The Trials of Apollo: The Dark Prophecy

Chapter Five

(A/N: I apologize that it took me forever to post this. Read the end of this chapter to find out why I was gone, and there's also probably many mistakes in this chapter, so point them out if there are!)

Ugh, smelly satyr
What is wrong with these monsters
Leo, where are you
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    The only thing that bothered me at first upon our entrance into the abandoned warehouse was the repulsive stench of sewage and other unknown filth that plagued the air. Of course this entire situation as a whole irritated me, but having to intake the pungent scent of foulness into my nostrils made things more intolerable.
    When Calypso and I first entered the warehouse, we carefully studied everything that appeared to be around us. Thankfully, there were no vicious Kobaloi in sight—yet—but that didn't necessarily set us at ease. There was a possible chance that these green trouble makers were not alone, and worst of all, we had yet to find a single trace of Leo. The positive side of my mind convinced me that Leo was still alive, but the negative side of me said otherwise. Regardless of my ambivalent thoughts, I prayed for the best and hoped that Tyche was carefully treating Leo's fate like she said she would do.
Looking around, I noticed that the conditions of the warehouse were quite awful and it was no wonder the place had been abandoned and left to rot. At first it seemed like a place that was trashed by my favorite bronze dragon, Festus, but then I recalled that he was waiting outside safely while Calypso and I approached danger. The cement floor had chips and cracks growing through it, and trash that mostly consisted of boxes was scattered amongst the floor. The walls were also deteriorating with bricks missing from the structure and graffiti covering a few of the walls. The windows on the sides of the walls were shattered and let in the cold breeze. At the far end of the vast room was a flight of  metal stairs that led up to the other floors above, more than likely in the same or worsen state. The stairs, though, did not seem safe at and even the rusty ladder back at the grocery store was safer than this.
"The Kobaloi couldn't have chosen a relaxing spa resort to take Leo to?"I whined as Calypso and I walked slowly around the large littered room."One day off, that's all I ask Zeus for!"
    "Just keep your eyes out for Leo."Calypso said as she rolled her eyes at my commentary that she considered to be 'nonsense', although I assured her it was not. Before I could continue complaining about my personal issues, Calypso stopped in her steps and held her left out to motion stop, while her right hand carried the plank of wood.
    "Do you hear that?"She said in a fearful voice as she looked at me, her nervousness immediately causing my pulse to increase due to my arising fear. I looked around to listen to whatever she had heard, but it was dead silent, I didn't hear anything.
    "N-no,"I stuttered out nervously, keeping my voice at a low volume."It's completely silent."
    "Let's keep it that way."Calypso grinned, following a burst of laughter due to my stupidity.
    I sighed and as the two of us continued to approach the flight of stairs, I looked at her in a mocking way."Ha-ha, very funny."
    It was not funny. Not sure if you could tell my sarcasm, but it was indeed the truth, she found the situation humorous, but I didn't.
    "Before you go on a full rant on how your life is so unfair and how you want to become a god again, I suppose I'm obligated to feel and say sorry."Calypso said as she finished her giggles, her serious face returning once again."I just want to find Leo and get out of here." 
    I have no idea how Calypso predicted my rant that was delayed due to her(or maybe I was beginning to complain too much to the point it was a predictable pattern...nah) but regardless, I felt like she might've been mocking in some way. I prepared to confront her and reassure her I was not exaggerating in any way when I ranted, but I was immediately cut off when she stopped me again by her hand.
    "Do you hear that?"She repeated once more as she stood still in her place, her previous facial expression returning to her face. This time, however, I did not fall for it.
    "Ha-ha, you're not going to trick me again."I exhaled loudly following my remark, feeling quite confident because I hadn't fallen for her tricks."I may be—"
    "Hush you idiot!"She whispered in a demeaning voice, immediately silencing me."I'm not joking, listen closely!"
