[28 DAYS LEFT]

TinFoilChef's POV:

"Man, I wished we could have known how powerful our enemies were," Xisuma said, resting on a rock.

We spent the entire day just to backtrack and go back to the cave we first started the quest.

"No use to complain about the past," I said, taking some of the water we had left.

"Can't you like stop time or something?" B-dubs asked.

"Too much magic for this old man." I laughed, "I rather not use up all my energy in one go."

Zed perked up his ears, "I know you can stop time for a while, but can we go back in time?"

I stared at his starstruck eyes and shook my head, "No, I tried. But no time traveling."

"Man, I would love to be the main character in a sci-fi book, can you imagine living in their world?" Zed looked at his sword. (Speak for yourself, you are a literal demigod)

"You know, since we are going back to the cave, it's almost like we are traveling back in time." Jevin pointed out.

"Oh? I haven't thought about it like that, but let's move on. The cave is just a few miles away." Xisuma stood up and started guiding us back.

"Not only are we backtracking our steps, but we are also going to the shelter of three people who lived in the past." Jevin continued, walking beside me.

"That's an interesting way to look at it..." Mumbo nodded.

"Let's make the best of this time we have, who do you think the third member is?" Wels asked all of us.

"Well, we know that Orpheus and Eurydice call them master and titles like that." Doc thought.

Ren lifted his sunglasses and stared at Doc with his amber eyes, "Is it too much of a stretch to believe that the member was called that title in his past life?"

"Care to explain?" Jevin asked.

"Well, most of the ancient Greek's flaw is Hubris. They think very highly of themselves, it's possible that a king or a member of the higher class who has Hubris would want to keep their title." Ren laid out his points. (That makes a lot of sense for someone who has one brain cell.)

"Maybe, or maybe he is just another narcissist." Stress said, suddenly something clicked in her brain, "Maybe he is Narcissus?"

"Sorry refresh my memory?" Zed blankly asks.

"Narcissus is a major cutie and lots of people fell for him-" Tango started the story off.

But then Ren cut in, "But the people were devastated when they found out, the only person Narcissus had eyes for is himself. Nemesis, sick of all the people killing themselves for this self-obsessed person, decided to act then-" (Slow your roll, Ren!)

"Ren, condensed version of the story," Keralis remarked.

"Oh, Narcissus, very pretty, people died for him, gods were angry, lured him to some water, turned into a flower." Ren summarized. (Ok, now it's too fast)

"Well, we are at the cave at least." I pointed at the cave's outline fading into my vision.

We looked around the outside of the cave, there wasn't a trace of life anywhere.

"I feel like if Narcissus was the true villain. His name will be written all over the crime." Tango said, poking at some weird-looking bushes near the entry of the cave.

"That would make our lives a lot easier now..." I sighed, preparing a lantern.

"Just like, 'Look at me! Narcissus the truly humble will destroy the homes of many?'" Zedaph asked Tango.

Tango shrugged and put on his goggles, "Honestly that sounds about correct."

Xisuma looked at Tango with a hard stare, "Why do you still have those? They look silly."

"Silly? We Big-Eye-Gang will not let you bully our newest member." B-dubs came to the defense of Tango.

"Bully? What? Uh... are we all done with the outside?" Xisuma quickly changed the subject.

"Yeah, mostly. Any clues?" Jevin continued asking.

"Just a piece of cloth." Tango showed in his palm, a purple piece of cloth.

"Looks like a piece of a chlamys," I said.

"What is a clam-mess?" Keralis asked. (Not the correct pronunciation, but you do you Keralis)

"It's like a cape, but it goes over one of your shoulders." Xisuma filled in Keralis.

"Usually, it is worn by young soldiers and messengers." Doc said, "Though I don't see the logic of a young soldier getting so mad at the gods."

"Messengers? Like of Hermes? I guess that makes sense. He is a bit of a rude guy." Stress hovered around.

"Then again, the only source of how Hermes treats his peers is a less-than-thrilled Grian." (You are lucky that the man you are talking about isn't here to stab you.

"Well, we have met Hermes." Jevin pointed out and shivered "I don't like him one bit."

