“Get up,” Jiyeon hissed at the panting figure on the ground, pulling on his arm to get him to stand on his feet.

They’d been running for hours for now; running for hours and still in the claws of danger. The dark and ominous clouds loomed over them, as if foreboding their deaths- fates that they would never be able to escape.

But, fates that they were able to alter if they tried hard enough.

A groan came from the slumped man on the dead soil. He turned his head towards Jiyeon and squinted to see her face behind the rays of the sun shining relentlessly down onto them. As if running for hours wouldn’t be enough to dehydrate them, there was the scorching sun too.

“I have no more energy,” he practically whimpered.

Jiyeon growled, the faint hint of impatience slowly growing behind her eyes. Hauling the worn out man up on his feet, she gave a stinging slap to his face. Even if she barely used half her strength, the man howled in pain as he clutched at the reddening area beneath his eyes.

“Get your together,” Jiyeon snapped, “Or do you want me to leave you here to get your rest for a few minutes then die after?”

“Can you stop hitting me?” he exclaimed as he struggled to stand, pushing on the ground beneath him to support him.

Jiyeon threw a plastic bag towards him.

“Eat, and we’ll leave in five,” she instructed and sat down beside a looming tree, glad that the fragment of nature was providing a shade for her. She was all sweaty and her clothes clung to her skin, and all she wished for right now was a cooling shower which would wash all the dirt away.

As badly as she didn’t want to admit it, she was tired. Not only was she physically tired, she was also mentally tired from having to deal with all these troublesome matters that kept popping out non-stop.

It wasn’t like she chose this difficult path, though. As if college life wasn’t stressful enough, just two months ago, she realized she had another identity- an identity which she had long forgotten.

Athena, the Goddess of War.

Well sure, readings about Athena in books were fun and interesting, but that wasn’t the case for Jiyeon. The Greek Goddess in storybooks reeked of power and courage, but what Jiyeon possessed was way lesser than what the Athena’s in books had. She was neither strong, nor was she brave. As much as she wished to say she wasn’t scared of what was about to happen, she couldn’t, because she was scared.

Scared less.

Although being a goddess had its perks- like running insanely fast and never getting tired, really useful in this situation- it also had its downsides. She had to meet people whom she never knew, all of them claiming they were related to her one way or another. The irony of being a goddess made her scoff at first, but she had slowly come to accept that fact and listen to her best friend talk about the ‘impending dangers’ and how they had to escape.

Oh, you’re asking who her best friend was?

Ailee, also known as Artemis.

The day when Jiyeon discovered that she was actually a Greek goddess, was also the day when she dead pissed at Ailee for not telling her all the while. She’d been friends with Ailee since young but she had only broke the news to her two months ago, claiming that the other gods had intentions to kill each other- to survive.

Of course, she thought of it as literal bull at first, but the moment Ailee opened the portal to her past memories, they hit her so hard in the head she had lost consciousness for a day.

She remembered glory, glory from winning the battles and from defending her troops till the very end; till the last of her breaths. She had felt power, powerful when she needed to be and also the readiness to rip the throats out of her enemies. She though, had never once felt fear in her memories.

So why was she scared now?

Nonetheless, she opened the bottle of water from her bag pack and gulped it down, all the while keeping an eye on her surroundings. She never knew when an attack would come, and she had to watch over the mortal friend of Daehyun’s- or Apollo- friend. Jiyeon had to admit she found it very surprising that his friend, Youngjae, could keep up with her speed, stopping along the way for only two to three times. That man surely had one hell of a stamina.

“I’m done, let’s go,” a muffled voice startled her from her thoughts and she looked over to Youngjae who was sitting beside her, chewing on his bread with his mouth full.

Jiyeon nodded, before looking up at the sky. It was almost dark, and they had still a long way to go before they reached their destination. Travelling in the dark, though, would do them no favours because they would probably only end up tripping over everything, so they had to move; and they had to move fast.

Springing up on her feet after hydrating herself, she reached out a hand for Youngjae to take, and the moment he took her hand was the moment she felt that something was amiss. There was a strange glow in Youngjae’s eyes which made her halt in her movements and stare at the man in suspicion.

Jiyeon replayed the scene in her head and realized that the way Youngjae had reached out of her hand was too fast- way too fast for what a human could accomplish.

Before she could snatch her hands back, Youngjae clasped his hands tightly on hers and yanked her down with him, but as strong as Jiyeon was, her reflexes weren’t quick enough. She tumbled down onto the floor beside Youngjae while he crouched, now proceeding to pin her onto the floor.

“Hermes,” she hissed, the realization hitting her with full force and she watched while his eyes lit up in amusement and as he clucked his tongue.

“I’m surprised you didn’t notice me earlier,” Youngjae mused while he straddled her waist, blocking any means of her escape.

Jiyeon felt dumb. Of course she should have known, there were signs all around- the way he ran faster than her, and how he never got tired. Hell, she should’ve even noticed his habit of flicking his finger on his thumb whenever he was perplexed.

Jiyeon wanted to slap herself. Hell, she would have, if not for the sly god who was pinning both her hands down. How could she have not realized it all these while, whilst travelling with him?

Jiyeon growled as she struggled underneath the skinny dead weight, however failing to escape. She was bewildered at first, but she was taught to stay calm in these situations; both in her 19 years of living and her more than a thousand years of living.

“Who sent you?” she asked as she scrutinized the glint in his eyes; because whenever that glint appeared, nothing good would come out of whatever was about to happen.

