Location: Tartarus, High Security Chamber, Server Theta Twelve
Time Remaining: 1 Day, 17 Hours
Odysseus rolled away as a powerful black beak struck the ground, flinging rocks and dirt. The beak snapped at him again and again, but Odysseus protected himself with the glowing blue shield as he scrambled across the rocks, trying to get back on his feet. Fool, Odysseus thought to himself, one shot with that weapon and you wasted it on a rock. Odysseus didn't think it was likely he'd find more projectiles for the weapon, or figure out how to loud one into it before the bird killed him, so he threw it at the bird's head. The heavy device struck the bird across the bridge of its beak, stopping its advance. He thought at first he'd stunned it with the blow, but then realized the bird was just standing there looking at him like he was an idiot.
Odysseus grabbed the other device from his belt, and held it away from himself like a sword. He squeezed the grip and two glowing blue ethereal shapes erupted from the end of it and began twisting and writhing around one another. The bird backed away slightly.
"Ha ha!" Odysseus said, "Yeah this is a real... shape blade... yeah, and you uh, you better bet I know what to do with it!"
"I'm genuinely concerned that you don't," the bird answered dryly.
"Ah ha!" Odysseus shouted again waving the animated blade about, "You can talk!"
"Ah, yes, you're a human. Seeing your first talking bird I assume?"
"My second, thank you very much," Odysseus scoffed, "Are you an Olympian?"
"I don't even know what an Olympian is," the bird said.
"Wow, you've been in here a long time then..."
"Yes, yes I have. I am a titan, Nyx, last consort of Kronos, the rightful king of Knossos, and former bearer of the Orcynyes legacy."
"Well, nice to meet you Nyx, I am Nemo."
"Nemo..."
"Just Nemo."
"Just the one name?"
"Well, like you said, it's been a long time. Things have stream-lined a lot in the outside world. Having just one name is the popular fashion nowadays."
"Right. Why are you here?"
Odysseus thought about the circumstances he'd walked into, and decided to spin his objectives a bit, "I have been sent to free you from your drudgery."
"You're here to free me from the drudgery of torturing someone?"
"Well... yes," Odysseus said.
"It has grown tiresome,"Nyx admitted, "But Zeus programmed the simulation to keep me hungry, so that I would continue feasting on Prometheus even after the torture part became passe."
"I see..." Odysseus said, "so... I imagine you're wanting to get back to your meal then..."
"Ha! I've been eating Prometheus for centuries - how can I pass up a nice juicy mortal?"
"Crap." Odysseus jumped back as Nyx darted at him, snapping her beak. Odysseus knocked her beak aside with the shield, which flickered and hummed loudly with the impact. Nyx hopped back, and then lunged forward, snapping repeatedly. Odysseus swung the glowing blue sword clumsily, trying to get a handle on the shifting balance while still dodging his attacker. He soon realized that she was herding him, driving him towards the cliff over the lava.
"Ooh, don't fall in!" she cried, "I like my meat rare!" Nyx snapped again and this time clamped her beak down on the shield. She twisted her head trying to wrench it off of Odysseus's arm. Odysseus swung his awkward weapon at her again and manage to glance one of her wings, causing her to leap back again. He lunged forward with the blade, but missed as the Titan changed shape into an anthropomorphic form similar to Adresteia's. The blade aimed at the bird's left breast passed harmlessly below the woman's left arm, and she grabbed his forearm, digging her talons into it, before backhanding him with her free hand. His head whipped around, teeth rattling in his mouth, but he hammered the edge of the energy shield into her abdomen hard enough to lacerate her. She shouted from the pain and released his arm, but as he drew it back she raked her talons across his hand and pried the weapon from his grasp.
The two combatants separated, Nyx brandishing the writhing blue blade and Odysseus still gripping the shield. He studied his opponent for a moment - in this form she was about the same size and build as Adresteia, with similar wings, talons and eyes. In fact, the only remarkable difference was her skin - Nyx was blue, albeit a blue so dark it could easily have been mistaken for black.
"This can't be what you want," Odysseus said, "I'm a mortal - you eat me, I'll eventually die, and you'll have to go back to torturing Prometheus to survive."
"While I have bored of his screams," Nyx said, "I don't feel especially moved by them."
"Why the animosity?" Odysseus said, "I get the hunger thing - starvation can drive people to do desperate things - but do you really want to torture him for the rest of eternity? What did he do to you?"
"Long ago, the titan Hekate launched a rebellion against Kronos, my lord and lover. Prometheus was our greatest ally in the war against her and her servants, but when the opportunity came to end the war once and for all, Prometheus refused to deliver the killing blow, and took up Hekate's cause when she fell."
"Oh, there has to be more to it than that," Odysseus tried to keep her talking while he searched his surroundings for some means to extricate himself from the situation.
"Kronos and I were with child, and I was forced to leave the war effort in order to have a safe birth. My lover stood without me against Prometheus and his allies, Typhon and Echidna, but Prometheus tricked him - he recruited one of Kronos's children to betray him."
"Zeus..." Odysseus realized.
"Yes, Zeus. Zeus killed his father, freed his siblings, and then marched on Knossos. I was hours, at most, from birthing Kronos's child when Hera walked in and cut it from my belly. Zeus imprisoned me here, with our first betrayer, while he took my daughter and did gods know what with her."
"I'm sorry," Odysseus said, "That's... tragic." Odysseus looked at the winged woman and considered the timeline - it was distinctly possible that Adresteia was her daughter. Killing his best friends mother was a line he couldn't cross.
Unfortunately, before he could come up with an argument for a truce, a ball of light flashed near where Odysseus had entered, and Penelope emerged. "We have to get out of here!" she shouted, "Now!"
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