[Writing] Kid Icarus (chapters 1-8) The Den of Specknose

CHAPTER 1: BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL

In a time where mortals and gods lived amongst each other, the world was full of light. The goddess Palutena encouraged mortals to flourish and she bestowed the nurturing light down upon them.

However, after centuries of prosperity, came the darkness from the goddess Medusa. The two goddesses struggled for control of the mortal land of the over world.

Palutena ruled from her palace in the heavens while Medusa ruled from a dark fortress of the underworld. Both goddesses had their own beauty and served as a balance to one another. Palentina had a body made of flesh that most resembled a mortal being, while Medusa had a cold pale blue body that had never seen the light of day before.

Medusa’s body was withered, slender and sickly, while Palutena’s was ripe, healthy and as perky as the sun. That was their preferred chosen form, but they could take different forms to either fool or delight the mortals that inhabited the lands.

That is how Medusa could take the form of a storm cloud and brought darkness over much of the world. She forced the mortals to endure rains that drown their crops and fierce winds that blew houses from their foundations.

Our story starts with Medusa as a terrible storm that battered a small farm town for days. Medusa had the intent on flooding the land beyond recognition and destroying the town by wiping it clean.

A young couple that was once happy and thriving in the light of Palutena had endured for a short while. They could tell that the evil Medusa was amongst the black clouds that loomed overhead. They saw their doom coming when houses in their town were blown from the surface of the over world.

Houses either wilted or were completely obliterated depending on what material they were constructed of. There was only one hope for the young couple. The young husband ordered his wife to, “Put our baby in the fireplace. Zeus the king of gods has told me that he will be safe there.”

The brown haired wife put her only child into the fireplace in a basket amongst the black suit and ashes. They then closed the darkened hatch on the fireplace as the baby cried.

The house that they had called home for five years was then blown away piece by piece by Medusa. Straw from the roof and stone from the foundation flew into the sky before ultimately the two young parents flew up into the darkness above.

Seeking retaliation for the obliteration of the town, Palutena challenged her rival Medusa to an epic battle. An epic battle that would last a number of years, but the important thing is that was the moment Palutena decided to fight back.

The goddesses did battle on the over world in many forms; Both in their mortal forms with swords, scepters and shields; then in a battle of the elements with Medusa as a thunderstorm and Palutena as a wind to blow the clouds away.

It was of course the mortals that suffered and perished during this time. Deserts formed where there were once luscious forests. Temples and fortresses fell under the might of the two goddesses that used them as battlegrounds.

Finally it was Palutena that was victorious. She had beaten and withered the powers of Medusa down to nothing. The beautiful pale goddess was so weakened that she could no longer defend herself against her counterpart.

Palutena commanded with her powerful yet femme voice, “As punishment for your chaos in the mortal over world, I will take your beauty from you my sister Medusa.”

The pale goddess hissed and coiled her body in a dark corner of the fortress they had done battle in. She was weak and shivering, with her long green hair trembling over her long torn toga. The goddess put pressure with the palm of her left hand on her missing eye as she screamed to Palutena, “Let me go dear sister!”

Palutena boldly proclaimed, “Your green hair will be replaced by green scaled serpents.” Instantly the thick strands of long hair became snakes that hissed and fought amongst one another.

The curse was not done at that point, Palutena continued, “Your once beautiful face will now ruin any mortal and turn them into solid stone if they look upon your gaze.”

Medusa screeched in the agony of what she was being transformed into and she tried to crawl away from Palutena’s might. The will of the goodly goddess was too much for the evil Medusa to suffer through.

The curse was finally over as Palutena used the last remaining power she had to curse Medusa, “You crawl away when you should slither! Let those long legs of yours become a single serpent’s tail!”

With that proclaimed, Medusa’s long legs merged as one and elongated into a thick green serpent’s tail.

Palutena was too weak from using her powers to continue and Medusa was allowed to escape the dark fortress back into the Underword where she had come from. There was no way that a goddess could be destroyed anyway. Palutena was forced to have this mercy on her sister.

Medusa went back to the Underword humiliated and ashamed of her loss. She vowed revenge that she would one day have, “I will conquer your palace Palutena and destroy the mortals that you seek to protect under your charming light.” With that she shook her fist back to the over world as she slithered deeper into the ground.

As for the baby boy that had been hidden amongst the ashes of his parent’s home, he was found days later long before the defeat of Medusa. The only thing in the village that had survived Medusa’s wrath had been the chimney and fireplace the boy was left in.

Centurions lead by a man named Collin heard the baby’s screams. They followed the cries that beckoned them through the rubble that was his home.

Collin in his golden armor rushed onto the rubble and began to clear it away. He threw off his pristine helmet to reveal his curled hair and chiseled good looks. He cried out, “Over here men! I have found where the baby cries from!”

The rubble was cleared away after an hour of removing stone and wood. The hatch of the fireplace was then opened. Inside was an infant covered in the suite that resided before him.

Collin pulled his basket out of the fireplace and then removed the boy to cradle him in his arms. Collin commented, “The only shame that I can think of is that the fireplace was not big enough to hold this child’s mother and father.”

He then looked to the men that he commanded and asked, “Who will take this boy and raise him as his own?” He continued to look amongst his men, but through the bronze armor no one said a word.

After a moment, it was Collin himself that proclaimed, “Then I will take this boy and raise him; protect him as his parents protected him.”

Collin looked down upon the crying and suite covered baby before he proclaimed, “And I will name him Pit so he can always remember where he came from and always strive to get out and reach for the sunlight above. Perhaps with the help of Zeus he can even stand up to Medusa and punish her for this.”

Years passed by and Collin had raised Pit well from an infant to a boy just before his teens; a brown haired boy with a long lock of hair that draped over his left eye. His beautiful blue eyes could never catch anyone’s eye contact without him shying away with a charming little smile.

In all of that time Pit was being raised, Medusa had been defeated by Palutena, but plotted her revenge on her. As a hideous creature of the Underword, she made pacts with the demons and foul creatures to do her bidding as her unholy army that would destroy the mortals.

At the left side of Medusa was a strange wizard that had grown out of the ground from an egg plant. It was Medusa’s magic that had brought him to life and she had taught him how to use quirky magic to aide her evil schemes. He had only been birthed a few years before, so while he was not the wisest wizard, he still did the bidding of Medusa.

On the right of Medusa’s thrown was a sadistic reaper. He was the darkened and ghastly spirit that would drag souls from their mortal lives and drag them into the underworld where they were transformed by Medusa. Wearing a dark cloak, he would only show his skeletal face to those that he was about to cut their life strings.

CHAPTER 2: LIFE AS IT IS

In the over world was a small kingdom ruled by a good ruler that looked after his people as the goddess Palutena would. That is where Collin lived; in that kingdom. He had a small cottage, humble for a man that not only was the commander of the ruler’s troops, but a man that had gained the favor of Palutena herself.

Collin took his son Pit out daily and guided him through the challenges of life. He merely served to guide him, and give him advice whenever Pit came to him. However, like most boys his age, Pit rarely asked for advice and often found himself in more trouble than he could handle.

Pit found trouble like fishing and trying to catch a fish so big that Pit was pulled from the dock. The fish had won that day, but Pit learned not to catch something that was bigger than even he was. He did it all at the side of his father Collin that when Pit emerged from the murky water he would say, “Pit my boy, what are we going to do with you?”

With a light hearted smile as he swam back to the dock, he would respond how he always would, “You should have left me in that chimney father!” It was always said with a smile as a joke.

Collin pulled him out of the water as he still held onto his pole. With a single hand Collin pulled the youth from the cold water.

Once Pit was pulled out, Collin’s line had a bite. The twine jerked and pulled through the water and Collin told him, “Here Pit, catch us dinner.” He then handed the pole to his son with a smile.

With a few tugs, Pit pulled out a big fish from the water. A hefty fish that flopped and made a smile of accomplishment form on Pit’s face followed by, “Thanks father!”

That was one event at the end of the day. Each night Collin would tuck in young Pit and tell him, “Pleasant dreams my angel boy. You will be a hero one day to mortals and more importantly to a woman one day!”

The boy would laugh and say, “Oh father, girls are so…”

“Beautiful,” wondered Collin, before he continued with other adjectives, “Soft? Chipper; fruitful in a way that you will understand one day?”

“No,” said Pit, “Smelly. Anna is smelly.”

A smile formed on Collin’s chiseled face as he pondered, “You are right my boy, she does smell.” He leaned in to his son and elaborated, “Smells like rose petals and fresh water unlike yourself stinky child!”

Pit lifted the bed sheets and smelled underneath of them before he said, “I smell fine.”

His father retorted, “Fine for a boy, but not for a girl. You see they are supposed to smell clean or like flowers. Boys and men smell like sweat, dirt and you in particular Pit smell like fish.”

Pit said, “Do not! I smell like…”

Collin jumped in to say, “Do not say a pig.”

