//------------------------------// // Lost: Journey // Story: Dressed to Steal // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// As Coco set out to collect the Adamantine and Orichalcum, she quickly discovered just how different this adventure would be from every other her family had set out on. Quite a few differences had been expected, if they remained unpleasant. She knew that she would have to rush far more than she had to before, given the time limit they were working from was 'the end of the world'. She'd known she would be alone given how they had to divide the work to save time, much as she hated that part. What she hadn't anticipated was the journey itself. Wadjet's directions to her had been to head straight north until she reached the Sea, where Wadj-Wer would meet her and transfer her across the sea. This left her with a direction that she only hoped she had right, as the distortion to time Seft had caused resulted in a strong magnetic pull from the Cavern Wadjet protected, rendering compasses useless. Not only that, the land had not yet been mapped, and without a satellite network to hook into there was no way to guide herself. On top of that, she had to hide her tracks to keep from being discovered, so she couldn't even use her path to guarantee she was going in the right direction...not that leaving her hoofprints would have helped long, as the wind erased them from the sand before she'd gone ten feet. She was left with the choice of travelling by day and using the position of the sun to guesstimate North, or travelling by night and hoping she could recognize Polaris in a sky filled with unfamiliar stars...assuming it was the same star-filled sky each night, which wasn't always accurate given the eddies Wadjet had to frequently contain within the River of Time. All in all, the sun falcon she could see far overhead was a much more reliable guide, even if it did tax her energy and draw hostile animals to regulate her temperature in the heat of the day in the desert. More than anything, she wished Deik-Beck could have come with her. Having someone to watch her back, or just talk to, would have made the journey so much more bearable. But alone, cut off from the strongest of her magic, afraid to tap the rest due to the instability Seft had caused, and never certain from one moment to the next if she was even going the right direction... Well, I am trying to reach Tartarus, she thought idly to herself. Maybe we never actually made it out of the time warp and I'm already there? A maudlin thought, but on an unbelievable quest for impossible materials to try and kill the villain of her childhood nightmares who was now a god...she had to balance which was more believable. She wasn't exactly a saint, after all... She was so lost in her thoughts, so desperate to make sure she was heading in the right direction, and so focused on keeping her temperature regulated to keep herself alive that it wasn't until she stuck her hoof in salt water that she realized she'd run out of ground. "Oh, okay," she murmured in surprise as she stepped back, letting her focus dissipate as she let the sea breeze cool her instead of trying to regulate it herself. "Now I just have to hope I was heading North and not South or West somehow, and this is the Mediterranean and not the Atlantic." "The journey would have been much longer and far more perilous had you gone South or West," a voice echoed from the water as it began to froth. "The Dark Continent is filled with its own powerful magic, even without people or gods to tame it. Had you left the borders of our lands in those directions, you would have been devoured." "That's very comforting," Coco offered sarcastically as she backed up from the froth, mentally going over what she knew of Wadj-Wer from history and myth. Okay, he's supposed to be a male god...but fully equipped in the female way to give birth and tend young as a god of fertility. The representation of the sea- Her thoughts came to a halt as a bright green male seahorse the size of a dozen aircraft carriers lifted out of the waters, gazing down at her as only its head cleared the froth. "...I really shouldn't be surprised," she murmured to herself. "This oddly enough makes perfect sense in hindsight." "You do not startle easily," Wadj-Wer murmured, his voice echoing as though he spoke through water. "This is good. You have far to go and you must journey quickly." He lowered himself until his long muzzle touched the ground. "Climb upon me, young one. I shall take you to the lands of the Young Gods." Nodding, Coco clambered up the slippery flesh, feeling the hard bony shape just underneath. She struggled to hold on as Wadj-Wer lifted his head as soon as her hooves left Egypt's soil. "It's going to be exciting if I have to struggle for a grip the whole way there," she managed to say as she tried desperately to anchor herself as Wadj-Wer turned around. "We are there," Wadj-Wer stated as his head lowered, the tip of his muzzle touching the shores of Greece, a mountain that seemed to touch the very vaults of heaven visible in the near distance. Coco's jaw dropped, her eyes wide. "But...how..." As realization struck her, she groaned. "Right, the entire Mediterranean Sea was said to be your body..." An odd chirping sound echoed through Wadj-Wer's muzzle as Coco let herself slide to the ground. She soon realized the God was laughing at her. "Your stunned face is most amusing. While it is good you recover quickly, it is a pity I did not see more of it. Be careful with the Young Gods, young hero. They are young, impetuous, arrogant, and self-centered...with rare exception. It is our hope they'll grow out of it eventually." "If the myths from my time are to be believed, they don't," Coco jibed dryly. "That, or nothing mythical occurred after they did," Wadj-Wer observed with a sigh that blew leaves from nearby trees. "Allow me my optimism. I shall await your need to return." With that, Wadj-Wer disappeared back into the sea. Coco smiled to herself. "Well, with luck that was the hard part-" she began as she turned away from the sea, her voice dying as she caught sight of what was approaching her. While nowhere near as large as Wadjet had been, the massive Ohia Snake was still way too large for her comfort. It was easily a couple hundred feet long at least, and its mouth was more than big enough to swallow her in a single gulp. The serpent stayed close to the ground, its tongue questing for scent as its fangs - each one longer than her whole body - dripped silvery venom that burst into black smoke when it touched the ground. Its scales shone the bright silver of Mithril, the diamond pattern on its back from skull to tail tip obsidian so dark it seemed to absorb light. The brightness of color told Coco flat out she was dealing with another God Serpent. She swallowed nervously. "I...d-don't suppose your name is Asmodeus?" she managed to stammer out through the fear she felt as she stared into those hypnotic orbs, only a lifetime of discipline in controlling her own magic and her experience with the enraged Dreamtime Spirits keeping herself from losing herself in that gaze. The serpent slowly lifted itself up to look down at her, only lifting its head to treetop height. "Amusssssing," it hissed out thoughtfully, "but no. My name issss Hadessss..." Coco swallowed convulsively. "...I'm dead..." she meeped out. "Perhapsssssss..." The god's grin was not reassuring.