Wind whistled past Medusa’s ears as her tunic rustled on her way down. I’m falling. Her short hair whipped against her face. That burst of chilling panic as her belly dropped to the depth below.
I’m falling. I’ll die and—No. I won’t. Calm came, and along with it, crystal clarity on what Medusa must do next.
Just like her trial with the black heron, Medusa exhaled and pushed against aether in the second before impact. Though aether cushioned her fall, it didn’t shield her from the tearing feeling of her bones rattling and joints popping.
“Ugh.” Shaking off the feeling of disconcertion, Medusa dusted debris off her clothes as she peered ahead.
Arke stood a good five meters away, hunched and panting. What was even more curious were her arms. Blue lines flashed in and out of sight, forming an outline of much larger three-clawed hands.
Medusa sensed a crowd gathering. And whispers.
“...Will Arke dare?”
“It's against the rules to harm with abilities.”
“Aren’t you curious? I've never seen her ability.”
Medusa tuned them out. Standing straighter, she loosened her shoulders as she prepared herself. So far, she had faced only beasts who acted on instinct. No calculation. No animosity save for the drive to tear through whatever was before them. Arke had threatened to kill her; it only made sense to expect the—
“Let the Dogs bear witness!” Arke cried in an enraged voice amplified with aether. Though light from the corridor spilt into the quadrangle, her face remained hidden in shadows, and her hair moved as if disturbed by a fierce breeze. “The one called May dared to insult the divinity of my ancestors.”
At her words, even more dogs rushed out of their rooms, and the murmurs increased. Please, keep coming. Medusa hoped that every dog would witness what was about to go down. From the nobles’ perspective, Medusa would easily appear the villain. After hearing about her clash with Eristes, they’d be eager for retribution.
Arke glowered at Medusa. “May the goddess forgive what you’ve forced me to do.”
She moved in a flash, arm slashing upward as three blue crescents ripped through the earth, growing in size as they neared Medusa.
Sucking in a surprised breath, Medusa twisted to the side and narrowly escaped getting split in half. As the lines sizzled past, loose earth and dust rained down on her.
Would you look at that? Medusa's eyes reduced to slits. The girl intended to kill her.
Judging from the sudden hush, the dogs were also surprised by Arke’s attack. If her ability hurts Medusa, would Demeter’s roots be triggered? An external interruption would be bad, especially when she had yet to teach a proper lesson.
The cloth strips around Medusa’s arms loosened as she tightly drew air around them. And she only just realised she had failed to collect the beaded band from Vyron. Crushing the rise of panic at the realisation, she emptied her mind of every thought save for how to attack and dodge. Defence was beyond her in the face of Arke’s ability.
Arke gave another slash, but this time Medusa darted out of reach and flung a needle ahead. The resulting explosion echoed with a force that surpassed her attack on Eristes. Twice as powerful and loud.
Amidst the chaos, a flicker of motion caught the edge of Medusa's vision. She noticed too late that Arke had not only escaped her strike but was fast enough to cover the gap between them.
The flickering claws were pressed to a sharp point, and as Arke slashed at Medusa’s face, there was a crackling sound. Twisting away wasn’t enough. The cut burned a line across her cheek, but she managed to bind Arke’s arm, stopping her from piercing a hole through her head.
Such boiling murderous intent. Medusa wrestled with a primal part of her that longed to laugh from the exhilaration the fight pumped through her system.
Arke’s face twisted with a hateful scowl when she realised her arm was bound, and as Medusa expected, she attempted to use her other arm to slice through her face. The strip of cloth moved and restrained her nearly as quickly as when Medusa used breathing for the first time.
The muscles of Medusa’s arms screamed, trembling with exertion as she struggled to keep Arke’s lethal arms away. It was clear she wouldn't be able to hold on for long. Arke's ability packed too much power. It released a sizzling sound as the blue lines flickered, threw off heat and manipulated aether in a way Medusa couldn't understand. Was it dependent on the kind of deity blood Arke carried? If that were the case, could Medusa use her parents’ powers? Their blood flowed in her veins after all, and—
“You think these flimsy strophions can hold me back?” Arke shouted in her face with that enhanced voice.
