Ariadne and the Tales of Heroes

"Like an eagle dropping an explosive shit on a house," he said out loud. "Now, I can shoot back at them."

He poked his head out of the ditch with his Springfield rifle and aimed it at the machine gunner that was firing back at the aircraft. The rapid-fire bullets were whizzing past the French bombers. Wither he was actually hitting the plane was Toha's best guess. Toha had a perfect bead on him. He was completely distracted. His aim was true as he aimed carefully using the dirt from the ditch to steady his aim. He pulled the trigger, and a round flew from his rifle straight towards the machine gunner. The bullet struck, and the gunner fell to the ground dead. He immediately ducked his head back underneath as he pulled the bolt handle to load his next shot.

Meanwhile, the bombers had made a slow 270 degree turn and perfectly lined themselves parallel to the houses. Another allied observation plane had spotted Toha's flare and flew high to get a good view of the activity from above. The aircraft could already see smoke and fires from one of the houses.

"Please, for the love of my ancestors, stop shooting at me. Let this end soon."

One of the most significant challenges in the war was anticipating shooting somebody. You always envision firing your gun at a person in a fight but a vast majority of people never envision being shot back. Toha was realistic in that he did his part in taking out the machine gunner, asking him to take out all the rifleman was not. It was two against one against him, and they knew where he was while he did not know where they were.

Thankfully he did not have to do much more; the bombers were in perfect position. They flew overhead, and both started dropping their payload of bombs over the houses. The bombs landed dead center all over the houses. One by one, each one was set ablaze as the explosives detonated inside. It was a wall of death as the bombs exploded, leveling homes and setting fires. Pillars of smoke and flames reined the area over the town of Fresnes.

Toha cringed but was happy. The riflemen were sure to be dead now. Debris from the explosion showered over him, but it was nothing horrific. The deafening sound of the explosions was overhead from Toha as the ditch saved him from the sounds. Nonetheless, he had just to sit and wait now. The bombers went and began the process of turning around to prepare for another possible run. The observation aircraft recorded everything that was happening and began to turn around to head southwest to relay the information for Allied reinforcements.

Toha closed his eyes and rested, looking up at the sky above him. The sun was practically on top of him, but he did not care. He closed his eyes and waited. He breathed in and out, trying to get his nerves in control. There were no more shootings, only the sound of burning buildings and collapsing roofs filled the area.

"Ancestors watch over them, both my allies and enemies."

Ten minutes had passed. Toha had not moved as the fires consumed the houses. Some of it passed onto some of the other homes. There was no one else in the houses and any that were, were dead once the bombs were dropped. The civilian population had already been fully evacuated from the town long ago. He got out of the ditch and waved at the bombers that were still checking out the area. They tilt their aircraft back and worth to wave back at Toha.

"It truly was the aircraft that did their part today," He said.

Toha debated if he was going to turn the ditch into a makeshift shelter or head back or not. He decided it was best to wait and rest. He rested his back on the dirt and grass. He took his canteen and took sips of water as he simply sat there. Minutes went by. His guns were on the ground as he tried to think of good thoughts. The town of Fresnes was knocked out of the war. The Germans could not use the place even if they wanted to or not. The burning wreckage of the homes was a mark of the scars of war. Houses and churches; nothing was safe from war anymore. There was an eerie silence almost. The fires and burning wreckage somehow deadened the sound of artillery fire and machine-gun fire in the south. Toha was in a trance. If the enemy ever found him, he would not care. His canteen was firmly clutched in his hand as he stared blankly at a distance.

*******

Toha lost complete track of time as a whole hour had passed. It was the afternoon now. Toha took a small number of rations and ate them to keep his strength. He did not eat much but just to keep his strength up. He closed his eyes for a minute, and when he reopened them. What he saw next shocked him.

About twenty feet in front of him was the coyote: the same and only one he had seen so far. The coyote's piercing gaze stared at him.

"What?... Who are you? How is it possible?"

The coyote walked on all fours and slowly approached him and sat about ten feet away from him. The coyote simply looked at him.

