First of all, thank you Tgm102. You're the only one so far. Nice. Anyway, thanks all who read. Please drop a review, I have no idea if I'm doing anything wrong. I'd like to at least improve my writing, if anything else. Alright, enjoy.
Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns all, he sees all. He owns this universe. Anyway, references are nice.
(Line Break)
Raise your hand if you like prophecies! Nobody? Yeah, what I expected. But the real question is whether they do good for stories. Oh, you're asking if the ones in real life are worth anything? Why? You're mortal, who cares? Though, I guess I should pay more attention to what mortals can and can't do after seeing some of my other friends in action.
There were penthouses on every complex, where the leading authority figure of the complex lives in. Cull lived in the Zeus Complex's penthouse. The penthouse in the Minor Complex was empty, not given to anyone. Selena said that there couldn't be an authority figure there since every kid has mostly different parents. They'd get angry.
I had seen Cull's penthouse, who was basically the leading authority figure of the city, the 'camp counsellor' if you will. I expected his penthouse to be the best, but it paled in comparison to Apollo Complex's.
The top floor of the penthouse wasn't entirely the penthouse. Instead, it was split to a waiting room and the actual penthouse. The waiting room was cool. It had chairs and tables, many places to play boardgames. I wanted to ask Selena to play a boardgame with me, maybe chess, but she didn't seem interested.
"Go. It's your prophecy." Selena told me. She sat down on a chair. She closed her eyes, I could tell that her mom was leaving. The god presence created by her mom slowly disappeared from the room. I waited until it fully disappeared before inviting her along.
"You don't want to come along?" Selena sighed and answered me.
"The Oracle wouldn't tell it to anyone but you. You are the subject of the prophecy, therefore you are the only one who will hear the prophecy. Even the Oracle wouldn't remember the prophecy despite being the one who says it."
I bit my lip in anticipation. I would be the only one to ever know the prophecy. That sort of responsibility shouldn't fall on my shoulders. I was that kid who just figured out where they fell in life. I barely won my first battle and horribly lost in my second. Was I really the person who could take that responsibility?
"So, I'm the only one who will ever know the prophecy in full. The rest of you will just have to take my word for it." Selena nodded, as usual. She had been doing it so often, I wondered whether I began to associate it with something.
"You and Apollo. And me, if you trust me." Selena gently smiled, as if telling me it was okay if I wanted to keep it a secret. That just made me feel guilty before going in.
The penthouse was amazing. I didn't expect there to be a jacuzzi, but there it was. I half-expected someone to be sitting there waiting for me to jump in. I could see a nice table, a kitchen and even a giant bed. It was perfect for someone to stay in all day. Then I realised that the Oracle does stay in all day. I had never seen them around the city before, even when eating dinner.
I walked to the giant bed. The giant bed had a small clump to the side, underneath the blanket. The small clump was shivering somewhat. I didn't want to wake the Oracle from their sleep, but it was a prophecy. I assumed prophecies were something worth waking up for.
I grabbed the edge of the blankets and pulled them out from the Oracle. The Oracle rolled out of the bed onto my feet. The Oracle wasn't waking up. I picked them up, they were rather small, and placed them back on the bed.
I looked at the Oracle. On the outside, she looked like a little girl. On the inside, I can't say because I wasn't Selena. There was one thing I could feel from her that Selena couldn't however. The presence of a god. The little girl was definitely the Oracle, she held the presence of Apollo within her.
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked. The Oracle didn't answer. I sincerely hoped I didn't kill the Oracle. Luckily for me, I didn't.
"No, I need my beauty sleep
Punishment you shall now reap."
The Oracle suddenly woke up and began speaking in rhyme. I jumped back a little in surprise. Her eyes were scary. They were coloured like the sun, just like Apollo, but exuded a presence that seemed to scream that I shouldn't be here.
"I just came for the prophecy. I'm Flak Tartrum, Apollo might have mentioned me?"
The Oracle closed her eyes in thought. She didn't open them again. The presence that emanated from her eyes disappeared.
"Ah, the cheating hero
He called you one with worth of zero."
