Chương 84: The World Below - New Encounters

The Kastigo continent was very large, it occupied a third of the planet's surface, but that was before the islands rose to the skies.

Now the continent was half its original size and everywhere was possible to find craters where cities and even kingdoms would fit.

Athena and her group faced one of these holes.

The place was strange, unlike the rest of the world, there were no monsters and the miasma was almost non-existent.

Inside the crater was dense forest and a fine waterfall that flowed into the darkness of the hole.

"Are you sure there's something here?" Hercules asked in disbelief.

It could hardly be believed that something would exist in a hole that seemed to have no end.

"She was sealed in a mana crystal and fell to the bottom." Ella said and looked at Athena. "Just for the record, I'm not going with you."

"Huh? How not?" Athena asked excitedly. "I... My powers come down to my physical strength and claws at the moment. What if there's a really strong monster down there?"

"Then you run away with all your strength!" Elle said pretending to run. "I don't like places this far below the surface."

"In other words, you're scared of the dark." Athena provoked. (She won't fall for that...)

Ella looked at Athena when she heard the teasing, but she was the oldest there, but that was just a matter of age.

"What did you say?" Ella glared at Athena. "Me, a dragon, scared? Hah!"

"So... You go?" Athena made a mocking face. (Uah~! She fell.)

Ella narrowed her eyes, noticing Athena's little game and gave a playful smile without saying anything.

Seeing the dragon's smile, Athena smiled too and the two walked to the edge of the crater.

Athena took a long piece of vine from a tree near the edge and started down the crater that was almost as steep as a real walls.

Ella waited for Athena to reach half the vine and when the woman looked up and seemed to want to ask something, Ella smiled innocently and cut the vine.

At that moment Athena's eyes widened and she screamed hundreds of curses in a few seconds until disappearing among the trees.

Ella looked at the rest of the group, who were gaping at what they saw, and smiling she said. "Now we wait."

The fall was not long and Athena only had scratches on her arms, back and stomach when she managed to grab a tree.

"I already know which dragon I'm going to kill first!" Athena growled in irritation.

Athena took a deep breath, controlling her anger, and looked down.

She was standing on the trunk of a tree that was on the edge of a dark free fall.

Athena felt a slight vertigo and clung to a branch as her legs trembled and a cold shiver rose in her belly.

It was still daylight and different from the north, the weather there was relatively warm, but even so that place was so dark that Athena thought about the original plan before meeting Ella.

"I should have gone to my house to see if I could find something to bring with me..." Athena looked around and saw only more trees and the hole below. "How am I going to get down?"

Athena looked at the waterfall that ran further to the side, she thought about the distance it could be there and took a bet.

The woman turned her back to the dark hole and let herself fall into the darkness, betting that there might have a lake at the end of it and if there wasn't, she had already survived a fall before.

With her eyes closed, Athena disappeared into the darkness, her hair and skin moistened by the veil of water that fell with her.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Hercules asked as he tried to comb Idna's hair with his fingers. "You know, when we flew over this forest, the hole in the middle of it seemed endless."

Ella was lying on a rock, sunbathing like a cold-blooded reptile.

"She'll be fine…I think." Ella replied without moving. "What more can happen in a place as boring as this?"

"I don't know... She can die?"

"It's a possibility." Ella spun on the stone and with her back to the sun, she let her wings and tail appear and then her horns also appeared. "Wake me up at dinner time."

"Athena can die?" Malana asked Hercules.

"I really don't know..." Hercules said as he looked again at the trees. "Let's pray to the god to protect her."

"Don't waste your precious time." Ella grumbled. "The gods can do nothing even if they could interfere in the world."

"Huh? What do you mean they can't?"

...

....

.....

Two weeks had passed and Athena had not returned.

On the fourth day, Hercules was already apprehensive and insisted that Ella go look for the Athena, but she refused.

Days were like hours to almost eternal creatures like dragons, and so Ella saw no compelling reason to get out of her rock and went back to sleep.

But as time went on and Athena did not appear, even Ella started to worry.

"Are you going to worry now? After two weeks?" Hercules asked mockingly.

"I didn't expect it to take so long…" Ella said with concern on her face.

Worried about Athena, Hercules was irritated and had already chewed all the nails on his fingers.

(So much time spent on taking care of Athena just for her to die like this?) Hercules thought this and heard Kalta's voice.

"Hercules, look over there! There are six flying monsters coming down here!"

Hercules frowned and with his mouth crooked down, he looked up at the sky in the direction the boy was pointing.

To the west he saw six monsters approaching with considerable speed, but Kalta was mistaken.

Ella looked in the same direction and she could see clearly what those flying creatures were.

"It's not monsters and it's not just six." Ella informed. "There are two pegasus, a grimera, a unicorn, a lashas and a...fairy?" Ella made a confused expression. "Why is a fairy descending to this polluted world?"

"Does it matter? Why are these creatures coming down here?" Hercules questioned uncomfortably.

"Ah! No, there are people on every creature's back, except for the fairy." Ella added.

After a few seconds, the six creatures landed on the ground in front of Ella, Hercules and the children.

From the back of the white pegasus stepped down a young woman with straight blue hair. Her armor was black with gold streaks and made a heavy sound.

From the back of the brown pegasus stepped down a woman and a boy.

The boy had tousled orange hair, his plate armor was dull gray and on his back a large club dangled as he ran towards the unicorn.

The woman had red hair, wore silver plate armor, and on her back was a large shield with the design of a black lion's head impaled on a sword.

From the back of the white grimera stepped down a young woman. Her hair braided into a single rope was reddish black and she wore a red overcoat, black leather pants, black shirt and boots.

From the unicorn's back stepped down a young woman with the help of the boy in armor.

The woman had short dark brown hair that reached her shoulders and was dressed in brown pants, a white shirt and black boots.

From the back of the lashas, a creature that looked like a gigantic dog with flaming paws, stepped down a couple.

The man had orange hair, wore an eye patch over his left eye, and wore heavy matte gray armor with a plain design just like the boy's.

The man went down and took a barefoot woman wearing a red dress, as her hair, in his arms as if she were a princess.

They exchanged glances, smiles and emanated a passionate aura.

The woman that Ella identified as a fairy wore a dark blue tunic with gold and silver embroidery.

She had greenish-blond hair that was too long, it was tied in three thick knots, and she had six wings in her back.

Her wings opened and closed as she landed in front of Hercules.

Upon seeing the woman, Hercules was stunned with wide eyes. The woman resembled an Athena with golden hair with shades of green.

(She is beautiful...)

Hercules felt his hands sweat, his heart racing and his lips dry. Though she resembled Athena, Hercules had completely forgotten about Athena.

"What are you looking at?" The woman asked. "Where is Athena?"

***

Let's go back a little, exactly twelve days ago.

Athena fell for nearly thirty seconds and had time to think about her breasts moving awkwardly as she fell.

She touched them curiously and felt them swollen, no, maybe full. She massaged them and as she did so, she felt an exciting current run through her body.

(Um... I need have-)

Athena thought this and sank into the icy, dark water of the lake at the end of the hole, ending any excitement she was beginning to feel.

Athena swam back to the surface and breathed in the cool air of that cavernous place.

She looked around and all she saw was a circular rock wall and on the left side there was a cave, where a black crystal glowed with intensity but it didn't emanate the overwhelming power she'd expected, but...

(What the hell is that doing there?)