"I think we all agree that he's... to put it nicely... uh rude." Zed laughed nervously.

"Please don't smith us, we were just joking around... ha!" Zed looked up at the sky.

"I doubt that Hermes or any one of the gods cares enough to hear that," I said, walking to the cave opening.

"Tango do you mind being the safekeeping of the clues?" Xisuma asked.

"Well, this isn't much of a clue. It barely answered anything about this third member." Tango looked at the purple cloth in his hand.

Keralis held Tango's hand and gave it to him, "Let's keep it just in case. Maybe it isn't what we think it is."

Tango nodded and looked determined, "Well, let's check the actual cave."

I touched the walls of the opening, I remembered what Tango and Impulse told us about feeling the heat from the bodies of another person.

"Just focus your mind into the area where you think people have gone through and link your mind to the heat of the floor, it's usually very fade but in focusing your whole body into it, you feel the warm wind blow by, informing you of where the heat is going."

But linking my mind to the cave caused no reaction, no. it caused a cold breeze to go by, freezing the tips of my finger.

I looked at Tango in worry, he nodded to my superstition, "That's a dead person's heat alright, so the third member has been dead for a long time."

"What do you mean?" Zed asked.

"While the living will produce heat as a byproduct of making energy, the dead only grew colder and colder," I explained.

"And with the climate of Tartarus, it may cause people to freeze up." Tango stoked the wall, "The third member was in Tartarus alright."

"Well, that explains why Eurydice's hands were so cold." Stress remarked.

"By the logic, won't Etho be dead too?" Zed asked, dumbfound.

"Dead inside maybe, but no Etho's special." Wels joked.

We walked into the cave; Zed quickly lit up a lantern he had in his bag.

Light spread throughout the cave, not a single motion insight.

"It feels so dead in here." Stress looked around for any clues at all.

I scanned the walls of the cave, it seemed that it was an animal's house before.

"The claw marks on the wall aren't human so they must have kicked an animal out of its cave," I reported.

"First, rude. And second, looked like a bear's claw marks." Stress informed.

"The man has to be fit to just throw out a bear." Ren looked up from his spot.

Jevin sat in the middle of the room concentrated on something.

"I hear... moving water below me, sounds like they are falling." Jev broke his concentration.

"Really?" Doc knocked on the floor a few times, each time a fade clang was heard.

"It's hollow alright, how do we go down?" Doc stepped on the floor.

"Too dangerous to try and if we break the floor here, it sounds like a big echo so it's steep. Even if there were water down, from this height it will be like hitting a brick wall." Tango told Doc.

"You would have experience, wouldn't you Tango?" Ren teased.

"Ren! I was what? Ten years old!" Tango shoved down the storyteller.

"Man wished Pearl or Gem is here. They would have gotten a kick out of the story." Ren crossed his arms, "Better luck next thing I guess." Ren fired himself up, "The older the childhood story is, the more embarrassing it will be!"

Tango walked away to blow some hot stream but hit his head on the cave's doorway to the deeper caves.

"Ouch. Hm." Tango rubbed his head.

"Stress, can I borrow you for a second?" Tango asked.

Stress looked at him blankly and blink, "You want me?"

"Yes, just to confirm something." Tango looked at Stress, then the entry into the deeper mines.

"This entrance isn't normal; it's been broken out in rather big bounders. But it still follows the human outline." Tango confirmed.

"Ok, first why use my sister and more importance, if it was broken out, wouldn't there be huge boulders hidden away somewhere," Keralis asked.

Tango looked at the cave as a whole, "I hit my head somehow, so the third member is short."

Stress blinked, "Yeah that makes sense... wait and you used me?"

Tango walked into the route into the deeper cave, shouting out, "As for the huge boulders, they either moved them or just hid them well, which still involves moving them."

Stress huffed in a small ball of anger, "Jerk."

I laughed, "Come, I'm sure he would have used Grian if he was here." I tried and cheered up Stress.

Tango led, following closely was Zedaph.

"Were these tunnels man-made?" Zed asked.

"It feels like a man-made tunnel, the walls are unusually smooth," Tango replied.

Stress and Keralis took note of every Glow Berry we went by, then they fully stopped.

