The oil-lit lamp flickered as Athena tapped her boot with a blank rhythm. The plan was simple.
Or seemed simple.
What Ares had come up with made sense, bringing all the Nightmares to the center of the castle. Making Eudoria use her magic, should be enough to cause a tear. And if not, well, that was a theory in testing.
Ares sat in front of Athena, reading his old diaries.
“So you really read all of my entries?”
He asked, turning his book to the side as he read through them.
Athena nodded. “Well–most of them.”
He nodded, continuing to read. Until he stopped. He looked up, facing Athena.
“Do you remember Octavia?”
Athena froze, before laughing it off. “Of course I don’t–I wasn’t even conscious of my being when she-” Athena stopped, her eyes widening with fear at the thought of her poor sister's demise.
Ares stood up, patting Athena on the back. “Hey,” He started.
Athena looked up at him, tears crystallizing in her icicle eyes. “-You weren’t the only one who lost a sister that day,” He cracked out, his voice breaking.
Athena cried, grasping him in a tight hug in which he returned. After she pulled away, she looked up at him.
“Is mother really that evil?”
Ares looked down, that was a question he couldn’t answer. “Honestly?I don’t know. It could be a trick by Hubris, or if this really is an alternate world, maybe. Maybe it was real all along, and we had no idea. She was just masking it better.”
Athena dug her fingers into the sleeve of her dress, turning away. “I wouldn’t want to imagine that,” She muttered.
Ares nodded. “I wouldn’t want to either.”
He turned back to the desk, where the oil lamp flickered. He slouched on the table, before facing her. “Do you have any idea how much this will take for us to escape?Like, really. We’re gonna need to plan this so carefully, one wrong move and–”
“-And checkmate.” Athena finished. She inhaled sharply.
“Don’t take me for a fool Ares, in this universe I may only be a mere child. But in the real universe, I have been the ruler of a whole kingdom for over 11 years. I have faced death in the face so many times I have no fear. I have been brought back to life, from the depths of Hell. This, is nothing.” Athena hissed.
Ares raised his hands in defense. “Of course, terribly sorry.”
Athena’s eyes brightened. “Do you know where the weaponry is?”
Ares nodded, not looking up from the desk. “Yeah of course, why?”
Athena laughed. “How could we fight mother and the Nightmares without a little defense of our own?”
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The night air swiveled around like loose silk as they crept down the hallways. The weaponry was located on the sublevel floor, just for an extra precaution.
Ares had lent Athena a tunic. It was made of brown leather and had gold lacing. It was big on her, so it drooped over her eyes, she could still see though.
The faint sound of a guttural growl made her flinch. She peeked the corner, noticing a Nightmare dragging its knife-like claws over the carpets, casting a long teeeeaaarrrrrr across the cotton.
Ares brought out a sheet of thin paper, before pressing his thumb so tightly to it, the ink almost came out. A horned owl made of neon blue lining erupted from it, diving into the air and distracting the Nightmare down the hall.
Athena looked at him in awe. He could do magic?
Mother did mention that but she never knew it was true.
He grinned, before running to where the Nightmare stood. She followed him. She could see the staircase and metal doors leading to the weaponry, they just needed to get down there silently.
A pot plant rattled behind them. Claws dragging on the cotton.
Athena turned around, reaching for the glass shard. Ares snapped around, pages of spells in his pockets.
But she was relieved just to see Wren.
“Wren!”She whispered cheerfully.
She knelt down and let him curl upon her shoulders.
Ares carefully approached her and Wren.
“W-what is that?--I’m sorry, who is that?” He asked.
Athena smiled. “This is Wren,” She let him show off his claws and his horn formed on his head.
Ares petted his head gently. “He’s kind.”
The walk continued. Soon enough, a blue blur dove from the shadows, perching on Ares’s shoulder.
“I guess I should’ve introduced you to him,” He nodded to the owl as he walked on. Before stopping. “Oh!And that I can do magic, my mistake.”
After Ares introduced Athena to Solar, the owl, they had reached the doors. Ares stood forward, attempting to pry the latches open. But it didn’t budge.
