It was supposed to be a normal day at the Crucible Blood Farm. Everyone was going about their day, the blood vials were being transported, some out of the freezer while freshly collected ones were being sent to be tested.
Kreas or Rick, as he was called by the Dracanae(a slur that had to do with his liking of western culture), was a Laestrygonian working with the storage division. Their job was easy enough, adding anti-coagulants to the vials, bags and containers of any kind and tinkering with the freezer every now and then to regulate the temperature.
Rick ducked under the low hanging door of the freezer. His flesh had flared with faint goosebumps inside the freezer as he carried a large crate out of it. The door closed behind him and the Dracanae who guarded it gave him a hiss and a stink eye. Rick growled back, baring his teeth but he knew that wouldn't get him anywhere.
He had always been a coward. Not much of a fighter, he would say personally; but 'coward' was the term everyone used. He got treated with contempt by almost everyone in the Crucible, so it was like any other day.
That's right. It was just a normal day...
He would take the container to the lab, get out before Lord Roy got back and spend the rest of his day preparing vials and injections with anti-coagulants. Every now and then, he would take a drop or two for himself, a drop of that oh-so-sweet demigod-blood that every monster craved but dared not touch; but he had that privilege. Today wasn't such a day though.
Lord Roy wasn't in the lab today. He was out on some official matters; a business deal if the Centaurs in the lab were to be believed so Rick got out on a relaxed pace. On his way out, he bumped into someone that instantly made his relaxed mood sour.
It was a beautiful and handsome man, with bright blonde hair and golden eyes. Jack Coffery was another demigod working for the Crucible; a child of Aphrodite and the right hand man of Lord Roy. Monsters saluted him as he walked past, and Rick himself was also forced to clear the way and salute.
Rick, for once, was glad to be giving someone the stink eye than receiving it.
As the child of Aphrodite walked by, their eyes met, and Jack Coffery blinked as his pupils shone with light.
...
Rick sat in his cubicle, his large hands tinkering with a few glass flasks. He looked out of the window on the side of his cubicle. Their base of operations was located in some building on the outskirts of a random city he couldn't be bothered to remember the name of; but the larger portion of it extended down into the underground.
He looked listlessly at the humans going about their way in their metal chariots and cycles, and could not help but salivate at the thought of a juicy thigh or a creamy liver. He wouldn't even say no to the brain; even if any Laestrygonian found it tasteless. He had these thoughts on a daily.
Technically, they weren't blocked off from going out and eating their fill, but the storage department always had their hands full.
And that was as far as the normal day went. For in the next moment, his thoughts would come crashing down alongside the entire floor.
BOOOOOOM!!!!
CRASH!!!
SHKRAA!!
Something screamed. Then there was fire. So much fire.
"Buah!" Rick struggled to breathe as his head burst out of the concrete. With his swollen eyesight, he realized that the topmost floor, one floor above them, had crashed down onto them. Monsters screamed all around him, some in confusion, others in pain.
And a metal beast smashed through what was left of the roof.
ROOOOAAARRR!!!
The beast which resembled a Sphinx and the Nemean Lion from Rick's memories let out a guttural roar and slashed at the nearest Centaur trapped in rubble. Without wait, it lunged at a Giant Serpent that was crawling out, taking the serpent's neck into it's terrible terrible maw that stretched as wide as the sky.
At that moment, amid the weakening fire, the smoke and dust of the crumbling building, the screams of the monsters and humans from the streets below and the shower of dust the two monsters had dissolved into, Rick saw a shadow perched at the back of the beast.
...
Jack Coffery was slumped in his chair, his hand gently grabbing a fistful of his blonde hair while the other hand guided a coffee mug to his lips. His white coat was smeared with red in many spots and on the table before him, various vials of colourful liquids rested.
Behind him, the Centaurs worked with some lab equipment.
Jack's eyes scanned the charts hung at the wall on the far right. Everything here was mostly worked on by Roy himself; Jack only filled in when he wasn't present. It wasn't that Jack was bad at experimentation and research, but he preferred not to mingle with such things that could make him dirty. Far as aesthetics went, he found the entire thing a bit tasteless.
"This might not be going anywhere." He said, grabbing a vial with golden liquid and scanning it intently.
Boom!
