Contents
Chapter 35: The Real Games Begin
Overview
On Day 6, Zeus escalates the Games, unveiling brutal “honor” trials. Agatha, part Empusa, slaughters four Olympian guards, then is forced to face her chained partner, Hermos. After Hades threatens war, Zeus demonstrates devastating lightning and promises no deaths. Hermos incapacitates Agatha, and Zeus brands her five times.
Summary
Alexis watches Day 6 begin amid a storm, flanked by Drex, Charlie, and Helen, while Kharon and Augustus bristle behind her over seating. Rumors swirl that Zeus will interrogate competitors after their rounds. Zeus strides out, overcharged with electricity, proclaiming the “real games” have begun and offering a credo of suffering.
Agatha is announced with two rounds and five labors. To the crowd’s shock, four masked Olympian guards enter as her opponents. Agatha discards her sword, transforms into an Empusa, and paralyzes the guards with a clicking jaw. Over ten horrific minutes, she devours them, leaving only gore and scraps of armor.
For the second round, Hermos—Agatha’s chained partner—enters as her opponent. Hades and other Chthonic leaders erupt, condemning Zeus. Agatha and Hermos refuse to fight, standing together in defiance. Zeus channels a lightning strike through his scepter into the arena, demonstrating catastrophic power. Hades demands no deaths; Zeus agrees, calling the trials a test of honor.
Ordered to resume, Hermos rapidly wraps his chain around Agatha’s throat, choking her unconscious to spare her life. Zeus rules Agatha has lost and, crossing the field himself, brands her chest five times with a Vulcan staff for failing all five labors, the scepter’s eagle crackling with ominous energy.
Who Appears
- AlexisPOV competitor; observes Day 6, worries about looming interrogation and her own upcoming trial.
- ZeusAnnounces harsher trials, redirects lightning to overawe Chthonics, enforces rules, and brands Agatha five times.
- AgathaCompetitor; transforms into Empusa, devours four Olympian guards, refuses to fight Hermos, then is incapacitated and branded.
- HermosAgatha’s chained partner; refuses to fight her until forced to act, then chokes her unconscious to spare her life.
- HadesChallenges Zeus over dishonoring the sands, threatens war, secures promise of no deaths before standing down.
- DrexAlexis’s friend; anxious about the Games, offers comic relief, enthralled by Agatha’s power.
- CharlieAlexis’s brother; offers support, briefly unsettling voice confusion, alarmed by Zeus’s power.
- HelenSits with Alexis; warns about Zeus’s potential interrogations and explains the lethality of his lightning.
- AugustusExplains branding rules and stakes, protective and tense around Alexis.
- NyxAlexis’s serpent companion; eager for violence, snarks about Agatha’s ruthlessness.
- AresSupports Artemis’s outrage, aligns with Chthonics against Zeus’s excess.
- ArtemisPublicly condemns Zeus for taking the trials too far.