The Witch Chronicles (In Bloom Book 2.5)

Clash of the Gods Part 2

Idia and I had been taken to a lush forest. The skies were clear. The air was warm. The birds were chirping. I could sense all of natural life around me, but I could not tap into it.

Strapped to my belt was a small pouch. Inside it were pomegranate seeds.

According to Idia, they were used to get other characters to do anything we wanted. We could also use them to heal ourselves if our HP went too low. Problem was Hades only gave us three of them to use between us.

Unless my magic miraculously started to work, the only thing we could do was follow through with the game. We had to find whatever potion the Lord of the Underworld had lost.

"I really don't like how little information we have to work with," I listed off, "We don't have any suspects, who Hades was seen with last, or what the potion even does. We can't just barrel into a situation without a strategy."

Idia snickered, "Cassie, you're really overthinking this."

"I suppose you have a plan then, Mr. Shroud?"

"You have to follow the customs of the game in order to enjoy it."

"What exactly are the customs of the game?" I gestured to our clothes. "Or should I ask for the customs of the time period?"

"When that whole ordeal with the magift scandal was going down, how did you figure it out?"

I thought back, "I researched some of the previous tournaments and I talked to people."

"Bingo! The NPC's are the key for this whole thing!"

"Problem is who to talk to. We're alone her and-look out!" I grabbed Idia by his robes and yanked him to hide behind a tree.

The ground shook. Dirt and dust was sent flying to either of our sides.

"What the heck was that?!" Idia pressed his back against the trunk, "I swear, this is why I don't go out of my room."

Cautiously, I took a peek at the enormous projectile on the ground. It looked like a large metallic frisbee.

"Who's there?!" someone called out. "Come on out and face me!"

Idia groaned,, "Seriously? That's the entrance he decides to go with? There's so many less cliche lines available."

"Didn't you say we need to talk to the NPCs?" I reminded him. "I think that's one of them."

"If you could be the one to do the talking, that would be really great."

Before our supposed NPC was about to throw something else at us, I came out of hiding.

It was just one man. Though, judging from his broad, athletic physique, he could probably take down a hundred. Above him was an HP bar set to 20,000.

"I'm Hercules, the god of strength and heroes," he introduced himself. "And you are?"

More like Hunk-ules.

"I'm just passing through," I explained.

"By yourself?" Hercules scanned the area behind me. His brows scrunched in confusion, "You're not a damsel in distress, are you?"

"Nah, I'm a tough girl. I tie my own sandals and everything. I'm actually on the search for something. Do you know anything about a potion being stolen from Hades?"

Hercules' expression hardened. He stepped back, "You're with Hades?"

"Yeah, but here's the thing-"

Hercules immediately drove his fist into the ground, splitting it in two. I got out of the way before it could reach me.