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Alton stepped into his private vault two hundred feet beneath the ground and three miles away from Sanctuary. The large subterranean space was more than just a hideaway for treasures, it was an escape route from the safe rooms under his god-made paradise and a bunker to give a safe place in the worst case scenarios. 

To some it might have seemed like paranoia. 

And they would have been right. Alton had lived for too long, and seen too many tragedies. He knew, first hand the death, the misery, the sheer destruction humans could do, let alone gods. 

His footsteps echoed off the rock walls, behind it steel beams and multiple layers of concrete separated by panels of lead. The main floor held vehicles, a private jet, a couple of helicopters. Bulldozers, frontend loaders, cranes, concrete mixers, building supplies, and spools of wire. 

Enough building supplies to erect an emergency shelter topside. Enough computers, satellite equipment, solar panels, and even shortwave radios to re-establish and maintain contacts all over the world. 

Billions of dollars worth of supplies, not counting the hydroponics setup through the door on the left and down the hall, with storage for seeds, and cell samples. Or the rows refrigeration units behind a door on the right and up a short flight of stairs. There embryos and germ cells from every conceivable animal on the planet, including humans.

The ultimate ark, capable of repopulating the planet as long as the planet could maintain life. And if it couldn't? Air filters, sterilizers, and neutralizers along with a complex water collection, maintenance, and recycling set up could provide up to five centuries, maybe even more, of resources and artificial environment. 

Luckily Alton's reasons for going into the vault were not for its resources, rather for its most recently acquired treasure. 

He exited the equipment room entering a hall. At the end it split, one route going towards the apartment units the other leading to a double security door. The biometric scanner chirped as he approached and the doors slid away. 

More rooms lined the next hall each one containing various means of capital; paper money, precious metals, gemstones, art. Alton wanted the room at the end of the hall.

The last door opened and the overhead lights came on. In the center of the room the massive body of the Chimera. Unmoving, not breathing, frozen by the neurological enzymes collected from the fluids and remains left by Leo's first sacrifice when he'd allowed his parasitic twin to take control and emerge.

Then more collected from the blood and flesh it lost when Loyalists opened fire on the creature trying to get it away from Kaleb. 

For most people the samples would have been too few or even too contaminated, but for Alton it was no different than separating colored candies all mixed in the same bag.

It hadn't even been a challenge. And the biological sample had proven extremely receptive to duplication. Enough for him to grow out three fetus then use their undeveloped bodies to extract everything he needed: Antivenom, stasis enzymes, even antibodies for diseases that didn't exist.

Yet.

The arrow responsible for delivering the concentrated dose of stasis enzyme jutted from the side of the Chimera's neck. Bladed ends had found the hairs width of an opening between two scales striking the carotid artery delivering the naturally produced hibernation chemical that could allow such an animal to shut down all its body functions. Essentially putting it at the cusp of death. There it could sleep for thousands of years if it needed to. 

Since the enzyme was naturally produced by the Chimera's body, it never knew it was being poisoned. Just like Leo hadn't known until it was too late and he'd taken his last breath right at Alton's feet.

The man was never going to forgive him.

Now there was his beast. The massive creature who'd appeared once before and this time had grown from a cat sized newborn to a frightening giant. Because it had remained so long on its own it had surpassed its first incarnation in both mass and deadliness. 

Alton stopped close to the center of the room. Grooves in the floor formed a square around the Chimera.

“Bay doors.” The ceiling was low enough to drink up most of the echo. Sliding metal followed a deep hum. The floor shuddered then the square piece separated climbing a foot before locking in place. Wheels supported the metal slab.

“Open lift.” 

The wall ahead of Alton dropped into the floor and the stage with the Chimera moved into the lift by the retractable arm leading from the bottom to the gears now exposed by the open hole. When the edge of the slab passed the threshold the lights winked on. 

A rumble followed the progression of movement until the metal piece of floor had been positioned in the middle of the lift taking up the majority of the two-thousand square foot space.

The door rose up shutting Alton inside the cage. 

“Top side.” 

Voice sensors in the wall beeped and another biometric scan drew green laser lines mapping out Alton's face, his heart rate, his body temperature, even his bone structure, then the green lines of light winked out.

The jostle of movement and the weight of gravity pressed down on Alton as the lift rose to the surface. 

He ran his hand over the Chimera's head. Blank white orbs watched him from slitted lids. Only a few people knew the truth about the real status of the beast. The moment it awoke and Leo emerged, Kaleb would know too. 