“I smell like me,” said Pit with a smile, only to hear his father tell him, “Which is why you will be taking a bath tomorrow my boy!”

After all of the smiles ended, and the bedtime story had been read, Collin left Pit to sleep with his room decorated with cherubs.

In the morning at dawn came Pit’s target practice. Lined up with Centurions that fought for the ruler of the over world, Pit took his place with a bow and arrow.

At the end of the line, Pit was half the size of every other man that stood with their long bows pointed at their round targets. Collin commanded them all, “Ready.” The men gripped their bows, and pulled back far on the string. “Aim,” said Collin, as the men had one eye closed. As for Pit with the lock of long brown hair covering his eye, he could see perfectly. There was no sun in his aiming eye, because it was shaded from the hair draped over it.

Collin screamed, “Fire!” Holding his breath, Pit would fire an arrow straight into the bull’s eye of his target board just as he had done thousands of times before. And just like thousands of times before the Centurions were impressed, just as Collin was, “That is astounding how you can hit the bull’s eye each and every time Pit!”

Pit would always flick the hair away from his blue eye to see how accurate he was. As always, the arrow was stuck in the bull’s eye several meters away. He had shot the same distance as the Centurions in line with him, only he had done it more accurate than anyone else. A smile always overcame his young face at the fact he had made Collin proud of him.

At the end of target practice each day, Pit would always leave his bow at the archery range, hug his father goodbye and then race home. He would race down the dirt paths to the town, passing by happy villagers in their togas. Occasionally Pit would bump into them and scream, “Sorry!” Then he would turn around and continue to tread a path to Collin’s cottage.

Once he got home, he would throw the door open to discover a girl there. Not that much older than Pit, she stood a lot taller than him. She would usually be cooking something for breakfast and would turn around with a small smile as she said, “Hello Pit!”

Her hair had brown curls and always had a white flower pinned in it. She wore a toga just like everyone else, but hers was white and clean, while Pit’s was beaten and dingy.

With a mixing bowl in her hands, she would always ask, “How was target practice? Get any bull’s eyes?”

Pit would always try to hold his little smile back as he said, “One or two for you Anna.”

With a smile and a giggle, she said, “So who are all the other bull’s eyes for? Your father tells me you always hit the target dead center.” This time, she put down the bowl and walked to Pit with a girly smile as she added, “Gonna tell me who those other bull’s eyes are for or do I need to start looking under your bed?”

Pit warned her, “Don’t look under my bed!”

Anna got close to his ear. Close enough that Pit trembled when a wisp of her brown hair caressed his cheek. She asked in a whisper, “Why not?”

With a whisper, Pit replied, “There are monsters under there.”

A smile grew on Anna’s face briefly, but she composed herself, “If there are monsters under there, why do you not use them for target practice?”

Laughter overcame Pit as he told her, “Cause they are scary!”

Anna pulled her head away from Pit’s as she said, “I think you are just hiding other kid sitters in here.” With a smirk on her young face, she wondered, “Holding out on me huh?”

Pit replied, “Nu-uh,” as Anna went over to Pit’s small bed near the wall.

After she dropped to her knees, Anna lowered her head and exclaimed, “By the beard of Zeus!”

“What is it?” Pit wondered.

She turned her head to Pit, and exclaimed, “Do not look Pit!”

“Why not?” He wondered.

Anna yelled with her face under his bed, “It’s a gateway into the underworld Pit! All under your bed! I see snakes and demons!”

Pit darted to the bed, dropped to his knees and looked under the bed as he wondered, “Really?”

“No,” said Anna, “Not hardly. I see dirt and nothing that could sustain a dust bunny let alone an entire Underword.” After that was said, she helped herself up off the ground and uttered, “You are so gullible.”

Pit pulled his head up over the bed and commented, “I am a kid you know.”

Anna felt his shoulder and said, “But one day you will be a man.” Then with a bounce in her head and a little wink, she said, “And a pretty cute one at that.”

There was a smile of Pit’s face, but he tried to hide it from her by pointing his face in a different direction. Anna tried to make him smile more, “Yeah, I said it!”

She strolled away shaking her head over the thought of him becoming a man. Before Anna could think anymore about it, she asked, “So where are you hiding these other sitters?”

Exuberated, Pit told her, “There are no other baby sitters in here!”

With a smile, Anna turned around with the curls of her long angelic hair swaying from the inertia of her spin. She told him, “Better not be, cause otherwise I’m not going to give you the gift I made.”

Pit quickly enquired boyishly, “What is it?”

Anna turned around and put up her nose comically, “Not telling.”

Pit exclaimed, “What? You cannot do that!”

“Sure I can,” Anna said looking over her shoulder with a smile, “I can do anything I want, I am the sitter here.”

With a slightly sad expression, Pit lowered his head and his hair draped over his left eye as he said, “Got it.”

Anna walked over to him and ran her hand through his long lock of hair that covered his eye and wondered, “When are you going to cut this thing?”

“Never,” said Pit, before he elaborated, “It blocks the sun from my eye when I shoot my arrows.”

“Well one day,” Anna started to say, “Some fancy girl is going to be in love with you and love looking in those blue eyes.” She said it while she still had the lock of his hair swept away from his eye. It was said with a smile and wholesome love, before she let go of the hair and said, “Until then, you are a kid.”

Pit was smitten, just as he was from her charm one thousand times before, each and every day. Anna then added, “And if you are a good kid, I will give you that gift when your father returns home.”

CHAPTER 3: KID ICARUS

Inside the cottage, Anna watched over Pit as she did every day while Collin trained his Centurions. The sun rose high in the day, just as Palutena made it each day.

Pit was the best boy that he could be. With that being said, he was overly helpful to the point of being a pain in Anna’s side. She had to tell him constantly, “No Pit, you cannot help me cook.”

Later she had to tell him, “No Pit, we have enough firewood, besides that it is the summer.” Later still, she thanked him, “Okay every spider in this cottage is dead, I feel safer now, but they were not bothering me!”

Eventually she told him, “You have been overly good Pit. You little do gooder. Enough candy makes a person sick; got that?”

“Got it,” replied Pit, before he asked, “So what is the gift?”

Just after saying that, the door to the cottage opened and Collin entered with a smile and without a helmet. He greeted the two of them, “How is my favorite boy and girl?”

Pit informed Collin that, “Anna made a gift for me father.”

He questioned, “She did? I would love to see it before you have to go home to your parents.”

From an ugly and tattered sack, Anna pulled out her gift; a pair of angel’s wings for Pit. They were exceptionally crafted and Anna told them, “These will help him get closer to Zeus.”

“Try them on,” said Collin as Anna presented Pit with the wings. With a slick motion, Pit slung the wings on his back. They were held on with shoulder straps and Collin shook his head in amazement. Collin then told her, “These are astonishing.”

She uttered, “Thanks Collin, each feather is made of wax.”

Collin asked his son, “What do you say Pit?”

Without saying a word, he jumped up and gave Anna a hug with his arms and feet.

She then commented, “Wow you can fly with these wings it looks like.”

Pit blurted out, “I love them Anna!” He would not let go of her to a point of comedy, but not awkwardness.

Collin stated, “On wings of wax, Icarus flew too close to the sun and his feathers melted.”

Pit looked to his father and wondered, “What?”

Collin’s only response was to tell his son, “You are a regular kid Icarus with those wings on.” He was still astonished with an open mouthed slight smirk on his face.

Eventually Collin snapped out of it and told them, “We both thank you for this gift Anna, but Pit and I have an event to get to.”

Anna wondered, “Where to? Can I come with?”

Collin gently told her, “Anywhere else you would be able to come with us, but this is someone that does not welcome guests as freely as you or I would.”

That left Anna to ponder, “Who is it?”

“Goddess Palutena,” said Collin, only to hear Anna retort, “You are right, she does not welcome visitors, which is why she lives in the heavens.”

Anna then looked to Pit and ran her fingers through his hair and commented, “Well Kid Icarus, maybe you can fly to her palace on your new wings.” She then turned to Collin and commented, “I need to get going too or else my mother will have a cow.” She then strolled toward the door of the cottage and told them, “Bye you two, oh and bye you hunky man!”

After the door closed shut, Collin lifted his son, whirled him around and asked, “Which one of us did she say that to?”

With a smile Pit looked at Collin and said, “She said that to me. She is too young for you father.”

Collin asked, “Is there something you want to tell me about?”

“She has a thing for me,” said Pit with a laughing smile on his rosy cheeks.

Collin told him, “Treat her well and maybe she will be son.” He then put his son down and uttered, “We need to get ready to meet a goddess my boy. You need to be spotless so into the bath with you!”

Pit asked, “Is that what you must do each time you see her?”

“Every time,” Collin told him, “And if you think that is bad, I must have my worn armor polished any dis beauty will offend her eyes.” He followed that with a slight tickle of Pit and said, “And then she may turn you into a girl so you will bathe more when you meet her again!”