"Now you must wait, my old friend," the coyote spoke to him.

Toha's eyes widened in shock, "You...actually spoke. Who are you?"

"It is time for your adventure to begin my old friend. You worked so hard to get here. All you must do now is wait. They are coming, and you can help them."

There was a pause in his voice as he comprehended his words. "Wait for who? How long must I wait? I am in danger if I stay too long. I don't know if the Germans are sending reinforcements are not."

"You don't have to wait too long. They will be here very soon. Don't worry."

Toha asked him again, "Who are you? Your voice is the same one that told me to go to here. What are you?"

"Let's say I owe you, my old friend. Your adventure begins here. Rest here. My debt has been repaid for I am Coyote."

A swirling mist of air and smoke-filled and wrapped the coyote's body. Coyote's eyes glowed yellow as the smoke completely surrounded his body. The last thing Toha saw was the glowing eyes as the coyote. The smoke quickly dissipated along with the coyote. It was like the coyote had never existed. It was quiet. Toha's jaw had dropped.

He said quietly to himself, "He is...Coyote a great spirit or deity in the eyes of Native Americans. Some see him as a guide, and others see him as a trickster. I wasn't going crazy, I saw somebody, I spoke to somebody, and this was real."

Toha sat there and contemplated his thoughts. Whatever the case was, he felt that he did not want to move. If something was coming, as Coyote stated, then they will get their time.

*******

An hour went by. Toha sat and watched more aircraft flyby looking at the destruction of Fresnes. Toha did not even want to look at it, nor did he want to check the buildings for any survivors. A part of him was exhausted, a part of him was tired of war, and a part of him was afraid of what he would see.

Toha suddenly started to hear something from a distance to his West. He grabbed his rifle as he was going to check out who it was. He poked his head out of the ditch and looked at what was coming.

Three people were walking down the road heading to the town of Fresnes. It was a man and two women each beside him. At first, it appeared as nothing new, but as he saw them get closer, he noted some of the odd features of one of them. One of the women was Chinese. The other big thing he noticed was that each person was carrying a gun.

"Odd..." He pondered to himself. "Even the women were carrying guns. It seems to them that it did not matter they were approaching a torn-up landscape. Are these the people that Coyote mentioned were coming?" No one else had come.

Without much more hesitation, Toha decided that it would be best to confront these three individuals. They still did not know that he was there, or at least he thought he was. They were at least thirty feet away.

He stood up with his rifle and aimed it downward. He stepped out of the ditch and got on the road to face the three incoming individuals.

Toha had a closer look at the group. One man looked like he was from southeast Europe, perhaps Austro Hungarian. He was holding a Mannlicher rifle, but he noticed that he had no magazine inserted in it. He was dressed in typical civilian attire. The Asian woman indeed looked like she was from China. She was wearing regular thick female clothing of French creation. She was carrying what looked like a French rifle. He did notice that there was a magazine inserted in the gun and that she was armed. The other woman, however, seemed to grab his attention most of all. She was dressed in lighter civilian attire. She was carrying some sort of revolver. She looked like she came from southern Europe, possibly Greek? She was beautiful. She had long flowing blond hair.

"I thought I smelled a mortal," the Greek woman said. "What do we have here?"

"She knows English?" he thought to himself. "Good...that will make the conversation easy."

"My name is Private Toha from the United States Army. This town has been destroyed, and you are in possible danger. You are..."

The woman interrupted him, "We are in no danger mortal. I promise you that. The only one that is in true danger is you."

The Chinese woman turned her head and looked at the man beside her. She whispered something to him, and he smiled and nodded as her attention focused back at Toha.

Toha had a look of confusion "Mortal?...Why did you call me that?"

"Because that is what you are. You are a mortal human."

Toha shook his head "Who are you? You don't look like a normal group of people. You don't look like an army or military. There are no resistance movements in this area of the land."

The Greek woman looked at the group and then back at Toha. "We have urgent business here. We are...looking for one of my personal belongings that I left in a house somewhere in this town."

Toha felt that she was lying.

