Hey Guys!
Hope you enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters/settings/events apart from the ones I have invented. They belong to Rick.
-26-
Jack
Well that was an unexpected turn of events. We walked in silence, Celestia beside me and Kenzie out in front. It wasn't all that bad though. We were making good progress towards the center of town, and we had only run into a couple more sets of monsters. It was kinda scary. There seemed to be an endless stream of monsters, and only Celestia could identify some of them. To think that all of these monsters were ready to move at Chaos' whim, ready to march through cities, to camp…
Well, it didn't exactly make the walk a pleasant one.
"This is pretty much the center of town up ahead, over that hill."
Celestia's gaze was fixed on her compass, but she raised her head as she made that statement. Kenzie's stride didn't break. I exchanged glances with Celestia before we both jogged up so we were level with Kenzie.
"Kenz, we need to be a bit more cautious," Celestia started, placing a gentle hand on Kenzie's shoulder, "This is most likely where Chaos' heart is."
Kenzie seemed to deflate a little at Celestia's touch.
"I know," she told us softly, slowing her rapid pace, "I know, I'm sorry, I'm not mad at you two. Nisha and Zack just weren't taking this quest seriously enough. It's Chaos...they don't seem to get how freaking scary that is. He was the first deity, ever. He'll squish us like ants if we don't get to the heart in time."
She was right. We really needed to stop him. But something on Kenzie's face made me realise that maybe there was more to this for her.
"You've been having dreams, haven't you?"
Kenzie's shocked face answered my question. That explained so much. And, could be extremely helpful.
"Dreams?" Celestia asked, "No offense, but what's that got to do with anything?"
"Demigods dreams are sometimes prophetic," I explained, "Especially when related to a quest. Kenz...what have you been seeing?"
"Chaos," came her muted response, "Mayhem. He breaks free of his bonds, uses the heart, possesses a vessel, destroys everything. People, demigods, they all try to stop him. They don't even last a second. In less than a day, it's all gone. Everything." She paused, meeting both mine and Celestia's eyes with her determined gaze. "We are the only thing standing between him and the destruction of the world as we know it."
"We will," Celestia reassured her, "We just need to find the heart."
All moisture fled my mouth as we reached the crest of the hill. Kenzie's response was cut off as she noticed the same thing I did, eyes wide in fear and shock. Celestia gave a low whistle.
"Guess we found where the heart is."
...
It was a crumbing 7-Eleven service station, half submerged in what looked like an old sinkhole. Glass littered the bent bitumen around it and large, jagged cracks ran across the highway. The giant neon 7-Eleven sign that used to sit out the front had fallen backwards, caving in part of the roof.
But that's not what made us back-pedal and take cover in a nearby house. It was the legions of monsters standing careful guard outside. Rings and rings of monsters, too many to name, and some so old that even Celestia couldn't identify them. The patrols we saw before would hardly make a tenth of the army facing us. They stood eerily still, almost as if waiting for a command.
Which, I guess, they were.
There was a silence as we caught our breaths in an open garage of a peach house, trying to come to terms with what we had just seen.
"Crap," Celestia swore under her breath, "That's just amazing. Guess we shouldn't have expected it to be that easy. What we thinking? What's our plan?"
"There is no way in Hades we can fight that many," Kenzie said, "Distraction?"
"They're on guard duty, they won't just come check out anything. Plus, we would need something huge to make sure they all left," Celestia argued, "So, I think that's out. We couldn't sneak in, could we?"
"No," Kenzie agreed, "They'd smell us in an instant."
They kept listing ideas before shooting them down. I kept silent, thinking over my own plan. It was risky, and it sure as hell wasn't my favourite option, but it could just work.
"Hey!" I interrupted. They were talking in detail about a possible giant costume made out of the clothes in the house, which thankfully was not going to be our only option. "I know how to get in."
"How?" Celestia asked.
"Well, I can't really tell you," I started uneasily and Celestia's eyes instantly hardened.
"Jack Aragon Herondale if you are thinking of doing some kind of kamikaze mission I swear on the River Styx-"
"No, no, no. It's not that. And I regret telling you my middle name, just so you know. It's just…you remember what we talked about Celestia? The thing?"
Celestia shook her head before she realised what I was talking about.
"Oh."
Kenzie, who was looking sick of our overhead conversation, sighed impatiently.
"What are you guys talking about!?"
"Jack can shadow-travel," Celestia blurted out, rather bluntly, "He reckons he can get the three of us in that store."
Kenzie, for her part, took it fairly well.
"You can shadow-travel?"
"Yeah."
"Isn't that a Hades trait?"
