Separate #2
It could only be accessed after the three sisters died and then returned. Mona’s words echoed in her mind: The three of us were bound by a powerful enchantment that kept us locked in our mortal bodies. Only upon death can our true powers be freed.
The Titans wanted to stop them from reuniting. With Trivia brought back from death, nothing was stopping them from joining their powers… except the space separating them.
Trivia tried to push up with her arms, but all it achieved was more excruciating pain. Dammit! She couldn’t move. She couldn’t get to Mona.
Healing powers, she thought. I did it before. I can do it again. Her arm trembling, Trivia lifted a hand and summoned her power. A feeble white glow resonated from her palm. She drew more, picturing her mental construct, thinking of those shimmering waters…
“Come on,” she urged. Heat burned in her hand as she brought it to her chest, pressing down. She urged more power into her own body, willing it to heal her, to knit her skin and bones back together. “Heal!” she commanded.
Warmth flooded her body, but it was fleeting. It flared, then diminished, as if that one singular burst was all the strength she had.
She groaned, dropping her arm by her side. Then, she froze. Her ankle still throbbed, but… her wounds were no longer bleeding. She lifted her head tentatively.
No pain. She was weak, but some of her wounds had been healed.
She could work with this.
“Are you still alive?” Trivia called, pretending she was too wounded to do anything but tease Atlas. “Or did my cutting words finally end your pitiful existence?”
She managed to climb on all fours. Panting, she used her good leg to boost herself upright. She tested the weight on her injured leg, then immediately buckled.
No. That wouldn’t do.
But if she had one good leg, then she could limp. Or at least hop.
She could move. This was progress.
“Sol, where are you?” Trivia whispered, her throat burning with emotions she didn’t want to think about. He had to be nearby. Surely he was just unconscious. Atlas must have knocked him out. That was all. He would rise soon.
She kept telling herself this, unwilling to consider the alternative.
“If the other Titans are really still alive,” Trivia said loudly, shuffling forward, hobbling on her good leg. “Then, how many of you are left? It can’t be more than two, right?”
One for her, one for Prue and Mona, who were likely together. The perfect distractions, keeping the three sisters apart.
It was a brilliant plan. Atlas was so massive that it would be easy for him to serve as a literal barrier between the sisters.
But if Trivia could inch past him… He was blind, after all.
She just had to do it as quietly as possible.
Atlas said nothing, and Trivia huffed a laugh. “I’m right, aren’t I? It’s just two of you!”
“Wrong,” hissed a voice. It wasn’t Atlas.
Several figures appeared through the mist, making Trivia go still, her insides twisting with dread.
No, she thought in horror. No, it can’t be this many…
A lion’s head appeared first, teeth bared and eyes dark with rage. It inched closer, followed by… a goat?
Trivia sucked in a sharp breath. This was a chimera. Part lion, part goat, and part serpent.
Because of course the Titans would summon a chimera.
Except…
Trivia squinted, making out four heads in the mist. The lion prowled closer, and another head appeared—the serpent. Then the third, which was the goat.
When the fourth one came into view, Trivia’s blood chilled. It belonged to a purple-faced demon, who leered at her. A dozen inky black eyes dotted his face like that of a spider.
This was no ordinary chimera. Tentacles extended from its torso. Gryphon wings stretched from its sides.
Four heads. Spider eyes. Several various animal appendages.
This was a mutation. An abomination. A nightmare.
“What—What are you?” Trivia breathed, drawing back a step. Her ankle throbbed, and she lifted it slightly, trying to alleviate some of the pain.
“I am Prometheus,” said the creature. “And I have a gift for you, little goddess.”
His long tentacle stretched forward, wrapped around a limp figure. Trivia’s heart lurched at the sight. It was Gaia, and she was unconscious. Silver blood surrounded a wound on her temple.
“I will give her to you,” Prometheus said, “if you leave this realm and never return.”
Trivia’s throat tightened. She couldn’t tear her gaze from her mother. Gaia looked so weak. Her skin was wan, her eyes red-rimmed and lined with shadows.
No, Trivia thought, her body numb with dread.
“But, if you don’t,” Prometheus continued, “I will kill her.” The tentacle tightened around Gaia, and her body went rigid.
“Stop,” Trivia said quickly, and Prometheus obeyed. Gaia’s head lolled slightly as the tentacle loosened its hold.
Trivia needed time. She needed him to believe she was considering his offer.
