Chapter 11
PROPHECY
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Achilles sneaked out of the Temple, unnoticed and immediately ran for the hills, becoming one with the darkness of night. After a short run, he arrived and found Anthea waiting for him, at a location that they agreed on, during planning the infiltration. He looked at her, with anger in his eyes. He hadn’t forgotten her vile act from before.
“What about the body?” he asked.
Anthea seemed annoyed by the tone of his voice.
“I told you; it was a necessity… You never appreciate me or what I do for-”
“What… about… the body Anthea?” Achilles asked again, interrupting her, with his voice louder.
She stopped and looked at the ground, frustrated. He knew about his anger. If Achilles was sounding like that, probably she shouldn’t provoke him.
“He is buried… About ten stadiums from here. They will never find him”.
Achilles nodded.
“The Gods will punish us…,” he grunted. “Apollo already made his threats to me…”.
He kicked a small stone.
“I hate it when these pricks get in the way! And I hate harming the innocents! And yet you disregard everything I stand for in every turn!”
Anthea was just standing, with her gaze fixed on the ground. She had nothing to reply with. When Achilles was done ranting, he turned his back at her, breathing heavily from anger and rage consuming his soul. They stayed quiet for a moment. At last, she came close to him and touched him on his shoulder. Achilles turned, still angry, expecting her to defend herself, but instead he saw her remorseful, with eyes full of regret.
“Look, I am sorry, but you said this mission is very important. What if he was going to talk? What if the whole mission was jeopardized by this one man? The sacrifice of one man, for the sake of the world. I don’t like what I did, believe me”.
She looked into his dark blue eyes.
“I am going to do anything to help you save the world.
“Are you really going to use the greater good theory?” he asked her, still irritated, shoving her hand away.
“And why not?” she asked back, getting furious from his action. “Isn’t that what we do? We take the lives of men and women, so for this world to keep going on under the guidance of the Gods! It is exactly the same!”
She tried to calm herself.
“Look, I am sorry. I just think that we must do everything we can for this mission. It’s vital, to prevent the mortal realm from becoming an extension of the Underworld!”.
“Only if we succeed in our mission,” he noted, seemingly more calm than before.
She realized that the tension between them was slowly disappearing. She sighed and took his hands into her own.
“We will. Together”.
Their eyes met. Out of the blue, Anthea took the initiative and leaned in to kiss him, but he pushed her back softly.
“No…” he said.
For some reason he wasn’t surprised this happened, but he was trying to be more gentle to her… Anthea, embarrassed and hurt, let go of Achilles’ hands and she put on her “cold” face again. Achilles sighed, expecting this behavior.
“You know it is not right-,” Achilles started explaining, but Anthea interrupted him.
“You know what? Just let it be. I do not care anymore. Just go to the others. I told them to get ready. We must leave as soon as possible”.
Again, the face of Achilles darkened. He evaded her questioning look.
“Not yet…” he said, with his voice almost breaking. “Where are they?”
[…]
They soon arrived at the camp, where the others waited. The rest of the team stood immediately, when they saw him with his darkened face. They yet did not know what had happened in the temple, or what the Pythia said to him. They just felt something was not right. Achilles stood in the middle. The rest approached him.
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“Nothing happened…” he insisted on their continuous questions.
He did not wish to worry his squad members, his friends more than he already had. He explained to them only what was needed and of course the prophecy Pythia gave him.
“When death is encountered, with death must be fought. But when the wars are over, then this blessing becomes a curse”.
“Figures…” Dienekes commented
“What do you make of it, Nikolaus?” Aristedes wondered
“Absolutely nothing… Like all Pythia’s prophecies…” the young priest answered. “Death is a given, since we are aiming to prevent the god of the dead from unleashing the underworld… But what could mean ‘with death must be fought’… No one can die and come back again. And even if someone did die and somehow get resurrected, he would not be in a state to fight Hades. Nothing changes in our human nature”.
“Like the old saying goes, fighting fire with fire… Maybe we have to find someone an ally from the underground?” Thalestres pitched in.
“No, I seriously doubt that… It could refer to many things, like Alexander…” Nikolaus'' face grew pale.
“What?” Nephele wondered, as she saw in Nikolaus’ eyes that he had figured something out.