The Oracle turned to look at me despite not being able to see. Maybe she prophesied my position? Regardless, she looked angry.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you, Oracle." The Oracle smiled. She smiled like a little child who had just gotten cookies from their mom. She reminded me of me when I was little. Though she had a little bit of Selena, also easy to read. And mean.
"You recognise me, a welcome feeling
But are you prepared for fate unappealing?"
I knew my answer. I thought I was prepared once I came in here. I woke the Oracle up, I explained why I came. Yet, I knew, I wasn't ready.
"No." The Oracle stood on her bed and patted my head. She probably thought I was akin to a child. Coming into their parent's room, asking for a pet, then realising they weren't prepared for the pet. The responsibility of taking care of another living being was a heavy burden to bear.
"I agree, you are not.
But regardless, this is your big shot."
I sat next to the Oracle on her bed. She sat down, ready to say the prophecy at anytime. I wasn't ready to hear it. I thought I was over everything that happened today. To any normal mortal, they'd think all of this was insane, not real. I guess that's what makes them susceptible to sleights.
I was normal until today, then Selena happened on my existence. In a way, it was her fault. I didn't believe it though, this was how it was always going to be. Seeing the Oracle at my side made me realise I knew something about fate too. Maybe it was from my godly parent. I knew mom was never a demigod, she was as normal a mortal can be.
Fate would have me realise that everything was destined. Every single moment I would spend with the people I interacted was fated. But I knew that wasn't it. Only major events were destined. I would end up in front of an Oracle, sooner or later. Whether it be with the Romans or the Greeks. I could delay hearing the prophecy, but I could never escape from it. So, why not listen to it now right?
"Tell me." The Oracle jumped off the bed.
She finally opened her eyes again, which were not blazing like the sun. But instead flowing with green mist like a fog. Wisps of green mist began flowing from all over her body. Whenever she began to speak, green mist flowed out from her mouth. Finally, after several moments of waiting, the Oracle spoke my prophecy.
You shall defeat the lightning curse
With this good quest, all become worse
Lost in flames
The dame's shame
Into the quest, rising thunder
The meeting point cast asunder
The butterfly released
Heralding deathless beast
With destruction of the prison
Witness the death of the treasured son
I sort of fell into a trance when I heard the prophecy. I could feel all the fatigue I built up in the day wracking my body. Only then did I realise how tired I was. I remember that I walked back to my room and Selena tried to talk to me, but not much else. I only regained my thoughts after taking a short nap.
It was hard not thinking about it. I wanted to sleep it off, but I couldn't. What did Selena say to me before I headed back to my room? I didn't remember. Maybe she could tell it to me right now via a soul message? Selena this is a message, please respond.
Selena did not respond. I checked the clock on my bedside table. It was 11 pm, maybe later. I couldn't tell, the clock's minute hands were very small. I brought the clock closer to my face, in an effort to check the time. The minute hand seemed to be shining somehow? I rubbed my eyes to see the clock. Somehow it had become 11:45. I looked to where the minute hand was pointing, it was pointing to my balcony.
I heard knocking on the balcony door. I couldn't see the knocker as I had closed my curtains. I looked back to my clock. The minute hand was still at 45. I smiled wryly, another form of trickery? Maybe it was my dad, or maybe it was a random god, I don't know. Being up this late made me think weird things. Regardless, I had to answer the door. I opened my curtains to find a man on my balcony.
"Delivery service," The man waiting for me cheerfully said. He was holding a package for me. I rubbed my eyes again. His blondish-green hair reminded me of someone. I opened the balcony door and walked onto my balcony.
"Are you a god?" I dumbly asked. I thought I felt something, but the presence was so faint, I could barely sense anything. The presence emanating from the man was even smaller than Psyche's. So far, the presence ratings from smallest to biggest were: This man, Psyche, Oracle, Arty, Apollo.
"Well, I'd have to be to be delivering this package. Sign your name here." I looked at the paper and pen the god handed to me. The paper had a brand that said Hermes Delivery Service. The pen had two snakes wrapped around it. The snakes seemed like they wanted to jump off the pen and go eat some rats.
"Hermes? The god of thieves? You're Hermes?" I was slightly shocked. Well, not slightly. "I could barely feel your presence."
