27

Leylah was about to walk through the arched gate of the underground palace of Apollo when she heard a loud buzzing that seemed to be coming from somewhere behind her. Turning around, she felt the blood in her veins freeze. A large dark hole had appeared at the centre of the horrible cavern, swirling slowly in the air.

The two metal warriors took a step forward, standing defensively on either side of her.

“What is this?” she asked.

“We do not know either, oh oracle!” Autonoos replied.

“Whatever it is, it doesn’t look good to me,” Phylakos added.

The dark vortex began to stabilise and transform into something that resembled the entrance of a tunnel with sleek black walls. A few moments later a flabby, white creature flecked with yellow spots was thrust from the hole. The creature was dressed in a long raven tunic and dragged his feet on the floor of the cavern for a while before stopping to look around him with his big, bulging, reptilian eyes.

“Home, sweet home!” he sighed in a frog-like croak, his fat neck inflating and deflating as he spoke. A sinister smile formed on his large mouth.

“By Zeus! It’s Python, the sorcerer!” Phylakos said.

“Yes, but how did that horrible monster get here?” Autonoos asked.

“This black hole is a gate that he opened, uniting Tartarus with Earth,” Leylah said.

“Oh, so you finally figured it out. My congratulations, dear!” Python croaked and then struck his wavy wand hard on the floor. On its tip a purple crystal shone dimly.

The two guards lifted their spears above their shoulders and prepared to throw them at the Titan but he remained unnervingly composed, standing firm and smiling enigmatically.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s send this loathsome creature back to where it came from!” Autonoos said impatiently.

“Yes! To Hell and beyond,” Phylakos added.

“Oh... the tin soldiers of Apollo! Always eager for action,” Python snuffled with amusement. “But this time I am not here as an enemy, but... as a friend.” He sweetened his terrible voice as much as he could and then opened his arms as if hoping to demonstrate the sincerity of his intentions.

Leylah motioned for the two guards not to move against him yet. They stayed frozen in place, like statues, their spears still turned on their potential enemy.

“You mean to tell me that the Titans have spent that small and valuable part of the Flame - that which you managed to steal from Utopia - not to vanquish me, but... to make friends with me?” Leylah enquired.

“Hmm... It seems that our little girl doesn’t know everything after all,” the Sorcerer of Tartarus smirked. “And this means that I calculated correctly and got here at the exact moment that I should have... before she enters that cursed place and uncovers the powers of an oracle.” He pointed, with a hand dripping with bracelets and rings, to the arched gate of the palace of Apollo.

“Quit blabbing, Python, and make your move,” Leylah shouted. “You know that even if you kill me, you will just send me to the Elysian Fields, from where, as a warrior of Good, I will once again do whatever I can so that Evil doesn’t dominate the three worlds... Just know that even without the help of their oracle, the Orizons will prevail in the end and you Titans will lose this war as you did the last.”

He raised his head high and his awful croaking laughter echoed off the cavern roof. “Why don’t you believe me, little girl?”

“Perhaps because you are... a Titan?” she replied. “So, tell me what you really want!”

“I’ve come to take you with me to Tartarus!”

Now it was her turn to laugh. “I would rather put an end to my life right now.”

“Listen to me, sweetie... The fate of the universe is now predestined. The Titans will become the rulers of all the worlds! They will eliminate the Gods once and for all and, along with them, the Orizons and, of course, the humans. This means that you are going to die for good and that the only way to save yourself is to come with me now.”

“You are bluffing! It will take you centuries to create a gate - if there is actually anything left of the stolen Flame at all - at which point we will be more than ready to deal with you once again. So why this sudden interest in whether I live or die?”

He passed his thick, wet tongue over his lips. “Because, along with you, your rare gift will also be lost!”

“Listen to me, sorcerer! Go back to your dark world and tell your master, Cronus, that there is no way you can take advantage of my power, which emanates from the Great Creator himself.”

“Oh, but don’t you see? I’m not here as a messenger for the unworthy Cronus, but purely on my own initiative. And I’m not speaking generally about the Titans or anyone else, but about me... and you!”

“What?” she was baffled.

“Yes, my dear! I, the great Python and future King of the Titans, invite you, Leylah, the young Princess of the Orizons, to ally with me and become my bride so that we may rule the universe in unison.”

The girl felt nauseous. She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.

“Believe me, Leylah, after the end of this war and the victory of the Titans, we will both be dead. You will have died at the hands of Queen Rhea, who, before killing you, intends to throw you into the depths of Hell and subject you to the most horrible and unspeakable torture. And I will be killed at the hands of my own brother, Cronus, since he will never forgive me for the fact that for centuries, while he remained completely idle and inactive, drinking the black Water of Oblivion, I have worked hard and have managed to become popular among the Titans. They have realised that I - yes I - am the one who will soon bring them the long-awaited freedom from their prison and will lead them to our final victory.”