Medusa winced as her ears popped.
“Do you know who recommended me to attend this hovel?” Arke’s face was squeezed with such raw hatred that it was unpleasant to look at. “The goddess will do nothing when I kill you. Nothing!” She spat.
Medusa sensed the aether around the bind begin to succumb to the force of Arke’s pull. The best time to risk her next move was now.
“You’re too loud,” Medusa said before sucking a breath through her teeth and screamed in Arke’s face.
The sound waves came in dense ripples, shredding the binds to nothing as they slammed into Arke and sent her tumbling in a tangle of broken, flailing limbs. The blue lines around her arms flickered and vanished when she finally rolled to a stop.
Silence then murmurs.
“Where are the goddess’ roots?”
“Wasn’t that an ability?”
“Is Arke dead?”
Medusa ignored their words as she approached Arke. Apart from a faint pull at the pit of her belly when she shouted, her body was in top form. No fatigue. No mental exhaustion. If anything, her mind was clearer than it had ever been.
The shout had been more potent than what she used on the ekhidna, but she hadn’t added surrounding objects like she did the last time.
Arke rolled to her back with a groan as her broken limbs shifted and repaired at a faster rate than Vyron's. Staggering to her feet, those troublesome lines flicker back in place. Her scowl reemerged when she spotted Medusa.
“Die!” She slashed at Medusa, swaying on the spot as she did so.
Instead of fleeing, Medusa slipped into her dimension and re-emerged once the attack passed over her. A pity she couldn’t move her dimension while inside it; that would have made things much easier.
Arke released a frustrated cry as she sent more onslaughts, this time with both hands. She was destroying the quadrangle, creating deep furrows that would be a pain to repair.
As Medusa emerged from her dimension after the fourth assault, Arke appeared before her, striking with a slash aimed at her midsection. Medusa recoiled on instinct, only to realise it was too late.
The strike came with too much force and sharpness. It pierced through the layer of aether overlaying Medusa’s midsection—a shield she hadn't even realised was there—tore her tunic open, and cut through flesh. Blood seeped out, spreading scalding pain.
When Arke aimed for Medusa’s face again, the ground beneath their feet shook as roots burst from the earth. She staggered only to be snatched by a root and yanked from her opponent.
The same happened with Arke, but in her case, the roots were more, and she was madly slashing at them, hacking root after root. The more she struggled, the more roots appeared.
This wouldn't do. If things continued like this, Arke would learn nothing, and Medusa’s plan for the dogs would fail. She stopped struggling against the root’s grip, and to her surprise, it loosened and slinked back into the earth.
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Hands flying to her belly, Medusa felt for the wound only to come upon smooth skin. Huh? Even the slash across her cheek was gone. Not even a scar remained. She looked at her wrist to be sure she wasn't wearing the beaded band. How? It was at the tip of her tongue to ask Clotho for a possible explanation, then with a pang she recalled the Moirai was gone.
She’d been drawing aether through her pores much like the instinct of breathing following her training. That may have affected her body.
Am I like them now? Even though she had recently grown scared of death, immortality was a path she never craved, and knowing the origin of deities’ so-called immortality made the prospect even more distasteful.
Pushing the thoughts aside for later consideration, Medusa's focus returned to Arke. This was stretching longer than she planned.
Turns out Arke had the resilience of a cockroach. She maintained her spirited resistance, slashing relentlessly as root after root shot at her; she was going at it with the same fervency she displayed at the start of their clash. Medusa nearly clapped, impressed.
Sighing, Medusa approached the madness and enveloped them in her dimension. The roots vanished, leaving only Medusa and Arke in the quiet space.
Hands held mid-strike, Arke panted as she looked around. She glared when she noticed Medusa. “What is this?”
Medusa watched her.
Gaze darting about again, Arke’s scowl shifted to a confused frown. “What have you done? Where are the roots?”
Medusa said nothing, instead wondering how to proceed. Violence seemed to be the only way, and she was yet to test her physical strength in this space.
