Chapter 26

The three demigods stared at the treeline, there was a strange breeze blowing picking up fallen leaves and flower petals, they swirled in front of them, filling the small clearing

"Leave" the wind hissed

Damien's eyes watched the swirling air, he was sure the voice was coming from that breeze, he cast a glance back to Reyna who was also watching the treeline, by the look on her face she was thinking the same as Damien. She looked up at Damien before her eyes flickered back to the leaves in the breeze, composing her features, becoming the Praetor once again.

"We have come from far to speak with you" Reyna said with the air of the leader that she was "Lord Hyacinth please"

The wind picked up swirling in a small tornado

"I said leave, I wish to be alone" the voice was more forceful now as the small hurricane in front of them took on more and more debris "Be gone from my exile"

Reyna stepped forward in front of Damien, his grip tightened on his sword

"I'm afraid we cannot leave until we have the answers that we seek" she said calmly "The world of mortals and gods alike depend on it" she put away her own weapon

There was a sudden gust which forced Reyna backwards, Damien stood strong against the wind, his arms catching Reyna who stumbled back

"LEAVE!" the disembodied voice yelled "GO NOW AND LEAVE ME"

Reyna took a deep breath a hand going to her head, she was still weak from her power being drained

"You would really condemn us all?" Damien steadied Reyna and took a few steps closer to the whirlwind, shielding his face from the debris "Hyacinth I know what it is like to have loved and lost"

The wind slowed slightly as though he was listening

"Like you my love was taken from me too soon" he continued "I know the feeling of your heart being ripped from your chest, the feeling that you would give anything just to hold them one more time, to remember the warmth of their skin"

Reyna looked away, she felt a tightening in her chest as Damien spoke of Elena with such heartache and longing

The breeze slowed even further

Damien placed a hand over his chest, trying to find common ground with the heartbroken voice before him,

"I can't even imagine what I would do if I got the opportunity to bring them back" he took another step forward, the flowers and leaves starting to come together making a humanoid shape

"He was my first true love" the voice whispered "He was different from Apollo, he was there he was a real man, a mortal, with a mortal heart that had room for one, and he chose me"

Damien now stood directly in front of the flower made man "And when you lose them it is like your whole world has been ripped away and you feel incomplete without them, cause how can you go on when they are not there by your side"

The smaller flowers now formed a face, petals forming features of a heartbroken man

"I just wanted him back, it was unfair when they took him from me" the fists clenched "It was unfair" a liquid with a green hue fell from his petal lids

Damien tilted his head, trying to cover the pain that threatened to crack his voice "It always is" he looked in to where he thought Hyacinth's eyes should be "You brought him back didn't you, so you could be together"

The flower man nodded slowly "I thought it would be as it was before, but…" his voice faded, becoming the gently breeze again

"But he wasn't the same was he?" Damien asked, his eyes full of compassion for the broken hearted being, Damien knew his pain well

Reyna watched with sorrow in her eyes as Damien spoke so passionately about his lost love Elena, it was clear to her that he still felt her presence in his soul every day, her heart sank a little, but she understood, she couldn't imagine losing someone you loved, she composed her face though she sensed Hazel's eyes upon her, the younger demigod coming to stand beside her

"He was so angry, hell bent on revenge against the Muses and my former lover Apollo" Hyacinth looked down ashamed "I tried to reason with him, convince him to stay here with me and we could be together but after all that time spent in the Underworld and after what they had done to him, to punish him"

"They took away his ability to create music" Damien said

Hyacinth shook his head "Not only that, they took away his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes that made many swoon, the eyes he used to see the beauty in the world, ripped them from his face" he wiped away some sap that had formed on his cheek "And now he is taking the beauty from this world so no one else can see it"

"Where is he now?" asked Damien kindly

Hyacinth hesitated

Damien took another step closer and stood before the floral being "You said yourself, he isn't the same man you fell in love with" he placed a gentle hand on the being's shoulder "I'm sorry Hyacinth but he is gone, the being you released is just filled with hatred now"

Hyacinth looked back up at the demigod and nodded slowly "He has gone to his ice palace where his name resonates throughout the caves, beyond even a titan's reach"

"What?" said Damien, utterly confused by the cryptic answer "What does that mean?"

There was a huge gust of wind and a crying wail and Hyacinth was gone, the trio shielded their eyes as all the debris blasted past them, when they looked around but there was no sign of where Hyacinth had gone

"Why is it that whenever you ask them something they never give you a straight answer?" Damien muttered turning back to the girls, his face dropping when Reyna wouldn't meet his gaze, his mind going back to what he had said to Hyacinth, at the time he had only said it to form a connection and get what they needed, but how must that have seemed to her? He wanted to say something but what could he say in this moment

"An ice palace where his name resonates" Hazel repeated, her mind too focused on the riddle than the awkward situation in front of her "Thamyris… ice palace… somewhere with ice caves"

The shorter demigod paced back and forth trying to think of any connection between the two, she ran her hands frustratedly through her wild curls, something was at the back of her mind something that she should know

Damien came to stand close besides Reyna, leaning close to her ear "Can I talk to you in private?" he whispered

Reyna kept her eyes on Hazel as she wracked her brains "There is nothing to talk about Damien, we have a quest to focus on"

Before he was able to reply she walked towards Hazel, leaving him standing there biting his tongue, feeling like hitting himself

"Thamyris… Thamyris" it was right on the tip of her tongue "Ice… berg… snow… glacier…" her mind snapped as it came flooding back to her

"Thamyris glacier!" she blurted out, her golden eyes flying open and finding the others "An ice palace in which his name resonates, it's the Thamyris Glacier, one of the islands off of Antarctica"

Reyna exhaled finally feeling like they were making progress "I may have to call in some reinforcements, though they are not going to be too happy with our destination"

Hazel looked down at Damien's attire, his tattered t-shirt and jeans from the fall "Might need some warmer clothes as well"

Reyna nodded "I need to get a signal" she pulled her phone from her pocket