The Unknown Allegiance

| Chapter 12 || New Plan |

Chapter Twelve

New Plan

*First Person Point of View ~ Perseus*

I couldn't think of anything besides the pain coursing through my bones. It seemed liked Perses was having fun torturing me, but if I were to voice my opinion about it, be sure that it was the complete opposite of what he thought.

He was laughing the entire time, and if he wasn't laughing, then he'd be talking. By now, his voice was getting incredibly annoying, so much so that all I wanted to do was go back to the hunters' camp and deal with them and their problems - which is something that I'd never thought I'd say. I guess I was getting desperate.

There were flashes of things other than pain over the past few days, but those moments were rare. I also barely had any time to process them, so I was at a loss to figure out how to escape. Perses loved taunting me, but sometimes, he wasn't talking to me. Those were the times that I heard another voice - a deeper, more sinister voice - but I couldn't see anyone else. Then again, I could barely move my head and even my eyes hurt when they rolled in my skull.

I could only hope that Artemis wasn't affected by this pain and that she and her hunters were doing well without me. I knew that they were strong - I'd fought alongside them before - but if Perses was sending troops specifically to make them fall, they wouldn't last long.

"What should we do today?" Perses' voice snapped me out of my thoughts, bringing my consciousness back from its floaty state crashing back into my body. Immediately, pain washed over my body, and I groaned. Everything from the top of my skull to the tips of my toes was in pain. Even that hangy thing at the back of my throat. What was it called again? A uvula? Yeah, that's it.

"Pay attention!" A hand struck my cheek.

My eyes locked onto Perses' face, which was slightly blurry at the edges, but I was pretty sure that it was just me. If that was the case, the black spots I've been seeing lately must've been me, too, unless they were some strange, new, harmless monster I'd never heard of before.

Focusing on Perses' face again, I saw that he was glaring and his mouth was moving. He must be talking to me, but all I heard was a faint buzzing in my ears. My hearing was failing again. It had been doing that a lot lately.

"-one more experiment before I let you go," he was saying.

That caught my attention. He was going to let me go? Why? What could he possibly gain by letting me go after torturing for days on end? I tilted my head to the side slightly and could barely hold back the groan as my joints popped.

"You see, we won't need you after this last test. Your purpose here has almost been fulfilled, but we now need to send you back, as a parting gift - I should say - to the gods before they destroy themselves. Then, you will be able to watch as the world burns and nothing you do can stop that!"

My eyes widened. What was he planning? What had happened since I'd been captured that would cause the gods to destroy each other?

Perses didn't give me anytime to contemplate the options before he raised his hand, waving it over my face. Sudden sleepiness washed over me. My eyelids drooped and before long, I'd fallen back into my only comfort - the inky darkness of sleep.

***

As I slowly came back around, I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, trying to block out the light shining down on me. The backs of my eyelids were lit up red, spots of yellow and orange blinking in and out of existence behind my eyes.