The Olympian Legend Series-Incarnaceous

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Oh...look there's Atlas!!

Shadow travelling didn't take us far. The distant sounds of the army still echoed in my ears.
"Holy Hermes! Where are we?" Fred exclaimed when we hit earth.
"Mount Oryths" Xanthus muttered softly and sure enough, the mountain lay in front of us, the one on which Kronos had built his entire palace.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of thudding footfalls and we turned our attention to Camp Jupiter that lay in the distance.
The cohorts stood in perfect arrangement, Reyna and Frank in the lead, and I saw someone raise a incandescent, glowing thing.
The Golden Eagle. The mark of power.
"Run! Run up the hill!" Xanthus roared and all of us stumbled upwards, Adam and Xanthus tripping over their togas, Fred and I bounding up ahead.
I slipped, I fell, I literally ripped myself to gazillion pieces.
That eagle was the symbol of their power, but other than that.......what could happen?
I was terribly, horribly, ridiculously wrong.

Suddenly, boom! The ground exploded on our right. We quickened our pace. Boom on the left! I barely just escaped that crater. Dirt and debris flew all around us, and we bounded forward stupidly. Beads of sweat trickled down my cheek as we scaled up the mountain.
Finally, the firing stopped. We stumbled to the top and I hit ground as soon as I knew that we were not being 'conveniently' destroyed.
Fred had a very deep cut on his shoulder, Xanthus had a huge wound on his wrist and Adam was thoroughly scythed with bruises.
I quickly helped Fred in cleaning his wound whilst Adam aided Xanthus and bandaged up his wrist, clearly out of breath.
Fred and I sat at the very edge of the mountain, his eyes fixated on the horizon as the stars came out and adorned the navy blue ceiling.
"You okay?" I asked.
His eyes turned to me and he did the most surprising thing ever. He slapped me right across the face!
"FRED, WHAT THE-" I bellowed, when suddenly, he tackled me to a bear hug. It was one of the warmest feelings I could ever have experienced.
He pulled apart and gave me a look, "You get stabbed by an Imperial Gold, you almost die, you just get to know that you are the daughter of Killer-nuts Kronos, and you're asking whether I AM OKAY??!!"
I grinned.
"Well, we only have each other, don't we, WheatFace?"
He pulled off his jerk smile and flailed his arms, ruffling his hair, "Yeah".
Suddenly, he winced and I rolled my eyes.
"Stop moving, you idiot! You're making it worse!" I yelled and gave him a friendly whack on his head, after I adjusted his arm once more.
"By the way, Liz, did you know you were an......"
"An Incarnation? Yes. Daughter of Kronos? Not so much."
"The augur said so, but how do you know it is true?"
I turned to look at Xanthus. His face was exactly as I had seen that of Isocrates. That handsome, pale face and those mesmerising eyes. No wonder my primordial equivalent had fallen for him. I turned back to Fred with a smile.
"I do. Because he's the son of Phoebe" and Fred's jaw dropped.
"And I was worrying about MY mom not talking to me!"
"Your mom not talking about what?" Adam called out and sat cross-legged with us, Xanthus-all cleaned and medicated, his wound looking much better as he sat down beside him.
"Look, we are near Atlas, we could just ask what happened to the apples. Remember what Chiron said..." I suggested.
"But will he answer correctly?" Adam asked and I shrugged my shoulders.
Suddenly, Fred broke out into a brilliant smile.
"Not if we give him something he can't refuse!!"
"And what's that?" Xanthus asked.
A mischievous smirk spread across his lips and I caught his eye. It was time to go sneaky...
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"Allen, you ready?" Adam asked and I nodded to myself.
"Go get him girl!" Fred encouraged and I walked forwards to the summit, the stupid, over-flowing dress, getting under my feet. My Athena-ness had helped me enough to create a dress so that I could look less like a middle-school jerk and more of a Cinderella.
Don't ask why her, I just don't get girls who talk to mice!