“It needs a key, they wouldn’t just keep it unlocked.” Athena told him.
Ares nodded. “Oh yeah– right,” He looked around curiously. “So where is the key?”
Athena tapped her foot as she thought, before speaking. “I kept the key in my nightstand back at..home. So it might be in father or mothers..” Her voice trailed off.
After a long silence, Ares spoke. “So- any volunteers?”
Athena looked at him. “Seriously?Can’t you just cast a spell, teleport there, grab it, and unlock it?”
Ares crossed his arms. “It doesn’t work like that.”
Athena scoffed, heading back to where her parents' room was. “Fine. Me and Wren will go get it. You and Solar keep guard and make sure no Nightmares interfere. If you do know you can’t find one. You send Solar to come get Wren. And hopefully the damage you’ve done will be enough for Wren to finish it off. “ Athena called over her shoulder.
She kept her head on a swivel and her eyes and ears open to anything unusual. Wren had his ears sharp on her shoulders, his fur rose with anxiousness.
Her fingers brushed the sharp glass in her pocket, letting her fingertips trace the edges. She passed her room, knowing her parents room was just a bit further down the hallway.
As she almost had her hand on the knob, the lamp from the room lit up, and footsteps heading towards the door.
Athena stumbled back. Wren leapt off her shoulder, morphing into his other form where he was about the size of a lion. He grabbed the collar of her jacket with his maw and climbed up the walls, his claws sinking into the wall paper. He kept climbing until he was on the roof. They stood still upside down as they noticed her father glance out the room once, then twice, before heading back in.
Wren flipped from the roof, landing lightly on his paws. He dropped Athena, shrinking and sliding back up her shoulder. She patted him gently.
“I don’t give you enough credit buddy,”
After the lamp flickered off, she waited a few minutes, before grabbing the doorknob and entering their room. The window was open, the night wind howling into the room. She felt her hair flow up slightly as she walked over to her mother’s side of the bed. She quietly opened the first drawer, finding a book, and the key. Well, a chain of keys. She grabbed both and ran out the room
---------------------------------------------
She met Ares back at the weaponry door. A Nightmares dead body was in front of him. A firepoker in his hand and white flames consumed his other hand.
He was laughing maniacally, before it died down. He ran a hand through his hair, before facing Athena. His face was covered in the blood of the monster.
“Oh!Hey sis, got that key?” He held himself up with the firepoker, grinning innocently.
Athena cleared her throat. “Yeah,” She blinked at the body. “Oh, you had it under control?”
He wiped a lone blood droplet from his face. “Of course!”
She nodded, before unlocking the lock with the key.
They snuck in, shutting the door. As they searched through the blades,hammers, arrows, spears and more. A blade caught Athena’s eye.
It was a faint lavender, with a black hold. She held it up, twirling in her fingers. It wasn’t too heavy, or too light. It was perfect.
She also grabbed a dagger, just in case.
Ares was scanning the selection of blades. He noticed a double ended scythe, and tested it out. He pressed a piece of paper to it, channeling his white fire throughout. He twirled it in his hands, the fire following around the ends.
He walked over to Athena, handing her a paper too. She pressed it to her blade, shook it twice. Before twirling it again.
They were ready.
Athena headed back to her room. She let Ares keep the weapons in the attic, just in case.
Wren snuck under her bed, yawning as he fell asleep.
Athena sat in her bed, staring up at the ceiling.
She was finally going home.
No, they were finally going home.
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Athena was in the attic. Practicing her sword fighting skills.
She needed to learn how her body could handle her techniques and moves.
9:37 pm.
They had decided at midnight they would strike. The thought their mother would really have been cruel all along, was crushing Athena.
If her mother was in Dasi Wisteria, how would she have been accepted?! Athena inhaled sharply. Without thinking she felt her veins turn black, a book was flung from off its shelf, barreling barely an inch away from Athena’s face.
Her eyes widened, she tilted her head to look at the book. It left a dent in the wall it had broken through. Ares, from the other side of the attic, looked over.
“Did you just do that?” He asked, running over.