"You're pretty good at sensing gods then." Hermes cheerfully complimented me. "Sign it."
"Oh, right." I signed the paper with the pen. The pen's snakes seemed to move slightly as I wrote on the paper. I filled in all five stars and quickly gave both back to him. Hermes put his pen behind his ear. The twin snakes trembled.
"Here's your package. I'll just open it for you." Hermes opened the package and grabbed whatever was inside it.
"A scroll?" Hermes opened it up. He read the contents first and nodded.
"Here's your quest scroll. On it are a list of tasks you have to do." I received the scroll closed. I tried to open it but found that I couldn't. I kept trying as we kept talking.
"Why?"
Hermes cheerfully answered me, "To get rid of your lightning curse of course! Don't you want it gone?"
I scratched my head. Well, to get an offer out of the blue like this was weird. I think I was right being suspicious, even if the offer is from Hermes. "Well, yeah. But, is it that easy to remove?"
"Of course it is! Lightning is Zeus' domain!" Hermes cheerfully reaffirmed. His presence began to waver. I could tell he wanted me to hurry up. It felt like he was rushing to have this done, like he was running away from something, but I had questions and I couldn't afford to let them go answered, so I made do by speaking fast.
"So, Zeus is offering to remove my curse if I complete these tasks for him?" Hermes' presence began slowly diminishing. He smiled.
Hermes talked fast, like really fast. I could barely understand him. "Actually, there's one task for each major god. The Olympians minus Lord Zeus and Poseidon, but plus Hestia and Lord Hades. Poseidon has his favourite son helping him out, so he refused to give a task. Once you complete all of them, we'll ask Zeus to remove the curse."
"Oh, thanks, I guess." I talked just as fast back. He clearly understood my intentions and began talking even faster.
"Almost forgot. Here's the letter for my task." He handed me the letter and I took it, no questions asked.
"Can I open the letter?" Hermes almost took the letter back.
"No." I nodded understandingly. Hermes waved bye and took off. I wondered what he was hurrying up for.
His presence quickly disappeared from my senses. I looked up at the sky, from my balcony. I couldn't look straight up from my balcony, as other balconies covered my head. I had to lean forward to look at the night sky. I noticed something that I could tell was unsettling.
Clouds again. It was the same sign of the lightning curse. However, this time, the clouds weren't dark, they were bronze. They clearly weren't natural. I could sense that the lightning within wouldn't empower me. They weren't natural, they were weapons. As such, the 'lightning' doesn't count as lightning. Was that the new form of the lightning curse? I really didn't expect it to be this nasty.
The lightning strike would be powerful. More powerful beyond anything I've experienced. I raced back into my room and hurriedly grabbed my stuff. I shoved them into my bag. I decided to steal the clock, to help me tell the time. I didn't have a watch so I made do. I looked at the clock, it was midnight. The lightning count would have already reset.
While hurriedly packing my things, I named the curse cloud. I decided on Woody, main character of Toy Story. It's brown like his boot and I think it really fits. Don't blame me, I needed something to keep my mood up.
I ran out of the Zeus Complex, just hoping to get away from Woody. I ran towards the Great Hearth. The Great Hearth looked much more beautiful at night, but I couldn't ponder on that. I had to lead Woody away. I knew I couldn't get out of the city, so my hope was to get to an empty lot or something.
There were some people along the edges of the Great Hearth. It was very relaxing to be around it, though some people were there for extra dinner. I don't blame them. I asked around for an empty lot, saying it was for some late-night practice. Some people told me of some that were far away from the town square. I knew I wouldn't be able to reach them, so I kept asking for closer ones. I wasn't scared for me, I was scared of dealing damage to the city.
"Flak?" I heard a friendly voice call out. I recognised that voice.
"Dahlia, please tell me you have some secret hiding spot you use to practice your waterbending." Dahlia was eating, while playing around with her drink. She always drank water because she loved messing around with it. I told her it was because she was a born waterbender but she didn't believe me.
Dahlia had black hair, but dyed it blue. Her hair colour matched the colour of the ocean. Light blue on top and slowly darkening all the way to the bottom, the bottom being black. Dahlia's hair was cleanly flowing over her shoulders. She had brown skin that matched the colour of the burning logs in the hearth, though ever so slightly darker.
