003: Fear

  When a creature is born with five fingers on its hands, a star bestows its blessing upon them. For example, a heleny blessed by the Star of the Lake will, from birth, be able to generate water from their hands and possess a natural resistance to that element.

  The first favor of all stars is the same: at five years of age the star whispers its name to the blessed one and they gain the ability to imbue something with the star’s element. A being blessed by the Star of Stone can imbue their shield with a layer of rock or even their very flesh to make it more resilient.

  To obtain each favor, there is a requirement that escalates from the first to the fifth and one can only obtain a higher-numbered favor if the previous one has been acquired. The requirements for each favor change from star to star; with the exception of the first and third favors. Each blessed individual may request their favors from the first to the fourth only once every twenty-four hours.

  The fifth favor is unique in that it can break all these imposed rules. For this reason, only the most capable and blessed are able to attain it; those who reach this rank achieve powers capable of changing the world.

  However, each blessed one being carries within them a future imposed by their star. Every destiny is unknown; except for the feeling they will experience upon receiving it. The fearsome Burned Star declares that every being blessed by its fire will one day suffer a fear worse than death, a horrible terror that will burn into every memory that follows their life; for that is the tribute its blessed offer to the star Phlegethon.

  …

  In Laconia’s hands rested an enormous greatsword with a black blade that from afar looked more like a club of volcanic stone than a sword. It had a granite hilt with a red gem set at the center of the guard and the guard was covered in carvings resembling fingerprints. The black blade seemed to be obsidian; however, it had ridiculous strength. Asterion himself witnessed the sword endure strikes from maces, shields and clubs, and despite it all the greatsword only had small dents.

  Once she called upon the star’s favor, flames surged from the bestiary’s hands and completely enveloped Laconia’s sword. When the fire finished covering her weapon Asterion; whose eyes were incapable of seeing clearly in the darkness was finally able to behold the myrmekes.

  The myrmekes are creatures that appear to be a fusion between an ant and a man, though the insect part is far more predominant. They have hellenistic torsos with a head and two arms completely covered by a red chitinous exoskeleton that gives them the appearance of living armor. Their legs resemble more like a second torso with four sharp limbs covered in long hairs spaced far apart. They are armed with spears and shields that are simply the remains of other ants now used as tools of war. And, of course, they only have four fingers on their hands.

  “Just worry about killing them. I’ll take care of the boy!”

  Upon hearing the polemarch’s order, the bestiary launched herself at the nearest ant. With a single thrust she pierced the creature completely, while the fire from her sword shot toward another myrmeke.

  “Two.”

  As the myrmeke burned to death, three of its companions surrounded the bestiary and lunged at her, raising their shields to crush their enemy. Laconia’s bronze ring shone intensely, and a fireball shot toward one of the ants. The impact was enough to shatter its shield and kill it with flames.

  For the heleny, the ring serves as a catalyst for their blessing; the equivalent of having a bow the size of a coin. The bestiary merely focused her prayers into her ring, and the blessing that would normally emerge from her fingers as a small flare was shaped into a deadly projectile. However, like a bow, each ring must be recharged after being fired, leaving its user at the mercy of their melee skill or a favor.

  Asterion tried to drag the wounded heleny beneath the minotaur, but with his meager strength he was unable to move him even a single inch.

  The two remaining ants continued their attempt to crush the bestiary. Even with their archaic intelligence they knew that the heleny could not fire their rings several times in succession, yet another burst of flame completely engulfed another myrmeke. This time, the fire came from the bestiary’s mouth; it was not part of her blessing, merely a biological advantage from the lernian mixed into her blood.

  At last, the third ant managed to strike the bestiary, but she overcame the force with her shoulder throwing the insect over her back and bringing her greatsword down, killing it instantly.

  “Five.”

  The ten remaining ants did not plan any flanking maneuver; in their minds attacking in numbers would be enough. The myrmekes ran along the floor and walls of the labyrinth toward the bestiary. Their reasoning was correct for in the end any battle with numerical superiority should mean certain victory; but they had not been blessed by the heavens.

