If the incentive to climb a mountain hadn’t come from Apollo through the oracle, every person would have done their hardest to stop Eudoxia. Even to her the thought of an untrained, non-athletic blind woman, climbing the heights of Parnassos seemed a bit ridiculous. But determined to do the deities bidding and stop the horrid nightmares, she turned to action. With the donations of her clients she bought a sturdy rope with a hook in the end, and a wooden climbing stick with a meteoric iron spike at the tip. Thinking these would suffice and after stuffing a couple loafs of bread in her bag, Eudoxia soon stood at the foot of Mount Parnassos. She felt the soft grassy surface of the ground with her hands, took a fresh breath in, and started her ordeal.

The surface was slippery and after a few embarrassing tumbles the easy part was over. Eudoxia took a firm hold of the climbing stick and struck it in the steep slope of the mountain. Her excellent hearing got to a good use with the stick when, after half a day of climbing, the strikes began to sound more hollow. This is how Eudoxia determined the cave was near.

She placed her feet carefully and was scuttling towards the cave when she heard giggles.

"What are they doing, sisters? Corycia, can you hear them stumbling in the walls?"

"Well yeah, Kleodora, why don’t you go talk to them?" The two spent a while arguing whilst Eudoxia was right next to the cave, holding her breath. A sigh was heard and a sweet voice chimed in.

"You two are as useless as ever. Fine, I’m going out."

Eudoxia’s heart begun to beat faster as light footsteps echoed closer and closer. Finally, there was a brief silence.

"Well, hello. What are you doing here and why are you hiding from us?"

As Eudoxia gulped the sweet voice quickly continued in her direction:

"My, how rude am I, questioning a blind one. No wonder you don’t avert your gaze from me."

Eudoxia felt a red mix of embarrassment and anger rising to her face. Her shoulders relaxed as she straightened her posture and spoke: "I am Eudoxia, a seer from the Temple of Apollo. I’m here for a divine mission to... to find a cave that hasn’t been inhabited by people and clearly, this one is not it. If you’ll excuse me I will-"

"Apollo?" The voice chuckled. "Such memories you bring to this sister. I apologize, for I did not mean to offend you. Please, step into the cave and meet us. I am Melaina."

A cold, frail hand touched her arm and guided her through some foliage into what sounded like a massive cave. More light footsteps followed and Melaina began the introductions:

"Eudoxia, meet my sisters Kleodora and Corycia, in whose name this Cave is. Even though I am the most loved one" a bitter amusement could be heard in her voice as she continued: "Sisters, this is Eudoxia, a seer sent by our dearest Apollo on some divine quest of his."

The sisters giggled as they spoke up: "Kleodora at your service, seer. Really nice to meet you. Although Apollo isn’t really my type of a guy, if you know what I mean."

"Thank you for the lovely introduction, Melaina. I’m Corycia and this is my cave, by the right of the eldest. And Kleodora, you shush about him. This whole mountain is Apollo’s don’t you forget that."

Eudoxia froze as she realized who she was speaking to. "You are the Thriae? Lovers of the gods?" Silence followed. Then a bump and an ow.

"Hey clayhead, she can’t hear you nod!" Melaina sighed: "Sometimes I think I am the only one who has enough wisdom to survive out here. Yes, you are right. I think you haven’t noticed it yet but you have entered our realm. The divine, the mythical, Overworld, Olympia, whatever you call it. In the mortal realm this cave is some place of worship but here, we live." Melaina paused for a while. "You say you come from the temple of Apollo. You’ve met my daughter then, Phemonoe."

Eudoxia stuttered: "She is your-... y-yes I am actually her, um, friend. She was the one that brought me into the temple. Saved my life." The red returned to her face then turned into paleness when she had a thought. "This is the divine? Am I dead?"

Melaina was quick to answer: "No, I don’t think so. There have been leaks all over the realm. That is the talk around. Things have gone missing, beings even. Besides, your heart seems to beat loudly enough. Now, I don’t know how long you are able to stay. Tell us about this quest of yours."

Eudoxia repeated the chant of the oracle to Thriae. Silence followed.

Corycia was the one to break it. "Well this cave here is inhabited both in this world and the mortal one so, as I heard you say, this isn’t it. There indeed are many caves up there but it would take weeks to check them all and I don’t see much in the means of nourishment you have with you."

Suddenly Corycia exclaimed and ushered the sisters closer. Eudoxia could only pick a word here and there, none of which made any sense. After a while sisters hurried to the seer rather enthusiastically.

"Wait here a moment, and after you’ve done, tell regards to my daughter," said Melaina as she guided the Eudoxia to the cave entrance. Next to her, Kleodora began calling. The call was so loud Eudoxia had to cover her ears, and still it hurt. It sounded like what the priestesses had described a seireen song, a tale of the beautiful blue seas and drowned sailors.

She heard neighing in the distance. Then slow flapping of wings. Gigantic wings, so strong Eudoxia got startled at what beast would now make its landing for she was sure it had the power to kill every animal in the mortal world. She was expecting a loud thud as the creature landed but instead she heard a tiny fountain, springing from the earth at the beast’s feet.

"There, there, son," Eudoxia heard Kleodora talking as she fed some kind of fruit to the thing. "You may not be of my blood, but you surely share some with my son. So I ask you to do this for him, okay?" Warm air drifted towards them with a snort as it chomped down the fruit.

"I suppose you’ve never flown?" asked Corycia. "Not to worry, Pegasus here is a great steed. Just imagine you’re hugging a horse from your world and do not note the winds and the heights- ah, I apologize..."

Eudoxia didn’t even notice Corycia’s slip. Pegasus. The fear had turned into excitement and amazement. "Can I... pet him?"

Before anyone could answer, Pegasus pushed his head to Eudoxia’s chest. So warm. The seer felt the winged horse’s muzzle, the ears, and the soft, wavy hair. He smelled fresh like the little springs that were born at his feet.

"Alright. Time to get moving, no time to waste," hurried Melaina and guided the her to the horse’s side. The sisters and Pegasus himself helped Eudoxia sit comfortably on the back of the mythical horse, and the moment she had securely but respectfully gripped hold of the mane, Pegasus neighed and the air blew hard on her face as she began soaring towards the sky.

Next Chapter: Creature in the Cave