The Ancient Prophecy

46 : Wrong time - Phedora

Phedora could feel Athena approach her as she still kneeled in front of the goddess . She felt her heart beating out of her chest .
"You are the Chosen Demigod . And you also brought me back from the depths of Tartarus . I am in debt to you until we restore the peace again ." Athena said in a serious tone "Now stand up . All of you ."
Phedora stood up along with the other three demigods .
Athena turned her head to Thanatos "What happened around here after we lost the war ?"
"Nothing good besides the advance of technology . It is a great shame the Finders are the only people who get to use it ." Thanatos said .
"The..Finders ?" Athena frowned .
Phedora stepped foward "The Titans created a group made out of their offsprings , the demititans . They have the job to get every remaining trace of the gods and hide them in a vault they built deep within a maze-like prison . They hope everyone could forget about the gods' existence . But they haven't . At least while we are still here . We are the Resistence . We have a base full of the remaining demigods and any human who dared to disobey the Titans ."
Athena nodded "And where is this base of yours ?"

***

They passed through a forest . A forest the four demigods knew would lead at the back of the Resistence's base . It was a risk to walk around with two gods at their back .
As they walked , Phedora told Athena about all the other changes since the Titan War . The goddess was not pleased to hear about how the Titans destroyed Mt. Olympus from its foundations .
Phedora recognized that forest even after so much time in the Underworld . Even if the leaves started to fall on the ground and crunch under her feet every step she took . Just how much time has passed since I was gone ?
She knew the base was getting closer and closer . The girl had a weird feeling . As if something wrong will happen after she returns to the base . We anyways dissapeared for weeks by the looks of it so there is no way nobody observed that .
Phedora missed the smell of the nature . The grass , the trees . After all the time spend in that place with such unbreathable air it felt as if breathing was a priviledge .
The demigod also smelled something different in the air . Is this... smoke ?
"Am I the only who smells smoke around here ?" Phedora turned her head back to look at her friends .
They all stopped walking , along with the two gods .
"Now that you really say it...it kind of smells like smoke ." Sot spoke , sniffing the air .
"Do not say that the base is.." Charis said with panic .
"I think it is..." Petros said , his voice dying .
Then Phedora ran into the base's direction . The demigod felt panic rush through her . Please tell me it is not what I think it is ..

***

The smell of smoke became more intense as she ran closer and closer to the base .
As Phedora got out of the forest , she saw the smoke fly into the sky from above the base .
It is under attack ! , Phedora quickly ran closer to the base .
A hand grabbed her hard on the shoulder and pulled her back . Phedora frowned and turned her head .
"We have to go fight for the base !" Phedora almost yelled at Charis , who was the one who grabbed her shoulder .
"We can't fight , Phedora ! Sot can not even walk properly ! We just got out of the depths of Tartarus . I am sorry to tell you this but we have to stay still until the attack stops ." Charis let go of Phedora's shoulder . The girl was looking with concern at Phedora .
Then Petros approached the two girls , carrying Sot with him "I can still fight , if that makes a difference ." he looked at Charis "You can get Sot to the infirmary . It will be a shock for everyone there to see you two after all this time but tell them to request explanations later ." he turned his head then to Phedora "I will fight with you ."
"And I will also fight alongside you , Chosen Demigod ." said the voice of Athena behind them .
Phedora looked around for Thanatos . I suppose he is gone now .
"Alright , us three will go and fight then ." Phedora spoke .
Petros passed Sot to Charis and joined in with Phedora and the goddess .
"I never thought I will be tossed around like a puppet so much today ." Sot spoke with a smile as he and Charis walked away to the infirmary .
Phedora took out her daggers from her weapons' belt and speeded to the front of the base . She saw Petros running at her back , his sword in hand .

***

Phedora entered the battlefield , slashing at finders . This time they seemed to have brought fire along with them .
It was easy to distinguish the Resistence with their white masks and cloaks . Mine are back in my room .
Fortunately no one really seemed to realise Phedora and Petros were back , all being too bussy fighting . They got some funny looks from finders for not wearing masks though .
Phedora threw daggers , occasionally knocking out some finders to the ground .
Petros fought back-to-back with her , swinging with longsword with force .
I wonder where Athena had gone ... , Phedora wondered as she fought .
She kept running swiftly through the crowd and hitting enemies with the hilt of her daggers to make them lose balance . She would throw back from time to time some finders with wind currents .
Phedora stabbed a finder in the back with one of her daggers then wiped the bloody dagger on her shirt .
As she speeded again to attack , a hand grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back , making Phedora almost lose her balance .
She turned to see a familiar flock of black , slicked back hair .
"Phedora ?" Alkaios spoke with surprise . He said something else but Phedora could not hear it because of the fighting sounds around them .
The boy had dried blood over his clothes and armour . Phedora thought he looked a little bit more tired than the last time she saw him , his under-eye circles darker . Alkaios was looking directly at her with his black eyes , as if he wanted to make sure it was really her who stood in front of him . The grip on her arm was strong , as if he was scared if he ever let go , Phedora could disappear .
Phedora opened her mouth to say something to him but no words came out . What should be more acceptable to say after appearing in the middle of a battle from gods know where after dissapearing for weeks ?
Before she could decide , she saw a dark sillhouette appear behind Alkaios with a sword , getting ready to hit him . She recognized Petros in his dark clothes .
Phedora managed to get out of Alkaios' grip and speeded in front of him "Stop !" she yelled to Petros , the sound almost muted by the battle .
The son of Hecate stopped , looking at Phedora with confusion .
"What in Tartarus are you doin- !" Petros yelled back but he did not manage to end his sentence before the whole battlefield lit up from the above .
Fuck , not now Athena !
Then the goddess appeared in the middle of the battle , standing tall among everyone .
The battle suddenly stopped , everyone looking at the deity . Phedora heard some finders whisper ,"Impossible ."
"BEHOLD !" Athena's voice cut through the silence loudly "PHEDORA , THE CHOSEN DEMIGOD , IS HERE !"
NO !
"THE TITANS ARE GOING TO REGRET EVER BANISHING THE GODS TO TARTARUS !"
Fuck fuck fuck fuck..
After the goddess spoke , some of the finders yelled to retreat . Fortunately they did not know who Phedora was .
But Alkaios did not retreat with them . He remained frozen on the spot , looking at Phedora with his eyes wide "You... You were the Chosen Demigod all along ?" he surprisingly chuckled "I should have guessed a long time ago ..." then he ran away along with the other finders .
Phedora stood for a moment , looking at him as he ran . She frowned . This is not good at all ...