    I sighed in annoyance and remained silent but there was no sound that came into my ears(like expected) and then I looked at Calypso, giving her a look of impatience.
    "I-I swear I heard—"Calypso stuttered out in confusion, not fully grasping the fact that there was no noise that she claimed to hear but I quickly cut her off.
    "Whatever, Calypso."I rolled my eyes, then took a few steps forward and pointed at the stairs."Shall we go discover what is upstairs? Ooh, maybe that's where the noise you heard is!"
"Shut up, I did hear something."She demanded as she blew a strand of hair out of her face, walking right pass me. As she reached the stairs, she observed them for brief seconds then looked back towards me."Are you coming?"
"I'm coming, I'm coming,"I sighed and began to make my way to her. When I caught up to her, I proceeded to walk up the stairs, but she quickly got my arm and stopped me.
"What is it now?"I asked in an annoyed tone, my patience growing weaker and weaker.
"Apollo,"Calypso said as she walked off of the first steps of the stairs backwards and walked underneath them, pointing at the brick wall."There's a door...blended in with the bricks."
My face tightened in confusion and I quickly jogged off of the stairs and walked underneath them, standing aside Calypso. At first, I saw nothing but a brick wall with deteriorated bricks, but as I squinted I realized she was right; there was a door that had purposely been put there to be hidden.
"Perhaps that is where we will be led to Leo."I stated as I studied the cleverly hidden door."Maybe—
Before I could continue my sentence, a loud snarl caught Calypso and I's attention, immediately causing us to turn back. We both walked out from underneath the stairs and gasped at what stood before our very eyes. Standing a few feet in front of a us was a teenage boy, but he wasn't what caused us to become fearful. Next to the boy was a monster that was so horrifying to look at that it gave me chills, something that had never happened to me. The monster that was on four legs had the body of a stag, a lion's neck, cloven hooves, and the most terrifying part, a wide mouth with a bony ridge in place of teeth. Attached to his rear was a long tail that wagged at a very fast pace like a dog that was too excited, but of course this thing was not a dog.
"I told you I heard something you idiot!"Calypso whispered to me as she held out her plank of wood in defense, although it seemed pointless to me because the monster could have easily shred us to pieces before we could do anything.
"Yes, maybe next time you'll listen to the girl."The teenage boy purred, patting the monster beside him like a pet.
    Looking at the horrendous monster, my memories that had gone into oblivion were beginning to resurface. This monster looked vaguely familiar to me but I still couldn't figure out where or when I had seen it in the past. I turned nervously to Calypso and arched an eyebrow but her eyes remained fixed on the monster, not moving once. The teenage boy laughed at me and then looked at Calypso.
"The girl knows who this is."He said mockingly as he faced the monster who seemed to only be harmful to Calypso and I, not him."Why don't you enlighten the idiot on who my friend here is and caution him that unless he wants to get his limbs torn off, to not pull anything stupid."
"That's a Cynolycus."Calypso stuttered out, the name then collecting all of my memories to remember everything. When I knew the monster's name, everything I knew about it resurfaced and I recalled that this was one deadly monster.
"W-what do you want? Who are you?"I asked, keeping my eye on the monster as it stared at me. I had no idea what it was thinking but by the looks of it, he might've been saying "Hey, look! A former god! Delicious, let me eat him!"
"My master has requested to see both of you. Those infernal Kobaloi brought him only a fire demigod!"The boy said in disgust, rolling his eyes as he continued to pat the side of the Cynolycus. He then turned his attention back to the two of us and grinned."But my master wants every demigod or human he can get his hands on as long as they have functioning limbs. And by the looks of it, you two are fine!"
    "We just want our friend back and don't want any trouble."I then warned the boy, hoping he would garner sympathy and let us go. Unfortunately, that is not what happened at all. The boy sighed and looked at me in sympathy for a moment which made me believe he was actually going to do it, but then he simply laughed and looked at me like I was an idiot.
