Helen Brave and The Sun Titan
Chapter 16: Godly Power

I jumped to the side and hit the ground hard, rolling and summoning my shield. “Get out of here! The warriors should be at the bottom of the stairs! Get to safety!” I yelled, summoning my war hammer and slamming it into my shield. Pain lanced up my shoulder and I yelled out to get the Cyclops’ attention. It worked; the Cyclops turned to me and advanced, while the three brothers rushed for the exit.

“So demi god, you want to face Polyphemus on your own? You do know that we are cousins right?” He taunted, lifting his arm and beginning to spin the mace above his head. I scowled and narrowed my eyes, watching as the mace swung out towards me. I ducked under it, lifting my shield and wincing when the mace scrapped the top of it. I ran forward and dodged around another swing, jumping over the chain that attempted to whip around and trip me. I stumbled when I landed, but continued forward, spun, swinging the hammer and almost popping out Polyphemus’ knee. He roared in pain, moving back and dropping his weapon while I took the moment to run from the cave, falling right out of the sky when I passed through the opening.

I tried not to scream out as I tumbled towards the ground, my gold and bronze wings appearing and flapping almost frantically to stop myself. I sighed in relief when I slowed and looked around, locating the three brothers and the others. They had the brothers mostly protected and almost to the exit, which made me relax marginally, but then I realized I didn’t know where Helios was. I twisted and dived when Polyphemus attempted to grab me, flying over to the others and shutting my wings. I landed on the back of a Neamean Lion and quickly hooked my hammer under its throat, tugging up harshly and snapping its neck. The others looked to me in shock and I rolled off of the lion before flinging my hammer at Elei. She ducked and the hammer slammed into an approaching harpy before flipping up.

Elei spun and caught it, twisting and slamming the hammer into an approaching Chimera’s goat head. The head snapped to the side and the lion portion took its place, but Elei lifted the hammer and brought it down on the lion’s face. She quickly bounced back then spun around and grinned at me before paling. I frowned and turned myself, grunting in pain when a large hand wrapped around my throat and tightened. I kicked uselessly, looking up at Helios, and gurgling when he tightened his grip. “Play time is over. Polyphemus, get the brothers and you little girl, just lay down and die!” He roared, throwing me to the floor and stomping on my shoulder.

I screamed out in pain and grabbed at his foot, grinding my teeth as agony lanced through my wound. I heard a yell and craned my head up, watching in horror as Amanda was grabbed by the back of her shirt and flung across the room. Zoey and Ginger were both grabbed next and violently pulled into one another while finally, Elei was kicked to the side. Polyphemus limped over and grabbed Steropes by the throat and lifted him, giving Helios a nasty smile and nod. “Ready whenever you are boss,” he said cheerfully. Panic made my throat feel like it was closing and I grabbed Helios’s leg, forcing fire into my hands and watching as he yelled. He stumbled away and I rolled over, running to the Cyclops and flinging a ball of fire at Polyphemus’ head. He looked to me before roaring when the ball of fire went right into his eye and releasing Steropes while stumbling back.

“Run!” I yelled, pushing myself to my feet and watching as Arges and Brontes grabbed the others and took off running for the exit. I looked back to see where Helios had gone and grunted when he grabbed me by my face and tugged me up.

“You’ve become more of a nuisance than I care to handle. You will submit to me,” he hissed before fire surrounded his hand. I felt my throat begin to close involuntarily and let out a strangled cry, trying to grab his hand to free myself. Something warm began to crawl up my nose and I coughed, choking slightly as the feeling traveled further and towards the back of my throat. “Hopefully purging your body of its morality will leave you more compliant,” he said before more fire surrounded his hand. I was beginning to feel lightheaded from air loss and weakly clawed at his hand, my arms growing heavy. “That’s it demi god, you’ll be just fine,” he said in a sickening coo, slowly kneeling and giving me what I assumed was a warm smile. I felt ill and weak, my stomach rolling as the fire slowly dipped into my belly, making it feel uncomfortable.

I shivered in disgust and tried to grab his hand, but my arms were too heavy. I closed my eyes, praying that the others had made it to safety, before jerking when I heard a bird like shriek. “NO!” I heard roared before some kind of axe came from our right and went straight into his chest. I tumbled to the ground, sucking in mouthfuls of air and coughing as the fire came back up. I gagged, shivering as I threw up a glob of red gel, before pushing myself back and looking around almost frantically. I noticed a red and pink figure on a windowsill and turned to Helios, watching as he tried to force the axe from his chest, part of the weapon cutting into his face. I pushed myself to my feet and stumbled towards a large furnace, looking to my hand and frowning at the black marking on it. I shook my head and ran for the exit, looking back and watching as Helios pulled the axe from his chest while Polyphemus swung his hand around, yelling in anger.