"It's not waterbending. What're you hiding from?" I smiled in an effort to keep calm. Woody was getting closer. I had to make some sort of excuse to convince Dahlia.
I made a dumb excuse. "Uh, Woody. He's a friend of mine. I accidentally broke his clock. I need a close hiding spot."
Dahlia shrugged. "Well, there's always Galin's."
"Galin has one? Where?"
"I'll lead you there. We'll be fast." Dahlia hurried off. I followed after her, naturally.
Dahlia led me to an alleyway somewhat behind Hephaestus Complex. She ran to the end of the alleyway and knocked on the ground. The ground lowered itself into a ramp. Dahlia and I walked down, taking careful steps so as to not slide down. It wasn't long before we reached Galin's hiding spot.
"Hey guys! Why're you here?" Galin wheeled up to us and asked. Dahlia shrugged and patted my back to make me answer.
"Do you have a testing area for your inventions and stuff?" Galin and Dahlia both looked at me weirdly. Then they looked at each other then back to me.
"Of course. Why? You wanna test out your maximum lightning power?" Well, that's an excuse I can use. I nodded quickly.
Galin wheeled off fast. Dahlia and I kept pace with him somehow. He was wizzing past some inventions and other things. He had an actual forge in his hiding spot too. Therefore, I could conclude that his 'hiding spot' is his workshop. We had to run for a few minutes.
"Experimentation Room. I'll go set up the lightning power measurer rod thing. I didn't name it yet."
"No!" I said a little too loud. "I just want to see how powerful I can make it."
"Alright then." Galin and Dahlia watched as I ran to the middle of the experimentation room, but not before I dropped off my bag outside of it.
The experimentation room was in the shape of a square. One side had glass, that was the entrance, the other sides had walls of concrete. The roof, well the ground above it was probably mostly dirt. The direct roof was also concrete, but the floor wasn't. The floor was celestial bronze. I gritted my teeth. I had a plan to avoid damage to myself.
I could sense Woody's position. Woody was right above me. It had been gathering lightning for as long as it could, and was now finally ready to release it. The lightning shot out from Woody, like a snake that lunged after coiling up. You could say it sprung out from a boot. The lightning struck the ground, but the ground didn't stop it. The lightning penetrated the ground, penetrated the concrete roof and hit me.
My first move was to immediately direct the lightning strike to the floor. Normally, the lightning would empower me, get me invigorated. Not this time. The lightning only wanted to hurt me. I had great lightning resistance though so it didn't hurt me much. However, I knew I wouldn't be able to contain all of it within my body.
The lightning went from my feet straight into the ground. The lightning seemed to raise havoc as it raged throughout the ground. I could tell the celestial bronze floor was breaking. The lightning seemed to be on an endless path of destruction, not stopping for a rest. I could tell it was growing weaker though. The lightning strike was slowly losing power as it dragged itself around the room. Eventually, it stopped.
"That's some firepower you got there." Galin whistled in awe. Dahlia looked shell-shocked. I was breathing heavily, having just barely avoided damage.
"Wasn't me," I said in between breaths. "Lightning curse. It's stronger now."
"How many strikes is it a day?" Dahlia worriedly asked me. I walked out of the experimental room.
"Usually 3. Today's different though. Maybe 4 or 5." I tried feeling it out. Ever since I'd become more acquainted with my powers, I could tell much more of these things. If it had to do with lightning, I think I could tell a lot about it. Though, even then, I wasn't sure.
Galin began saying his thoughts out loud. "That's really bad. The lightning strikes are going to continue increasing in power, which means eventually everything around you will be destroyed."
Dahlia didn't even give me time to think before asking me the hardest question in my life. "If you were to stay in Epineio, how long would it take for it to destroy most of it?"
I thought hard. I had to consider the power of the lightning and how it might increase. I also had to think of how much more the lightning would strike. Whether it would increase each day one by one or by increments. I had inside knowledge on lightning, I considered it inside knowledge, because I'm sure it's from my dad, but I couldn't be too sure. I'd know as the days go by, but we didn't have that time. So, I low-balled the time.
