Chapter 10: Book One: Chapter 10

Roger opened his eyes, feeling his head spinning.

What the hell happened?

While rubbing his forehead, he rose his upper body up and groaned.

I feel like an egg splattered on the floor…..

Cool air breezed through his short black hair, making him realize he was sitting on a rooftop. But how high?

He looked around.

The roof was flat with short walls around the edges. Nearby stood a water tower, and four vent metal boxes around it.

The sky still loomed in darkness with white clouds moving beneath the sparkling stars. And being high felt colder than the ground. But how did he get on top of the roof?

He remembered entering the bird aviary at the zoo where his poor partner got killed by a snake woman.

Poor Spencer….

Before he met the same fate, a three-headed beast woman attacked the snake woman, and boy it was like watching a monster B-movie. Then he passed out after the beast woman killed the snake woman.

So how did he appear on the roof?

Roger got up and walked toward the edge of the roof. Before he approached the edge, a giant shadow with three heads rose in front of him. Their white eyes glittered at him.

“Are you going to jump?” her left head asked.

Roger fell back onto his butt and crawled backward. The three-headed beast woman climbed over the edge and stepped toward him.

In the moonlight, she was huge as Roger remembered. If she was human with one head, she would look like a giant amazon woman.

When Roger’s back touched one of the ventilation boxes, he placed his hand on his gun holder on his belt, but it wasn’t there. Did he drop it at the zoo?

“It’s alright!” her right head stated. “We will not harm you.”

Roger’s heart raced. He wasn’t sure if he should trust the monster. “Who….. What are you?”

The three-headed beast woman sat on her thick legs in front of him.

“My name is Labda, and on my left is Katina, and the other is Cilla,” her middle head answered.

“We are a Cerberus, the guardian of the gateway between the living world and the Underworld,” Cilla explained.

“A Cerberus?” Roger remembered the Greek mythology lesson when he was in high school. The Cerberus was supposed to be a male three-headed guard dog in the Underworld. And the Underworld was the Greeks’ version of the afterlife where the dead goes to be judged. But he never heard about the Cerberus being a three-headed furry woman before. “I thought the Cerberus is a three-headed male dog?”

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Katina growled at him. “What? You think a woman can’t be a Cerberus?”

Roger held up his shaking hands. “No….. I thought-”

“Then learn your place, man! Or I will-”

“Calm down, Katina!” Labda snapped. “We just saved his life.”

Katina snorted. “He should have run away when he had the chance.”

All three of the heads spoke in Greek accents with unique tones. Cilla has a sweet, cute voice and Labda has an intellectual voice, like a British lady attending a university. Katina, on the other hand, sounded like she wanted to bite off Roger’s head. Her temper masculine voice crawled his skin.

“That is true, but he proved himself to be brave,” said Labda.

Roger rubbed his forehead. “So….. What the hell is going on?”

“We had a prison outbreak in the Underworld,” said Cilla.

“A prison outbreak?”

“One of the prisoners in the Tartarus broke out and freed all the monsters who were sentenced to live forever in damnation. Her name is Medusa, one of the worst monsters among the damned,” said Labda.

Roger knew her too. The Greek legend described her as being the villainess who fought against the hero, Perseus. Her ending wasn’t happy.

“She stole a magical staff and used it to spike chaos in the Underworld,” Labda continued. “We tried to stop her, but she opened the gate, sending all of us to your world.”

“And we aren’t the only ones coming here from the Underworld,” Cilla added.

Roger guessed the snake woman came from the Underworld too. That made sense, but Roger’s stomach still hurt over his partner’s death. “Why did you save my life?”

Katina laughed. “Foolish man, we didn’t save you.”

“Yes, we did!” Cilla shouted.

“Well, not in the first place. We only arrived to slay that snake bitch.”

“We didn’t see him first.”

“He was in the way. I couldn't care less.”

Cilla growled like a small puppy.

“Enough you two!” Labda smiled at Roger. “We saved you because it is the most generous thing to do. And….. We need a guide.”

“A guide?” Roger asked.

“Someone who knows this strange city.”

“We keep getting lost and everyone is afraid of us,” said Cilla.

Katina rolled her eyes. “We can track anything in this stupid human city.”

Labda glared at Katina. “True, but having some knowledge can support our quest. If we know the right details, we can find Medusa without getting lost.”

“Bullshit! Remember how we found the snake woman? All it took was sniffing out her trail.”

“We were lucky to catch her scent, but overall we are lost without a guide.”

Katina growled and glared at Roger. “Why should this puny man help us?”

“Because he is cute!” said Cilla with a cheerful grin.

Well, that calmed Roger’s nerves down.

“No, because he is brave and honorable,” Labda explained. “I believe he can be useful for us.”

Katina snorted and looked back at Roger. “What kind of man are you?”

Roger blinked his eyes. “What kind of man?”

“Your occupation. What is it?” Labda asked.

“I am….. A police officer.”

“What the hell is a police officer?” Katina asked.

“I patrol the city to serve and protect people.”

“In comparison, you are a guardsman. How interesting,” said Labda.

“Yup.”

“Who the hell cares what he is! He cannot even fight a monster!” Katina shouted.

“But he should know the whole city.” Cilla smiled at him. “Right, sweetie?”

“Uh….. Yes,” Roger answered.

“Can you please help us? If you don’t, the monsters will hurt the innocence here.”

“And Medusa will do worse if we don’t stop her,” said Labda.

What Roger witnessed still terrified him, but if there were more monsters in the city, innocent lives would share the same fate as his partner. As a cop, it was his duty to protect everyone and punish criminals, no matter what they are. “I’ll help you….. If I can stop the new threats.”

“Perfect!” Labda and Cilla cheered.

Katina shrugged her left shoulder. “Whatever. Just don’t get in our way.”

“Can you also bring us to a shelter?” Cilla asked. “We couldn’t find a good place to hide.”

Roger rubbed the back of his head. “Ehhhhhhh, I guess my place will be fine.”

Hopefully, there would be enough room for the tall monster woman.