Youngjae whistled as he picked up the bottle Jiyeon had dropped with a hand, and started to toss it in the air and back down, “Who else?”

“Daehyun?” she asked, not being able to believe it. For all these years Apollo had fought alongside her, and now he was choosing to betray her? It didn’t make even the slightest sense.

But then again, this was a battle where one would come out either dead or alive.

“You are rather smart, my sister,” Youngjae drawled as his hand reached behind his back while he dropped the bottle, “but I’m afraid your smartness is going to go to waste.”

She knew it before she even saw it; Youngjae was planning to kill her. The sun shone onto the sharp metal object, causing a harsh glint to blind Jiyeon for a moment, before survival instincts kicked in.

The knife‘s sharp tip smiled menacingly at her as if it could tell her death. Jiyeon, of course, wasn’t stupid enough to just lie idly and wait for her meeting with Hades, so with her free hand that Hermes had let go of to retrieve the knife, she punched Youngjae hard on the cheek.

Youngjae growled and he reached up his hand, preparing to stab the knife in her heart, but she wasn’t backing down. Her reflexes would never be as quick as Youngjae’s, but she was smarter.

Using her hips, she pushed Youngjae hard and he lost his balance, falling frontward onto Jiyeon, the knife just a few millimeters apart from her face. Sensing the great chance to escape, she grabbed onto his arm with the knife and immediately flipped both of them over, and now she was in control.

She snatched the knife out of Youngjae’s sweaty palms and held it at his throat, her other hand successfully pinning both of his down.

“I don’t know what game you and Daehyun are playing at, but you’re supposed to be the messenger, aren’t you?” Jiyeon snapped as her eyes glowed ferociously. How could Daehyun betray her? “So tell me, why’d he send you to kill me?”

Youngjae wriggled around, obviously trying to escape the position he had earlier trapped Jiyeon in, but his efforts went down the drain; he knew his strength would never match Jiyeon’s, so he slumped back and went limp.

“Sorry to disappoint, sis, but this time he’s not on your side anymore,” he smirked.

“What do you mean? Why?” she questioned further.

Youngjae rolled his eyes, “We’re not playing a game anymore, Jiyeon. If you die this time, you die forever. No more reincarnation, no more living.”

Jiyeon was still confused. Furrowing her brows, she shot another question in Youngjae’s face, “Why? Am I not strong enough? We’ve won all the battles when we were allies!”

Youngjae merely smiled in response, which irked Jiyeon. She knew that sneaky bastard was never going to give her an answer unless she threatened him enough, so he pressed the knife harder against the thin skin of his neck.

The knife drew blood.

Youngjae winced and croaked out what Jiyeon wanted to hear. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you!”

Jiyeon nudged the knife again as more blood flowed out, an indication for him to start telling him before she started really hurting him.

“That’s because we have even stronger allies.”

Jiyeon spluttered as she looked wide-eyed at Youngjae. Not that she was claiming that she was very strong, but among them all, she probably was the strongest with Daehyun. Who else would be so strong, strong enough to convince Apollo to back out of their years and years of allies?

As if reading her mind, Youngjae smirked again.

“Uncle Poseidon.”

The wind blew harshly at Jiyeon’s hair, sending strands of runaway hair coming loose from her tight pony tail. Whether it was the wind or not, she didn’t know, but she was feeling a chill down her spine.

A very bad chill.

The knife against Youngjae’s throat clattered onto the soil as Jiyeon absorbed what Youngjae had just said. The seriousness of this battle now dawned on her- even Uncle Poseidon was stepping in. And let’s just say that when someone as strong as Daehyun teamed up with Uncle Poseidon, there was no guarantee that Jiyeon would come out unscathed.

Perhaps, she wouldn’t come out alive at all.

“Do you understand now? We’re all going to die,” Youngjae laughed bitterly as he glanced away at the sky, with a sad and faraway look on his face, “We’re finally going to die.”

Jiyeon was bent on winning the battle at first, but now, all thoughts about winning flew away. Her only aim now was to survive.

“I’m not going to die,” she said, determined before climbing off Youngjae and dusting her pants, but she realized her mistake all too late.

Youngjae, in less than a second, had plunged the knife into her thigh, and leapt away.

At first, she felt nothing but betrayal. But as the searing pain came, she screamed and pulled the knife out from her thigh, searching for Youngjae to take her revenge.

But that bastard was probably already miles away by now.

She hissed in pain as she touched her wound- Youngjae had stabbed her deep. Blood was flowing out non-stop and she limped over to her bag pack, taking out a spare t-shirt to wrap it around her wound. Wincing non-stop, she cursed Youngjae at the back of her mind for betraying her.

Although it was more surprising that Daehyun would betray her.

But she couldn’t blame Daehyun. He just wanted to survive; like her.

That was when she noticed little specks of white decorating the thick red liquid oozing out of her wound. Thin and short strings, no, feathers were mixed with her blood and there were not only one or two strips in it, but a whole lot of them.

Jiyeon was disturbed. Why would there be feathers in her blood?

Then, she remembered what Bora, the prophet, said, not too long before she departed on her journey to look for Yongguk to hopefully protect him from the chaos of the impending war between the Gods.

Jiyeon opened the shut door forcefully and walked inside with purpose, impatience evidently showing on her face as she slammed both of her hands down on the desk. Bora twirled around in her leather chair with an eyebrow arched and a knowing smirk, as she beckoned for her to sit.

