A Mother's Vengeance

{Mount Tamalpais--San Francisco, 4th of May 2005} 

Atlas POV

The kid had been here for over a day and there was no sign of him leaving, we had talked about many things and I was able to reach a conclusion, the kid didn't really care for the gods or at least he didn't revere them like most other demigods who had reached this place. Of course it wasn't as if I ever got to know them well since Ladon always chased them, like the one who came here a year ago.

And the few who reached the tree always dipped faster than they had reached it, not that I blamed them really Ladon was one scary fucker.

Still though he made some remarks that angered me (though it wasn't like I could do anything about it), he was more, I don't know if to say compassionate as he did give me a few chips which he called pringles, he did so by throwing them into my mouth each time he got one in he took a step back and threw another one, the kid seemed to have an infinite supply of them in his shadow.

While I was thinking about the kid I felt a presence, no multiple presences which felt very familiar; monsters around ten of them were waiting at the bottom of the mountain, one was much more powerful than the others, I immediately recognized it, it was Echidna Mother of Monsters.

Then I heard the sound of the kid standing up behind me it seemed he had sensed them as well, I was about to warn him of who it was when...

"Atlas be quiet."

I DIDN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING!! Well you can go and die for all I care. The kid walked past me, the crunching of the leaves sounding at his every step, a bronze spear appeared in his hand as he started descending the mountain.

Odysseus POV

I wonder how many children Echidna had brought afer all she was known as the mother of monsters, and every tale in which she appears she doesn't fight a demigod only her children do. The only reference I had for how powerful she could be is that she was killed by Argus the one hundred eye giant when she was taken by surprise so while she definitely isn't as powerful as some of her children she probably isn't far off.

I started using the Mist to enshroud myself, since I couldn't use my incantation to power myself up, I had to be careful on how I went about things. 

After a 15 minute walk I finally reached the base of the mountain, and there they all stood. At the edges of the impressive line up were two beasts of roughly the same size the Hydra a monster which I could only describe like a Ladon knockoff and the Nemean Lion. 

At their sides there was the Crommyonian Sow a giant pig bigger than the Calydonian boar I had fought in Alaska and the manticore with its human face, a lion's body and a scorpion's tail I wondered if they could actually shoot spikes from it.

Above the lineup were three other flying monsters, the first I noticed was the Colchian dragon who basically looked like a giant python with small wings which honestly didn't look like they could keep the monster in the air, the Clazmonian Sow basically a reality on the phrase when pigs fly, just that this pig was the size of a small truck and the third was probably the Caucasian Eagle a giant version of America's patron animal.

Finally to complete the whole look were four chimeras with two male and two female a distinction I made by the lack of mane on two of the lion heads being substituted with two goat horns, they all had the body of a goat, and a ten-foot-long diamondback snake-headed tail which grew out of their shaggy behind. In the center of all of them was a woman a beautiful woman which spoke volumes since I saw everything in shades of black, so there wasn't any color contrast which could really help her in the looks department; wait I am getting sidetracked; the point is that she was beautiful, oh and that she was using the Mist to shroud her form something which I noticed was being done by a lot of sentient female monsters.

In total the monster squad had twelve members, while I only had myself since both Lailaps and Swiper were healing from our battle with Heracles. I decided to kill first off, while I had the element of surprise, the one that would probably be the most problematic, the Nemean Lion. After all in a one on one the most dangerous of these would probably the Hydra or the Colchian dragon but if they ganged up on me it would be hard to penetrate that invulnerable skin of his.

I concentrated more Mist around me making invisible not only myself but also my footprints, my scent, my breathing anything that could alert any monster to my location. I plunged my hand into my shadow and retrieved a bottle which I had also obviously shrouded in Mist, the liquid sloshed around a little, a liquid I had previously dipped my spear's blade in, the venom I had gathered in my fourth labor from Apollo's snake.

I still had two more bottles so my plan was basically to throw one of them into the lion's mouth, I carefully snuck around the monsters who were swinging their heads back forth probably trying to catch me once I came down the mountain, after all they couldn't enter the mountain since it was a sacred place and I knew that Hera wouldn't let them in just in case her sweet tree didn't get hurt in the crossfire.

The Nemean Lion was prowling at the edge of the lineup. I got close enough to see the lion's muscles twitch as it sniffed the air, sensing something amiss. I waited for the right moment, holding the shrouded bottle of venom tightly in my hand. The lion's mouth opened in a low growl, revealing sharp teeth that could rend armor like paper.

With a swift, precise motion, I hurled the bottle directly into its gaping maw. The glass shattered, and the venom splashed down its throat. The lion convulsed almost instantly, its powerful body writhing as the venom took effect. Within seconds, it fell to the ground, its convulsions slowing to a halt.

Echidna's gaze snapped to the fallen lion, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the area. I started retreating as soon as I had thrown the bottle but I saw her extend her hand, and the Mist that I had so carefully woven around myself was ripped away, leaving me exposed. The monsters all turned to face me, their eyes glinting with malice and hunger.

"You're going to regret killing my children," Echidna spat with a voice laced with venom.

I readied my spear, feeling the weight of the battle ahead. The element of surprise was gone, but right now everything was going according to plan. The venom had taken down the lion, and now I had to face the rest of the monstrous lineup, with Echidna herself leading the charge.

"Are you sure about that." I replied at the monster's words as I sank into the ground.

[Greek Myth Fact: Today's fact will be about Atlas. The name "Atlas" was likely the result of joining the prefix a- with the ancient Greek word tlēnai, meaning "to bear." The latter may have been used in reference to Atlas' reputation as the bearer of the celestial sphere. Some modern scholars, however, insist that Atlas' name is pre-Greek in origin.

Atlas was often given the epithet Telamōn ("enduring"), due to his toils as the bearer of heaven.

A figure of prodigious strength, Atlas famously bore the world on his shoulders and was renowned for his wit and wisdom. According to a number of ancient sources, such as Diodorus of Sicily's Library of History, Atlas was a master philosopher, mathematician, astrologer and astronomer. Some sources have even described Atlas as the inventor of astronomy: "For Atlas had worked out the science of astrology to a degree surpassing others and had ingeniously discovered the spherical nature of the stars."]