Of Pain and Decision

Written by Zelda with big help from Gretchen!

 

                The old temples and pillars were bleached white. They stood in stark contrast to the beautiful blue sky.         

                "Wow, you're right, it is beautiful here." Mallory breathed, running her fingers down a column. The team was in town for a World Championship game, taking a break from the playoff schedule to visit around Europe.

                "All of Athens is an echo of a land from the past." Grin said.

                "And all of Greece for that matter." Zelda agreed. "These ruins are monuments to early human life and times."

                "But they were pretty weird back then." Nosedive said, eating olives out of a jar. "I mean, believing in all those gods and goddesses and whatever."

                "Well Nosedive, myths were formed to explain what their science could not." Zelda told him.

                "Come again?" Nosedive smiled.

                "Take for example, the fact that the ancient Greeks didn't know that the earth was round, or revolved around the sun. But the sun still rose and set, so what did they do? They made up a god who carried the sun across the sky in a chariot every day. The ancient Egyptians did something similar." Zelda told him.

                "Well, it's still pretty weird." Nosedive said. As he spoke, a wind blew across the old temple ruins, up through the olive groves and swirled around old Mt. Olympus. The ancient mountain, once the fabled home of the gods, stood silently. But from the mists that coated the top, a voice hissed upon receiving the news from the breeze.

                "Disbeliever!" it whispered. "We shall see who is so strange after the day is done!"

 

                One ruined temple after the next. Everyone seemed quite entertained with the ancient ruins. Zelda filled Grin in on the ancient gods and lifestyle of the Greeks, Tanya marveled at the architecture of the temples, Duke was wondering if the Greeks had any hidden treasures stashed around anywhere, or famous jewels like the Egyptians had. Wildwing and Mallory were just enjoying the scenery, and Gretchen simply enjoyed the culture, not to mention the food. But Nosedive was bored.

                "What's so important about a stupid heap of rocks anyway?" he snorted.

                "Well, it helps to understand human nature: always seeking answers, always explorative." Zelda started, smiling. Nosedive was not humored. The team walked on, to a fountain in an old square.

                "This structure was dedicated to the goddess of pain and suffering." Zelda started.

                "BOR-ING!" Nosedive snarled, and turned away. Suddenly, a gust of wind ripped past his face, whishing his hair about in the wrong direction. As the hair hung over his eyes, Nosedive thought he saw something. He swatted his hair back and looked about, but he didn't see anything anymore. He shrugged, and walked off.

        Gretchen looked at Nosedive with little interest. "Something wrong?" She asked with no emotion in her voice.

        "I...though I saw something..." Nosedive said turning to the ground. Gretchen gave Zelda a worried glance and then smiled at Nosedive.

        "It was probably all this air. It goes inside you mind ya know...." Gretchen started one of her wild tales on how to much of something can rot your brain. Suddenly another gust of wind came up, this time

knocking Gretchen away from Nosedive and onto Wildwing and Zelda.

        "Yikes..." Gretchen murmured standing up. Wildwing shook his head and stood up by Gretchen.

        "Are you all right?" Wildwing asked looking at Gretchen with concern.

        "Yeah..." She murmured again. "That was weird."

        "FOOLISH MORTALS!" A voice from the air shrieked. "HOW DARE YOU COME TO MY TERRITORY! FACE THE WRATH OF SHEEVA! THE GODDESS OF PAIN!" Zelda gasped.

        "Not her!" Zelda choked out. "DIVE GET DOWN! SHE WANTS YOU!" Nosedive lifted an eyebrow as if asking Zelda: Do you need to lie down? An evil cackle filled the air.

        "Indeed I do!" the voice pierced the ears of everyone. Another wind came howling around the old fountain. It was incredibly strong, blowing past everyone but Nosedive. It seemed to swirl around him. He panicked as the winds actually began to lift him off of his feet and into the air! He cried out in shock and pulled his gun. Unfortunately, Gretchen saw this. She screamed and kicked the gun out of Nosedive's hands. Nosedive rolled his eyes and struggled to get free. Then, out of the wind, came a girl figure. She had her hands wrapped around Nosedive's waist. Her raven colored hair flowed in the wind and her eyes were red with no pupils. She was wearing rags and had a perfect figure.

        "Ya know, if you weren't so evil, I might have asked you on a date..." Nosedive joked wriggling like a worm.

