Chapter 5: The Mission

Ariadne walked up to Toha and the group. Her powerful form dominated his vision.

Toha only knew so much about the Minotaurs of stories that his mother read to him from his father’s library. They were known as beasts that guarded the labyrinths, and that was all he knew.

It was hard to see all her features from behind. Upfront, Toha could see that Ariadne was wearing bronze armor that covered her chest and body. She had small horns protruding from her head. Her trident turned almost into a walking stick as the blunt head tapped the dirt when she walked. Her hooves left prints on the ground as she got closer and closer.

Toha was still left with his thoughts “She is both powerful and beautiful.” He noted her form; he could see a feminine look to her. She had orange fur with some white spots that covered her body that was not covered up in armor. She had a small amount of brownish hair sprout from her head that looked like human hair. Her chest size was average size but proportional to that of a woman of her size. Her nine-foot frame dominated the size of the group. Her tail waved to and fro as one of her hands touched her hips. She had brown eyes.

“Are ... is ... are you truly that?” Toha struggled to ask her.

“This is my true form, Toha. I am Ariadne, the Goddess of Labyrinths. I am the granddaughter of Zeus and Princess of Crete ... or I was a long time ago. So much as happened from that time to today.”

Her trident then disintegrated in her hand as she then held her hand to point out the rest of the group. “This is Sárkány the dragon and this is Daiyu, a human and good partner to Sárkány.”

Daiyu interrupted, “By the way, his name is spelled Sárkány. I know to you it sounds like ‘Zarkon.’”

Toha never had a chance to note his true form. Sárkány was an anthropomorphic bipedal dragon. He wore a suit of armor on top of the armored scales that he already had. He had a greenish coloration to his whole body. He wore a helmet that protected the top of his head but did not cover his face. He could see a pointed nose of a reptile, dragon-like wings, scales that covered his body, five fingers on each hand, a broadsword in his right hand, four-digit feet with talons dug into the dirt. He had a tail with spikes that protruded from the tip, and he had yellow eyes that were reptilian-like.

“Is this your true form?” Toha asked.

Sárkány smiled, “But of course, lad.”

Daiyu added, “He has another from besides being human that I have seen once. He only does it if there is no other choice.”

Toha shook his head “This is all incredible. I never imagined that ... you people exist. I had always heard of you as myths or made up stories. I ... I don’t know what to say.”

“It is ok, lad,” Sárkány stated.

Ariadne nodded, “It will take time, but you will get used to it. Everyone will.”

“It is natural to feel the way you do,” Daiyu explained. “We ... they take on human form to help disguise themselves as human. The catch is that it is very draining on their mana. After about half a day, they have to revert to their original forms to help recharge and do it again.

Ariadne had her arms crossed “There was a time when we barely ever had to take human form. Now with things they are, it is becoming a necessity.”

Daiyu nodded, “Us humans are getting better at surviving. In the last forty years, we have watched the population of this planet explode. I had seen it first hand when it came to places like China that it has affected them politically. Europe was the perfect example of increasing population and technological changes that, when the war began in 1914, everyone thought that it would be over in less than a year. Four years later and we barely moved an inch. I hope that this war is a lesson on all of us.”

“That wasn’t what I was meaning.”

“I know,” Daiyu said. “The population of this planet is getting so large that it is hard for the deities to hide. They are invincible when it comes to lethal weapons, but it is difficult to maintain human forms for the deities that are not human. They can maintain the form for several hours, but it drains their power.”

Toha shook his head “Is there a place we can go to sit and talk about everything? There is a lot we need to talk about.”

Ariadne turned around and looked at the ruins. “Yes, I imagine the Germans will not be coming back here. But the allies will try to occupy this place.”

Sárkány jumped in. “We can simply take human form, Princess! The Allies will not bother us too much if they think we are natives of this town.”

“No ... I am not picking it up here in this town at all. I would have picked something up by now. If the Germans had simply waited a few minutes, I would have given up and let them take the town instead of killing one of them.”

Toha shrugged his shoulders, “I have had to kill...”

Ariadne looked down, “I have the power to kill a lot of human mortals. I try to avoid it when I can. I had to chase them off, and the officer wasn’t going to stop. That human might have been a father for all I know. Yes, Toha, we have all had to kill, but I don’t take pleasure in killing other mortals like that ... well, we need to decide. Do we keep searching this town? I am not picking anything up here.”

Daiyu scratched her chin “The war and conflict are making it hard to pick anything up. I have a good feeling there is nothing here like the last four towns we have checked already. The war is disrupting the mana flow. I suggest we find a new spot where we will not be disturbed.”

