"It's a girl."

Paris was in the cabin Logan and I shared. He always comes over here for some reason, not that either of us mind, but since he asked it's becoming more frequent.

We were sitting at a small table eating steak and vegetables that Paris made. Paris is way older than me, meaning he does not want me to be in front of a stove. I appreciate him caring for us but it's becoming too much for me.

I hummed, satisfied with the answer. A child born here isn't rare in the slightest. It just shows that people are very much comfortable with having their children here and I wouldn't replace that for anything.

It also means that the population of children with godly parents are starting to be outnumbered, which makes me happy as well.

"Some of the teachers think she might be one of them," Logan mentioned. "Heard them talking about it."

Of course they do. The teachers don't have many right now. Only 2 for each age group. It's hard teaching kids with ADHD and Dyslexia, especially when they themselves have both of those things. It'd be nice to have more teachers instead of the usual ones. They're getting tired of it and it shows.

Okay, you might be asking why did we set the teachers out in one group? Well, we would say the geniuses, but that is too bland. But so are teachers so who are we to judge?

Anyway, to replace ourselves from our parents, we gave ourselves epithets according to our jobs or personalities. Paris is The Dear, Logan is The Watcher, I'm The Reaper, and so on. We show it as a sign of respect for their chosen paths and let them know that we appreciate them.

We were silent for a minute until Paris spoke again.

"It's weird that I haven't seen Ashira anywhere," Paris mentioned, taking a bite of his steak. "You think you said something to hurt her before you left?"

I thought about it. "No," I said. "I don't think so. "All I said was that I'm not listening to any more of her visions about them. If anything she might've heard you talking about her and thought to hide from everyone."

"Way to be a good sport, sis," Logan said before eating his vegetables.

"I'm not lying," I said simply before doing the same.

Paris cleared his throat. "Well, no matter what the reason is, I don't think it's good since she's hiding. Do you wanna–"

We heard a loud crash coming from outside. It sounded like a strike of thunder. The three of us opened the door and it was chaos. Fire everywhere we looked, dead animals and people who looked like they were cooked alive.

Ashira's eyes widened at the scene.

"I thought they couldn't find us here," I said, breathlessly. "How did they find us?"

"I don't know," Ashira replied. "But we can't let this go on any longer. Paris, gather The Elders, hopefully they haven't been impacted by the lightning."

Paris nodded before running towards the town. Logan and I exchanged worried looks before I looked at Ashira.

"Ashira, who told them we were here?" I asked.

"I don't know," she answered. "But I assume that it's going to continue if we don't do anything about it."

"So the visions are true?" Logan asked. "Do the gods actually want something from us other than a small favor?"

"I must believe it to be true," she muttered. "Heather, you help The Nurtures tend to the dying plants and animals. Logan, you go with the fighters to watch for any suspicious activity."

I didn't object. Instead I walked to a dying deer. She looked pregnant which made me angrier.

How did they find us? I thought Ashira told us that we were basically invisible to the eye of the gods? How did Zeus's lightning bolt strike through here.

Unless they knew the whole time and wanted to wait until they had a perfect time to strike. But who told them where we were?

I placed my hand on the deer's wound carefully before whispering some words to her. The deer started to glow white before she dissolved into dust and merged with the ground below her. I did that with the other dying and dead animals, hoping they would have a peaceful afterlife.

Paris came back with four of the Elders, which confused me since there were supposed to be five. I assumed the last one died, but when Paris and I locked eyes with each other, he mouthed 'go get him' to me. I was confused, but I finished with this last animal and walked towards the town to get the last Elder.

Thankfully, the lightning strike didn't affect much of the village down below. Some of the people took shelter in their houses while some stayed out to protect the ones who were scared.

I came across an old woman with brown hair and light brown skin. Janus. She was holding a child in one hand and a leash in the other.

"Hey, Janus," I greeted. "Have you seen the Elder Venus today?"

Janus smiled at me before her smile turned into thinking at my question. "No, I have not," she told me. "Why do you need him?"

""Ashira told Paris to send the Elders to her but he only came back with four and Paris told me to go get Elder Venus. I don't know why but I'm here."

Janus looked at a small house near the clothes shop. "Why don't you go look for him in the woods?" she suggested, looking back at me. "He's always meditating there."

I nodded. "You're right. Thanks, Janus."

I hugged her and made my way towards the woods.

The woods always seemed dark, even though the sun always shone through the gaps in the trees. I kept walking until I reached an open area that was like a stage that shone on anything it came in contact with.

This time, of course, it's Elder Venus..

I walked towards him, trying to be as quiet as possible though I suspected that he knew I was there.

"Elder Venus," I whispered, "Ashira's been looking for you."

Elder Venus opened his eyes and gave me a smile before closing them. "And I have been looking for you."

"And why's that?"

He was quiet. I didn't know what to do but I felt compelled to sit down and that was exactly what I did. I listened to the trees, the wind. No wonder he liked it here.

"Zeus attacked us," I whispered.

"I know."

"I think he just has a big ego. But Ashira thinks that something may have gone wrong with them, something bad. I don't truly believe her, but–"

"It's not just something bad," Elder Venus interrupted me. "Zeus's Master Bolt was stolen just months after the last winter solstice."

"And it is our fault why?"

"He thinks that one of his brother's children stole the bolt. You do remember the oath of the big three, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "How can I forget?" I asked. "The Teachers tell it to us every single year like it's a religion. The Big Three swore never to have any more children after the first world war. What does that have to do with us?"

"He and his brothers are almost at war and they will bring the other gods into the mix if nothing is done about it."

I stood silent for a minute. "This doesn't explain anything."

"There's a prophecy," he continued, "it hasn't yet been said, but I can recite it."

Knowing that I had no choice but to listen, I did. "Okay, hit me. What is this 'prophecy'?"

You shall go west and face the god who has turned

You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned

You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend

And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end.

Yep. I never paid attention to prophecies. This one is no exception. "And why did you call me? You want me to go on this quest? Because if so then the answer is no. I'm not doing this no matter how many times you try to make me do it."

"I'm not making you do this," Elder Venus told me, his voice as calm as ever. "I'm sure that someone else will complete this mission."

"Good," I said, standing up. "They can choose someone else, not me and that is final."

I walked away from him and went towards my house. I ignored everyone, including the fact that Elder Venus was right beside the other Elders and Ashira just as I passed them.

They should've known by now. I wasn't doing anything for them.

Later that night, I was asleep in my bed until I heard some noise coming from my room. Someone was knocking on my door. My door then creaked open and before I knew it I felt someone shaking me.

"Thea," Logan whispered harshly. "Thea, wake up!"

I groaned, throwing the blankets over my head. "If it's an apocalypse then wake me up after it's over," I mumbled.

Logan groaned before throwing the blankets off of me. "No, Thea, this is serious. Paris is going on the quest."