The Algea: Sorrow and Dispair

 It was a strange sight that they eventually came across. Three humanoid creatures dressed in long chitons lay prostrate in the sand, covering their faces. Their grey wings trembled against their backs, overplucked, molting, and deformed, with the flight feathers facing inwards. 

As they wept, tears fell to the sand where they smoldered, turning sand into small drops of glass. Half-buried in the sand between them lay a young woman with olive skin dressed in the Athenian guards' uniform. She had a prosthetic leg built for running strapped to one thigh. Her face was contorted in distress despite being unconscious, and she was covered in drying cuts.

Asteria slowed to a halt. She had not expected the servants of Eris, goddess of strife. While she would have no trouble defeating these creatures, she did not want to get too close to them. 

Alista did not hesitate, charging into battle with a roar, Rhei close behind. The daemons raised their heads as one and screeched, scrambling into battle. They fought with long, wickedly sharp talons and frantic, fluttering speed, easily darting out of reach of Rhei and Alista’s weapons. Their black and yellow eyes were uncannily sharp, and they chittered and wailed as they fought.

It unnerved Alista, but she fought through it, taking two on one, shouldering her shield and jabbing forward with a force that sent dust flying. As one lunged toward her, Alista shoved her sword to push the other back, simultaneously kicking out straight into the chest of the other, sending it flailing into the sand. Alista thrust the sharpened bronze edge of her shield down through an Algea’s stomach, cleaving the thing in two. Alista tore the shield out, whirling around to stab her spear straight through the throat of the other. 

She was like a hunter, Asteria realized, every single attack aimed with precision at their vital points. It occurred to Asteria suddenly that she had no idea what Alista Blessing was. Before, she might have assumed Ares or Athena based on her position as a leader within Athen's military force, but now she wondered if Alista might be blessed by her niece, Artemis, goddess of the Hunt. 

To the side, Rhei deftly parried each slashing attack of the third daemon. He fought with an xiphos, an almost boringly ordinary sword. It was the first time she’d seen him fight, and Asteria was surprised by the speed at which he moved despite the bulky layers. 

Considering how much his Blessing had been built up, she’d expected him to rely on it to fight. Instead, he fought elegantly, showcasing what was surely a lifetime of dedication considering his young age. Based on their conversations, Asteria would bet that he felt indebted to the city, and wouldn't be surprised if he trained himself to exhaustion when no one was looking.  

“What the…” Alista stared as the two that she had injured heaved themselves off the ground. The stomach of the one that had been split at the spine was still knitting itself back together. Alista paled. “Fall back! I don’t know what these things are, but they’re immortal!” She paled.

Asteria regarded them calmly. “They are Algea, servants of Eris and personifications of grief, distress, and sorrow. Though I cannot tell which one is which. They are hard to kill, certainly, but I would not call these mere daemons immortal.” She sniffed.

Alista cast Asteria a disbelieving look. “You know, I thought Ed was off his rocker when he thought you were a genius, but I have no clue how you know that.” She reared back to block an attack by the creatures. “Would you happen to know how to defeat them, or do you want to just keep watching?”

“If you are willing to let one touch you, you can take a gamble on overwhelming it with happy memories,” Asteria commented mildly. Alista grimaced.

“I don’t think any of us would have much success on that front.” She glanced toward Rhei and parried another attack.

“Then the traditional method, of course. Find a way to stop their pneuma.” Asteria received a blank look. “Their spirit? Breath?” Asteria tried. “My, it seems as though a fair bit of common sense knowledge has been lost.” She shook her head, thumbed at her dagger, and darted into action.

In the blink of an eye, Asteria had slid past Alista, ducked a lunging claw, and plunged her blade straight into the heart of an Algea. She twisted it and felt the crunch of the clavicle with satisfaction. The algea slowed, and then fell still. “Destroy the heart, and you stop the circulation of both mageia and lifeforce. Daemon, monster, human, it does not matter.” Asteria explained, pulling back and shaking ichor off her blade.

Asteria allowed Alista to body the incoming force of one of the Algea with a grunt and turned to see if Rhei needed backup. He managed to slash a deep gash into the creature's chest, but it would not be enough to stop it. The Algea reared up, distress strengthening it, and lashed out, tackling Rhei and gnashing sharp fangs at his throat. He struggled to throw it off, but its claws were snagged through his clothes. Rhei pushed back at the being with his sword against his neck, but his grip began slipping. Asteria resigned herself to stepping in when his hand well and truly slipped, gloved palm landing against the slowly knitting gash on its chest. The Algea fell over and lay still. Asteria blinked.

A devastating, ear-splitting screech rang through the sky. Asteria and Rhei flinched, turning to face the third Algea as Alista stumbled away from it, hands coming up to cover bleeding ears. The third Algea had noticed its sisters were dead, and wailed in heartbreak. It tore at its hair as its limbs creaked and groaned, growing longer and spindly until the Algea stood hunched over, several meters tall.

It groaned, yellow irises wide, allowing Asteria to see as its pupil suddenly split. In a second, its head split once, then again, and again until it suddenly had five heads, none of which still looked fully human. Feathers sprouted across its body in mottled grays matching the leathery skin of its talons. The new creature’s shoulders curved inward under a prominent spine as its wing bones cracked and twisted into new arrangements. The creature's wings shuddered as they turned brittle with massive, ragged feathers. All five heads howled its mourning to the sky once again.

The three conscious humans winced, crouching and covering their ears as the sound rang through their heads. Asteria grimaced. The last Algea remaining was Grief, then. That was just their luck.

Grief began thrashing, tears flinging out of its sobbing head and fizzing against the ground, some landing near the still unconscious Ferazia, who had curled into a fetal position, groaning in agony, trapped in some illusion by Grief.

“Shit,” Alista cursed, glancing at Ferazia and back at the monster. She turned to Rhei and Asteria. “Can you handle that thing while I relocate her to a safer spot?”

Asteria shrugged, and Rhei nodded, dark gaze set with determination.

“I dare say we may even defeat it,” Asteria said with a smirk, reaching for her second dagger. Without waiting for Rhei, Asteria raced back into battle, ducking around the Grief’s catastrophic flailing attacks. Sand flew around her as she danced around Grief’s limbs, dragging long gouges through its tendons as Rhei grew its attention and faced it head-on, fending off its gnashing teeth.