Nerves were a funny and interesting thing, how rudimentary they could be when you were classifying them into either simply good or bad nerves. And yet how complicated they were when you could feel every nerve ending of your body coming alive like a flare at something you didn't even know how to put into words.
That was how Xanthippeia felt the moment she looked into Leodocus's eyes. They were one of the weirdest looking eyes she had ever seen and that was saying something considering she was awakened from a comatose state by a man with bright red ones. But the colours blended well in a myriad of deep violet and when he looked into her gaze she could see how dilated they became until the entire surface area of his retina was black.
When she boldly touched his face, for the first time since her life had spiralled out of control she heard a voice in her head. It was the same one that called her into the ocean that night and the day after. But it didn't make sense to her for several reasons, one being that there was no large body of water anywhere near her as far as she knew and this time the voice was not trying to pull her in but rather push her towards the man who stood in front of her.
In a split second, the contact between their skin started to feel familiar like they had once explored each other's flesh enough to know what reaction it would bring the other. But that could not have been even remotely possible because she did not know this man, had never seen him before and the only thing she could gather of his identity was his name because his brothers' kept mentioning it with every encounter she had while she has been a prisoner here.
"Leo, Leo are we ready to begin?" both were ripped from the intense moment by the commanding voice of Athenios who stood there in utter confusion as to what transpired between the two. He had never been one in tune with the way of telepathy or reading aura, that was more his brothers Leodocus and Zargreus' specialities but even he could tell something had shifted in the air here. But there was no time to dissect this strange occurrence, they had a time limit.
"Leodocus!?" he nudged his brother more harshly this time and he finally seemed to snap out of it.
"What, what is it?" Leo's voice was grave and shaky as he turned to his brother at the same moment Xan wrenched her hand from him and back-paddled away from them.
"Did you forget? We have something important to do here, now is most certainly not the time to be fawning over the girl—"
"Fawning!? I was not fawning over her, I do not even know her!" he became visibly upset as he pointed toward her but collected himself at seeing the girls' frightened reaction. It was not Athenios' fault that this had all turned out to be a game for the Fates to play in their lives. He wanted to go back upstairs and tell his brother about the inkling he had but to be honest it was not going to make a difference with what had to be done. And just because he had an idea of the role the girl was supposed to play in his life, he was not about to risk everything his brothers had suffered for a stranger.
"Go tell the others we begin at sundown."
"You will stay here with her?"
"No, I am taking her outside," Leo stated and his older brother gave him a look of confusion. He pulled him aside away from the girl and whispered in his ear so only he could hear.
"She is reluctant to do this, for good reason but if I were to explain how mutually beneficial this will all be for us then maybe we get her compliance with no resistance."
"And I am supposed to trust that you can convince her?" Athenios deadpanned crossing his muscular arms "You're worse than Arcus."
"Yes, lay your faith in me brother. We have gotten this far and I will do everything to get us the rest of the way home." He pleaded with his eyes and after a little bit of scrutiny, Athenios finally nodded his head.
"Do not go far and if she tries to run—"
"We are in a different world, where could she possibly run to?"
"Just…gods be damned just be careful Leo, there is too much at stake."
"Give me one hour." He asked and they shook hands then Athenios left, leaving the chamber door open.
Across the room, Xanthippeia had observed their interaction and she could see the love and admiration between the two but also a reluctance and power struggle. It was not that hard for her to gather that the bigger one, Athenios was the leader and this new man was someone whom if you didn't look hard enough you would think of as a soldier but she could see his rebellious glint when it came to listening to authority.
Her breath got caught in her throat then the man started to disrobe.
"W-What are you doing!?" she panicked backing up until the back of her knees hit the edge of the bed she slept in.
"Making myself comfortable." He replied with a drawl as he hung his fancy cloak on a nearby chair and slowly approached her.
"Are you…are you gonna h-hurt me?" a small pool of tears had started to gather on the rims of her eyes as her mind went automatically to the worst-case scenarios. She figured he instructed his brother to leave so he could be alone with her and now he was taking off his clothes. It all screamed red flags to Xan but she was ready and willing to fight tooth and nail before she let him violate her in that way.
"Please don't, please do expel those horrendous thoughts out of your mind." He grimaced as he stepped in front of her.
"What?"
"I will no touch you Xanthippeia, that would be extremely dishonourable." He explained and her jaw went slack, not only for the fact that he had been reading her mind but the audacity of it all.
"Dishon--- dishonourable? You wanna talk about honour all of a sudden? Okay so what part of your little honour code condones kidnapping a girl, knocking her out for days and locking her in a dungeon?!" she snapped and even though Leodocus could tell there was a fire inside her, he was still taken aback by her outburst. He could have done something to elicit fear in her and make her quiet but he had to remind himself that the girl simply did not understand why all these events had to happen this way.