There was laughter from both of them that could be heard from outside the door as the sun set beyond the forest that surrounded the village.

Later that night, after Pit had a bath and after both Collin and Pit had traveled to the gates of Mount Olympus they were greeted by a chariot. The chariot was pristine, white and soared passengers through the sky on their way to the amazingly gorgeous palace of Palutena.

As the Pegasus chariot flew overhead, Pit and Collin looked over the sides to see a beautiful flower garden with holy whitish yellow flowers that seemed to magically blossom as they arrived. The flowers almost smiled at the two of them, as Pit wondered, “I have never seen flowers like this before father.”

Collin informed his son, “Those are called Daphnes; they are the personal favorite of goddess Palutena.”

When the two of them arrived at the steps of the giant white palace and bid their ride, “Farewell!” On the steps, Pit asked, “How is this place here high above the skies?”

Collin explained, “This is the realm of the gods. This entire palace is sustained by the powers goddess Palutena. She can do as she pleases, which is why you must be on your best behavior.”

Pit pointed to the wax wings on his back with his thumb and said, “I know all about good behavior.”

The two of them walked into the doors of the giant palace and were guided by rows of armless and topless statues of women that lined the walls. The carpet was red and stretched through the palace over a tiled marble floor. It was grand with hundreds of white pillars holding up the massive roof.

With a humble sound in his voice, Pit stated, “This hallway could fit fifty of our cottage!” Then he turned around while holding Collin’s hand and looked backward, “No this could fit one thousand of our cottage!”

Pit turned back around and continued to walk with his father as Pit pondered, “Does Palutena not get tired of walking this day in and day out?”

Collin informed his son, “No she does not.”

Pit wondered, “Why not?”

From a balcony above, a beautiful woman answered down to them, “Because I can transport myself by the power of my mind.”

Despite a few cliches, it was pretty good.

One thing that bothers me:
-In Chapter 2, "With a smile, Anna turned around with the curls of her long angelic hair swaying from the inertia of her spin."
Inertia seems kind of awkward.

Cliche's in a fiction based on a Nintendo game? No way! Just be lucky I threw in Anna and Collin otherwise it would just be Pit by himself striving to destroy Medusa to save Palutena; like the game is based on.

I will check out that inertia thing and find a better word.

CHAPTER 4: PALUTENA

Within the longest hall that both Pit and Collin would ever know, they both took a bow underneath the balcony of Palutena. She stood above them and looked down upon them as she gently held onto the balcony in a joyous way.

Her hair was tremendously long, blonde and stretched down to beyond her feet. With her powers, her hair kept gently moving and swaying so that it would never touch the floor. Her eyes were blue as the sky that her palace presided over. There was no smile on her face even if she felt joy. She had experienced everything that a mortal had experienced thousands of years ago, so there were no new experiences to create a smile.

She looked over them in a glorious white toga trimmed with gold as she asked Collin, “This is your son that I have seen from the heavens above?”

Collin kept his bow and told her, “Yes goddess Palentina, this is my son Pit.” The golden armor of Collin gleamed as he held his son’s hand with his right and his helmet with his left. There was even an olive branch that made a halo through his hair.

Palantina commanded, “Stand son of Collin and introduce yourself.”

His father told him, “Do it son. Introduce yourself.”

“I am named Pit,” he said, as he stood up and took a step forward, “Named for the fire pit that I was found in by my father.”

“I have seen this,” said Palutena, before she informed him, “You have my deepest sorrows that your parents fell prey to Medusa before I could stop her.”

“But if you are a goddess,” inquired Pit, but his father tried to stop him, “No Pit.”

Pit shook off his father’s hand and asked, “If you have the power to do anything, why do you not bring back my parents?”

There was a whisper in the air that could only be heard by Palutena, “He wants revenge.” A transparent shadow crept along the wall next to Palutena.

With her mind, Palutena communicated, “He wants his parents back my dear Erinus.”

The transparent shadow walked behind Palutena and then joined her at her side as he whispered, “He can be the one to purify your sister. That will be his revenge.”

Palutena ignored the whisper in her ear and informed the Pit verbally, “Because gods and goddesses cannot interfere in the affairs of mortals. We cannot restore them to life, or heal them. We can only test them as Medusa does or change the weather.”

“As a goddess,” Palutena explained, “Medusa cannot be destroyed or killed; she can only be purified and cleansed of the evil within her.”

A small yellow haired angel appeared from behind one of the giant white columns that lined the hallway. The androgynous angel had no legs, merely short feet that came out from underneath of its toga. The yellow bangs of the angel were so long they concealed the angel’s eyes completely.

On feathered wings, the angel fluttered, it uttered, “It has wings!” More angels appeared from behind the columns and giggled with smirks unseen to Collin and Pit.

The angel fluttered circles around the two visitors and asked, “Where did it get the wings Palutena?”

Palutena knew all and everything, which is why the angels asked her. However, Pit did not know this and he asked, “How would goddess Palutena know?”

With a gasp, the androgynous angel rotated around and yelled, “Goddess Palutena knows everything that happens on the mortal land. Goddess Palutena grants wings of angels!”

Palutena called down to Pit, “Do not be and tell them how you got your wings.”

A smile formed on his face and Palutena called down again, “And tell us why you are smiling.”

Collin uttered, “Tell them Pit.”

“I smile for the girl that made me these wings,” stated Pit as he shied away from Palutena.

Palutena then beckoned Pit, “Join me on my balcony so that we may speak closer.”

Pit let go of his father’s hand and rushed up the tall angelic staircase that lead up to the inner balcony. As his feet raced up the stairs, he called out, “You really do know everything Palutena!”

Collin was not as quick to follow. His foot steps tread slower than Pit’s who was in a great hurry. Meanwhile, the yellow haired angel fluttered its angelic wings and rotated in circles as it came to the height of the balcony.

The blonde angel blurted out with a giggle, “Beat you Pit!” There was laughter from both Pit and the angel as Palutena introduced them, “This is my messenger Toodles.”

Palutena then gestured with her arm down to the five other angels below them. Each angel still hid behind the pillars and peaked their heads out. One angel had red hair, another orange, blue, purple and finally green. She then introduced them, “You must excuse them, as they rarely have seen mortals in my palace.”

She then ran her slender fingers through the blonde hair of Toodles as she said, “This one here is my messenger, and it has delivered many things to mortals.” Toodles fluttered its wings to keep with a height that met Palutena’s arm.

Palutena had no idea that children are different than adults as she uttered, “Now Pit you must tell me of yourself.” With that said, Collin finally joined them at the top of the heavenly staircase on the balcony.

Pit wondered, “What would you not know?”

Palutena then explained, “The one thing that I cannot sense or predict is a mortal’s mind. The mortal mind is so erratic.”

He retorted, “I feel like there are butterflies in my stomach being in your presence. The olive loaf bread I had for lunch wants to come out.”

Her eyes closed and a brief smile overcame her face for the first time in one hundred years as she told Pit, “I have never heard that reaction before. Nor has a smile formed on this face in nearly a century.”

Toodles fluttered its wings to the side of her and uttered, “I’ll say.” Palutena’s arm fell to her side from Toodle’s hair as she fell to one knee to speak to Pit.

She put her hands on Pit’s shoulders and said, “These wings and your youth make you look like Cupid young one.”

Collin’s chiseled face had a toothless smirk and boldly proclaimed, “He has every young woman in the land after him.”

Palutena looked into Pit’s blue eye and wondered, “Is this true Pit?”

“Not its not,” he told her, “Just our neighbor Anna.”

As Palutena reached to Pit’s wax wings and felt them, she commented, “With craftsmanship like this, I can tell that she had love in her heart to labor of this skill for you Pit.” She was impressed and glanced over Pit’s shoulder with curiosity.

Pit could feel the warmth from the hands of Palutena, but despite her warmth, the wings of wax never melted. That was Palutena’s ultimate control over everything.

From beside Palutena, the whispered voice of Erinus could be heard by only the goddess, “He can purify the heart of your sister.”

Palutena thought her response to the transparent shadow that loomed next to her, “This boy will have no part in a battle. He is too young.”

The whispers of Erinus responded, “Which makes him perfect to cleanse her. This young boy has not been spoiled or tainted by battle like the Centurions, nor has his heart been broken yet. He is the perfect one to cleanse the evil from her.”

Instead of acknowledging the voice, Palutena told Pit, “We just need a bow and arrow for you to complete your cupid look.”

Collin boasted about his boy, “My son has a gift with aim that only the gods could have provided him.” It was true in more ways than any of them knew.

Erinus whispered to Palutena, “Prove me wrong.”

Palutena stood up off of her knee and asked Collin, “Do you have a bow and arrow on you?”

He informed her, “It would be foolish for me to have brought a weapon into your palace.”

There was amusement in the mind of Palutena, but a smile did not crack her face. Instead she told Pit, “Waiting in another room is a gift that you may keep.”