“I am for whatever the group wants, my lady,” Sárkány said.

Ariadne nodded, “Fine. Let’s get out of here. Daiyu put us in the open grasslands of Oklahoma, United States. I want us away from all humans by at least 10 miles.”

“You got it,” Daiyu said as she stuck her hand into her coat. She then pulled out a small bag that Toha was trying to figure out what it was. Her pointer finger and thumb entered the bag, and then she pulled out a small sphere. “Toha, let me ask you this question. Do you want to come with us and try to answer the questions you have now, or do you want to stay with your unit?”

Toha was in deep thought. He had genuine curiosity in his mind. “I think I will come along. Beats being in a war. I have no idea how much longer this is going to last anyway.”

“Then you will have to do something for us all. You need to leave your dog tags here and one of your guns. Put it in one of the ruins. They might think you are dead or possibly got killed from your mission. If you ever change your mind, we will make sure you get back to your unit before night time.”

Toha thought to himself, “Leave my dog tags ... leave my gun ... I guess I can do it. I feel this is all new to me, anyway. I need to know why Coyote guided me to you three.”

Toha walked back to the ditch and picked up his MP-18. He then walked up to one of the ruined homes. The place had been burned down to a blacked burned ash. He then put his rifle into the ash and threw some of it on top of it. He then reached onto his neck and snapped his dog tags off. He took a good look at it and read his name and then tossed it next to the rifle.

With all being done, he walked up to the group, and Daiyu nodded. “I understand what you have to consider, Toha. Trust me. You are doing the right thing. They might not be fully convinced you are dead, but they will still think you might be dead or simply missing in action. Either way, they will less likely launch all-out searches for you wherever you go.”

Toha nodded, “Let’s go.”

Daiyu closed his eyes as he raised the purple sphere to his mouth. He then said three words to the sphere marble and tossed it to the ground ten feet away. Suddenly it flashed and transformed into a twirling spinning vortex in the street.

Toha could see through the vortex and see a green field through it. It was a gate or portal to the location that Ariadne requested. The vortex was large enough, even for Ariadne to leap through.

“Let’s go ... we have about ten seconds before it closes.”

Without hesitation, all but Toha walked through the portal. Toha thought about it for two seconds and ran through the portal. To Toha’s eyes, there was some blur and distortion in his eyes as his body was transported from one location on Earth to a new location in less than a second. He emerged from the other side and saw the three looking at his direction, wondering if he was going to go through or not.

“Whoa...” he said as he turned around to look at the vortex. The swirling vortex suddenly collapsed. Toha suddenly realized he was no longer in Europe but in the United States now. There was nothing but grass around him.

He was in the massive expanse of grass fields that dominated the Oklahoma landscape. He immediately noticed the location of the sun as well. What was around 1 pm in France was now around 6 am in the morning there. The sun was close to rising now. It was morning once again for him.

“Incredible... , “ he said. He looked at the minotaur, dragon, and human that were looking at him. Ariadne was the first to walk away from the group as she walked around. She got about twenty feet from them.

“I think we need to find a place to rest shall we,” Ariadne said as she took her large hands and clapped them together. Then she opened her hands, and light and string flew from her hands. The string flowed from her hands nonstop. It wove itself as two large structures were being formed. Tents large enough to house them were being created from her hands.

“You have this power?... , “ he asked her.

“Of course. I am the Goddess of Labyrinths, the Goddess of Weaving, the Goddess of Wine.”

“You literally have the god of make whatever she wants,” Daiyu added. “Give her a few minutes, and she can give you any type of clothing and makeshift items.”

“She made me a great sweater!” Sárkány also added.

Within a couple of minutes, two tents were being formed from her hands. These tents were large. They sat side by side and were large enough to hold Ariadne’s or Sárkány’s large forms with ease. They were simple pop up tents with their own flat roof. One was green colored and the other purple. Toha noticed two large beds in each of the tents.

“One is for us,” Daiyu said. “The other is for you two.”

Ariadne told him, “I can make another tent when I am done if you are uncomfortable with being in the same tent as I am.”

Toha shrugged, “It doesn’t matter too much for me. I am being exposed to so many new things that I am struggling to keep my mind from snapping like a twig.”

“I imagine you have had a long day. You are welcome to go to sleep in the soft beds.”

Toha saw the formation of the bed. “Those beds must be wonderful. Beats the rough beds and racks from the trenches.”

Within a few minutes, Ariadne finished her work. Two fully formed tents with beds were constructed. There was even a privacy curtain over the tent’s entrance.

