A few months Later
I began to toss and turn in my sleep, constantly thinking of what I had done to everyone. My friends, I burned them. I still didn't want to believe it, I couldn't. How could I? I began to question myself, I began to relive the moment, I didn't want to. I could hear myself beginning to wake up, "No…" I mumbled. All of a sudden I could see what had happened when I was in my "rage mode" as I called it. I could see my body, I was wreaking havoc, every direction I looked black flames erupted from thin air. No one was spared, and this time was different, I could hear them screaming. The screams got louder and louder, "Why!" they screamed. I looked around, watching who had burned, but something was different. I walked over to where I saw Emma's body, I looked at my feet. But all I saw was a corpse, a charcoal corpse. "NO!" I screamed. "SHE'S ALIVE" I kept screaming. I fell to my knees, only then did I notice her chest was slightly moving. "BREATH," I screamed at her. "FIGHT!" I went to pick up her burned body but I couldn't, it disintegrated before my eyes. That was the last straw, "NOOOO" I screamed. I snapped awake, Emma was at my side, probably coming to wake me, alive and not burned. That brought me instant relief.
"Well someone had an eventful dream," She said. I decided not to tell her what i was dreaming about, she'd get too worried. "You don't know half of it," I said under my breath. I jumped out of bed, I was only wearing long gray sweats. My face got really red, Emma had never seen me without a shirt on since the accident. But she didn't recoil, she looked like she liked it. I noticed her eyes trailing my body up and down, I knew I had grown some amount of muscles from my constant training. But I didn't know that it was that much, I found my shirt on the floor, and slipped it on. I heard her mumble something, "You didn't have to put that on just yet." She didn't want me to hear it so I said, "What was that?" I asked. Her face got tomato red, "Nothing! Borus wanted to meet us in the main hall, he said he has some news from the recent scouting missions." She yelped. Oh that's right, ever since the attack we've been sending out nightly scouting missions, none have been caught yet. "I wonder what this is about," I said. "I have a few ideas-" Emma began to say. "I wasn't actually looking for an answer wise girl." I said. She smacked me in the head. I looked at her with a look that said "Is that all you got?" I grabbed my things and walked out of my cabin, Emma followed. We began to walk together in silence. We had everything to say to each other, but neither of us wanted to reopen that wound. I figured I'd say something first, "Look, about what happened-" I tried to say but Emma cut me off.
"Don't bother," At first i thought she was mad at me. "I know you didnt mean for that to happen, but i guess it shows how much you care about me." My face got so red, I could feel it. Maybe I should tell her how I felt. "There's something I have to tell you." She said, her expression suddenly serious. "You might want to sit down," She pointed to a bench. We sat down, she didn't start talking for a few minutes, as if gathering her thoughts. "When I was a little girl, my mother came to my father to deliver a prophecy, a prophecy that I think is about you." She said. She paused to see my reaction, "Great another one" I thought to myself. I motioned for her to keep going, "The prophecy says, A hero of the darkest gifts, shall set the trapped one free, and kill the bain of Athena's children, for if not the trapped angle will succumb to the spider's venom." Her voice trailed off at the end, I looked her in the eyes. She was about to cry, I grabbed her by the face, "Im ok if this is me, if it is to protect you-" I was about to tell her how I felt when she blurted out the most shocking thing i had ever heard, "I want it to be you, I love you.." She said quietly. That froze me. She loves me? That made my heart soar, I couldn't believe it. Before I had the chance to tell her I loved her too, we were interrupted by Borus.
"There you two are, You were supposed to be in the main hall five minutes ago." He barked. Emma whipped her eyes, "Yeah, sorry, that's my fault. Come on Josh lets go." She said. I got up and Borus led the way to the main hall, I tried to talk to her but she looked at me with sadness deep in her eyes, "After," She said quietly. As we walked into the main hall I noticed all the cabin leaders were present, "Oh crap" I could only imagine what was about to be said. Borus moved to the center of the room, "As you all know the attack was committed by one of our own, and we need to talk about what to do next, we also have some information from our recon squad." Borus said, his voice calm but assertive. "I vote to kill the traitor!" Someone screamed. I could hear the murmurs of agreement. I wanted to say something, as if he knew Borus' motions for me to speak. "When I was alone with Thesus, he wasn't himself. He was possessed by prythorion. He told me one thing before the giant took over his body, he said, "Don't lose to that bastard." Proving he didn't want to attack the camp." I said calmly. That silenced some of the murmurs, but someone else spoke up. "Be that as it may, he was your friend, so you'd try and make an excuse to cover his ass!"
That just made me mad, so I said something stupid. "To silence the doubters, I will go to the enemy camp and bring back something useful." The rest of the murmurs silenced, "You will take a squad of three. You pick the other two-" Borus said, but he was cut off. "He can pick the other one." Someone said. I looked around, I only saw Marco. "You?" I asked. I have hardly seen him since the attack. "Yeah me, I'm going with you." He said confidently. "No." I said. Instead of pleading with me, I guess he decided to show me. He grabbed my throat with the grip of a thousand men, and his eyes glowed a bright green. "This is the new power of the oracle, mortal. I am more of a fighter then you are, son of darkness." His voice came out with a slight accent. All I could do was smirk, my friend had some guts. He let go, "Alright, let's go then" I said. I didn't even have to ask because Emma was right behind me. The three of us walked out and straight to the stables, I remembered something important. "It's in downtown NY" Marco said, as if reading my mind. "Lets shadow travel" I said. I grabbed their hands and all I had to do was think about theseus.
