Shadow Titan

  Shadow Titan

  Shadow Titan

  Midpoint

  Shadow Titan

  Episode Three

  Theta Beginnings Miniseries

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  By Lizzy Ford

  www.LizzyFord.com

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  Cover design by Lizzy Ford

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  Smashwords Edition

  Published by Captured Press

  www.CapturedPress.com

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  Shadow Titan copyright ©2016 by Lizzy Ford

  www.LizzyFord.com

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  Cover design copyright © 2016 by Lizzy Ford

  All rights reserved.

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  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

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  Shadow Titan

  The good news: I was alive. The bad: I was in enough pain, I wished the fall from the helicopter had killed me.

  Something was wrong, and it wasn’t just the fact I was lying in the middle of a forest in Maryland with a broken leg and bruised body. Usually, when I put all my energy into it, I healed at an otherworldly rate. When I hit the ground, I’d been in much worse condition, and I’d managed to heal the worst of it – drawing off my Titan power – until suddenly, my body stopped repairing itself.

  The forest was tranquil and dark, and I lay still, watching the stars slowly track across the sky, until the eastern horizon began to lighten. The moon lingered, though, as if to watch me in my torment. Not that I blamed it. I was certain it had some reason to resent me. Most people and deities seemed to.

  Smiling at the errant thought, I shivered and grimaced at the pain even this small motion caused me. I healed from the inside out, which meant my organs and bones were fine. It was my skin and the muscle beneath it that hadn’t had a chance to recover before my power stopped flowing. And my right leg, which had to have been close to shattered, if it didn’t heal with the remainder of my bones.

  As I lay in agony, I dwelt on how and why my power had disappeared. My father had the ability to restrain it, since he was full Titan and I only half. However, this didn’t feel the same as when he dammed it. I was able to sense my power but not reach it when he sought to punish me. This time, I couldn’t feel the tingling energy of my power at all.

  “Adonis, where are you?” I whispered to my closest friend. I’d been staring at the heavens, partially because it hurt to move but also because I hoped to glimpse him flying by, searching for me, in his grotesque form, which he transformed into at night. He’d come for me, in part because we were friends. But mostly, it was because I was his god and master. He was honor bound to help me.

  Assuming he could find me. In hindsight, I probably should have contacted him before leaving New York. I had gone to the coronation alone, leaving Adonis at home in the condo we shared in DC.

  “No one’s coming, Lantos,” I told myself as dawn overtook the sky. With a grunt, I managed to sit and gazed down at my leg. I’d seen a television show once where someone injured in the forest had used sticks and rope to brace his leg. “Rope,” I said aloud, my words heavy with sarcasm. “Why didn’t I think to carry some, just in case?”

  With a sigh, I rolled onto my left side and began to maneuver myself up to standing. Hot pain throbbed through my right leg if I shifted it as much as an inch. Finally, after a great deal of discomfort and cursing, I was on my feet … or foot, as it were.

  Lifting my head, I looked around. The forest stretched in every direction, as far as I could see. There were no breaks or structures or any other sign of humanity, only the cheerful chirping of birds and the stir of animals, as if they had no idea the rest of the world was likely destroyed by now.

  I hopped. The jarring sensation sent bursts of pain through me worse than if I tried walking on my leg. Frustrated, I looked around until I found a stick large enough to use as a cane and very carefully bent on my good leg to retrieve it.

  Walking was horrible, but I forced myself to do it. Choosing a direction, I began to hobble toward what I hoped was civilization or a road or something. I didn’t go far at all before the muscles burning in my good leg caused me to rest.

  Come on! I thought, anger bubbling forth from deep inside me as I thought of how I’d ended up here. I’d gone with mostly noble intentions to the coronation of Queen Phoibe, only to be thrown out of a helicopter by her High Priestess after assuring their safety. I’d hoped to dovetail my endeavor into something more beneficial to me. How often did one have the undivided attention of royalty? How often was one owed a life debt by a queen?

  The wealth and power I could’ve asked for … But I didn’t have the chance, and now, I was probably going to die in this damn forest.

  The reality of my situation hit me then with such force, the constant stream of thoughts in my head fell silent.

  I’d gone soft over the past few years. I was raised on the streets after being abandoned by my mother, a human who hadn’t wanted to deal with society scorning her for raising a demigod child. When old enough, I earned money as a street corner magician and used my Titan power to wow strangers for money. At one point, until my mid-teens, I’d been a survivor, someone who had lived through cold winters under the bridge and survived stretches where I was too sick or injured by thugs to beg for food and money. My wits, charm, and my power had made me successful, even before I found Adonis to do my dirty work.

  I was the son of a Titan. A forest wasn’t going to best me.

  “You’re alive, Titan.” The disembodied whisper was strained and faint, originating from the air itself.

  “Oh, so you haven’t abandoned me,” I murmured. “I didn’t think I’d be able to hear you without my power.”

  “I’m using my power, what’s left of it,” she replied. “You did as I asked. I’m grateful.”