There was a smile on Ariadne’s face. She genuinely enjoyed doing this and felt rewarded every time she did it.

Toha nodded “Thank you for making these. It is beautiful. I could fall asleep in it.”

“Hmm, we need more. To finish this all up, are you hungry, Toha?”

“Yes, I am. I don’t suppose you have any food? I do have some rations with me to eat.”

Ariadne smiled, “Make yourself comfortable, Toha. I have an idea. In about an hour, I will have food brought here.”

Daiyu went and took her heavy coat off of her. She still wore a shirt and pants, but she made herself comfortable. Sárkány followed suit. He took his sword and stabbed it into the ground by the entrance. Daiyu took her shoes and jumped onto the large bed in the green tent.

Toha shrugged as he unbuttoned the top layer of clothing as he placed the MP-18 by the entrance of the purple tent. Ariadne then unfastened her chest armor and lower armor leaving just a bra and underwear that she wore underneath it. Toha’s eyes focused on her body now as he noted her looks underneath her heavy armor. He could see her breasts lined with the orange fur with white spots that dotted the top of the breasts and see her cleavage well. He could see her abbs that lined her stomach. She looked like she could lift a house with ease. She then went and lay down on her stomach as Toha took off his boots and some of his uniform.

Ariadne turned her head and noticed that Toha was looking at her body. Toha quickly looked away as she smiled. She nodded lightly and noted it.

“Beats being on the battlefield, isn’t it Toha?” Daiyu asked.

“Yes. I can’t see you in my bed. There is a tent wall in the way.”

“I will handle this!” Sárkány said in a striking voice. In less than a few seconds, Toha saw a giant hand grab the curtain wall and list it so that Ariadne and Toha could see Daiyu and Sárkány.

“Thank you,” Toha said. He went and lay down on his stomach on the bed beside Ariadne. He felt ready to fall asleep.

“Everybody looks comfortable,” he thought to himself. “It is so quiet and peaceful ... away from the explosions and violence. Ariadne certainly chooses a quiet place to be.”

“So ... we have all day to sit here and discuss things Toha.” Ariadne explained to Toha. “We can discuss anything that you want to. Name your topic, and we explain everything to the best of our abilities.”

“Ok,” he nodded. “My first question that I wanted to discuss is what is a dragon and an old Greek god doing near the area that I was fighting and struggling to survive?”

“Goddess...” She corrected. “The answer is somewhat easy to answer. It is you that got near us. Our paths just happened to intersect ours. However, that being said, I believe you had helped to encourage those paths to intersect by the deity known as Coyote.”

“About a day ago, all those stories when I was told when I was young about gods and goddesses, deities, creatures, such as yourself were just that ... stories. Coyote is a legend in our people of a guide, a trickster, depending on who he works with.”

She nodded on her comfortable bed. “Well ... nothing has changed much, Toha. We do exist just not in the number that you think exists. Coyote is one of the deities or ‘mythics’ as some of us are starting to call ourselves, that do not serve in the Coalition of Deities but is not a malevolent deity either.”

“Coalition, what?”

Ariadne shrugged, “Hmm ... perhaps, I will explain this whole story when you tell me some more about yourself.”

Toha nodded comfortably in bed. He noticed that Daiyu had pushed her bed beside Sárkány, and they were comfortably together.

“Well ... I was born in Arizona, United States, in the Pima Reservation. I was born in May 1890. My father is white and was a Lutheran. He taught me a lot of the societies of white men and raised me with my mom. My mother was a Native American born and a fellow part of the tribe. I lived off and on in the Reservation and outside the reservation. It is one of the reasons why I am a citizen of the United States.”

Daiyu was listening to everything. “I am not very familiar with the Indians. From what I know, the Americans were either trying to convert the Indians to their ways or trying to eradicate them. It was only rumored, though amongst the French, until I have learned more recently. I am amazed you served in the United States Army. The French Foreign Legion could have used someone of your abilities very easily.”

“It is true that some of the Native Americans did join the Foreign Legion before the United States joined. I was not very interested in joining the Legion unless the United States decided to commit to it fully. Nonetheless, I had a sense of patriotism not towards the United States but towards my fellow people. I still cared about my tribe. Most of my people, what was left of my family, and fellow associates are not citizens. I joined the war to try to make sure that all Native Americans become citizens.”

“Even though the general opinion towards the natives was that of genocide and relocation? Your people certainly shine brightly against such ... evil.”

