The Goddessy: Hestia's Revenge

Chapter Fourteen

The dark and empty space filled Twilight's thoughts as her mental self floated in the void. She stretched out her fingers, trying to grasp onto any thread of light, but she kept finding dark shadows stretched throughout her brain. Everything was hidden beneath whatever she was under. She strained and tried to find anything to remember, but everything had been wiped away, and finding anything was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. She tried to find something, anything that would bring her mind back, but nothing she tried worked. She could see her own mental self starting to fade away, and she knew the time was coming soon.

That's when five coils of light reached out to her like fingers. She gripped onto one of them tightly as more of the light revealed itself, forming a hand. She was pulled away from the void as the light enveloped her, giving her a feeling of warmth and safety as she nestled into the soft flower petals. Above her, a large man with blinding white features was standing above her.

"Where am I?" Twilight breathed.

"I'm Cronus, and I was able to bring you out of your mind for a little while," the man said. "I don't think you're fully aware, but you're in grave danger."

"I figured that the moment this appeared," she gestured to the dried blood on her side, the gash still very prominent. Her fingers were laced with scratches, and there was a scrape on her forehead. She didn't know when most of her injuries appeared, since she had been unconscious for most of the attack. But the side gash was real, and had lived through the pain every time she had been pulled back to consciousness.

"Do you know what you're under?" Cronus asked.

Twilight could only shyly shake her head.

"Carnatium," Cronus said. "One of the strongest poisons concocted ever."

Hearing that definitely didn't help her anxiety level.

"How do you know that?" she asked, cocking her head.

Cronus took a deep breath.

"Because Zeus had made it and poisoned me," Cronus said. "I spent weeks convulsing in pain, falling unconscious and brought back to consciousness in a scattered pattern. Eventually, the carnatium grew too strong for my body to fight against it, and I died. But I was a god. You're just a mortal, so your ending is coming soon."

Twilight gulped.

"However, there is an antidote," Cronus said, opening a section in the fluff, revealing several familiar faces. "I can see they're trying to work on it."

Twilight peered and saw Athena and Artemis dropping a flaming feather into a crystal bowl, watching it disperse into what looked like lava, only more liquified.

"They're trying to help you," Cronus said. "And I remember Zeus trying to help me as I was dying. He would scour nearly every place he knew, trying to find a way to stop what was happening to me, and now you."

"But I don't understand," Twilight said. "Why me?"

"That's the question I've seen my granddaughter write so often," Cronus grinned. "But trust me when I say this: Hestia knows there's something in you, and she wants it desperately."

"What do you mean?" she bit her lip, worrying for the worst.

That's when a hole ripped in the bright light, opening into a void.

"Please don't let me in there again," Twilight fought against the pull dragging her into oblivion.

"I'm afraid you've been out of your mind for too long," Cronus said. "I'll try to bring you back, but try to remember that you're not alone in this fight."