  I debated how to answer. The Oracle of Delphi had spoken to me out of the blue three days ago. She was powerful, if she could talk to me without being present. One of the perks of being the son of the Titan of the Unseen – I lived in shadows and secrets. But she’d seen me somehow when gods and goddesses could not. She’d then tracked me down. I hadn’t expected to hear from her again after doing as she bade me and warning the Queen about the impending danger.

  I wasn’t going to perish in the woods, but did I dare trust her intentions were good? I knew better than to trust anyone with supernatural power; they were generally arrogant and manipulative, same as I was.

  “You can show your gratitude by driving out here to pick me up,” I replied wryly.

  “That’s not possible,” the Oracle said. “But I can alert someone to help you. They cannot be a human or a god. If you know a priest or priestess, or another demigod, I can speak to them.”

  “For anyone else, that might be a problem,” I said with a pained laugh. “Adonis, my companion, is neither god nor human. He’s not a priest or demigod, either. I’m not sure how to classify him, except he’s half monster.”

  “Where can I find him?”

  “Can’t you locate him like you did me? Suddenly and in such a terrifying manner, I didn’t sleep for two nights?”

  “You are an odd man, Titan,” she said.

  Was she amused or irritated? I couldn’t tell, except there was a note in her voice I hadn’t heard before.

  “It took me quite some time to discover you,” she continued. “If you want him here soon, you’ll tell me where to start looking.”

  I rolled my eyes then wondered briefly if she were able to witness the act. “He’s at our apartment in downtown Chevy Chase.”

&nbs
p; Silence.

  I waited a few breaths.

  “Do you need more information? Or will that suffice?” I asked, unable to sense her in any form.

  “That was enough. He’s on his way to you.” She paused, and this time, when she spoke again, I recognized the suspicion in her tone. “What did you do to him? His mind is dark.”

  “It’s not your concern,” I replied. “So you can see me when no other goddess can and peer into the minds of strangers at will. What else can you do?”

  “There are few limits to my abilities.”

  “Meaning what? You’re more powerful than a goddess?”

  “My power is derived from this world, which gives me the home advantage.”

  Along with my curiosity about her power, I’d been trying to figure her out. At times sarcastic and other times compassionate, she was very much human and yet distinctly not. “Thank you for alerting my friend. Shall I assume you’re contacting me for another reason, other than rescuing me?” I began walking aimlessly again.

  “I have a second request of you.”

  I said nothing, uneasy with the commands issued from a person I could neither see nor touch but who could find me anywhere, anytime. I shared a similar ability but had never been on the receiving end of it. Was this what it felt like to others when I crossed their paths?

  “You will visit me,” she said.

  It wasn’t what I expected. I was more relieved than I let on. “That doesn’t sound so bad,” I replied. “Unless you’re located somewhere outside of the safe zone.”

  “I’m at its heart, in DC, on the compound belonging to the Sacred Triumvirate and their government.”

  My thoughts went to Phoibe, and I couldn’t help wanting to know if she’d made it there. Why did one woman’s fate matter to me? Her life had always been important to me, and I never fully understood being compelled to her. “It’ll take some of my power to sneak onto such a place. I imagine it’s guarded by an army right about now.”

  Energy fluttered through me. I recognized the flow of my power. There wasn’t quite enough to heal and turn into a shadow and travel through the dark parts of the world, but the pain in my leg began to ease.

  “How are you doing that?” I asked, unsettled by the idea she was controlling me. “That is you, isn’t it?”

  “I am the bridge between this world and that from which your power originates. I’m allowing you a piece of your magic so you can do as I request.”

  “I don’t want to be owned by anyone.”

  “Funny, considering I chose not to do to you what you did to your toy Adonis. I have the ability.”

  “It was for his own good,” I replied.

  “And yours,” she retorted. “Do as I ask, and I can give you what you have long sought.”

  “A ride home?” I quipped.

  “The kind of power and influence that will win you a place at your father’s side.”

  She’s good, I thought. “So I get what I want if you get what you want.”

  “Exactly.”

  I understood this kind of deal too well. I was quiet for a moment, wishing Adonis were present to provide his insight. Despite having his memories and mind mostly wiped, he remained by far the greatest strategic thinker I had ever known, and he had an innate sense for people that rivaled any god’s. He was smart and ruthless. We worked well as a team to increase our wealth and standing in the world. At least, we had, before everything began to fall apart last night.

  “Why don’t we discuss it when I come to visit?” I asked at last.

  “Agreed.”

  Gazing around at the green forest, I ceased hobbling. “Which direction do I need to go?”

  “I can’t see you in real time,” she replied, amused. “I’m an oracle. I foresaw you and then traced the visions backwards until I identified a point where I could find and approach you.”

  “You foresaw me. I want to think that’s a good thing.”

  “It’s not.”

  My breath caught. “Care to elaborate?” I prodded.

  “You’re a key part of a prophecy I’ve heard referred to as the double omega prophecy by gods and men alike.”

  “Omega, as in the end?”

  “Yes.”

  “I take it if it’s the double end, not many people survive.”