Toha nodded, “I feel the same way, to be honest. I am not ignorant of what the white men want of us. Even my father was a bit eccentric at times. I still loved my father, but in certain beliefs, he was a little aggressive towards attitudes against Native Americans. Him loving my mother was his way of making peace with those misconstrued attitudes. I think if time continued, I think he would have continued to change his viewpoints on things further. Unfortunately, both my parents died in a regrettable accident. While I was spending time with my grandparents, they died in a house fire while they were asleep.”

Ariadne looked down, “I am sorry to hear about that.”

Toha shook his head “It’s ok. That was ten years ago. As a tradition amongst our people, we make sure never to say their names. It would be disrespectful to say their names to others.”

“Seriously?” Daiyu asked.

“Yes. Amongst our tribe, even saying our name till the age of 15 is frowned upon. We have our ways and customs. At the same time, though, it is changing as our ways are becoming lost or adapting to the white man’s ways. I live in a blended world of combining customs. I am ... trying to do my best.”

Daiyu nodded, “Now here you are in Oklahoma while Europe tears itself asunder. Four years of them trying to eradicate themselves. At this rate, the Europeans are going to make themselves extinct. Colonialism will end, and the nations controlled by the Europeans will be free as they keep trying to destroy each other. I feel sympathy for all sides in the war.”

Ariadne asked, “What drove you to the town of Fresnes?”

“During my sleep, I was told by Coyote that I was supposed to go to Fresnes. I fought some Germans there, but I had help from the aircraft. That’s why the town looks the way it does now. Coyote told me that there was some sort of debt that he was repaying. He ‘guided’ me to meet you.”

She was thinking hard as she replied, “And now you are here. Do you feel comfortable?”

Toha nodded with a smile, “I certainly do. It feels comfortable under the nice sun in the shade. Well ... enough about my story, tell me about what is going on. Why are a goddess, a dragon, and a Chinese woman doing at a wrecked town in the middle of a war zone?”

“We are on a mission to find a Lintarsha Shard,” Ariadne responded. “It is part of a powerful crystal that can save the deities from extinction. I will explain more about this later. I suppose it is time to give you our full story.”

“I can fill in some of the story.” Daiyu added. “I made a massive effort to study the deities, and with the help of Sárkány, I have a library in my head.”

Ariadne shifted herself to her side and faced Toha. “A long time ago before Greece was ever united, and when humanity was still pondering the wheel, the deities existed. We like you, were trying to figure ourselves out. We tried to learn of our environment, what we can do, how to use our powers, and at the same time, learn about the human race. I can tell you things from my end from the Greek deities’ perspectives, but other deities can tell you a similar story in the end. We all learned that we were more powerful than you ever were. We took advantage of that and established ourselves as your deities, your protectors, and compass in life. In time we met the other groups of deities such as the Egyptians, the Norse, the Hindu, the Chinese, the Americans, Africa, Oceania, and more. We like them, held a certain place and belief in your society.”

“The gods, goddesses, mythological beasts, stories in your fairy tales, we all exist. Good and evil, they are all on the basis of fact,” Daiyu added.

Toha’s thinking made him ask, “So ... you are saying that ... you the deities came into existence just like us humans and decided to be worshiped by the mortals?”

Ariadne nodded, “We all have a different story to tell Toha. Gods, Goddesses, mythical creatures, sometimes the oddball fairy tale are all on the basis of fact. Eventually, however, a problem arose. So large in number, we became that we started to compete against one another. Heaven and Hell, Chinese and Egyptian, Norse and Africa, American and Hindu, we all started to fight one another. While human societies sometimes worked around the sheer number of us in 1588 AD of your year, Cataclysm began. By then, Greek and Egyptian Gods were being looked at less and less as a massive disaster was being foreseen. The foresight and fortune deities were seeing a massive disaster coming. Something large and powerful was going to strike, and it was going to wipe out everything. Heaven, all the deities, the underworld, and eventually humanity was going to be wiped out from this Cataclysm. It was as if something was determined to wipe out everything was coming. We were left with little choice.”

Daiyu once again started to interject, “Even with the most powerful magic, the ability to alter reality, alter the sun, alter time, this cataclysm was coming. The power of whatever this thing was at the time was unavoidable. Therefore a decision was made. The Hindu deities were the first to propose an alliance of all the deities. They were already in an area where the people had learned the face of many gods’ concepts. To them, they were patient and knew that a massive alliance against Cataclysm was perhaps even if a small one, the only way to combat the end of all. They proposed the Treaty of Rudra and listened to see if all the deities would work together to combat what we simply called ‘The Great End.’ It worked, and all the greatest minds worked together to resolve what we simply knew was unavoidable. Eventually, a discovery was made.”