TAMING APOLLO | completed

46. blood of kronos

46. blood of kronos

G A Y L E

"YOU'VE heard the tale of Uranus, of how he met his unfortunate demise at the hands of his son, Kronos." Poseidon nods at Ceto's words, ignoring the subtle roaring of the ground beneath us.

"A weapon forged by Gaia herself for Kronos to overthrow his father, a sickle made from the rare metal adamantine mutilated the tyrant, and from those remains a goddess emerged."

"Aphrodite..." Ariel murmurs, piecing the puzzle together on her own.

"You must find the adamantine sickle, for only the sickle doused in the blood of the wielder can kill the wielder."

Poseidon's eyes widen in realization, like he's been locked behind a door all this time, and this riddle the serpent has given to him is the key. "But that will only kill Kronos. How will I kill the rest of the titans?"

"Cut off the head and the body will flounder." Right after Ceto says those words, her body begins to retreat back into the water despite Poseidon's protests.

"Wait! How do we find the sickle? Where is it?" Alas, the serpent has disappeared into the stream. We all watch in horror as Ceto's body turns invisible, and just as she came she leaves.

After several minutes of silence, I finally garner the courage to step out and ask what you and I are both thinking. "Anybody want to explain what just happened in mortal terms?"

Poseidon hangs his head defeatedly while Ariel turns to me, face paled in shock and horror.

"Good news? Weapon that can kill the titans exists." My face lights up with hope at her words, but it's short-lived due to her next words. "Bad news? It could be anywhere in the world, and we have no way of tracking it." My lips contort into a frown as I hang my head like Poseidon.

"Not exactly." Poseidon retorts, biting his lip in thought as he begins to pace. "Ceto mentioned Aphrodite was born of Uranus, when Kronus mutilated him using the sickle. Maybe she told us this because Aphrodite knows where it is..."

Ariel sighs, "well that's a dead-end. Aphrodite's gone missing again. Even if we knew where she was, I doubt she'd wanna meet up over coffee and disclose that kind of information."

Poseidon smirks, turning to Ariel with an all-knowing glint in his eyes. "Maybe not Aphrodite... but her confidant of many years, if there's anybody who knows the truth about the sickle, it's Adonis."

I sit back in confusion as both Poseidon and Ariel continue to talk about somebody named Adonis, and how he may be the solution to all our problems.

My eyes dart between the two of them as they bounce around ideas about where he may be. Eventually to my relief, a name I'm familiar with and have grown to be quite fond of catches my ear.

"Persephone. We're in the second half of the year so he must be in the Underworld with Persephone!" Ariel states, perking up with the same kind of determination she's always had. Her brows are creased and eyes alight with some kind of new inspiration. I can't help but feel like this may be the Ariel I've always known, not the despondent ice queen with the weight of the world on her shoulders, but an ambitious adventurer with the world as her oyster.

She frowns momentarily, as if she's just realized something that could ruin all our plans. "–but Hades and Persephone aren't in the Underworld." She recalls, the light slowly seeping out from her eyes. "They're in hiding from the titans. Who knows whether they've taken Adonis along or left him there."