                "PUT MY BROTHER DOWN!" Wildwing shouted at the goddess. The goddess just smiled and disappeared in the another gust of wind, all that could be heard was Nosedive's cries.....

 

                Night was quickly falling as the remnants of the winds slid through Gretchen's hair. She stood in shock as to what had just happened.

                "What...was that thing?" asked Tanya. Zelda breathed in deeply.

                "That....was Sheeva. One of the most feared servants of Hades, god of the Underworld."

                "Oh sure, perfect vacation spot." Duke began.

                "Sheeva is the goddess of pain and torture. It was she who punished those who disbelieved in the gods, who were disobedient and who were received into the Underworld for all eternity." Zelda continued.

                "And now it's got Dive." Wildwing said angrily.

                "So what are we supposed to do?" Mallory asked.

                "Get him back of course!" Wildwing snarled.

                "Well we know that, but how?" Mallory asked.

                "All the gods and goddesses lived in various temples, up at the top of Mount Olympus." Zelda said. She pointed to the storm cloud-dotted horizon, and the great pyramid of rock that jutted from it, rising beyond the clouds.

                "Oh great." Gretchen began.

                "But those beings are immortal. How are we supposed to defeat them?" Grin asked.

                "Ahh, they just need a little trickery." Duke started.

                "They've been around for a long time." started Grin.

                "Well, that doesn't mean a few of us can't slip under their noses." Duke grinned. "Besides, we have to try."

                "I agree. But why would anyone just come out of the sky and do something like this?" Mallory asked.

                "They simply loved to interfere in the ways of mortals." Zelda said. "Perhaps Sheeva had been looking for an opportunity like this for a while."

                "Well, we can't wait any longer." Wildwing said impatiently. "We'll take the Aerowing and fly up there tonight. Let's go!"

 

                The night was full of dampness and fog. The Aerowing raced through the black air, up the side of Mt. Olympus. Zelda kept snorting nervously.

                "What's spooking you?" Gretchen asked.

                "It's always been a myth that Olympus has kept it's own. When it was under the possession of the gods, no mortal was able to reach the top alive."

                "Oh great, and when did you plan on telling this to us?" Duke asked. Suddenly, a gust of wind ripped the ship around so hard that it almost spun in a complete circle.

                "Right about now!" Zelda yelped, grabbing onto the back of Wildwing's chair.

                "Hang on!" yelled Grin. The wind was picking up. The ship lashed and bucked, throwing the Ducks about in all directions.

                "Keep it steady!" yelled Wildwing.

                "It would help if I could see where we were going!" Gretchen yelled back, peering through the fog. Suddenly, the clouds parted away to reveal a great white mound of rock, and the ship stopped dead with a shattering impact.

 

                Scraping. The whole ship slowly creaked in metallic protest. Zelda shook her head doggedly. The impact still rang in her ears. It took her a few seconds to realize just what was going on. They had crashed... the whole ship was in blackness and was scraping.... slipping downwards. Wildwing got out of his chair slowly.

                "Are you okay?" he asked, rubbing his head.

                "Fine. Get the others and get them out of here!" Zelda yelped. Wildwing realized too what was happening. The team leapt out of the ship and got a safe distance away to see it sliding slowly backwards, across the rocks and downhill. In the night, through the fog, the wind ripped past them. The Aerowing slid backwards until it slid slowly up against a gnarled old tree. The tree creaked, but held. The ship would be safe for now. Wildwing sighed.

                "We'll have to go the rest of the way on foot. Keep on your toes, team." he ordered. The team slowly began picking their way through the rocks, uphill.

 

                Nosedive groaned, rubbing his head as he stood up. He turned around, to see Sheeva standing behind him.

                "Yow!" he yelped, jumping back. "Don't you knock?"

                "How dare you speak to me in such a tone, foolish mortal?" Sheeva hissed. Nosedive cocked his head and backed away, putting his hands up.

                "Whoa, no offense intended, girly-girl." he said.

                "I have lived for thousands of years, gazing upon disbelievers like you!" Nosedive continued to back away, but hit his back against a marble wall. He looked up around him, to see he was in a beautiful white temple. But as he saw through the thin pillars, there was no sky outside, but rock, reflecting the red shadows of some unseen fire. "I, mortal, am the great goddess of pain!" the goddess cried, swooping up on a wind into midair. "And I have been waiting for centuries to find some snidely little brat like you, to teach a lesson to!" Nosedive snorted and drew his puck launcher. He didn't know who this girl thought she was... The goddess seemed to detect his mood. She grinned. "Tell me mortal." she said, raising her hand. "Does this hurt?" Nosedive suddenly yelped and crimped up, grabbing his stomach. Slowly, the pain grew more and more intense, spreading throughout his body.