"Yeah."
"Well, lucky us then. How would it work?"
And just like that, we had somewhat of a workable plan. Emphasis on the somewhat.
...
Celestia's hand was cold in mine as we faced the abandoned service station, figuring out where I was going to land us. It was dark now, giving me a lot more shadows to manipulate, and the advantage. I was going to aim for the back store room of the 7 Eleven, hoping that it was out of the sight of all the legions of monsters waiting just outside.
"Ready?" Kenzie asked, looking scared but determined to my right.
Celestia squeezed my hand, indicating she too was ready to go. Ok. Guess we were doing this then. I closed my eyes, landscape of shadows blossoming out in front of me. It had the same layout as the city center in front of us, but it wasn't the same in essence. Oily shadows curled around buildings and layered every possible surface in midnight. Knowing that we were now safely coiled in the shadow world, I stood, pulling Kenzie and Celestia up with me. I needed to be careful, more careful then when I pulled Celestia out of the police station. For one, both Celestia and Kenzie were conscious, so that was harder. And we were much further away from our destination.
Oh, and the monsters we had to weave between.
I pulled the girls gently forward by their hands, starting down the hill towards the front of the monster ranks. They stumbled, moving slow in their own motions, eyes half-lidded and sluggish. We reached the first monster, a towering giant with a club hanging casually from his hand. Now to test if my plan would work. You see, I wasn't necessarily sure that the monsters wouldn't smell us passing them. We were in the shadow world, but some of these monsters...well I just couldn't be sure.
Thankfully, we slipped past without incident, the giant's gaze fixed firmly ahead. With a sigh of relief, I began leading Celestia and Kenzie past the rest of the monsters, making sure they didn't bump into any. If we did, when we snapped back into the real world, the monsters might realise what had happened. And we did not want that. Halfway to the service station, a problem arose. There was no way we were getting through there without touching someone. The ranks were too closely packed together. I considered moving around the edges to try to find another way in, but I could feel myself growing weaker the longer we stayed like this. We needed to get in that service station A.S.A.P. I didn't want to think what would happen to Celestia and Kenzie if I passed out now.
That meant there was only one choice.
Swearing under my breath, I pulled Celestia and Kenzie through the ranks, moving through the monsters' bodies. As always, it left a frigid tingle running down my body and left me feeling considerably weaker. But we were through. One last jump through the window of the 7 Eleven, and we were inside. Making sure we were all crouching out of sight, I retracted the shadows, head spinning with the effort. Celestia and Kenzie both gasped, but quickly muffled it.
And we were in.
...
I had made a mistake. Maybe I should have tried to find another way around instead of moving through the monsters. Because they realised what had happened. And they were coming. Celestia and Kenzie practically had to drag me out of the view of the door as the monsters moved ever closer. My sight went fuzzy at the movement, which was probably not a good sign, all things considered. The monsters sniffed the air outside the service station, migrating to the window above us, where I had pulled us inside.
We were so screwed.
One began to growl, muzzle causing a small oval of mist on the window, others following its aggressive lead. Oh, crap. They looked like lycanthropes. My entire body stiffened. We needed to move. But where? The rest of the shop was in clear view of the rest of the monsters. I went to look to Celestia and Kenzie for suggestions, but they were gone. Panic started to set in, before a hand shot out and grabbed my ankle. It was Celestia, reaching out from under one of the packed shelves.
"Hurry up, we gotta move."
Confused, I moved over next to her, realising she was in a tunnel of some sort. Kenzie must already be down wherever the tunnel led.
"There's no ladder," Celestia explained, voice soft, "Just feel your way down. And pull something over the top so they can't see it."
With that, she ducked back down, leaving me very confused. But, trusting her more than I probably should, I started to climb down, back pressed uncomfortably against the rocky wall. Head nearly below the edge, I reached across and dragged a box of cans over the top, completely blocking any light.
After about twenty seconds of sharp rocks, nearly falling and scraped elbows, I reached the bottom of the tunnel. I turned to find Celestia had summoned a small flame in her hand and was extending the other to help me up. We could only stand to a half-crouch in the passage-way I found, rubbing my head. I was about to say something, but Kenzie slammed a hand over my mouth, silencing me and also making my teeth hurt. Then I noticed the scuffles above our head. The monsters were inside.
Thus started the most high-stakes silent argument I have ever had.
I wanted to stay put out of sight until the monsters left.
Celestia wanted to camp out at the bottom of the tunnel and surprise attack the monsters.
Kenzie wanted to get a head start on them and start down the passageway.
