeks. And honestly? I think I'm lost... also? On the verge of a nervous breakdown.

I collapse onto the cement floors for the umpteenth time, crying out in frustration as a flock of birds flutter away into the distance at the sound. I ram my fist into the ground, glaring ahead at yet another dead end.

Okay, Gayle, I think to myself as I press my back against the dead-end wall, think. Think hard, think smart. What would Apollo, or Hercules, or Thalia do?

I wreck my brain for answers on how to get out of this mess, but nothing comes out of it. I'm still sat against the wall with tears streaming down my face, powerless and alone. With no way to reach Cyrene and end this.

More tears of frustration race down my hot cheeks.

Oh, yeah, not only have I been lost here for weeks, Cyrene's head also happens to be a flaming hot inferno.

Or, I may have died and wound up in hell.

It pains me to admit I don't know which is worse.

I just wish I had someone here to help me get through this...

"You rang?" My eyes dart open at the sound of another voice, and my lips pull apart at the sight of a figure towering over me, shielding me from the sun.

She's got piercing bright blue eyes, verging on the edges of grey with dead pale skin and long black raven hair cascading down her back. Clad head-to-toe in leather with a large intimidating bronze sword swung over her one shoulder and a vicious, seemingly malicious smile quirking at her bright red lips.

"You need a hand, or are you just gonna sit there and gawk at me all day?" Her brow arches intimidatingly as she brushes her lips against each other, offering up her free hand.

For longer than a moment, I just sit there and gape at her. Then I decide that she is just a figment of my imagination. However, that doesn't deter me from asking, "Who are you?".

Again with the malicious expression that makes her seem much to real and scary in a seductive way to be my imagination. "How rude of me," she bares her pearly white teeth, and I gasp at how her canines are sharper than razors, and longer than all the rest.

She - she can't be a - they don't really exist... do they?

"Gayle, right? Name's Kako. I'm kind of like your bodyguard here, sorry for taking so long. I had stuff to do in the physical realm, children to devour and whatnot, but I'm here now and that's what really counts isn't it?" she grins at me once again, when finally, deliriously, I take her hand and catapult myself up.

"Sorry, did you just say bodyguard?" and that you devour children? I keep that last part internal, of course. As I now begin to believe that Kako is an entirely real entity and not a form of my descent into madness.

"Yeah," She begins to traipse away from the dead-end wall, deeper into the maze. "You coming?" I now realise that my feet have been nailed to the ground and that she's leaving me behind. I catch up to her, collecting myself and gaining the courage to speak to her, but she interrupts me before I can even say anything. "Could you do me a favour Gayle? When you're out of here, just don't tell my boss I was so late. You know how hasty these gods can get when it comes to eternal torment and punishment."

"Right..." I nod hesitantly, racing to keep up with her. "Who exactly is this boss of yours?" I ask and she abruptly stops, turning to face me, arching a brow.

"Hecate, obviously." She sizes me up, seemingly only truly taking me in now for the first time. "Hello? Mormo?" She points at her sharp vampire teeth as if it's supposed to help me understand better. I just furrow my brows confusedly and she sighs. "You hopeless thing." she retorts with a tsk.

Finally, with a deep breath she begins to explain herself to me. "I am Mormo, though I go by Kako these days. Companion and certified best friend to the goddess Hecate; the goddess of witchcraft and necromancy, with me?" I nod, finally beginning to understand.

She was sent here to look out for me by Hecate?

"They wanted to make sure you were safe, and since they cannot manifest themselves in your head, they figured a spirit would do the trick, ergo, Kako at your service." She does a lazy mock salute and starts moving again. Surprisingly, she hasn't lead us into a dead-end yet.

"Safe from what?" I ask, a shiver racing down my spine at the thought that there could actually be creatures in here, and I've been alone all this time.

She waves her hand lazily. "Oh, you know... dream demons and stuff like that."

Before I can reply to her words, the sky above us starts to rumble, and the once clear sunny rays are replaced by pregnant clouds, those dark, gloomy ones normally followed up by a thunderstorm.

"Shit." She mutters under her breath. "Epiales." she shakes her head, wielding the large sword she had resting on her shoulder ahead of her.

My brows furrow, heart hammering against my chest as rain drops slowly start to descend on us. "Dream demon?" I ask her, hoping she'll turn around and laugh straight in my face.

she does turn around, but all the nonchalance she once had on her face has been replaced by a dreadfully concerned look. "Hide."