  “Phobos.”

  The first favor is gifted by the stars simply for remaining alive, but the second already begins to reveal their true intentions. It requires merely fulfilling a whim of the star, and the whim the Burned Star asked of Laconia was quite simple for her: to frighten a blessed one with fire. From that moment on, the star granted its strength to the bestiary; the power of fear.

  Flames gathered in front of the bestiary until they rose to cover the full ten meters of the labyrinth’s height. The blaze took the shape of a serpent’s mouth, which shot forward like a spear against the ants, incinerating them instantly. What remained were nothing but ashes coating the floor and walls of the tunnel.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Done.”

  Meanwhile, Asterion was still trying futilely to drag the man out from beneath the corpse crushing him. Laconia lifted the minotaur with one hand and used the other to pull the heleny free from his confinement.

  “Thank you, cutie,” Asterion said, winking at his companion, but she did not even glance in his direction.

  “Let’s go.”

  Laconia and Asterion hoisted the wounded young man over their shoulders and made their way back to camp at a brisk pace, trying to remain silent.

  “Hey, Laconia,” the polemarch said as quietly as he could.

  “Silence.”

  “Did you look at his gear?”

  “Yes, he’s our scout.” Laconia’s tail struck Asterion’s back.

  “I understand, silence, but you made quite a spectacle back there. I doubt any ant escaped.”

  As she finished her sentence, the bestiary stopped in her tracks and focused her hearing. Hundreds upon hundreds of sharp footsteps echoed against the walls of the labyrinth, growing louder with each passing second.

  “I’m sor—.”

  Laconia grabbed the unconscious heleny over her shoulder, tucked Asterion under her arm and ran back toward the outpost. The ants’ footsteps grew lighter as the camp’s lights shone brighter ahead.

  “I don’t understand, you didn’t let any escape. Why are they coming toward us?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Focus.”

  The gate sentries saw the bestiary running in the distance and raised their weapons, ordering her to stop but there was no time for formalities. Laconia leapt over the gate using all her strength while Asterion drew in breath to announce their arrival.

  “MYRMEKES FROM THE EAST!”

  Laughs, conversations, and games came to an abrupt halt as all the soldiers watched the lerna crash to the ground with the polemarch and a young warrior in her arms. Laconia dropped Asterion and he sprang up, running to meet the captain who immediately emerged from his tent.

  “Myrmekes?” said the still-wounded captain.

  “I don’t know how many exactly, but there are a lot, and they’re heading for the gate. They were feeding on the remains of an advance party that fell to minotaurs, we managed to save one of them.”

  The captain struck the polemarch in the chest, sending him onto his back.

  “You brought them here? Isn’t it enough that you weigh down an elite bestiary like Laconia, now you want to get us all killed too?”

  Laconia’s greatsword pointed at the captain’s neck.

  “Why do you serve the Starless? With your strength you could even rival the archons.”

  The bestiary did not respond and simply used her tail to help the polemarch back to his feet.

  “Whether you hate me or not, Captain, we have a horde of ants on the road to Helena, and I need your strength.” Asterion stepped back in front of the old soldier.

  “… Someday you’ll have to fight your own battles, Starless. Perhaps then you’ll understand that the life of that onyx isn’t worth the lives of this entire camp.” The captain lifted his head and take a depth breath. “TO YOUR POSITIONS, MYRMEKES ON THE RIGHT!”

  Hoplites and toxotes rushed for their gear. The gates opened to let dozens of soldiers pass through with spears, swords, and bright bronze shields. The sound of the ants’ footsteps steadily filled every silence, and within barely a minute the once-peaceful camp was fully prepared to receive the attack.

  Laconia and Asterion tried to wake the young scout. He wore a bronze Illyrian helmet adorned with a green gem upon his brow. Beneath it was a dirty yet delicate face framed by straight blond hair that fell to his neck. The linothorax protecting his body was torn apart by several cuts, one of them quite deep near his stomach; surely caused by the axes minotaurs often carry. Even so, none of the wounds seemed to have reached his organs, and his arms and legs bore only a few scratches.

