I spent more days with Cherry and her friends and had more nightmares. My days between contained reading, training and more reading those days always seemed to end with dreamless nights. The others with them included stories of old times, shopping and dancing but they always ended with nightmares.
They varied from the sky falling to the underworld being torn apart but when ever I was about to see why I woke. Athena’s words ran through my head, as if a song I could not forget, ‘Everything is fine, life is how it should be.’ As much as I believed those words I could not stop myself from doing my prebattle routine.
It was months before I convinced my self to stop; my routine became: go out with friends, come home read, go back out next day.
It was one day when I was out with Cherry, telling her another story, The Creation of man. “Prometheus and Epimetheus were spared imprisonment in Tartarus because they had not fought with their fellow Titans during the war with the Olympians. They were given the task of creating man. Prometheus shaped man out of mud, and Athena breathed life into his clay figure.
Prometheus had assigned Epimetheus the task of giving the creatures of the earth their various qualities, such as swiftness, cunning, strength, fur, wings. Unfortunately, by the time he got to man Epimetheus had given all the good qualities out and there were none left for man. So Prometheus decided to make man stand upright as the gods did and to give them fire.
Prometheus loved man more then the Olympians, who had banished most of his family to Tartarus. So when Zeus decreed that man must present a portion of each animal they scarified to the gods Prometheus decided to trick Zeus. He created two piles, one with the bones wrapped in juicy fat, the other with the good meat hidden in the hide. He then bade Zeus to pick. Zeus picked the bones. Since he had given his word Zeus had to accept that as his share for future sacrifices. In his anger over the trick he took fire away from man. However, Prometheus lit a torch from the sun and brought it back again to man. Zeus was enraged that man again had fire. He decided to inflict a terrible punishment on both man and Prometheus.”
Around this point I heard rustling from between the tress around us “To punish man, Zeus had Hephaestus create a mortal of stunning beauty. The gods gave the mortal many gifts of wealth. He then had Hermes give the mortal a deceptive heart and a lying tongue. This creation was Pandora, the first women. A final gift was a jar, which Pandora was forbidden to open. Thus, completed Zeus sent Pandora down to Epimetheus who was staying amongst the men. “ The rustling grew louder.
“Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to accept gifts from Zeus but Pandora's beauty was too great and he allowed her to stay. Eventually, Pandora's curiosity about the jar she was forbidden to open became too great. She opened the jar and out flew all manors of evils, sorrows, plagues, and misfortunes. However, the bottom of the jar held one good thing - hope.
Zeus was angry at Prometheus for three things: being tricked on sacrifices, stealing fire for man, and for refusing to tell Zeus which of Zeus's children would dethrone him. Zeus had his servants, Force and Violence, seize Prometheus, take him to the Caucasus Mountains, and chain him to a rock with unbreakable adamant chains. Here a giant eagle tearing at his liver tormented him day and night. Zeus gave Prometheus two ways out of this torment. He could tell Zeus who the mother of the child that would dethrone him was. Or meet two conditions: First that an immortal must volunteer to die for Prometheus. Second, that a mortal must kill the eagle and unchain him. Eventually, Chiron the Centaur agreed to die for him and Heracles killed the eagle and unbound him. “ By this point the trees around us visibly moved.
I sat and waited for a while before they burst into the clearing, The Hecatoncheires. They stood high and proud as is if awaiting orders and then I realised, they were. Some thing was wrong and they were running to help. Cherry on the other hand was extremely scared, she kept mumbling to herself “Its not real, its not real.” I stood tall, so that I could appear stronger, and spoke in what father classified my ‘war voice’ “Hecatoncheire, I am the daughter of war, I beset you return to my home and take the order of the sky.”
As they left I went to my friend, she was still shaking, and spoke in a way I hoped was soothing “Cherry, Cherry are you ok?” she only whispered one word, “Cherise.” Grace. “What?” she made a odd sound, an almost laugh, “Its my name. Perfect don’t you think I’m clumsy and my name means grace.” She was right; it was, unsuiting and perfect. “Axelia.” She was once again confused; I sometimes thought it was her natural state, “Huh?” “An odd name for an odd name.” After that she calmed quickly and almost seemed to forget what had happened.
Later, Cherise had left and I went to speak to the nymphs about the events that perspired earlier. Imagine my surprise when James stood before me.
“James, why are you here I wished to speak to, um, some friends.” She laughed, an oddly flowing sound, a different laugh than normal. “Worry not Ayx, daughter of war, I am not who you know. Though I am what you know. You learn as you walk-“ I cut her off “And I run as you fall against trees, Atermis spoke of you, Aretha.” The nymph glided to a tree stump, “Nice to know I am spoke of some one so highly. As are you, now you wished to speak?” her face was covered in boredom as she raised flowers from the ground with her fingertips. “The clues of old are the clues of now. My uncle, he spoke of a war, yet my aunt says all is fine then a Hecatoncheire today there is something here and I know of it. Though if what I think is so, than why do none speak of it?” Aretha studied me before answering, “You must think before you know, just as you must crawl before you walk, to know is to have power and to have power is danger.” With that she left is a gust of wind.
I was left contemplating my friend. Well that all depends on what you qualify as friends.
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