I looked at the business card. It said "Keto's aquarium : Behold the magnificent creatures of the deep!" in golden writing. I slipped it into my pocket. May come in handy later on. The mood returned to it's normal state. Everyone seemed to be calm now.

"Well, I think we should inform Mr.D and Mr.Chiron about what's going on," Astroid said.

"I agree. This is pretty big." Plute added. I stared out at the ocean. This was really happening. This was real. Chaos was the one who caused my nightmare. If he woke up, the world would be destroyed. But...its crazy. From since I was a little kid, I've always believed God was kind and loving. Not an ancient evil deity bent on the destruction of all life. No, Chaos was not God. Chaos is the enemy. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You okay, Sea breeze?"

"Yeah," I said, "it's just a lot to take in, you know. But we got this. Right?" She could see that I was looking for reassurance. The tender flame in her eyes flickered. Sometimes I really wondered if she were really the child of Ares. She's probably the nicest person I've met.

"Right. We're all going to stop Chaos from awakening. Finding the seven essence will be a piece of cake! We can worry about the rest later. Let's go tell Mr.Chiron about everything."

"Yeah. " I replied.

Minutes later we arrived outside the big house. The windows reflected the moonlight. Chiron sat outside in his wheel chair at a table with Mr.D.

"Look's like I win again. Didn't I tell you I can't be bested." Dionysus laughed jollily.

"Err, Mr.Chiron, Mr.D?"

They both looked up. "Ah, Astroid. What brings you here at this hour?"

She shifted restlessly. "A lot of things. We met Keto a few minutes ago."

Their expressions became tense. "Keto. Ah, Keto. Did she say anything about me?" Dionysus offered.

"No. She told us about something that you need to hear." Astroid told them about everything.

"That...can't be...why would Chaos involve himself in earthly affairs?" Chiron said.

"Chaos was probably sturred by the battle against Gaea and her giants." Dionysus added.

"There was a war against Gaea and her giants? Like, the mother earth Gaea?"

"It's a long story, Zeph, I'll tell you later," said Astroid. She turned to Chiron. "We need your permission to go on this quest." I nodded.

"It wouldn't hurt. It would surely save us the work of doing it ourselves." said Dionysus. He materialized a can of diet pepsi out of thin air. Chiron stroked his beard, thinking the idea over.

"I trust that you and your group will make it back alive. I'll leave planning the quest up to the three of you. We'll do everything we can to help." Mr.D grumbled into his soda can. I guess he didn't really enjoy the idea of work.

Astroid grinned. "No need to worry, Mr.Chiron. We'll go once Argo II comes back. They can probably help. I'll go pack from now." Astroid waved and ran off to her cabin.

"Well, I'll do the same." Plute puffed his cigarette and walked off. I wonder why he always smoked that? Well, it was better than the actual cigarettes. I went of to my cabin. The comforting scent of salt water floated around in my room. I yawned and sat on my bed, leaning back against the head.

"Hi, Zeph." I almost got a heart attack, again. Breezy sat on the balcony railing, staring at me with her bright green eyes. She looked strikingly beautiful in the moonlight. Not that mattered to me or anything. Goddesses were supposed to be beautiful.

"Breezy! What's up? You almost gave me another heart attack."

She laughed. "Sorry, Zeph. I just..." She paused. "I just wanted to take a break from the lake." She laughed nervously.

"Well, you wouldn't imagine what's going on." She sat down on the bed beside me.

"What's going on?" I told her everything, from my dream, to our quest. Breezy's face turned pale. "C-Chaos? Chaos is a very bad god." Breezy pouted. "And he is even worse for messing with you."

I gave her a weak smile. "Thanks, Breezy. Don't worry, we'll beat him." I sat back she must sensed my anxiety. I was afraid to go asleep, fearing the same horrific nightmare. Breezy put her hand on my arm. All my anxiety suddenly dissolved.

"Zeph, if you're afraid Chaos will mess with you..." She looked down then back up. "I can watch over you."

