Chapter 6: Achilles

Zagreus, Affra, Neera, and another woman that looks similar to Azora watch as we approach them. The woman is a bit shorter than Azora with slightly darker skin and has a rounder face. The woman frowns at me. Her eyes are nearly as cold as Azora's.

"So, this is who Zeus stuck you with. He must be quite impressive and component to be left with you." The woman says. She walks up to my and firmly grabs my chin with clawed hands. She tilts head around and examines me.

"Is this a meeting regarding your return or another game of 𝘱𝘪ó𝘯𝘪𝘢?" Azora says. The woman lets go and smiles at Azora.

"Pawns. Zeus wants us to force the Trojans to pass the flooded river in order to ambush a Greek camp. We have to kill them in the water." I look at Azora who in turn frowns.

"Why?"

"One of them killed—" Azora's eyes turn green.

"Cereline!" She growls.

"Fine. They killed one of Zeus' children." Azora's eyes turn a dark orange.

"Achilles, get ready for battle."

"We left all my—" Suddenly, Azora becomes a huge shadow along with the others. Azora's shadow slams against me. I stumble back as cold air chills me to the bone. I open my eyes and find that my surroundings are a lot clearer than before.

𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴. I jump and look around.

"Where are you?" Zagreus and the others are gone, too. I've been left alone.

𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴— 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘡𝘦𝘶𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸.

"Okay. So, what am I supposed to do?"

𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘸𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢 𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥.

"Why can you just kill them yourself?"

𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰. 𝘞𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯. Azora guides me to a small camp. By the time we get there, it's dark and only the moon lights out way. As soon as see my first target, everything becomes a blur. One. Two. Three. Until finally...

𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱! I stop before I can stab through a child's chest. The child begins to scream as soon as I freeze. I feel Azora take control as she knocks the child out. With a jerk, we run out and hide in the shadows as people storm into the tent. Four other people join us. I can't see them, but I know they're there.

"Nice job. We lost." Neera grumbles. Azora leaves my body , causing me to fall with fatigue of a thousand battles.

"He is innocent." Azora says quietly.

"They stop being innocent the moment they stepped on bloodied ground." Zagreus says as he steps out of the shadows.

"You've been putting ideas into her head, haven't you?" Cereline grabs my shoulder and spins me around. Before I can answer, Azora pulls me back and behind her.

"Zeus already has us on a tight leash ready to be released on each other. Remember what we are to do." Immediately, everyone backs away. Affra looks at me and tilts her head.

"Then, why is he still alive?" Azora placed her hand on my shoulder.

"I cannot as of yet tell you. However, I can tell you right now, turning against each other will not do us any favors. Return to your domains." Azora and I watch as all four gods disappear. Quietly, Azora guides me away from any possible threat. We head to a nearby river where we catch fish. Azora cooks it with fire produced from her palms. She hands it to me scales and all. As soon as I take it, Azora morphs into a red fox, curls up, and ignores me for the rest of the night.

I wake up at day break and find myself making eye contact with a squirrel eating it's breakfast. It freezes in place. As I open my mouth to speak, it reacts by throwing the nut at my face and running up a tree. Grumbling, I sit up and look around.

All sorts of shy animals sit or stand around me. They watch me intently. I look around and notice Azora's absence. I scramble to my feet, startling the animals a bit. A small foal walks up to me and brushes against me like a horse telling you to ride it. I place my hand on it and follow it's gaze to the river.

The river runs red and at its center, Azora floats above it, meditating. Her eyes are closed in concentration though her body is relaxed. She looks different. Almost like a child. As my thoughts wander, Azora's snap open. Chains snap out of the water and embed themselves in Azora's wrists, neck, waist, and ankles.

Azora suppresses her pain and stands, still floating over the river. Her wings spread. As they do, suddenly, some unknown force snaps her wings and tears them off. Azora lets a scream and falls to her knees, slowly breaking her concentration. Her eyes open and stare at me. They're purple. Black liquid streams from her eyes like tears down her cheeks.

Letting out an angry growl, Azora stands and summons her bow. The huge bow is made of the darkest wood and a golden string. I can't make out the intricate details. A black arrow appears as Azora pulls back the string and aims at me.

"Azora!" I yell. She lets go.

I snap awake, getting a few nuts thrown at me and a bunch of squirrels running off me and up trees. I sit up and look around. Azora sits across from me, sharpening my sword quietly.

"Nightmare?" She asks as if we were talking about the weather all of a sudden.

"You're going to kill me, aren't you?" Azora pauses. She looks at me and frowns.

"That is up to you." Her response sends chills down my back. Would she really just kill me as soon as I give her a reason? Azora continues to sharpen my sword for a few more second before sighing and looking at me again.

"To be honest with you, I do not plan on killing you." I smirk.

"That makes me feel better. So, what relationship do we have anyway? You know more about me than I know about you. You seem to get angry if I ask you a personal question and you scare me to no end. I don't know if I can trust you and—"

"I have no father and my mother doesn't exactly like me. I was raised by nymphs and was trained by Chiron to harness most of my abilities. As soon as Zeus felt I was ready, he yanked me up to Olympus where I was told I was to eliminate a lot of the human population with four other warriors under my command. A couple days later, I was partnered off with you since you got classified as one of the more dangerous heroes.

"The problem is not whether you can trust me or not. The problem is whether I can trust you or not. You can tell if I lie. You can tell if I am up to something. I know about you, but I do not know who you are. As long as you do not betray me and respect me, you are fine. If things work out, our relationship status is friends."

"What if it becomes more than just friends?" I ask, remembering my wife.

"It will not. You wife bore you a child some time after you left. She is your partner, not I. Nor do I wish to become your partner."

"Okay. So..."

"You have nothing to worry about." Azora says and hands me my sword hilt first. We spend the rest of the day locating camps belonging to both the Trojans and Greeks.