Godly

Godly
Chapter 30: Didn't see that coming.

My vision returns to see a dark void, the only light emanating from my candles. A low hiss to my right makes me hold my candles out to see the light reflecting off the Unari's eyes.

It rears back for a few seconds before lunging towards me where I use my Shadow Step ability to turn into a cloud of shadow and dash away to the left. Once I'm at a safe distance I reform and then use my Shadow Lock ability, sending out a raven made of shadow from my right hand that's attached to my shadow by a tendril.

The raven explodes on contact and wraps around and constricts the Unari forcing it to the ground and pinned. Unlike the game I can hold them down at the cost of a continuous mana drain.

It struggles and I then use my mana to make the area take on its memory, but nothing happens. I get an idea since it wouldn't be possible anyway as memories would only show what the individual would naturally see, you can't recall something you don't have line of sight on to remember.

I think of an ethereal widescreen TV and it appears with two speakers next to it. I then conjure a sofa behind me and take a seat while cursing this dress' design. I sigh as I just imagine myself in a more comfortable and casual set of clothes. Now wearing a pair of skin tight dark blue jeans and a dark purple sweater I smile in comfort as I look to the screen

Another Idea pops into my head and I conjure a remote and open the TV menu to what looks like a list of channels but are actually memories with dates of when they were formed.

With a glare I select the latest one and the screen comes alive with a first person view from the Unari's perspective of a dirt cave, or more accurately a crudely dug out cellar with wooden support beams set up around the area. I see large thick bone cage bars in front of the Unari.

From what I can see there are also crude tools made from sharpened bones and stone with dried blood on them on a table to the left with some of the Unari's scales next to them. To the right is another cage with a smaller three metre long Unari in better condition but still has a few scars over its hide.

A light appears from a door opening straight ahead and a minotaur steps down a set of mud brick stairs, but I can't make out any defining details as the light is blinding the Unari slightly and the light is over shadowing the minotaur.

"So, my father is going to side with you beasts is he?" the minotaur says and I recognise that voice.

So Mr. Shady is either responsible or at least a part of something bigger. My thoughts are broken as another minotaur comes down the stairs and this one seems female, but again the light is preventing me from seeing any features.

"What do you plan to do?" she asks him in a worried tone.

"To prove that these beasts are the mindless savage threat we always knew they were," he replies and grabs the front of the cage and leans down to the Unari. "Perform the spell, and we'll then release it in the Magai's hut. I don't have to worry about my Father, he can handle himself just fine, but this will hopefully convince him to see things our way," he says and kicks the cage in anger before turning back to the female minotaur. "I won't let what happened to our sisters repeat itself ever again," he finishes as the female steps up to the Unari.

"I hope you know what you're doing..." she says as the Unari starts to thrash in its cage once they spot the gourd of water in her left hand.

She floats some of the water out and covers the Unari's head in it, making it thrash hard and cry out in pain, but after a few seconds the screen tints to a greener colour and the Unari calms down, but its vision is sharper and it seems to be docile.

"There... it's ready," she says and steps back as Shady's horns glow with a brown aura. I see stone form around the Unari's peripheral and around its neck, before being dragged out of the cage and to a wall which splits open revealing a tunnel.

I watch as the Unari is dragged without resistance, making me wonder what the hell that female did to it with the water. Shady then looks through a small hole at the end of the tunnel and is satisfied as he opens the wall with his magic.

The Unari is dragged to the middle of another cellar with stacks of fur and pelts stored before the Unari's vision is covered with water again, this time, the screen tints red and the Unari hisses and thrashes as it just spots the wall sealing again before looking up the stairs and bolting up, leading it to where it attacked us.

The screen fades to black and I look at the still struggling Unari, I huff as I can't change god to Kukulkan to talk to it in here.

I look back to the screen and then down to the remote. 'So, Shady and this female minotaur lost their sisters to the Unari? I wonder to myself. It does explain Shady's negative reaction to the idea of cohabitation with the Unari...

I look through the "channels" and see one dated three days ago and its coloured red. I frown and select it and my eyes bug out as what I'm looking at is nothing else but torture.

The Unari is held down by something and I hear sickening rips and squelches as I see Shady off to the side barely in view. The Unari is crying out in pain as the smaller Unari in the other cage is cowering back in with terror filled eyes.

Mr. Shady steps into view holding a crude flint dagger and a handful of scales, dripping in blood.