“Why’d you barge in so rudely for?” Bora purred and continued to file her nails, looking as if she had no care in whatever Jiyeon had to say.

“What is happening? Ailee refuses to tell me anything. Since you’re the source of it all, tell me what you told her,” Jiyeon demanded as she plopped down onto the chair on the opposite of Bora, looking at her unbothered expression.

“What do I get in return?” Bora asked and looked at Jiyeon with sly eyes, which meant that whatever Bora was asking for was definitely going to be costly, or something Jiyeon couldn’t give her.

Jiyeon growled. With Ailee not telling her anything, and the recent discovery of herself being a bloody goddess, she had absolutely zero patience left for Bora to play around with her. “What do you want?” Jiyeon spat.

Bora reached up a hand to trail her slender fingers across her delicately tied blonde hair and appeared to be deep in thought, which was obviously just a front. She probably already knew that Jiyeon was going to ask her something and thought of what she wanted a long time ago.

“Maybe… Odysseus?” Bora offered as she battered her eyelids at Jiyeon slyly.

Odysseus… Even the name itself sounded foreign in Jiyeon’s ears. She hadn’t seen him in forever, not since she’d been killed in her last life. The name resounded through her ears and coursed through her body, because Odysseus, Odysseus was the only thing worth protecting.

When people all around her had abandoned her and left her to her own demise, Odysseus had been there, helping her the way she had helped him. He was the only person who could make Jiyeon really laugh even in the darkest of times and the only person who could piss her off in the happiest moments.

Her lover from all her past lives.

“Are you playing around, Cassandra?” Jiyeon hissed, enunciating every syllable of Bora’s real name while gripping on the stem of a rose lying on the table, not even aware she was squeezing the poor flower’s stem.

“I knew you wouldn’t agree to it,” Bora laughed heartily and the annoying sound travelled throughout the room, irking Jiyeon to no ends, “And so, I won’t tell you anything.”

That was it- Jiyeon had had enough. Standing up infuriatedly, she sent the chair flying back and crashing into the wall with the movement of standing up itself. If Bora refused to tell her anything, so be it. She didn’t have to know anything, anyway. It wouldn’t kill her.

Well, it would have, if not for Bora’s parting sentence when Jiyeon was halfway through exiting the door.

“Everyone is dying,” she said.

She had went to ask Ailee about it after her short meeting with Bora and Ailee ended up spilling everything to her.

Ailee had said that they were no longer invincible. If they had managed to survive deaths after deaths and reincarnate hundreds of times, they wouldn’t be able to anymore. Ailee thought that it might be a cause of Zeus’s death, that the gods and goddesses were no longer immortal. Zeus had died mysteriously and it would probably be them next. She also explained that the gods were all dying in their own ways, like how the sun and moon were getting weaker, and the powers of Apollo and herself greatly decreased.

Maybe Jiyeon was going to die of blood contamination.

The blood oozing out of her stab wound was even more than usual, and it didn’t seem to be healing. Usually, if she was hurt, she would’ve healed much quicker and the blood loss would’ve been way lesser than a human’s- but now her physical level was technically lowered to a mortal’s level.

Her wound hurt like a .

Pulling the cloth tight and gritting her teeth against the pain, she tied the cloth around her wound with pressure, and she thought to herself, “You’ve tolerated pain worse than this by a thousand times.”

After cleaning up her wound, she picked up her belongings: a mere bag of two sandwiches left, and two bottles of 2L water, and started to limp her way across the forest. She had no time to waste- if she stayed there a second longer, she wouldn’t be too sure about how safe she would be. Youngjae would probably be by Daehyun’s side now, and leaking her position to them.

They would come after her.

She whipped out her mobile phone from her jeans pocket and speed dialed number 2, putting it to her ear and listened to it ring a couple of time, before the owner picked up.

“Hello?” a clear voice came from the speakers and Jiyeon breathed a sigh of relief. Ailee was safe.

“Where are you?” Jiyeon inquired until she hears the padding of footsteps in the background. Was Ailee running?

“I- I don’t know what’s happening, Jiyeon,” Ailee panted, “One moment I have my deer running beside me and the next, a whole bunch of them runs in the northeast direction like they’re scared of something. Do you think somebody is coming towards me?” Jiyeon heard fear in the voice of her fearless friend, and her movements froze.

If somebody was coming after them, it was definitely a bad thing.

“You are going to continue running and pick up your speed. Don’t even bother looking for Daehyun, that ’s friend just tried to stab me, which probably means he’s on a different side this time,” Jiyeon started running at the best her leg would allow her, “I’m going to head to Yongguk’s house- god damn it I’m hoping Bora gave us the right address- and we’re going to meet at the same place, but an hour earlier, alright?”

“Daehyun what?” Whatever Ailee had to say, Jiyeon didn’t hear, because at that moment, the last bar of her phone battery died off and she cursed at the piece of useless technology in her hands. However, with the constantly darkening skies, her dead phone should have been the least of her worries.

“I’ve to get to Yongguk before they get to him,” Jiyeon whispered to herself and picked up the pace, even though the pressure exerted on her wounded leg was hurting much more. She couldn’t afford to lose Yongguk even one more time. Yongguk wasn’t technically a god, so he would still be able to reincarnate, wouldn’t he?

If she had to die, she would die alone.