                "Okay okay it does!" he yelled. Gritting his teeth, Nosedive felt the pain slowly fade away. Sheeva stood above him, smiling down, thinking.

                "Well I must admit mortal, I am a creature of mercy." she started.

                "Yeah, I'll bet." Nosedive snarled, standing up slowly. Sheeva snarled.

                "So I've decided to give you a chance to stay alive for a few hours longer than normal."

                "Reeeeaaaallly?" Nosedive said, interested. He had to try anything, he knew the others would try and rescue him.

                "Sure." grinned Sheeva. "I'll kill you later, but first, you'll have to face my centaurs!" From behind her, two creatures, half man-half horse, with a bow in one hand and a quiver of arrows across the back, stood. Their eyes glowed red, and they seemed to be made of stone and had mist for hair and fur. Sheeva stepped away, grinning. "Leave him alive." she ordered her centaurs, and glided off. "I'll be back soon. I have a bit of business to take care of first." Nosedive tried to follow her, but the two centaurs reared and snorted, loading and drawing their bows. Nosedive gulped, and backed slowly away.

 

                The dawn of the pink-peaked clouds broke on the horizon behind them. The mountain glowed in pastel, each crevice in the rock and every patch of grass and tree made the stones look like giant dinner mints. But there was no enjoyment of the scenery here. Sweat dripped off of the Ducks' beaks as they climbed, hand over hand, picking their way higher and higher through the rock and grass.

                "Who's bright idea was this?" Wildwing panted.

                "That's a rhetorical question, isn't it?" Gretchen muttered back.

                "Keep your eyes open." Zelda said. "Who knows how much farther we may have to climb." Suddenly, an arrow flew inches over Zelda's head. She yelped in warning and flew up, shooting away from the stone. Five stone statues stood at a line of stones about 30 feet up ahead. But the statues were moving! Five centaurs started shooting at the Ducks! Wildwing immediately started firing uphill, trying to get a clear shot. But the centaurs darted in between the jagged rocks and got out of the way. Below, the Ducks scrambled to avoid the shots. Wildwing raised his shield, holding it over Gretchen's head as she fired. Finally, Mallory hit one of the statues. A chunk of stone fell from it's side, but the statue acted normally. The statues started to climb downhill now, and the Ducks scrambled up to engage them. Duke drew his sword and hacked at the legs of one of the creatures. Instead, he was thwacked in the beak by a stone hoof. He fell backwards, holding his face, and tumbled downwards, finally rolling to a stop on a patch of grass below. He scrambled back up to have another go at the centaur.

                "Zelda!" yelled Wildwing. "Get out of here! Fly up and find Nosedive! Get him out if you can!"

                "You sure you can handle these?"

                "GO!" he yelled again. "You can get up there the fastest!" Zelda nodded, raised her wings, and shot up the mountain.

 

                Finally, she saw it. The towering pillars of white inside the cave of blood red stone. Zelda shook, she knew what it was. This was a gateway to the Underworld. Hades and his monsters lay beyond, through several miles of tunnel. Zelda landed and paced cautiously towards the temple. She padded up several rows of white marble steps. She listened. Sheeva or her centaurs could be waiting, poised for her at the top. She peered over the top. Nothing. Thank the stars. She leapt onto the center pavilion, and sniffed around. As she sniffed, her nose suddenly ran in something. Blood. She drew back in horror as she smelled it as Nosedive's blood. She looked up, and then she saw him. He lay against the wall, his back turned to her.

                "Nosedive!" she whispered. He moved. Nosedive lifted his head and turned around.

                "Zelda..." he started. Zelda bounded up to him.

                "Are you all right?" she asked.

                "Yeah, sure, except for this." He held his leg out. Jutting out of the lower thigh was the shaft of an arrow. "Stupid horsie things shot me and left me for dead." His voice was noticeably weak.

                "Centaurs." Zelda said, looking over the arrow. "That thing'll have to come out Dive." she said, looking up.

                "Great." he grunted, sitting up. "Like I need more pain today." Zelda gripped the shaft of the arrow in her jaws and yanked it out. Nosedive groaned in pain and immediately closed his hand around his leg. Zelda took the leg and ripped his pant leg off at the knee.