"Close the wound, we don't want it dying just yet," he tells that female minotaur who sighs and floats some water over the Unari who is whimpering and hissing in discomfort. "I know these things are monsters, but even this feels like we're no better than them..." she tells him.

He looks back at her with a scowl making her flinch. "These beasts are the reason our sisters are dead! I will not stop until they're all wiped out!" he says in a calm but angry tone. "There's no turning back, we're in this till the end," he says before cleaning his tools and looks at the smaller Unari.

The bigger one sees this and hisses threateningly at Shady who glares back at them. "They'll all get what's coming to them in the end," he says before leaving.

The screen fades to black again. I frown in disgust as I look back to the Unari and take in all the scars and missing patches of fur on its body.

I look back the to screen and over an hour I watch different torture sessions and ramblings from Shady and the female minotaur now named Hallia.

I even saw how they were caught, Shady used his wolf as a distraction and when the Unari was looking away, he used his earth magic to restrain and then knock it out. The smaller Unari was already in the cage by the time it woke up.

I shake my head and use my power to exit the Unari's head.

Opening my eyes, I'm greeted with everyone looking at me. "Well... that was an experience..." I say and notice I'm back in my fancy dress. Doesn't seem like an hour has passed outside of the dream.

"What did you see?" Chrissi asks me with a frown.

I look to Jurai with a frown of my own. "It seems your son is the one who brought this Unari here, as well as a female minotaur named Hallia. They wanted to show you all that the Unari are just savage mindless beasts. He tortured this one and used some strange water to make the Unari's aggressive. He still has a younger Unari in a cage," I tell him, making him glare at me.

"This better not be some joke or scheme, Pantheon," he warns me in a threatening tone while gripping his cane tightly, getting the other Magai to tense up.

"It's no joke, he has made a large tunnel network under this city with his earth magic to bring them in here. Now, I'm going to find the other Unari and you're welcome to join me, but I suggest you send someone to find your son before he does something drastic," I say and stand up before heading over to the splintered door.

I hear multiple hooves following behind me as I change god to Fenrir. A few of them gasp while Orion instantly comes to my side.

"What is happening, Alpha?" he asks me with a quiet whine.

"A couple of the Minotaurs are trying to cause trouble and sent the Unari at us, we're going to rescue the other one they have captive before they can do anything else," I reply. "Keep close to Whisper and protect her if she's attacked," I order him. He barks before walking over to Whisper and stands beside her.

"What was that?" Tide Song asks confused.

I wave my left claw dismissively. "Just telling Orion to protect Whisper if needed," I reply and head through the door.

Looks like a sleeping area with thick hide sleeping beds along with a few linen sacks. To my left is the dug out opening leading down into the cellar which I make my way to. I sniff the air picking up a scent that doesn't belong to anyone here, could be Shady or Hallia.

I walk over to the wall I saw them come through and look back to the Magai. "The tunnel is behind this wall, I take it Stonehoof can use earth magic if his name means anything?" I ask as I pat the wall.

"Indeed I do," he replies and holds his hands out as his horns glow. He then spreads them apart and the wall splits in two, revealing the tunnel.

I peer inside and the glow of my eyes and mouth lights up the tunnel for a few feet. "Chryssi, would you kindly light up the way?" I ask her with a smile, but as I am now I doubt it's anything but terrifying.

"Of course," she replies and a ball of light forms on the tip of her horn before flying off down the tunnel, leaving a light trail in its path.

With the tunnel now lit up, we head down as I recall the path, but it's just as easy to follow the trail the Unari's body left as they dragged it through. It doesn't take more than eight minutes to reach the end and I hold my left claw out to stop the group as I hear faint mumbling on the other side, so I turn to look at them and hold a single claw to my lips.

I then turn back to the wall and place my ear against it.

It's faint, but I can make out what's being said. "-pid idea! What if they find out it was us!?" I hear Hallia yell angrily.

"They won't! I made sure to cover our tracks! Now we just have to finish removing all evidence of being here and fill the tunnels! Now help me with this beast so we can set it loose within Hornheim!" Mr. Shady replies just as angrily.

My eyes widen as I realise they're about to drug that young Unari, so I look back to Stonehoof. "Break down this wall now!" I tell him, making him frown.

He quickly repeats his spell and the wall splits apart, I look inside to see Shady holding the struggling Unari down with stone shackles while Hallia has a floating glob of water in front of the cage between her hands.