"Uh? You don't have to--"

She squeezed my hand. My muscles relaxed and my whole body felt like I was floating on a cloud. "Chaos won't bother you if I'm here. I promise." She smiled, glowing verdant green in the dim cabin. I couldn't keep my eyes open. Everything was so peaceful. I nodded off to sleep, Breezy still holding my hand.

She sure did keep her promise. Instead of appearing outside the black castle, I was in a greek style agora. I could see a ton of people surrounding the area. They all seemed to glow a shade of gold. I looked down. I had my body, which was great. I tried to speak, and to my surprise, sound did come out. Although no one seemed to hear it. A euphoric tune played constantly. It was great. It reminded me of home. I began to look around. Might as well kill some time while I was dreaming. I followed a path that lead directly to an ivory, greek style building. It was really freaking huge. woah...since when did they make buildings that big? I thought to myself. I jogged towards it. Then I began to run, as fast as I possibly could. Because, why not? I whipped past pedestrians as quick as the wind. The air flowed through my hair at mach speeds.

"Zephyros. As fast as the wind itself." I skidded to a stop, I was frozen in place. That voice...I knew that voice so well. I looked around frantically.

"Mom!" I cried. I couldn't have been hearing things. That was definitely my mothers voice. Soft and tender, but infused with wisdom and suppressed power. Like Astroid's. I called out again. No one responded. I began walking again, staying alert. That's when I stopped and realized something was wrong. As I looked towards the ivory building, it began smoking. I was certain buildings don't smoke. Then suddenly the other surrounding buildings began smoking. I looked at the people walking briskly past me. They began to convulse violently, fading into more smoke. It burnt my eyes and nostrils. I hacked vicious coughs. The smoke obscured my vision. "What the hell is going on!" I shouted.

"Zeph, wake up." My mom's voice called out.

"Mom! Where are--"

"Zeph, wake up." Said the voice again. It sounded far away, almost like a cry. "Zeph! Wake up!" It was a cry, and it wasn't my mothers. I bolted up in the bed. I could barely see through the thick smoke. I could feel Breezy squeezing my hand tightly.

"Ah! Breezy! What's going on!" She pulled me out of the bed. She guided me through the burning smoke and over the balcony. We landed into the lake. Breezy's red eyes returned to a healthy green. I looked up at the surface. I could see fire. The only person I could think of with fire was Astroid. But Astroids red flames didn't burn so hot or create such gaseous smoke.

"Zeph, it's him! He's making the fire!" Breezy began hyper ventilating. I cupped her face to calm her down.

"Breezy. Easy. Who's creating the fire?" My voice came out calmer than I was actually feeling. She took deep breaths. The color returning to her face. I had the weird urge to keep her safe. Almost like a big brother. "The titan. He came when you were asleep and started burning stuff up. He threatened to evaporate our precious lake if the child of prophecy didn't show himself." A bubble of rage sparked in my gut like a ticking time bomb. I knew I had to control myself. I gripped Breezy's hands in mine.

"Breezy. In your name, the goddess of water, I will defend your--our--lake with my life." I swam up to the surface and poked my head out. If I wasn't so pissed, I would have probably pissed myself. Standing only a few yards on the bank of the lake, was a ten foot colossus. The titan was clad in blazing gold armor, lighting up everything in its radius in a blazing inferno. I could feel the intense heat from here. It felt like standing next to a volcano. Tendrils of flame licked the grass, charring it into ash. Holy crap. I thought to myself. The hell is that thing? The titan didn't have a face or any form of organic flesh. Instead, flames seeped out of a golden full face, black knight sort of helm. The titans arms and legs were violent columns of fire.