“Well, this works even better with you being so close,” Arke said as she repeated the upward slashing motion. When nothing happened, she stared at her hands with a puzzled frown.
“What is this place?” Arke's voice grew high with panic as she took a big step back, only to slam into the edge of the dimension. “Speak,” she spat in a shaky voice that still managed to be condescending.
“You must have noticed the absence of aether.” There was something else in the space, but Medusa couldn’t tell what it was or tap into it.
“Release me this instant,” she yelled like a tantrum-throwing brat would.
“And if I don’t?” Medusa asked. How many hours would it take to break her? The girl had come across as murderous and fiercely determined. She’d prefer it if things moved quickly, though.
“Is… is this sorcery?” Arke asked as she pressed against the rippling wall. “Do you serve Circe?”
“Circe?” Medusa knew of the goddess. As much as there were chilling tales of Ares’ insatiable bloodlust, there were similar stories of Circe's wicked spells.
Medusa gave an uncaring shrug. “You’re free to imagine.”
Arke gawked, fear stark in her gaze. “W-what have you done?”
“Nothing yet,” Medusa mumbled as she looked beyond the transparent walls of the dimension.
The dogs were beginning to filter into the quadrangle in search of them. “I told you, didn't I?” Medusa returned her focus to Arke. “You’d be born anew today.”
When Medusa began her approach, Arke held up trembling arms. “I’m… I'm not scared of you.”
“It's not your fear I seek, Arke,” Medusa said and meant it.
Arke moved to strike her face.
Medusa frowned as she stepped away. Always aiming for the face. It brought back unpleasant flashbacks of that warrior’s club smashing her skull.
When Arke went for another strike, Medusa slapped her across the cheek.
Staggering to a stop, Arke cradled her jaw as her eyes widened with disbelief.
“What?” Medusa cocked her head, still frowning. “Never been slapped before?”
“You filth!” Arke slashed at Medusa.
Her fingernails were kept long in the fashion of wealthy nobles, and she was fast with it, but Medusa easily grabbed her hand, squeezed her fingers and twisted her arm.
Hissing, Arke stood on the ball of her feet as she strained to lessen the pressure Medusa applied.
From what Medusa observed, her above-average strength remained in the dimension, but an awakened will revert to whatever strength they’d possess without aether. She nearly smiled at the discovery.
“Curse you!” Arke spat.
“Unfortunately, I’m already cursed,” Medusa said dryly as she kicked Arke's ankle. But in a surprising display of agility, Arke righted herself and slammed her elbow against Medusa’s jaw.
Medusa bore down the pain and twisted her arm even harder, earning another shout.
“Stop!” Arke begged as she pressed her eyes shut. “Please, stop.”
Medusa shook her head. “But I can't.”
“W-what?” Arke's eyes flew open.
“Until that child begs on your behalf, remember?”
“What do you mean?” First, there was confusion, then realisation came. “But how would… how would she see me? No one can see us.” Arke gestured beyond the dimension with her free arm. “Look! They're passing right through.”
Medusa nodded. “I know.”
Arke gaped at her. “What are you—”
“We will do this in rounds,” Medusa said. “Try your best to kill me, and I will defend myself. If one of us is too weak to continue, I shall destroy this space and expose us to precious aether. But—” Medusa raised a finger. “I'll pull us back in when our bodies are repaired. Again and again. Round after round. The night is long. The dogs will go to sleep, but we’ll be awake. That property of yours will still be kneeling. How will she know you're suffering if you lose to me?”
Medusa met Arke’s eyes. There was fear in their depth, but defiance soon replaced it. Good. A one-sided trashing would be too boring.
“I told you to pray to your little unknown gods, didn't I?”
“Do not speak of my ancestors!” Arke threw a fist.
But it was useless. Though Arke’s strikes were impassioned, it was an easy win for Medusa. Round after round. Some dogs lingered, waiting to see them reappear. Arke's impressive recovery speed once exposed to aether. Her sneaky attempts to use her ability that Medusa snuffed out with her dimension. It was like a mini-training, with Medusa getting better and faster at summoning and destroying dimensions.
