Titan of the Light

Chapter 2

I sank into the river, my body a stone drifting to the bed. I didn’t worry about breathing. Lord Cernunnos’ blessing would protect me – or so I hoped. Above the water rippled Arai’s face, and even from my vantage point, I watched as she pointedly weighed her options. Would she confront her fear of the water to find me, or would she leave me in peace? I knew she had no options but to leave, and I knew I would pay for it later.

“I know you’re in there Medea, you can’t stay down there forever!” Her voice broke through the water before disappearing. True, I couldn’t stay down here forever, but I could stay until dawn when the Hunt would be over.

And so, I waited. Meditating wasn’t an arduous task for me, but tonight I was so amped up from the hunt that I had difficulty focusing on my inner self. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the sounds of the river surrounding me. Babbling over the smooth stones I rested on, the water churned in small whirlpools before moving on. Fish swam by; some bumped up against me, curious along their travels, but most just passed on without giving me a second glance. It was an interesting sensation, being at one with the water and Her creatures, all the while not having any power over the element.

“Medea…” a soft voice echoed up the river. I blinked my eyes open and stared into the bluest eyes I had ever seen, eyes that looked familiar to me. My mouth opened to speak, but a finger pressed against my lips.

“Hush, child. Cernunnos gave you his protection, but it is better to not test the blessing if you do not need to.” I nodded slightly, transfixed by the beauty of the face appearing before me. It was my face… or at least part of my face. I made out the sharp angle of my cheekbones, and the wide eyes I had been praised for as a young adult. The woman who appeared before me looked translucent, taking form from the riverbed and plants nearby.

I mouthed a single word, and she nodded.

“You are a smart one, my precious girl. Yes, I am Perseis, your grandmother. I am sorry we have never met before now. It was not my wish. But know that your grandfather and I love you dearly, and we are both wishing you all the best luck on your journey.” I felt a tear fall down my cheek, though how that happened underwater was of no concern to me. I was transfixed by the sight of my dear grandmother. “When you come back to the surface, you will be stronger than ever, sweet girl. Tartarus will change you.” I shivered, and Perseis’ hand stroked my cheek lovingly, far more tender than my birth mother had ever been. “And I am sorry to say that your trials here in Turkey are far from over. By skirting around the rules of the Hunt, you may have angered more than you helped.”

I nodded sadly, still unable to speak. I had expected that. Cheating, even with the Lord of the Hunt’s blessing, was never seen as a good thing. But I was desperate to survive. I needed to finish this. If not for my sake, then for Kide and Vlad. I owed them far too much.

“Medea, I know you are of the light. Your grandfather’s blessing is strong in you but know that you are also of the ocean. Half of you, more than half, if you go by the mortal’s understanding of DNA, comes from the sea. You will need to find that power before your last trial. You will need to harness it, to harness me.”

I had never controlled the sea, nor had any inclination that my powers were tied to it, but she was right. My mother and Perseis were both Oceanids. I should have some form of water magic at my touch.

Perseis pressed her watery forehead to me and for a moment I felt her power, the infinite strength of the oceans, flowing through me. Sun and sea… the lullaby my mother sang to me came back, and I wondered why.

“I sang that to your father, and he taught it to Idyia. He has the ocean in his veins, as do you, but he denied it, kept you from learning your full strength, as Idyia did.” I shuddered as Perseis pulled away, even as her strength enclosed my being. “The night is over, child. You can return to the surface safely now. No one will harm you.”

I kicked up off the riverbed and breathed deeply once my mouth broke the surface. The first rays of light broke through the canopy in scattered rays of gold, and I looked at my grandmother with unclouded eyes for the first time. “Grandmother,” my voice scratched with newfound emotion.

“My Medea, I wish I had gotten to you sooner. I could have taught you so much about your blossoming powers, not that Hekate could not. But you focused on the sunlight, and your other skills. If you would have me now, I will teach you about the other half of your heritage.” Perseis wrapped me in her arms, and I felt the world melt away. A piece of my soul clicked into place, and I gasped softly, inhaling the brine of her skin.

