Ares And Mia

Chapter 50

I suddenly don't feel the urge to blink. Or to move out of the way as I watch the next moments in singular frames of light that gave way to clashing swords, arms ripping out of the soil below, and reckoning. Reckoning like the clash of space and time, the entire world capsizing beneath the weight of the gods. If there was an end... This is what I would picture it to be. A clean sheet creeps over the floor, the very air turning frigid from the impact of the dry ice. Severed limbs creep back into life, reattaching themselves or twitching on the ground. Thunder trembles across the land, oceans heeding to the call of a hand, and the sharp tang of... metal.

Like the taste of blood in your mouth. One that had you searching for a wound, your tongue running over your bruised lip as you wipe at the tears forming in your eyes--helpless. A spectator turned participant, spinning circles to capture everything at once. The chaos is nothing like I could've ever imagined.

I thought that I was prepared for a moment like this. But now... Whatever mock war they were fighting when I was still alive was child's play. This...

Apollo cuts off the sun, thick black mist cutting off all vision as someone near me screams. Lightning absolutely cuts through bodies, coming so close to me that I can see the way it tears through flesh and bone, scorching before completely severing limbs off. I hold witness to the stone, spreading from the pupils of beings to their entire bodies like viruses, poses of warriors clawing at their faces forever immortalized in a fossilized form. Fire consumes and water drowns, corpses dropping like flies--from above and below.

Yet, a wide berth was given to me.

No one wanted to die on the site of the prophecy. Alone, even in death. I am nothing but an observer, craning my neck to see past the mountains of armor and corpses.

Ares is fearless. Courageous and unfaltering, trading hits with Cronus. Regeneration produces another arm to replace the god's slice, and Cronus is blasted back with a concentrated blow of red. Red energy, red... some sort of red force that I've seen before. Not quite flame, not quite mist. Tangible and searing, it left deep grooves in the Titan's dark skin. The god dodges a heavy blow, the now-enlarged Titan clearing out the entire shoreline with a single swipe.

Dust picks up, just as Ares emerges, both swords plunging into Cronus's neck. I see him flip his grip in milliseconds, balancing perfectly on the handles as he scores a cut that sends some sort of foul ink bursting out. Tartarus has not been kind to them. The Titan shrinks, fighting free of Ares's grip before disappearing completely.

My god gives chase.

"Childish, aren't they?" A voice. I turn, trying to locate the speaker. Like whispers, spreading all around me, layered upon years and years of memories. Like... Like the first time I touched the End of Days. "Speak, Mia." And like a gift, I drew a breath. Then another. And another.

From the novelty, my lungs formed. Then my rib cage, like the structural support of a mother holding me up. Then my blood, warm and adrenaline filled, then my heart. Then my skin, my thoughts, and my mouth. Speak, it declared.

Sob, I declared.

Everything gives out as I collapse, tears blurring my vision as my knees slam into the ground. I scream, elbows staking into the gravel, bending as my hands gripped at my hair. My body contracts, drawing myself closer together, smaller and smaller. I pull against my roots, the pain the only thing keeping me sane. Saliva is thick in my mouth, tears mixing with sweat, my breathing so loud in my head.

My eyes fell wide open, burning with each blink as a buzzing sound coursed through me. I sobbed, wailing as the world around me turned white. It was changing. No... I was moving. I was being moved somewhere else. "No, no! Bring me back—" I gasp, coughing through my pleads. I straighten up, stumbling to my feet as everything around me brightens to a single shade. The ground is no longer sandy, instead, it's smooth and artificial-looking. "Bring me back!"