Legacies: The Champion of Olympus

20- The Mountain

"On a scale of one to ten how much were you hoping I was dead?" I asked Olivia as we rode the train the rest of the way to Denver.

"Ten, shut up." She said to me.

She was still embarrassed about last night. I could tell, and she knew I could. We were about half an hour out of Denver and those were the first words we had spoken to each other.

I looked out at the skyline where the mountains were finally coming into view. I shivered at the thought of what horrors lied at the top.

***
Wind ripped at our faces as we climbed the snowy peak.

"Are we close?" I heard Hope call from behind me.

"I certainly hope so." I said to her as we came to a small cave. "We'll set up camp here."

"How much farther do you think?" Landon asked as we gathered some firewood.

"Honestly, I don't know but I can feel the box. It's power is immense."

Together we set up a make shift camp, four bed rolls, and four logs for sitting on.

"Who has the lighter?" Olivia asked.

I looked between the three of them.

"I'm the only one here who doesn't involve fire so don't look at me." I looked at Landon. "Why doesn't Landon give it a shot, maybe discover some powers."

Landon raised an eyebrow. "I've known about my abilities for half a year you really think I haven't tried to use fire powers."

"Close your eyes." I demanded.

He obeyed reluctantly.

"Listen to my voice. Feel the warmth in your bones, feel the flames running through your blood, feel the heat that hides inside of you. Feel the flame that burns in your heart." I whispered to him from across the fire pit.

"I feel it." He said as he kept his eyes closed.

"Grip it. Its yours, it's apart of you. You are the fire. You are the Phoenix!" I yelled at him.

His eyes opened and they were completely glazed over in flames, his hands burst a bright orange as the fire threatened to lick at the wood.

Olivia, Hope, and I stumbled backwards out of range of the deadly flames.

"Holy crap." Landon said laughing as he quickly lit the fire and shook his hands out. He opened and closed his eyes a lot so the fire inside of them would die out. "How?"

"My father did the same thing to me when I was falling. I figured it may work on you." I said shrugging as we all sat down again.

We all talked and laughed around the fire as we told stories about our past and what things used to be like.

"Alright, I think we should get some rest." I said to them.

They all nodded. "Agreed."

I laid on my back next to Olivia and Landon, Hope laid on the other side of Landon.

I closed my eyes and I knew immediately I was going to have a restful sleep. There was just something about the place we were staying in.

***
"WAKE UP!" A voice suddenly rang out in my mind.

I exploded awake in the cave where I had fallen asleep. I hadn't realized Olivia was half on top of me as I caused her to roll over on to her other side.

I stood up and began to examine the cave.

I knew better to ignore voices in my head. It wanted me awake for a reason, and there were no monsters around so there was another reason.

The fire created a shadow that allowed me to see in the corner of the cave I had not seen early. There was drawing on the walls.

I quietly looked over the drawings and began to take mental notes of what it was.

The first image was that of a very large man, which what seemed like he was creating people.

The next showed a picture of the same man bringing fire to the people he had created.

The image was circled a few times before a plus was drawn between two very large men.

I immediately knew the first man as Prometheus, I could only assume the second man was his brother Epimetheus.

Epimetheus was holding a box out to a smaller girl who wore a smile on her face.

The picture changed again to the small girl, Pandora, who was curious and opened the box just a little bit.

I was able to recall the story, out came misery, out came death, and out came sadness. They all stung Pandora over and over until she closed the box shut.

There was something else, which was not mentioned in the myths. In the time Pandora was being attacked, other monsters crawled out of the box monsters of nightmares. Hydra, Chimera, Echidna, The Kraken, Typhoon, and so much more.

The picture changed to the Twelve Olympians residing on Mount Olympus as they battled these monsters in a devastating war eventually regaining the capture of these creatures.

I needed to get this box, we couldn't let those monsters get out again.

Then only one picture left.

An arrow, pointing at the cave wall to the right.

"Are you okay?" Olivia asked me suddenly over my shoulder.

"I found something, we're in the right place." I said pushing on a suspicious looking crack in the wall.

The cave wall slowly crumbled apart revealing an even deeper passage.

I looked at Olivia who looked back at Landon and Hope.

"I know what you're thinking." Olivia said meeting my eyes again. "And it's stupid."

"And what am I thinking?" I questioned as I dug into my backpack.

"You think you need to do this yourself. To prove yourself to the Gods."

I pulled out a small red cylinder. "Ahah I knew this would come in handy."

"Are you even listening to me?"

I nodded. "I'm doing it myself."

She grabbed my arm as I started forward. "I'm coming with you. We're in this together Achilles."

"Fine." I said as I struck the flare against the side of the rock as it hissed to life, casting a red glow over the the cave wall.

"Let's go get the box."