**** listened **** silently. She shifted her attention from the corpse, stood up, and faced ****. Her voice was no longer shattered, but stronger than it had ever been.

”Run. Ohh, you better run ****, run far and fast. For if I ever so much as hear a rumour about you, I will hunt you down and kill you.”

”But I… We could- ”

”Run.”

**** jumped at the tone and fled, leaving **** alone. She slumped on her knees. Everything was quiet. Everything was dark. **** felt hollow to her core.

She sat down and muttered: ”This is not true. This cannot be true. This is a bad dream. A bad dream, or I have perished and Tartaros has claimed my wits. No. No...” Tears began running down her face.

”How could ****, I trusted **** with all my being. I loved ****, **** was my family. I should have seen this coming, I should have seen this coming the moment I met ****. But how could I? **** is a monster.” **** wiped her tears in her arm. She took a sharp piece from the ground and carved her face until an open wound ran across her cheek. **** smeared her blood across her face and raised her bloody hand to the sky.

”I swear. I swear in the name of every god and goddess there is. Hear me, for this is my blood oath. No one should ever suffer a monster like ****. I will not rest until I track down every last abomination on the mortal realm. I will cross the lands and cross the seas, so that no beast can ever hide from me. No monster is too weak, none too strong. I will find a way to eradicate them all. This, I swear on my blood. Hear me, deities. For even if one of you decides to war with humans, you will pay with your life, no matter how immortal you claim to be. This, I swear.”

Next Chapter: Across the Gulf of Corinth