Ares And Mia

Chapter 47

My name is Mia Williams. I am a human, with ties to Rhea, a Titan who existed long ago. A prophecy, brought forth by the Oracle, drew me into this world of gods and monsters. Of talking swords, of Underworlds, of lightning, borne from my own strength. I lost everything here. 

My family. Or whatever was remaining of it. Trevor and Charles only see me as... a stranger. My identity, what I knew to be true, everything--everything came under play. I was something human and something not. 

Ares's saving grace or his downfall.

A girl who was destined to bring doom. To unleash the Titans. To gain a god's favor.

I exhale a breath, tense with nerves. 

All of this happened because I happened to learn just how deep the silver ran in his eyes, how he turns the sword in his hands as he swings, how he signs his initial at the bottom of each page of his journal.

Gosh, I hope someone takes care of Oliver.

"There's no immediate 'starts' in these wars," Athena comes to my side, holding her shield—Oh. I look steely to the front, swallowing and knowing entirely what it was. The aegis. "On ancient battlefields like this... It's every bit unpredictable as the other side. When someone moves, it'll start. I'll let you know." I blink.

Everyone's moving.

"How does that even—"

"Mia!" Eros's yell makes me turn, not before Athena grabs my arm and hauls me across the clearing in a mind-scrambling speed. Lightning strikes. No, it doesn't just strike, it utterly destroys.

I could trace its crooked path down the searing rift it left in the air, the utter oxygen cut from the intense amount of firepower making me gasp heavy breaths. I can still see it on the back of my eyelids, count its tendrils of death, my heart kicking in my chest as my eyes drop down to the spot where I was standing. There was nothing there. A gaping hole left, at least 12 feet deep in comparison. That would've been me. Shouting pulled me back to reality. Not only carving a deep groove into the earth, it spread its fury through the cargo and tents. Catching onto everything, jumping like an eternal flame pressed to gasoline. 

Athena lets me go and everything explodes into chaos.

Footsteps all around, before blurs of movement sped past me. 'The cliff, little dreamer.' I know. I push myself to my feet, sand kicking up behind me as I ran. Explosions of power, sound waves of clashing weapons, shouts and roars and—

A clawed hand grips around my own, and I spin, drool flicking all over me as a fanged beast lunges for my throat. I plunge the EOD into its stomach, slicing cleanly at its hide. It howls, leaving my eardrum ringing as I shove myself away. A flush of anxious jitteriness fills me, breaths quickening. A scaled hand swipes before me and I plant my right foot into the ground, throwing my body back as the blade swept through the being in a splatter. I spin on my heel, ducking beneath spears and talons from above. The hair on my neck rises. 

"Human girl with electricity." A voice cuts through my focus as a punch sends me slamming into the dirt. I know that voice. She'd tried to kill me. Eris, the god of Discord. "How splen--" I don't let her finish speaking--why should I? She didn't when I crashed into her on my first day at Olympus. I feel the power burn through my hands as I erupted, a blast of pure white sweeping from my palm to her shoulder. 

I spit blood into the sand as she stumbled, pushing myself up to my feet. Anger through a single point in my temple, spreads through me. A god with nothing else to do but torture humans. Her left arm is limp, but she snarls as if gold wasn't cascading down her skin. Eagle-like eyes pinpoint on me--no, something behind me. I drop to a crouch, lightning traveling through the sand and latching onto the point of contact.