    "You're kidding, right? And I want to grow rich without having to collect demigods but we don't always get what we want, do we?"The boy squinted at me in a cold manner, then laughing once more. He then turned to the monster and patted his snout."Cyno, knock these fools out so we they're not tempted to fight."
    Then that's when things got interesting, but not in a good way.
    As the Cynolycus pounced, his terrifying mouth with sharp teeth opened to snarl at us loudly, I snatched the wooden plank out of Calypso's hand and held it up for defense. At the moment, I felt very heroic but what would happen next would cause my confidence to deflate at an increasing rate.
    "Apollo, no!"Calypso shouted at me but it was too late because the Cynolycus ran at me with speed, his hooves stomping on the cement ground loudly. When he was right in front of me, I tried to hit him with the plank of wood but he simply turned around and knocked it out of my hand with his tail. I was then defenseless and I took a few steps back immediately but gasped when I saw Calypso running towards the monster.
While the teenage boy stood back and laughed at our defenselessness, I pleaded at Calypso to get out while she still could but the monster then stomped his hooves on the ground and turned around, slapping Calypso's body back with his tail. She then went flying back and hit the ground with a loud thud, no longer moving now.
"Calypso!"I yelled as I tried running towards her but was then stopped by the Cynolycus. His tail wagged with excitement and I had no idea what I was going to do because I had no weapons and this monster was twice as strong as me. As it began to come to me, ready to strike me down, I picked up a large rock that was lying next to me and got ready to throw it at the monster. The rock was heavy and it took me a few seconds to pull it up to my chest, but when I did, I planned on tossing it with both hands to the Cynolycus who would then get hit with it, but I was caught off guard in surprise.
The monster stopped in its steps and looked at me for a second, then opened his mouth to speak, something that I was not expecting.
"Apollo, please."It spoke in a familiar voice which immediately caused me to drop the rock and stare at the monster in disbelief. The voice it spoke in was someone that I had not heard from; Meg. Confused and scared at what was happening, the monster then returned to its previous state and ran towards me, sending me to fly back as it hit me with its tail.
When I flew back and landed on the ground, a collection of groans escaping me, I carefully looked back to see the monster but saw the teenage boy coming up to me.
"How did that monster do that?"I groaned as I tried to move away from the teenager but was unsuccessful."T-that voice, it's a friend of mine."
The boy then squatted down beside me and smiled at me, his face full of amusement. Only then was I able to get a good view of the boy. He had extremely messy orange hair with freckles dotted all over his face that was also covered in cuts and bad acne(which made my acne seem like nothing). Although his blue eyes might've been beautiful on someone else, they showed nothing but darkness and guilt, something that the boy was holding.
"A Cynolycus, like this one here, has the ability to imitate people's voices."The boy purred, his hand reaching for a knife that was in his pocket."I'm assuming the voice you heard was someone you cared for, otherwise he wouldn't have imitated their voice."
I tried to move again but was helpless because I was seriously injured, a result of being thrown a few feet back from a tail of a vicious monster. I wanted to say something and maybe attack the boy, but he struck his move first. He grabbed the knife from the blade, not the handle, and held it above my head.
"My master awaits."His final words echoed into my ears and then he hit the handle of the knife on my forehead and everything around me then turned black immediately.

When my eyes opened, I immediately gasped and got my unstable breaths under control. I looked down at my body and saw that I was sitting in a chair but was wrapped in heavy chains that prevented me from escaping. I then sighed and turned beside me in which I saw Calypso looking at me, who was also tied in chains.
"Finally you woke up."She murmured."We've been out for almost an hour."
   When she spoke, I looked around me and noticed we were in a large underground room with pipes hanging on the walls, the sound of leaky faucets being the only thing I could hear other than Calypso. Standing around us were several Kobaloi and the teenage boy who had hit me with his knife. I turned halfway behind me to see the Cynolycus standing on his four hooves in the back, ready to strike any of us down if we tried to escape.
