The Battle of Olympus | III

22. I Fight A Mountain

I've been flailing around with this book so hard that it's stopped being funny and became more sad. I don't like this one nearly as much as the other ones—the plot seems kinda all over the place, I've realized that there's a lot I want to change, and stuff like that.

It's also been like ten years since I last updated so here we go! This has been in my drive for a while so I actually had to re-read it, but since the next chapter hasn't been written yet, I don't know when it'll go up. Maybe in another ten years? Oops? Sorry.

:)

It took me a few moments to realize someone was calling my name.

It was difficult to hear anything over the ringing in my ears that faded out and in disorientingly. My vision was blurring and doubling too—I winced as something bright struck my eyes when I opened them, shutting them again rather quickly. My head felt like it was on fire, spinning, and splitting, all at the same time.

"Eden?" The voice was clearer now, tinged with relief. "Oh, thank god."

Wait. I knew that voice.

I forced my eyes open.

Athena's face swam into focus before me as I blinked repeatedly. "What happened?"

Her face was ashen as she helped me sit up. I pressed a hand to my head, the memories somewhat coming back to me, disoriented and vague as they were. Everything was blurred, though, after I had fixed the city.

"I thought you died," she said. "There was too much electricity—it was overloading—if it hadn't been for—" Her voice broke. "You were having seizures in your sleep."

Oh.

I suddenly felt light-headed again.

I had somehow forgotten I used to have epilepsy.

Well, it wasn't exactly epilepsy, but some variation of it—too much magic could lead to generating far too much electricity in my brain, leading to the seizures, and, of course, given how much I exerted my magical abilities back during my conquests, they hadn't exactly been infrequent. Still, I had learned how to control them well enough, often pushing it just below the line, except now, it seemed.

"I'm okay," I muttered. "How are you here? I thought you were—"

"You mean, how are you here?"

I blinked, just registering our surroundings. We weren't in Olympus, like I had expected—we were by a beautiful mountainside, untouched by civilization, flora and fauna allowed to grow unhindered.

"Hemera brought you here," she explained. "After you passed out. I think she didn't know what to do. She couldn't protect you while fighting her own battles."

Somehow, I had gotten to my feet. My head was still spinning, but it was clearing too.

"I have to go back," I said.

"No," Athena protested. "If that happens again—"

"I could die? I know that. But I need to get back." I couldn't explain why even if I wanted—all I knew was that there was something telling me that I needed to be there, that the final stand would be there, that everything would end one way or another there. "Send me back."

"I can't do that. You might die—"

I shut my eyes, forcing myself to concentrate. Sure, I might've been pushing it, doing magic so soon after my last seizure, but I needed to get back, and if Athena wasn't going to help, I didn't have a choice.

"Eden!" I heard her shout as I felt something drip down my cheeks.

My eyes flew open as the world seemed to warp around me again, my hands coming instinctively to my eyes. Blood. But I didn't have much time to worry about that now.