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Athena was confused. “I-I don’t know. I think I did?”
Ares looked around, before grabbing a crumpled piece of paper.
“Try doing your mind-thingy with this.”
Athena shrugged. Before focusing her eyes on the paper in front of her. The thoughts flooded back, why was her mother accepted?Why did she sacrifice Octavia for such evil reasons?!
Her veins felt like they would pop out of her skin. Pain surged throughout her body, her eyes throbbed, until, the blue flame appeared by her eye. She sent Ares flying back. His back slammed into the wall, causing cracks to spread. As for the paper, it flew out of his grasp, before sticking into the wall like it was made of iron.
Pain seethed through her body like a parasite. A small trickle of blood flowed down from her eyes. The flame whisked away. She sat still, like a loose puppet.
After a while, she snapped back into reality, rushing over to Ares.
He stood, still wobbly but mostly fine. “Woah,” he murmured. “I think you have more than just abnormal ‘sight’, Athena I think you can control things with your eyes.”
Athena wiped the blood from her eyes. “Why not my mind?”
Ares crossed his arms. “Well is your brain bleeding?Exactly.”
Athena rolled her eyes and walked back to the desk. Wren was curled underneath the desk beside Solar, cooing softly in his sleep.
Ares ran over. “This is huge Athena!Do you know what this means?!”
“No–?”
“You could cause the tear!You can make it SO much easier!”He grinned.
“If you keep this up I might fling you back into the wall.” Athena murmured. “Plus, if I just learned I could do this two seconds ago, what makes you think it’ll be strong enough for tonight?”
Ares’s smile faded. Before shuffling back to the end of the attic.
Athena looked down at her fingertips, a dim gold and black flushed from them. By the time she’d raised them to look at, they were normal.
She set them back on the desk, drumming them impatiently.
Athena looked out the window presenting her kingdom. Every house, every cottage, every hut that built it together. The Avaler was in the distance, an empty land that once held death, was now just a common forest.
“I’m gonna take a walk.” Athena murmured blankly.
“OK!Be back by 10:40.” he murmured, occupied by books.
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Athena took the diary of Ann, and a war diary. She left Wren with Solar, he was tired and deserved a rest.
The sun dipped behind the trees, casting a giant shadow to loom over the kingdom. An orange light beamed from the sliver of sun that was dimly shown. She began to walk from the castle gates to find a new tree to read under.
As she passed, she noticed two girls bullying a smaller girl. She had vitiligo, and heterochromia. A giant cut ran from the right side of her face below her eye to her upper lip on the left side. Fresh blood dripped from it.
The two older girls held up a wooden doll. Raising it above the girl. Whenever the smaller girl would try to grab it, the other girl who wasn’t holding the doll would aggressively slam her onto the ground.
Athena walked over, her smile gone and anger replaced.
The two girls froze, before relaxing. “Oh wow, more freaks huh?”
“Please give it back to her, if I’m correct I believe it's hers.” Athena clenched her jaw.
The other girl who didn’t hold the doll, slammed Athena onto the ground. Athena got up, wiping the blood from her nose. She looked at the girls again, not facing the smaller girl.
“Give it back, please.”
“Or what?” Joked one of the girls.
“For the third time, give it back.” Athena stated.
The girl tried to hit Athena, but Athena grabbed her hand and made her trip. The other girl staggered back. Athena extended her hand.
“Give.It.Back.” She muttered.
The girl nodded urgently, handing the doll back over and grabbing her friend, before running off.
Athena turned to the girl, helping her up and handing her the doll.Suddenly, who the girl was became clear. Threyn.
“Are you from here?” Athena asked.
Threyn shook her head. “No, me and my brother and mother just moved in.”
Athena pulled a handkerchief from her pocket. “That's a bad gash, did those girls do that?”
Threyn made her hand cover up the gash, facing the ground. “No-I mean, yes-no! But-its-its not a problem, my mother–I mean!Uh, I just fell..” She murmured.
Athena let Threyn dab the handkerchief on her cut herself.
“Well, whatever happened. I hope you feel better.” Athena waved off as Threyn left.