“Where is Sol?” she demanded.
“The sun god? I do not know. The last I saw, Atlas crushed him with his foot. He is likely dead.”
No, no, no…
“I’m not leaving without him!” Trivia snarled. “Give him to me.”
Prometheus bared his teeth, revealing fangs as sharp as a shark’s teeth. “You reject my gift?”
“If you give me Gaia and Sol, I swear I’ll leave. But not without both of them.”
The Titans were hiding something. If they were truly as powerful as they claimed, they would have killed her by now. Something was stopping them, and Trivia needed to figure out what it was.
Prometheus exhaled a long sigh before calling into the mist. “Atlas! Where is that wretched sun god you disposed of?”
Trivia closed her eyes. No. It’s not true. Sol is alive.
A rumble rippled over the earth as Atlas shifted. “He is here,” the Titan said before depositing another limp form on the ground between Prometheus and Trivia.
“Sol!” Trivia cried, hobbling forward. He, too, was unconscious, his face covered in blood. She sank to her knees next to him, brushing strands of sticky hair away from his face. “What—What have you done to him?”
“He got in my way,” Atlas growled.
Trivia leaned closer, pressing her ear to Sol’s chest.
There it was—a heartbeat. It was faint, but it was there.
Relief spread through Trivia. But she wasn’t free yet.
“Leave,” Prometheus hissed at her. “As you promised.”
Think, think, think, Trivia said to herself. She was injured. Gaia and Sol were unconscious. What could she do?
She was completely alone.
Except…
“How am I to carry them?” Trivia protested. Behind her, where Prometheus couldn’t see, she pressed her hand into the earth, calling forth her power. “Can’t you provide me with something?”
Prometheus made a guttural sound of annoyance. His serpent tail coiled behind him, and the lion bared its teeth with a warning growl. “You ask for too much, goddess. Now leave before my lion tears out your throat.”
“It’s a bit unreasonable, don’t you think?
” Trivia summoned more power. Leaves hissed along the ground, obeying her command.
They slithered around Sol and Gaia, knitting together underneath them.
“If you want me to leave immediately, you should provide me with a way to transport them. Otherwise I could be here for days, and that would go against our agreement.” She blinked rapidly, dizziness clouding her mind.
She was pushing too far again… but she had to keep going.
A long vine coiled along the ground beside her, creeping forward. She kept it going, on and on…
Find her, she urged the vine. Find Mona.
“You try my patience,” Prometheus snapped. “This is your last warning, or I’ll—”
“Kill me?” Trivia asked. “Well, go ahead. I’m at your mercy. I can’t leave without Sol or Gaia, and, to be perfectly frank, I think my leg is broken. So I can’t exactly run away from you. It might be best to just kill me.”
Prometheus went still, his several eyes narrowing at her with suspicion. “You want me to kill you?”
“Well, I am in a lot of pain, so…” Trivia shrugged as if this weren’t a big deal at all. “I mean, I could just wander this wasteland until I find my sisters. I know Mona is an excellent healer, so she could easily mend my broken bones…”
“No,” Prometheus barked. “You swore you would leave.”
“I cannot walk,” Trivia said slowly, as if she were speaking to someone rather dim-witted. “Why won’t you do it? Just kill me, Prometheus. End my suffering. Go ahead.”
She held still, waiting. Calling his bluff.
She knew he wouldn’t do it.
When Prometheus didn’t move, Trivia laughed. “You can’t, can you? But why? You had no trouble destroying gods the first time.”
Something tugged on her vine, and a voice called out in the distance. Mona’s voice.
Prometheus stiffened. The goat head bleated loudly. “What have you done?” he roared.
“Now!” Trivia shouted.
The vine pulled taut, and she grabbed it.
With a sharp yank, the vine dragged her along the ground.
She, Gaia, and Sol rested on a bed of leaves, and the vines dragged them almost like a sled.
The ground was bumpy and rocky, and the leaves provided little protection.
Trivia winced and groaned with each sharp jab, then glanced at Gaia and Sol, worried their wounds would worsen from the jolting and bumping.
The ground rumbled, and Atlas roared. Trivia glanced over her shoulder, noticing his massive shape lumbering toward them.
Trivia held her breath, staring in the distance as the vine continued pulling them forward. Surely, they had to be close now. The leaves hissed along the ground, and they sounded so loud to her ears. She knew Atlas would find them.