“What if… this prophecy is about Alexander…”
“Explain for the rest of us Nikolaus!” Achilles commanded
“Our mission is to stop Alexander from opening the Gates of Hades and unleashing the Underworld on our world… The prophecies are never clear and always hide some twists… What if this prophecy refers to Alexander. Think about it. Alexander saw his father murdered. ‘When death is encountered’. After figuring out it was the will of the gods, he then sided with Hades, the god of the dead, the very one who wishes to see Olympus fall, to satisfy his hunger for revenge. So ‘with death must be fought’,” he said, somewhat satisfied with his interpretation. “And the last part refers that if he wins, ‘when the wars are over, this blessing becomes a curse’. Underworld being unleashed into the mortal world, he will bring immense destruction and Alexander will get betrayed by Hades, which is only natural, due to his nature!”
“You mean that this prophecy predicts the future where Alexander wins, but how does this help us?” Nephele wondered
“Don’t you see? The enemy is not Alexander… It’s Hades! Alexander is only getting manipulated, we have to make him realize that!”
“This prophecy does not help us at all…” Anthea said with a foul mood.
“Prophecies rarely do give any insight whatsoever,” the Spartan brothers agreed with the Ranger.
[...]
While everyone was discussing from where to start and what path they should take to finally begin with their mission, Nephele was deep in thought, not taking any participation in the conversation with the rest of them. Achilles, who always spares an eye to watch over her, saw that and approached her in silence and sat on a log beside her.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Weird, to be honest…” she replied, with her cheeks turning red. “I don’t want to appear indecisive and confused in front of the rest. All of you share experiences that help you solve all these riddles, while me… Well, I am just me…”
“Hey relax!” he comforted her. “It''s only natural, do not give it much thought. And as you can see none of these blockheads managed to solve anything yet”.
She smiled and cheered up a little.
“This prophecy… Something tells me that we are far from what it could truly mean…”
“Like Nikolaus said, prophecies rarely are helpful…,” Achilles said.
“Then why did you go to the Temple to see Pythia, while it is forbidden!”
Achilles seemed to be uncomfortable.
“I will tell you a secret… But it must stay between us!”
Nephele’ s eyes glittered with wonder and excitement at the same time while hearing that. With a hand sign she promised Achilles that she would stay silent. He smiled seeing her playfulness. Only she could bring this side out of him, to truly care and not try to hide it. He loved her like a sibling he never had. So he told her something he never said to anyone, ever.
“When it was decided that I could become an Argive, Apollo himself appeared to me… No one knows about this… Apollo, who is also the God of Prophecies, told me that when the day comes where I receive a secret-sacred mission, then I have to get into the Temple and receive a Prophecy, directly from Pythia. Only then, he told me, I would be able to get closer to my… to know about my mother…”
“What do you mean?”
Achilles gulped, as he was getting somewhat emotional from the conversation.
“I never knew her… Funny as it may sound… I am some sort of demi-god who only got to know his godly parent, while my human mother threw me away… I never got the chance to even meet her…”
“Well, that is funny, usually it goes the other way around,” Nephele commented, sympathising with the sorrow inside Achilles’ soul. “I learned about my father only some months ago, right before I joined the brotherhood… So this is for you more than just a secret mission?”
“Yes,” he admitted, his gaze sad and his eyes almost tearful.
Achilles did not expect it, but Nephele jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly… He was caught completely off guard. The rest of the company, stopped with their conversations and debates, and stared directly at those two. Achilles tapped gently the top of Nephele’s head.
“Thank you, little one,” he whispered, holding back his tears. “Thank you…”
The rest of them continued to stare as they still hugged each other.
“Thalestres, it seems you have a competitor,” Dienekes tried to tease her… while Thalestres almost took the bait.
Right before getting on a jealous rant against the young Nephele, Nikolaus stepped in, understanding that Thalestres was - once again - misunderstanding the whole situation.
“Everybody, please calm down! Thalestres, you have nothing to fear! He sees her as his little sister. Achilles told me that once, when we were hunting. And I think she sees him as an elder brother as well. Their relationship is so touching and only platonic. Only with her I see Achilles… vulnerable!”
Thalestres seemed to relax and finally just chuckled, as his face turned from stone cold to her natural feminine one.
“Achilles? Vulnerable? Come one man are we even talking about the same person here,” Aristedes commented
“Trust me… I have known Achilles long enough, and I’ve never seen him like this”.