Pit felt joy, but tried not to show it, as he said, “Thank you Palutena.”

She then added, “If and only if you can pass my test.” With that she gestured into the next room and all three of them looked further into the palace.

There was a bow and arrow lying on a white pedestal with a light that gleamed down upon them. Pit charged into the next room, but carefully approached the gift.

It was a small bow, with quiver and only one single copper arrow. In Palutena’s mind she had chosen a copper arrow as Pit is young, he should have something greater to look forward to in life such as golden arrows. Collin stood beside her and said, “Thank you for this gift,” only to hear Palutena state, “He has not earned it yet.”

The goddess informed them, “While it may appear to be a single copper arrow, after it is fired, the quiver will magically replenish itself with another arrow. The only catch is that the arrow must be shot from the bow.”

Pit threw the quiver on over his back and it fit perfectly between his two wings of wax. His hair gleamed in the light that shined down from above as he gripped the short bow in his hands. He called out a hearty, “Thank you for this opportunity Palutena!”

He stretched the twine of the bow as he readied for the test. Toodles fluttered its wings and hovered around the beautiful Palutena as she prepared the test for Pit. When she was done, Palutena informed him, “You are going to shoot this simple red paper through the center.”

Without giving Pit any time at all to prepare, she threw the red sheet of paper into the air. Pit watched in awe as the paper rolled and streamed through the air. He took aim, but the paper’s movement was unpredictable, so he held his breath and shot an arrow that lanced through the paper and stuck the copper arrow into the wall.

With the paper stuck to the pillar, it was now still enough for everyone to see that it was a red heart. Toodles fluttered over and grabbed the arrow out from the pillar and commented, “He hit it right through the center!”

It was amazing, but even more amazing, when Toodles took it to Collin and Pit, they read that the paper said, “Pit + Anna.” The arrow had gone right through the cross section of the plus.

Immense heat came over Pit’s body, because he was turning red. There was no time to feel happy though.

The five other multi hair colored angels all fluttered into the room and swirled around Palutena. The one with red hair uttered, “Danger!” The orange hair told her, “Terrible!” Then the one with blue hair said, “Horrible!” The purple haired angel exclaimed, “Its Medusa!” Finally the green haired angel yelled, “She approaches your palace with an army!”

CHAPTER 5: MEDUSA

On the plane of mortals stomped the evil Medusa. Her size had twice increased since the last time anyone had seen her more than a decade ago. Her pale blue body now towered over the mortals she terrorized. Her mouth screeched and she did not cover her missing right eye. Instead she gazed down to the helpless citizens and wave after wave they were turned into stone.

Farmers were covered with a thin stone shell forever preserving the fear on their faces and the terror in their trembling bodies. Women with their children were solidified as one when the stone overcame their bodies.

Medusa lead an attack of hideous creatures that followed behind her. Behind her were the lesser creatures of the underworld that did her bidding, while her two sidekicks stood next to her giant scaled tail.

On her right was a reaper who had never seen the light of day before. He was covered in a shroud of black night and wrapped in a cloak of dark fabric that whipped in the wind. His skeleton face could be seen from within the darkness beneath of the shroud that covered him. There were no eyes in the skull’s sockets, so no one could tell just what the reaper was looking at.

He did not have to gaze upon something to cause its destruction. From beneath of his wind whipping cape came a burst of tiny reapettes; smaller and lesser reapers without sickles. The terrifying trite of reapettes swooped amongst the daylight with streams of black night and smoke that followed them.

Eventually the streams of black night had crossed over one another enough to blot out the sun. That is when the swarm of swooping reapettes dove down upon the overworld kingdom. Each reapette would tear the soul from a mortal. The souls could be seen leaving their flesh bodies in an airy white spirit like form. The reapettes giggled and cackled in delight of their death.

Meanwhile, the reaper himself challenged the land’s Centurions. The first wave of bronze armored men rushed at the reaper with their swords drawn, while the second wave fired arrows at Medusa. The Centurions with their swords out came face to face with the reaper only to get beheaded by the reaper’s sickle. In a terrifying display, bronze helmets hit the ground and the heads within shriveled up into chunks of red meat.

As for Medusa’s other sidekick the Eggplant Wizard, he raised his staff and chanted loudly into the air, “Purpulous Eggplantious!” With the wave of his staff, and the twirl of his cape, mortals were turned into giant eggplants. Their bodies contorted into giant ripened purple fruit with feet. The first to be turned into eggplants ran around bumping into things like houses and the well at the center of town.

Then after another minute, they were consumed by the lesser creatures that surrounded Medusa. Dozens of different creatures that numbered in the thousands; they were winged demons, snakes, and single eyed monsters with a thirst for eggplant.

Medusa cackled into the fresh night sky at the easy defeat of that mortal town. Next would be the keep of the ruler of the over world. A place that Pit had been every day for target practice with Collin.

The keep was massive and constructed like a fortress to defend the ruler within. However, for Medusa’s thousand creature army, that would not make a difference.

From within Palutena’s palace, Collin shouted, “I need to do something!” There was nothing he could do, and the six androgynous angels tried to hold him back, Toodles even shouted, “Wait brave Collin! It will never make it there in time!”

All of them watched the carnage from a magical hole in the floor of Palutena’s palace. The goddess then pointed out, “One man can do against an army like that!”

He boldly proclaimed, “Then consider my loss a sacrifice to the gods and to my kingdom.” Collin struggled against the six angels that held him at his arms and legs as they screamed, “No!”

The invisible shadow that watched over them uttered to Palutena, “He wants revenge, let him go and see what happens.”

Palutena stood behind Collin and sternly told him, “You will not leave.”

In an instant, Collin eased up and turned his head to the side to look at her out of the corner of his eyes. He then asked her, “My goddess I will do as you ask.”

With Collin not pressing forward, Toodles the yellow haired angel fluttered beyond them into the other room. He went over the balcony and floated down to the great hall beneath of them.

She then informed him, “Your duty is to protect this child your son and never leave him alone to fend for himself.”

Pit merely continued to look at the chaotic vision, unaware that they were talking about him. He was in awe and whispered, “Anna, please be alright.” He then put one of his finger nails in his mouth and started to gently press his teeth around his finger nail with worry.

Toodles then appeared from over the railing of the balcony and said, “Uh goddess. We have a problem I think.”

She gently asked her messenger, “What is it?”

As he looked into the image of the attack, Pit whispered, “Medusa.”

Palutena and Collin both turned to look at the magical image of the attack. It was then that they could see Medusa create a massive bridge up to the heavens with a ribbon of black energy. The ribbon flowed past the sky and landed on the edge of Palutena’s palace.

Medusa herself began to climb the bridge, leaving her creatures behind with the reaper and the Eggplant Wizard. She had her tail wrapped around the giant bridge and she curved and contorted her body around it. Her body continued to grow in size as she slithered in a coil around the bridge as she climbed.

The sadistic snake haired former beauty cackled as she called out, “Palutena! By Erinus I will have my revenge on that beautiful blonde head of yours!”

Palutena communicated with her thoughts to the invisible Erinus, “You betrayed me.”

Erinus said with a snide whisper, “I cannot be blamed to align myself with those that seek revenge.”

Collin then turned around and looked over the large room they were in. He blurted out, “Where did Pit go?” It was true; there were only six angels, a goddess and a Centurion in the room they were in.

Huffing and puffing his way down the great hall was Pit as he raced to the front doors of the palace. Collin raced to the balcony and appeared over the head of Pit.

The father called out to his son, “Come back here Pit!” The boy carried his new gift of a bow as he yelled out, “I need to see if Anna is alright!”

Meanwhile, Palutena turned to Toodles whose mouth was wide open in shock at what it saw. Palutena told Toodles, “Find Zeus and tell him that Medusa is about to enter my palace.”

Toodles took his hand and pointed his finger to the air and twirled his finger around. He then yelled, “With pleasure!” With a chipper smile on his face, the yellow haired angel added, “Up; up and away!” The angel then disappeared through the ceiling of the palace as if it did not even exist.

Just after the Toodles disappeared is when Medusa entered through the front archway of the palace. Her giant body had increased in size again where she stood four times the size of any mortal man. The serpents that made up her hair nudged against the ceiling as they hissed. She was so massive that her clawed hands could grip and fit around the columns that held up the roof.

The five remaining angels took cover behind columns and nude statues where they cowering in the fear of Medusa’s serpents.

Medusa called out with a hiss, “In thousands of years, this is the first time I have ever been to your palace my sister!” Medusa then looked over the grand hall made of marble, white columns and red carpet before she commented, “It is too perfect for someone flawed like you Palutena!”

Collin and Palutena both came to the balcony to look at the one eyed goddess. Her eye was gigantic and Palutena could not warn Collin about her sister’s gaze. It was against the rules that she was forced to follow. There was no interference or warnings that could be given to mortals.