"I think, I think possibly, 10 days." To me, that was the worst possible situation and I could see the two being worried. It was possible it wasn't, but when it came to things like this, you couldn't be sure.
"So, we need to find a way to lift the lightning curse from Flak, and do it in about ten days, probably less." Galin grumbled.
"I already have a way to lift the curse." Galin raised an eyebrow while Dahlia seemed impressed.
"Wait, you do? How?" Galin asked. He leaned forward on his wheelchair as if he was hearing a grand secret.
I pulled the scroll out from my bag. "This is my quest scroll. The gods have given me a quest and in exchange for doing it, Zeus will lift the curse."
Galin nodded and prepared to wheel off. "We should set off immediately then. What's the quest?"
"We have 12 tasks." I tried to unfurl the scroll, it didn't work. After a while, I managed to unfurl it. I read out the first task. "Hermes' Task. Please give my letter to Haley Instil."
"Great. We're setting off on a quest right now. I'll get my stuff. Dahlia, can you get Flak a prophecy real quick?" Before she could say yes or even nod, Galin wheeled off to get his things. Dahlia turned to me and was about to ask me about the prophecy.
"I got it already." Dahlia ran off. I followed suit.
"We need one more person on this quest," Dahlia mentioned, as we ran past Galin. Galin was picking up various tools and shoving them into the compartments of his wheelchair.
"Why one more? Can't we have the whole city do it?" Dahlia almost turned back to sigh at me.
"Well then, it wouldn't be your quest would it?" Dahlia retorted. I nodded along. We were out of Galin's workshop now. Dahlia and I were running to the Great Hearth.
"Alright. 4 is our magic number." We reached the Grand Hearth. We stopped to think about who to ask.
"Galin and I are coming along for sure. I don't know who else to bring." Dahlia brought her hand to her chin to think.
"Cull?" I suggested. I felt he would be a good pick. As an adult, he would practically make the quest a field trip. I had problems taking down the Erykian Boar. Let's just say, Erik. I had trouble taking down Erik, but I felt Cull would be able to do it easily.
"No, he has to keep an eye on Epineio. Maybe Franz or Harry?" Dahlia shot down my hopes. I began to think too. Then, I thought, bear with me here, 'If only we could share our thoughts, maybe brainstorm together. Oh wait.'
"Selena. Selena's good, she can read souls and transmit messages without talking. She'd be good in stealthy situations." Dahlia didn't immediately shut it down.
"Well," Dahlia seemed reluctant to continue, "If she wants to. If she says no, then we should ask Harry. Go ask Selena, I need to grab my things."
We nodded together and ran off. She ran to Poseidon Complex and I was about to run to Minor Complex. It occurred to me that I didn't know Selena's room number. She was probably asleep too and would get grumpy if I woke her up, but I had no choice. I wanted her with us on this quest. Not just because of her abilities, but because I knew her. There was only 4 people I knew here: Cull, Dahlia, Galin and Selena. Guess who I trusted most? Yeah, it's Selena.
I had to ask some people from Minor Complex, who were still eating in the Great Hearth. I think some people were pretty much nocturnal at this point. Most of the people I talked to didn't trust me and didn't give me Selena's room. I had to talk to a sleeping guy called Slade. I was muttering, then Slade answered me. I thanked him and he just told me to remember him and his father, Morpheus. After that he began muttering about a guy named Jackson or something.
Selena's room was 572, don't ask me why I remember. I haven't been there a lot, but I remember. I knocked on her door and when she didn't answer, I knocked on it again. She didn't have a doorbell, so I had to rapidly knock. Were the locks electric? My lock wasn't, but Selena's could be. I rattled the lock a bit.
It was electric. After the nap I had, I could tell I could shoot lightning again. I can shoot lightning anytime I want, as long as I wasn't tired out. I could technically solve the energy problem. Anyway, I shot out a little bit of lightning and manipulated it to subtly unlock the door. I felt like a stalker, but I think Selena would be angry if I went on the quest without her. She looked pretty angry when she was stuck in the car, so I think I could assume the same.
"Selena! Wake up!" I shouted kind of loudly. Selena didn't even start to stir. I felt I was being creepy if I walked in her room unannounced, so I came up with an idea.
