DEMI-GOD: The Lost

Chapter 20

"You lied to me?" Flynn looks at old man Terrin with a slightly angry look in his eyes. The betrayal wasn't shocking. But the fact that he would forsake all of his people just so he can destroy the Gods. The man shakes his head and reaches a hand out to Flynn.

"I didn't lie to you. I truly do want to save my people." Flynn backs up further.

"At the cost of mine." A stern line falls across Terrin's face. He quickly shakes his head as Flynn rushes off the platform towards the heroes.

"Flynn! We need you to open the gateway!" He shouts after him. The voice is pretty far so it's safe to assume he isn't chasing.

The moment Flynn is close enough, Hercules grabs his arm and pulls him in the opposite direction. "How did you guys get here?" Flynn asks while trying to keep up with the warriors.

"Persephone. She freaked out on Hades after she found out he condemned you here. We entered through the Damned." Flynn pauses and looks back at the platform. Four bridges and four entrances.

The Damned, the Lost, the Redeemed, and- Wait, what is the fourth location? There's only three in Asphodel. He looks at each pathway as if they'll magically tell him where they lead to.

Hold on, the even bigger concern should be where they're going now. The damned is patrolled by the Nightmares. "Wait! We can't go there! The Nightmares will take us!" Flynn attempts to dig his feet into the ground to stop them but the grip is so tight he just slides.

"Don't worry. The Nightmares were ordered to stand by. Hades can be very useful when his wife is angry." A large smile spreads across Flynn's face at the picture of Persephone yelling at Hades. They run for another few minutes in silence, a few more rocks crumbling from the bridge as they do.

"There!" Perseus shouts, the end of the bridge now in sight. It's a staircase leading straight up.

The group rushes into the staircase, Flynn pausing just before to look back at the bridge. They aren't chasing him. But why? He looks at the ground, a few rocks are shaking violently. No, not just the rocks, the entire ground is shaking.

Hercules grabs Flynns shoulder and tugs him into the staircase just moments before the bridge collapses and a large hand grabs the ground in front of the staircase. Flynn doesn't get the chance to see more, the stairs in front of him going up and up.

Halfway up and he trips, his cheek slamming against the sharp corner of the stairs. He doesn't get the chance to recover before he's hauled up to his feet again and practically carried up the rest of the way.

Blood trails down his cheek and onto his jaw. The corridor shakes behind him, the walls cracking and a few crumbling rocks falling. "Almost there!" Perseus shouts from the front. A loud bang echoing through the stairwell. The ground shakes so violently that the group all falls into the stairs again.

"What the h- was that?!" Flynn shouts, the end of the stairs finally coming into sight. The rumbling slowly stops and the rush to the top continues.

"Titans!" Achilles shouts without looking back. Flynn's jaw drops and his throat runs dry.

"But they're-" The frightened look in Hercules' eyes brings any sound to a halt. That one look says it all. The titans are trying to get free and if Hades isn't willing to cage them down there, it's only a matter of time before they break out by force.

"We have to get to Hades. We'll convince him to cage the titans." Flynn leans over and tries to process it all.

"Hades isn't going to cooperate with us." Achilles counters. Flynn looks around them, it's a clear lake all the way around a small island that they're standing on. The lake is almost sparkling.