Seeing a road not far north, she ran towards it and pulled out her map. She was not far away from Yongguk’s now. The quietness of the usually noisy road creeped her out- it surely wasn’t the same without the vehicles’ incessant sounds. All forms of vehicles had recently failed to work, and people were forced to stay at home.

It almost felt like the end of the world.

She walked cautiously across the barren road, the wind blowing across her like a whisper of warning, before she crossed into the patch of forest again. 200 more metres.

That was when Jiyeon saw something flash by from the corner of her eyes, and a tiny rustling sound that she wouldn’t have been able to hear had there been vehicles on the road. Pulling the knife she had just cleaned, she held it at arm’s length, preparing for an attack. Although she knew a mere knife would not be able to kill Daehyun and Zelo if they worked together; which was what was happening right now. The mighty Uncle Poseidon Zelo had joined forces with Daehyun.

Another rustling sound came from the left, and that sent her dashing towards the source of it. Just then, the unknown figure’s head popped into focus and Jiyeon breathed a sigh of relief.

It was a turf of black which he liked to keep messy, in every of his lives. He never knew how to try something new.

“Yongguk, come out, I see you,” Jiyeon said, the name tasting weirdly familiar and pleasant on her tongue. On the exterior she might have been looking calm and composed, but inside, she was squealing like a little girl from seeing Yongguk, which she hadn’t seen in years.

He must have felt startled, because the moment he popped out of his hiding place, his mouth was agape as he stared at the newer version of Jiyeon. Unlike him, Jiyeon had changed her styles in every of her lifetimes.

“How’d you know it was me?” Yongguk asked as he stashed his knife into his bag and stepped out from the bushes he was hiding behind.

Yongguk had changed. Except for his hairstyle, that was. He had grown a little taller and his choice of clothing became more modern, like he was finally changing his likes with the passing of time.  He also got a little skinnier from when Jiyeon last saw him, which was about twenty or more years ago. Nevertheless, the lad himself was still as dashing.

Jiyeon laughed with mirth for the first time in years, “Your hair never really does change, does it?”

Yongguk frowned as he absentmindedly touched his disheveled hair and ran his long fingers through it.

“Why are you out here?” Jiyeon asked and raised an eyebrow at Yongguk.

“Oh, I was hunting for food,” Yongguk shrugged as if it was nothing unusual. But it was something greatly unusual, because nobody who lived in the middle of a thriving city hunted for food anymore. Well, aside from the fact that he was living in the middle of a thriving city in the midst of forest grounds.

Yet, at the same time, Jiyeon was slightly envious of the carefree life Yongguk was living, and would continue to live if she didn’t have to take her away even if it was means to protect him. He shouldn’t have been dragged into this.

Jiyeon exhaled and tried to pick the words to string together a careful sentence which would shock Yongguk the least, but her mind was somehow not working properly and she ended up staying silent while watching Yongguk study her.

Suddenly, worry flashed over Yongguk’s face, and she realized that his gaze was pointed towards the wound on her leg. She was so caught up in the joy of meeting up with Yongguk after so long she had ironically forgotten about the wound on her hurting leg.

Jiyeon kept telling herself that it was just an aftereffect of meeting a friend which she hadn’t seen in years, and not because of love. Because at a crucial timing like this, she definitely couldn’t be distracted by plenty of foolish emotions that would lead her mind to not think clearly, and their lives could be in danger.

“What happened?” concern laced his words as he stepped closer to Jiyeon, reaching out a hand which stopped inches from her face.

And then his fingertips touched her face, and she swore the pain she had felt from the wound didn’t exist anymore. She leant her face into his hands and closed her eyes, trying to memorize every single detail of this situation because nobody ever knew if it could happen again.

After only a few seconds, she pulled herself away from his touch and braced herself to tell him that she would have to bring him away; bring him away when she wasn’t even sure if they would survive. But, it was the only best option she could think of right now, because once Daehyun got his hands on the person she loved, she knew she would not be able to think clearly then. And Daehyun knew, he knew just what would make Jiyeon, a goddess, drop to her knees.

She was not going to wait for that to happen, and so she opened , “Yongguk, listen very carefully to whatever I have to say. We are running out of time, and you have to come with me. I know you’re not going to like this but we are going to Circe’s place to stay until we know we’re safe.”

Yongguk merely stared wide eyed at her at the mention of Circe’s name. No doubt he had recalled the time where Circe had tried to give him an enchanted cup of wine, “Circe? That woman is a scheming, sly-“

“We have no other choice! Circe is the only person who isn’t already on Daehyun’s side,” Jiyeon exasperatedly explained.

“Daehyun’s side? What’s happening? I thought he was always on your side,” Yongguk scratched his head as he stared quizzically at Jiyeon. Yongguk had accepted the knowledge of an impending war easily because it had happened so many times, but he probably didn’t know about the fact that they were no longer immortal.

Something flashed behind Yongguk and that had Jiyeon on full alert, pulling out her knife once again and she tugged Yongguk to her side as she braced herself for an attack again. “Are you having a friend who’s hunting with you?” she asked.

“No…” Yongguk trailed off, not seeming to get where the conversation was heading, but that was only until a figure dashed out from one of the many bushes and charged towards the both of them.

“Stay back,” Jiyeon ordered and pulled Yongguk to stand behind her, while she walked calmly towards the intruder and ducked his knife easily. She’d had too many ambush attacks before that she knew how to avoid every single type of attack.