---------------------------------------------
Athena heard something in the distance, a high pitch whistle coming from the castle. Athena stopped in her tracks, she swiveled on her heel, before bolting back to the castle.
Solar dove out of the attic window. Wren in his lion form bolting after, claws attaching to the walls. Solar followed beside Athena, so did Wren.
Her feet beat on the dirt to a rhythm, until she swung open the doors to the castle. She ran down the halls, searching for the stairwell to the attic.
Where is he?
Where is he?
Where is he?
The question repeated in her mind. Why did the whistle sound so familiar, where had she heard it from?
She found the stairwell, bolting up it. When she opened the door to the attic, she found her mother standing there, watching a Nightmare attack Ares.
“How did this happen?!I was gone for less than five minutes?!” Athena cried.
Her mother laughed. “Time is a curious thing, isn't it my dear?” A whistle was held in her hands, she raised it to her mouth, before blowing a high note. The Nightmare stopped slashing at Ares, and stared at Athena. Before bolting for her.
Wren tackled it before it could reach her. Ares, battered up and bloody, ran over to a corner, calling her name.
“ATHENA!” He called.
She turned, he had his scythe, and tossed her blade to her.She caught it, aiming it at the Nightmare.
Wren slashed the Nightmare before he kicked it to a wall. Her mother blew the whistle for longer than normal. So loud the windows shattered, and in dove the Nightmares.
First one, then two, then three.
Four Nightmares.
Wren regrouped at Athena’s side. Ares threw a paper into the air. Solar dove into it, his feathers extended, his beak grew longer, his talons grew sharper. Eudoria laughed.
“My own children, grown to be monsters, how wonderful. Just like Octavia,” Eudoria hissed, a smile spreading on her face.
Athena snapped. Her veins turned black, her eyes lit a blue flame, her whole eye turned fully white, until it looked like she was blind.
“You don’t get to say her name like that,” Athena hissed. “--you didn’t raise monsters. You created them. Molded them. Your own children, and don’t lie, you loved every second of it.”
Ares let his scythe light with white fire.He let out a loud, maniacal laugh.
“Octavia wasn’t a monster. She was a child. Your child. And if loving you turned us into this--then maybe the monster was always you.”
Eudoria laughed, smoothing an invisible wrinkle from her silk glove. “I molded every flaw of your beings.” Eudoria’s smile only widened. “Of course I made you,” she said softly. “Monsters don’t happen by accident, Athena. They’re crafted—by cruelty, by necessity, by survival.”
She tilted her head. “You survived. I succeeded.”
“You’re twisted!” Spat Athena, sobbing tears she couldn’t control.
“ And don’t you forget it.” Grinned Eudoria. “Now what are we waiting for?” She blew the whistle.
The Nightmares lunged for Athena and Ares. The world blacked out, Athena felt her heart pounding. Not with fear, with anger.
She lifted her blade, and sliced the head of a Nightmare. The blood painted her face, the world had light again as she addressed Eudoria.
“I never even knew her, and I’m fighting a war for her,” Athena’s hands shook. “Let the blood spilled here be a symbol of what survived, and what didn’t for your greed.”
Athena heard the whistle cut the wind near her ears like knives. Ares defended her left, and had the right. Eudoria just stood behind the chaos and watched.
Athena slammed her blade into the stomach of a Nightmare, it screeched, clawing the sleeve of her dress. Wren tackled the Nightmare barreling across the attic. Even in the vortex of mayhem, Athena stared at her mother, whose once gentle eyes that cradled her to sleep were full of bloodlust.
Her eyes resumed to the Nightmares, as her blade hit metal-to-metal with its sharp claws. It shoved her back, she ducked and landed back on her feet.
She tried to stab its stomach but it hit her sideways, causing her to lose her balance. She staggered back, before running back to finish it off. She raised her blade, and as the claw barely pierced her stomach, she reappeared behind it. Athena cut off its head with a clean swipe.
It fell lifeless to the floor. 2 down, 2 more to go.
Ares was handling one near the back of the attic, Solar helping too. Wren was still handling one near the shelves, tackling it and clawing at it.
