A Snippet: Golden Children of the Night

     Since so many people have been following my twitter posts of me writing, here is a snippet unedited of what I've done so far. Enjoy!

...They watched as another bolt of lightening struck the ground, forcing them to bend into their stances to resist falling to their knees, and formed into a tall gleaming female figure. The armored woman’s eyes flickered with golden irises as she took each of them in before addressing them.

“You speak as if you have earned a place upon Olympia, Dead King,” she said, her lyrical voice commanding between them as her eyes bore into Belloros.

“You are old, Athena, and the Romans will see to it that nothing of Ancient Greece shall remain standing,” he replied defiantly, “including you.”

Those wise eyes turning her way, she met them unflinching but not without respect. She felt measured, as she had the last time she stood before the Gods of Olympus, and like before she kept her words to herself.

“And you seek to betray the gift bestowed upon you, Golden Child,” she finally said, her words carefully weighed without emotion.

“I seek only to answer the call of a boy whose sister has been removed from him,” she replied just as evenly.

“And what of this war?” asked the Goddess as she moved her feet and began to circle the two of them casually but with the eye of a predator.

“I have no allegiance to Greece or Roman, Warrior Goddess. It matters not to me who remains standing at the end,” she replied, eyeing the woman warily.

“But you have chosen a side, otherwise we would not be here,” she argued as she passed by her, the hairs on her slick arms raising from the energy crackling off of the gleaming woman.

“I have always chosen the side of those under the thumbs of others.”

“No matter the outcome?”

“If I concerned myself with the consequences that all my actions befall I would remain motionless and no good comes from those that do nothing,” she replied as the woman began her second path around them.

Silence followed her response as the Goddess circled them again before finally coming to a stop with her hands planted on her hips, her eyes darting between the two of them. She tilted her head in thought and finally conceded.

“Fair enough. Now, end this dalliance as this fool is true in his words that the war is coming and you must be on your way before the first infantry arrives.”

Belloros scoffed at Athena’s words and shifted back into a striking stance, his wild eyes darting between them. “She cannot kill me, woman, I have been a Daimon longer than she has and I have the blessing of Zues to stop her here!”

Bolts of lightning flashed around them at his words but neither of them shrunk away from the ferocity of the storm. Smiling, Athena simply shrugged at Belloros.

“As you said, Dead King, I am ancient, more so than Zues himself and though you may have his blessing,” turning, she pointed towards her, “she is not a child of Greece and therefor, not Daimon by true nature.”

Feeling those words free her from the confines she had been used to for so long, she pivoted on her toes and turned just in time to deflect a striking blow from an enraged Belloros, his spear twisting and thrusting at sharp angles to pierce her sides and sever the tendons in her bare arms. But she deflected them swiftly, pushing him back until his own anger began to drain his speed and strength. 

When she saw him stumble to gather himself for another charging strike, she swung out with her sword, forcing him to fold in under his shield. As he knelt, she quickly paced back from him and tossed her sword behind her, before sliding one hand to the body of her bow and the other to her quiver. Barely a breath passed between the moment and by the time he stood and turned his shield away, his eyes, still raising up her form, she let the arrow nestled on its perch go and watched as it pierced thru the side of his neck, whipping his head back and convulsing his body in a seizing arch before his eyes bulged and he dropped to the sand quickly soaking red with his blood....