“You mean that your own brother, instead of thanking you for making him King of the Universe, will kill you because he believes that you are stealing his glory? What kind of vile creature is Cronus?”

“Oh, but I don’t blame him one bit. After all, I would do exactly the same thing in his position,” Python laughed. “Of course, I hope he’ll show the same understanding when, on the day that he is proclaimed the leader of all four worlds, I will take his crown... after I first take his faceless head.”

“You intend to kill him... before he kills you?”

“Of course. Such is the nature of the Titans. We are completely dedicated to the acquisition of increasingly greater pleasure and power, by any means and without any moral barrier.”

“Dedicated to absolute Evil!” Leylah added in disgust.

“Yes, to Evil - the very thing that I am asking you to dedicate yourself to, body and soul, if you want to live and thrive...”

“Enough!” she shouted and stretched her left hand out towards him, in which she was now holding the golden wand of the God of Light.

“Oh, come with me, little girl! Come to my palace in dark Tartarus to receive the black Flame. It is the power that can make your gift three times stronger than whatever the miserable light of Apollo could offer you.”

“Silence!” Leylah warned him.

“Come with me, sweetheart. Now! Before it’s too late... This gate that leads to my world will soon be closed.” Saliva ran from the corners of his mouth. “The time we have left is minimal. So, come! You, with your unique ability to foresee the future, and I, with my wisdom and unparalleled magical powers, can be the Queen and King of all worlds, together for eternity.”

“Ohhh, APOLLO!” she shouted.

Python’s bulging eyes almost popped out of their sockets upon seeing the young princess holding a weapon he knew all too well.

“What in Hell? It’s the horrible silver bow of Apollo!” he thought with terror. Thick drops of sweat trickled down his bald scalp.

Thousands of years may have passed since then, but he could still clearly recall the excruciating pain he had suffered from the light arrows that the God of Light had shot into him. It was there, in Delphi, that he had faced him during the previous great cosmic war - the famous Clash of the Titans.

“I must strike first, before it’s too late,” he thought and turned his magic weapon against her. A fine but deadly purple beam of light shot out from the gem on the top of his wavy wand and whistled towards her.

Having fought against Python before, the two metal guards had predicted this move. Even though they had been standing as motionless as statues flanking Leylah, they reacted with incredible swiftness. A second before the beam was shot, they had already knelt down and joined their shields together in front of the princess. Python’s beam struck the shields with a deafening bang, without managing to penetrate them.

“Hmm... It looks as though our friend has decided to rule the universe alone,” Phylakos said.

“Yes... But, the poor thing, how can he bear such loneliness?” Autonoos asked.

“Spread your shields!” Leylah instructed. They obeyed and she fired an arrow through the gap. The light arrow whooshed fiercely through the air, but Python had moved and it vanished into the gate that led to Tartarus. The sorcerer had plunged to the ground face down, his bulky body slapping the floor hard. Upon impact, he began to melt, with steaming liquid pouring across the floor. It was as if he was not made of flesh but of molten metal. Once he had extended and flowed about ten yards, he reared back up and transformed into a huge white snake flecked with vile yellow spots.

“Too bad, my little one!” the reptilian creature hissed between its teeth. Now I’ll have to either take you with me by force and deliver you to Queen Rhea, or kill you. And I think it would be better for you if I killed you.”

The large purple crystal sprang up like a horn between his two eyes, glowing menacingly.

Leylah released a light arrow, which banged into the monster with a powerful explosion, making him flinch backwards with a howl of pain. The girl realised that although the weapon Apollo had given her couldn’t kill Python, it was definitely capable of inflicting pain - so much pain!

The giant snake coiled and turned its head. “Onward, my soldiers!” he screeched to a horde of Demons of all shapes and sizes, who flooded out from the gate of Tartarus and poured into the cavern, screaming and brandishing in the air every conceivable kind of spear, sword, scythe and axe.

“We have more uninvited guests,” Autonoos said.

“Lucky us! We had begun to get rusty after... twenty-five centuries of inaction,” Phylakos added.

“I think it would be better to divide our enemies. So you take care of these creatures,” Leylah shouted, pointing at the Demons.

“With great pleasure,” Autonoos replied.

“And I will lure Python to another spot.”

She immediately started running to the side.

“But be careful,” Phylakos called after her.

The two metal warriors, with the blue flames in the dark sockets of their helmets burning wildly, turned their heads towards the screaming horde of creatures from Tartarus.

“Where are our manners? Let’s offer something to our guests,” said Autonoos.

“I think that a little steel forged by God Hephaestus himself would be ideal for the occasion.”