It was their connection Alton needed for communication to allies locked beneath the island prison.

For a while he hadn't been sure why, but now he knew. There were men manipulating the actions of the gods in Purgatory and if those men had control of the ambrosia then they could make those gods into puppets. 

Puppets who would be soldiers to wreak havoc on the world. It had happened many times throughout history. Gods after all were only men and men were not known for rational thinking when consumed with anger, deprivation, and cruelty.

Whomever had squeezed off the supply of goods to Purgatory had insured the gods suffered. Worse, so had the few Doxies who followed them into the icy hell.

The elevator stopped, the doors parted, and a wash of cold wind rushed over Alton, flicking the edge of his pristine suit jacket. He climbed off the platform and flipped open a small cover near corner. Inside directional controls. He pushed the forward button following the stage. The battery-operated motor under the platform buzzed and the wheels shifted. Shocks adjusted for the drop off the edge neutralizing almost any jostling of the beast asleep on top. 

Well, technically the Chimera was dead, the man within it however wasn't.

Unless Alton was wrong.

He'd like to think he never was but that was a level of arrogance even he could not reach. Time did that to a man, even a god. It gave them knowledge, it inflated their ego, it taught them how to accumulate power. But at some point, if they lived long enough, they learned the hard way they were still men and possessions and comforts were momentary pauses in their immortal life. 

Some just took longer than others to figure that out.

The fat tires flattened stalks of grass coated with frost, bruising the leaves until they bled green. Alton hit stop and the motor clicked off. Moonlight glinted off the long dagger claws of the beast's front feet. They were constructed completely different than those on its backlegs which only had two toes with massive spikes giving it an almost cloven foot but with far more dangerous results. 

Alton hopped back on the platform and walked around to stand at the beast's head.

“Leo, if you can hear me, I'm counting on you not to kill me. I had to do this my friend. For Kaleb, for Aaron, for all the Doxies.” He gripped the arrow. A teardrop of sweat rolled down Alton's temple. If Leo didn't emerge then Alton would be responsible for his death and the death of his brother. 

Worse, Alton would be responsible for the broken will of a Doxie. 

The first two he would eventually forgive himself for. 

The last? 

Never.

Alton pulled. The scales folded over the steel end flared, flesh ripped releasing the arrow. He tossed it aside and stepped off the platform. 

A gust of wind teased the thick hairs of the beast's main. Grass whispered. Somewhere in the distance a night bird called out. 

Alton closed his hands into fists.

Seconds became minutes. He waited. He watched, but there wasn't even a twitch.

Dread weighted his shoulders and shame turned to ice in his veins. Alton walked back to the platform.

“I'm sorry.” What good it did to talk to a corpse he had no idea. The approaching dawn drew an orange line along the mountains and the flawless black of the Chimera's hide caught the light. It fractured becoming a rainbow hue. Iridescent blues, greens, and violets danced in tiny hairs with their butterfly like eyes, lining the edge. 

Highly developed receptors that allowed the creature to see sound, hear color, and receive magnetic fields from any living thing, from every angle. It gave the beast an edge Alton hadn't even begun to study. 

He patted the beast's withers right above one of its sails. “I'll make this right Leo I--”

The head of the Chimera slammed into Alton throwing him from the stage. Claws raked against the platform gouging out ruts as the creature righted itself. 

It was supposed to be dead since Leo had been so close to emerging. Being wrong didn't just complicate things, it ensured Alton would never see that coming sunset.

The Chimera opened its wings and keened. A collage of tones in conflicting pitches, played over multi-sectioned vocal chords. 

Alton scrambled back, making it to his feet only to be thrown to the ground again when the beast beat its powerful wings. A blur of black with blazing white eyes surged forward. Alton rolled but the Chimera was faster. It brought down its clawed hand sinking its thumb into his shoulder and its other five toes into the earth.

White-hot pain seared through Alton's muscles. His collarbone cracked under the weight of the animal, then his shoulder popped, first the joint dislocated then the claw impaling him slid sideways severing his radial. 

Alton screamed and the Chimera purred. The deep base sound rippled the air, beating against Alton's senses, and some how teasing to life the searing raw nerves in the open wound.

The beast lowered its head. A massive white orb reflected Alton's pale face smeared with blood. Blues, yellows, reds, flashed deep in creature's eye. Then the glow of white overrode the flickering light.

