The Great Palace of Knossos was well-secured, especially the secret chambers, with all the chains and locks and laser beams and CCTV. In addition, four guards were stationed on night patrol.

And one by one, they fell.

Even a security as guarded as so, it couldn't keep away Chloe Malakós.

Silent as a ghost in the dark as night, she scaled the walls and pried the codes. And in she went, to the secret chambers of Knossos.

When Chloe took another step, her necklace glowed orange.

She cursed in Greek. "It's about damn time," she whispered to herself. Her fingers pried into a satchel slung by her shoulder.

The secret chamber inside the throne room of The Palace of Knossos, Heraklion, Crete, Greece turned out to be quite spacious, but dark. Her palms were coated in dusts, and dirt, touching the cold walls all the while. She huffed out a breath, and took out her siccae blade. She directed the blade down, facing the ground.

Her necklace vibrated.

Her brown hair looked auburn in the light.

She raised her hand, the other grasping around the hilt of her siccae. With the help of the orange glow, she squinted nad saw the outline of the front wall. Her palmes brushed over it, feeling the cracks.

Ѳ

Theta.

She pressed her hand against the brick, and it moved backwards.

The wall to her left crumbled down. She took a step back, flexing the siccae in her hands.

The blade shone under the necklace's orange light. She raised it to her eyes, and held it forward.

Whatever it was behind the walls, she was ready for it.
For whatever that got in her way.

Under a few seconds, nothing came.

Her chest tightened, her knuckles white. She took steps ahead, breathing shallow and quick. She tossed the stachel down, stepped out of the chamber, and peered into the room.

Her necklace buzzed.

Someone is here.

Every creak her shoe made against the floor was slow, careful.
Her eyes darted to every direction, taking note of all the well-kept walls. Just in case, she may needed to smash one down.

Just in case.

Dim lights brightened the room. The walls were fine, and not destructed by time that passed by for a milenia long. All over the floor were shards of stones and red splatters.

Chloe carefully lowered down a knee, and brushed a fingertip over it. She brought it to her nose, the familiar metallic scent striking her senses.

She stood up, and raised her siccae.

Bloods don't last new and wet for a milenium long.

It's here.

She heard a scream.
A scream of a child.
One, two. No, three.

Three children.
Not far from her.
A growl. A crack. A loud yelp of, "Help!".

It couldn't be.
Are they-

A thud.
A bang.
Another cry for help.

Chloe pursed her lips, her necklace buzzing so much that it looked like it was moving away from her.

Children...
New blood.
A boy. Two girls. Probably more.
Knossos... chamber.

She gritted her teeth.

A scream.
They're his prey. His sacrifice.

"Minotaur, son of Minos! Son of Pasiphae! Monster of the Labyrinth!" she called, her voice bouncing in echoes, eerily calm and cold. "Come out to me, and fight."

Then he came.

Few feets tall, horns almost stuck to the high ceiling up above them. His feet thumped on the floor, a few pieces from the wall dropped down. His arms, as big as a barrel, were coated in dirt, the palms in blood. His big, bulging eyes peered down at her. He licked his lips, blood still smudged on it.

"I've had enough girls," he growled. "Just one more boy."

"I'm not your lunch, son of a bull," she said. "I'm a théama."

"Daughter of a human," he bellowed. "Don't you know who I am?"

"An irregular birth that feasts on humans," she spread her legs in a steady position, her head held high, meeting it's gaze straight on. "Your mom is a human. Why are you eating her kind?"

"The promise of the Athenians last, 7 boys. 7 girls."

"You were killed by Theseus, your brother-in-law," she muttered loud enough for his ears. She didn't exactly like the stories, but it satisfied her to tell these legends to others, even a bloodthirsty beast. "And I will do the honor of continuing that legacy."

"Ariadne was a fool to fall in love with such a man," he glowered, his eyes capturing her. She raised her siccae to him. "And you are just as foolish to think you can take on me single-handedly. Theseus was a grown young man. You... an adolescence, at most."

"I'm 16." she nodded.

"Then send my greetings to the kids I've devoured over the years."

He moved, she ran.
She swept under him, her back against the hard floor.
Chloe stabbed his groin part- or where she thought it was, at least. He roared, she sliced his right knee. She ran past, her feet screeching on rocks, safe to the side of the walls.

He swept her aside with one swipe.

She was knocked against the wall, crumpling down. A ring pulsed in her ears. Her shoulders were numb.
She grunted and cursed at the sight of her siccae at the other side of the room. His fist flew her way. She hurried to the side, and dodged.

"You cannot defeat me, human's daughter!"

She ran to the side, again meeting with a blow from the minotaur.

She took the necklace in her hand and raised it to his eyes. He bellowed, and stepped back. She rushed to her siccae, gliding behind his back. He roared again.

She leapt, and climbed onto him, a fistful of fur in her hold and a sharp blow of her feet in every step. He moved around, shrugged, smashed his back to the wall, but she dodged them all, still keeping hold of him, and got up to his head. She stabbed in his skull.

"How dare you! Who do you think you are, human's child?"

"I am Chloe Malakós," she stabbed his eye. "And I am a théama."

She stabbed on the roots of his horn. He raged. She was thrown into the ceiling, then down to the floor.

Her head pounded. Her arm twisted. A metallic taste in her mouth.
She gripped tight of the siccae.
Her fingers twitched.

He towered over her, nose already sniffing her hair, slober down her face. His hands pressed her against the wall, her upper arm pinned.

But her lower arm were free.
He's near. Too near.

She held back a chuckle.
Now or never.

And struck his chest.
Straight to his heart.

It didn't end there. She dragged the blade when his grip loosened, slipping from him. A deep, red gash stretched from his heart, all the way to his right armpit. Black blood spilled out endlessly.

He fell forward.

She stepped back.

The fallen half bull did not breathe. His body parted into tiny dusts, and dissolved into thin air. Chloe's necklace stopped glowing, back to its passive state. She fell on her knees.

She breathed a sigh.

"That's done."

Her pair of hazel eyes glanced at her watch. 7 minutes left, and the guards will wake up.

Faint screams echoed in her ears. From her position, she could see more blood. Wet, red, and fresh. Bones, and skin, laid around. Shreds of clothes sprawled nearby. She looked away.

It was a routine, something a théama did everyday.

Blood and broken bones were part of her life, since the day she saw a karpoi on her 9th birthday.

Still, the screams, the remaings of the children, innocent, clueless and helpless, made her shook and shivered. The blow from the creature still could be felt, her arm bruised. She clutched her necklace, when it started to glow again.

"What?"

Ѳ.

"Theta," she raised a brow. "The first letter of théama."

It exploded into tiny flames. She hummed, tilting her head.

It swirled fast, and faster, and formed a symbol. A simple symbol. Bright orange, floating by her eye level--

"That is the symbol of the League."

Her stomach churned, though she herself was unsure of what.

It formed to an object. A place. A monument.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her lips emerged to a lopsided grin.

"Holy Poseidon..."

Her hands tucked the necklace into her clothes.
She hurried to the chamber, and ran away.

"For the first time in so many years," she whispered, her heart bursting, her throat scratchy. "They finally summoned me."