The man’s- approximately in his mid-forties- knife went right through the air above Jiyeon’s head and Jiyeon elbowed him in the ribs, earning a few cuss words as he staggered backwards. However, he rather quickly regained his composure and aimed his knife at Jiyeon’s heart again, but of course, the goddess had seen that coming way earlier and she raised her good leg and brought it across the man’s head, which sent him tumbling down onto the floor, unmoving.

Jiyeon stared at the unconscious man before panic rose in her; a trait that the Athena in her past lives never had, and she grabbed Yongguk’s hand, breaking into a run while dragging the confused Yongguk behind her.

“Two people have been after me already,” Jiyeon said to Yongguk as they ran towards the meeting location she had agreed on with Ailee, “which means that Daehyun is getting impatient.”

“What? Daehyun sent men to harm you?” Jiyeon could practically see Yongguk’s frowning face just from hearing the tone of his voice alone.

“Yeah, but no worries, the mighty goddess has got rid of ‘em all,” Jiyeon playfully laughed as she darted a look back at Yongguk, only to see him smiling at her with extreme fondness in his eyes. Oh, how she missed those times when she could joke mindlessly with him.

She was nearing the location now, and she could vaguely make out a slender figure in the distance: Ailee.

“Ailee!” Jiyeon hollered and ran faster, the wound on her leg starting to hurt again. She was nearing Ailee now, with the panting Yongguk beside her and she observed how there were no deer or animals of any sort with Ailee; which was weird, because animals used to follow her wherever she went.

She, however, had another company.

Jiyeon realized that all too late and stopped only a few metres from Ailee before she noticed the figure standing behind Ailee.

Daehyun.

Jiyeon looked around cautiously, almost sure as if Zelo was going to pop out any minute now. How could she have ever been so careless? She’d led both of her cherished friends to Daehyun.

A whistle that usually sounded normal and annoying sounded eerie now as it filled the forest, with Daehyun staring at Jiyeon with eyes of challenge, and if she was not mistaken, guilt.

“I’m sorry,” Ailee choked as her eyes darted between Jiyeon and Yongguk, “I didn’t know Dae was following me, I-”

“That’s enough, sister. I’m sure Jiyeon understands,” Daehyun drawled, breaking eye contact with Jiyeon to stare at the familiar face beside her, and his eyes lighted up in amusement, “See you’ve brought a friend.”

Jiyeon growled.

Daehyun, letting go of Ailee’s hands, stepped forward and towards the pair, while Jiyeon and Yongguk reversed in their steps. Jiyeon grasped Yongguk’s hands tighter, feeling her palms get sweatier, and the way Yongguk squeezed her hands back slightly only managed to calm her down a little.

“Don’t you feel angry?” Daehyun stopped in his tracks and twirled around with both of his arms outstretched, tilting his head backwards at the dark skies, “We’re merely playthings for Zeus!”

“Zeus is dead,” Jiyeon flatly stated as she watched her half-brother stop and turn to her with glowing eyes which she admitted, scared the out of her. However, if she wanted to escape, she probably still had a chance; the sun was nowhere in sight now. Daehyun was weaker.

“He is,” Daehyun agreed darkly and laughed mirthlessly, “that old man’s death caused this chaos. Don’t you hate him more?”

Jiyeon unraveled Yongguk’s palm and traced the words ‘Run in 3,’ onto it, carefully moving backwards which she hoped Daehyun hadn’t notice.

Jiyeon noticed Ailee slowly sneaking around the trunk of a tree, while looking at Jiyeon and at that instant, they knew that they were thinking the same thing; escape.

“I don’t hate him,” Jiyeon replied, while tracing the number two on Yongguk’s palm.

“Oh? He started all this! He was the reason you were stabbed on your leg,” Daehyun pointed at the wrapped wound.

“No,” Jiyeon spat, “you were the reason that I was stabbed.”

She traced one, and broke out into a full run, and because this time Yongguk was prepared, he ran faster than he did earlier.

What creeped her out was the absence of the thundering footsteps that should’ve been behind them. In place of that, there was nothing but silence and the crunching of leaves under their feet. The silence felt deafening, like pairs of claws reaching out to trap them in the darkness of the forest.

They ran for what felt like only a minute, and they weren’t even sure of their surroundings now. Stopping, Yongguk panted beside her as he let go of her hands, bending over from all the exhaustion.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Jiyeon said between pants as she turned to face Yongguk who had an understanding look on his face, “I’m not even sure how much more running we will need to do.”

“Oh, you won’t need to do any more,” a deafening voice came behind them- a voice which sent twice the chills down her spine she had felt when she heard his name.

Jiyeon swirled around, coming face to face with Zelo who was standing tall. She had failed to realize she had brought them towards a spread of river.

And due to her carelessness, she knew that they would have to pay. She had dragged the innocent Yongguk into a game of life and death again.

Zelo smirked at them and beckoned at them with his long fingers. “Ah, my niece, we finally meet again. And whom have you brought with you?” his words slithered against Jiyeon’s skin, making her shiver. Zelo’s eyes reminded her of a fox’s; sly and quick.

“What do you want?” Jiyeon asked slowly, even if she already knew the answer. He wanted them dead.

“Why ask if you already know?” Zelo shot back at her with a twinkle in his eyes, and in just a split moment, a slimy hand reached out from the dark and ominous waters, closing in on Yongguk.

