Chapter 7: Eye for an Eye

Aiden's P.O.V

We've explored the dungeon for a couple of minutes, of course whilst avoiding booby traps that are all over the place. But we finally arrived at a big, wide room. The room is dimly lit by lines of torches and is filled with owl-shaped pillars, and there's a big Athena Statue in the middle of the room (and again, I thought the Statue of Liberty supposed to symbolize Libertas). We looked around for a bit, until I noticed a figure wearing silver clothing tied to one of the pillars, I instantly recognize it as Lady Artemis. Me and Thalia rushed toward her.

As soon as we get to her, Thalia quickly removed the cloth that covered her mouth.

"Wh-What are you two doing here?!" asked Artemis, her body is pale and she seems to be lacking of energy.

"You know… saving you and stuff" I mean duh?

"There… there was a prophecy. But that doesn't matter, who did this to you milady?" Thalia said.

"Orion. You need to run, there's no way you two could defeat him…" said Artemis.

"I don't mean any disrespect, but you're a Goddess, how come you can't beat him?" I asked. Sure, Orion might be one of the best archers out there, but come on… No way he can beat the motherflippin Goddess of archery herself.

"His arrow… it's no ordinary arrow. As soon as the first one grazed me, I felt my power draining from me…" Artemis said.

"Aww… look at you three, all together ready to be killed" Suddenly a voice came from the top of the Athena statue. The owner of the voice is none other than Orion, alongside his army of men around him.

Thalia quickly drew her bow and shot an arrow at him. But I shit you not, he frickin' caught the arrow! I gotta admit that is impressive.

"Wow! That was easier than I expected…" Orion began to speak.

"Remember this?" He pulls out a silver arrow, this one looked a little old and worn out. "This is the one. Do you know how it felt? You know, just minding your own business, fighting a giant scorpion and shit to prove yourself to your loved one… then BAM! Got shot right in the head with this" He continued.

"Day after day I spent in the sky, I kept thinking, why would you do this to me? Until of course I came up with the conclusion: because that's just who you are, that's what you always do to men. Why would I even be so surprised!" he became angrier with every word he speaks.

"Orion, I told you I never meant to kill you… it was an accident!" Artemis said.

The mad titan laughed like a maniac.

"No! I have enough with the crap already! Aiden, it is such a shame… I wished you could see what I see… Today Arty, in the temple that symbolize the 'greatness of women', I'm going to kill you with the- ARRGGHHH!" His speech was cut off and turned into a scream of pain, a bronze arrow stuck in his right eye.

Well guys, that's the thing with baddies, they always talks a lot. And while he's too busy talking, I managed to land a clean shot at him.

"You do realize you talked too much, right?" I asked sarcastically, drawing another bow from my quiver.

"You see Orion… You are indeed a talented archer, one of the greatest. But the thing is, you are too arrogant" I said as I shot another arrow, hitting his belly. With him still in pain and in loss of half of his sight, he was unable to dodge that arrow.

His army began to shoot their arrows at us, but it became obvious that they are not trained archers, because I swear to god they shot like a Stormtroopers. Thalia wasted no time to shoot them one by one.

"You're too focused reaching the finish line that you forget to jump over the hurdles. No wonder, you're having a hard time fighting that Scorpion. I killed it with one shot by the way" I smirked.

"You….. SON OF A BITCH!" With rage, Orion released the string and the arrow fly toward me.

And at those 0.894 seconds, I felt like the world moves… very… slowly….

This guy, Orion, is a truly remarkable archer. Even in rage, pain, and handicapped sight, he still managed to make an accurate shot. I can see it, slowly coming at me, I can predict where it's going to land, I can easily dodge this.

But then it hit me, I just realized something. Lady Artemis, she's behind me, if I dodge, she'll be the one that gets hit… Maybe I can catch it? No, there's no way I can-

Too late, the silver metal pierced my skin and skull. The arrow struck me right in my left eye. The impact pushed me to fall to my back. Everything still going in slow motion. I could feel the pain is starting to come. Is this where death gets me? With the enemy in front of me? My head never hit the hard ground. Instead, I felt a hand stopping my fall. Slowly, everything turns red. And then, everything went black.

I woke up to a blinding light, as if the sun is in front of me.

"Am… am I in heaven?" I thought to myself.

"No! Well… in a manner of speaking, yes. But no! You're not dead" Came a voice of a man. He looks… well, bright. Literally, it's like the guy is emitting light from his body.

"Who are you? Where am I?" I asked.

"Ugh… why they all asking the same question? It's getting old!" He grumbled. "I guess an introduction is in order. My name is Apollo, the god of sun, prophecy, poetry, music, and all around awesomeness" He said. "And you are… in Olympus! I'm just trying to fix you up after that nasty battle of yours". Wow, for real? That's awesome…

"Oh yeah… I was on a quest and I got shot, right in the….." I touched my left eyes, but can only felt a leather patch covering it. That was also the moment it came to me; my field of vision has been decreased.

"Yeah… about that… Sorry, the arrow that struck you is somewhat… charmed or have some kind of rare poison on it because no matter how hard I try, I can't heal your eyes. And trust me, no one heals anything better than Me." said Apollo apologetically.

"Unless one pays, an eye for an eye."

Huh, the prophecy turned out to be more literal than I thought.

"If it makes you any better, this is also marked as the first time I'm unable to heal someone. And that's saying a lot for me!" Apollo said.

"No, no, it's not your fault. Thank you for healing me. So… are they all made it?" Of course I'm referring to Thalia and Artemis.

"Yeah, don't worry. Arty said that once you collapsed, a bunch of her hunters come and took care of the rest. Now I'm sure you got a lot of questions while you're here, but alas, I got another thing to do. You just wait here, someone is going to come and talk to you" He said as he walks toward the door to leave the room.

"Oh, and by the way, thank you. For saving my sister. You did the right thing" And with that he left me alone in the room.

Damn right I have a lot of questions. This is Olympus right? Where all the gods hang out, maybe they know who my parents are…

Suddenly, the door open, revealing a beautiful woman with a long black hair.

"Lady Artemis" I stood up from the bed.

She seems to be in a way better state than before. But I wonder why she's here… maybe just to show her gratitude?

"No, no, please, sit down. You've done a lot today" She said, and I proceed to sit on the bed.

She sat on a couch facing my direction and said "We have a lot to talk about, regarding your…. origin"

Oh. My. Gods.


And BOOM! I managed to finish this chapter in an hour (unlike the last chapter that took me 2 months). I know, I know, this one a bit shorter, (in fact, it's the shortest chapter right now) and crappier. But it doesn't take much time to write this god damn it!

Please leave a review about this chapter. Next chapter probably the last for this arc. But don't worry, the story is far from over.

Bye for now.