    "Master, as promised, here are the others."The boy said as he then stood in front of us and bowed. In front of him was a throne that reached the top of ceiling, and sitting in it was his master, presumably. I was then expecting to be looking at a gigantic monster or fearsome god that had turned to the dark side, but what I saw was something I did not expect. When the boy moved out of the way and stood behind the chairs Calypso and I were in, I saw a bald satyr sitting in the throne.
   "I waited long enough, Perkins."The satyr said in an annoyed tone and then looked at Calypso and I, a grin growing on his face."Well hello there!"
   When he revealed himself, I grunted and stopped my nostrils from smelling anything because the satyr reeked of filth. Now I knew what the nasty smell was back at the warehouse, it had been this satyr. Besides that, I was also surprised and shocked to see that this satyr was their master. I was expecting to be facing a larger force, but instead it was just a satyr.
    "Where's Leo?"Calypso immediately spat out, obviously not being afraid of the satyr. The satyr then turned sharply at Calypso and studied her up and down.
    "Nice to meet you too! My name is Nelly Foos."He smiled as he continued to study Calypso, obviously not being impressed.
    "More like smelly shoes."I murmured out which drew his attention, anger spreading across his face.
    "And you are...?"The satyr asked in an unpleasant tone, his final word continued to roll until I answered the question.
    "Apollo, and it's not nice to meet you."I responded in an angered tone, hoping I intimidated him.
    "So it's true, Apollo really has been cast down from olympus to become a mortal!"Nelly said in extreme excitement, his hooves tapping on the bottom of his throne in a very fast pace."Now I can have a former god working for me!"
    "Where is Leo?"Calypso demanded once more before I was able to respond to Nelly.
    The satyr then turned to Calypso once more and grinned, following a cluster of laughter from him. He snapped and a door from behind us opened up, and rolling inside in a rolly chair was Leo, who was also tied in chains. Pushing him in the chair was a couple of Kobaloi who were stacked on each other's backs.
    "Leo!"Calypso said in a frantic tone as she looked behind her and then pleaded for her release."Please let us go! We mean no harm!"
    "So. . .You're the girl who defeated my Kobaloi army with a flick of your hand?"The satyr asked, his tone full of curiosity. He then sighed and rolled his eyes, following another comment."Those perky girls didn't tell me they had another witch!"
     Before Calypso could continue pleading for release, she stopped tugging at her chains and looked at Nelly in a confused face.
    "What do you mean...'another witch'?"Calypso asked in a low yet curious tone.
    "Ah, never mind that!"Nelly nodded while he readjusted himself in his throne.
   "Just let us go!"Leo shouted behind me, trying to escape from his chains."I already told you that we're not going to do anything for you!"
    The satyr then sighed and looked at the three of us, his thoughts stirring a consideration. While he thought, no one in the large room moved. The Kobaloi stood still and the boy who had been called "Perkins" by Nelly stood silently, even the Cynolycus did too. Nelly finally broke the silence and found a solution to all of this.
    "You're right. None of you will ever do anything for me, even if I force you."Nelly sighed as he then looked at all of his monster servants who looked eager to follow his command. Just as I thought he was going to release us, he smiled and waved his hand."Kill them."
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Cliff hanger? Nah, I'm bad at those. So this chapter was not like this at all when I first wrote it but the reason why it took me forever to write was because my mom took my phone right when I finished writing the original chapter, so then I had to rewrite it on my backup iPad! When I was in the process of finishing the chapter for the second time, my mom found out I was using the iPad and took it away from me! So for two weeks I was without any technology but on Friday I finally got my phone back but I was so mad because the chapter hadn't saved!!! Anyways, now this chapter is fine and I'll continue writing the book.

Sorry that it took forever, but that's the exact reason why I hate promising when I will update a book! I will now start my biology homework that I have avoided all day -.- Stay tuned for the next chapter!