“No!” Jiyeon screamed and tried to hold Yongguk back, but she was way too late. He was already halfway across the distance between Jiyeon and Zelo by the time she started running towards him, and she cursed at herself for letting go of his hand.

Her feet splashed against the cold waters until she halted completely, finally realizing what Zelo was trying to do. He was trying to lure her into the water, and if she did go in, it would be the end for her.

But Yongguk was in his hands.

“Jiyeon!” a breathless voice came from behind she and that seemed to snap her into her senses, and she stepped back until she was no longer in the waters. She saw Ailee running towards her, pale, until she realized who Jiyeon was standing in front of, and then she stopped.

Daehyun was trailing behind her, and Ailee didn’t seem to know that.

And Daehyun was holding a knife.

“Ailee! Behind!” Jiyeon shouted as she moved in on Ailee, wanting to help her, but she was suddenly thrown onto the ground by a force.

Her back collided with the hard soil and her head hit the ground hard, and she groaned in agony at the throbbing pain in her head combined with the wound which was freshly opened again at a scrape on the ground. Touching her head, she realized that it was bleeding.

A figure towered over her and she froze at the familiar face that was staring down at her. It was Ares, Himchan.

Now she realized that her chances of coming out of this battle unscathed were near to zero, because even Himchan, the blood lusting god, was on Daehyun’s side. With three very powerful gods joining forces, what chances did she have?

“Surprise, sur-” Himchan started with a victorious smirk on his face, until Jiyeon reached a leg out to hit him in the groin with whatever strength she could muster while suffering the immense pain in her leg and head.

Himchan howled in pure pain as he doubled over, curling into a fetus position on the ground, and that was the only chance Jiyeon needed to struggle to stand up, and land another kick at Himchan’s back. Himchan, even though he was strong, he was a coward. He wouldn’t possibly have enough courage to fight her again after that, so she shoved Himchan to the back of the mind and turned back to Zelo.

She could hear Daehyun and Ailee sparring it out behind her, but that was the least of her concerns. With the sun down, she was pretty sure Ailee stood a high chance of defeating Daehyun, and so now she had to focus of her mightiest opponent, whom she was not sure if she could beat even if she unleashed all of her strength.

But Yongguk…

At the thought of his name, Jiyeon decided that there was no other option than to fight him upright. Charging into the dark and murky waters, she screamed as she watched Zelo curl his tentacles around Yongguk even tighter. Yongguk was turning even paler now, and the rage Jiyeon felt inside of her was one she had never felt before.

Zelo still had that hateful smirk on his face that Jiyeon was determined to wipe off his face once she got her hands on him. She was going to save Yongguk.

“Yongguk!” Jiyeon cried as she starting swimming towards them, her head ducking underneath the cold waters. A strong wave sent her tumbling back to the shore and her back hit the soil again, making her wince in pain, and she crawled up again breathlessly to try to enter the water.

She could see the tentacles around Yongguk’s body growing even tighter now, and his face was slowly draining of blood. Yongguk shook his head feebly. “Don’t come… Run…” Yongguk rasped and coughed.

She was just starting to waddle into the waters when a strong force pulled her back, and no matter how hard she thrashed around, both her arms were bound by an inhuman strength.

“How dare you hit me!” Himchan roared and threw Jiyeon onto the sand again, and her back hit the floor with a hard thud for what seemed like the umpteenth time, and before she could even climb up, his hard fist plowed into her chest.

Pain flared within her, seeping into her skin and wrapping itself over her rib cage which was probably broken. Breathing hurt like a motherer, and all she could do at the moment was to try to breathe as shallowly as she could. She was seeing black for a moment, but as her vision came back with the painful accompaniment of the searing pain, she saw Himchan’s heavy boots come down onto her.

It took everything within her to roll to her side as she heard the hard contact of the boots with the soil. If she had stayed there, she would be dead. And she couldn’t die, not yet. And so she continued rolling, rolling until she was within safe distance from Himchan.

She could take time to curse at the fact that her immortality was what caused her to be in this situation, or she could embrace the fact that she was immortal and use it to her benefit.

And Jiyeon was anything but dumb like Himchan, so instead of standing there swearing about his missed hit, she felt for the sheath strapped to her jeans and pulled the knife free.

Pushing herself up to a standing position, she saw Daehyun sparring with Ailee, and it was obvious that Daehyun was losing. Ailee had more power with the absence of the sun and the presence of the moon, but she was still a girl, and if she lost her concentration for even a split second, she would be on the losing side.

And that was the mistake she made.

Ailee looked over at Jiyeon for a second, like she was checking in on her, and that was all it took for Daehyun to clamp both his hands around Ailee’s neck.

“Ailee!” Jiyeon cried helplessly as her eyes darted between Daehyun and Himchan, debating on which one to solve first, but Himchan was already charging towards her and she had no time to lose. She calculated the time Himchan would need to reach her, the angle which the knife needed to be at to hit him square in the heart, and she calculated how much more time she would have before Zelo completely killed Yongguk.

Obviously not much.

She focused on getting her breathing on control at the moment, and she kept still as Himchan ran towards her with the clear intention of wanting to choke her. His hands sneaked around and he squeezed, and Jiyeon choked. She felt dizzy, from the pain of her leg, her back, her broken ribs and now . Everything started spinning, and a small part of her wanted to give up, give in to Himchan and let him strangle her to death.

But that was not what a goddess would do.