The titan's voice boomed like a volcanic eruption. "CHILD OF PROPHECY! SHOW YOURSELF! OR ALL SHALL DIE BY MY FLAMES!" An arrow suddenly materialized in the demons armor. But as soon as it punctured, it was reduced to nothing but ash. The titan turned it's eyes towards the source of the arrow. Chiron stood, already nocking another arrow. A couple of demigods behind him, swords drawn. The titan bellowed. "Ah! Good old Chiron! Long time no see!" Chiron aimed an arrow at the titans head. That's when I became confused and scared out of my mind. Astroid walked past Chiron without paying him any mind. Everyone froze. No, something was wrong. Astroid's eyes weren't hers. She didn't have that powerful warrior flame in her eyes nor did she have a tender or protective flame. The flame in her eyes was like hellfire. Looking into her eyes froze me in place. The intent in her eyes only told me one thing: kill. In one fiery eruption, ghostly white flames engulfed her. They were a hundred times more hot than the titans. Chiron and the demigods backed up. Her flames scorched the grass. Steam curled on the lake. The titan howled. "Ah! I remember you! You're that girl that that went on that murderous rampage! My monsters really didn't appreciate that."

Astroid's eyes seemed soulless. Purged of all humanity. "I'll kill you." Her voice sent shivers down my spine. A wave of fear passed over the demigods behind Chiron. I instantly knew who this titan was. The source of Astroids rage.

Hyperion bellowed. "Kill me? You are sadly ignorant, child. I am the titan of light and fire. Your flames are nothing more than matches compared to mine." Embers flared from his helm. "Now, where is the Child of Prophecy? If you tell me now, your deaths will be quick. Much like those foolish mortals that you loved so much." He was trying to tick her off. He was trying to cause her to burn everything with her flames. The flames in her eyes blazed viciously as she released a terrible scream. Pure rage. The white flames around her body combusted. Everything in a ten foot radius of her erupted in flames. The lake began to bubble. I had to stop Astroid before she parboils the lake. I didn't know how I was going to do it. So I did the only thing I knew how to do. I burst out of the lake at full speed. The water clung to my skin like plastic wrap. I needed it to even make It close enough to her. As soon as the flames licked my body, I felt like I was in a pot of boiling water. Her flames evaporated the water on my body. But I was close enough now. I ignored the flesh biting pain, and looked Astroid right in the eyes. The flames blazed with pure, undying hatred and pain and anger. I could tell this wasn't Astroid. She couldn't control herself. The real Astroid would never look at me like that. I had to save her.

"Astroid! Get hold of yourself!" I screamed. Steaming tears ran down her cheeks and instantly evaporated. She was trying, but she was full of so much anger that not even she couldn't control it. I put both my hands on her shoulders. I ignored the burning pain, willing every ounce of calmness into my voice. "Astroid. Please, come back." My voice came out as smooth as silently flowing water. The raging hellfire in her eyes wavered. The evil white flames extinguished, and I was looking at Astroid again. The real Astroid. She fell into my chest. Her body was scorching hot like she had a fever.

"Z..Zeph..." she muttered softly into my chest. "I'm...sorry..."

"It doesn't matter," I said, "because Hyperion is going to wish he never existed. I'll beat the ash out of him."

Hyperion chuckled. "And who are you supposed to be, milk drinker!" I handed Astroid over to Chiron. He hoisted her onto his back.

"I'll take care of him." I told Chiron.

"Zephyros--" I looked towards Astroid, who lay half awake on the centaur.

"You watch, Astroid. I'm going to make him pay for what he did. I promise." I stuck out my pinky and wrapped it around hers. "Pinky swear on it!" As I turned back to Hyperion I realized something. I should be dead. Her white flames were supposed to vaporize anything they come in contact with. But I survived. I looked down. My shirt was seared off, but my skin only had a few splashes of black ash on it. That could only mean one thing. Through the immense rage that Hyperion had brought out of Astroid, deep down, she cared for me enough to spare my life. That's what made me so angry. That's what brought out my powers. I walked forward, stopping in the center of the ashen circle Astroid had created in the grass. I stared at Hyperion, gauging him.

He crossed his arms. "You must want to die first. I would if I were you!" He chuckled. "Tell me where the child of prophecy is, and I'll grant you a quick death. I can't promise it will be painless, however."

"You want the child of prophecy?" I asked rhetorically, "Well, you're looking at him."

Hyperion laughed hysterically. "You can't be serious! Comedy!"

