The Daughter Of Night

Chapter Twenty-Eight - I Understand The Prophecy... Finally

Chapter Twenty-Eight - I Understand The Prophecy... Finally
Posted: Tuesday 28th May 2024

The next thing I could see was my mother's face. The cliff we had been on was gone and we were within the walls of the mansion of Nyx. This room was my mother's throne room, she lounged on a throne made of the darkness itself and stared at me.

I was in a cage, also made of darkness. Today, the room was nothing but a swirling void, but I had seen it take other forms before, some more horrifying that a person could imagine.

"That's better," Nyx smiled, "perhaps I should have done this with all of my children, cage them and release them when they can be useful."

I said nothing.

"Do you know?" She asked, "do you know why you are able to resist me? It should be impossible, but it's happening. Do you have any idea what you have created girl?"

"Created?" I said, "I've created nothing, I've done nothing. I want nothing apart from for you to leave me alone!"

Nyx laughed, "you don't know do you? You've not felt it's power?"

"What power? What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"Your child's power of course," Nyx said. When she saw my confused expression she laughed again, "you're pregnant girl. That is why you are able to resist me. You and that god have created something wholly new, a new type of being is forming within you. The one who could destroy even Zeus."

I had no words, I could hardly even digest what she had said. It wasn't possible, there was no way that I was pregnant...

Except there was.

It felt like a cruel joke, but deep down inside I knew that it was true.

"It's young yes," Nyx said, "it has hardly a fraction of the power that it will one day, but it is already able to overcome me. Just think what it will be capable of when it is born."

Nyx's plan became clear before my eyes. She wanted my child, she wanted to use them to kill Zeus, to plunge the world into darkness, for her children to have free reign over the earth. I wasn't sure if she knew this would happen, but even if she didn't know exactly how it would pan out, she had certainly played a long game. I wondered if the prophecy that foretold this was the only reason I was even born.

I glared at her.

"Let me out," I said, my voice was surprisingly even, as my head was reeling with the knowledge I had just gained.

"No," Nyx said smugly. The room grew cold as my eyes met hers.

"Let me out," I said again, louder this time, more forceful.

"No," Nyx replied, her voice was less certain and I realised that my hands were glowing hot, the darkness of the cage seemed to disappear around me and the bars themselves began to dissolve.

I watched in amazement and shock as the space around me filled with light and the mansion of Nyx dissolved around me until I was standing atop a hill overlooking the heart of Tartarus.

Whilst I was getting slightly sick of being pinged around from location to location by immortals as if I were a pinball, there was no time to allow myself to get too wrapped up in what I had discovered and what exactly had just happened as there seemed to be a battle raging below me.

It seemed that Percy and Annabeth had made it through the mansion of Nyx and were stood beside the doors of death which were no longer chained in conversation with a Titan, whilst a giant, Damasen, battled a horrifying figure whom I had never seen before.

With no time to lose, I legged it towards the doors. Percy and Annabeth were going inside and the doors began to slide shut. Somehow, I made it just in the nick of time, dodging monsters left and right and sliding through the doors just before they slid shut with a thunk.

Two swords were suddenly pointing at me and I wondered when Annabeth had gotten a sword which looked to be made out of bone.

"Hey guys," I said, "glad you're alive!"

"You seem to just be appearing everywhere," Annabeth said, she laughed with what I imagined was a combination of relief, adrenaline and exhaustion.

"I have that tendency yes," I laughed too.

Percy gave an exhausted grin, "What the hell happened back there-"

"The doors!" Annabeth yelled, the doors had begun to slide open, pouring in a noxious gas that smelt like ozone.

"Hold them!" I shouted, the three of us flung our body weights on the doors, pushing them back together. None of us spoke.

I closed my eyes tight as I pressed my body weight onto the door and took a deep breath, already the air was beginning to clear.

"Once we get up I have to go," I said.

"What?" Annabeth's teeth were gritted with the exertion it was taking to keep the doors shut. "Go where?"

"Delos," I said, I knew that the next thing I needed to do was see Apollo. He was the sun, the furthest thing from Nyx, if I was with him I would at least feel safe from her. Also, I had to tell him about the baby... our baby, I suppose.

"I have to go and check on Apollo, I'm worried," I said, it was only a small fib, I couldn't explain what was happening to me to Percy and Annabeth, they had enough to be worrying about, what with Gaia and the giants still being a threat, even if they weren't my biggest concern at the moment.

"Has something happened to the gods?" Percy asked.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling," I said. "If you stop by Delos on the way to Athens I'll see you there."

Just then the doors suddenly slid open and the three of us tumbled out. Annabeth and Percy hit the floor, out cold, but I spiralled into the shadows and spurred away from the House of Hades.