Legacies: The Champion of Olympus

21- The Cave

Olivia and I slowly descended into the darkness together.

Someone had built this cave to hide the box many years ago. Had it been Epimetheus? If I was being honest I didn't care, I had one goal in mind. Get Pandora's box.

"It smells disgusting." Olivia whispered as I held the torch out in front of us.

She was right, it smelled like sewer and dust combined. "I think we may be the first ones down here in a millennia."

"Oddly enough I don't feel special." She said sarcastically as we turned the corner into a large corridor.

Torches ignited themselves all the way down the long hallway.

"Yeah, we're definitely in the right place." I said obviously able to tell what just happened was magic.

"Son of Olympus, we have been expecting you." Three voices echoed in my head.

Olivia's face went paler than normal.

"Do you hear that?"

Her head nodded slowly as we slowly walked down the corridor.

"Your path will not be easy." The voices said.

"And why is that?" I asked the voices.

"Soon, Achilles."

Then everything was quiet.

"What the hell was that?" Olivia asked shivering.

"That's what it's like having voices in your head all the time." I said to her as I drug my hand along the dust ridden walls.

"Ash, can we stop?" Olivia asked as we entered into a large circular room with corridors leading in three different directions.

"No. We have to keep going."

"Achilles, please. We've been walking for hours."

I turned my attention away from the corridors and looked back towards Olivia. She was exhausted and her pleading eyes left me no choice.

I nodded.

She let out a sigh of relief and sat down with her back against the fountain in the middle of the chamber.

I continued to pace back and forth between the chambers trying to figure out which corridor was the correct pathway.

"Olivia, I think we've hit a dead end." I said to her.

"We can always use trial and error?" She suggested.

"Have you ever watched a single movie or played a video game. In our situation it's Trial and Death."

Olivia gave a tired chuckle.

"You gotta stay awake." I told her. "You're the only one with powers, and I have zero to none weapons training."

"Wow, you're finally trusting me."

"I never said that, I'm just being resourceful."

"I'll take it." She said happily.

I sat down, crossed my legs and closed my eyes.

"What are you doing?" Olivia asked me confused.

"Meditating."

It was only minutes before I was pulled into a vision.

***
"Mom, can you tuck me in?" I pleaded to my mother as she stood in my doorway.

"Yes of course sweetie." My mother said coming back.

"Mom, when is Dad coming home?" I asked sadly as she tucked me into bed.

She sighed sadly and kissed my forehead, the curls of her brown hair falling into my eyes.

"Ash, I'm going to tell you a very important lesson. Are you ready?"

I nodded and smiled up at her.

"It's not about what you can see with these." She said pointing at my eyes. "But what you can see with this." She said pointing at my heart.

"What does that mean?" I asked her.

"It means that just because you can't see your father with your eyes, you can feel him in your heart. He is always here with us." She said to me.

***
My eyes shot open.

At the time I was young and had no idea what she had meant by that, so I had just dismissed it.

I didn't know how useful it would become.

I stood up.

"Holy crap you're alive." Olivia said surprised.

I looked at her confused.

"How long was I under?"

She looked away shyly. "I don't know like ten minutes?"

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"What? I got bored."

"You're ridiculous." I said pacing back and forth between the corridors.

"So, did you find anything out?" She questioned me as she leaned against the edge of the fountain.

"Maybe, I'm not sure."

"Wow, so helpful."

A tug in my gut caught my attention.

"Stop talking." I scolded her.

"Sorry, I was just trying to lighten the mood."

"No, I wasn't trying to be mean. I feel something."

The power surge radiated throughout my body. The box was near, I just had to choose the right path. It was ripping at my gut.

I stopped in front of the middle corridor.

"This way?" Olivia questioned standing next to me.

The power ripped through my gut again this time towards my back.

I shook my head and walked to the fountain in the center of the room. The fountain decoration that was spewing water from it was a hydra, all nine heads squirting water from their mouths.

I drug my finger wiping the dust from the edge of the fountain.

Άνοιξε, a word glowed orange across the cobblestone. The Greek word for open.

"Άνοιξε." I said in Ancient Greek. The fountain rumbled and the center of it began to spiral up towards the ceiling revealing a door.

"This way." I said to her as I raised my leg over the edge of the fountain and walking through the water to the door.

Olivia splashed through the water as we crossed into the new hallway that was already lit with torches.

"How did you know to do that?" She asked me.

"My mom helped me." I said to her. "When I was a young child she told me to see with my heart and my gut instead of my eyes."

"Your mother sounds smart."

"The smartest." I replied as we walked down the hall together.

"It's been too quiet the entire time we've been in here." Olivia started as we entered into another large chamber. "I don't like it."

A hissing sound filled the air and the ground shook. Torches lit up around the chamber as nine heads rose to where we stood.

"I really wish you hadn't said that."