“I have no power right now, but when it returns,” my back straightened with determination, “I will come to find you.” A pulse of power flooded my body, and I dropped to my knees.

Perseis simply held me, and I felt more than magic–a different type of magic–flow through me; I felt her love.

“Oh, child, I wish we could wait that long. But you will see for yourself soon enough. Call for me when you need me. I swear I will be there to guide you.” She placed a soft kiss upon my brow, and I collapsed forward as I heard the horn signaling the end of the Hunt and the return home. My legs shook as I stood and I took off back towards the ruins where Cernunnos, Hekate, and my sisters awaited me.

“Ah, the Hunted returns!” Cernunnos bellowed from his seat beside Hekate. I strode into the ruins full of false bravado, knowing that if even one of them went against the wishes of Hekate or Cernunnos, I would fall instantly.

I stared up at the pair of them and squared my shoulders. “I survived Lord Cernunnos, Lady Hekate.” The air bristled with anger, but the assembled witches kept their tongues.

“How, Medea?” Hekate’s voice was surprised but almost glad as well. She didn’t want me dead, only punished, and I had escaped it.

I looked between her and Cernunnos and weighed my options. Telling the crowd here how to escape the Hunt wouldn’t be dangerous, but if it got into the fae’s heads that I was suddenly breeding myself… that might turn problematic. Granted, I had to survive my upcoming trials before that happened.

“I made a deal with Lord Cernunnos,” I replied softly.

The goddess of witchcraft, magic incarnate herself, stared at me, and then looked at the Horned God.

“She didn’t?”

Cernunnos simply nodded and the howl of rage Hekate let out flung me backwards into a wall. The air expelled from my lungs, and I hobbled to stand before powerful arms held me in place.

“Arai, Serina, hold her. Use whatever power you have to keep Medea from moving.”

The pair of them nodded. They turned me, held me against the pillar and suddenly I knew.

I closed my eyes, fearful of the sting, and screamed out when it hit. Fire coursed through my back with each strike, and I couldn’t help myself. I screamed, howled, and cried for mercy. This was the most intense pain I had ever felt in my long life, and I knew it wasn’t over. Subconsciously, I counted each strike as Hekate’s barbed whip tore through my skin. Twenty, forty, fifty.

When I felt her hit bone, I passed out, all my strength leaving my body. I couldn’t keep it up any longer. The last words I heard were my mother’s, Idyia’s voice, sounding in my memory: Sun and Sea, Together into Eternity.

“Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

I woke screaming, sweat beading across my body. No, not just sweat; seawater. The aroma of brine was too distinct to be sweat, and I tried opening my eyes. I had no idea where I was.

“Don’t Medea, you shouldn’t move.” Hekate’s strained voice sounded beside me, and I breathed a little easier. “Why, why would you do something so foolish as that?”

The chiding came across lovingly, as if she was fond of me again.

“Do what, Lady?” Vlad asked, and that cued me into our location, we must be back in our room.

Kide’s laboured breath sounded nearby, and I wondered how he was feeling.

“What did she promise, Hekate?”

I felt Hekate’s eyes on me, and I sighed.

“If you do not tell them, I will.”

I shook my head.

“I can’t; they’ll never forgive me.” I whimpered, pathetic.

“Fine, then I will,” she stated simply. I was in no condition to argue, but I felt her weight shift beside me, and her voice rang out with the clear tones of truth-speaking. “Medea made a deal with Lord Cernunnos. If she survived the night, continues to survive her trials, and returns from Tartarus with her powers intact, she will bear Cernunnos a child.”

A glass shattered somewhere I couldn’t see and Kide’s voice came to me, distant and hurt.

“That promise… was never to be made. Not without me. Medea, we share a body!”

I winced, but still couldn’t open my eyes. “You should have told me, warned me… What will the Fates do if you try to give birth again? Medeius was to have been your last!” The hurt in his voice broke my heart and tears stained my cheeks.