It was Kenzie who ended the argument, turning and setting off into the darkness. After a brief moment of surprise, Celestia and I followed.
...
I think the monsters broke into the tunnel about the same time that we realised the walls around us had changed. We had just exchanged glances, eyes on the now smoothed out rock, when a large crash had sounded, back near the start of the tunnel. The glances became fearful and we started to run as best as we could in the narrow and intrusive space. A howl and the clicking of nails on stone behind us meant that the monsters were in hot pursuit. Out of nowhere, I realised that I could see outlines and shapes around me. The tunnel was getting lighter. Were we close to the end? Where even was the end? Was it really a better alternative than the monsters behind us?
Did we really have a choice?
It was much lighter now, and I could make out Celestia's shirt in front of me and Kenzie moving in front of her. Suddenly, Kenzie gave a shout and disappeared from my view. Celestia swore and stumbled back into me.
"What happened?" I asked, increasingly aware of how close the monsters were getting.
"Big drop," She answered, moving forward again, "We need to get down there to Kenz."
With that, she slid forward, dropping over the lip feet-first, hair smacking me in the face as she fell. I heard a thump as she hit the bottom and I shuffled forward, peering down the extremely long fall.
Oh, she had not mentioned how high up it was.
Celestia was moving over to where Kenzie was leaning against a wall, giving me a thumbs up to come down. But, I couldn't. I was frozen on the spot, staring down at the huge drop that awaited me. If I had to guess, I would say it was about forty feet off the ground? Crap. My head disproportioned it, extending it to further, further, until I shook it violently, trying to clear it. It was too far. I would have to slide down the wall of the cavern below, but if I hit so much as one rock, I would be screwed. And there was not enough light in the cavern to cast a shadow, so that option was out too.
Crap.
Celestia had finished checking on Kenzie, who looked okay aside from a couple scrapes and bruises, and was now gesturing for me to hurry up. I shook my head feebly at her. I just couldn't. It was too high, I just...couldn't. Kenzie must have realised the issue because she said something softly into Celestia's ears, who rolled her eyes. She summoned a flame in her hand and glared at me.
What was she doing? Was I...was I supposed to be comforted by the glow of the fire? Wait a tick. Glow. Light. Shadow.
Feeling my head start to spin in protest, I re-entered the shadow world, moving quicker than I usually would to avoid the fall. Eyes crossed, I came back, Celestia standing right in front of me, eyes lit up with the flame and satisfaction.
"Let's go." She gestured to the archway that I hadn't noticed in my turmoil. It was a gilded, gold-inlaid marble, stretching about the height of the ledge we had just come down from. But that was about as much as I could see in the short time. As we passed underneath it, the howling in the tunnel grew closer, echoing around the empty cavern.
I just hoped the ledge served the monsters more of an issue than it did us.
...
"Slow down, Kenz. I can only go so fast."
Celestia cradled her little ball of fire, running ahead of me. Kenzie was easily ten yards in front. She was almost too eager to get to Chaos. We needed to stop, or slow down at least. Our hands and knees were scraped. There wasn't even a plan. So far it consisted of 'go in,' avoid Chaos,' 'get the heart.' That wasn't even a plan; it was an impossible hope. We were running straight toward a primordial, the first primordial. It was practically suicide.
But I could also see some logical reasoning behind Kenzie's hurried pace. The monsters were slowly but surely gaining ground on us. The growls and clacking of claws on stone grew increasingly louder as our pace began to slow. Well, my pace began to slow. I was pretty sure Celestia and Kenzie were secret marathon runners or something, because they seemed fine.
"Guys."
My head raised from where I was staring resolutely at the ground. Kenzie had come to a halt in front of what looked to be a cave opening. It was pitch-black and even Celestia's summoned flame barely made a dent in its reaching shadows. Celestia walked forward, sticking a hand in the darkness before I could stop her. Her arm up into her elbow disappeared and her eyes widened in shock as I pulled her back out.
"It's fine." She pushed me away, moving back to the cavern. "We can go in there. It's just really...really dark."
She seemed a little freaked out. Kenzie, however, didn't seem to notice, because she pushed Celestia towards the entrance.
"Come on fire-girl. Let's light this up and get out of here."
Determination chased away the hesitation on Celestia's face as she raised both hands, changing her stance to one more supported, like she was about to get hit by a huge weight.
"Alright. Here goes nothing."
Without warning, fire burst from her hands in two billowing plumes, flying into the cavern and pushing Celestia back, her feet making divots in the loose dirt of the floor. But the darkness hardly receded. She swore, lowering her hands.
"I think it's part of the cavern. Maybe some kind of test? Either way, my fire isn't making any difference. We'll...we'll just have to go in blind."