And before I knew it we were outside of the camp, and it was pitch black. "It's night already?" I asked. Marco smiled, "Looks like you might have more power then you thought." He said. "Well, let's get started." I said, malice dripping from my voice. We slowly walked around the back of the camp, then we split three different directions. I chose the heart of the camp, as I snuck my way in, I noticed all godly items they had stolen. "Stealing from minor gods, that's a new one." I thought to myself. But I did notice they had some major godly items, spear of achilles, and the club of Hercules. Only when I looked closer I saw they had two twin daggers, shrouded in darkness. It pissed me off, they managed to steal from my father. It just grinded my gears. I had to take them back. I snuck my way over, It was most likely a trap but I didn't care. I grabbed both daggers, and on cue all the lights in the camp flicked on. A booming voice echoed throughout the camp, "Look who it is. The shadow boy!" I looked toward the sound of the voice, but all I saw was something giant looking down on me. "Porphyrion!" I spat. I had to get out of there, i had known it was a trap. So of course I already had a plan in place. I sprang at the giant, faking like I was about to attack. THen at the last possible second I shadow traveled to Emma, grabbed her and traversed the darkness to marco. "It was a trap, but I got what we needed." I said, showing them the daggers. "Great, lets go." Marco said. We managed to make it back to camp with the daggers.
We walked into the main hall, I stabbed the daggers into the table and said, "They're trying to bring back the giants." The arguing in the hall suddenly stopped. Borus looked at me an said, "How are you so sure?" I looked him in the eyes and said, "they had tons of godly items, and they already resurrected the "king", I said. "I had a fear of that from the start but this confirms it, we must gather every ally we can." Borus said. He gestured to me and said, "Josh, since you and your crew have completed your mission, I nominate you and your crew to find the allies we need. Meeting suspended until the job is done. Get some sleep you three, you leave tomorrow." He said, then he walked out. "You two go get some rest, i need to make a plan." Emma said. I grabbed the daggers and left without a word. I got to my cabin and slept
That Morning
I woke up, knowing Emma had not left the main hall all night long. I got dressed and walked over to see if I was right. Low and behold once i walked into the main hall she had plans mapped all along the walls and parts of the floor, "woah woah watch where you step!" SHe yelped. "Jesus sorry wise girl" I said back. "So what's the plan?" I asked. I knew she'd get into some big elaborate plan so i cut her off as she began to speak, "The short version." She looked defeated as she explained the plan. When she was finished i summed it up in a few words, "So you want to shadow travel to the leaders of the mythological creatures and see if they would join in the war" "well when you say it like that it sounds easy." She said. "Because it is a easy plan". I retorted. "Well if that's the way you're gonna be, you can go alone!" SHe yelped back.
I could feel the look of shock on my face as she walked out, only then did I notice Marco, "God man you are dense." He said as he turned to follow her out. I had no idea what he was talking about, so i began looking at Emmas plan. I saw she had labeled coordinates that I'd need to shadow travel to in order to meet with the leaders of the mythological world. She also had a list of satyrs, centaurs, and harpies. So at that moment I just thought of satyrs, and once I opened my eyes I was in the middle of a Cloven Elders meeting. They left back in shock, there reed pipes in hand. "I come in peace!" I yelped before they could play a note. They slowly began to lower their guard, "What have you come for, child of prophecy?" One asked, I assumed he was the leader, he had the largest horns. "I come seeking an alliance," I began. But before I knew it I had blurted out the whole scenario. Once I had finished I gave the leader a steely look to show I was serious. I knew they had a healthy fear of me after what i had done to them the last time they were on the wrong side.
After he didn't say anything for a few moments, I said something that I knew would strike a nerve, "Be on the right side this time." I saw him flinch at that one, he hesitated then spoke. "We will be on the right side, because we are choosing you to believe in, not the gods. They have never done anything for us, but you have. You've shown us the error of our ways. So by decree, The satyrs and nymphs of the forest put their faith in one man. The child of Darkness!" He finished like he was giving a speech to thousands. "Thank you, we will need your support, please send someone you trust as an ambassador to our camp so we can discuss what to do next. I'll take my leave, I've got work to do." I said with a tone that didn't warrant a response. "On to the centurs next," I thought to myself. In a flash I was standing in a bar, with a brawl enfolding in front of my eyes.
But that wasn't what freaked me out, it was the man in a wheelchair sitting in the middle of it. So I walked over to him and before I could say anything he spoke. "I know what it is you want as a child. And we will help you." "You need not say a word, the CCW is at your full service." He continued. "The Centurion Chapters of the World is a massive family of centaurs, and you have their full cooperation, and an ambassador is already enroute to your camp." He finished that sentence with a smirk, "Go my son, I know there is work to be done" He said with a wave of his hand. Next thing I knew I was in a nest of harpies, "I wonder how he'd known." I thought to myself. As soon as I fully formed, the harpies swooped at me, trying to grab at whatever they could. "Wait stop" I began to shout, they didn't seem to hear me. Then one spoke up. "We know why you're here! LEAVE US!" It kawked. "The world needs your help!" I screamed. "We serve the lord of the skies, once he offers his help we will too!" They talked back. "He'll be dead before his pride gives in!" I screamed. They knew that was true, i cou;d weather fight or run, I wasn't much of a runner but we needed them as allies. So I had to think of a way out, "HOME" I screamed in my head, and before I knew it I was home. Well not home, but in front an army of enemy soldiers, and a girl with a bow in my face.