Instead, Collin already knew from what he had seen earlier. He shut his eyes and reached for his bow. There was no way that he could miss a target as gigantic as that. However, he then realized that he had no bow, it had been left at home.

Palutena screamed out, “Leave my home!”

The snakes in Medusa’s hair hissed and crept closer to Collin and the goddess. Medusa responded when one of her serpents snapped its mouth shut near Collin. She told them, “You ask me to leave when I just arrived?” Then she added, “It was a long journey to get here! I had to make an alliance between every creature of the underworld, then I had to slither all the way here.”

One of the snakes in her hair snapped at Palutena, but never shook her strength in the face of the hideous Medusa. Palutena then asked, “Why have you come here?”

With a whisper, Erinus the invisible shadow answered, “She is here for revenge.”

Medusa screeched in a loud voice that nearly blew down Collin, “You stabbed out my eye, you turned me into a serpent and you banished me to the Underword; yet you ask why I have come?” She then moved her face close to the balcony and narrowed her single eye to focus on the two people that confronted her. The large snakes in her hair curved around the balcony to surround Palutena and Collin. Medusa then hissed, “I am here to make you suffer.”

Four serpents from Medusa’s hair snapped their jaws on Palutena to catch all of her limbs and hold her. There she was with her limbs pulled away from her beautiful body, captured in the mouths of four deadly serpents.

Meanwhile, Pit was watching everything from behind a pillar. Medusa and her snakes had not noticed him yet.

With her gaze narrowed on Collin, Medusa wondered, “You hide your eyes from me.” Then with a cackle in her throat, she bellowed, “But now you will see things through my eyes and do my bidding!”

After that was said, a large red worm with a single large eye and a pair of wings appeared. It slithered along the balcony rail and curled around it as it came closer to Collin. The eye of the worm was much larger than the worm’s long body and had no pupil to it; just a greasy yellowish mucosal membrane over it. Without any warning, the single eyed red worm dove straight at Collin’s mouth. The worm wrapped around his head and Collin tried to struggle against it as he screamed in fear.

The worm eventually worked its eye straight into Collin’s mouth and with its wings; the worm propelled itself and dove down his throat. It was a horrific sight with a worm consumed whole. Collin began to stagger backward, coughing and choking with the worm inside of him. Eventually he dropped to one knee grabbing his throat.

The choking soon stopped and Collin rose off of his knee. He stood tall with his head lowered and his eyes closed for a moment, before he put on his helmet. The helmet made of gold had a T opening for his vision. His face could never be seen with the helmet on, and Palutena asked him, “Collin?”

The masked Collin turned to Palutena and took heavy breaths without a word. She then asked, “What did she do to you?”

A smile overcame Medusa’s hideous face in the background just over the balcony. The snakes of Medusa’s hair continued to surround both Collin and Palutena, but there was still no response from the masked Centurion.

Instead he turned his head and took a glance at Medusa.

From behind a column, Pit quietly wondered out loud, “What is wrong with you father?” He stayed knelt down peaking out to his father and the balcony above.

His quiet was about to be disrupted as he felt something curl around his arm. It was another red worm with wings that gripped to him. The worm caused him to let out a shriek that could be heard by everyone. Medusa’s head whipped around and her serpent hair glared down to the young boy as he shook off the worm from his arm.

The worm was undaunted and continued to hug onto his right arm. Pit soon began to grab at the worm’s slick body and look into its single eye. The hideous white eye of the worm gave a few blinks out of reflex as it tried to crawl its way further to Pit’s head.

With its slick body, Pit could not hold onto the worm with his left hand. The worm continued to advance on Pit’s mouth until its small wings were stuck on the grip of Pit’s hand. If Pit had a grip below the wings, the worm would have wrapped around his head and been in his mouth by now just as it had been with Collin.

After a moment, the worm fiercely jerked itself forward and would whip the front half of its body toward Pit’s head in an attempt to free itself from Pit’s grip. That was when a strong arm with a gauntlet grabbed the upper half of the worm’s body.

It was a grip so sturdy that the worm winced in pain as it was slowly pulled away from Pit. Collin was the one that had his hand around the worm’s slick body and he first looked the worm in the eye.

When Pit saw that it was his father that had the worm in his grasp, he let it go. Collin then held the red worm next to his helmet and while Pit tried to look into his father’s eyes, he could not see within the visor of the helmet.

The eye of the worm stopped its focus on Collin and looked back to Pit. With terror on Pit’s face, Collin released the worm from his grasp. The slick red worm leapt at Pit and he fell to his back. Somehow Pit was able to catch the worm’s small wings between his sandals.

Still on his back, Pit kept the worm at bay away from his face. Pit then wrapped his hands around the slimy worm only to have it violently try to yank itself from his grip.

Pit yelled, “Father help me!” However, Collin stood there and looked down upon him from within his golden helmet. Knowing that he was on his own, Pit had to act fast or grow weak from the struggle against a worm as tall as his torso.

Palutena was helpless to save a mortal that was being tested. She could not even escape the jaws of the snakes that held her in place.

As for Medusa, she eagerly awaited the result of the struggle between Pit and the red worm.

Pit’s hands crept up the worm’s long body toward its head as he continued to grip the snake’s body with his sandals. Soon enough, Pit’s hands were next to the eye of the worm. A moment later his hands were wrapped around the creature’s white eye.

His hands slipped along the slick membrane that covered the worm’s eye, but he cupped his hands and squeezed them together. After more might than the boy had ever mustered before, the worm’s eye collapsed in a gush of horrific white fluid that doused Pit’s chest.

He uttered, “Ew! Gross!” After that was said, he tossed the worm’s limp body to the side and rolled over to his hands and knees; trying to catch his breath.

Medusa hissed with an aggravated voice, “Take him!” Collin snatched his own son from off of the ground with his strong arms and threw him over his broad shoulder. Medusa cackled as she watched the boy struggle, “I would turn this young one into stone, but he shall be taken to my deepest darkest dungeon and used to feed my Shermum snakes!”

She then bellowed a hearty laugh as Palutena stood there in dismay surrounded by the serpents in Medusa’s hair. Medusa then turned her hideous single eyed gaze to Palutena and quietly told her with a hiss in her voice, “Now that I have you, I will make you watch as I wipe the mortal plane clean and annihilate your precious people before I imagine a fate so twisted it will make what you did to me look like a beauty treatment!”

As Medusa released a cackle that echoed through the palace of Palutena, Collin turned around with his boy over his shoulder and proceeded to walk to the entrance to follow Medusa’s order.

CHAPTER 6: THE UNDERWORLD

Within the confines of the deepest darkest dungeons of Medusa’s underworld, Collin continued to carry Pit further and further into the darkness. The only light came from a lit torch that Collin carried in his hand. Pit continued to kick, scream and cry, but not from the horrific terrors that surrounded them, but the fact that his father was not his father any longer.

Collin was controlled by Medusa just as the underworld was. He was still just as fearless as ever, but as one of Medusa’s servants he had nothing to fear. The snakes that crept at his feet did not worry him, nor did the bottomless pits that he leapt over.

After a full day’s journey of endless travel, Pit was asleep over his father’s shoulder. That was until Collin dropped his torch to the black ground at his feet.

There was a handle on the ground and a massive wooden door made of extremely dense wood. Collin reached to the ground and took the handle in his powerful grasp. That is when Pit woke up from his brief slumber.

He continued to kick and scream against his father’s body to get released. The handle was yanked to reveal an opening covered with three bars of metal forged by unholy hammers.

Collin then stood tall once again and grabbed Pit at the sides. He pulled his son off of his shoulder and took one last look at his teary eyed boy. Collin’s golden helmet gleamed in the flickering torch light and Pit asked his father, “Please snap out of it.” He clutched his father’s hands on his waist.

There was nothing to stop Collin from letting go of his only son and Pit fell through the bars of the abyss beneath of him.

However, Pit kept a grasp on the bars as Collin almost had the job done. Pit grit his teeth and mustered the strength in his little body to swing back and forth. He eventually swung his feet up and wrapped them around one of the bars.

With his body wrapped around one of the bars, that is when Collin’s golden sandal stomped onto Pit’s body. Pit’s fingers slipped off the bars, and he did a back flip falling into the abyss below where he landed flat on his chest.

On the ground Pit’s hair draped over his face and he let out a brief cough followed by a tear that came off of the right side of his face and hit the black ground.

Like a halo high above him, the torch light shined light down upon him. Not enough light to reach Pit, but make a black silhouette of his body on the ground. It was almost beautiful in a hopeless sort of way.

The torch was then dropped from the opening above and slammed into the ground next to Pit with a violent bounce that spattered the fire. As for the opening above, it was never closed.

Pit first rose to his hands and knees and carefully looked around the darkened room to see that there were no doors. He was in a dungeon of the underworld. The only way out was the opening high above his head.

There was nothing around him but black rock that gleamed from slight dampness and slick water that covered the lower level. He grabbed the torch from off of the ground and used it to look around as he wiped the dirt from his face. His toga was dirty and more dingy than it had ever been before.