With whatever strength she had left, she gripped onto the knife and Himchan was so intent on choking her that he didn’t realize the threat that was in front of his heart. Her arms were shaking, her mind was foggy as the air rushed out of her, and the wind felt like it was calling out for her to surrender.

But she pushed the knife into Himchan’s heart.

She pushed it in all the way with every ounce of her strength and as the hands around went limp, she witnessed a grossing image of the first of her brothers dying at in her hands. She almost felt disgusted, but the vicious laugh of Zelo’s pulled her back from thoughts of self-disgust.

“That was entertaining,” Zelo chuckled with amusement, as his eyes darted to and forth from Ailee and Jiyeon, and Jiyeon realized that over the past few minutes she had been dealing with Himchan, there were no sounds from Ailee and Daehyun.

She couldn’t suppress the impending feeling of loss as she looked towards where Ailee was once winning over Daehyun, but now, both of them lay side by side, a divine image of Artemis and Apollo, both with knifes lodged into their hearts.

She felt her stomach churn and she felt like throwing up- she’d lost her once ally in battle, and her best friend.

Jiyeon felt weak, weak enough to drop onto the floor and just lay there and rest, but she had to save Yongguk, because she wasn’t sure she could stand losing another person she cherished. Zelo was taunting her with his dark orbs, like challenging her to go into the water and fight him, but that would be her demise.

Jiyeon snarled as she touched her wound which was bleeding nonstop, and the tiny specks of white mixed with her blood gave way to an idea which Jiyeon wasn’t sure would work. But with her ribs broken and all the injuries inflicted upon her, she wasn’t sure she could make it halfway across the distance before Zelo did any destructive damage onto her.

Closing her eyes, she willed the remaining of all her owls to her, and in an instant, she heard the flapping of wings not too far away. She would use the owls to distract Zelo, and she would swim in and hopefully Zelo would be distracted enough to release Yongguk.

But Zelo wasn’t stupid. She could just hope for the best.

With the owls already by her side, she sent them towards Zelo and a whole bunch of them flew towards the floating Poseidon, and started attacking his head.

A howl was heard as Zelo shrieked in annoyance, trying to slap away the owls with one of his hands, but the overwhelming amount of owls was impossible to drive away with only one hand.

Using the chance as Zelo was distracted, Jiyeon plucked the bloodied knife from Himchan’s chest and plunged into the icy waters and started swimming, gritting her teeth as her lungs constricted and her bruised ribs screamed in protest as she swam, with no currents to block her.

She surfaced and took in the deepest breath she could without prominently hurting her ribs, and saw that already half of her owls were lying, unmoving on the surface of the waters and the rage within her flared. Zelo was threatening Yongguk and he was killing her precious owls.

She swam even harder and broke out on the surface again, the burning pain of her ribs not allowing her to take another breath and go back underneath. Almost three quarters of her owls were down, and she gave it about forty five seconds before Zelo settled them all.

She was halfway across the distance now, and she plunged underwater again, swimming with all her force, swimming like she never had before. It seemed like Zelo wasn’t too distracted though, he sent another strong current which was coming towards her like a formidable wave which would bring her to her death, in her current state.

The current hit her, strong and hard, and she was forced back into the waters as her lungs burnt, not having inhaled any air before. She fought against the current and thrashed about helplessly, but the weight of her clothes and the force of the current seemed too overbearing for her tattered self, so she surrendered, and let the water drag her downwards.

Everything fell silent as her lungs slowly gave up fighting for air, and the roaring of the waters sounded beside her ears, like a calm lullaby which would lull her away from the chaos and hopelessness of this situation. She sank, deeper with each second and her mind felt at ease as the dark waters embraced her. She closed her eyes.

She heard someone mumbling her name, and felt a pair of arms circling around her and a mysterious force pulling her up, but she wasn’t sure. She was not sure of what she was feeling- was she already dead?

“Jiyeon!” a gurgle and a faint sound passing by, and it was lulling her, lulling her to just drift away from all this noise.

She felt someone shaking her, and then suddenly, she was out in the air, no longer in the warm embrace of the waters. She started to slowly gain back her thoughts and she opened her eyes, seeing the foggy image of Yongguk behind her eyelids, which didn’t make sense because Yongguk was supposed to be in Zelo’s hands and…

She was supposed to save him.

Jiyeon started coughing and coughing and the pain in her ribs intensified as she coughed. “How,” she coughed again and her eyes teared, as she felt Yongguk pull her to his chest.

“I’m not a helpless man,” Yongguk chuckled as if they weren’t in the middle of the sea and in the middle of a battle. Jiyeon felt a sense of calm as his words washed over her, and god was she glad that Yongguk was alive and well.

But the angry roar of Zelo’s brought every peaceful moment to an end.

A strong current came and swept the both of them towards Zelo, and Jiyeon’s survival instincts finally kicked in as she coughed and struggled to fight against the current, all the while holding on tight to Yongguk.

She could see the reddening face of Zelo’s, obviously pissed about the fact that he had lost his grip on Yongguk, and he held his trident high in the sky as he seethed, sending violent waves of currents sweeping them both closer and even closer to Zelo.

Jiyeon couldn’t see a way out of this. She would have to fight Zelo head on and she knew that there was only a slim chance of her surviving, but she had to try. For Yongguk, for Ailee, and for herself.

“Knife,” she breathed as she realized that her knife was probably swept away by the waters while she almost drowned earlier, and she cursed herself for being so careless. How was she to face Zelo without a knife?

