Ares And Mia

Chapter 45

I'm on all fours, chest heaving, mind racing, the feeling of gravity bearing down on me a hundred times heavier than before. My wrist burns—burns with such intensity it feels like someone is trying to saw it off. Electricity jumps and leaps from my skin, fraying at my sleeves and nipping at the ground, goosebumps springing up.

I can't control my breathing. I'm gasping for air, in this unknown space. I can barely lift my head and even when I do, everything seems to spin. There is an overwhelming presence here, but I don't know where they are. Rather, they felt like they were everywhere, all around me, pressing against my skin and slinking through the air.

My heart feels like it's about to explode from my chest and my skin felt like it were about to tear into a million pieces.

The sound that I hear comes from everywhere at once. "Watch." Voices upon voices, whispering and prodding at my mind all at once.

My vision goes black.

It's cold. The air smells stale, heavy and moist against my skin. There's no breeze, no movement, only a sullen heaviness in the air. And it's dark, dark enough to force me to squint to make out the small means of movement that I catch. It was as if this place had no source of light, like the sun was replaced by the moon long ago. "Atlas," A voice catches my attention. I crane my neck upward, my mouth dropping as I take in the silhouette before me.

There was a sun.

But it was blocked by... the only being keeping the sky from crushing us in an instant. The Titan was swooped forward, crouched down on one knee, both arms planted to support it. Wisps of rags covered his body, moving with an nonexistent wind, his hair long and falling over his face. "Gods." He spits and the ground trembles beneath my feet.

Just... just how powerful was he?

"The books, Atlas. What are the requirements?" The second he speaks, I can see clearly. Blurs in my vision died away and everything became clear, clear as day. Ares stands with a sword at his side, crossing his arms at the Titan. Another god stands beside him.

"Always the impatient one, aren't you?" The ground rumbles and I see the rocky platform churn in front of the gods—Hades and Ares.

The Book of Atlas. This has to be the moment they made their swears on the Styx. I try to move, but I'm frozen in place.

"Hades, swear that you will not let any mortal out of the Underworld. You may not spare any life or restore it, you will only reign over their souls." Hades whispers something, but I don't catch it in time. The god picks up a book and red veins of electricity trace themselves up Hades's fingertips. They disappear when he picks the book up, absorbed into the air or... into his skin. He exchanges a glance with Ares, before disappearing.

The god of war looks up at Atlas. "And for you, angry god," The ground rumbles. I swallow hard. I don't breathe, just in case I miss his words. "Swear to never fall in love with a human."

Oh.

"And if you do, the twelve Titans will be set free."

Oh my fucking god—

- - -

I slam back into reality, gasping large breaths as I looked around. I can chase the way the oxygen follows through my body, painful and desperate. Panic was still fresh in my chest—we were set up, it was all set up from the start. The prophecy, the 'doom' that I was supposed to bring... it all came from one thing.

Atlas knew.

He knew about the habits, of the mistakes of Gods, of curiosities and possessiveness—he knew that they would come find me! And that I'd meet Ares and-and—