I fished my clock out of my bag. It had an alarm on it, and was set to 6 in the morning. I fiddled with it a bit and shot some lightning to power it up. It was connected to an outlet back then so it needed electricity to make an alarming noise. I set the alarm in front of Selena's room and closed my ears.
"Flak! What are you doing in my room!?" Selena didn't even turn to look at me. She must have assumed I jump-started her alarm clock.
"I came to ask if you wanted to go on a quest. Do you want to?" I waited for Selena's response. I had to wait for a while.
"Yes. Now, let me sleep." Selena turned to look at me and shooed me away.
"We're going now. If you want to come, you have to get ready now." I sort of smiled when I said that. Selena frowned.
"Is it just us? Because I am not going out with you in the middle of the night."
"Dahlia and Galin's coming along. They're getting prepared right now. How about we meet in the Great Hearth?" I suggested. Selena groaned and slowly got up. She was wearing white pyjamas with a floral pattern. I noticed the flowers on it were red roses without thorns on it. She can be oddly romantic at times. Also, the dark pink rose I gave her was placed into a vase on her table.
"That works. Close the door." I hurriedly closed the door, but I swore I could see Selena blushing out of the corner of my eye.
'Shut up.' Selena sent me a soul-message. I smiled, knowing that this was going to become commonplace during the next 10 days.
I was the first back in the Great Hearth. I took a detour to visit the training grounds and pick up a few things. Thermos of nectar, and some cubes of ambrosia in a tupperware. They weren't the godly version, but they had amazing healing properties. I also grabbed a bow and two quivers of arrows. Just in case. Since, Selena would take some time changing, I had time to eat. I decided to remember the taste of pizza and try some soda. Turns out, I did not like soda.
Galin was the second. His wheelchair looked even more compact and he also came to eat. We looked over the quest scroll together and outlined which tasks to go for first. Some of the tasks weren't filled in yet, so we didn't even know some of our tasks. For example, Hades hadn't given us a task yet. Maybe he was thinking it over. Deciding which order was easy, because as it turned out, the order we wanted to do the tasks in was the same as the order we were given it. Basically, Hermes was good at ordering the tasks.
Dahlia came next. She was wearing a pendant with the symbol of a trident on it. I assumed it would be for transforming into a trident she would use to fight. We talked over the task, and Dahlia agreed to it. She didn't eat, but she did start to fill her canteens with water. She had 3 canteens to fill. Maybe she gets thirsty often.
Selena finally came. She was wearing her signature stick earrings that transformed into maces. Her hair was neater than last time. We talked over the plans and everybody agreed to it. Selena had to activate the bow's transforming mechanism thing for me. The bow transformed into an earring I put on my ear. It think it was pretty fashionable. The quivers however, could not be transformed. Galin then disappeared, probably to grab his car.
"We're using Galin's car right?" I made sure to ask. I did not want to walk all the way across America. That would not be fun. You know, I didn't even know which state Epineio was in. Because I don't know anything about America.
"We have to. We can't make it to the hospital Haley Instil is in without losing too much time." Selena answered me. Wait, where did she get that from?
"How do you know where Haley Instil is?" I asked. Dahlia looked at me with confusion.
"You can't sense it? If Hermes wants us to find something, we'll find it." Dahlia said nonchalantly. Hermes is the god of travelling, so it made sense but I wasn't getting a certain feel for it.
"He's still confused and probably can't sense it right now." Selena answered Dahlia for me. She was the only one who knew that I wasn't greek, so I had to trust her to handle this one for me.
Selena grabbed onto my shoulder and began to transmit that feeling. I could feel my mind connecting to Selena's, or maybe it was our souls. Well, whatever it was, we were connected and I could read her thoughts and feel the Hermes blessing. It felt like a tug in a direction. If I focused on the tug, I could envision a hospital. In fact, I knew that hospital. It was one that I went to frequently as a child, since it was the closest one to home.
Selena nodded when I realised that and stopped grasping my shoulder. I could still feel the connection though, but it slowly began to wear off. I focused back on the sense, and began to see more of the hospital. It delved into the hospital and came upon a room. I didn't have time to look around the room though, I had to cut it off.