I didn't get a chance to ask if she was okay, because at that moment, a howl sounded close behind us, resonating off the cavern walls, followed closely by the scrabbling of claws. Claws that were way too close. We started taking cautious steps back, watching the passage behind us. That sounded almost like the monsters were-
"Move! We need to move!"
Crashing into the opposite wall, a mass of fur came skidding around the corner, claws raking the floor. As it raised its hungry eyes to mine, my legs turned to jelly. It drew its lips back in a fang-filled snarl, regaining its feet without breaking eye-contact. Kenzie and I turned at the same time, dashing into the darkened tunnel. I snatched Celestia's arm as I moved past, pulling her with me too. She followed, but stayed facing the monster, who was now beginning to stalk closer, letting my drag her backwards.
It became blindingly clear when we had entered the passageway. No pun intended.
I could still see kind of okay, probably something to do with being a descendant of Hades. Or maybe it was all the carrots I eat. But I heard Kenzie cry out in front of me and Celestia's arm stiffened under my grip. Around ten feet into the tunnel, Celestia shrugged off my hand, moving back towards the monster. I turned, able to see her hazy silhouette in the dark, arms raised to the roof of the tunnel. There was a softening of the darkness as she once again released her fire, blasting it full-force. Loud cracks reverberated through the air and the ground began to tremble underneath our feet. Large pieces of rock began to fall, dust billowing through the air. Celestia stumbled back a couple steps, close enough that I could grab her again and continue. Whatever her plan was, I hoped it would work. Anything to slow down the monsters behind us. There was only one now, but the others couldn't be far behind. We caught up with Kenzie, who was taking it a little slower now to avoid running into anything. I grabbed her as Celestia and I moved past, now leading the both of them and hoping that I knew where I was going.
...
It was impossible to tell how long we had been running for, but eventually the tunnel started to lighten again. We slowed to a stop, dropping each other's hands now that we could all see properly. Celestia looked exhausted. She was pale and let loose a couple rattling coughs as we came to a stop. Kenzie placed a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged her off, looking back in the direction we had just come.
"It's fine Kenz, I'll live. Do you think it worked? I can't hear anything behind us."
"What did you do?" Kenzie asked, "I couldn't see anything."
"She collapsed the tunnel. We'll have to find another way out when we're done."
Celestia turned a scalding gaze to me.
"Well sorry, Jack. I was trying to stop the monsters from killing us."
I raised my hands in surrender and her look faded. We were all stressed. Nearly dying would do that to you. We needed to make sure we didn't turn on each other because of it. We were supposed to be a team.
"So do we just keep going?" Kenzie questioned, gesturing ahead of us, "I mean, that's where we're headed, right?"
With two non-committal shrugs from Celestia and I, we started to walk down the pathway again, the soft light allowing us to avoid the walls. We rounded one more corner, and came to a stop in front of a elongated corridor, about two people wide, with lit torches lining the walls. At the end of it, I could see a large room, also lit with torches. It seemed to be where we were headed, so we continued, cautious of the fire looming close to our heads.
"Be careful," Celestia muttered as we reached the opening of the room, "We don't know what's in here."
Cautious words in mind, we stepped inside.
Nothing happened.
I was kind of expecting like, the torches to dramatically go out and something to block the door, or for the floor to drop out beneath us, but there was no reaction from the silent room. Dust spiralled in the air as we walked toward the four pathways on the opposite side of the room. The dark doorways reminded me eerily of open mouths, ready to eat us alive.
"Which one do we choose?" I gestured at the openings. "They all look the same."
"Well one's got to be the right one," Celestia said, moving forward to examine the doors, "I guess we just have to pick one."
"That would be the worst way to do it," came a voice behind us, "I would not recommend it."
As we all spun to confront the voice, weapons drawn, the torches went out with a whoosh of air, and the light from the tunnel was obscured as the door we came through was blocked by something I couldn't make out in the dark.
I bloody knew it.
...
"Which door leads us to the heart?"
"Now, that would be too simple wouldn't it?"
The torches relit themselves, revealing our man in front of us was dressed in full battle gear, xiphos extended by his side. He had an angular face with a nose that told me he was an experienced fighter. But there was something off about it that I couldn't place. It made me wary. Well, technically, I should be wary anyway considering the sword and the lights going out and stuff, but this really heightened the feeling. Kenzie and Celestia had their weapons at the ready on either side of me, so I deemed it safe enough to step forward and face the man.
"What do you want? What do we have to do to get to the heart?"
