Alithea

Chapter VIII: The Prophecy

Alithea walked into the temple tentatively. A priest met her at the threshold and led her up a few steps and to the back, where she could smell the scent of rotten eggs piercing through the air. Silhouetted against a brazier was a woman on a brass tripod with long, stringy hair and sinewy limbs. As Alithea drew closer, she realized the Pythia had rheumy but wide eyes, as if she had seen...too much. Was this the favored of Apollo?

"Walk forth, child of the foam," commanded the Pythia. Alithea took a step closer and suddenly the prophetess grabbed her forearm with strength Alithea hadn't expected, pulling her in close. Her grip was tight, and Alithea remembered the dagger strapped to her thigh. She was not keen on being manipulated and manhandled again.

"Please let go," Alithea muttered, pulling back, but the Pythia was strong.

"You must listen," she rasped, "young woman who has not yet seen a fraction of the world."

Something appeared to be out of the ordinary because the scribe in the room was not writing—instead, he was rapt, seeming to be fearful of what the Pythia was going to say next.

"The Fates have spun you a frightening thread,

"Your closest friend to be misled.

"A darkness shall consume the earth,

"But sons of fire be witness to a hero's birth." The Pythia's grip tightened more, so that her nails were digging into Alithea's flesh.

"Ouch!" she cried. "Please, let me go, you're hurting me!"

"Travel to the kingdom of the black land and witness betrayal firsthand. This be but a tragic tale if to preserve the world you fail."

The oracle pressed her hand onto Alithea's forehead, and suddenly her mind was flooded with horrific images—battlefields with bodies strewn everywhere, her own home set ablaze, animals dying in drought...but the images got worse. Her father drowned, Leander buried under rubble, and a bloodied Perseus lying on the ground with an arrow in his chest.

Alithea screamed.

"NO!" she shrieked, and she continued screaming and crying until she finally broke out of the oracle's vice grip. The force sent Alithea tumbling backwards down the steps, where she skinned her elbows on the marble.

"Alithea!" came a cry behind her. Perseus came rushing in and kneeled over her protectively. "What did you do to her?!" he demanded of the Pythia.

"She received her fate," the oracle growled. "Get out, pretender!"

Alithea was weeping and sputtering and shaking her head, trembling at the images the Pythia had revealed to her. "No, no, no, no, no," she begged between sobs.

"Keep your gods-damned temple and vague prophecies, you charlatan!" fired back Perseus. He picked up the still-sobbing Alithea and carried her out of the temple, leaving behind a furious Pythia and her scrambling priests.

Alithea buried her face in Perseus's chest, trying to remove the vivid, gruesome images from her head. When the two of them were out in the sunlight, they hurried out of the crowd and back to Leander and the horses.

Leander saw them approaching and he looked up, concern marring his soft features.

"Alithea," he breathed when he saw her. Perseus set her down gently on the ground and Leander kneeled next to her. Alithea groped the ground until she found his hand and she held it tightly, terrified that if she let go, the temple would come crashing down and crush him. "Alithea, are you okay?" Leander asked gently. When she shook her head, letting out another sob, he grabbed her other hand. "Look at me. Take a deep breath."