Argonaut - The Apprentice (Part II)

Chapter 8 - Throes Of Perdition

“-Argos, this is Eripio and Recro-” a voice through the console announced, “-Talk fast, what happened?-”

“Something got out of Ragnarok,” the captain explained, pulling back hard on the controls as a massive clawed hand shot up in front of us, missing by only a few feet.

“-We’re on it captain-” another voice said, the captain of the other jet.

“-Me too-” a third voice spoke, female. Through the right side of the Argos’s cockpit window the Providence banked wide, unleashing a formidable hail of missiles that streaked down to the beasts below.

In response one Stygian stood out of the smoke and dust, coming to its full height and staring directly at the massive warship. It barely even flinched as the missiles exploded against it, sending out a concussive shockwave that made the small rocks far below jump. The eyes of the Stygian still glowed, but the shine was dulled in the fading sunlight. It was only now that I could make out the forms of the beasts.

The head was at least thirty feet tall by itself; the largest feature was the oversized jaws with no lips or cheeks and gigantic teeth each almost the size of the Argos.  Two slits directly above the incredible jaws marked the monster’s equivalent of a nose, flaring as it breathed.

The eyes were colossal, but relatively small in comparison to the rest of the body; not only did they give off a red glow, but were coloured completely red, pupils and all, so it was impossible to know where it was actually looking.

Great ram’s horns curled out of the sides of its skull, each fifteen feet to the tip. When it spoke its mouth barely moved, instead the guttural voice reverberated in all of our minds.

‘Your attempts are pathetic,’ it laughed menacingly, ‘Is this truly the best effort of your pathetic race of mongrels? You will return our meal, or you will know suffering before you die.’

“Umm, I think them mean David” Elena muttered, not taking her eyes off the Stygian Horror. The captain of every plane was so shocked by the demand that they faltered in the attack.

Fear clutched my heart again; I wouldn’t go back out there with those things. I’d seen a lot of things in my life that were pretty bad, but these were the first things that were just pure evil. When they had tried to consume me I had connected with them on some level, catching the barest glimpse of just how terrible they could be.

“-This is Cassius, captain of the Argos-” her voice blared out of a speaker so that the monster could hear it, “-and you can go fuck yourself. If you want David, you’ll have to come and get him!-”

As the Stygian turned to face the Argos the Providence had to veer back to escape being hit.

‘You speak bravely for one so small’ the beast rumbled, ‘Your spirit will be broken with your planet.’

“-Bring it on.-”

Anticipating the strike the Argos pitched to the side, barrelling around a lightning fast leap from the Stygian. As the gargantuan form launched clear of the smoke and haze the rest of its body became clear. Thick dappled grey hide, riddled with cracks from age, covered the entire form. I didn’t need experience to know that the hide was practically impenetrable; stronger than the hardest steel and thicker than any type of armour I’d faced before.

“Athena, look out!” Elena yelled into her device as a massive shape shifted below the Providence, suddenly shooting up.

The psychic’s early warning allowed Athena to shift the warship slightly, but not escape completely. The right wing was torn completely off as the other Stygian rocketed up; powerful muscular legs propelled it high above the vessel that now began to corkscrew uncontrollably down to the ground.