"Listen to me little one—"
"Stop calling me that! What the fuck is the matter with you all calling me 'little one' or 'little mortal' as if I'm some kind of stray pet you found on the side of the road? I am a fucking human being not your fucking plaything!" she ranted and by the end, her chest was heaving out of control. Leo caught himself in a split second moment when he accidentally glanced down at her chest and gazed at the sight but he looked up just in time before she noticed.
Calm yourself Leodocus, she doesn't understand.
He told himself over and over as he took a small step back from her but extended his hand out to her.
"Come."
"Where?"
"Outside, you could do with some fresh air and there is none fresher or crisper than here on Dynodes."
"Dynodes? What's that?"
"It is where we are currently little— Xanthippeia, now come we do not have much time and I must prepare you." Her panic set in again and all frightful thoughts about this so-called ceremony came rushing back.
"You're not gonna sacrifice me are you?"
"Come with me and I will explain everything." He said one last time because if she was this reluctant he might as well have her unconscious for the whole thing. But he wanted to give her a chance at being proactive in regaining her normal mortal existence again as much they wanted to regain their godly ones.
After all, everyone deserves a chance in life.
It had taken a lot out of Xanthippeia to reach her hand out and trust this man. After all, he was a stranger and could've just been moving her to a slaughterhouse under the guise of finally giving her a reason as to why she was taken. She couldn't lie to herself anymore and pretended to not be curious about all of it so she took the steps towards him and let him lead her out of the dungeon he had so eloquently referred to as chamber.
The way these people spoke was odd like they never left the 1800s or something and it made her even more nervous but they did seem to have a grasp on modern language too. Another thing that had her in a tailspin was him mentioning the place they were at. Of course, they weren't still in her city, she was unconscious for who knows how many days and they moved her but Dynodes, she'd never heard of a place like that.
The second they ascended the stairs and finally reached the landing Xanthippeia was hit with bright sunlight in her face but it was unusual because its hue was something like a pale red instead of yellow. She shielded her eyes as best she could while still following behind Leodocus as they finally stopped at the end of the endless hallway. Her heart began to beat erratically the sound of loud voices in the distance.
"That is just my brothers and uncle catching up, do not be alarmed," Leo murmured when he felt her tense up. Xan reluctantly turned to face him as he opened one of the large bay doors and stepped out expecting her to follow along. At the moment she was frozen, her body stilled at the fact that she was a step away from outside and she could take that opportunity to run.
"There is nowhere to run, we are not on Earth anymore." He simply said leaving her wide-eyed staring at him.
"W-What?"
"We are in the solitary world of Dynodes, our father exiled us here ages ago. Now come I want to show you something." He said and even Xan was trembling at this reevaluation she took his hand in her shaky little one. But as soon as her bare feet made contact with the grass which did not even feel like normal grass, for one it was blue and it felt like a spongy material that sunk her in a little at each step.
Leo saw the expression on her face and if he had not had so much on his mind he would have found her amusing. All this was alien to her but at least she seemed to absorb it well enough. As they walked away from the compound Leo could feel the stares at the back of his head, he knew his brothers were watching to see them disappear into the woods.
If there were things in abundance in Dynodes it was foliage, mountains and colour. It often made him wonder why Zeus would design something this beautiful for children he cruelly cast aside, surely he could have just banished them to a prison in the underworld similar to Tartarus but no he gave them this place. He shook his head at the thoughts of Zeus which always managed to sour his mood.
Leo and Xanthippeia walked for a bit before he pushed aside some leaves without touching them and lead them in behind her so she could see the sight first. Her mouth was agape as she took in the view of the most magnificent waterfall she had ever seen. The water was all flowing in a downward direction but it seemed to part into three sections by colours.
"Touch it." Leo's voice came from behind her and she was startled at first because she forgot he was even there.
"Why?" she asked and he just gave a blank stare. She shrugged and leaned over stretching her hand out to touch the water. The contact make the water change to a bright purple and it felt like a tingle on her skin before he subconsciously removed the water from her hand.
"Why did it do that?"
"It read your aura."
"So what, it's a mood waterfall?"
"I suppose if you want to simplify it." He said and she rolled her eyes at his condescending tone.
She looked at the waterfall appreciating its beauty one last time before she turned to see him ripping his shirt from his body and dipping into the water which changed to a violet colour that resembled his eyes. Is this why he brought her here, to play around in the pretty water?
"Hey, you said you were going to explain things to me."
"Will you join me?" he ignored her and floated turning his gaze to her. She slightly huffed at not only his nonchalant attitude but also the sight of him laying in the water shirtless like that made heat rise in her cheeks.
Damned teenage hormones, now's not the time! She thought to herself as she turned her back to him and try to calm herself down. It was silly because no doubt the jerk was probably reading her inappropriate thoughts anyway.