In the glow of the torchlight, Pit soon found that he was not alone. Well rather he discovered that he would be joining his company soon in one way or another. There were skeletons here and there. Some even had feathers around their bodies indicating they were once angels. Some even had their skulls or bones smashed, most likely from the fall that Pit had just endured.

One had insects crawling all over it, because it was the most recent skeleton, still with bits of meat on its body. The insects all scattered, because they had never seen light before.

Pit went to the center of the dungeon where he could be beneath of the triple barred opening. He then set himself down on two knees and put the torch down in front of him. With his hands clasped he prayed, “You probably have not heard a prayer come from the underworld, but mighty gods above the clouds, I need help. My father is under the control of Medusa; Palutena is in the clutches of Medusa; my friend Anna might have my same fate, I need the knowledge to save them all.”

Instead of strength, Pit had told them he needed the wisdom. Against a towering Medusa, or goddess in general, strength would never matter. Nor would skill matter against Medusa’s power, the only power Pit could hope to have was knowledge.

After a moment of waiting, Pit heard his response from above. A smile grew on his face as he looked up above him. He belted out, “Oh thank you gods above! I will pay a tribute once I reach a temple in the over world!”

He was overjoyed, however, his prayers were not answered, and things just got worse for him. The sound that he heard soon dropped from the opening above. He could see shadows of something around the opening that was coming in.

Then the sounds of something dropping could be heard, as Pit was pelted with thin blue snakes from above. In a panic he freaked out and ran away from the center of the room into the darkness of the dungeon.

That was a mistake on his part, the torch was still in the center of the room and he could see the thin blue snakes filling the room. He was in the darkness where he could not see anything. Instead he kept his focus on the snakes. They were Shemums with tiny blue fleshy wings. Normally, Shemums were no threat for a mortal man, however, Pit was younger, and he was only a boy. A boy terrified of snakes.

The snakes stayed in the light of the fire, but avoided the flames. Meanwhile, Pit remained in the darkness where the flesh eating insects and spiders lurked.

Pit’s eyes grew wide in the darkness as he could feel the insects climb him. He let out a scream and ran into the light of the torch where it could be seen that a devilish red centipede was on his back.

In the torchlight, the snakes found him and hissed his direction. The dozen snakes that surrounded the light each opened their blue hoods and opened their jaws.

Meanwhile, Pit was oblivious as he danced around trying to shake the centipede from his back before it bit him. Once the centipede flew off to the ground, it skittered away. Relief came over Pit’s face and he whipped the panic from his face as he said, “Whew!”

Once he turned around he saw dozens of snakes facing him with their blue hoods open and their tiny blue wings shaking. In an instant, four of them lunged at Pit with their jaws open and Pit fell into the darkness behind him.

In a sound of snake hisses and wing rattles, Pit struggled against them. The other Shermums followed the sounds as they moved around the darkness with Pit’s screams.

Just then, a high pitched voice shouted down, “Hey Ikarus!” A bow was thrown down into the dungeon and landed near the torch. It was a bow and sprang up from the ground and ended up getting attacked and bit by the Shemums that surrounded it.

Pit rushed from the darkness with his arm extended outward as he reached for the bow. There were Shemums everywhere, and Pit’s body had a pair of snake bites on it.

He grabbed the bow and faced off against the dozen snakes that surrounded the torchlight. Then he realized that the bow felt different, like it was made out of serpent skin. Pit looked down to the bow to discover he grabbed one of the Shemums with it.

The Shemum in Pit’s grasp hissed a ghastly sound as Pit used his bow to defend against the pit full of snakes. Each snake would lunge at him and attack with their jaws open. Pit would quickly position the bow so the snakes would bite onto the bladed edges of the bow. He did this all while still holding a Shermum in his grasp with its hood open.

Pit spun his body around to slice off the hooded heads of the Shemums that surrounded him. With sweat forming on his body, he screamed out, “Thanks for the bow; now where are the arrows?”

The quiver dropped from the hole in the ceiling and battered Pit on the head. He was driven to the ground where the snake that was wrapped around his bow, began to wrap itself around Pit’s body.

He tumbled and rolled to get out of the snake’s grasp. Pit did a summersault to pick up his bladed blue bow and used it to slice through more of the snakes all while having a Shemum wrapped around him.

The snake positioned itself behind Pit’s body and hissed just before it bit down into Pit’s bare shoulder. There was a girlish scream from the young boy who then threw the snake off into the darkness.

He grabbed the bow and took the quiver from off the ground to grab an arrow. Inside of the finely crafted quiver was a single copper arrow that Pit used to defeat one of the snakes. The arrow was shot right through the snake’s hooded neck and disappeared into the darkness.

As for the snake that Pit had thrown off of him, it came back with a viscious lunge out of the darkness. However, it was covered with a horrifying array of beetles, and insects covering it.

Pit was able to dodge the Shemum’s attack only to see it quickly wither away as it was eaten alive by the insects. That was not Pit’s concern, he still had more snakes to contend with, but at least now he had arrows.

More and more snakes fell from the opening at the top of the pit. However, Pit took quick aim with his holy bow and fired copper arrows through the head and neck of the snakes. Each snake would hiss as an arrow was lanced through its vital points.

For each copper arrow that was spent, a new one magically materialized inside of Pit’s quiver. It was just as Palutena told him; there was a limitless supply and that is what needed right then.

In great dismay, Pit screamed, “There’s just too many of them!” It was true, because each snake that would get defeated, two more would drop in to join the fray.

That is when Pit was saved, but not by divine intervention. Instead it was a pair of feet that slipped under Pit’s arms and began to lift him off of the ground.

Pit looked up to see his holy savior, but soon realized to keep firing arrows. Snakes continued to drop from the ceiling and passed by Pit and his savior as they departed the dark chamber.

The ascension out of the pit was slow and Pit wondered out loud, “Should I start flapping my wings?”

“No,” said a high pitched voice, “But you can exercise more and weigh less.” It was Toodles that saved Pit; well not saved at this point, because the poor androgynous angel was still grunting as it carried Pit upward.

The yellow mop of hair on Pit’s head was draped over his face, which caused Pit to ask, “Can you see where you’re going?”

The angel uttered, “I go up!” The wings flapped double time to raise Pit’s body; they could barely support Toodle’s own weight let alone a human boy’s weight.

After a moment in the air, Pit’s feet were out of the reach of the snakes. They tried to lunge, but snakes were only meant to attack forward and not upward.

Toodles screamed in a panic, “Yah!!!” Directly in front of his baby face was a Shemum with its hood open. The Shemum was coiled on a ledge and shook its wings with a frightening rattle. Any further moment would cause it to strike, so Toodles merely kept his wings flapping to stay the same level.

But then a copper arrow was launched through the snake’s head and staked it into the rock wall behind the Shemum.

Toodles wiped the look of dismay off of its face with the brush stroke of an arm over its yellow haired head, “Whew!” The angel then flew the two of them out of the pit to safety.

Once they were out of the pit, it was dark and cold. Neither one of them could see in the darkness outside of the pit. Toodles spoke loudly with a high voice, “I have a bright idea!”

The body of Toodles became luminescent and shined brightly to reveal two large pots of snakes. There was one at each side of the opening in the ground to the pit below.

This of course meant there were more snakes around the area. Once they were out of the pit, Toodles dropped to the ground huffing and puffing. The angel then uttered, “Can’t fly any… more.”

With snakes dropping out of the giant pots, Pit said, “Come on!”

Toodles however was content to lie on the ground and utter, “No, leave me, go on without me!”

As one of the Shemum got close to the two of them, Pit was forced to take aim and launch an arrow through the snake’s head.

Toodles continued to huff and puff as he said, “I was sent here so you can go save Palutena.”

Shock overcame Pit, and he turned behind him with glee. “Palutena,” Pit asked with a twinge of giddiness.

“Palutena,” confirmed the angel, who then added, “Get going Icarus, and I’ll catch up.”

Pit shot another Shemum with an arrow and said, “If you are still alive!”

Toodles continued to catch its breath and uttered, “Oh yeah. I will be alive. I am a pretty bad dude.”

With a curious expression, Pit wondered, “What is a dude? I thought you were an angel?”

“I am an angel,” said Toodles, who then added, “But you’ve never seen me with a harp. When I get going, I’m an enchanter that you wouldn’t want to mess with.”

Pit then grabbed the angel by the toga and began to drag the short angel away from the Pit. He then told Toodles, “Come on. I am not leaving you behind.” Pit then added, “You are the only light that I have!”

In Toodle’s luminescence Pit could see the ravaged underworld in its dismay. There were broken columns everywhere. There were strange grounds and terrifying rock formations in the shape of beautiful women with twisted bodies and hag like faces.

The only plant life that they could see were purple trees that towered over head. Each tree had thin bodies shaped like a lance. From all around them were echoes of laughter along with screams of pain.

