My foot met a giant circle and within that circle were six smaller ones, if you could call around twenty thousand square feet small.
In the center of the circle was a man. He stood around twelve feet tall. We slowly approached him. His hair was pitch black, his eyes a blazing white. I wanted to look away. But it was impossible. He was both beautiful and terrifying. My feet kept me advancing in a straight line toward the man. In his hand was a long scepter. His robes were red and draped to the floor in a puddle around his feet. They seemed to be almost part of the ground, as if he was unable to move.
Seth spoke first. “Iapetos, we need to pass.”
An involuntary shiver ran down my spine. Iapetos was one of the brothers, one of the Titans. Before the Fall, he was in charge of assigning a lifespan to humans. Before the Great Flood it was well known humans lived to be over nine hundred years old.
Once the Watchers or Titans fell, the days of man were numbered as a way to punish the human race along with the angels. Iapetos lost his job, and El threw him into the Abyss along with his brothers.
His red eyes flashed to me. “Athena.”
Fantastic, creepy Titan knows my name.
“Yes,” I answered more confidently than I felt.
Iapetos’s lips formed a smile. “I have been waiting thousands of years for you.”
“Lovely.” I croaked. “Sorry I can’t say the same.”
At that, he threw his head back and laughed. “I understand, dear one. Now, run along. They are waiting for you.”
“Are you coming with us?” I asked casually.
A shadow fell across Iapetos’s face. “No, my dear. I am unable to move from this place.”
“But I thought you were free?”
“Free?” Iapetos sputtered. “Freedom is defined in many ways, I guess. I am no longer blinded by El, but as you can see, I am not free. I am stuck into the very ground I was thrown upon.”
I nodded.
Adonis grabbed my hand. He had a torch in his other hand and pulled me toward the next walkway.
“Athena,” Iapetos called.
I turned around.
“Trust no one.”
Chapter Sixteen
I didn’t realize how alone I could feel before Iapetos said those words. I shivered. Or maybe I trembled. Either way, Adonis pulled me closer to his side. It was the only comfort I had. The fact or the simple idea that he was, at one point, my everything.
But right now, it felt like I had nothing.
Seth and Icarus were strangely quiet as we went further into the mountain. This time it took only minutes before we were again in a large room. It was beautiful.
Fire lined the walls from ten-foot torches, and in front of me stood ten of the Watchers. Each of them was hooded with red material similar to Iapetos’s. The only difference was they were not in any way paralyzed in place.
Instead, they moved around one another, as if they were floating on a cloud. I couldn’t see their feet; the red cloak took care of that. If I didn’t know any better I would say they were merely spirits of the actual beings, not in full physical form.
I stepped forward. “I am Athena. I’ve been sent—”
“We know who you are,” a deep voice said.
I took my battle stance and waited as one of the hooded figures floated toward me. With swift movements, he removed his hood.
His face was much like Atlas’s. So beautiful to look at that my eyes burned. His skin was perfect — too perfect. I watched as his eyes narrowed, taking in all of me.
“I imagined someone taller,” he said finally.
I laughed. “Yeah, well I imagined someone shorter.”
He smiled, a genuine smile that made my defenses melt just a bit. For some reason I had envisioned terrible demonic-like creatures that would love nothing more than to scrape my face with their claws.
“Shall we sit?” The man held out his hand and immediately two plush chairs appeared in front of us.
“What about—?” I turned around and pointed at Adonis, Seth, and Icarus.
“Apologies, my sweet, but they are not invited into our circle.”
“Oh.”
I nodded toward them as they waited back at the wall. Each of the men seemed ready to pounce at any minute.
“Odd company that you keep, Athena,” the man said, smirking.
“Caught that, did you?”
He nodded. “A Phantom, a Zar, and a fallen brother. Very interesting indeed.”
I ignored his information fishing and cleared my throat. “You seem to have an advantage over me. It seems my reputation precedes itself, yet I have no idea what to call you.”
“I have many names.”
“Oh, cryptic. I like it.” I leaned back and folded my arms across my chest. “Your name, please. Let’s go with the most used, shall we?”
“I like you.”
“I like you too.” I smiled.
He licked his lips then leaned forward. “You may call me Cronus.”
“The one who started it all,” I whispered.
“So you know your history? Impressive.” He nodded his head, and the rest of the figures circled around us. “I wonder though, do you know the correct version?”
“Correct?” I asked intrigued.
“Do you trust me?” He lifted an eyebrow and smirked.