Unlocking Olympus
Chapter Eight: Adamaris
“Three dormant
volcanoes had erupted simultaneously at the southwest of Asia; this occurrence
was unprecedented and wasn’t at all expected by the volcanic specialists.
Scientists are still studying the reason behind these mysterious eruptions
after two other sleeping volcanoes erupted at Northern America yesterday at
2:30 PM…”
Turning off the television, I turned my attention to Cadence
who was busy scanning through her gigantic book of spells. I couldn’t help but
be in a foul mood for the past three days due to my impatience. Up until now,
the only information that we got against that goddess was her name (thanks to
Caddie’s superpowers of foresight), and we weren’t even sure with that one too.
Cadence told me that knowing which goddess we were facing was more than enough,
but I could care less whether that woman was called Alectrona or Petra.
“Stop staring at me,” Cadence’s voice snapped me out of my
thoughts.
I sighed and stood from the cluttered couch, weaving my way
to her work desk, avoiding the boxes of pizza on her floor. “I am thinking,” I
stood beside her, watching as she turned the old blank page of the book and
placed her palm on it, her brows knitting in concentration.
“I really don’t know how that works,” I told her after a
minute of remaining silent.
Cadence’s lips turned up, which were based from my
observation, looked like a bow, as if Artemis sculpted it herself. “You don’t
have to know,” she chuckled after she heard my incredulous snort, “this spell
book needs to be read using the spirit eyes so I don’t really need my eyes to read this.”
Nodding, “That’s cool,”
“Have you learned more about the goddess Alectrona?” She
tasked me to research about Alectrona from the Greek mythology books. I was
never a fan of reading, so much more about the race which rejected me.
I took the notepad beside her and read the scribbles: moly, holy fire, Circe, Swine spell.
Finding it uninteresting, I placed it back on the desk. “Only that the people
of Rhodes worship her,” scoffing, I continued, “Apparently, she’s an offspring
of Helios, a titan God of Sun, and Rhode, a nymph. After she died, the
primordial Sun God resurrected her and gave her immortality, becoming the
goddess of waking up, some sort of a lesser solar god with the blood of a
titan. That explains the ability to produce fire.”
“How did she die?”
I shrugged, moving to the fireplace and started to throw
logs in it to keep the fire going. We are going to need more supply. I made a
mental note to call the supplier for Cadence tomorrow morning.
“There are no
records in any of the books you made me
read.” I eyed her which caused her to chortle as if she could see my glare.
“Found anything about her weaknesses?” Cadence moved on to
the important question.
“Nothing from the books as well, there’s only little
information about her.” I frowned. This too was another cause of my
frustration. How the hell was I going to get my retribution from the bitch?
“She was once a mortal,” Cadence shrugged.
“That is like a century ago, she’s a goddess now, an
immortal.” I went back to the couch and flopped, taking the iPad from the
ottoman. I opened it and the screen immediately flashed the page in Wikipedia.
“We’ll figure it out,” Cadence reassured me as something
from the screen of the iPad held my interest.
I stood up, took my jacket from the rack and went for the
door. “Going already?” Cadence called from her work desk.
“Yeah, I still have to go to the flower shop to get
sunflowers. Call me for any updates.” Grinning, I went out of her house and
headed for my car.
It was Saturday when Cadence finally found a way to trap a
God, she told me there was no way we could kill an Olympian. Or at least there
was something written by the book of Greeks, Cadence said, “But none of it is
achievable by you.”
I was sitting on her couch again, my favorite spot, as she
discussed to me about the binding spell she prepared for. “Somehow, you have to
subdue the goddess then we have to bring her here. I am going to cast the
binding spell to her here.”
“Are you kidding me? The last time I tried to subdue her she
burned my freaking arm!” I jumped up from where I sat, shooting her a glare
before I started pacing the length of her living area. I rubbed my nose, not
because it was itchy but because it was a habit I had developed since I was a
kid. My mind was racing about the possible ways I could combat that goddess, if
there was any.
I didn’t need to look at Cadence to see that she was calm,
looking at the direction of her fireplace, I often see her in that position.
“You went charging there cockily, Adam, this time, you’ll go prepared.”
I heaved a deep sigh trying to calm the panic that was
starting to bubble up the pit of my stomach. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to
fight a God. I could kill creatures, but that too was already a challenge. And
if without Cadence’s magic mojo, I would have ended up dead already. “You have
a plan?”
Cadence shot me a mischievous grin causing me to wince, “My
plan wouldn’t work without your physical strength, Adam. This will be 50% bluff
and 50% strength,”
“Enlighten me,”
Cadence gave me a brilliant smile, “Damn,” I muttered.
