The Prometheus Spark

Hestia's sanctuary thrummed with tension, the hearth's flames casting jagged shadows across the stone walls. Hermes stood exposed, his golden sandals glinting, his usual smirk crumbling under Colton's glare. Apollo and Lethe had just emerged from the shadows, unraveling Hermes's lie about Apollo facing Cronus alone in Tartarus. Kevin stood nearby, eyes intent, looking confident from the confirmation he needed,

dried blood on his arm.

"You're done, Hermes," Colton said,

his voice low and sharp. The Prometheus brand at the center of his chest glowed

hot, and the four smaller brands around it—the lyre, sunburst, caduceus staff, and the dark helm—shimmered in response. The Eclipse Aegis at his neck flickered violently, silver warring with black as if sensing Hermes's deceit and the Underworld aura still clinging to Kevin.

Hermes gave a shaky laugh, edged with

panic. "You think this is it, spark-bearer? It doesn't end here, not by a long shot. You're

not ready for Chaos."

His sandals lit with golden light. Wind screamed. In a flash, he vanished, tapestries snapping like startled wings in his wake.

Colton surged forward, activating the

speed burst once given as a gift from Hermes. The spark blazed, his body a

blur—but Hermes was wind incarnate. Colton stumbled into a stone pillar as the

god's laughter echoed and faded.

"Damn it!" he snarled, slamming his fist into the rock. The caduceus brand on his chest pulsed, burning.

"It's fine, kid," Apollo said, voice

clipped. "I know where he's going. The canyon from Kevin's vision."

He turned to Kevin, who nodded

stiffly. "The chains. The gate. It's beyond the Titan ruins—a no-man's land

between realms. Hercules is there."

Lethe's pale eyes sharpened. "Hermes's

lies always hid something deeper. He's covering for Cronus. Again. He wants to

get to Hercules before us. 

Hestia raised her hands. The hearth

flared, fire forming a molten-edged portal. "Go," she said. "Find Hercules

before Hermes."

Colton twisted his spear-ring, its

warmth steady on his finger. "Kevin you don't have to go if you don't want to."

"Ha! Yeah right, what if I listened to

you last time you didn't want me to go." Kevin and Colton both glanced at Kevin's

arm. Both wondering the same thing.

The portal spat them into a desolate canyon, just like Kevin had described. Jagged cliffs loomed beneath a bruised sky, and thick chains hung from their peaks, dripping black ichor that stank of rot and sulfur. The

Eclipse Aegis flared again—black, not silver.

"This is it," Apollo muttered. "A liminal pocket Zeus sealed off after the Titan War. No one was meant to find it."

"Yet here we are." Lethe murmured, her

memory mists curling faintly.

"Hestia has a way of getting to hard

to reach places." Apollo said.

Colton's oracle glint flared behind

his eyes, illuminating a glowing trail—Hermes's wind path, recent and

unmistakable. "He's ahead."

They followed without hesitation,

boots grinding over ashen ground. As they neared a towering gate—massive,

chained, inscribed with ancient runes—Hermes appeared.

He stood before the gate, his usual

composure gone. His staff shimmered with unstable energy, and as they arrived,

three Chaos-infused Keres tore into existence. These were no ordinary death

spirits—they pulsed with violet energy, their flickering forms twisted, like reality itself rejected them.

"You shouldn't have come," Hermes said

coldly. "Chaos will consume everything. Even you."

The Keres shrieked and attacked.

Colton's oracle glint pulsed, revealing glowing cores in each monster's chest. Weak points. He summoned his energy spear from the ring, the spark feeding it, and fired a focused solar beam—a tight, blinding beam of light.

The first Ker exploded in a storm of

violet shards.

Apollo loosed a golden arrow, catching

the second through the eye. The Ker shrieked but kept coming. 

"It's chest! There's something in there chest, aim there" Colton screamed.

Apollo nocked another arrow. It struck the Ker in the chest this time. It turned to a violet shards and they fell to the ground.

The last Ker flew towards Kevin. He

ducked too late getting his side sliced. 

As soon as the blood started the wound sealed back up. Before a single drop hit the ground. 

Kevin looked at Colton. Colton gasped.

Lethe's mists engulfed the last Ker,

unraveling its form until it staggered, clutching its own head. Colton stepped

forward, drove the spear into its chest, and ended it.

Colton ran to Kevin. "Are you ok?"

Colton lifted Kevin's shirt. Nothing. No wound. No more blood.

"What the hell am I?" Kevin whispered,

staring at his unharmed skin.

"We'll figure it out later!" Colton said

softly to Kevin, putting his shirt back down.

He turned to Hermes.

The trickster god raised his staff.

Wind blades screamed through the air. Before Colton could even tell, Hermes had moved, Colton was flying through the air. Slamming against the jagged rock walls. He stood up, tasting blood.

Hermes was already back to where he was, laughing. "Too slow sparkbearer. There's a reason I only gave you a little taste."

Apollo held his arm in front of Kevin and Lethe. He knew this is something Colton had to do.

Colton noticed a flicker in Hermes eye. He preemptively ducked. Fired a solar beam behind him at the same time. Hermes was there but still too fast, he darted aside, a golden blur. His ankles shimmered with the oracles glint. Another weak point.

Colton activated the Helm of Darkness.

Invisibility cloaked him in shadow.

Hermes turned in confusion,

searching—too late.

Colton used his speed burst, reappeared

behind him and struck.

The spear slammed into Hermes's ankle

with a crack of light. He collapsed, and Colton pinned him to the ground with

another searing beam.

"Talk," Colton said, the spark burning

in his veins. His eyes with a slight

golden glow.

Hermes hissed in pain. His face twisted with fear. "Cronus forced me. You don't understand—Chaos is rising. It will destroy everything. I didn't want this."

"Selene?" Apollo asked. His voice was

ice.

"I lied to her," Hermes admitted. "I

told her Hercules needed her. That he was fighting Cronus. She believed me. She

walked into the trap."

"And Lethe?" Colton demanded.

Hermes flinched. "She didn't believe

it. I sent her to Mnemosyne—to get answers. But I knew. I knew the mist would

take her. One less problem."

"You bastard," Colton said, disgusted.

Hermes looked up at him. "Bella's

crystal—it's a conduit for Chaos. One of many. Oceanus hides another. Gaia too. More even. Cronus needs them all to break free."

Colton froze. "My dad. Marcus. Why did

they kill him?"

Hermes swallowed. "Events started

playing in his dreams. He found a map. A clue to where one of the conduits was

hidden in the shadow realm. His spark wasn't ignited. But he was so close. Cronus couldn't risk it."

The spark howled inside Colton.

He didn't hesitate.

His palm plunged down onto Hermes

chest. He let it tear into Hermes—pulling a massive chunk of his power. Aerokinesis, more speed. The caduceus brand

on his chest reshaped itself: now a glowing winged staff, golden and burning

with stolen power. 

Hermes screamed.

Then collapsed.

"I can help you stop him," he gasped.

"Please…"

Apollo stepped forward with violent

intent, but Colton raised a hand.

"No," he said. "We need him alive. For

now."

They bound Hermes, bloodied and

shaking. Colton stood, the spark coiling like lightning in his chest.

Behind them, the gate trembled—Titan

runes burning violet.

Kevin's eyes went white again.

"He's there," Kevin said. "Hercules.

Just beyond the gate. He's so

angry! Angry at himself. He still hasn't

forgiven himself for failing Selene."

Colton's mother's voice echoed in his

mind: Stay vigilant, Colton.

He let the spear go back into his ring.

He looked at Hermes.

"How do we open it?"