The Time After Oblivion

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The Time After Oblivion - book excerpt

Prologue

Passage through the Mists of Time is not as difficult as one would think. Really, if one simply focuses on their destination, it is easy to navigate. That is, of course, as long as the destination contains no distractions. Inevitably, distractions will crop up. Then, the journey becomes more complex, dangerous, even. Still, that is not Time’s fault. The travelers are the ones who decide to stray from the straightforward road in search of adventure, thrills, or opportunity. Most are still able to navigate their path to some certainty, and most reach their destination, more or less, in one piece. It is, after all, human nature to survive.

In a frozen corner of Time, three sisters sit. They have sat there since the Beginning, and they will continue to sit there until they are done with their task. The first is a beautiful young blond with eyes as blue as the sky and lips as full and red as fresh strawberries, but surely tasting twice as sweet. She begins the task by pulling the Thread. Supporting it, she passes the Thread to her sister. This woman is middle-aged and plump, but with eyes that shine with matronly love. She accepts the Thread and studies it. She continues to pull it away from the first sister until she has found an exact spot on the string. She then points to the area and passes the Thread to the third sister. This woman, old, wrinkled, and crone-like, takes no pleasure in her task. Her vacant eyes hold no emotion at all as she brings the macabre razor in her hand to the area and severs the Thread.

Once the Thread has been cut, the process begins again.

Chapter One 

Thick cloud cover, heralding an approaching storm, obscured the sun. The ear-piercing screech of a carrion bird tore through the air. Any who heard it would know that it signaled a recent or approaching death, as if the bird were saying a blessing over its meal before it dined. Neither man nor beast mattered to the fowl; it only knew that the natural order was soon to provide a meal.

The residents of the coastal city, Aigio, knew the sound well. Aigio was a coastal town on the Gulf of Corinth. It relied on exporting fish as well as fruits grown in the hills clustered around the city. Like many cities, Aigio had its athletes, its smiths and carpenters, but its main claim to notoriety was the luscious fruit. Without the export of fruit, the town’s economy would collapse. This made the arrival of a particularly bloodthirsty beast even more troubling. The beast, a chimera, had situated itself between the town and its crop. A few men from the town risked the beast for the sake of the harvest. Their blood stained the ground. Aigio’s desperate mayor chose to outsource the task of dealing with the beast, rather than risk losing more of his residents. Were the heroes successful in their venture, a few coins would be an acceptable sacrifice to be rid of the nuisance. If (or, more likely, when) the beast killed them, the town would preserve its numbers. Perhaps the beast would even consume enough to be satisfied for a time, allowing the town to harvest its fruit for a brief time.

Although, should they witness the chimera devouring the champions, the mayor doubted Aigio held men brave enough to attempt it.

The beast was huge. With the body of a gigantic lion, it stood nearly ten feet from the ground. Its tail was a python that wrapped and swirled its way around any nearby attackers. Should there be none close, it would spew fire from its mouth to incinerate assailants at range. Atop the lion’s head, emerging from beneath the mane and behind the ears, ram’s horns sprouted, threatening those who thought to avoid the tail by approaching the beast from the front. Those who were not swayed by the horns would certainly be made more than a bit weary by the jagged line of razors which lined the inside of the monster’s mouth, dripping with acidic saliva. Upon each of the monster’s feet were five long and sharp talons, capable of shredding a man beyond repair with a mere twitch. The beast roared, and those who heard saw the gates of the Underworld opening to welcome them. None with a shred of sanity would dare to approach this monster.

Sanity, of course, has no place in heroism.

“Pollux!” screamed a youthful man of sturdy build with long, blond hair, wielding a long sword. “Go for the belly! Slice the beast open!”

“You go for the belly, Castor,” a nearly identical (disregarding his dark, braided hair and choice of weapon, his being a flail, rather than a sword) man screamed back. “I’m not getting anywhere near those claws!”

“You’ve gone soft,” Castor ridiculed his brother. “There was a time when you would have raced me for the glory!”

With a quick jump to the side, Castor was able to block a tail strike with the broad side of his sword.

“Oh, I’ll still race you,” Pollux countered as he leaped out of the way of an attacking paw. “You’ll just win this time!”

“I’d win anyway,” Castor hollered back.

“Σκατά!” He dove toward the ground, avoiding the attacking jaws.

“Will you two shut up? Focus!” a dark, ruggedly handsome man reprimanded them. He was clothed with a breastplate, greaves, and a golden tunic, which hung across his torso.

He lunged for the creature’s side with his own sword, only to be blocked by an intimidating talon. “Orpheus, any chance we’ll get some music to soothe this thing soon?”

“I’m trying, Jason!” Orpheus, a thin and good-looking man with tawny hair and a soft face, answered. “This αηδιαστική σωρό από κοπριά broke the strings on my lyre! Give me a moment to fix them.”

“Hurry it up!” Jason cried in desperation as he narrowly evaded a striking paw’s talons.

