Chapter Text
It had been a particularly long day of scythe swinging lessons, and Calliope was exhausted. She couldn’t think of anything else at that moment other than getting back to her apartment and taking a long, warm bath- yeah that sounds nice.
Oh
Unfortunately, she would first have to trudge through the rain to get home.
Or rather, trudge through scalding hot water.
That’s the underworld for you, the weather down here is always horrible. Although, boiling rain is actually pretty nice weather compared to how it could be. At least it wasn’t literal fire and brimstone pouring from a giant portal to who-knows-where that had been opened up right above Hell by a primordial demon that awakened from it’s thousand year slumber.
She sighed and flipped up the hood of her black jacket and raised her umbrella as she stepped into the steaming downpour. The raindrops steamed as they hit her heat proof umbrella, a must have for underworld citizens.
“Mewl…”
As she was walking, somehow, despite the cacophony of rain hitting concrete, Calliope could hear the faint whimpering of what sounded like a cat. Poor kitty… I doubt it’d be okay in this weather. I hope it can find shelter. She neared a broken ramen stand by the street, long abandoned and left to the elements. Just before she walked by it, she heard the whimpering again, this time louder, and emanating from the broken down ramen stand.
As she heard another cry from the stand, Calliope turned around and decided to see if the kitty was okay. A few more minutes in the scalding rain wouldn’t hurt her much, but that could not be said for a little kitty left alone.
The stand was a large heap of debris, as well as trash that had been built up. It seemed that somebody around there had been using the ruins as their personal trash pile. “Tch tch tch! Here little kitty! Where are ya little guy?” She called out over the sound of the rain as she began rummaging through the pile. Her efforts were rewarded with another cry, and some movement over by a pile of trash bags just under a barely standing wooden counter.
She moved the bags and was greeted by the sight of a peculiar looking cat. The cat was small, and had black, matted fur, as well as glowing, green eyes. But the strangest thing about this cat was it’s six legs, and the two, long tentacles protruding from its back. Calli’s eyes widened, as she could see burns and blisters all over its body, obviously from the boiling rain.
She quickly grabbed the small animal, taking care to hold it under her umbrella so it wouldn’t get burned. The black feline pawed at her in protest, as if she wasn’t currently saving it from mortal danger, but it was too weak to get its claws through Calli’s jacket. She quickly made her way home, cat in hand.
She arrived at her apartment without any complications. Immediately, she headed to the bathroom and plopped the charred yet wet fur ball right into the bathtub. She heard somewhere that burns could cause creatures to be vulnerable to hyperthermia, so it was important to keep them warm. With that in mind, she fetched a towel out of the closet and swiftly began drying off the little guy as best she could. Then, she got a hair dryer and began using that as well. Luckily the cat wasn’t all too scared of the hair dryer.
The cat looked like a black cloud once she dried it off. She would have found it funny if it weren’t for the fact that said black cloud happened to have patches of charred fur and skin. She opened her bathroom cabinet and began looking for something.
“Don’t worry little cloud, I have just the thing to treat your burns… just where is it.. ah ha!”
Calliope triumphantly pulled out a little bottle with a label reading, ‘Hell’s MediSIN: Miracle Burn Healer!’ Contained inside this little bottle was a special salve invented by the smartest demon doctors. It was a miracle medicine that somehow fixed burns within just 24 hours. Thanks to it, underworld citizens don’t need to be knowledgeable in the entire process of treating major burns and needing to have all the materials for it on hand. Entirely unrelated, it’s also very convenient for authors writing stories located in Hell who happen to not know that process or how to fit it into a story.
She squeezed a fairly large glob of the white paste and applied all over the cat. The cat seemed a little perturbed that this strange woman they had never met before was smearing this weird paste all over them, but they were too weak to protest, so they begrudgingly allowed Calliope to do her work.
After she finished her ministration Calli wrapped the cat up in yet another towel like a blanket in an attempt to keep it warm.
She sat there in silence for a while, watching the little feline fella as they seemed to fall asleep. Now that she got a better look at them, Calli realized that the cat’s body was a little… blurry. It looked like light was bending around the cat, as if attempting to hide its position. An ability for stealth, perhaps? It wasn’t doing much to hide it now, but perhaps it would become more potent in the future.
The future…
Calli pondered on what the future of this cat would even be. Was she really going to take care of it? It could be dangerous. She eyed the tentacles protruding from it back. The ends of the tentacles opened into pads covered with spikes, like a scarier version of a cat’s tongue.
But then her eyes moved to the numerous burns on the creature’s body, and she remembered its pained whimpering and cries.
It might have been a beast, but it was a little beast, afraid, hurt, and alone.
…
Ah, fuck it. What’s the worst that could happen?
She studied the feline’s fur, it was black like ash, combined with actual ash left from scalding burns. It’s tentacles arched behind its back, if they had feathers they would look like black wings.
“I think I’ll name you Harbinger.”
And so, a new member was added to the Holomyth family that night.