“Honestly, it was the only deal Cernunnos would have accepted. He always seeks to procreate with the strongest beings around. And Medea, whether or not she has her powers, is a formidable woman. He has had his eye on her for millennia,” Hekate explained.

That caught me by surprise. I didn’t think I was that appealing to him.

“I’m sorry, Kide. I had to. If I didn’t make the deal, I would have died easily. Arai had me in her sights the entire time,” I paused as a collective gasp surrounded me. “What?”

“Medea, I thought you had no powers?” Vlad whispered from somewhere on the other side of the room.

I tried to open my eyes again, but they were caked shut.

“I don’t. What’s going on?”

Hekate chuckled and then barked out a laugh.

“Well, it appears your other half is waking up. The ocean is no longer dormant within you, dear. If I had known flaying you within an inch of your life is what it would have taken to bring her forward, I’d have done this eons ago.”

I felt a ripple of water rush over my back, and I screamed as the saltwater stung across my open wounds. They didn’t close, but I felt them grow cleansed by the pure ocean water.

“WHAT THE f**k?” Pain seared across my back before a cool cloth smothered it. Hekate’s hands pressed firmly into my back as the ripple receded. I felt tape bind the covering to my back and my breathing grew easier.

“Ok, dear, you can open your eyes now,” Hekate’s soft voice whispered in my ear, and I slowly opened my eyes. She must have sealed them shut so that I wouldn’t freak out, since I was on the floor in front of a mirror. I flinched; I looked hideous. Kide was beside me, his chest rising slowly, his breath matching mine. Vlad was near the washroom, as far from me as possible. The blood; it had to be. He wanted to save me from himself and his urges.

I tried to sit up, and Hekate helped me slowly. My back moved in one piece. There was no turning, no flexibility, and there wouldn’t be for a long time. “Easy now, Medea. Your little saltwater bath began the healing process. I was wondering if I had lost my gifts.”

“Why are you being kind?” I spat. My tone was bitter, and I didn’t mean for it to be. “You whipped me, tore flesh from bone. Why do you care?”

Hekate looked down at me as she stood.

“You are my chosen one, Medea, the one closest to me in power, in scope, in notoriety. The one to succeed me should I ever fall.” I stared at her, scared for a moment. “You are a titan, Medea, not a mortal. Your actions have consequences more widespread than you could ever imagine. Everything I have done has been for you. You will see it… eventually.”

I coughed as she disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and I wobbled forward.

“Medea,” Vlad raced forward, grabbing my arms, and cradling me.

Kide crawled over, sitting up slowly and cradled my face in his hands. My two loves, on either side.

“A child, Medea, and sea powers? Just what happened last night?”

I stared up into his eyes. Dark blue sapphires shone down on me, and I told them everything. “I promise, if I had seen any other path, I would have taken it.” I placed a hand on my belly, remembering the joy I felt each time I felt life growing within me. “But Hekate was right, a child with Cernunnos was the only bargaining chip I had.”

“With modern advances in science, you should be able to offer an egg or two to him, right?” Vlad offered softly. His cool hands ghosted over my back, offering a calming touch to the burning sensation I still felt.

I looked over at him, the vampire who had captured my heart when I thought no one ever could. “No, this is Cernunnos we’re talking about. He’ll want to do it the proper way.”

“And you want to see what he’s like,” Kide grunted. “I know you, Medea. If nothing else, you’ll take him to bed just to see if the hype around him is real.”

I laughed and then cried from the pain. My dragon knew me well. “Yes, you’re right, my Kide.” I held my hand out to him and cringed at the pale hue of my skin. “I’m sorry, for all of this. I wish we could just go back to Vlad’s manor and live quietly, the three of us… but part of me is dying, even as this new strength is raging forth. I…” I hadn’t given voice to this fear yet, so I took a deep breath and held onto both of my men. “If I do not regain my powers, even if I come out of Tartarus alive, I will not remain so. My death is inevitable if we fail.”