Hell's Consort

Chapter 29 - Hecate*

Luna was suddenly hovering at the bottom of a dark rift while she panted with exhaustion, clinging to it with all her might.

A hundred hands came through the rocks and ice and grabbed different parts of hers.

Luna screamed as an incalculable number of writhing hands closed over her, calling her name repeatedly in the different pitch of voices while they dragged her into the dark pits of Tartarus.

The evil souls' clutches tangled in her long silver waves.

When she turned back behind her, she could see them fisting her hair to grab onto her tighter.

Luna jerked her head back, trying to pull it free, but it only caught more.

All the dark spirits around her were closing in on her, creaking and groaning as they bent at her.

It felt like claws running down her back.

Gritting her teeth, she steeled herself for whatever attack they might have.

But abruptly, everything stopped.

The scurrying creatures in her peripheral vision had disappeared.

The dark spirits groaned as they fell back into place into the hellish depths of Tartarus.

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Luna peered out, looking uncertainly down at the chasm.

Luna waited for a beat, suspecting some treachery.

When there was none, she used her hands to guide her up the chasm wall and got to her feet.

Her body began to tremble violently.

Luna's vision blurred as she got higher, sobbing with fatigue and pain.

Was this a dream?

Everything had fallen silent around her.

Nothing groaned or breathed. Even the wind had stopped.

She did not know where she was at this point.

Luna felt like she was going crazy.

She was not in the caves with Jon, and she wasn't bleeding to death from stabbing herself in the chest.

She was unconscious before this.

Was she imprisoned in her mind?

She doesn't feel possessed by a demon.

Schizophrenic.

Who was she?

Where was she?

What was real?

She was dangerously losing her grip on her mental state.

She was about to vomit from all this confusion.

The sound of flapping wings echoed off the forest trees around Luna.

She looked back to see a dark creature descending toward her.

It appeared to be a simple crow at first, but the closer it got to her, the more she saw how little it resembled any winged creature she had seen before.

The monster had a long bony beak filled with tiny, jagged teeth, and at the bend in its wings were leathery hands with long, sharp claws.

A twitching, serpentine tail flogged the air, and dark, mangy fur covered its body in place of feathers.

Luna ran as the horrendous beast flew at her, its voice sounding like a cross between a caw and a growl.

She covered her head with her arms when it got close enough to beat its horrible leather wings at her.

She arched in agony as its claws scraped at the back of her clothes and its talons digging into her flesh.

It crouched on the ground as if it meant to pounce on her and eat her.

It looked even more monstrous face-to-face, its snake-like tongue flicking out of its mouth.

Luna immediately pulled her feet back just in time.

The creature folded its wings and then put its hands on the ground to stand on all fours. It narrowed its eyes and leapt at her.

Luna summoned and swung her scythe at it, trying to hit its head, but before it even hit the ground, the other ones flew at her.

She swung her weapon desperately over her head, trying to hit as many as she could.

As she stepped backward, claws and beaks stung at her arms and neck.

"Be gone with you!" A voice echoed from the forest behind Luna, followed by a weird crackling sound.

The creatures started to scatter, to squawk, and to hiss their disapproval, but they didn't seem willing to fight the blue sparks flashing around her.

A few of them lingered, hoping they still stood a chance at getting a piece of her, but the blue sparks snapped out again.

Finally, the monsters flew away, their tails flapping angrily behind them.

Luna turned around to see her saviour.

At first, Luna could only see the dark brown cloak covering her and the slender arm holding a twisted rod.

Luna had seen one before.

She would recognize that staff anywhere.

That is the staff of Delphi.

The only staff she had seen during the High Priestess Ceremony.

This one looked far more knotted and less elegant than the one the High Priest Fei had possessed, but it had done the trick.

"You can now rest, priestess. You have suffered enough. I see your spirit had arrived in the Underworld on your own in just a short time." Hecate said calmly, and Luna closed her tired eyes in relief.

Luna finally let her guard down.

She was safe now.

Hecate whispered proudly. "You have passed my test."

Just as Luna's strength failed her again, a pair of lovely hands reached and hauled her up into the pink air of a new dawn.