At the fourteenth round, Medusa began to see some progress.
“Alma!” Arke screamed with an amplified voice. “Come here this instant! Tell this—”
Medusa summoned her dimension once more and began a lesson on basic politeness. Twenty rounds later, Arke was a sobbing mess. Alma stood before the shattered railing, appearing flustered.
Wheezing and cradling her healing arm to her chest, Arke looked up at Alma. “Beg on my behalf. Tell her—”
Medusa drew Arke back into the dimension and peered at her. “Do you not know what it means to be polite? Ask nicely. Plead. Beg her to ask for mercy.”
“I'll do it.” Arke's gaze turned imploring. “I'll ask politely, just please… stop.”
Medusa willed the dimension away. “Go on.” She urged.
Even though Arke was fully recovered, she didn’t attempt to use her abilities. The remaining dogs were mainly nobles, their faces a display of shock, anger and fear. Eristes was also present; Medusa met his eyes and nodded in greeting. He gave her a black look before whirling away.
“Please, Alma,” Arke cried in an amplified voice. “Ask May to stop. I beg you!”
Alma looked from Arke to Medusa, appearing even more flustered now that all eyes were on her. “I…” She hugged herself and dropped her gaze. “You can stop.”
Arke turned to Medusa, eyes bright with relief. “Am I free now?”
Instead of answering, Medusa enveloped them in her dimension again.
When Arke realised she was back in the dimension, she crumbled to her knees as her shoulders slumped forward. “But—but you said… Please. I beg you, stop. I'll do whatever you ask. I swear on House Delion. I'll—”
“Two things.” Medusa held up two fingers.
“What?” Arke raised her head.
After listening to Medusa’s demands, Arke's face fell. “Why didn't you tell me at the beginning? I would have listened. I would have—”
“You and I both know you wouldn’t have listened,” Medusa cut in.
Arke nodded, looking contrite.
Medusa offered Arke a hand. “So, I'm counting on you?”
Arke reluctantly accepted her hand and let Medusa pull her to her feet. “Yes,” she mumbled.
“Good.” Medusa patted her shoulder and chuckled when she flinched. “Don’t be so tense. I’ll see you around.”
Medusa destroyed the dimension and strolled over to where Akrivi and the rest were waiting. One glance at the water clock showed nearly two hours had passed.
“You!” Akrivi laughed as he clapped Medusa on the back and hugged her to his side. “You were amazing. Did you see their faces? Thank the gods you joined the Dogs. I thought I’d die of boredom, then you came and saved me.”
Medusa chuckled.
“Are we going to act like this is normal?” Vyron asked, aghast. “Only yesterday, she was unawakened!”
“That was what you used with the bear.” Admiration shone in Lonian's eyes. “There was strength in your bones,” he said solemnly before patting her shoulder with a large hand. Then his focus travelled to the quadrangle. “That damage, though.”
Medusa grew even more amazed as she took in the destructive result of Arke’s ability. Like large claw marks tearing through the earth. How many similar monsters were in Drys Valon?
“Don't worry about it,” Medusa said. “The Whites will begin their duties starting tomorrow.”
“Huh?” Vyron chuffed and shook his head. “That's impossible.”
“Do you wish to make a bet?” Medusa asked Vyron. He didn't seem like a bad leader, just one who was used to getting ignored. Still, there was no denying he had some hold over the dogs. After all, he’d been bold enough to stand up to Eristes yesterday.
“I don't—”
“If things happen as I say, you'd go with my plan for the dogs with no complaint.”
Vyron massaged the bridge of his nose, appearing exhausted. “And if the Whites fail to do their duties?”
Akrivi scowled. “Why are you seeking his cooperation? We can force him—”
“No.” Medusa shook her head. Vyron may seem useless, but she had read the dorm rules; there were clever ways he could mess with her plan.
“What do you want?” Medusa asked.
Vyron's expression suddenly grew serious. “You'll tell me your real name and the house you belong to.”
This is me looking at me and nodding at me in appreciation.
That being said, I dropped a lil' poll at the end.
Until next Saturday.
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