Chapter 3 #2
The hall was vast, a cathedral of arts dedicated to the nine daughters of Zeus.
Massive statues of the Muses lined the walls, carved from alabaster so pure it seemed to glow.
Dust sheets draped over antique instruments, harps the size of chariots, organs made of gold pipes, gave the room the appearance of a ghostly gallery.
The ceiling was a dome of glass, but it was currently dark, covered by heavy shutters that blocked out the storm and the twin suns.
It was peaceful. It was eerie.
"Why would Hades give us a seed?" Aria asked, her voice cracking the silence. She pulled away from me slightly, opening her hand to look at the small, red kernel. It pulsed with a faint, rhythmic crimson light, like a tiny heartbeat.
"He called it protection," Elias said, drifting closer. "Hades does not deal in snacks. He deals in contracts."
"A pomegranate seed binds you to the Underworld," Thane rumbled, checking the structural integrity of a nearby column. "Persephone ate six and was bound for six months. It is an anchor."
"Or a weapon," I said, staring at the seed. "If you plant a seed of the Underworld in the soil of Olympus... what grows?"
"Considering the soil of Olympus is currently dissolving into nothingness?" Flynn muttered. "Nothing good."
"He implied we might get hungry," Aria said, frowning. "If we're going to break the world."
"He means consumption," I realized, the strategic implication slotting into place. "To eat the food of a realm is to belong to it. If we are trapped here... if the Devourer cuts off the exit... and we eat this..."
"We belong to him," Flynn finished, his face darkening. "We become citizens of the Underworld. We die, technically, but we fall into his domain instead of the Void."
"Protection," Aria whispered. "An escape hatch. If we fail... we can choose death on his terms."
A heavy silence settled over us. It was a dark gift. A suicide pill wrapped in fruit.
"Let's hope we don't fail," I said grimly.
"This place..." Elias trailed off, wandering toward a statue of Calliope holding a stylus and tablet. He reached out, brushing the dust from the stone plinth. "It feels... awake."
I frowned, my hand dropping instinctively to my sword hilt again. "Awake how? The Colossi were awake. Right now I could do without more awake stone."
"Not hostile," Elias corrected, his eyes unfocusing as he looked at the currents of magic in the room. "Just observing. The Muses were the memory of the gods. They recorded everything. Inspiration. History. Truth."
"Like the archives," Aria said, looking around. "Maybe there's something here. Something about the Devourer. Something they learned before the rot set in."
"We can look," I said. "But stay close. This building is on the edge of the district. If the ground destabilizes..."
"We know," Flynn said. "The floor is lava. Got it."
We spread out, treating the silent hall like a hazardous environment. I kept Aria within arm's reach, my senses dialed to maximum. The bond kept me updated on her physical state; her heart rate was slowing, but the fatigue was a heavy, grey wave trying to pull her under.
"Kaelen," she whispered.
I turned. She was standing in front of a massive, covered mirror at the back of the hall. The dust sheet had slipped, revealing a glass surface that was dark and swirling, like oil.
"What is it?"
"Look at the reflection," she said.
I looked.
The mirror didn't show the hall. It didn't show us standing in our armor, bloodied and battered.
It showed the throne room of the High Seat. But it wasn't the burning ruin we had left. It was pristine. And empty.
Except for one figure.
A woman stood by the throne, her back to us. She was wearing white, not the armor of Athena or the regal robes of Hera. Simple, white linen. Her hair was dark, falling in loose waves down her back.
"Is that..." Aria started.
The woman in the mirror turned.
It was Pandora. Not quite as I remembered her; she wore a face similar to Aria's, but older. Sadder. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her cheeks wet with those legendary crystal tears.
She looked directly out of the mirror, her gaze locking onto mine.
I froze. My heart slammed against my ribs. It wasn't a recording. She was looking at me.
"My love," the image of Pandora whispered. Her voice didn't come from the glass; it seemed to vibrate from the pomegranate seed in Aria's hand.
Aria gasped, nearly dropping the seed. "She... she's speaking."
"It's a trick," I snarled, stepping between Aria and the mirror. "A memory trap. Apollo’s parlor games."
"No," the image said. She stepped closer to the glass, placing a hand against it from the other side. "Not a trick, Kaelen. A message. Left in the one place Hera never looks, for she despises history."
"You are dead," I said coldly, the old hurt rising like bile. "You died a thousand years ago."
"I am," Pandora agreed, a sad smile touching her lips. "But my sight... my sight was always long. Like Elias. I saw this moment. I saw the daughter who would come."
Her gaze shifted to Aria, peeking out from behind my shoulder.
"The seed," Pandora said. "Do not eat it, child. Do not plant it."
"Why?" Aria asked, her voice trembling.
"Because it is not a seed of the Underworld," Pandora said. "Hades lied. He loves a gamble, that one."
"Then what is it?" I demanded.
"It is a heart," Pandora whispered. "The crystallized heart of the Titan whose bones hold up this mountain. Hades harvested it eons ago. If you break it, you don't just alert the Underworld."
She pressed her hand to the glass, and cracks formed in the reflection.
"You wake the mountain," Pandora said. "And the mountain is hungry too."
The image flickered and died; the glass turning back to a normal, dusty mirror reflecting my own shocked face.
I looked at Aria. She was staring at the small, red kernel in her palm with absolute horror.
"A heart," she whispered. "We're carrying a Titan's heart?"
"Hades gave us a weapon," Flynn said from the shadows, his voice full of dark appreciation.
"Why?" I asked after a moment of silence. "Why give us the means to wake the Titan?"
"Because," Elias said, his voice dropping to a whisper that carried across the hall. "If the Titan wakes, he will shake the Devourer off his back. He will destroy Olympus to scratch the itch."
"It's the last resort option," Aria realized. "If we can't save Olympus, we'll use this. We wake the Titan and drop the whole realm into the void, sea, whatever it is."
The ground beneath the Hall of Muses gave a violent lurch. A crack appeared in the glass dome above us, star-like patterns sprinting across the sky.
"We might not have a choice," Thane rumbled, hefting his hammer. "The void is knocking."
Outside, the silence of the storm was broken by a new sound. It wasn't the Colossi. It wasn't the wind.
It was the sound of wings. Thousands of them.
"Harpies," Flynn growled, his daggers flashing into his hands. "Zeus's hounds. They found us."
I turned to Aria, looking at the seed in her hand, then at the door where the scratching of claws had begun.
"Put it away," I ordered. "Guard it with your life. But do not break it unless I tell you."
"And if you're dead?" She asked, her eyes fierce.
"Then burn it all down," I said.