His large fist tossed Helios back onto the axe and I turned away from the scene, running out of the workshop and front desk area. I stumbled outside, sucking in the frigid air before looking around frantically. I saw the slightly larger than normal forms of the brothers running down the street and followed, looking over my shoulder and watching as the door to the workshop exploded. I turned back and roughly rounded the upcoming corner, speeding up and jumping onto Arges back. He looked over his shoulder with a wide eye and relaxed a bit, continuing his quick pace through the cold streets. “Are you alright demi god?” He asked. I shook my head before looking back then up, relaxing when I found Helios hadn’t found us.

“We need to go somewhere safe,” I called, the other two brothers slowing. Steropes was cradling Amanda and Elei to his chest while Brontes had the twins slung over his shoulders.

“Where can we go? Helios is beginning to not care if he is seen,” Brontes said with a growl. I nodded and slid off of Arges’ back, placing a hand to my stomach as it churned.

“We just need a safe place until the end of the month,” I grumbled tiredly. They looked to one another before focusing on me and nodding.

“We can replace another place to hide. You look unwell,” Arges said. I shook my head and turned, throwing up again as more fire burned my throat harshly. “By the gods...he tried to change you,” Arges said before I felt a large hand on my shoulder. I coughed then spit out the remaining red goop from my mouth before tiredly looking to him.

“Am I going to die?” I couldn’t help but ask. Arges shook his head, a tiny smile appearing on his face before he kneeled and scooped me up, jostling my shoulder. I weakly winced and he turned to the other two, who nodded at him.

“The process wasn’t complete. You still are mortal, but your mortal soul is weak for the time being. You’ll feel a bit of a boost within your godly energy until it balances itself out. We have a secondary place that we can head to, but it’s safer to try to leave the city,” he said lowly as the three marched down the street. I frowned at him before slowly closing my eyes and relaxing as I fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in some kind of room, the walls a rich brown and the light outside from earlier gone. “I have to stop passing out,” I mumbled tiredly before slipping from the bed and rubbing my face. I found that my jacket had been stripped away and I was wearing a new slightly baggy shirt. I frowned when I noticed the markings on my arms and headed out of the room to get a better look at them. The upper part of my arm had markings on them too and it took a moment, but I realized both of my arms were covered in tattoos. The tattoos were swirling fire like patterns down from the inside of my shirt and to my fingertips. I turned my hands over and found a fire like design on my right palm and an anvil on my left palm. I pushed up my sleeve and froze when I saw the feather like designs that marred my upper bicep.

I frowned then looked up when I heard something fall, blinking when I found a longhaired woman staring at me. A metal tray was at her feet and I moved over, watching as she moved back. She gave me a weak smile before looking down and frowning deeply. “Oh dear. You should still be asleep demi god, you need to regain your strength,” she said before shaking her head. I frowned deeply before walking over and kneeling, giving her a small smile before beginning to help her pick up the tray she had dropped. “You should be resting,” she insisted as I helped her, eventually falling silent as we picked up the broken pieces to a plate. When we finished, she slowly lifted the tray and frowned down at me when we stood.

“I get stir crazy. Where am I?” I asked curiously.

“Pan’s sanctuary, the hotel was too dangerous for the five of you to return to and the three brothers have holed themselves up within their new workshop. They said they were making you and the others some kind of gift,” the woman explained before waving for me to follow her. I did so reluctantly, looking around the narrow hall as I did so. It was sparsely decorated and when we got to the end of it and turned, I sucked in a breath of shock. The hall ended right in front of us and led out so some kind of large and open area where the others were. The area looked like a grassy field and I shook my head in confusion before looking to the others. They all looked somber and Amanda was arguing with Zoey over something.

“We know that already Zoey! We can’t just sit by!” She roared, Zoey standing and causing Elei and Ginger to join her.

“You’re acting reckless! We all can see you’re mad about getting defeated so easily. So are the rest of us! We didn’t want to get the hell beat out of us and end up on the sidelines again! You have to realize, looking to Helios and his band of merry murderers is going to lead to Helen saving us again and this time she may lose all of her morality. It was only by fate that Elei managed to save her,” Zoey yelled back. Elei looked mildly uncomfortable and looked from Zoey to Amanda before looking to Ginger. The two drifted to one another’s sides and began talking while Amanda and Zoey threw insults back and forth. I quickly walked over, looking down when I realized the ground to the open area was actually grass. I saw the fire tattoos on my feet and frowned before looking up. Amanda and Zoey suddenly advanced towards one another and I sped up, quickly slipping between them and placing my hand on their chests.