                "Relax, this should help." she said. She tore the fabric in two and wrapped it around the wound. She stood back, watching the cloth quickly darken. "Hmm, not good enough." she muttered. While Dive winced, she took the second strip and tied a tourniquet tightly around the leg above the wound. "There." she said. "That should do it."

                "Oh yeah, I feel peachy." Nosedive winced.

                "Can you walk?" Zelda asked.

                "What!? Why?"

                "We have to get out of here." Zelda replied. "A mouse can't build a nest in a snake's burrow. I saw a cave about half a mile downhill. If you can walk we can make it to safety and wait for the others." Nosedive nodded.

                "Okay." he grunted in pain as he stood up. Slowly, he started to limp off. Hobbling on his one good leg, the two slowly exited the cave.

 

                Nosedive sighed as he collapsed against the cool gray stone. His leg ached something horrible.

                "Jeez, when she said she was the goddess of pain, she wasn't kidding!" he grunted.

                "Take it easy kiddo." Zelda said, keeping watch at the entrance of the cave. "From all we know, Sheeva knows you're down and wounded, and she's making you pay."

                "Ouch, is she ever." he snarled, holding his leg.

                "Try and relax, maybe sleep some." Zelda said. She hated to see her teammates suffer like this and not be able to do anything.

                "Sleep? At a time like this?" Nosedive asked. Zelda was about to reply, but a wind blasted through the cave.

                "Your friend is correct." snarled Sheeva, standing at the mouth of the cave with two centaurs. "You won't have any rest for a long time!" Zelda snarled and stepped forwards to challenge the three. The one thing she was not going to do was back down.

 

                Wildwing wiped the sweat off of his beak. Panting, he stood, launcher smoking, over what was the last centaur. Grin stood off to the right emptying gravel out of his boots.

                "Is that the last of them?" Mallory asked, blowing the smoke off of her launcher.

                "I think so." Gretchen said, standing up.

                "Good. That goddess knows we're here, we have to get to Nosedive before something else happens!" Wildwing said. Once again, they began to climb. They walked up the steep slope in single file, following a trodden pass. Suddenly, Wildwing tripped on something and fell flat on his beak. Mallory helped him up, and he looked down to see what he had stumbled on. He was shocked to see a streak of blood on his shoe.

                "What the..." he muttered. He stooped down and picked up an arrow out of the gravel. He examined it carefully.

                "Is that what I think it is?" Tanya asked fearfully.

                "Yes." Wildwing replied. "It's a centaur's arrow."

                "Do you think Nosedive and Zelda are around here somewhere?" Duke asked.

                "They could be anywhere." Wildwing sighed, worried. Suddenly, his sentence was cut off by a low, broken moan. The team glanced around, alarmed. Running uphill a few feet, the team found the entrance to a shallow cave, a figure laying in the shadows within.

                "Zelda!" Gretchen yelled, running in and kneeling beside her. Zelda lay on her right side, with a huge, torn wound in her left shoulder. She breathed slowly, and opened her eyes, tilting her head upwards and whining in pain.

                "What happened here?" Grin asked. Zelda closed her eyes for a moment.

                "I found Nosedive, in a cave." she started. "He was hit in the leg. We managed to get here, but the centaurs followed us. They took Dive back. I tried to protect him but...." she trailed off in a low whine.

                "You did your best." Duke comforted. "That's a pretty nasty scratch ya got there." Zelda snorted. Tanya knelt beside her and looked her over. Her scales were nearly tinted a grayish blue in large, dark spots. Bruises.

                "Not only that, she may be bleeding internally." Tanya added slowly. Zelda closed her eyes again, as if marshalling up enough strength to speak.

                "Wildwing." she said. "Nosedive's worse off than I am. He will die if we can't get to him." Wildwing nodded.

                "We can move in a minute." Tanya said, spying a puddle of water on the floor. "Just as soon as I clean this out." She scooped up a handful of water, and let it run gently onto Zelda's shoulder. Zelda ducked her head and snarled in pain. It subsided slowly. She growled and gritted her teeth until it slowly faded away.

                "Sorry about that." Tanya frowned.

                "No problem." Zelda snorted. Grin picked her up very gently and placed her on his shoulder.

                "Come on." said Wildwing. "We don't have much time." The team nodded, exited the cave, and began to climb again.

 

To be continued.......