"Whoever loves, let them flourish.
Whoever doesn't know love, let them
perish. Who blocks love, let them
perish twice." ~Quisquis amat valeat

Ishan woke up to an apricot being thrown at his head. "What the—" he started, still groggy from sleep, but awake enough to know that whoever woke him up was going to pay. He saw Jade laughing in the corner of his eye and approached her, waving the fruit in her face.

"Did you throw this?" he asked, annoyed.

"So what if I did?" she asks, giggling for only Apollo could know why.

"If you did, you might wind up dead." Ishan threatens, and hears a chuckle from behind him.

"Good thing she didn't, then." he hears, and spins around to see Christian.

"Not for you it isn't," Ishan says, and tackles Christian to the ground, throwing punches as they roll down the hill, laughing all the while as Jade prepares breakfast. They race back up the hill, in which Christian wins by a landslide.

"Settle down," Jade said, and handed them both an apricot and some bread.

"Thanks, Jade." Ishan said, biting into his fruit.

"Meh, I just grabbed a couple things from the horse's—" Jade started.

"—Ariel," Ishan corrected, and Christian rolls his eyes.

"Can you please stop talking about your horse like it's a person?" Christian asked, annoyed.

Ishan gasped in shock. "No!" he said, judgmentally. "How dare you even suggest such a thing! Also, Ariel isn't a person. She's better than one."

"Alright, alright, we get it," Jade started, then, with a smirk, added, "Horse Boy,"

Ishan heaved a sigh, and looked to the ceiling.

"Fine, I'll stop," Ishan started, and Jade knew what was going to happen even before it did. "Gem."

Jade gaped as if she hadn't seen it coming, and dramatically called, "You did not!" in her most exaggerated tone.

"Oh, he did!" Christian said, not wanting to miss out on the fun. Jade responded by squinting her eyes in feigned anger, and uncrossing her arms over her chest. Ishan didn't miss the swift movement she made to her hip with her left hand, and took his own weapon out.

Ishan knelt into a three-point sprinters start, sword in his back hand, but unsteadied for a moment, observing as Jade watched in shock at something behind him, her gaze just above his head.

"Ishan," she started, frantically, "behind you." Ishan smirked, rolling his eyes. 

"You can't fool me." he said, looking to Christian, mimicking Jade. He still didn't believe them.

Then Ishan's pride faltered, as he heard a loud, high pitched screech. He stilled, unable to turn around or attack. Then, at the sight of Christian notching an arrow, he unfroze, whipping around and slashing his sword in the direction of the, as he was now able to notice, beast with the head and wings of an eagle, and the body of a lion.

Just as the name of the creature came to Ishan's mind, Jade spoke, her voice shaky, but not so much that she might seem frightened.

"Griffin."

Ishan looked back at his companions, but was thrown to the ground, claws ripping through his toga and slicing into his back.

He tried to get up, but his strength was gone, his body aching in pain, his vision blurred and messy. He was losing blood, he realized, but it was too late for him to do anything, he knew.

Christian shot an arrow, flawlessly, to Ishan's side. It was likely his left, but Ishan was too woozy to realize that detail. He was, at this point, too dissociated to understand anything.

Then, as the arrow pierced through the griffins triceps, there came a loud screech. The animal fell to the ground, and not seconds later, sank into the earth beneath it. At first, it left behind an ochre colored emblem of a griffin, but it didn't stay long. The silhouette of the creature gleamed gold before it disappeared entirely.

Ishan didn't comprehend much while being carried back to the tent, but he stayed conscious, much to his disapprobation. He may have been lightheaded and hazy, but he could still feel pain. The prayers he spoke to Phoebus Apollo were never answered, which was reasonable on the god's part, as Ishan was unable to think even of his name as the slurred words left his mouth as ordained prayers.

Then he was set down, rolled over. He was aware that he was on a hard, elevated surface above the ground. He was aware of everything now. Aware of the splintered wood beneath his face. Aware of the blood-dampened cloth being pulled away from his skin. Of the needle, long and thin, being driven into his back, over and over again, until at last it was done, and the thread, now colored red with blood, was cut, and pulled tightly to close off his gash and prevent infection. He was aware of Jade, checking the pulse on his neck. Aware of her turning his face over so his cheek rested gently on the wooden board, opening and checking his eyes for any permanent damage.

There was none, Ishan knew, because he saw Jade's bright green eyes just the same, only this time, up close. He watched the blue specks flickering in her iris, swarming around her pupil like bees.

Once, Christian asked, "I've never seen a monster back at the Empire, so... how?"

It wasn't expected that anyone knew the answer to such a question, but she responded fairly quickly. "Monsters tend to stay away from populated areas such as Greek city-states or the Roman Empire. They feast in isolated places, such as the woods."

"But why? Wouldn't there be more resources and food for them in more populated places? Not that I want them to be, just curious."

"Yes, but mortals tend to faint after seeing a monster, and if they aren't dead, they wake up to them gone, thinking it was a hallucination. But if many people saw, then surely they would realize the truth, and gear up to battle and kill the monster, would they not?

