Started With A Dare - A POTHENA STORY ✔

The Sirens Fail At Escaping

POSEIDON'S POV

  Athena had a lot to say and was getting annoying, and for some reason, I had a strange feeling about the black blob as if I was meant to go there to do something. The singing was barely blocked out by Athena's hands but I could still hear its faint sound, but it only rang in my ears and I found myself perfectly conscious. Then that must mean my strange feeling wasn't the creation of a strange hallucination and could possibly even be real. Intuition isn't something to ignore, anyway. It could be accurate and there's only one way to find out if it is or not.

  I grabbed Athena's hands and yanked them off my ears. It was surprisingly easy - Athena must've gotten weaker from the continuous running, fighting and swimming we had to do. I suddenly felt a pang of guilt - Athena was just trying to save my butt. Maybe I was too harsh. Nonetheless, I didn't have time to worry about her. It was a problem I could sort out later. At that point, I could only pray that she would focus on saving herself and not go anywhere else to save energy. If I just quickly check if the prophecy was there, maybe I could save us from a lot more useless travelling and tragedies. Maybe I could actually find the prophecy.

  Just thinking of that made my body move faster. The singing got louder and louder, but weirdly it seemed to be completely ineffective. What could the sirens possibly want from me?

  Before I knew it, I reached the island. I climbed onto it, and as my feet touched the ground outside the force field-like black blob, I realised how exhausted I truly was. The momentum and adrenaline that my body was once producing all seemed to disappear. Every muscle in my body cramped up, and I felt like I was going to fall back into the water. Athena is behind you, possibly trying to catch up or even close to drowning, you fool. Why are you worried about your muscles at this point? Hurry up and check the island! You don't have time!

  The little voice in my head shook me back to my senses. I managed to stand up again, and as I did, a mysterious, alluring voice rang around me. It felt like the sound in a cinema - all around me. It felt even more like it was coming from my own head.

  "Poseidon, our master. We have been trapped here for many centuries! Legend said that we were meant to stay here and we were happy about it. But that is not the case. Being banished here at the first second of our lives has been the worst punishment since the start. We deserve to see more of the world! If you set us free, you are doing good to us and the world. Over years of work, we have succeeded in finding the key. Look up above you! All it takes is one twist of the key. That will set us free."

  I frowned. What were these sirens talking about? Heck, I didn't even know if it came from the sirens! If what they said was true, was the black blob the thing blocking them from the world outside? Could it be that...Athena couldn't see it because I was the one who created the blob, and I was the only one who could see it?

  I looked up and saw the key the sirens were talking about. If I wasn't going to release them, I was still going to examine the key. It could be a crucial way to recovering my past - even with all the evidence that was popping up around me as I went on this journey, I was still having a hard time believing that I was the god Poseidon. It's hard to trust anyone right now, and as nice as some demigods and creatures have been to me so far, I found it hard to trust anyone but Athena, and I feel like it would be best to keep it at that.

  The key had just brushed the surface of my palms when I heard a loud splash of water. I grasped the key and turned around, but I couldn't see anything. That was what worried me - my heart suddenly started racing and I didn't care about anything else anymore. Where was Athena?

  I searched frantically, my eyes scanning the waters in front of me, wondering where to dive. I put the key in a zipper pocket I found at my pants and zipped it shut. That was when I saw a small splash and a small portion of a head pop out of the water - then I heard a strangled gasp and yelp of desperation. "POSEIDON!"

  The siren's singing was so much louder than her scream and she was considerably far away from me, but for some reason, her voice sounded so much clearer than anything that I was hearing at that moment.

  "ATHENA!" I leapt into the water without a second thought, grabbing hold of an unconscious Athena just in time as her body started sinking deeper and deeper. I raised her head above the water and checked her breathing - it was still there. Weak and unstable, but still there. I had never felt so relieved in my life. I turned to the island, gave it one last glare and swam as fast away from it as possible, vowing to never return again, even after I return to my original godly form (if it was real).

  I didn't know how I managed to get back to the ship, dry both of us up as much as I could and tuck Athena in, but I managed. I had never been so relieved that a ship had autopilot - I decided to change our destination immediately. Our ship had detected that island previously so we wanted to quickly check, but it was obvious that those sirens did not have the prophecy if they were trapped in the force field godly me had created for centuries. "HEY, SHIP!"

  "Please refer to me as-"

  "I don't care! Tell me if there are any more islands-"

  "There are exactly 368 islands ahead of us, master. If you wish, I can tell you the detailed history of each so that you can determine our next destination."

  "I don't want to hear anything. Are they close together or spread out?"

  "The majority are straight ahead. The closest one is approximate-"

  I already knew it was going to blabber a bunch of nonsense about distance and directions that I didn't have time to calculate. I had something so much more important to do. "I DON'T CARE! Give me a duration."

  "Approximately two hours away, master." The ship system stubbornly used the word 'approximately' once more.

  "Alright, keep going. We'll figure things out later...I need to make sure Athena is alright first."

  I raced to Athena's room again and hovered a finger near her nose. Her breathing had improved and she looked so much more relaxed, but there seemed to be an unexplainable concern and sadness in her expression. I wonder how she dealt with the mental trauma of all that had happened? All I had done was ungratefully act in my own way, only doing what I thought was the best - I didn't even consider her needs or advice.

  I placed a hand on hers. It was cold - probably from the freezing oceans she had to swim because of my ignorance. I felt ineffable guilt inside me.

  "I'm sorry, Athena."

(A/N: *Gasp!* A Started With A Dare update?! That's crazy! Is the author finally going to put more time in this story and stop neglecting her readers again?

  Haha, well, first of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! This might be a little late, but with so many family activities during the holidays, it was hard for me to make any time for writing at all! Second of all, I'm gonna have to apologise again for another late update...(same old, same old...) But on a more serious note, I might have to skip a couple updates (again) because of my annoying exam. Today was English and it went pretty well, but there's quite a scary subject waiting for me tomorrow and I felt like if I didn't want to revise, I had to at least contribute to something. Hence this chapter. Hurray!

  I know I said something about a Christmas special, but I was going on holiday and the special became longer than I planned, so I couldn't finish it on time! I'll keep working on it when I'm free and maybe even more over the summer, and hopefully I can publish it right as the story ends, preferably before the end of 2020!

  Again, thanks for reading, and I'm sorry for still not putting in many Pothena moments 😉)