"You okay?" Dahlia noticed I was beginning to feel light-headed. I waved it off. Selena looked concerned as if the connection was what tired me out. It wasn't though.
Something was refusing to let me have that blessing. I could sense Hermes wanted to give me that blessing, but he couldn't. Something inside of me was preventing us from making contact and when Selena connected me to her, that something nearly lashed out at her. I managed to cut it off though, so Selena was fine. It had to be the lightning bolt inside of me. The mystery clouds that were created weren't from another god, it was from that same lightning bolt. Despite only being a lightning bolt, it could fight back against the gods. Though, I guess I didn't see it fight one head-on.
"Guys!" Galin was sitting in one of the shotgun seats and waved to us. The coffin car was back and in working condition. I evaluated the car, to make sure it wouldn't start spewing carbon monoxide. It was fixed.
Selena and Dahlia took the back seats while Galin and I rode shotgun. Galin configured with the controls. Apparently the screen was touchscreen. Galin opened the screen to some kind of maps app. He was thinking on where to send us to. I took over and entered 'Chrysanthemum General Hospital.'
"Chrysanthemum? Is that a flower?" Galin asked.
"Yeah. It stands for cheerfulness and rest." I answered. Galin gave me a quick thumbs-up. He pressed a few more buttons on the car and the car began moving. I was going to start sleeping, but Selena began talking.
"Flak, why don't you tell us the prophecy?" Dahlia and Galin turned to look at me. Selena waited in anticipation. I gulped and prepared to say the prophecy.
"Should I tell you how I got it or?"
"Just tell us." Dahlia's words were pretty convincing.
"Alright. Not my fault if it sounds bad." I closed my eyes and thought back to the prophecy. It was ingrained in my mind, there was no way I'd forget it.
"You shall defeat the lightning curse
With this good quest, all become worse
Lost in flames
The dame's shame
Into the quest, rising thunder
The meeting point cast asunder"
I omitted the last part, though the rest of the prophecy was already enough to scare all of us. I felt guilty for not saying the full prophecy, but I felt I had worried them enough. They didn't need to worry about the butterfly and the beast. And they definitely didn't need to worry about the treasured son's death or the prison. I felt like the last parts were only for my ears, like how the quest was my quest, the last part of the prophecy was mine to hear. And no one else. Maybe.
"It's good I'm here," Dahlia muttered. She could control water so even if we did get 'lost in the flames' she could get us out. That was one thing we didn't have to worry about.
The worst part was definitely the first lines. We'd complete the tasks, but at the cost of 'all becoming worse.' That meant the quest had to come with a great cost. We were probably going to get 'lost in the flames' and Dahlia would be able to get us out. Though, I didn't know who the dame was and why she would be ashamed. Rising thunder probably stood for the lightning curse rising in power, but I didn't know what the palace hall was.
The butterfly was not something I knew about and I didn't expect anyone to. The beast must be the same beast Apollo was talking about, and apparently I wasn't supposed to let it out again. And not only that, we were going to watch a treasured son die. It was the last line of the poem and broke apart from the syllable count. Every two lines had the same syllable count except for the last line. It had one more syllable than the one before it, so it had to be important.
I half-wanted someone to share the knowledge with, the burden of knowing the prophecy and having to worry about it. I made the decision to keep it a secret so I couldn't tell it to anyone. I'd be betraying the others. Even then, I didn't want to keep it to myself. If only Selena would forcefully read my soul and have an epiphany. I knew she couldn't though, I regarded all thoughts about the prophecy as an absolute secret.
The car was moving pretty quick. Within seconds, we were out of Epineio and into its forest. None of us were talking anymore. We all began to rest our eyes in preparation of whatever came next. Whatever monster would attack us and whether we'd survive it. I looked back and saw Selena deep in thought. She was definitely thinking up battle plans and on what to do for our tasks. We'd have to hunt some monsters for our tasks and Selena seemed scared of Arty's task. I decided to push those thoughts aside and sleep, even if for a little bit. I could feel the lightning trembling in my veins, raging about. It was as if it too sensed the danger of my coming future.