  “He’ll live. Let’s go.” Laconia lifted her gaze to Asterion after cauterizing with her hand the only dangerous wound on the soldier’s torso.

  “… What do they know about the value of a life?”

  Asterion kept staring at the wounded soldier until a light tap on the shoulder from his bestiary brought him back to himself.

  “And do you know how much his life is worth?”

  Laconia did not take her eyes off the polemarch, but she pointed with her tail at the onyx scout.

  “No… I have no idea,” Asterion said, lowering his head to stare at the ground.

  “Well, let’s survive and find out.”

  The bestiary lifted the polemarch, and they walked toward the gate. The sound of the approaching footsteps was so loud that they had to raise their voices to hear one another.

  The towers flanking the massive wooden gate each held five toxotes and a barrel full of arrows on to their backs. In front of the entrance stood three lines of five hoplites guarding the gate, the captain positioned in the first row. Asterion and Laconia waited behind the doors while two other onyx youths with no combat experience secured the entrance. The polemarch sat with his back against the wood, scratching his chin as he considered a strategy.

  “How many are there, Laconia?”

  “I hear dozens, more than a hundred that’s certain.”

  “The toxotes will cover the ceiling and the walls. Focus on protecting the captain and don’t use your third favor unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

  Laconia simply nodded and leapt to the other side. The two young onyxes watched the polemarch in confusion as he began climbing one of the empty towers on the western gate. The adolescents followed him to the top.

  “Uh, sir, the ants are coming from the east,” one of the youths said.

  “I know. But from here we can still see part of the battle without getting in the toxotes’ way.”

  From his pouch he pulled out a kind of wooden tube with two lenses, one at each end. At the center of the lenses was the symbol of the Archon of Light, the golden ram.

  “What is that?” asked the other youth.

  “It helps me see from far away, a gift from the archon. I have another one if you’d like to watch as well. The archon calls it a telescope.”

  Asterion and the two onyxes, who were fighting over who would hold the wooden tube, watched from the western tower as the depths of the labyrinth slowly turned red with the exoskeletons of the myrmekes. They ran along all four walls forming the tunnel, shrieking through the pincers of their mouths.

  “You’re the polemarch. Won’t you give orders to your bestiary?”

  His friend immediately covered his mouth.

  “Shh, he’s the Starless. His bestiary is the lernian bastard. She’s the one who does everything for him.”

  The youth whispered, but they were so close to the polemarch that he heard everything anyway.

  “It’s true that Laconia handles the fighting. I only step in if there’s an emergency.”

  The onyxes exchanged puzzled looks.

  “And how can you help without a blessing?”

  “That depends on the emergency. In any case, everything will be fine. If they were minotaurs we’d be dead—but we have enough numbers to defend the gate.”

  From the first row, Laconia hurled a fireball with her ring, drawing the first blood of the clash. A rain of arrows followed, cutting down several myrmekes on the ceiling and walls, but there were so many that they did not stop for even a second and simply trampled over the fallen.

  “Whoever doesn’t have the telescope, watch the other entrance.”

  When one of the onyxes turned around he saw an ant emerge from the deepest shadows of the labyrinth, its head appearing first and then it’s back before it vanished once more into the darkness.

  “Starless!”

  “What is it?”

  “They’re coming from both sides.”

  Asterion lowered the telescope and turned to see the horrified face of the youth. A long sigh escaped him, one that seemed eternal as he stared into the darkness of the western tunnel.

  “Well, we have an emergency.”

  Despite his grim tone, a small laugh slipped from the polemarch. After stowing the telescope away he placed his hands on the shoulders of the two young onyxes.

  “For tonight, you two are part of the Starless phalanx. We’ll need to find a way to defend the gate on our own.”

  Both onyxes paled at the polemarch’s words while their faces looked as if they had seen Phlegethon himself.