Athena ran over to him, stabbing its stomach. Since she couldn’t take her blade out quick enough, she flipped over it, but was able to land stably.
The Nightmare yowled, before bolting to Athena. She leapt into the air, cutting it apart. The blood trailed along her face, an anger from deep within was screaming at her to just end all of this.She watched the limp body of the Nightmare shrink and shrivel, wiping a drop of sweat from her eyebrow.
She waited until Wren got up, to go help Ares. Her mother sat there, her eyes uneasy, like she knew she was losing the battle.
Athena felt something channeling through her sword as she used it to hit the Nightmare. It flung back, hitting the wall and immediately dying.
She looked at her sword, stained with the blood of the monsters. The true ones.
Ares, Solar, Athena and Wren all faced Eudoria. Eudoria stood up, racing to leave, but Wren ran over and blocked the door. She ran to the windows, but Solar blocked her.
She tried to scream, but Athena stopped her. She thought of all the pain she caused, all the blood she spilled for her own greed, all the debt she was in.
Athena raised her hand, choking her mother from afar. She wanted badly to slam her fist shut, and watch the debt be paid, but Ares snapped her out of it.
“We need her, how else are we doing this?” Ares murmured.
Eudoria fell to her knees, begging for mercy. “Please!Please, please, please, please-” She sobbed. “Don’t kill me,” She cried.
Athena held her blade to her mother’s throat. “Why do you deserve the mercy Octavia never received?The life that was taken for self-indulgence?”
Ares took the whistle from her fingers. And blew into it for exactly 15 seconds. Nightmares came from all directions, exactly 20.
Ares stood back, ushering Athena to follow. Solar and Wren followed as well, watching with patience.
Ares lifted his finger, pointing it at Eudoria. She stumbled up, watching as the Nightmares began to encircle her. Athena looked away as the echo of screams and sobs came from the group.
Then, laughter broke out. Not from Athena, not from Ares. From Eudoria.
She stood out from the group of Nightmares, tears fake, sobs fake. The Nightmares turned to Ares and Athena.
“Did you really think they just listen to the whistle?” Eudoria snickered. “I have been granted the power to let them listen to my every command.”
Eudoria pointed her finger at them, before murmuring. “Attack.”
Athena braced herself, aiming her blade. Ares stood a couple feet in front of her, scythe ready.
Athena slammed her eyes shut tight, before inhaling sharply, her veins coursed black blood, and when she opened her eyes, they were a pristine white.
She bolted forward, merely twirling her blade in her hand and cutting the head of five Nightmares. The others were handled by Ares, who mimicked Athena, getting ten more.
As she closed in on her mother, she was blinded by the vision of crimson. She felt no pain, why did she feel no pain?
Because she wasn’t the one who was impaled. Her gaze flickered down to Ares. His stomach was torn off, blood froze mid-air.
Time froze.
Athena felt her body shake, tears stopped before dropping down her face. She tried not to look down at Ares, the pain on his face, the way his fingers still had a firm grasp on his scythe, and a tiny white flame was sparking—wait!
Time resumed.
Athena reached for his scythe, grabbing it tightly and channeling her strength, her power mixed with his fire would end this. At last. It blasted forward, killing off the rest of the Nightmares.
Eudoria reached for her pocket, but before she could, Athena flung her against the wall.
Ares fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. He was trying to use his fire to heal himself, but the damage was too much. Athena was closing her hand, and as she would slam it shut, her mothers lifeless body fell to the ground.
After she finished it. She ran over to Ares, tears dropping faster than rain. She pressed her hands firmly to the gash, trying to stop the bleeding. In her peripheral vision, she could see a glowing gate, to the time pools, the gate back home.
She shook him gently. “C’mon Ares,” She sobbed. “We have to go home, we are together, both of us.”
She tried to lift him on her shoulders, but she was too small. Solar came over to help, and so did Wren. They were almost at the gate, when Ares smiled.
“Thank you, Athena.”
As Athena stepped into the gateway, she turned and murmured to the alternate universe.
“We’re never going back.”