That brought me to now, a day after Cadence finalized the
plan, standing under the shadow adjacent to Lockheart Café, waiting for the
last customer to come out. I didn’t want to bring innocent people with this. After
ten more excruciating minutes, the customer finally went out and one of the
nymphs flipped their sign board. I stretched from when I was leaning on the
wall and took the pack of needles that Cadence prepared from my pocket.
The nymph saw me immediately for which she spoke, “You are
not welcome here demigod,”
I pulled the glass door open with enough strength to break
the lock, the wind chimes tinkled above my head. “Aw, don’t break my heart.”
“You are arrogant for such an insignificant half-blood.” She
hissed, her body morphing into a tree, her limbs extending and growing,
becoming roots.
I looked past her and saw that seven more nymphs appeared
behind her, all of them morphing into their original forms. Where was the goddess?
Adeptly pulling one charmed needle from the packet, I
stabbed the nymph in the neck then she fell on the floor, rigid. “Nice one,
Caddie.” I grinned at the effect of the paralyzing charm Cadence made for me.
“Sophronia!”
One of the nymphs screamed as she charged towards me, the rest of the nymphs
followed suit. They were meant to protect, they could be vicious if they needed
to be. But I was born a hunter. Sophronia or whatever her name was ensnared me
with her roots, its rough wood wrapping in my wrist and another in my neck.
Pulling the Athena’s dagger from the sheath in my hip, I cut the roots in my
wrist, emitting a howl of pain from the dryads just as I bent down to deflect
another piercing wood coming my way before I stabbed Sophronia with one of the
needle. She froze for a second, before she fell on the ground, the roots
retracting. She went back to her human
form.
The fall of their sister enraged the remaining dryads, their
attacks and attempts to subdue me using their roots became more desperate.
Grunting, I pulled one of the nymphs by the hair (while maneuvering myself away
from their attacks) with the intent of shoving her face in my knee but changed
my mind. They didn’t do anything wrong so I shouldn’t hurt them. So instead, I
rapidly injected her with the needle. She froze and then fell. Deflecting their
attempts to make a barbecue out of me, stabbing them with the needles at their
necks, one by one, and the dryads fell on the floor, motionless. They weren’t
actually dead, they were just paralyzed.
All except one of the nymphs were subdued; one of them was
still standing in front of me, breathing heavily.
“Where is Alectrona?” I asked her, her eyes darted on the
Athena’s dagger on my other hand, which I barely used. Hurting one of them was
more than enough.
“What do you need from her?” She asked, her eyes returning
to me. I knew she wouldn’t be telling me anything by the intensity in her eyes.
It’s her loyalty for the goddess. I knew
she would rather die.
“What did you do to my sisters?” She followed hotly,
speaking through gritted teeth.
I glanced at the lying bodies on the floor for a short
second before pinning her with my gaze, “They are just paralyzed, they’ll
return to normal after 3 hours or so.”
The wind chimes tinkled again just as I felt her presence.
“Good, because then I could be nice and kill you right immediately.” Her voice
dipped dangerously as her anger rolled off like waves of energy, enough for the
mortals to be knocked out.
I smirked, stepping a little bit away from the nymph, making
sure she’s on my peripheral vision before I regarded the goddess. “Oh please,
you have no idea how many times I have heard that threat and guess what? They
are all in Underworld now.”
Turning her nose up and ignoring me, she turned her
attention to the last nymph standing, “Krissy, are you okay?”
“Yes, he paralyzed my sisters!” Krissy screeched, balling
her fists, the roots were now retracting from her limbs.
A muscle ticked in her jaw as currents of her magic crackled
within the room, “You are going to pay for this,” Alectrona raised her arms,
forming a ball of fire.
“I should have killed you –“ before she could finish what
she was about to say, the ball of fire dissipated as the goddess fell as stiff
as a statue on the floor and Cadence stood behind her with a worried smile.
“Alec!” The nymph ran to her friend, kneeling before her.
Her limbs once again started to grow like roots but before she could continue,
I have already embedded the last of the needles in her neck and she also fell
on the floor.
“You’re awesome,” I told Cadence.
Her response was rolling her eyes.
“Adam!” Cadence reprimanded me as I threw the bucket of cold
water on the sleeping goddess on her garage floor.
Alectrona sputtered water as she woke up with a start and
dripping wet. “What? It’s not every day we have a goddess on your garage.”
Cadence shook her head before motioning me to look at the fuming goddess in
front of me.
“What insolence! You don’t know what you brought to
yourself, demigod!” She said, standing up, balling her fists so hard it went
pale. I knew she was trying to conjure her fire but when nothing came up, her
head snapped up to look at us. “What did you do to me? Why can’t I use my
power?”
“Aw, cannot use your mojo?” I said with derision. She tried
to walk to me but was only stopped short by an invisible wall. She looked
around, eyes wild, her pale face, stricken.
“Alectrona, you can’t go out of the God’s trap.” Cadence
said with a fairly reasonable voice, subtly elbowing me.