“Weeee—rrr Kaaaa—libsss.” Its forked tongue flicked over his bottom teeth each end undulating as if independent entities. 

“Purgatory. He's in Purgatory.”

The Chimera snapped its teeth at the tip of Alton's nose. “I...suuud keeel yuuuussssss.”

“If you kill me you'll never get him out.”

It roared. The enraged cry punched Alton in the chest knocking the air from his lungs. The ringing in his ears drowned out ragged attempts to draw in a breath. Whatever the Chimera said next was lost.

“I can't understand...I can't...” The ringing softened and a growl filled in the quiet. “I know you don't believe me. But I had to do this. I had--”

The Chimera dragged Alton closer tearing ruts over the ground. Alton grit his teeth against the burst of pain. Darkness surrounded him and the heat of the Chimera's body stripped away the breathable air. 

I am death and I will destroy you. Tell me where my Kaleb is.

The voice was Leo's but the inflection was all wrong. But that wasn't what had Alton staring at the monster above him, it was the fact the words had been put into his head.

Telepathy wasn't real. The few instances he'd seen such events they'd all been explained by biological connections. Such as two beings who were really one or in the case of the Sphinxes, three being one.

But Alton had no biological ties with the creature staring down at him. 

ANSWER ME!

Alton's head bounced against the ground. His skull throbbed, and his cheeks hurt as if he'd been punched.

By a fucking mountain.

“Purgatory. I need Leo. You need to let him out.”

The Chimera rolled up its lips flashing teeth as long as a man's hand. Thick threads of saliva clung in strings to its jaws. The fluid stretched until it broke. Boiling spit landed on the gaping wound made by the Chimera's claw. At first there was just the burn, the hiss of scorched flesh, and the stench of muscle cooking. But it was a trivial discomfort to the broken glass grinding over Alton bones. 

The Chimera's saliva had held one of the most interesting toxins. A type of neurological agent that stimulated the nervous system until the over load caused damage to gray matter. 

Alton's yell was lost to a hacking cough Blood flecked his lips and sprayed over the Chimera's toes.

Oh yes, and an anticoagulant just to make things interesting. Nothing like biting your prey and the watching it bleed to death from the inside.

The creature could also do the complete opposite with its saliva; clean, heal, and sooth wounds. Clearly it did not want to ease Alton's pain.

“Fuck.” Alton shoved at the beast's toe but even with more strength than the average man he accomplished nothing. 

“Kaaaa—lib.”

“I told you where he is.”

“Breeeeng immm tuu mtheee.”

“By all that is, will you listen? There are things, terrible things that are going to happen.” Copper flavored Alton's words. He coughed trying to clear away the perpetual flow but only expelled more blood. He was going to die. This thing would kill him and everything would be lost.

The Doxies would be lost.

Alton collapsed against the ground, every breath wheezing in and out of his saturated lungs. As a god his natural healing abilities would fight the damage done to his body. Which meant the Chimera could torture him for days before Alton exhausted his strength and his wounds no longer knitted. 

And he couldn't even say he didn't deserve this. 

The Chimera titled its head as if it had heard the thought. It chirped. A whimsical sound that should not come from something so fearsome. The weight crushing Alton's chest lifted and the Chimera's claw slid free leaving Alton soaking the ground with his blood.

“Tell Leo...” Pain beat at the back of Alton's skull. “Tell him I'm sorry. I know he's in there...I know...”

The Chimera whistled and warbled. It stepped back, raised its head and rolled its lips flashing roses of ivory daggers. “Teeee im urseffsss.” The bright white of the beast’s eyes flared then the rippling muscle along its chest bulged. Shadows formed a hand, then a shoulder. The Chimera shuddered. Flesh tore parting with a wet rip. 

Leo clawed his way through the muscles of the Chimera's body. A body that the Chimera had sacrificed to bring Leo back. Blood and tissue clung to his Leo as he stood and his brother collapsed. The new dawn cleared the horizon. 

Steam rose from the Chimera's remains and the light chipped it away. First the scales lost their color, then crumbled like ash with the movement of the sun. It would continue until there was nothing.

Rage contorted Leo's features. He stalked forward stopping beside Alton.

“My brother's right. We should kill you.”

Alton nodded. 

“But you did this because for some fucked up reason you think it will save the Doxies.”

Alton lifted his gaze. “I know it will.”

“Then killing you will have to wait until I get Kaleb back.”