Finally, I reached the top, and sure enough , there stood the Titan Atlas, the blue and white, misty sky arched over his back. His face looked wrinkled and pale although his body defined him as a warrior. His eyes reflected pain, hatred and cruelty, and I prayed to the gods that our plan would work. Honestly, this guy was ancient.
"Hello, my dear Atlas" I hailed and he looked up from his deliriousness. I felt his eyes scan me and his jaw unhinged.
"Elizabeth, daughter of Kronos?"
I flashed him a huge smile, "Yes, of course"
"But I thought Zeus killed you"
"He did, but I came back, very much alive, and I must say, I am very unhappy, that I have to see you like this"
"That bastard! If only I could vaporise him from here"
"That's all you wanted to do? I was thinking of something like 'Giving-old-thunder-pants-the-sky-itself'"
Atlas smiled, which made him look much more younger and vicious, and his age lines disappeared.
"So what's the plan?"
"Tell me where the Apples of Hesperides are, Lord Atlas, we can then pass them down to one of Zeus's girlfriends, and when Hera finds out that her 'precious' apples have been stolen, ThunderPants will be helpless. We can then drive him here and then free you"

Atlas scrutinised me with his grey eyes. I couldn't blame him. Heck, the story sounded pretty lame to me too, but, instead, he smiled.

He nodded to himself, contemplating, then commented slyly, "And after I get free, you are going to marry me"
I froze even though I had been expecting that. Xanthus had told that my primitive equivalent was very famous, and Atlas himself used to tail behind her. I controlled my anger. We were doing this to get information on the Apples, not to pulverise some old Titan.
"Of course, my lord. Now tell me where they are, and I can get you out of here..."
"Honestly, I do not know. Prometheus just asked to control Ladon while he 'borrowed' it"
"Prometheus?"
A dozen questions zipped through my mind.
"Yes, him. I ordered Ladon to let his guard down but I don't know what happened after that. I guess he made it out, 'cause I didn't hear any ripping or screaming!!"
I winced.
"But you could talk to my daughters, they can tell you about where Prometheus went with the apples, being the Evening itself"
I nodded, "Of course, thank you Lord Atlas. Have faith, in a few days, the sky shall have its new holder" and I scampered down the hill to the boys, feeling non-plussed, but nevertheless, jubilant.
"Prometheus has taken the Apples. The Hesperides know where he went. We need to know as well"
"But what does Prometheus have need of the apples?" Adam asked.
I shrugged my shoulders, " I don't know. But the Hesperides do"

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We bounded down to the garden and I motioned the boys to stay hidden behind the jagged rocks.
Four girls were dancing around in a flowering garden, and a dragon lay coiled around the bark of a huge tree, it's branches bearing no fruit. The dragon's scales quivered as it breathed, its razor-sharp wings and barb-like talons threatening my confidence.
"Hey!" I called out to the girls and their heads turned, "Could you tell me where Prometheus went?"
The girls cooed, glancing at my Cinderella-attire, "Ooooh...Someone's in LOVE"

Oh yeah, the heck I am.

Instead, I batted my eyelashes and nodded slightly.
The girls giggled and whispered among themselves.
"He went east, my dear, like all love goes"
"I think he took the apples for you"
"Yeah, I think so too"
"Are you a mortal or Demi-god?"
I rasped under my breath.
"None. Cloud-nymph" I answered and they wolf-whistled. The dragon peeked his eye open, its eyes livid and menacing. Suddenly, it growled, sending shivers down my spine.
"Ladon! She is a guest! And the eating of a guest is not allowed!"

Wow. I was really regretting my life here.

"Here, honey, just take these, it a gift from us....."
"What?"
"Just take it!!"
I grasped the coins from one of the girls' hands. They were silver nuggets, with an Omega embossed upon them.

Suddenly, a deep, malicious growl shook the earth, and I was flung back to a wall of jutting rock. My eyes stung with pain, and I felt blood trickle down my temples.

"Liz!" I heard Fred yell as he strode forward, facing the beast. Ladon clawed at him with all his might, but before he could even scratch Fred, the misty figure of girl materialised in front of us, bow and arrow in hand. My vision blurred and everything went black.

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I was in a dark corridor. A weird-looking lady stood in front of me, her figure dissolving into the shadows. A searing pain rushed through my body as she spoke in a raspy voice.

It cannot be seen, it cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt,
Comes first, follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.

I heard the Fred's dismal yell echo through the passage. I saw myself draw out OptiMist into a sword, and the woman cackled, one hand on Fred's throat.

"Oh you wouldn't want that, hero. Give me the answer and I will spare him"

The dream dissolved and I clicked out my unconsciousness. I sensed Xanthus pulling me away from Ladon, but my unfocused eyes caught on to something else.
Above in the sky, a constellation shimmered brightly; the stars twinkled more brightly, they seemed to be in motion; and glowed in the same intensity as the wisp of the girl.
That girl being.......Zoe Nightshade.