"The glows berries that were here... they are gone!" Stress panicked.

"But the person didn't touch the glow berries near the entry of the cave..." Keralis's eyes grew bigger.

"So, they may have randomly stopped halfway..." Keralis gulped some much-needed air.

"Or the more likely option, they were getting rid of the glow berries, heard us, and dashed away."

"Are you saying that the third member is here with us?" I lowered my voice.

"Yes, most probably." Xisuma agreed.

"If we focus on finding clues of this third member, we might be caught off guard by them, if we focus on finding the third member, he's already prepared to fight us at any moment." Jevin evaluated.

"And if we split up?" Zed suggested.

"Remember, most of the strong fighters are with the Orpheus team. Not saying we aren't strong but remember the member craved out the tunnel we are standing in, and the rocks are rough around these parts." Xisuma put his hand on Zed's shoulder.

"Looks like a lose-lose situation to me." Doc overlapped his arms.

Suddenly Ren spin around wildly, he stood in a defensive position.

"Hush for a moment, I think I heard something," Ren whispered, and we all fell dead silent.

...

Rumble~

Zed's face blushed a bright red, and he grinned.

"I think Ren heard my stomach." Zed patted his belly. (Good ears Ren! You are just like a dog.)

Ren dropped to the ground, looking defeated.

"You scared me half to death! I thought it was a monster!" Ren pushed up his blue sunglasses.

"Speaking of monsters, I'm surprised that none has attacked us yet." Wels looked back.

"Now that you say it, it is kind of weird." Zed massaged his head. (Next thing you know, there would be like 10 monsters gunning for us. But the author thinks that fight scenes are a pain to write, so that book trope is subverted for now. Good, I rather not fight 10 bears at once.)

"No, not at all. it makes so much sense." B-dubs popped in.

"When were you awake?" Tango asked.

Ignoring Tango, B-dub explained to a very confused Zed:

"You see, Demigods gave off a smell that is very similar to the ethereal smell of the Gods, so when monsters smell us, their instinct is to go and kill us because they think we are also gods."

"And why do they hate the gods?" Zed asked a particularly good question.

"Typhon, who is the father of all monsters, tried and overthrow Zeus once and he lost," I added in.

"So, the whole monsters hate us thing is because of Zeus," Zed repeated with a blank stare.

"I think this started the 'Sins of the father' trope," Ren said.

"Oh, that guy, I would love to give him a knuckle-sandwich or two," Zed grumbled, then his stomach rumbled. Form the hunger he stumbled, onto his knees and slowly crumbled away. (Joe, I did the thing.)

"Can we have lunch or dinner or whatever time of the day it is?" Zed curled up.

"Stop being a drama queen then maybe." Tango walked us back to the main cave.

We took the wood from the outside and Zed was encouraging Jevin to make the fire.

"I know you can do it! Just believe in yourself." Zed cheered.

"I am water, well jelly-like water, the best I can do is to make boiling stream." Jev looked at his slime hands.

"Maybe use this?" Tango throws Jevin a piece of firewood.

"Smart! Ok, you can make water hot, and now I want you to heat the stick until it catches on fire." Zed praised Jev once again.

Jevin nodded and squeezed the stick as hard as he can.

"Jev, fire still needs air to breathe." I reminded.

Jev nodded and loosen the grasp on the stick.

And finally, after a bit, the stick burned up a little bit then caught on fire.

"You did it Jev!" Tango shouted for hurray.

"The third member may still be in the cave! Quiet down a bit!" Stress shushed.

"Don't worry, it's fine!" Zed offered to take over fire duties.

Wels looked around uneasily, "Am I the only one that feels like we are being watched?"

Xisuma patted the knight, "Maybe you just need some fresh air, the cave is a bit stuffy."

Wels let out a shaky breath, "You're right, my head is pounding a bit."

Wels walked out, he didn't look satisfied with Xisuma's answer about his worries, I decided to go and talk with him.

I watched him splash some water onto his face, then he just sat on the grass.

"TFC, what's up?" He addresses me.

"What's worrying you bud?" I asked.

"The third member, I think he's been watching us for a while now."

"How so?"

