The Daughter Of Night (Re-write)

Chapter Seventeen - I Become Immortal

Chapter Seventeen - I Become Immortal
Posted: Sunday 17th March 2024

It felt as if my soul itself had left my body and I was swimming in the Phlegethon, the fire licking my body and consuming me. I was nothing but this pain. I never had been anyone before and I never would be anyone again.

And then, after a lifetime of pain, there was something else. A voice which I recognised from a life long ago.

"I can heal you," the woman's voice spoke in my head, "I can make you strong again. My daughter you will be eternal. Swear yourself unto me, swear your allegiance and I will heal you body and give you immortality."

"Anything!" I almost screamed, "Make it stop." I would agree to anything, take any deal to just make the pain stop. It was as if the two halves of me, mortal and Primordial were being ripped in half, pulled into two pieces, leaving jagged open wounds which were being doused in acid, burning through my veins.

"Say it," the woman's voice said, "say you pledge yourself unto me, swear to stand by my side. Become my champion, serve me in what way you can until I see fit to release you."

"I pledge myself to you, I swear," I cried, "just please make it stop."

The pain disappeared and my body was left feeling cold.

"She shouldn't be alive," a voice was saying as the haze of pain lifted and the world took shape around me again. My body fell still. I felt as though I had just run a marathon and as if there were heavy weights on me holding me down. I didn't have any energy to move, to even open my eyes.

"What happened? Why did she stop moving?" A panicked voice asked, I thought it might be Will Solace's voice, but in my dazed state I could have been wrong.

"Is she dead?" Another voice, a girl's. I didn't know a name for this one, I thought that it might be another Apollo camper.

I felt cold hands on my wrist, checking for a pulse, "No she's alive."

"Why did she stop moving?" The girl demanded.

"I-I don't know," Will stuttered.

There was the sound of a commotion, heavy footfalls, shouting.

"No Apollo, I forbid you," a voice that sent chills down my spine said. Zeus.

"Get out of my way father," Apollo's voice floated towards me, "let me go to her!"

"Dad?" Will asked, shocked. The two gods sounded as if they were around 10 metres from me.

The room fell silent and I could imagine the two gods facing off against each other, wondering which of them would win if it came to a fight. The room began to smell like ozone.

"Apollo do not make us ruin the celebrations," Zeus' tone was warning, "we have won. Do not make us fight now. You will lose."

The weights began to lessen on my chest and I was able to open my eyes. I didn't recognise the room I was in, there were cots lining the walls which were made of white marble, some of the cots had bodies in them covered with sheets, the dead. My mind raced, the last thing I remembered was fighting Kronos and then the pain. What did Zeus mean about celebrations? How long had I been out? Was the battle over? Had we won?

I looked around and saw Apollo and Zeus facing off. Zeus was in between Apollo and and they both looked as if they were about to start hitting each other. If I wasn't certain Apollo would lose and therefore terrified I would have wanted to place a bet on the fight, maybe watch it with some popcorn.

"She is a mortal, Apollo." Zeus said, "She is a mortal who is fated to destroy everything we have built, everything we have just fought to protect. She is not worth your life."

"She is," Apollo said, with a certainty in his voice that made me feel so warm inside that I thought for a moment that the pain was back.

The master bolt sizzled to life in Zeus' hand. He looked at Apollo and then slowly turned towards me.

"You let your emotions cloud you Apollo," Zeus said, "the girl is too dangerous to live." Zeus raised the master bolt and aimed it towards me.

"NO!" I shouted. I pushed myself into a sitting position and threw my hands out in front of me and without intending to, the shadows gathered together and threw themselves at Zeus' weapon. The bolt was flung from his hand and skittered to the floor.

Zeus' face was a mask of anger and confusion as he turned to look towards me. The mass of shadows snaked their way back towards me and began to take form beside the cot that I was sat in.

Will Solace and the girl who had spoken before stumbled back, away from me as the shadows took the form of my mother.

Like a stab in the chest I realised that my mother had been the one to speak to me. I felt compelled to kneel before her and I pried myself up from the bed, the lethargy fully gone from my body now.

I knelt at her feet as Zeus, Apollo and the two campers watched.

"Rise," Nyx said.

I got to my feet, uncertain about what had happened, why I had knelt to her when I never had before? Why had I wanted to?

Nyx turned to face the king of the gods, a look of calm across her face.

"Zeus," she said.

"Nyx," Zeus looked lost without the master bolt in his hands. Like a child who had their favourite toy taken from them. Apollo stood behind Zeus, staring at me with wide eyes. "You have some part in this I presume. The girl should not have survived a blow from my father's scythe, even if Primordial blood runs through her veins.

"Ariadne has pledged herself to me," Nyx said, "She is my Champion now."

My head was reeling, I looked at my mother. There was some strange force in action that seemed to draw me towards her, as if my life force itself was trying to escape my body and surge towards her, as the shadows had surged towards Zeus.

Zeus glowered at my mother. "You had no right to interfere Nyx. That girl should be dead."

"Yet she is not," Nyx stated, "You cannot raise a hand against her Zeus, I have decreed it, the fates themselves have decreed it. If you do, you will be destroyed."

Zeus was speechless.

Nyx smiled. She turned to me and fixed me with a look. "You now live to serve me. You are immortal at my pleasure, unless you should fall in battle you will remain unchanged until the end of time. Await my call."

Then she was gone.