"Good luck in trying to find it," he replied. "There isn't much to this town. We...had to destroy the town since the Germans were occupying it."

"I can tell that. We could see the aircraft flying to this town and hear the distant explosions as we were walking here."

Toha felt that he was in no danger but was perplexed at the motives of this group. He shouldered his rifle. It was his way of showing them that he posed no threat to them. The Chinese woman was studying him and getting a good look at him.

The group decided to walk forward, walking past him to the ruins of one of the buildings. The Greek woman had ended the conversation as she walked up to the ruins of one of the homes. She held up her arm and closed her eyes. Toha could swear he could see some sort of light coming from her hand. She then lowered her hand and shook her head.

"I am not picking up anything here," she said as she opened her eyes and walked up to the next building.

"I doubt you will find anything, to be honest," Toha said to the group. "This place is destroyed."

"None of your concern mortal. Leave and go back to your...unit," the Greek woman said.

Toha watched as she stepped up to the next home and lifted her hand to check out the building. She closed her eyes again as Toha once again swore that there was some sort of light coming from her hand.

The Chinese woman turned and walked up to Toha. The man watched over them carefully.

"I think it is wise for you to go home," the woman spoke to Toha. "Your squad is probably worried about you."

He almost snapped at her "How would you know? You are a woman and don't serve the army...no offense. You might be carrying a good rifle, but that does not make you army. Who are you?"

"I am Daiyu. Daiyu Lu," she politely responded. She went and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, guiding him away from the group.

Toha was getting a confused look on his face "I don't understand. Something told me to be here."

The Greek woman lowered her arm and shook her head. She then started to walk to the next building.

He spoke up to the Greek woman, "There would be nothing worth salvaging here. These houses have been burned to the ground!"

The Greek woman then turned around and then walked up to Toha. "Listen, human. You have no business here anymore. Go away."

Toha brushed Daiyu's arm away from his shoulder and walked up to the Greek woman in a challenging pose. "Listen, woman, an army is coming this way. In about a day or two, they will reach this town. The Germans are sure to send men to try to re-secure this town if they are coming at all. For you and the group, I recommend that you leave this town. Return wes..."

The Greek woman smiled, "You wish to know who I am. Very well. My name is Ariadne. Now go away. You are in the way of our search."

"I am not against you searching; I am just telling you that it is dangerous if the Germans returned."

Toha felt that he was not going to convince these people to leave. He decided that maybe going in an absurd direction was the best route. He decided to tell them what he saw.

"A coyote told me that you were coming."

The entire group focused their attention on him. Daiyu had a confused look on her face. The man in the group spoke up.

"What are you talking about, lass?"

Ariadne had a look of surprise in her face. Toha shrugged in return. "Look, I saw a coyote, and he told me that somebody was coming. Are you those people?"

"What coyote?" Ariadne asked him. "There are no coyotes in Europe."

Toha had no answer to really give. He didn't know admitting this was just conveying that he was nuts to the group. "I know what I saw an hour ago. He called himself Coyote and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. He told me to remain in this town and wait for somebody to come. He..."

Ariadne put her hand on his shoulder and then looked him square in the eye. "You have my attention, human mortal. There is something strange about you. There is...some sort of aura coming from you that I can't recognize right off. Hmm..."

This was all new to Toha, and it felt awkward admitting that to three strangers that he never met. "I know what I saw. I think I might be losing my mind. Maybe it is best for me to go ahead and return to my unit. Do what you want; it's your life anyway. I did my part in warning you."

He politely took Ariadne's hand and brushed it away from him. He turned around and started to walk away from the group. He headed over to the ditch to go pick up the MP-18.

Ariadne went and put her hand to her chin as she thought about his words. Suddenly she got a whiff of something that went into her nose. She had put her hand that she used to touch his shoulder to her chin. There was some sort of smell coming from her hand that caught her attention.

"Wait...come back here human mortal," she told him. "I need to check something out. You said that Coyote told you that we would come? What else did he say?"

Toha was just about to pick up the MP-18 from the ditch when he turned to speak to her. "He told me that he owed me a debt. That I was to remain here for...somebody, and that is pretty much it."