"Can you please just start talking? I didn't come here to watch you leisurely enjoy splashing around." That was what Xanthippeia always did when she was flustered, lashing out in small fractions to make the situation less awkward.
She heard a sigh as he moved closer to the bank she was standing by.
"First and foremost you need to understand that you are not entirely human—"
"Okay no! Not this bullshit again!" she cut him off with a glare.
"Quiet." He waved his hand once and for some reason Xanthippeia's mouth shut on its own accord.
"I understand you did not feel inclined to believe my brother when he told you earlier but it is the truth. You are like us, descendants of Olympians, our father is Zeus and as you have noticed we were not mothered by the same goddess." He started to explain and upon seeing the seething expression on her face decided against releasing her from the charm he placed on her mouth.
"You are part of a prophecy made a long time ago from the oracle Helenus to my parents. It is all very complicated but the gist of it is that you are a threat to my father— Zeus' rule. The reason we were exiled here is that the oracle never specified which one of the Olympians youngest offspring would be his doom so he damned us all, finding you has been a mission for us for decades and I was only able to do so because your aura was opened that night at the ocean." At this part, Xan slid down to sit as everything hit her once.
"We have brought you here to make you less of a threat to my father Xanthippeia." There it was, they were going to kill her. Xan's eyes darted to him as a feeling of hopelessness started to settle in again but before she could tear up he elaborated.
"I am going to purify you, I am going to strip your powerful aura from you so that you will return to the mortal life you have been living." She was confused by his words, was she about to die or not? Finally, after explaining the important part Leo released her and she took a big inhale through her mouth. Had she not been scared of what he would do to her she would slap him for taking away her ability to speak like that.
"Are you going to kill me or not because your brother, the smirking one made it pretty clear that I would die here?" her voice was full of fear but also conviction.
"The hope is for you to keep your life Xanthippeia, that is why we must do the ceremony. My brothers wanted to simply carve your heart out and give it to Zeus but I believe we can all walk away from this for the better." He said and for some reason, Xanthippeia had a hard time taking in his optimism. It just didn't feel right on him and it made her feel odd at knowing that about it. And this was a lot to wrap around her head, the idea of being purified was terrifying enough but to hear that she would have just been slain had this man not come up with a better solution for her made her uneasy.
"Why are you going through all this trouble if there is a simpler solution?" she asked him and he rolled his eyes as he came out of the water in a seemingly dramatic manner.
"Do you wish to never see your friends, your family and your young sister ever again?"
"That would not even have been the case if you didn't take me away in the first place." She snarled back challenging him instead of gawking at his physique.
"Do you wish to die or not? It would not take much for me to snuff out your life right now, right here." He stalked over to her like the predator he probably was. She became flustered once and looked down at her feet as she shook her head.
"Marvelous then we do this my way."
"But…but what if something goes wrong?"
"It will not and besides my uncle is here as a contingency."
"Uncle?"
"Yes, my uncle Hades, lord of the underworld." He nodded and she took a deep breath stepping back from his imposing form and dragged her hands down her face.
"This is insane, this is completely fucking asinine." She whispered to herself as her mind raced a million miles but after everything, he just told her she still had doubts. Even if she didn't necessarily believe him what else could she do? She had nowhere to run, this was not earth and it was evident in the different hues in the sky, the multiple shadows of moons and everything else around her. Being here felt like a fever dream but she had never had one like this and this had all lasted too long to not be real.
She reached into the water once more and the changing colour of the water had her mind swirling but she could not deny how real this felt. So maybe they were being honest with her albeit sounding crazy maybe it was the reality she faced at the moment.
"Do you swear you're telling me the truth?" she asked him without looking at him because she could feel his presence behind her.
Leodocus let out a humourless chuckle at that, how could this girl possibly ask him something like this? They were not friends, not even acquaintances and yet here she was trying to trust the word of a perfect stranger. Although all things considered she was not a stranger to him, he just didn't know-how.
"This is not only affecting you, it is my life and most importantly my siblings' lives that hang in the balance. I am sure you can understand that."
"Don't…just don't bring my sister into this. Look I don't know if I can trust you but all I want right now is my life back. As dramatic and boring as it could be sometimes I still wouldn't trade it for all of this greek tragedy nonsense. If I agree to do this, you agree to bring me back home, deal?" she finally turned to him now extending her hand out.
He looked at her hand and that conviction he had before on his cause was beginning to waver slightly at the desperate expression on her face. He felt immense pressure like he could sense a tide was coming but even still he made a vow to his brothers that he would take this thing all the way no matter what.
"I will release you to live out the rest of your days as a mortal with your family."
"A-Alright then, let's do it." She nodded in finally feeling like she had just signed her life away to the absurdly beautiful devil but just like he claimed, she would do just about anything for this to end.