The Truths Spoken In The Sea Of Lies

Holy Cows!

Holy cows around.

Man-eating horses, dark days,

Great troubles ablaze.

***

They finally stopped in a room full of waterfalls. The floor was one big pit, ringed by a slippery stone walkway. Around them, on all four walls, water tumbled from huge pipes. The water spilt down into the pit, and even when light was shined in it, it was impossible to see the bottom.

Briares slumped against the wall. He scooped up water in a dozen hands and washed his face. "This pit goes straight to Tartarus," he murmured. "I should jump in and save you trouble."

"Don't talk that way," Annabeth told him. "You can come back to camp with us. You can help us prepare. You know more about fighting Titans than anybody."

"I have nothing to offer," Briares said. "I have lost everything."

"What about your brothers?" Tyson asked. "The other two must stand tall as mountains! We can take you to them."

Briares expression morphed to something even sadder: his grieving face. "They are no more. They faded."

The waterfalls thundered. Tyson stared into the pit and blinked tears out of his eye.

"They gave up on life huh," Rhea mumbled.

"They got forgotten and they lose their will to stay immortal," Grover said weakly.

"I must go," Briares said.

"Kronos's army will invade the camp," Tyson said. "We need help."

Briares hung his head. "I cannot, Cyclops."

"You are strong."

"Not anymore." Briares rose.

Rhea's eyes did not leave the opening to the pit as she addressed Briares. "Open your eyes damn it, Tyson believes in you. He risked his life for you and yet you sit there moping how miserable your life is." She glared at him. "Luke will invade Camp Half-Blood through an entrance in camp."

She then told him about Daedalus's workshop and Kronos's golden coffin.

Briares just shook his head. "I cannot, demigod. I do not have a finger gun to win this game." To prove his point, he made one hundred finger guns.

"No wonder you fade," Rhea remarked, her tone tinged with frustration. "It's not just because you rely on mortal belief, which is foolish in the first place. It's also because you give up on yourselves. Do you think we demigods wanted this?" She threw her hands up in exasperation. "But here we are, thrust into battles that have everything to do with us because the gods are utterly useless."

Annabeth's eyes widened, and she tried to interject, "Rhea—"

"We're forced to save their skins, take on quests they throw at us without asking, and if we dare refuse? HAH! That's not an option! They'd kill us if we did!" Rhea spat. "And what do we get in return for risking our lives, coming back barely alive or missing limbs? Not a simple 'thank you,' no, that's too much to ask for! What we get is either a forced 'good job' or 'you could have done better'!" Rhea paused for a moment, simmering with frustration. "And you want to know whose fault this entire war is? Zeus!"

"Rhea!" Annabeth called out again.

"If he had listened to me years ago when I warned him about Kronos rising from Tartarus and took it seriously, we could have avoided so much!" Rhea continued, her anger unabated. "Years of preparation gone to waste because he was in denial about the fact that his cursed father is rising !"