"For now, descendant of Hades and Apollo," the man answered, bleak eyes turned to mine, "Simply answer some questions."
"What kind of questions?" asked Celestia from behind me, "Like trivia style or Sphinx style?"
"Not quite, descendant of Athena and Hephaestus. Not quite."
"Really answered my question. Thanks."
"Let's just get this over with. What happens if we don't answer correctly?"
The man turned his gaze to Kenzie, tilting his head.
"It is not terms of 'correctly', per say, daughter of Aphrodite. More 'truthfully.'"
Celestia groaned next to me.
"Let me guess, one of those 'tell everyone your darkest secret or I kill you' things?"
The man smiled, which was somehow worse than his resting face. It was sinister and stretched above his cheeks like a poltergeist.
"Why indeed."
Oh fun. Really in the mood to tell everyone my secrets.
"Is it just, like, any truth?" I asked, "Or is there like guidelines or categories or-"
"-I will be asking the questions."
Great.
"And if we don't answer truthfully, you'll stab us with your little friend there?" Kenzie asked, gesturing at the xiphos.
The man nodded and the three of us exchanged glances. Kenzie stepped forward, rolling her eyes.
"Let's just get this over with. What's my question?"
"Kenzie Lovelace." The man pondered, stroking where I imagined a beard would be. "Have you told your friends about your little...gift...from Aphrodite?"
Kenzie's face instantly went hard and a silence filled the room.
"Kenz?" Celestia prompted after there was no response for a couple of seconds.
"That's the question?" Kenzie asked instead of answering, eyes narrowed at the man.
He nodded and Kenzie's face split into a smile.
"Then my answer is no. Who's next?"
"But...but you didn't answer the…" the man stuttered before Kenzie interrupted with a wave of her hand.
"Your question asked whether I had told them or not. And the answer is no." She met eyes with Celestia and I. "And, sorry, but I don't plan to."
That was fine by me. I didn't need to know everyone's secrets and stuff, because then I'd have to share some in return. One door behind the man disappeared, melding into the stone wall behind it. Speaking of sharing…
"Jack Herondale. Are you ready for your question?"
I shrugged. "Bring it on ghosty dude."
"Sprite. But alright, young Herondale. What is your biggest insecurity?"
Biggest insecurity? What was this guy playing at? How was I even supposed to answer that? I sighed. Trust me to get the deep philosophical question when Kenzie gets off with a yes or no one...
"Uh...I don't know...I guess my nose?"
Steel on steel as the sprite began to draw his sword. Would that even cut me? Actually, I didn't want to find out.
"Ok, ok, ok. Uh…"
The sprite narrowed his eyes and started to pull out the sword again, taking a step forward.
"Jesus! It's my brother, okay!"
He made a little continue motion and I sighed.
"I guess...that he's better than me? That he always will be? But, I don't really care, I'm used to-Jesus put the sword away! I'm talking, aren't I?"
Reluctantly, the sword went back into the scabbard, but the sprite's hand remained close by.
"Jack just get it all out." Kenzie said, her hand also hovering near her hilt. "The faster, the better."
Easy for her to say, her answer was literally 'no'. Apparently, I was supposed to be having a whole confessional here.
"I guess I feel insecure that I'm not as good as Zack? I don't know, that he's the better brother? I guess he's just...always been brighter than me, you know? Literally and figuratively."
The chuckle I let out sounded forced.
"After...after we stopped talking we got further and further apart...and I just kinda saw him get so popular. Everyone loved him. And I was just his awkward brother who didn't have any friends, who stuck in the shadows or in the library."
I took a shuddering breath, seriously surprised at the reaction I was having. I was over this. It was fine now.
"And…" the sprite prompted.
"And he's the reason dad died. I hate him for that. What the hell, that's the truth!"
"Is it?" the sword was now fully out of the scabbard. "You really believe that?"
"Y-Yes? Yeah, I do."
"Jack…" Celestia cautioned.
"Yeah. Zack's the reason dad died." I told the sprite with force. "I'll never forgive him for it."
With a nod, the sprite returned his sword, stepping back to the center of the room. He turned his gaze to Celestia as I stepped back so I was level with the group again. I pushed the memories the sprite's little question had reawakened right to the back of mind, knowing I had to focus. Another door disappeared, leaving us with two exits.
"Celestia Lightwood. Are you ready for your question?"
Hope you enjoyed! If you have any requests/recommendations/issues/general comments, don't be afraid to chuck them in a review, as long as they're constructive criticism and not flames. Next chapter will be posted in 6 days, and if you have any questions, feel free to PM me.
Peace out - excusemewhileiasdfghjkl