This was the underworld, complete with pits of bubbling lava and gushes of steam that came from the ground. High above them at the ceiling of each chamber was something unseen by the two as the trekked their way through the underworld.

They were being watched carefully and closely by single eyed creatures. Their gaze could see in the darkness and their mutated red tentacles clung to the ceiling almost like the roots of a plant. They watched Pit as he dragged Toodles through the ash covered valley below.

These mono eyed creatures were the eyes of Medusa. She could see what they saw, and she waited to command them. The only warning that Pit and Toodles would have was hearing her cackle echo through the underworld.

I also wanted to thank the one person that PMed me his comments about the story. Made me happy to get feedback.

i can easily see this being a disney animated movie or more appropriately a dreamworks animated movie.

Just you wait, the disney part will go out the window with big action sequences.

CHAPTER 7: PURIFICATION

Within an underworld full of creatures, there were but two people; an angel named Toodles and a boy named Pit. The two of them began their ascension from the deepest pit by climbing a giant set of stairs. There were collapsed and ruined pillars on each side of them.

The boy Pit asked the angel, “Can you fly yet?”

The angel humbly tried to flap its wings slowly, but could not fly. The angel shook its blonde mop of a head left to right with a grimace on its face. Toodles then uttered, “Angels fear to fly here. There is no telling what we would bump into.”

In a world of darkness, the angel’s body was the only light. The torches had burnt out eons before when the world was carved by Medusa. This was her realm that she had created with her twisted mind.

Pit looked to the giant staircase to see that it not only climbed upward, but then it arched over the heads of the pair and looped upside down. It was impossible for them to climb, so they were forced to find an alternate way when the stairs began to loop.

As they worked their way upward, Toodles uttered, “You were called upon to save Palutena.” The angel hoisted itself up a black rock and then added, “You must sacrifice everything else to save her.”

Pit never refused the duty to save Palutena, when he asked the angel, “How am I supposed to do that? My father was the best warrior the mortal world had and now he is under control of that heartless snake-clops Medusa.”

Toodles continued to climb behind Pit and explained, “You’re the only one left and you have to be the one to save her.”

Pit’s ascension stopped as he looked down at the luminescent angel. He asked, “What do you mean the only one?”

The angel elaborated, “The Centurions have all been turned to stone and when I returned to Palutena’s palace, the other angels had all been turned to harpies.”

In the mind of Toodles, it remembered flying into the palace. That is where he found Medusa boasting her power. She commanded, “These darlings will now become the scourge of men. They will now lure them in to their doom with tales of riches and bait them with their bodies.”

The voice of Toodles overcame its memories, “The sheets fell off their bodies to reveal hideous talons for feet and fangs beneath their lips. They’re ravenous.”

Pit continued to climb and sweat as he toted his wings of wax and quiver with him. He wondered, “How can a mortal beat a goddess?”

“They can’t,” said Toodles, only to add, “She can only be purified of evil, just as she can become corrupted and wicked from goodness.”

The boy said to the angel, “I am no cleric. I have no rod or staff to cleanse a soul. The most I have is a weekly bath!”

Toodles retorted, “You are pure of heart, and that is one of the things needed to purify her. Not even any of the Centurions could do that. Their souls have all been tainted and soiled from battle.”

Pit wondered, “What of Palutena? Why didn’t she simply cleanse her sister’s soul?”

“Because she too is impure,” said Toodles with a chuckle, before it added, “She tests the souls of mortals just as Medusa does. Palutena dries their crops and makes them thirst for water. The light she shines upon the over world can kill mortals just as anything else, but the light is slower, so her corruption is far slower than Medusa’s.”

The boy continued to climb the rock ledges as he listened. They were both completely oblivious to the fact that there were still creatures that looked upon them from the darkness. Red tentacles clung to the ceilings high above them.

Meanwhile, in Palutena’s palace, Medusa had her working eye closed. Over her missing eye was a draped piece of white cloth. Her snakes hissed next to her hideous face.

She meditated and could see everything that her mooneyes of the underworld could see. In the darkness she could see Pit and Toodles. Her anger rose as she watched their escape.

Soon enough her mouth slowly opened to reveal her twin fangs. Her forked tongue protruded from her mouth and she hissed in anger.

Toodles told Pit, “There are three sacred treasures that you would need.”

Pit quickly wondered, “To purify her?”

“To stay alive,” exclaimed Toodles, before it added, “The first is a mirrored shield to protect you from the gaze of Medusa. Second is an arrow of light to strike the darkness from her. Finally is a pair of wings from a Pegasus.”

As the two continued their climb, Toodles continued, “Each is hidden in a fortress; the fortress of the angels in the sky, the fortress of mortals in the over world and the fortress of demons here in the underworld.”

Pit told Toodles, “Lead the way.”

However, Toodles had another idea, “I’m just here to deliver the message. You’re the one that has to go carry it out. It’s your destiny.”

After hearing that, Pit sat on a ledge and looked back into the abyss he had just crawled from. He turned his head to look at the brightly lit angel. “If that is what Palutena wants,” he said, only to hear Toodles retort, “You think Palutena sent me?”

Pit uttered, “Who else would?”

Toodles coyly asked, “I’m asking you; who else would?” It then added as it pointed with a finger upward, “Get going Icarus.”

The boy replied, “Don’t call me that.” He then turned and began to climb up the rock as the angel lounged on the ledge.

Pit’s arm then grabbed the angel’s toga and pulled it up. Pit stated, “Come on. I need a light!”

Medusa could see everything and she hissed a low tone, “Attack.”

From the ceiling came four creatures. Their red tentacles released the ceiling and they streamed through the air down to Pit. The first three were dodged and the third bounced off of the rock wall before it was shot by an arrow from Pit.

In the light the two of them could see they were attacked by large eyes that could blink with a freakish red membrane. They had no body or face, just four short tentacles.

As the fourth mooneye whizzed by it snatched Toodles from the rock with its tentacles. The angel cried out, “Help me Icarus!”

The angel was no match for the large eye that zoomed back toward the ceiling of the chamber. Pit could see the angel’s light growing smaller and smaller, so he took aim with his bow.

With the release of the bow string, Pit sent a copper arrow into the air after them. Fortunately for both the mooneye and Toodles, the arrow missed and struck a stalactite.

The pointed hunk of rock that draped from the ceiling began to shudder and tremble unnoticed to the mono eye. Then from out of the sky, the mooneye was pierced by stone and driven through the cavern toward the bottom.

Toodles was still on the grasp of the tentacles and taken with the mooneye to its final resting place. Pit’s gaze was on the stalactite as he had another arrow ready. He quickly launched the arrow, and then sent a second one toward the stalactite.

The first arrow speared a tentacle of the mooneye and the second arrow lanced the stalactite, causing it to whirl end over end. Toodles was flung from the grasp of the dead mooneye as more of the eyes flew toward Pit.

Toodles was flung, but not nearly far enough to reach the rock wall of the cavern. Risking his life, Pit leapt out from off of the wall and grabbed onto Toodles with his arm wrapped around the angel’s body.

As they plunged through the air, Toodles screamed, “Did you think about this before you did it?”

The words, “Uh no,” came from Pit’s mouth as Toodles continued to scream, “Then why did you do it?”

They continued to plunge as they screamed out of fright. They went deeper and deeper back into the abyss that they had just crawled out of, but then they were snatched from death by a pair of mooneyes.

The terrifying eye that had a grasp on Pit looked down upon him as it sailed upward to the top of the cavern where it had come from. Toodles was carried away as well, but to a different arrow. Each one of Pit’s limbs were held by a tentacle of the mono eye as Pit screamed in terror at how hideous the eye was.

The eye merely blinked and continued to look back at Pit. The mooneye felt no fear or had no expression of glee; it was strangely devoid of emotion, probably because it had no face to show emotion.

Higher and higher they went, until Pit and Toodles were so far apart that there was no light for Pit to see. There were only slimy tentacles that gripped Pit’s limbs. Little did Pit know that he was in a den of the mooneyes. The ceiling of that particular cavern is where they cultivate, socialize and feed through their tentacles.

He was surrounded by dozens of them that all looked at him in the darkness. Pit struggled and screamed out, “This is the weirdest thing ever!” If he dared fight back against the tentacles he would just plummet from a ceiling so high that it may as well have been the sky itself.

Suddenly Pits screams subsided as he heard harp music. The sounds gently came his way and filled the entire cavern. Beautiful and harmonious strums that were absolutely soothing and told Pit there was no need to worry.

Pit was in a daze, and he quietly wondered in his mind, “Is this a dream? Are these things playing the harp?” They did have tentacles after all, so they could play instruments.

Then Pit’s head rolled to the side and he looked over to see a bright light. It was a ball of luminescent light that began to light up the ceiling of the cavern to reveal dozens of mooneyes.