"Just that... Jev said that there are more caves around this area than one can think, and if they been out for as long as Eurydice said, they will know the ins and outs of this cave."

"Sounds does travel far in caves like this, I can see why you are concerned."

"Not only that, but it's also very possible that there are cracks in the walls and floors."

We sat on the grass for a short while, the breeze ran through my head and calms my nerves.

One distant voice shook me out of my daze.

"Lunch is ready!" Ren yelled.

I looked back at the small group of hermits gathering around the fire, warming up their burritos.

Honestly, it's much nicer to have a smaller group, I looked at Wels and he signaled that he wasn't hungry.

I sighed, he still needed to eat so I decided to give him an apple.

"Etho said to just warm them up before eating." Stress said looking at her cold burrito.

"Etho really freezes them, it's like a rock." Mumbo tapped on his burrito which made a hollow sound.

Then for a split second, I could have sworn I saw the shadow of a man lurking behind the tunnels.

I rubbed my eyes, my heartbeat raced.

Gone. It was gone.

I think Wels is rubbing off me. I thought to myself trying to calm my raging heart.

A flash of light, an explosion knocked me off my feet, something spattered all over the ground, smoke filled my lungs, a shadow ran by; wet footsteps faded away. A loud ringing in my ears. Black.

Gods, why was it so loud? It's so loud... why can't I move? I need to get up somehow.

I opened my eyes and sat up straighter, the ringing was still present, my vision was blurry, but I can see that most of the Hermits were up.

Most. The closest ones near the fire (Stress, Jevin, and Zed) were still unconscious.

My vision was clear, and the sound of my heartbeat filled my head, I wobbled my way to the main group.

Wels was already patching up some minor injuries and mouthing 'I told you so.'

I was most worried about Stress, Jev being a slime can't burn easily and Zed was the champion of Hestia, goddess of the hearth, he can't burn easily.

But Stress? Daughter of all green things near and far? What happens to her when fire touched her?

She was burned badly, blisters covered most of her left arm and a few burns redden around her cheek and left eye.

Luckily, most of the burns around her eyes were first-degree burns, but her arm was in pretty bad shape.

We needed water. I tried and spoke something but only a wheeze came out.

I entered into a short coughing fit and tried again; my voice was gone because of the smoke.

But they understood me, the hermits knew what I wanted right away. Which is good.

"Don't try and force your voice Chef. It'll come back once the air is a bit clearer." Xisuma cheered me on.

I nodded before returning my attention to Stress.

Water, towels, anything cold will do. I thought to myself, sitting her side, careful not to move her arm too much.

I wiped off something, my brain was on auto mode at this point, I repeated what Joe has always done.

Wipe off anything that may worsen the blistering, gently spread cool running water to the burned area, and gently covered it with towels so no irritation can happen.

As for the burns on her face, the cold burrito will have to do for an ice pack.

Then Stress woke up, "Hffphh..."

"Don't move too much, your arm is in very bad shape." My tone softens on its own, trying to cover up how coarse my voice was.

Stress understood and relaxed her shoulders, "Any idea what happened?"

The ringing in my head stopped, my heart was beating more normally now. My vision was clear.

I looked around the cave we were in, a large container now sits near the cave entry, devoid of any contents that might have been in it at one point. The rocks now shimmed with an unusual light.

How unusual, I touched the rocks with my free hand, and as expected it was wet.

I smelled it to try and identify the liquid on my hand, it smells like...

"Something out of a gas station." Wels's talking snapped me out of my thoughts.

Gasoline, yeah that makes sense. As the least hot of fires are around 300°C and gasoline will spontaneously combust at around 280°C, it's honest luck that third-degree burns are the worst of the injuries we have gotten.

Stress looked at her arm and took note of the damage on it, that's going to leave some scarring behind.

"Wish Joe was here; he'll be able to ease the pain a bit," Zed said, bandaging the bruise on the arm he landed on.

"Oh well, say I got an idea!" Keralis suddenly ran out of the cave.

Xisuma handed me a bottle of water, the cool liquid calmed down my throat and then I was able to speak without pain.

"No seriously what happened, my memories seem rather murky," I asked, my voice was still a bit off.

