Chapter Text
Clardusa quickly gets up from the ground, her heart racing as she grabs Chrysaor, who is squealing in pain. Desperately, she sprints away, her damaged wing severely hindering her flight. Panic engulfs her as she clutches her son tightly, the echoing footsteps of Anithena's warrior growing ever closer behind her. With fear gripping her, she glances at her pursuer, noting how he expertly uses a reflective mirror to shield his eyes, preventing himself from being turned to stone. The moment's urgency pushes her to run faster, the weight of her son's cries urging her onward.
Perball shoots an arrow at the gorgon's leg, causing her to trip and fall with Chrysaor still in her arms. Perball throws his shield before the fallen gorgon, grabs her by the snake's hair, and has his blade close to her neck. She looks at her reflection in the mirror, looking at her transformed state for the first time with tears in her eyes, still holding her son in her arms, with him weeping and squealing in fear. He looks at his reflection of the monster he was about to slay. He sees her crying. The Gorgon was ugly, crying, then Perball looked at himself, about to cut off her head, but looking into the monster's eyes in the reflection, he saw something almost human about this monster.
He reluctantly releases her grip as Clardusa, overwhelmed by fear, stretches out her arms toward Chrysoar, desperation etched into every feature of her anguished face trying to comfort her son. Tears cascade down her cheeks, glistening like fragile jewels as she fights against the rising tide of terror that threatens to consume her. Nearby, Perball stands silently, a keen observer of the unfolding scene. His gaze drifts to the gorgon, who has shut her eyes tightly, lost in a world of dread. The sight triggers a painful memory as he recalls his mother holding him securely in her embrace during those suffocating moments trapped inside the dark confines of the crate while they were in the ocean waves.
He had to get the gorgon head to bring back to the king, who was trying to get with his mom. But seeing this monster holding the small pig like a child and running back to her temple to help the winged horse as if there were her kids now made this difficult. Cutting off Gorgon's head would anger the two monsters, so Perball then comes up with the idea to bring the whole Gorgon rather than just her head back along with her children as a bonus so he doesn't separate this "family" of monsters to that bastard king. Anthea would be furious about him spearing the monster, but his mother came first.