“Time out!” I snapped, watching as they stumbled back and looked down at me with wide eyes.

“Helen!” Amanda cried before tugging me into her chest and tightening her arms around me. My shoulder pulled slightly, but I hugged her back and relaxed marginally in her embrace. After a moment, I pulled away and grunted when two larger arms wrapped around me and turned, hugging Elei back the best I could. Zoey looked relieved and so did Ginger, both of them giving me a tired grin when Elei released me. I gave them all a tired smile before frowning deeply and looking from Amanda to Zoey then stopping on Elei. She looked ragged, deep circles under her eyes and a slight twitch in her cheek.

“How long was I out for this time?” I asked, watching as her gaze darkened before she rubbed her cheek.

“A day, nothing more, but the gods were forced to make a statement about the attack on the brothers. They didn’t give any details, but mentioned that a high-risk monster escaped from Tartarus and they already were in the works with stopping it. Helios knows we’re here. He sent a message and.....” she began before trailing off and looking to me. She looked scared, her eyes rolling over my face before she seemed to calm. “He threatened to take your morality again. He thinks by turning you into a god, you’ll join their side,” she said lowly. I frowned deeply before shaking my head and giving her a small smile.

“I’m not going to join their side, even if I did turn into a god,” I said with a small smile. She gave me one back and I rubbed my neck before frowning and looking to Amanda and Zoey. “What were you both arguing about earlier?” I asked, watching as they looked to one another before Zoey turned to me.

“She wants to fight him head to head,” she snapped.

“We need to stop hiding,” Amanda snapped back.

“We’ve fought him at our best,” I said before looking to her. She flinched slightly before looking away and I sighed, running a hand through my hair. This was a mess. He was too powerful and we could barley hold him off before. Suddenly I felt something come back, the axe and the energy. I looked to Elei in confusion before looking to Zoey and Ginger.

“Wait you said Elei saved me. What did you mean by that?” I asked, watching as the others looked to one another before looking to the now blushing Elei.

“She was clearly unconscious, but out of nowhere she just kind of woke up before running off,” Amanda said. Ginger frowned before shaking her head before giving me a small smile.

“She said something about her heart being in danger and this weird energy surrounded her that was pink and red. Her armor appeared on her and she ran and jumped into one of the windows. She managed to throw her axe before one of the brothers grabbed her. She just kind of fainted after that,” Ginger said. I was about to say something when fire erupted from our right and I stumbled to the side, Ginger and Elei moving in front of me protectively. Helios’ image appeared within the fire and I froze when I saw the silvery scar on his face. He hadn’t healed all the way. I looked to Elei in surprise and she looked back at me with wide eyes.

“I’ll spare the sanctuary if you five give me the brothers. I’m giving you one more day,” he growled before the fire disappeared.

“He’s been giving us one more day since we got here,” Amanda said sourly.

“He’s still hurt,” I said lowly. They looked to me in surprise, but I looked to Elei, who was frowning and looking down.

“My axe cut into his chest and face. His face is scarred, he couldn’t heal himself like before,” she said before looking to me. I gave her a small smile and I felt something, just on the edge of my consciousness. I rubbed my head and turned slightly, frowning deeply when I saw one of the brothers, Arges, was walking up. He had some kind of circlet in his hands and gave me a small smile before kneeling in front of me when he got in close.

“My brothers and I noticed the same thing. We’ve been working on trying to help the heroes channel that energy,” he said before gently pushing the circlet into my hands. “Place this on the heart’s head,” he said before moving back. I turned to Elei and she gave me a small smile before bowing slightly. I grinned a bit before placing the circlet on her head and watching, as she slowly stood straight. She frowned a bit before raising an eyebrow and I shrugged. She looked past me and her eyes flashed pink before she grabbed me and pulled me it her chest. I grunted and looked back, my eyes widening when Arges attempted to grab me. Elei pushed back and growled deep in her chest, the sound shaking me. I looked up at her and found her eyes were now a bright pink and she looked ready to kill Arges.

“Okay, okay we can see it’s working! Stop before she murders you,” I gasped out when Elei lifted her hand and summoned her axe. I managed to tug myself from her grip and turned to Arges and found he was grinning.

“Fantastic. Now that we know what we’re doing, we can make more. Hepheastus maybe a great inventor, but the three of us created Zeus’ thunderbolts. We are going to take the fight to Helios,” he said, a dark smile creeping onto his face.