“What?” I whispered.
“God’s what?” Alectrona asked with a raised voice, shooting
us a dirty look.
“I casted a binding spell in the powdered Moly which was
diluted to the holy water from the Catalian Spring. Can you believe I was able
to order it on e-Bay? You must commend today’s technology.”
“Moly,” she repeated, her face contorting with disgust, “Let
me out,” the anger rolled off her skin like tidal waves, her beautiful face was
smeared with red as she shook from humiliation. The fact that she was trapped
by a mere human witch and demigod had finally sunk in.
“Now, that can be negotiated,” I butted in.
“I,” she breathed in, her voice was vibrating with hate, “am not going to negotiate with you!” She spat.
“Well you can stay inside that trap for eternity.” I said, shrugging nonchalantly.
“Alectrona, we are not going to harm you,” Cadence spoke, standing a foot away from the circle she created.
“I care not! Your lives wouldn’t be spared by your audacity to trap a God!” It was a promise that our deaths wouldn’t be simple. I knew we were playing with fire by trapping her, but we needed it.
I was about to speak but Cadence beat me to it, “We are not going to live much longer to face your wrath because the world is about to end. Even though we don’t want to admit it, the Gods keep this world intact. And now that the gates of Olympus had closed, the humankind would cease to exist.”
“And I care because?” The frown on her face smoothed as her shoulders relaxed, crossing her arms on her chest.
I bit my lip, suppressing the urge to rip the smug look in her face. Cadence was a lot more patient as she continued her speech, “We need to know what happened to Olympus,”
The smug look in the goddess’ face grew and I inched closer, retracting the Athena’s dagger. “You can’t kill me,” Alectrona sneered.
Cadence placed a gentle hand to my arm and I stopped advancing, “We can’t kill you but that doesn’t mean you can’t die.”
Alectrona’s eyes riveted to Cadence, her eyes turning into slits of angry glare. “You know that the longer you stay here, your essence will fade. After your essence fade, your spirit will be dispersed in the wind. You will cease to exist. And you can fade while trapped in my garage, not seeing your beloved sunrise.”
It was my turn to grin, Cadence was pure genius. We totally got her. “You need us more than we need you, Alectrona. Even without your help, we can figure out a way to stop this apocalypse. We have lots of resources, but you don’t.” We don’t really have many resources like what Cadence said but I remembered what she said, 50% bluff and 50% strength.
“You will have to let me out,” she was still speaking very quietly.
“And have you after our asses? No thanks.” I scoffed but Alectrona didn’t even as much as look at me.
“Yes, I will kill you. I will tear you from limb to limb and I will make sure you are alive to feel the pain that I will inflict to you. After you die, I will take your soul and torture you for all eternity.” The goddess vowed looking up at me and pinning me with eyes burning with hatred.
I looked at her and said as quietly, “Your kind doesn’t deserve to be alive, Alectrona.”
She studied me for a moment before a smirk tugged her lips upward, “Poor boy, left alone by his mother. This is about that right, the hatred for Gods that I could sense from you? Your teenage angst.”
My nose flared just as I remembered the pouch in my pocket. Getting it, I threw the powder from inside the pouch in her and a shriek of pain boomed inside the garage. I returned the smirk, unperturbed that she could read me, “You think that will taunt me?”
“What was that?” Cadence asked, looking at the goddess worriedly.
“Powdered sunflower seeds, didn’t know it will actually work. I got the info from Wikipedia.” A wanton smile spreading in my lips before I returned my gaze back to the heaving goddess, her skin was red from the powder that hit her neck and face. It didn’t leave any permanent damage though, as much to my chagrin.
“I will kill you!” Alectrona shrieked.
“You think you can kill us? Look at you. Look at where you are. Think again.” I snapped, tired of this game.
Alectrona bit her trembling lips as her eyes shone from unshed tears. Her pride was too high to allow the tears to fall. “What can I get out of you?”
“Manpower,” Cadence supplied.
Alectrona scoffed, “A witch and a demigod?”
“You are not so great yourself; you are just a lesser God. Don’t act all high and mighty.” I gritted.
“You tell us what you know about Olympus and we will help you open the gates. That means you can’t kill us.” Cadence mandated.
Alectrona smirked, “And you think I will really follow that?”
“You will have to vow it to the River Styx,” That was a bloody brilliant idea. I fought the urge to clap my hands.
“No!” the goddess shrieked.
“Alectrona, it’s the only way.” Cadence sighed, “Vow and we will set you free.”
The goddess gave me a lingering look which I matched with my loathing stare.
“I vow to the River Styx not to kill you while I lend you my help in opening the gates of Olympus.” Alectrona said.
Thunders boomed outside the garage.
Read Project: Exodus by Marigold Uy!Check out more of my stories in Wattpad!