The eyes merely watched the ball of light and their irises adjusted to the brightness. Pit however tried to cover his eyes from the luminescence. It was too bright for a boy that was in the dark for nearly a minute.

The strums grew louder as they got closer. Pit was forced to wonder who was making the strums. He tried to look, and despite how bright the light was, his eyes got used to it once again.

It was Toodles on the harp; the angel was there flapping its wings and each of the monoeyes began to tremble and wobble as they clung to the ceiling. The harp continued to play beautiful and charming music that was obviously making the mooneyes gyrate and wobble to the sounds.

Eventually Toodles was right next to the mooneye that held Pit in its grasp. The mooneye was pulsating, until it popped; not into a puddle of goop or jelly, but it popped like a balloon with a mallet in it.

Pit grabbed the mallet and began to plummet. The other mooneyes began to pop like balloons as well revealing sturdy mallets inside of them. It was like a celebration with the red balloons popping all around them.

Once they had all ruptured, Toodles zoomed through the air down to save Pit. However, the little angel was too late. Even though Toodles fell with all of its might with its blonde mopped head forming a rounded bullet, Toodles was no match for gravity.

Pit hit the ground with an “umph!” His body was then rolled like a rag doll down a slight slope and disappeared into a doorway. An iron door slammed shut with Toodles on the outside.

The angel tried to open the door and screamed out, “Come on Icarus! Open the door it’s scary out here!” However scary it was outside of the door, Pit was the one worse off inside of the room.

Pit stood up groggy and in a daze from his fall and the harp music. He checked over his body and his wings. He looked below his toga and said, “Legs; check.” He dusted off his arms, “Arms; check.” Then he felt his neck, “Head; still screwed on.”

He was too busy checking himself to notice the fact that there were more foes lurking inside of the door. They mysteriously began to appear one after another.

Pit checked his wings, “Still there.” Then when Pit looked around the room, he saw the shadows of foes inside of the room with him. He reached to his side and noticed that something was missing as he said, “Bow; missing.”

CHAPTER 8: THE DEN OF SPECKNOSE

Torches lit the multi tiered room that Pit found himself in. He could see foes materialize out of the walls and while they could not see him, they sure could smell him.

Giant noses the size of Pit’s small body came out of the walls. Each of the two dozen nostrils sniffed around at the scent of a boy in their trap. Then a pair of eyes materialized for each of the dozen noses.

Pit was alone in the room against a dozen foes without his bow. From each nostril came long hairs similar to tentacles that brushed along the walls and other darkened surfaces.

In fear, Pit coiled his body down into a dark corner next to the doorway. The first nose to have materialized swept over the wall with the hair from its nostrils. The second nose dashed by Pit’s head and the third nose traveled along the ground to Pit’s feet.

That third nose alerted the others with a pig like snort. Its eyes hovered forward away from its nose to look upon Pit’s body. Pit knew that the quirky creatures must have been hard of seeing. He held his hand out to the creature’s eyes and watched them slowly get cross eyed to focus on his hand.

He waved his other hand and the pair of eyes were slow to focus. Pit wondered, “You can’t see me can you?” All dozen creatures could smell him though and they swirled around his location.

Pit however remained in the darkness away from the torch light as he wondered out loud, “You can’t hear me either can you?” There were no ears, just a pair of eyes along with a nose.

The specknoses swirled around his vicinity until he put his face out of the darkness. All of the eyes of the noses focused slowly on him. They could still see him even if they had to be close up.

They began to swirl around in the room in order to gain speed and swoop down to attack Pit. He dodged them two by two and would run from one dark spot of the room to the next. After he had ran out from three dark spots, he commented, “I bet the next creature will be all ears!”

He disappeared into the darkness and the specnoses lined up in front of the door to block it. Their comical round eyes contorted into angry eyes. The majority of them waited for Pit, while the others continued to sniff out for Pit.

With a line of seven specknoses guarding the door, Pit muttered to himself, “I could probably shoot three of those shnozes at once if I had my bow.”

As for the noses, they talked to one another through squeaks and pig snorts. They plotted to find Pit and argued amongst one another.

The specknose conversation ended abruptly as the nose at the front of the pack asked in an common language that Pit could understand, “Answer our riddle and you may pass.”

Pit asked, “How can I answer when you have no ears to hear?” It was a valid question.

The specknose that spoke for them asked, “What has a single arm and a head that cannot be reasoned with.” With each word, its tentacle like nose hairs waved to show that it was indeed speaking.

Pit screamed out, “That’s easy! It’s a mallet!” Yes, that was the answer; however, Pit said it from the darkness.

There was no response from any of the noses, so he yelled it louder, “It’s a mallet!” Pit wondered in a whisper, “Maybe they are hard of hearing too?” In an even louder shout at the top of his lungs, Pit screamed, “It’s a mallet!”

Pit stepped into the light once again and yelled, “It’s a mallet!” The entire array of noses dove at Pit, because they were in the light. That was their trap to bait Pit into the light. They dove at him, and some of the specknoses guarded the dark spots of the room.

With fear, he cowered in the center of the room as the specnoses swirled around him. Pit kept screaming, “It’s a mallet!” Each time he would say it, he’d have to dodge another giant nose that tried to batter into him.

Eventually Pit took the red mallet from his side and smashed into the nostrils of one specknose. It rotated and flew uncontrollably into another one of the giant noses.

The eyes of the lead specknose transformed to anger as it snort and wheezed the others into a frenzy. All of the noses swirled in the air and dove at Pit. He rolled, jumped and ducked underneath of the strange attackers.

He screamed, “Is it a mallet;” and whacked another one of them. The specknose spun and disappeared into the wall. Pit struck another one of them that flew away leaving one of its eyes. The nose disappeared into the floor and the eye vanished without a trace.

Pit held out the mallet with both of his hands and readied it next to his shoulders. The other specknoses panicked, some of them disappeared into the walls while others humorously bumped into one another as they tried to flee.

In a furious dash, Pit ran into the pack of specknoses with a load angry scream. It was just a tease, he did that to scatter the specknoses and force them to disappear into the walls. With laughter in his voice he screamed out, “Grrr!”

Pit had a smile on his face and a giggle as he turned around to look over the room. He boldly asked with a smile, “Anymore; maybe a mouth monster perhaps?” Then with a giggle, he screamed a cute, “Rawr!”

Then there was a pound at the door and Pit fell backward onto his tush. The mallet was dropped and lost as it fell down a tier into the darkness.

The door wasn’t open, but there was a second pound at the front of it; a louder pound, with no voice behind it. With a shudder, there was a third pound at the door and a rattle at the handle that was a circular knocker.

Soon after the knocking and rattling subsided, the door happily opened to reveal the darkness outside. As for what had made the pound, it was either gone or hidden in the darkness.

Meanwhile, Medusa was not amused and the angry scowl on her face proved it. Her good eye opened and focused onto Palutena who was still being held by four snakes. The fanged lips of Medusa uttered to her sister, “That wasn’t fair of you to help the mortal by offering up a riddle.”

Palutena wondered with a mischievous smirk, “Who helped him? Do you think I did that?”

Medusa moved her face closer to Palutena and wondered, “What would happen if the snake hair that you gave me ripped your limbs off?” Palutena could smell the stench of Medusa’s sulfurous breath.

Each of the four snakes took a tighter grip on Palutena’s limbs, but she was still strong in the ugly face of evil. Palutena asked, “Is it fair of you to test a single mortal like this?”

Medusa’s retort was, “If I could smash him like a bug I would, but I cannot outright smite mortals.” The snakes of Medusa’s hair began to pull at the limbs of Palutena.

Palutena’s long blonde hair waved behind her as she felt the might of the large serpents. Palutena closed her eyes and mustered the words, “You cannot smite them, but you can turn them to stone.”

With a cackle in her throat, Medusa bellowed, “That was your mistake sister, giving me a face so ugly that it would turn mortals to stone. Besides that, it does test the other mortals around them. Can those who have been turned to stone really be broken free of their bondage?”

Medusa yanked her head back and whirled her body around still holding Palutena high in the air. She then asked the blonde goddess, “Can you break free from yours?”

Collin could be seen behind Medusa’s shoulder on the balcony as he shook his head no.

As for Pit, back in the underworld, it took him a moment to find Toodles. Pit cried out, “Toodles, my angry angel where are you?”

Even luminescent and lighting the path, Toodles cowered under a platform of brick. It was hidden, but not from Pit who heard Toodles whisper, “Shhhh…”

Pit looked up to see Toodles wedged between rock and the bright platform. He wondered, “What are you doing up there?”

“Quiet,” yelled Toodles with a hush tone as it put its finger to its mouth before it added, “The reaper will hear you!” The angel then pointed upward to where the reaper was lurking in the darkness.

Pit was taken back by how terrifying it was to see the cloak flailing in a windless underworld. The reaper looked over the cavern without movement, without emotion and without an expression on its skeletal face. Instead it was ominous and imposing as it looked down into the abyss while gripping its sickle.

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