Chapter 41: The Chase
{Galloway Forest, May 5th 2000}
MC POV
I appeared once again in the forest where my labor deer was hiding. Before starting my hunt I decided to take out my magic compass, with a thought a tendril shot from my shadow, compass on its end, I thought of an object any object that would help Thalia, but as I looked down at the compass the needle just kept on spinning and spinning as if it didn't know what to do.
I tried thinking of the deer and soon the compass directed me west, if there was a way to help save Thalia the compass couldn't help me find it.
I sunk once more into my shadow, then I appeared once again in another corner of the woods, there the deer stood grazing.
I summoned my shadowy tendrils, sending them towards the deer once more, the deer phased through the ensnaring tendrils. "Let the hunt begin." I whispered trying to not think about Thalia or the compass.
Day 15
The Hind's elusive form flickered through the dense foliage of Galloway Forest, its ethereal grace a stark contrast to the gnarled trees. I teleported from shadow to shadow, my heart pounding in sync with the pulsating darkness that enveloped me. Each time I emerged, the Hind was just a blur ahead, its form shimmering as it phased through tree trunks and leapt over streams.
Day 46
The chase continued through Scotland and northern England, the deer trying to shake me off his trail by creating long, patterns. But it obviously hadn't worked I continued at its tail, eating and drinking from the supplies in my shadow in the small time I could manage.
Day 90
The Hind continued running as we made it to abeach, but the Hind didn't stop to rest and kept in running. It started running across the water, and as I saw it run away from me I recalled the last time I had gone into water and how that hadn't exactly gone so well.
As I approached the water I noticed the shadows and darkness formed by the waves and the refraction of light and so I decided to try something, concentrating on those shadows I sunk into my own.
Then I started to control my actions so as to not reappear in my bodily form, but rather start moving in my shadow form as I had decided to call it, it took a few tries but soon I succeeded and the chase through water once again.
Day 120
We finally crossed the huge expanse of water North-East of England, finally reaching another landmass which I was able to figure out was Norway according to some signs which thankfully were in english.
As the chase continued I recalled how in a Heracles' labor it took him more than a full year to tire out the hind and I couldn't help but think how long I was going to take.
Day 180
Six months had passed, yet the Hind showed no signs of stopping as we travelled at super speeds first through Norway, the entering, crossing Sweden, Finland and then entering Russia, it seemed as if we were circumventing the entirety of Europe itslef.
My chase though got even tougher as the more time passed more and more monsters seemed to keep popping up almost every time I attacked the Hind and forced it to phase, in once case even gryphons flew down to attack me.
Day 270
The Hind I then crossed through Russia in the tempering cold, thankfully I was protected from it by my Calydonian Sweater which lit up and warmed me. From Russia we crossed into Poland, a place which seemed to be filled with even more monsters than before as drakons kept on finding the Hind and myself.
Day 360
Almost a full year had gone by since the start of my Hunt, from Poland we crossed into Germany a place which seemed to be filled with witches, in fact I even got a close call with Medea once as she tried to enchant me into sleeping with her, pretty weird since I was twelve.
Still the most important part in this territory is that I could visibly tell the Hind was starting to slow down, it time each phased it took even more effort from the Hind, its panting a symphony to my ears which signified the end of my quest was near.
Day 450
The Hind and I then finished crossing Germany, and most of France, I could feel it, it wouldn't be long before my labor would be complete, and as the thought of it came to my mind a wide grin appeared on my face as I sent my shadowy tendrils once again towards the Hind forcing it to phase through them once again.
Day 489
Finally we started crossing through the mountain range that bordered France and Spain, we had reached the Pyrenees.
The Hind saw a river scaling down its water and couldn't help but get nervous, I didn't know why but maybe it was having flashbacks to its quest with Heracles since the Greek hero had also led it to a river.
The Hind, with the last of its strength, leapt towards the water, phasing one final time. I followed suit, my tendrils reaching out, ensnaring it, the slighlty giant deer tried vibrating as hard as it could but it didn't have the strength because of the long chase it couldn't phase through my tendrils.
"Gotcha." I whispered in triumph as I pulled the deer towards me, locking its legs and mouth with my tendrils finally sitting on its locked form. "You were one hell of a pain." I said to the deer as it continued wriggling slighlty in my tendrils as in defiance.
"But don't worry I will let you go when my labor is complete no harm done." I whispered to the deer once again. It looked at me with a face of incredulity at my words as if asking me if I was being sarcastic.
"Don't look at me like that, you were the one who kept on running." I finished saying to the deer's face, which once again was filled with incredulity at my words.
[Greek Myth Fact: Today's fact will be about the Hind itself since I feel it is one of the cooler mythological monsters.
The Ceryneian Hind was a golden-horned deer sacred to the goddess Artemis. Herakles was sent to fetch it as one of his twelve labours. After chasing the animal for a full year he finally captured it on Mount Artemision in Arkadia (Arcadia). The goddess Artemis complained about the treatment of her deer whose horn had broken off by the hero in the struggle. He nevertheless managed to persuade her to let him borrow it for the completion of his Labour.
According to some the hind was one of five golden-horned deer gifted to Artemis by the Nymph Taygete. The other four drew the chariot of the goddess.]
*Author Note: I started a patreon called Joanjudo Stories it will end up having 10 chapters in advance, access to the secondary fanfic (will write in spare time) and polls to decide some of the future plots/characters.*
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