I growl menacingly as the fire in my eyes and mouth start heating up. "Step away from the Unari or I'll make you!" I tell them and Hallia starts shaking as she stares at me, the water now forgotten as it splashes onto the ground.

I glare at Shady and chuckle. "You know, when I first arrived I had a funny feeling the moment I laid eyes on you. But I didn't think it went this far that'd you'd be willing to risk your father's life just to prove a jaded point," I tell him and step forward slowly on all fours.

Hallia quickly gets up and goes behind Shady as I make my way over to the cage. The Unari looks up at me shivering in fear as I look back down to it. I quickly change to Kukulkan and carefully land without falling.

"Do not fear me little one, I'm here to take you back to your people," I tell them as their eyes widen.

"W-Who are you?" they ask in a young feminine tone.

"I am Pantheon, just relax and rest easy, no one else will harm you," I tell her and look back to Shady. "Do you have any other Unari captive or is she the only one left?" I demand as I rear up and spread my wings to be intimidating along with the four reddish-orange ridges on my chest, the end of my tail, and feathers glowing brightly.

"I'll say nothing to a monster," he replies calmly while Hallia is looking more and more terrified.

"Oh? So you don't even regret torturing the Unari? Even if one of them is just a child?" I ask as I glare at him.

"They are mere beasts and I regret nothing, they will pay for what they did to my sister!" he yells back angrily.

My eyes narrow as I fold my wings back. "Funny, some of them think the exact same thing. That you are the monsters and attacked them unprovoked. Let me guess, your sister died to the Unari she was trying to kill during a hunt? I think that's called self-defence." His response to this is a snort.

"They are prey! And we shall continue to hunt them!" he angrily replies as he grabs the bone spear leaning on the wall next to him.

Jurai seems to have had enough as he slams his cane down, causing a minor quake. "So this is the reason you've been asking to go on more hunts? Not for bringing back resources, but revenge?" he asks in an unnervingly calm tone.

"You may have accepted Lua's death! But I won't! I won't stop till every last snake is caged or dead!" he yells at his father before looking toward the caged Unari with his horns aglow.

I quickly inhale and use my Zephyr ability, blowing a blast of air from my lungs like a cannonball, which slams into Shady's chest, sending him into the cave wall and knocking Hallia away who screams in fright.

I hear a hiss of pain behind me and see a stone spike impaled in the young Unari's mid section. My eyes widen as I destroy the cage and stone shackles, then change to Aphrodite before quickly pulling her off the spike and begin healing her.

"DON'T YOU DARE HELP THAT BEAST!" Shady yells as he's back up and goes to attack me from behind. But he's silenced as Jurai and Stonehoof restrain him with rock all over his body, before Tide Song splashes his face with water from one of her gourds.

Shady slurs his insults and resists but it's pointless as he passes out.

My attention is back on the Unari as the hole through her body is closing slowly while she hisses in what sounds like crying, tears flowing down her eyes as she shivers on the ground.

I put my staff down and use my left hand to gently stroke her head, hoping it will at least calm her down a bit. It takes a few minutes as healing internal injuries takes longer than external ones but it's done. I calmly pull her onto my lap and continue to stroke her head and along the fur of her back.

She looks up to me with a fearful expression, but I just smile warmly at her. Hallia is also restrained but it seems she's not going to resist at all.

I look to the others and speak up. "I'm going to send this one home as well as the other. Then I'll ask one of them to come and talk with you, Jurai," I say to them, getting a sigh from the old Grand-Magai.

"Very well... Today has had enough surprises. I would like to get this over with so I may deal with my son," he says and starts heading back down the tunnel, dragging Shady out by the rocks around him while Stonehoof pulls Hallia who whimpers.

Once they're gone I carefully pick up the Unari who wraps her tail around my waist to hold on while looking up at me.

I continue to smile at her and pick up my staff before following the others back to the main building. The little Unari is shivering against me and huddles as close to me as she can while still giving off her hissing cries.

We make it back to the seating area where the Unari I knocked out is still snoozing, though with stone restraints around it.

"Well then, let's get them back home. They've been through enough," I say and place the Unari down beside the other.

I change to Janus and open a portal to the waterfall entrance and carefully pick up the girl and the out cold Unari once he's released from the bindings.

"I'll be back in a bit," I say, getting affirmatives from everyone before floating through.