"What the?" Jack Coffery stood up from his chair and looked at the Centaurs. "Go and Check what that was. Roy will gut you all if any accidents happen."
With fervent nods, the Centaurs disappeared in a blur of speed.
...
Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff!
Rick felt his heart wanting to pound right out of his chest. His ears were sensitive to the point he felt he could hear even an ant crawling a hundred feet away, but the only thing blasting into them was the sound of his own breathing.
Slash! Poof!
Someone died behind him. He ran with all his strength, wanting to jump off the building to save himself, but as he neared the edge, a burst of cold frost exploded at his back and his footing crumbled down.
Gravity took hold of him and the lower floor came up to kiss his face.
Bam! Thud! Boom!
Some debris crushed his arm before he yanked it away. A burst of light flashed behind him and as he looked back, the humanoid shadow cut shot a dozen arrows wrapped in flames at the many monsters that were trying to run. A Centaur dashed out from the rubble and tried to run him through with a spear. The metal beast with its wings spanning 10 meters wide swept the Centaur off the ground and bit into his soft neck with a single bite.
Rick ducked, shielding his head with his hand and wished he had taken a leave for today. Something cold passed over his head, missing him by a hair's breath and it was only when he took in the courage to look at he found that it was an axe. It had imbedded itself into the head of a giant spider, freezing its entire body just before the monster disintegrated into dust.
"Monster..." Rick muttered unconsciously. He looked back. Those terrible glowing eyes met his own. The shadow extended its hand and the axe flew back to him, right before he threw it again at a Cyclops that was charging at him from the side.
RIck shakily stood back up, his legs too afraid to move. It was now that he understood that everyone was indeed right about him.
He was a coward.
And so, he turned around, and began to run.
Boom! Crash! Ruaaaaaaaa!
Roars of pain and ferocity rang out behind him and many Centaurs with lab coats dug out of the debris to rush at the intruder. Rick gritted his teeth. The building had been reduced right into the ground and below was the labyrinth where the larger portion of the facility was.
But the way things were going; he was sure, the facility was no more.
It would have been different if Lord Roy had been here. But he wasn't. And that was enough of a reason to get out of here.
The life of a coward is a life lived long.
But as if the Ananke were playing a sick trick on him, the same explosion of cold and frost ran down his back, the his footing crumbled. As he fell down into the underground, he looked back to where the shadow was fighting the Cyclops. The man had once again mounted the metal beast, and in the beast's maw was the wooden club the Cyclops had been holding.
Time seemed to have slowed down. Dracanae scales, spider fangs, serpent scales and scorpion stingers were falling alongside him. Down below, he saw a group of Cynocephali stare wide eyed as the falling debris approached.
But before he could impact the ground, an axe flew down; hitting the ground and freezing the Cynocephali in place.
...
"Sigh!" Jack Coffery sighed as he heard to constant explosions above him. He had some idea about what this was. "Must be related to the newcomer."
The demigod that was brought in earlier today had been speaking about how his big brother will save him when the monsters secured him. He had resisted severely alongside that Norse Squirrel of his, which made the monsters use some excessive force when dealing with them.
Jack hadn't been too worried about it then; considering how secretive they were, but now, trouble had come knocking to their door.
Boom!
"What a pain..." He took one final sip from his coffee mug, ran his hand through his hair and took off his coat. "Should I dip? Hm... Lord Roy will be pissed if I do..."
He walked in circles for a few seconds, scratching his chin; but before he could come to a conclusion, the roof above him began to freeze.
Crackle!
His eyes narrowed.
"Shit."
BOOOM!
A metal behemoth fell down, and on it was a human. The table right before him was destroyed by the debris, as was the rest of the lab; but as if by magic, not even a speck of dust touched Jack Coffery who stood at the center of it all.
"What do we have here?" He asked calmly. "A metal Usumgallu? Are you a child of Vulcan or Hephaestus?"
The shadow perched atop the beast gripped the axe in his hand. Nathan swept back some of his hair and stared at the demigod.
"Who the fuck are you? The one that runs this place?"
...
...
A/N: Apologies for not uploading. I got really sick recently, and wasn't able to focus. In the meantime, my phone also broke down which meant I wasn't able to write at all.
Anyway, Creation is difficult, so just keep me motivated! Leave some Reviews if you like the work! And if you don't, tell me what's wrong!