Eros

Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter 5

She looked at Athena, yet all she saw in her eyes was anger. She pulled her away.

"It's him, Aphrodite. Eros. And with a new name- 'Andrew'."

"I know!"

"Do you know what this means? He will die at Zeus' hand!"

"Zeus let him in which means he doesn't know who he really is! I knew the necklace was a good idea!"

"I only told you, all those years ago, to give him a weapon, a companion and to get him away from the mortals, I never told you to give him a necklace, or anything that can trace him back to you! That's exactly what I didn't want to happen!"

"You know how miserable I have been these past years, and there's only one thing that will make me happy, my only son!"

Athena sighed. She knew she couldn't get to her anymore. Mere seconds later, they heard a bang and looked to see Andrew locked in a big cage.

"What's happening?" the boy said, frightened. "Why am I in a cage?" Aphrodite tried to save him, but Athena pulled her back.

"Stay here." Aphrodite stayed but didn't want to. She only wanted to help him. Out of nowhere, Zeus suddenly appeared in his normal glowing white robes that covered his right shoulder and his lower body, holding a lightning bolt in his right hand. His stern look chilled all of the Olympians to the bone.

"Fellow Olympians!" he shouted. "This is a mortal, who had passed the waterfall and set foot on Mount Olympus. He will prove himself! He will fight with Cerberus- if he succeeds, he will be given the sacred food, ambrosia, which will make him immortal and I will give him a position as a god. If he fails, he will be eaten by Cerberus!" Aphrodite was shocked, and knew that his son finding her was too good to be true. He would surely die, for the guardian of the Underworld could not be beaten. Her tears fell onto the clouds below. "Let the contest begin!" Skiffin flew in front of the god but was immediately put in his own small cage so he could not help Andrew. He tweeted angrily to let him out, but the gods ignored him. Andrew was on his own.

Cerberus appeared out of nowhere. He was a black dog with three heads and a serpent for a tail. The dog was about seven feet high and panting for food. The snake hissed at Andrew angrily with a green diamond pattern covering its body.

Cerberus pounced at Andrew, but he was quick and moved out of the way. Every time he moved his staff, Cerberus moved with it but at the same time hated the staff. Andrew knew Cerberus was about to pounce at him again and this time, used his staff to jump over him- poking it in in the ground below him (which had turned to soil when he was caged before) and jumping forward. The dog only got angrier and, by the looks of it, hungrier. It came closer to Andrew and, without warning, using its nose, pushed Andrew's staff into the air in hopes of the weapon falling out of the cage. However, the quick-witted Andrew jumped onto Cerberus who was gazing at the staff as it flew through the sky and, as it came closer to the ground, caught it. Whispers and gasps were exchanged by the audience of the gods and Zeus hoped he would die. Cerberus was growling ever so loudly, not at him it seemed, but at the staff. He was uneasy about the staff and he suddenly knew that he didn't hate Andrew, but he hated the staff, for all animals loved Andrew, even if it was a dog that was ten feet high that had three heads. He threw the staff away, out of the cage. The gods gasped, for that was his only weapon and he threw it away. Cerberus was no longer growling, but just staring at him (as was the snake). He came closer to Cerberus, slowly and cautiously, and all the time the dog did not move a muscle, it just stared. Andrew stroked the dog softly and it enjoyed it. The boundaries crushed, as was Skiffin's cage. He had done it. He had passed the test.