Ariadne slowly nodded, "I...believe you mortal. I do need to do something to confirm my suspicions. Did anything touch you that you felt was unusual during your lifetime?"

Toha looked down in almost confusion. "No...that is a bizarre question to ask. I remember having a dream this morning that I needed to go to Fresnes. I practically volunteered to take up the assignment to go here. Well...I am here. I helped get this town bombed to the ground. I just wished I knew what was going on. Coyote...now you three. Nothing is making much sense to me right now."

Ariadne took a good sniff of her hand again. Then she approached Toha with a stern look. "This is an unusual request. May I smell you?"

Toha shrugged, "I guess stranger things have already happened. Sure go ahead. I don't care."

Ariadne came right up to Toha, and she began to take deep whiffs. The first whiff was strong to her nose. She almost took a step back because it surprised her so much. She then took another whiff, and she was more used to the smell this time. She started to breathe heavily. There was some sort of attraction that she felt deep down inside from the scent. It was almost intoxicating to her.

She pulled back, immediately snapping herself back to reality. "I know this...you have two spirits inside you Toha. One is your spirit, and the other is a spirit that is very dormant."

"Wha...I don't understand. Am I possessed?"

Ariadne shook her head "No. You simply have another spirit inside you. This is very rare. I can actually smell the dormant spirit inside you, and it is very faint. I feel like I somehow know what it is, but I need to question you further on this. Can you stay here with our group? Do they need you to return?"

Toha looked around and thought about it. He shrugged, "Sure, why not? Just be mindful that enemy reinforcements maybe coming this way. The four of us would be no match against several squads of soldiers. No matter how well trained, you may think you are. They will try to capture or kill me and then possibly imprison you three for helping the enemy."

The man in the group spoke with a flamboyant persona, "Have no fear mortal! I the great Sárkány will protect us! No one shall get past my bla...gun!"

He lifted his gun almost in triumph to Toha. He almost nodded with a raised eyebrow.

Daiyu smiled. "That is Sárkány for you. He is the perfect companion."

"Are you two married?" he asked her.

The Chinese woman smiled and put her rifle next to his rifle "Hmm, it is...complicated." She turned her head to him, "I do love him if that is what you were asking."

Ariadne broke the conversation "The enemies you fear pose no danger to us Toha. I need to resume my search. If you excuse me, then I will continue to travel down this road, checking the ruins of each building. It has to be here. Sárkány, stay here and protect our...new associate here."

Ariadne then turned around and then proceeded to the next set of houses. She was doing the same thing using her hand and closing her eyes like she was either chanting something or saying something while some white light came from her hand. She would then lower her arm, shaking her head, and then proceed to the next building.

Toha went and spoke to Sárkány and Daiyu. He stood beside them as they watched Ariadne doing her "search."

"Who are you three exactly?...I see some sort of light originate from Ariadne's hand."

Daiyu then had a surprised look on her face "You see that? Not many humans have that ability to see magic being cast."

"Magic..." Toha said in surprise. "Too many things are happening. I might be part Native American, but even my beliefs go so far on some things. It is hard to believe that I saw an animal that does not live in Europe come to me and tell me that it is Coyote trying to guide me to meet you guys. It is hard to believe a group such as yourself would come to this destroyed town, tell me that you are in no danger, and then proceed to use magic. Ugh...I feel like I need to sit down."

Daiyu laughed, "I can definitely understand your feelings, Toha. There was a time that I never believed in such things. I have seen so much conflict..." She lowered her head. She then raised it again, "...this war is truly the war to end all wars. I pray to the gods."

"You believe in more than one god?"

She smiled, "I most certainly do now. I used to believe in one god, and now I believe in many gods. Toha, let me ask you something. It is an old saying that I heard once long ago."

"What was it?"

"Toha, what if I told you that we live in a world that the deities exist?"

He nodded, "I would say it would fly in the face of some certain religions. It wouldn't hurt mine that much, though."

"What if we live in a world where myths were real?" Daiyu asked.

"I don't know. A part of me would be happy that it was."