𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐝𝐞𝐧 | 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥 |

88 | 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞

"Alright, found another memory to explore. Engaging with Memory 9, Sequence 2." Rebecca's tone is chirpy as she speaks, the female being more at ease after yesterdays events. Or maybe for what I did with Adam and Eve, who knows.

The scenery changes up to a desolate and hot area, the once lush green grass is now dried up and yellow, a few fires on the nearby forests are also sprouting like crazy. I walk and evade a rock as my foot slips, placing my hand on top of it to not fall to the ground, grimacing in the process when it burns me.

I've been wandering around foreign lands for awhile now, between hiding from Zeus' patrols and the sun, it's been presumably like two months, given the length of my growing hair, which is awkwardly styled thanks to the heat and sweat of the day.

My only eye catches the outline of a cave, making me speed walk to the best of my ability and seek shelter inside, the place not being much help since even the ground feels like pure flames. I sigh and sit in the coolest spot I can find, bringing my knees up and placing my arms over them, resting my head afterwards.

Did Adam complete his mission, I wonder? Did they make it out okay? Are any of them injured or did they get killed?. So many questions and so little answers. That's what being a runaway gives you.

What became of Týr? He surely found out about this, no doubt. Did he get mad? No. Nonsense, never in all the years that I knew him did I ever saw him mad—even when he had many reasons to be—this isn't the exception.

Is it?.

I feel guilty. I remember my Màter and brothers, suffering by all the tragedies that befell the family. No matter how they treated me, they don't deserve this. All they wanted was to function like a normal family, but never understood that I couldn't be normal.

I couldn't go by their idiotic rules, the punishments, the demands. It was too much and I let go of my frustrations with the main source of all my despair for a normal life.

I run a finger absentmindedly over one of my markings, the fact that I can't even parade around my status of a god hitting me harshly. Silent and hot tears of frustration roll down my cheeks, everything I had is now gone.

My family, the few friends I had, my lover, a home. It's all gone, and the catastrophe isn't even here yet. Home. Was it really that? It felt more like a prison and a martyr than a loving place to go back to.

"Goddess." A smooth voice breaks me from my trance, making me look over to the entrance of the cave, a woman standing there frozen.

"I do not think you are from here if you do not know who I am." I say, turning my back harshly after throwing a small rock to the wall opposite of me.

"I know you're Deimos, a Greek Goddess who lost her status by simply doing what she thought was right, killing her father, Ares and inheriting—or stealing—his title and rebuilding it to a different purpose." The figure comes closer and crouches, Minerva's figure appearing in view.

"That is a nice way to put it. What are you doing here? Came to tell Zeus I am still in the premises?." She sighs and places a slender hand on my arm.

"It's near." I look up and take in the details in her face, her brows scrunched up in worry, but a hidden look of defeat is also in them.

"Let it come then, it will do us all a favor." I whisper and turn around, wanting to grab some shut eye since I haven't been able to do so lately.

"Don't be like this, Deimos. Why are you wishing for death, when I've seen your future? You survive all this, how and why is unknown, but you'll live long after we're gone." She takes my face in hands and turn me to look at her.

"Don't ruin the second chance life is giving you, my child. Think of it as this being a new world, one free of rules where you'll be able to live without anyone monitoring you. What you've always wanted." My heart beats fast at her words, markings dwindling in the process.

"I alway wanted to be away from them, not be without them. Who will I turn to when in times of despair? Will I continue to be a monster, or will I turn into a passive force of nature? Do you know the answers to those, Minerva? Because I do not." I bite back, crying at the thought of being in a new time without the people I know, new cultures and problems to solve.. that's too much.

"You will turn to those around you, only the ones that gain your confidence, they will let you be yourself in no time and help you become someone better. And my child, a monster? In the eyes of the world you will always be a monster, and there's no turning back from it. But what type of monster you become is entirely up to you." I stare at her as her wisdom filled words ring in my mind.

She rises and starts walking off, the scorching sun hitting her pale form.

"I care about you, Deimos. And therefore don't wish to see you suffering, neither here or wherever the world beyond this one will take you. I can only wish you the best, child." She leaves shortly after, her frame disappearing in the burned valley.

'What type of monster you become is entirely up to you.'

'It's near.'

'Inherited—or stealing—his title and rebuilding it in a different purpose.'

What is my purpose? What did the Nexus see after many years? What is written in there that not even the Triad can see.

Goddess of War. Has a nicer ring to it if you talk about it in a different way. He used his title to bring chaos and terror to the lands. He used it because it's the only thing he ever knew what to do. War.

I can modify that. Maybe I can do war against those that actually deserve it, bring justice to the oppressed and weak. Bring true honor to the tittle. Yes, because that's what gods do, right by their people and morals.

I won't let my name be tainted by the actions of a man who didn't even have a life to begin with.