A wicked bolt of lighting fell from the heavens, striking me. I felt the static flow through my body. I directed it to my hands. Arcs of electricity circuited around my fingers. Focus the lighting to one point. said a voice in my head. It didn't take much concentration at all. The electricity churned in the palm of my hand like a thunder cloud.

Hyperion gasped. "What is this! You think I'm supposed to fear you because you can tame a little lightning!? I am the titan of fire!" Violent flames swirled around in Hyperion's hands. "Now, die scum." In a flash of blinding heat, a ball of white-hot fire was blasted at me. My brain began commanding orders. Don't counter or dodge it, deflect it. As the death ball was inches from me, I stuck both my hands out in front of me. As the ball of fire made contact with my hands, the lightning was able to allow me to easily bounce it off into the sky. In a fiery explosion, the sky lit up like morning for an instant, then returned to night as the balls cinders rained towards the ground. If I were to have blocked that or even dodged it, the explosion would have been fatal. "Wha--how--" Hyperion stammered.

I focused even harder. Another bolt crashed down on me. It felt like a sugar rush as the static circulated my nervous system, heightening my senses. This was the part were I kick Hyperion's golden, flaming ass. I pushed off as hard as I can. My brain ordered my legs to work on overdrive. I opened my palm up and held it to my side. Picture a scene from an anime when the main character is about to hit with a crazy powerful attack. Hold that in your head, now picture that in your head right now. I pretty much brought that to reality. Wicked energy raged through my hand. I also noticed tendrils of the lake water flowing in unison with the lightning. Ocean Volt is what I had named it. Well there was only one thing to do now.

"Ocean!" I shouted as the distance between me and the titan was quickly shortened. The titan was frozen in utter shock. I doubt he could have avoided what came next. As my hand slammed into his flaming armor, it surprisingly didn't hurt. The force of my palm strike lifted him off the ground. Time seemed to freeze and everything became silent. The only sound that floated through the air was the soft buzzing of static. I broke the silence with the word that would trigger the powerful explosion. I put every ounce of meaning and power into my voice.

"Volt." Have you ever wondered what happens when you release an explosion at point blank like in the animes? Well, let me enlighten you. It feels like someone is smashing your arm with a hammer in every place. Ever broken your arm before? Well, multiply that pain by 100. Not to mention the shockwave of the explosion was enough to blow my body to pieces from the inside out, but out of some sort of sheer luck, the explosion sent me soaring backwards. My body was momentarily airborne, I felt weightless. Then it all came crashing down when I hit the ground with a sickening wack! Black spots floated around in my vision. My head hit the ground hard as hell. I managed to sit up, my head spinning. The second I looked up, I wanted to run away and hide under a rock. I did manage to blow Hyperion's golden armor to bits, but it that's when I realized his armor wasn't meant to protect his body...it was meant to keep it contained. I was looking at a ten foot, humanoid shaped cluster of fire. It's face was a flurry of black, toxic smoke and flames in the shape of a mouth and eyes. I could barely understand how this monster was even alive. It was a cluster of friggan flames!

Hyperion's voice boomed like an eruption. "Foolish mortal! You can't be the child of prophecy! Your puny attack did more damage to you than to me!"

I tried to stand, but the shock of the explosion and the heat radiating from Hyperion kept me incapacitated. He loomed over me, his blazing mouth parting in a explosive voice. "I'll be sure to make your death a long and painful one. You've earned the right to perish by my hand, boy." Hyperion's blazing form was focused into one point. I knew for certain that I was seconds away from being torched like a roasted thanksgiving turkey. I still defied death, staring right into the charging mini-sun.

In a flash of green light, the mini-sun disappeared. Hyperion had a look of confusion on his fiery face. Too bad he was slow to react. A jet of water blasted his fiery head clean off. I froze in shock as a glowing green girl stood in front of me. Breezy. She just saved my life. She turned to me, her eyes brimming with happiness. "Zeph...I..." before she could even finish, blazing hands grabbed her by the throat, holding her in the air.

"NO!" I cried, which seemed pretty futile at the moment.