Wels examined the area around us as the smoke that came from the explosion died down.

On the shiny gasoline-covered rocks were footsteps from the third member of the group, and that was all he left behind.

From all we know, he is just a really strong dude (able to carve out a lot of tunnels isn't easy) and knew enough about rarer plants (The root of a glow berry is like a hive of its own, so pulling it out of the rock it was growing in will cause a cave-in and trying to disguise them as regular vines was the best idea) and was also cunning and smart. (Kicking an animal out of its home was just straight up mean)

But did this lead up to anything about his identity, not really?

"We are back to square one, aren't we?" Jevin rubbed his slime-like hair furiously.

Tango sat in silence, trying to think of anything that can help this search a bit easier.

"Tango of the Tek, do you know where the nearest exit from the underworld is?" Doc asked.

Tango gasped then closed his mouth and an idea finally showed itself to him.

"Well, it changes now and again, but he did get out at the same time we got... teleported out." Tango ran some mental math in his brain.

Fonias Waterfalls... I didn't like the last time we were there, very unforgettable after all two of my best friends nearly died there.

Sure, the Gods... uh... helped us by teleporting us back to the ruins of a place I called home and left us to rebuild it from the ground up.

But at the same time, it took us a week or more to get there. Minus all the monster attacks, it may have taken at least five days.

Five days of traveling is awfully long, especially for people who have been out of this world for over tens of thousands of years and didn't even know what a ship or bus is.

"Mister TinFoilChef, what are you holding in your hands?" Eurydice once asked me when I was bringing over something for False.

"Oh, it's a computer... that's right, you've never seen one of these before. Actually, Mumbo and Impulse made this one." I held the computer with pride, I have seen them when they were much younger and inexperienced demigods, now they can stand out among all of us for being geniuses.

"What does it do? Mister-" I cut her off.

"Please just call me TFC" I gently smiled at her, she's been all shy and nervous about being here but even though she's technically one of our enemies, we have welcomed her here as a guest and must obey the rules of hospitality.

"Yes, uh TFC... what is a 'computer'?" She strained the foreign word in her mouth.

"Well, a computer is a machine, it can do a lot of things, like, searching up information or something as simple as playing a game," I said, trying to make my work easier for the ancient girl from another time.

She asked questions one after another, and I answered carefully.

In a lot of ways, she reminded me of a young demigod. But she's mortal, only with a clear sight she can see us for who we are.

Makes me wonder if I'll see her grow to be an outstanding person.

I shook myself out of my memories, just in time to see Keralis return with something green in his hands.

"Sorry, if I missed anything. Aloe vera doesn't grow around this area." Keralis sat near his half-sister and spilled it open, putting the gel from inside the plant scruffily on Stress's arm.

We watched in horror as Keralis demonstrated how bad he is at medicine by rubbing it too hard onto the sensitive burned skin. Stress's face of 'yep, that's it. This is the end of my life.' Said it all.

As he gets another handful of gel and eyes Zed, he chickened out of the main circle.

Xisuma whispered his sorry to Stress and helped her smoothed the messy smacked Aloe vera gel.

"Joe needs to teach you to be a bit better at first aid, great idea with the Aloe vera gel but terrible execution." Mumbo stared at the mess the son of Demeter made.

"Better get better at it soon or I'll give you a head of my take of your terrible aid." Xisuma squabbled.

"You'll give me head?" Keralis raised a singular eyebrow and shocked Xisuma.

They started arguing like a married couple and Mumbo being the ever-loving peace love and plants guy he is, joined into the arguing.

For now, the identity of the third member can wait. I told myself.

After all, there may never be another moment like this ever again.

All of us, just hanging out and laughing at each other. Being at ease knowing of something dangerous may attack, we will have their backs.

I wished the moments like that lasted forever. Then the last bit of sunlight died, and the moon replaced its place.

TLDR:

Trying to find clues.

Author's Note:

I FORGOT TO SAVE A HUGE PART OF THIS CHAPTER

REWRITING IT ALL OVER AGAIN IS A PAIN.

Also, school started, so I am going to put this fanfic on slow updates again.

See you all hopefully soon.