"I suppose they would. So it's safer for them," Christian gestured around them. "out here?"

"Yes, it is." Jade replied, and after that, the room went silent.

Ishan didn't know how much time passed after they left, but eventually, he slept. His dreams were restless, filled with monsters and beasts, all screeching furiously.

He ran for what seemed like miles, and the creatures chased, gaining on him, their screams growing louder by the second.

Only once they were a mere ten paces behind him did Ishan realize that the creatures were not screaming of terror, but calling out to him.

"Your friends have abandoned you," one empousa called.

"Neptune has abandoned you," said another, this time it was a faun who spoke.

"You have no one but us," A basilisk cried, and another, a god, yelled out: "So join us!" Ishan knew the voice immediately, though he didn't know how, as he'd never heard it before. Hekate. He thought, goddess of magic. He sped up to a sprint, nearly collapsing from the soreness.

"Join Saturn," this time it was Mars, god of war.

"Join Ops," He heard. Ishan thought of the speaker's twin before coming up with her name. Phoebus Apollo, opposite twin of the goddess of maidenhood, the moon, childbirth. But most of all she was... Diana. Goddess of the hunt.

"Join the rebellion!" they called out simultaneously, and Diana flew to him, blocking his path to run. Ishan stumbled to a stop, and Diana notched an arrow, aiming it straight for his heart.

Then, just as the arrow was released, he awoke, drenched with sweat, tears dripping down his face. He tried to sit up, but fell back down, so unstable that he fell off the bed and to the ground, tangled in sheets.

Jade must have heard the commotion, because she called for Christian and came running into the tent. When the fabric parted, Ishan could see it was dark outside, and the moon was up. The moon. Diana. "'Join Ops,'" he recalled to himself only, but it was obvious that Jade had heard him.

Her face paled so white it seemed to blend in with the moon above. "How do you know about Ops?" she asked, fear—anger, almost—, spilling from her voice like fresh wine.

"I had a dream—" Ishan started, forgetting his condition for a moment and nearly collapsing from his attempt to get up.

Jade was panicked now. "A dream?" she asked, frantically. "What did they say, the monsters?"

"How did you—" Ishan started, but was cut off quickly.

"Because I had the same one. I was only five, and so my father—I had no mother—, and I went to the palace to tell the Emperor. I remember seeing Christian there, swinging his feet back and forth, sketching on a wooden tablet. I was so envious of him then."

"What changed?" Ishan gets the nerve to ask, and Jade grimaces.

"They took me away, my father—" she stopped, starting to sob. But Ishan needed to know more, no matter how much pain he caused.

"What about your father? Why—" Ishan started, but was cut off quickly.

"He was promised a job at the palace, one that paid enough to get me desert every Sunday,—whatever they were selling, I'd eat anything— and not have to worry about whether we might afford lunch." she went on, but hesitated at the end, as if not wanting me to hear the rest.

"He—" she cut herself off, and when she noticed me silent, went on. "He was killed. Only about two and a half months later."

Jade lie down next to Ishan on the floor, and he rolled over to look at her, tears still streaming down her cheeks, dripping silently to the ground.

Before knowing what he was doing, Ishan reached across her, holding her hand tightly.

"I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have pried..."

"No." Jade says, taking her left hand—the one I wasn't holding—, and wiped her face, then continued. "I'm the one who asked what they told you. I should have known—"

"But I could have just answered you, should have just answered you. It didn't have to come to this."

Jade nodded, lifting into a sit, pulling Ishan up with her. His head went dizzy for a moment, but once Jade saw that he had steadied, she asked: "What did they tell you, then? You never answered me before."

"They said... they said that you and Christian had abandoned me. That my father had abandoned me. That I—"

"...had no one left? That they were the only ones who could ever love you?" Jade asked. Ishan looked up, worried he might have re-opened an old wound.

"Yeah," he answered, and after a moment, he continued. "They told me to join Saturn, Ops, and... the rebellion."

Jade nodded, sad. "They told me the same."

"But they're here this time, I just know it. I... I feel it. They're close to— whatever it might be that they're trying to do."

"I know." she replied, looking to Ishan with fear in her eyes. It was true fear, too, so Ishan knew to be worried. Jade almost never showed fear, and when she did... it wasn't like this.

"So then why are we here?" Ishan asked, worried now of what the Empire might have to face.

"I... I can't tell you. Not yet." Jade said, moving to get up. Ishan grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down.

"No, I need to know why we are here and not protecting the Empire." Ishan insisted, growing furious with curiosity and rage.

"There was a prophecy..." Jade started. Then, speaking slowly, syllable after syllable, her voice changing so she sounded like a completely different person, she recited a prophecy.

Ishan heard and clung to bits of the prophecy. The words 'harmed' and 'caverns' and 'Sun'. Every word there was key. And yet, the words Ishan hung on to the most were the last two lines.

"If all fails not a chance to condone,
In an endless trance you'll be, all alone."