Return of the Titans

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"Is that why you're here?" I asked. "Were you exiled, like the Mad King?" Like Doc, I wanted to add.

"Not me," Prometheus said. "I wasn't yet born. Friends, family. They rebelled, along with a handful of others."

"But I thought that everyone went up against him."

"If that was the case, then I wouldn't be here, and the casualties wouldn't have been so great. No, only a handful rebelled. They were mainly lowly spirits but, then again, that didn't surprise anyone. Spirits are free creatures. They don't rely on anyone's laws, not even their own. You've seen this, haven't you?"

That wasn't a hard question to answer. I could tie Jay and Maria up with chains, but one would use it as a weapon and the other would bite off his own arm just to get free. They made their own decisions even in you told them whether or not it was dangerous.

Perhaps that was what made them better than me. I was stuck on figuring out every possibility that I had, but in that time, I got shot with lightning bolts. But them? They didn't care. They did what they believed to be right and figured everything out after the fact.

They were braver than me by far, and yet, I was the one that was called courageous.

"The Mad King wanted to have order," Prometheus went on. "After the fall of the Giants, he worried about the possibility of other gods turning on him. So, he took precautions."

"But he was stopped, right?" By the look of forlorn that dimmed Prometheus's eyes, my heart fell two inches from within my chest.

"Many didn't survive the war. Gods, humans. For half a century, anarchy ruled the land, and there was discord wherever you went. Hardly anyone survived."

He stopped to stare down at his hooves. "The war ended just how the Mad King predicted that it would: with him banished and one of his children taking his throne. However, no one trusted the gods, not like they did before. Anyone affiliated with the Gods of Old was thought of as potential dangers to our society. As an act of selflessness, the Mad King's children decided to exile themselves, leaving the minor gods and their offspring to rule in their stead. As you can see, it hasn't been easy."

"That's what happens when you go crazy," I muttered, suppressing my shudders.

A jackdaw's cry tore through the still air. With my migraine now gone, I began to notice the world around me. Through a pathway hidden among the thistle bushes, we walked into an open space of muddy puddles and sparsely-spread grass shoots. Thick roots of towering trees arched above the ground. A family of possums scurried across the floor, their tails leaving trails in the soggy ground.

I found myself staring after a shrew. Even for its tiny size, it expertly navigated its way through the sea of puddles to rest at a dryer section of the marsh. "This is..."

"Peaceful?" Prometheus said. "My prison has changed over the years. As generations come and go, the bonds that keep me tethered become looser. It won't be long until I'm free once more."

"Why won't the new king free you now?" I asked. "You've done nothing wrong. I'm sure you didn't do anything while imprisoned, so why doesn't he let you off early?"

Prometheus glanced at me sideways. "You seem to say that with conviction."

I bashfully scratched an antler. "I think my friend might have been exiled like you. Doc says that he voluntarily keeps himself separate from everyone else, but I think that there's something else."

"It wouldn't be the first time that the gods used their power for nefarious reasons. That's why I'm here."

"I thought you said that you were exiled?"