The final member of the quintet, the largest and gruffest of the bunch, lunged with a grunt for the beast’s tail. The serpent wriggled and lashed with rage as the hero seized it behind the head with his massive hand, paralyzing it momentarily. With his free hand, the hero crushed the serpent’s head with a large rock. A small victory, only short-lived. The creature’s back paw connected with the hero’s torso, hurling him backward. Recovering, the hero sat up from the ground and groaned. The serpent was repairing itself and, within seconds, bellowed a wave of flame in the direction of the attacker. All the hero could do was drop to the ground and roll out of the way, the flames barely burning his back hair.

The beast rose to its back legs and let forth a monstrous roar, heard for many leagues. The heroes took this opportunity, whilst the beast was distracted, to regroup.

“Bravo, Hercules,” Pollux chided the fifth hero. “You knew the tail would heal itself: It’s a chimera! All you did was make it angry.”

“You fared no better!” Hercules snapped back. “I have taught it the meaning of pain!”

“It doesn’t seem to be taking the discovery very well,” Orpheus muttered as he desperately tried to restring his lyre.

The beast returned to the ground and targeted the group of heroes. It lowered its horns as it prepared to charge.

“I have a plan!” Jason blurted out. He turned to Hercules. “Toss me onto the monster,” he cried.

Hercules had no time to think with the beast thundering down upon them. As the group separated, diving out of the way of the beast’s charge, Hercules took hold of Jason’s tunic and tossed him into the air, toward the beast.

Jason’s chest collided with the monster’s shoulder, his breastplate protecting him from the majority of the impact. He gripped the chimera’s mane and hung on as the monster thrashed and bucked, attempting to throw him loose. Quickly, Jason pulled himself up the chimera’s back.

“Castor,” Pollux cried, realizing Jason’s plan, “the tail!”

Castor hefted his sword above his head and threw it with accuracy toward the tail, just as it began to rise toward Jason. The point of the blade pierced the serpent’s neck, obstructing airflow.

Pollux, who had been charging the beast with his own weapon, froze. The serpent writhed about, attempting and failing to dislodge the sword. Turning, Pollux scowled at his brother. Castor’s attack had effectively incapacitated the tail.

“I have your thanks.” Castor smirked back at him. “And the glory.”

“I should have sliced its belly open,” Pollux muttered, frustrated.

Castor’s quick action had allowed Jason time to get situated directly behind the creature’s head. Once there, his mission was easy. Pulling the sword from his hip, Jason drove the weapon deep into the chimera’s neck.

The beast paused for a moment as if unsure of what had just happened. It then wasted one of its last remaining breaths in an indignant roar as it threw its head back wrathfully. Jason used all of his might to hold on as the monster thrashed about, as if to avoid the obvious eventuality. As the monster raged, Jason withdrew his weapon, and plunged it into another area of the creature’s exposed throat, just as deeply. The creature’s blood ran thickly down his thighs and legs, splattering onto his chest and face as he withdrew the sword and repeated the strike in a third location.

With a final seizure, the beast whimpered. It then collapsed to its knees, and finally to the ground.

Jason slid down the beast’s now-motionless back, dragging his weapon behind him. Landing upon the ground, he wiped his sword clean in the grass and retrieved Castor’s blade from the now-motionless tail.

“We are victorious!” Hercules cheered as he ran to Jason. “Well done, brother!”

Jason barely had time to brace himself for Hercules’ emphatic pat on the back. He stood again and smiled widely at his excited comrade.

“Argonauts forever!” Castor shouted with joy, his left fist in the air.

“Until the end!” Pollux continued the cheer, copying Castor’s movement with his right fist.

The twins looked at each other and beat their testosterone-filled chests triumphantly.

“We are still Argonauts, are we?” Jason laughed. “Even without our ship?”

Orpheus looked away from his lyre momentarily. “People still tell our tales, and in those tales, we are the Argonauts,” he said, smiling along with his comrades. “We’ve done great deeds, not soon to be forgotten. Besides, have we not just proven that we are still champions? I agree with Castor: Argonauts forever.”

“To the end!” Castor and Pollux completed the cheer in unison, thrusting their opposing fists into the air once more.

Orpheus chuckled. “My point is made.”

Jason laughed as he examined the group: Castor and Pollux, the Gemini twins, always opposing each other, while at the same time, complementing the other’s talents with their own; Orpheus, the master musician, playing music on his lyre that could calm any beast; Hercules, the son of Zeus, mightiest of mortals and a god amongst heroes. Compared to his company, Jason felt almost inadequate. Still, wrapped around his breast was his own prize, the legendary Golden Fleece. The five of them were all that was left of the original Argonauts. Once their number had stood at nearly fifty. Time and war had worked their will, slowly eroding the group, chipping away at their numbers. Now, they were a mere shadow of the original cast. Still, as Jason looked at the small group, he felt a deep satisfaction. Perhaps they truly would be Argonauts forever.

Book Details

AUTHOR NAME: Jonny Capps

BOOK TITLE: The Time After Oblivion (Mythos Book 1)

GENRE: Fantasy

PAGE COUNT: 210

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