Together they flung their spears at the Demons, who were now barely twenty yards away. Five of them fell instantly, with three impaled on one spear and two on the other. Another five tripped over the corpses of their comrades and became entangled on the floor in a mess of hands, feet, hooves, horns and tentacles.

The two guards of Apollo’s temple then unsheathed their swords.

“Attack!” Phylakos shouted and they both lunged forward. Like well-oiled machines they began pushing their attackers with their shields while striking them with their swords. Hands and heads went flying in every direction and grotesque bodies fell soulless, one after another.

Meanwhile, Python uncoiled and raised his head high. Seeing that Leylah was not with the two warriors anymore, his eyes scanned every corner of the cavern. “Where are you, little girl?” he howled.

“I’m right here, monster,” the girl whispered as she emerged from behind a column about a hundred yards away. She pulled back the string of her bow and shot a light arrow into the air. It traced a curved path before exploding on top of Python’s scalp.

The Titan felt as if he had been hit by one of Zeus’s thunderbolts. The waves of pain overwhelmed his entire reptilian body - from the top of his head to the tip of his tail - leaving him without the strength to even let out a scream. Running in the shadows, the girl moved to hide behind another column.

The gate from Tartarus continued to spew out Demons and the two metal warriors were now surrounded, fighting back to back and sometimes stumbling on corpses or slipping on the black blood of the corpses piling up on the floor.

“What a mess,” Phylakos said as he brought down his sword on the head of a horned Demon, splitting it in two.

“Our visitors are not polite at all,” Autonoos agreed, plunging the tip of his sword into one of the five eyes of another Demon. “They have befouled our home,” he added as he kicked a creature in its chest full of tentacles, throwing it backwards onto the spears of its comrades.

Python was regaining his strength and his eyes, now blood-red with anger, searched the cavern again. This time he saw the light arrow coming straight at him. Flinging his body to the side, he managed to dodge it, swooping forward and letting out a triumphant cry.

“Game over. I’m coming for you, little girl!”

Leylah changed position again but the monster spotted her and the gem on his forehead shone awfully, shooting a purple beam at her. The princess barely managed to make it behind a column, which was so shaken by the power of the beam’s strike that it began to crumble.

“Stupid creature,” the monster howled. “I offered you the chance to be Queen of the Universe and you refused. Now, die!”

The girl ran to avoid the pieces of stone that were now falling around her and a second beam landed just a few feet ahead of her, disintegrating a huge stalagmite with a deafening explosion. She turned immediately in the direction from which it had been fired and shot a light arrow. Again the huge snake flung his body to the side just in time.

Seeing that the next column was at least twenty yards ahead of her and that the spot where she was could not provide her with any satisfactory coverage, Leylah turned around and ran to hide behind the rubble that had just fallen from the roof. Crouched down, she avoided the purple beam, which skimmed over her and blew a large hole in the wall of the cavern several feet behind her.

“And here, my dear, our encounter comes to an end!” Python said triumphantly and lunged forward. “An encounter that has turned out to be a meal... for one.”

Leylah, kneeling on one knee, was awaiting him with a light arrow quivering between her fingers, which were stretching the string of Apollo’s bow to its full extent.

“Eat this first,” she shouted and sent her arrow speeding into the open mouth that was preparing to devour her.

The explosion of pain rocked his head and Python flew backwards, screaming. Leylah jumped to her feet and tried to run but saw the tail of the enormous serpent, writhing in pain, whipping towards her. She dived flat on the floor and the tail whistled over her, smashing into the rock she had just left behind her. Springing back up, she continued to run, her heart powering her forward like a steam engine.

As Python started to regain consciousness, he lifted his head slowly and tried to figure out what was happening around him.

“Master... Master!” he heard the Demons howl behind him.

Turning, he saw that all of them had given up the fight and were running, whimpering and panicked, to the gate to Tartarus.

“Cowards!” he screamed, enraged. “Why are you retreating?”

“Master, it’s time! The gate is closing,” one of them replied.

“Damn!” the Titan growled. He uncoiled and started crawling towards the hole, numb and slowly at first, but then faster and faster. The hole had begun to lose its shape and was swirling in the air, emitting a rumbling noise. Furious and disappointed, Python used his head and tail to crush and shunt his minions out of his way. When he finally made it through, he turned his loathsome head and looked back.

Leylah was standing tall and proud, despite her breathlessness, between the two guards of Delphi, witnessing his ignominious retreat.

“We will meet again soon, little girl!” he hissed with hatred. “And next time perhaps you’ll be the one begging me to allow you to come to Tartarus!”

“In your dreams, monster!” Leylah replied contemptuously.

“Oh, yes,” he responded gleefully, “because very soon I will have in my hands something you love.”

“What do you mean?”

“Something you love very much!” the snake shouted with a maniacal laugh as the dark hole that led to Tartarus faded.