The thundering steps drew nearer. Trivia grabbed Sol and Gaia’s hands, prepared to cling to them if Atlas tried anything…
A shadow slammed into the ground in front of her, making her scream. The vine snapped as Prometheus crept toward her, his gryphon wings spread wide. Gods, how many animal body parts did he possess? He truly was an abomination.
Black eyes glittered with malice as he drew closer. “You think you can outsmart me?” he hissed. The lion’s maw dripped with saliva as he gazed hungrily at her.
Trivia reached, trying to summon more vines, but she was spent. She had no more power to draw from.
Before Trivia could react, Prometheus’s tentacle snatched Gaia, then pulled her toward him.
“No!” Trivia shrieked, hands outstretched as if she could grab Gaia by sheer will power.
“I warned you,” Prometheus snarled. His tentacle tightened, and a loud crack echoed. Gaia’s back bowed, her body going limp.
Trivia’s chest hollowed. She gaped in horror at her mother’s lifeless form.
No.
No…
Prometheus’s tentacle drew back before flinging Gaia into the air. Trivia’s scream died in her throat as she watched her mother go flying, her body twisting and distorting before it vanished in the mist.
Trivia slumped to the ground, her body numb. She couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe.
“I may not be able to kill you,” Prometheus said softly as he closed the distance between them. “But I can make you suffer. And I can start by making you watch as I kill him.”
The tentacle wrapped around Sol’s waist.
“No!” Trivia sobbed, lunging as she gripped Sol’s chest with both arms, tightening her hold on him.
I will not lose him.
I will not lose anyone else.
The tentacle pulled. Sol slipped from her grasp.
A beam of gold light appeared, burning and brilliant. Trivia gasped, squinting against the intensity of it.
Sol?
But no… She glanced at him, and he was still unconscious.
Then, what—
An echoing battle cry rang out, followed by a crowd of voices. Hurried footsteps drew closer. Jets of light—gold, violet, and green—shot through the air. One of them struck Prometheus’s goat head, which bleated loudly before drooping. For a moment, Trivia thought it had died, but… it was snoring.
The goat had fallen asleep.
What the hell?
Blinking through tears, Trivia lifted her head as a figure appeared through the mist, wielding a giant sword. With a grunt, he swung and chopped off the serpent’s head, making Prometheus scream.
Midas lowered his sword, then met Trivia’s gaze. All she could do was stare at him, her mouth hanging open in shock.
“You—You’re here?” she squeaked.
He grinned. “Sorry it took so long. Some of the gods needed… convincing.”
Trivia’s wide eyes fixed on the figures who appeared behind him. She recognized some, but not all of them. There was Hypnos, the god of sleep—he must have rendered the goat unconscious. Deimos, Eris, and Morpheus… There were at least a dozen gods, many whom Trivia had never seen before.
Midas knelt by her side, his grim gaze fixed on Sol. He pressed a hand to his nephew’s forehead, muttering words in a language Trivia couldn’t understand. Gold light shone in the air, and the blood vanished on Sol’s head.
Midas waited, then his brow furrowed. “Damn. I was hoping by sealing the wound, he would wake.” He shared a regretful look with Trivia. “I’m afraid that’s all I can do until we can find a proper healer.”
“How did you even get here?” Trivia asked, still in shock. More jets of light burst in the air as the other gods fought with Prometheus. The lion’s roar echoed around them.
“I created a portal,” Midas said. “It wasn’t easy, and I needed Clotho’s help.”
“Clotho is with you?” Trivia asked. “You got the Fates on your side?”
“Well, just one. The other two wouldn’t come.” He peered around, squinting in the fog. “Where are your sisters?”
“I—I don’t know,” Trivia said. “I need to get to them. Together, we can merge our powers and defeat the Titans. They’re trying to keep us apart.”
Midas nodded, extending a hand to help her to her feet. “Say no more. We can keep them busy while you get to your sisters.”
“But, Sol—” Trivia cast a worried look at the sun god, who was still unconscious.
“I’ll look after him,” Midas said solemnly. “You have my word. Now, go.”
Before Trivia could reply, Midas let out a deep bellow, slashing his sword and cutting off the lion’s head. Prometheus screamed with rage and anguish.
“Go!” Midas shouted, striking with his sword again, which the tentacle managed to block.
Trivia cast one last look at Sol, vowing to return to him, before she hobbled away as fast as her injured leg could carry her.