Hyperion roared in rage. "You filthy nymph! I'll burn you alive and cast you to the lowest reaches of Tartarus, we're you'll suffer for the rest of your days!"

Even in the titans fiery grip, she managed to turn her head to me, the same smile still on her glowing green face. "Thanks for letting me be a goddess." She croaked out. My eyes sparked. She was saying goodbye. She was thanking me for making her life wonderful. Hyperion was hurting my goddess. He was going to kill her. He made her have to say goodbye. He was hurting my friend. Something snapped within me. My vision was bleached red. The voice in my head repeated the same words. Kill. Kill. Kill. My fist cracked along the titans shitty face. His grip slipped from Breezy's throat. Hyperion flew fifty yards, reducing a pine to ash as he slammed into it. Breezy fell to the ground, gasping for air. I didn't pay attention to her. I rushed Hyperion, screaming a murderous, guttural cry. I would make him pay for laying his dirty hands on Breezy. For making her have to say goodbye to me. I tackled the titan, pinning him to the ground. Hyperion released a blazing roar.

"You putrid mortal! I'll destroy you for that--" My fist crash down onto his face like a meteorite. I ignored the burning skin on my knuckles. I let loose a machine gun of punches directly into Hyperion's fiery face. I put all my anger into each hit. The horrible sound rang through the air like subwoofer.

"Die," Whack! "Die," Whack! "Die..." Whack! "DIE!!!" My fist crashed into Hyperion's face with the force of an earthquake. The ground underneath us shattered in a seismic eruption. Flares of flame obscured my vision. I still mercilessly pounded away at the bastards face. I would tear him apart for laying a hand on Breezy! I'll kill him--

I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I stopped and turned around to see Breezy. Her throat was red, like it had been sunburnt. A little lake water and it would be fine. I looked by down, my attention back on Hyperion. My rage subsided as I looked at the ground were Hyperion was. All that remained was a smoking pile of golden...dust? Breezy fell on her knees and wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

"Zeph," she said. Her voice was horse and scratchy. "your hands are hurt."

"Wha--" I looked at my hands and got a sick feeling in my stomach. They were covered in steaming golden liquid. Ichor, I thought. The blood of immortals. I wiped of the ichor, and that's when my stomach dropped. My hands were hideously scarred. Bloody blisters cover my palms and the skin on my knuckles were pealed so that I could make out the white of bone. I couldn't feel it because my nerves were totally fried from the flames. Burns ran up the length of my arms. That, I could feel. I tried to move them but it stung like 1,000 bee stings. Breezy stopped me, gently squeezing my shoulders. A warm sensation spread through my body, dissolving the stinging pain. I stood up and grinned. Breezy smiled and hacked a wet cough. Golden liquid stained her hands.

I quickly bent down in front of her. "Breezy, take a deep breath." She nodded and inhaled sharply. Her breath cut of sharply and she squealed in pain. As I thought, Hyperion had damaged her throat from the inside too. She hacked another bloody cough.

"I don't think lake water's going to heal something like a charred up throat." I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. "Damn, if only Astroid were here!"

"You called, Sea breeze." I grinned, mentally fist-bumping myself. She waved a flask of sparkling golden liquid.

Breezy's eyes widened. "N-nectar!" She croaked. Astroid smiled. She sat down on the grass and handed the flask to Breezy, who gulped it down in seconds. She closed her eyes and hummed as the nectar soothed her throat. She glowed a bursting green and hugged Astroid tightly. Astroid laughed like she was being tickled to death. I guess that was a part of Breezy's ability. Same way how she made me fall asleep I guess. Once Astroid finished having her tickle attack, she wiped the tears out of her eyes. Her face was beet red.

"Thank you, uh..."

"Astroid." She stood up and bowed. "The pleasure is all mine."

"Asteroid?" Breezy rolled the word around, like she's never heard it before.

Astroid giggled. "It's pronounced Astroid, but I suppose both work. Heck, you can call me Aster for short if you want." She flicked a glance at me that I could read perfectly: Is this your goddess friend you were talking about?