She felt the grip on her waist tighten as they flowed with the current, giving up fighting against it because when Zelo was mad, there was no way around. Yongguk held out a knife with his free hand and it into Jiyeon’s hands, a glint of hope and trust in his eyes, “Use this.”

She nodded and gripped onto the knife, letting the current send them both to the frighteningly large Zelo and she suddenly thought of something, and pressed her lips onto Yongguk’s.

It was a painfully slow and passionate kiss- a kiss in the midst of the battlefield where they weren’t sure if they would come out alive or dead. A kiss they weren’t sure they would ever share again, and a kiss full of burning and fervent hope.

Jiyeon allowed herself one last time to mold himself into Yongguk’s toned body, and feel the belonging she felt, before she pulled away with tears and a fierce determination in her eyes.

“I love you,” Yongguk whispered, trailing his hands across Jiyeon’s wet face and Jiyeon merely returned the sentence.

“I love you, too,” a sentence she wasn’t sure she would have the chance to say again.

Zelo’s roar came again and he laughed, a devious and scary laugh that would chill anyone to the bones, “What a loving scene!”

Jiyeon broke free from Yongguk’s embrace and began to swim towards the towering Zelo, and the current flushing her towards him was definitely helping. She gripped onto the knife like it was her life, no, it was her life and she aimed for a spot on his enormous legs before the current slammed her onto the hard leg she was aiming at, sending the knife flying off her hands and into the waters.

Jiyeon was stunned for a moment before she saw a hand reaching out for her- no, not for her, for Yongguk.

“No!” Jiyeon screamed as she beat on Zelo’s legs, which obviously didn’t cause any harm to the God of the Sea, and she watched in sheer terror as his hands found Yongguk’s body. Yongguk was beating around; trying to get out of his grasp, but all his efforts went down the drain as Zelo decided to tighten his grip on Yongguk, until he stopped trying to escape.

The colour drained from Jiyeon’s face as she watched Yongguk’s limbs fall limp, and his once fiery eyes turning into a blank, and soulless stare.

Zelo dropped the dead Yongguk into the sea, and Jiyeon let out a strangled cry as the motionless body floated beside her. She gripped onto Yongguk’s strong, strong hands and held onto it, noticing the coldness that seeped into his skin, as she mourned internally for her lover as tears trickled down her face.

Her grief bled into the darkness of the waters which seemed to swallow her up, and she almost let it, but her anger fueled her to turn around to face Zelo and it uncorked something deep within her. The essence of rage tasted sweet on her tongue as her eyes blazed at the cunning smirk on Zelo’s face, and she imagined how much sweeter the essence of revenge would taste.

Conjuring up scenes of deserts in her mind, she stretched the plain desert ground until the distance was nothing but a sheet of blinding white, and she put the image to life. The illusion cost her almost everything she had left, but she would not die, not until she had Zelo at her feet bleeding out his death, paying for Yongguk’s life which he had taken.

The black skies turned into a spread of blue, and the choppy sea waters turned into a scorching hot desert floor, with the blinding light of the sun shining onto the surviving gods, and she heard Zelo scream in agony.

Jiyeon found the knife she had lost to the grips of the water and limped towards it, picking up the blade which would aid her in ending Zelo’s life. The coldness of Yongguk’s skin seeped into her own, and she no longer found any purpose to live. She would embrace the power thrown upon her to end the life which caused plenty of deaths, and she wouldn’t be burdened by the stain of his blood on her own hands anymore, because she’d lost everything she had cherished and now she was nothing but a cold and empty shell of what she once used to be.

She limped towards the groaning Zelo, clutching at his eyes as if the light and heat of the sun was burning him, and his skin shriveled, and Zelo was nothing but an image of disgust.

“You !” Zelo shrieked as she sent the nearby trees tumbling down with his large and wrinkled hands, but Jiyeon didn’t stop walking. Her mind was set on one thing and one thing only- Zelo’s heart.

With the waters gone, Zelo was no longer in power and he shrunk in size, becoming equal with Jiyeon, which gave her an advantage. However, Zelo had realized Jiyeon’s figure and was now bracing himself, still howling in pain and rage.

“I will end your useless, pathetic life,” Jiyeon spat with a feral snarl as she hurried up, clutching onto the knife’s grip and aiming it at his heart.

“Try it,” Zelo hissed and held out his wrinkled and now skinny limbs, “Look what you’ve did to me with your illusions.”

Jiyeon wasn’t looking at his hands, or his legs, or his face, but she was focused on the spot beneath his left shoulder, her final target. She would kill Zelo no matter what it cost her.

Jiyeon screamed- it was a pain filled battle cry and she started to dash towards Zelo, who was snarling like a hungry wolf waiting for his meal.

She moved in swiftly on Zelo and managed to make a shallow cut on his outstretched arms, which Zelo probably didn’t even feel. She didn’t stop though, she used all her left energy and channeled her rage into even more energy, and before she knew it, she had broke free of Zelo’s iron grip and was hurtling the knife at his heart.

The image of the knife lodging itself into Zelo’s heart was satisfying, and painful, because what she didn’t realize was Zelo had also wedged a sharp coral into her heart, and she watched in painful glee as the crimson red of her blood decorated the pure white of the coral with pretty, floral patterns. As she watched Zelo fall, she fell onto her knees, and the solid floor gave way to a sea of dark, calm waters.

And with that, Athena, the Goddess of War, had fallen.