章 18: Chapter 18

[Third Person's PoV]

When Lucian opened his eyes he could barely make out his surroundings, it seems he was in some sort of underground cave.

'What? I was just sleeping in the woods, how the hell did I end up underground' he thought before hearing a hissing noise behind him.

He quickly turned around and found a large woman with eight eyes, mandible, sharp teeths, and from the waist down the bottom half of a spider.

Lucian looked at this in shock, he tried to say something but the words wouldn't come out, 'Arachne? Is this one of those demi-gods dream things where they can view the events of the past, present, and/or future.'

"*Hisss* my little darlings I have a job for you" Arachne said with a wicked smile on her face addressing the little spiders around her.

'Why the hell am I even seeing this? I'm not a child of Athena, why should this be any of my concern'

"I have become aware of another spawn of Athena" She said with hate in her voice,

"Go to Virginia where the spawn of Athena lays and eat her alive for she–"

Before Lucian could hear anything else his body began to shake back and forth, prompting him to wake up.

When Lucian woke up he noticed his shadow giant shaking him awake, he pinched the bridge of his nose as he asked "What is it?"

The shadow giant just pointed his finger upwards. When Lucian followed the direction of its finger with his gaze he saw a swarm of pigeon birds start to circle the area where he was previously sleeping.

Lucian narrowed his eyes trying to get a better view, when he suddenly noticed the birds started tucking in their wings and diving towards his direction.

Lucian got up and jumped out the way as a bird with its metallic beak dove beak first where he was sitting.

Lucian remembers seeing them in the book his mother gifted him, 'Stymphalian Birds.'

As he dove out the way, Lucian still winced in pain, 'It looks like I'm not entirely healed.'

Lucian pointed his palm towards the bird's direction and tightened it into a fist causing the ground to move and take a hold of the bird's beak holding in place.

But as he did more and more birds started diving towards his direction trying to injure him. Lucian willed the giants not to do anything as he wanted to try out something.

As the birds kept getting closer Lucian narrowed his eyes waiting for them to get closer. 'Now!' He thought as he willed his shadow to turn into tendrils and skewer themselves into the birds.

One by one the tendrils started penetrating the birds causing them to fall out of the sky laying there dead.

Seeing that some of them were still in the air and not coming down, Lucian used his tracing and projection magic abilities and conjured 6 daggers, the same amount as birds in the sky.

He waved his arms and controlled them to start following the birds that were trying to escape, killing them when he got up with them.

Lucian then looked at the bird that still had his beak on the ground and willed the earth to swallow it whole burying it underground, Lucian tighten his fist again causing blood to make the dirt around it moisten.

But Lucian didn't pay any attention to that anymore, he sat on the ground and made the giants start collecting the bodies of the birds and bring them to him alongside any sticks and small rocks they find.

Before anything else, Lucian said "Arise!" Causing a total of 20 bird shadows to appear and sink into his own shadow.

When the shadow giants finished, Lucian started building a campfire. Once he was done he held out his palm towards it and said "ignes fatui" meaning will-o-wisp or small fire. Shooting a small flame towards the campfire turning it on.

Lucian basically made his shadow giants pluck, skin, gut, and bleed out the birds and put them on a stick where he proceeded to cook some of them, storing the rest for later.

Lucian went into his bag and started looking through its different pockets, "Now where did I put it? This was something I told myself to never leave home without… Aha!" Lucian exclaimed, pulling out a salt and pepper shaker.

After seasoning his food and eating his lunch Lucian put everything away and left just one giant available. Lucian proceeds to then make that giant pick him up and put him on its shoulder and start walking through the forest.

While being carried through the forest Lucian kept thinking about the dream he previously had, 'Was that a sign for me to go to Virginia… but why, I literally have nothing to do with Athena or her children. I know I should just ignore it but the curiosity is now killing me'

Luckily for Lucian after a couple hours of walking through the forest he didn't find any monsters. He soon found the exit much to his excitement, "Finally! Although I wasn't walking it was boring!" Lucian complained.

When he exited the forest he saw a sign that said "Hofmann Forest North Carolina", "Now I just need a fucking map and I'll now just where to go"

He patted the shadow giant on the shoulder and pointed towards a random direction down a highway, "Onward my friendly giant, to the nearest gas station! To infinity and beyond"

After almost an hour of walking down Jacksonville, a street of North Carolina, Lucian saw a gas station, and let out a sigh of relief.

None of the people there batted an eye when they saw Lucian riding the shoulder of a shadowy giant, probably because of the mist that separates the mortal world from the supernatural.

To everyone else it probably just looks like a dad carrying his son on his shoulder going to walk.

When Lucian entered the gas station he let out another sigh of relief when he saw a bunch of large paper maps on a shelf.

He willed the shadow giant, who after all this time Lucian decided to name Larry, Larry the Laistrygonian, anyways he willed Larry to pick up a paper map and take it to the front. Where he proceeded to pay for it.

After he was done paying, Lucian willed Larry to pass him the map and to go outside. When Lucian took the paper map he unfolded it and looked at it for a few seconds.

He flipped it around, turned it sideways and closed and opened it again before closing it again with a sigh.

"I forgot I have fucking dyslexia"