Chapter 8: Achilles

The three immortals have grown in size with each passing blow. The people hide, terrified at the sight of three gods fighting. I found the child's mother amongst the chaos and now hide with them. The mother cries and hugs her child. She speaks in a foreign language that I don't understand.

She tugs on me, trying to get my attention. She cries and rants, confusing and slightly frustrating me. I motion for her to keep quiet and point towards Azora. Azora spins, bringing up a storm of dust and gravel as she knocks Ananke off his feet.

Azora punches Hermes as he tries to strike with a short sword. Her wings spread out, blocking Ananke's golden staff. Suddenly, the woman's random gibberish becomes understandable.

"...woman! The slave master is a—"

"Azora! The slave master's a—" I curse as Ananke's disguise melts away to reveal a woman. She laughs, exposing sharp white teeth under her pale lips. Her skin is an ashes white. Her long black hair falls over her shoulders as she stares at Azora murderously. She spreads her own white wings.

"Wait! Ananke—" I tackle stumble to my feet and tackle Hermes. "No!" Hermes throws me off just as Ananke makes contact with Azora's wings. Azora stands through both wings with her own. Ananke begins to scream and thrash around as her wings disintegrate in ash. Hermes kicks me away and run towards Azora.

One of Azora's wings tears out of the ground and stops Hermes in his tracks. Ananke screams and claws at herself as her body begins to become ash.

"Azora! You can't do this! You're better than this!" Hermes yells.

"I thought the same for you." Azora responds. Hermes falls to his knees as Azora finishes off the goddess. She then turns to Hermes and grabs his throat. I notice that her eyes have turned a fiery orange. She's angry.

"Azora." I say. She looks at me and then past me to the little girl. She looks around, realizing the fear she's caused. She lets go of Hermes.

"Let's go." She says. Hermes stumbles to his feet.

"Zeus will be after you! There's no hiding and there's no walking away from this! Azora, you're not strong enough yet to confront Zeus. You're just a few—"

"I know!" Azora yells. Lightning suddenly strikes the ground. Clouds form as thunder rumbles. Pebbles rise from the ground slightly. A tall man with long grey hair and beard glares at us with his lightning blue eyes. He's muscular and his robes scream of royalty.

"I forgave your last offence, Azora. But not this one." Zeus raises his hand. A lightning bolt forms in his hand. The child from before breaks away from the hands holding her back and runs into Azora's embrace. Cursing, Azora forms a golden shield to protect us as Zeus throws his lightning bolt.

Azora grabs the child and throws her into my arms as the shield breaks. Azora coughs up blood. Zeus begins to walk towards us, summoning another lightning bolt as he does.

"Azora, remember what you told me. He's afraid of you. You're stronger. You can do this." I begin to say. "Please hold on." Azora nods and forms a bigger shield. The lightning bolt hits. Azora coughs up more blood, but the shield doesn't break. I begin to notice the black ash roses forming on the ground from Azora's blood. Azora's shield flickers. The child in my arms jumps out of my arms and runs towards Azora. She hugs Azora and begins to mutter.

Azora bows her head. Her arm wraps around her, wrapping the child in a tight hug. The child glows strongly and becomes bigger. Another lightning bolt hits. This time, the shield stays strong and Azora doesn't cough up blood. Instead, she lets go of the child and stands. She places her hand on the child's head and smiles down at her. Then, Azora glares at Zeus.

Zeus stops a few feet in front of Azora. The two glare at each other quietly. Zeus takes a step back and disappears in a flash of lightning. The clouds clear up and the angry thunder disappear. Azora relaxes, allowing her shield to disappear.

"Let's go." Azora says. With that, we leave the village.

"What now?" I ask. Azora looks at me. She stops and sighs.

"Achilles, are you sure you want to be under my guidance?" I stumble.

"I thought I didn't have a choice. You said—"

"Achilles, it all started because of you. You wanted vengeance. You are mostly undefeatable. Out of so many heroes, you asked for help." When I don't answer and just stare, Azora growls and turns away. She walks off. I ran after her.

"All I wanted was to avoid joining the war! I wanted to stay with my family! But then they..." Azora stops and turns. She approaches me. Next thing I know, she has her forehead against mine. I try to move but her hand's on the back of my head.

"You were not destined for that. So, I ask you now. Promise me... Promise me that you will not betray and abandon me. Do not betray those you prayed for. Do not break my trust." I relax. I keep forgetting that in a sense, Azora's still a kid. She's scared. And she's alone.

"I...promise." Azora lets go. She smiles at me gingerly and walks away. As I follow, I start to see a little girl around three years old running around me. I blink and Azora's there.

Azora and I crawl through the bloodied mud of a recent battle. Trees have been burnt down. Houses have been torn and burnt to the ground. Bodies litter the area, making it her to remain sane as we pass. I try to get up, but Azora shoves my back down.

"It's not safe." She whispers.

"There's no one here!" I hiss. Azora shakes her head and points ahead. At first, I don't see anyone because of the early morning fog, but Azora gently moves it around, revealing five creatures wandering around.

"They have multiple names." Azora whispers. "Keres are the ones we're trying to avoid. Valkyries are the ones who should be careful around." We watched as one of the creatures walks up to a bodies. A taloned hand hovers over the body. Blue light curls out of the body and into the creature's hand.

I notice that the creature is actually a woman. Black feathers clothe her body, camouflaging her wings like a long cape. Her black hair's short, kind of like a man's. I'm not sure if it's the distance or not, but she looks incredibly tall.

"Why are we here anyway?" I mutter. Azora stays quiet for a bit.

"When need a keres." Azora suddenly snaps to her feet. She flies a couple of feet away. She skids to a stop, glaring at the keres that was ahead of us moments ago. I look up to find amber eyes staring down at me. I freeze, unable to move from the stare. Azora appear into my line of vision, punching the keres so hard it flies away, hitting the ground like a ragdoll.

Azora pulls me to my feet. She doesn't lose contact with the keres as it stands, spreading her wings. The other keres are drawn by the commotion. Azora curses under breath.

"You are not strong enough for us to merge. I will fight them off and you'll tie them down." I stare at Azora in shock.

"How do you expect me to—" Azora drops heavy chains before me. She lunges forward, punching a keres as hard as she can.

I stagger to my feet, picking up the heavy chains. I follow Azora's movement as she keeps the keres from doing any actual attacks. Azora grabs on of the keres and throws her at my feet. I bind her as quickly as I can. Azora kills the rest of the keres, stabbing through their heads and chests. Once she's down, she comes towards me. She checks how well I bound the keres and fixes any errors. She picks up the keres by the chains. Together we leave the battlefield towards the forest.