Ares And Mia

Chapter 48

A breath rattles through my chest, my esophagus burning. The change in the air... powerful. So beyond powerful. Cataclysmically devastating. It felt like the world had tipped itself over, spiraling over on its axis, throwing gravity in all sorts of directions. My body feels heavier, as if my clothes were filled with bricks. No. 'They're here.' The EOD quivers in my hand and I understand. 

A body hoists itself from the groove, a loud, booming laugh echoing around us. The battlefield splits into two, the groove in the middle being--being pried apart. Oh. The beings around me stagger away, just as horrified screaming fills my ears. The entire continent was being moved by hands colored like the night sky. I could care less about the ringing in my ears, I couldn't move my eyes from the doom that I've called forth. 

The Titans were here. 

They were giants. Shoulders the height of sky scrapers, and it looked like they could reach up and steal the sun from the sky. With each new appearance, the ground groaned as if spelling out our inevitable deaths. A rebirth wasn't a good word to describe the second coming of the Titans. No, it resembled maggots crawling out of a corpse, their hunger never satiated. 

And these Titans haven't tasted a breath of fresh air in lifetimes. "Stupid, stupid gods!" One of the Titans stepped forward, his voice projected all over the armies. I can feel the kickback of the very volume of his voice, like the crack of a whip. Fear crawls its pathetic way into my head and I shake my head. 

No no no no no no, this cannot be happening. Here? Now? "The age of the Olympians is no more. You should've known from the moment you all decided to go against me." Cronus. 

He's here.

We're doomed. 

The rain stops. Completely stops, the heaviness in my clothes the only telling of the weather. I felt like a deer in head lights. Watching from the cliff, the Titan had no idea where I was but I felt bare. I could feel the stares, invisible pupils centering on me and pointing. That's her. She's here. What will you do now, little prophecy girl?

 There was no prophecy. It was a manifestation. A trigger for everything that would eventually lead me here. All planned by Atlas. 

We walked into it with our eyes wide open, rabbits into a fox's den. Ten years of fighting in the Titanomachy... All unraveled in the span of moments. This is the end. The prophecy is kicking into position, the final grain of sand tumbling in the hourglass. The war and the Titans. It all arrived at the same time. 

The chaos of Mia Williams. 

What have I done? 

What the fuck do I do now? "Mia!" Clean hands grab me and I let both of the blades in my grip drop. I was weak all over again. With no ounce of spark in my veins, no steel in my bones, no dam to my tear ducts. Blood-red eyes stare deep into my own, both hands gripping my face. He's here now. The cloudiness of scarlet. Flecks of silver bleed through his eyes. Ares is here. He's with me. Everything is going to be fine. Everything has to be fine. His thumb caresses my cheek and he kisses my forehead, red blood streaked against his brow. Ares. He's shaking. "Trust me--trust me, do you remember your promise?" 

His words are hurried. I look down at the ground. Leather gloves stained with gold. He took them off before touching me. My lips move numbly. "To put me first?" I can't feel my face. He nods with fervor, his shoulders relaxing as he pulls me close. Everything's going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. 

Don't you dare fucking cry, Mia.  

"Good. Good, you have to--" Ares kisses the top of my head. "--leave everything to me, doll. I'll make sure that you and everyone else will be okay." I nodded and he tucks his head against my shoulder, inhaling. I trust him. I trust him with my entire soul, with all of my humanity, with all of my mortality. "Mia," I look up at him, my name sounding like a prayer from his lips. "you... you do so much more than intrigue me. I adore you."