CHAPTER THREE
Pyrrha 

  THE ANARCHY BEGAN SHORTLY AFTER MY BIRTH, raging across the nation, rebelling against the illusion the Gods had cast over their eyes, forcing them to believe they lived in a Utopian land where none could go wrong. Blindfolded by an illusion as the Gods murdered their kin, claiming them to be sacrifices for the better good, Mortals believing they had a choice in their lives. 

  The price for Immortality became steep. Souls found themselves wandering into the Underworld, away from the rest of the world, living in rags and debt unless they could cross the rivers to a richer life, a better life, and yet their rulers never allowed it.

It was the plan of Epimethius to assist them out of their debt, offering them an alternative to Immortality, a perfected serum that didn't send them spiraling into madness, to be locked away in the cells of the Underworld.

Before going into Sleep Mode, I would cast the playback onto the wall, of my Epimethius dying, choking out his final breaths, as Ares stood over him with a twisted grin and bloodied ax. A fate more merciful than his brother, who could still be heard screaming in the mornings, like the crow of a rooster to begin the day.

I tossed the disk in the air, snatching it back into my palm as it landed, my other hand in my pocket, around the cold handle of an ancient weapon the Humans would call a gun. Pyrrha had to smuggle it through cargo of a ship, risking her own life to save lives of other, to free them from the reality their rulers had created for them.

"Please be careful," she whispered, the glow from the cyber billboard the only light in the pitch darkness of the Ithaca alleyways, "my father would never forgive me if an innocent life were lost because of my doing."

I had brushed my hand along her hair. "You sound like Epimethius. He would be proud to see the rebellion his daughter has lead." Tears gathered at the corners of her dark eyes, falling down her face. How much she looked like her father then.

The gun somehow felt heavier than it had before.

It was my only way into the vaults of the Temple, into the Box. The death of the Gods awaited me there.