  “I can see no survivors in the original vision, which is why I interfered. Now, the world will end twice instead of once, but at least there will be survivors,” she said, sorrow in her voice.

  “That makes no sense to me,” I replied. “How does the world end twice?”

  “It ended once last night. What comes later will be much worse.”

  This time, when I shivered, it wasn’t from the wind or the pain. It was a twisting of dread and fear. “You saw me in the end of days.” Among other things, that meant the end of days would occur soon enough for me to live through them. “If there were other survivors, why did you choose to approach me?”

  “Among other reasons, you happen to be the enemy of my enemy.”

  I opened my mouth to ask more when her previous statement clicked.

  “You said you interfered?” I echoed. “By creating a safe zone or by destroying everything else?”

  “That is not for you to know, shadow titan.”

  I wasn’t easily scared, but she had succeeded in frightening me. “I’ll definitely be dropping by to see you. I think we need to talk some things through,” I said with what calmness I could muster.

  My mind was racing with conjectures and possibilities, half of which involved trying to figure out if this was the kind of woman I wanted to be associated with. If she had the power to destroy most of the world, then I absolutely wanted to be in her good favor. But there was also something to be said for keeping one’s distance from then kind of power likely to consume anyone in its path.

  Eager to be out of the forest, I put pressure on my hurt leg and braced myself for more agony. Pain spun through me – but it wasn’t as bad as it had been. My meager power was focused on healing my leg. Using the stick as a cane, I began hobbling with more conviction in the direction I’d chosen, hoping Adonis was able to sense me when he was near enough.

  The Oracle fell silent, for which I was unusually grateful. A social person, I always chose company over solitude, but her tale of doom was not one I felt prepared to hear. My entire life, I’d been trying to survive a world hostile to demigods and win over my father. I was never compelled towards any greater cause, never considered I might be part of something so much larger than myself. My ambition had always been to help my father seek his revenge against the Olympic gods in what ways I could. The one time I fell off this course, to save the life of Adonis, I managed to piss my father off, which made it imperative now for me to find the right way of winning back his favor.

  In truth, I didn’t want to be part of anything as large as the end of the world, unless my position as one of the survivors was assured – and I received the respect of my father, as I’ve always wanted. Even then, I didn’t want to have to abandon my sole purpose in life. I was in this life for me. I wasn’t interested in helping anyone else.

  Well, except for Adonis, who had been my friend and companion for several years, and maybe … Phoibe. Something about the kid had always struck me like the beam of a flashlight in a dark room.

  I walked with what speed I could bear through the early morning forest, headed in a direction I hoped would take me somewhere where Adonis could find me.

  “Are you there?” I asked to distract my mind from the pain.

  “For now.” The Oracle sounded even weaker this time.

  “What’s wrong? Are you ill?” I asked. “You couldn’t have possibly gotten hurt in the attacks, since you see the future.”

  “You’ll see when you arrive.”

  “I survive the double end of the world, don’t I?” I asked cautiously.

  “Ask me again when we meet.”

  It wasn’t exactly an encouraging respons
e. My jaw clenched, as much from the misstep her answer caused, as from the shock of emotions I experienced thinking about how I might not only die soon, but she had the ability to tell me how I would die. Now this was true power, the ability to foresee events and use them against those she wanted to manipulate!

  Did I want to know about my own death? Did anyone? Was it possible to prepare for such a revelation? Thinking about it made my mouth dry and my heart race. All I could think about was all the activities I hoped to do that I hadn’t yet.

  Talking to the Oracle was starting to unnerve me too much to want to continue. I shifted my focus on placing my feet, so I didn’t extend my stint in the forest by making my physical condition worse.

  Some thirty minutes later, I reached a narrow road in need of repairs cutting through the forest. I paused to rest my leg and glanced both ways before deciding to head towards the southeast. I didn’t know where I was, but I assumed Adonis would be coming from the south, and I needed to return that direction anyway.

  The asphalt was easier to navigate than the forest. I used my cane to brace my healing leg and listened for the sounds of a vehicle approaching. I had no way of knowing how long Adonis would take to reach me, or even if he’d find me in the middle of nowhere, but I kept on limping down the road.

  The questions I’d entertained all night, as I lay helpless on the ground, began to circulate in my mind once more. What had happened to the rest of the world? Was there anything left outside of the safe zone? Had Phoibe made it to safety?

  Most importantly, why had this happened? The Oracle had seen it coming. Was I the only person she warned? Had the gods gone completely mad and begun attacking those who worshipped them, or were the events of last night something different?

  The newest question only confused me more: Who was the enemy of the Oracle? Was she talking of someone I currently considered an enemy or one I’d gain somewhere in the future only she could see?

  It didn’t seem possible she considered the very gods and goddesses she devoutly served to be her enemies. The Oracle of Delphi was the most revered of all humans, and she sat beside the Olympic deities in a place of honor. I couldn’t imagine her having any motivation to frame them for annihilating most of humanity. If not them, then, who? I had no real enemies, except those of my father and his people.