The Rise of Erebos: The Chained Goddess

AMETHYST

As the many beautiful cities of Italy rolled by like a movie trailer from my window, I immersed myself in a long train of thought, one about how close we were to finishing this quest and returning back to Camp Half-Blood. This train of thought doubled as a pep talk to raise my spirits up and keep me inspired.

We were so close. So close to defeating Erebos and restoring the Mist. Three months ago, Erebos had hardly been of concern to any of us, as we were under the impression he'd rise in five years, more or less. The Mist had been a little wishy-washy back then, but again, we dismissed the dilemma for a future time, believing it would magically fix itself. Maybe some help from the gods. No one really knew, no one really cared.

Fast-forward to today, three months after Rose came to camp and the quest for the four Olympian masks had started. If we failed to stop Erebos from rising today, Olympus would be at risk of destruction. If we failed to release Hecate from her imprisonment, the Mist would vanish forever and the whole realm of Greek mythology - a world too puzzling and mystical for mortals to comprehend - would come crashing down. The surreal events at Times Square, along with our carelessness over the course of this arduous quest, had already put Olympus in danger of being discovered by mortals. If we lost to Erebos today, Olympus would fall.

This massive responsibility was being put on the backs of a bunch of fourteen years old. I had the opportunity to lead my first quest three months ago, and though the stakes weren't that high, I had still felt anxious for what was to come. Now I was part of a quest that would dictate the fate of Olympus and the whole world, so you could imagine just how nervous I felt.

But I couldn't afford to panic. I needed to keep my head in the game and focus.

I put a stop to my nervous nail biting and got up from my purple bed. I gathered my arrows, which had been placed in a neat stack on my bedside table, and tucked them into my quiver, which I subsequently strapped across my back. I brandished my bow and took a practice shot at the dartboard hung on my wall, hitting the red dot effortlessly. Would need to keep that same aim up for the final hurdle.

I made my way out of my cabin and went to the training ground. On my way there, I spotted Alexander, Kai, Geneva, and Timmy's doors being closed, signifying to me that they were still getting ready. I had finished preparations for Rome ten minutes ago, being the anxious wreck I was, so I was now waiting for everyone else to finish.

As I turned the corner into the training ground, I saw Rose sitting on the ground, staring up at the ceiling longingly.

"Hey," I greeted.

Rose ceased her ceiling-watching and turned her head towards me. "Hey, Amethyst."

"Have you finished preparing already?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said blankly.

Our conversation then took a bit of a halt, as Rose persisted with her roof-looking. Something was off about her, more than usual anyways.

I say usual because over the last seven days, Rose had been really feeling the pressures of leading a quest and therefore was acting differently because of that fact. I felt the same way when I led my first quest, so I couldn't blame her.

However, there was something different in her behavior this time. She seemed lost, and she had been staring at the roof an awful amount of time and in some longing way, as if she was hoping or wishing for something. Maybe she was praying to the gods above. Regardless, she seemed unwilling to talk to me and was more focused on staring at the roof, which is not normal Rose behavior.

Having made this observation, I asked her softly, "Rose, is there something you wanna talk about?"

She seemed to consider answering my question, but she just shook her head. "No, I'm-I'm fine. Just nervous."