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The night enveloped her in darkness, a haunting winged figure against a starry sky that was somehow comforting. Night and dreams might be more intertwined than she originally thought; she had neglected to fully understand what that meant for her as the Champion of Morpheus, too busy getting used to the strange new weight on her back. She’d been just a mortal, just a human—to suddenly be blessed with all this power… well, it was quite startling. Plus, Apo now had to deal with wings! Why her? Why had she been chosen? What made her so special…?
Maybe Apo should’ve never dreamed; maybe if she hadn’t tried to stop the death plaguing her life, things would’ve turned out differently. Everyone knew it was a terrible idea to mess with Hades, and that’s what she’d inadvertently done, stopping souls from traveling down the River Styx. But she had dreamed so desperately, dreamed for a better life, dreamed to overthrow the ones in charge, and look where she ended up… Dead. Revived by the God of Dreams himself to compete in this tournament. If Apo won- When Apo won, she would get one wish—a wish that had the ability to change everything. She needed to get back to her people; that’s what she would wish for. Was that selfish? Owen had said that wishing to be alive again was something for the selfish, but Apo didn’t think she was. Maybe for someone warped by time, though, that was a simple self-centered wish.
Apo sighed, feeling her wings flutter behind her as she kicked her legs, gazing down at the landscape easily hundreds of feet below her. Falling from this high up was surely a death sentence for almost anyone, even with water below. Except- these new wings might come in handy, letting her effortlessly glide her way to safety. Icarus had flown too close to the sun, could she really fly too close to the moon? Apo wasn’t about to test that theory, though; hubris was the downfall of many.
She splayed her fingers out across the cold stone of the bridge, absentmindedly thinking about the gods and their champions. Who had the most power here? Was it her? Could something as simple as dreams really beat eleven other people? Apo felt unsure as she basked under the night, a gentle breeze ruffling up her feathers. She could almost picture a quick flash of lightning descending down from the sky, light flooding the landscape for a quick second before a fire started. Time would soon pass until dawn, when everyone came alive, flocks of sheep lost in a hunt for food. The gods would then offer blessings that were a message from Olympus; it might go to whoever had the best strategy, but in the end, only fate would know.
Apo pulled her dark-grey wings close, trying to find warmth in their embrace, to no such luck, only feeling the darkness seep in around her. Wait- that wasn’t natural, that was- “What are you doing out here at night, Apo? Don’t you know that’s my domain!” A voice giggled, its owner currently invisible with the power of Nyx. Of course. Apo should’ve suspected that this was Pearl’s doing earlier.
“Simply taking in the view. Is that not allowed?” The Champion of Morpheus answered while Pearl phased back into the light, sitting down next to Apo at the edge of the bridge. Awfully confident Pearl was, maybe she believed her head-wings would catch her when she inevitably fell.
Pearl grinned, her dark hair cascading down around her. “Y’know, I thought Morpheus’s champion would be more eager to sleep. Apparently not!” She laughed, acting as if this was all one big joke. Pearl wasn’t to be underestimated, though, her prowess in the arena displaying exactly why Nyx was so dangerous. Apo could still picture the darkness Pearl had unleashed soaking into everything she touched—involuntarily, a small shiver ran down Apo’s spine. To mess with Pearl was to mess with night itself; she was glad to have allied with Nyx’s champion right at the beginning.
“I will dream soon,” Apo said, intentionally not offering up why she hadn’t fallen into the clutches of sleep yet. Truthfully, she didn’t want a repeat of what happened in her dreams last night—it was never a good sign when a god paid special attention to you. “This competition is not for the faint of heart. I assume many others won’t get a good night's sleep either, considering they were hoping I could give them nice dreams. It seems I can only change someone into someone else, though.” Apo voiced, a slight smile tugging at the edges of her lips. Transforming everybody had been quite fun.
Pearl returned the grin, a strange, knowing twinkle in her eyes. “Well, you would be right about that! It seems our friend Sausage wasn’t able to sleep yet either.” She replied just as distant footsteps approached them both, a groan coming from the Champion of Hermes. He sleepily rubbed at his eyes, lighting up when he noticed Pearl and Apo sitting on the bridge, quick to join them.
“Whoa, what are you guys doing out here? Actually- this makes sense, you’re both pretty moody! Apo, why can’t you bless me with restful sleep?! I’m on your side!” Sausage complained, showing off the dark feather hanging from a bracelet around his wrist as if to prove something to her. Did he think she’d already forgotten that he was a part of the Feather Holders? No, probably not; Sausage was just weird like this. Maybe it had something to do with being the Champion of Hermes, the more likely explanation, though, was that nothing had changed personality-wise since he died.
“Sausage, I already told you I can’t help with that. You would have to take that up with my god directly.” Apo sighed, shaking out her wings as Sausage eyed them, interest visible in his gaze. He could fly without huge, irritating wings; a burst of envy shot through her at the thought—fate really never was on her side. Sausage snapped, looking excited as he opened his mouth to speak, but ultimately never getting the chance to.
“Challenging the gods would not be wise. You would surely only spell out your own doom.” The voice of Chronos’s champion explained, speaking directly to Sausage and interrupting whatever he had been about to say. Apo flinched, quickly spinning around and finding Owen himself behind her, probably already aware of her surprise before it even happened. She gripped the edge of the bridge tighter, trying to let her nerves dissipate before one of the others noticed—showing weakness was a death sentence.
“Aw! But how else will I put these new powers to use?” Sausage pouted, shuffling over so Owen could sit beside him. The blind man had no trouble joining their group overlooking the water, not an ounce of fear detected when he sat hundreds of feet above land. Apo supposed that if Owen did fall though, he could just reverse time to stop that from ever happening. She feared what would happen if Owen won—how would that mess with time itself? Of course, it was purely hypothetical because Apo knew she would win. Still, it was a harrowing thought.
“You can just take it out of the other champions, that's what I did! Ahh, killing Nobody was so fun; he didn’t even stand a chance against me. Some Champion of Artemis he is!” Pearl giggled maniacally, letting the darkness creep in around them, her eyes nothing but an infinite pit of night. Yeah, Pearl was pretty creepy when she wanted to be (which was always). “Do you think I’ll be fighting next time, too? Maybe… Everyone did seem to vote me for some reason! I’m not that mad about it, but at least I know you guys won’t vote for me unless I ask you to.” Pearl grinned, her golden trim glittering under the moonlight.
Apo brushed her fingertips over the achingly cold stone while Sausage nodded with vigor. “Yep! We made a pact to never vote for each other.” He said, gesturing around wildly in excitement. Apo felt a familiar expression pulling on the corners of her lips, heart beating gently in rhythm.
“I’m pretty sure you only promised me that.” Apo pointed out, taking great joy in Sausage’s faux aghast face.
“W-Well, you all know what I mean! We’re the greatest alliance ever!” Sausage exclaimed, his bandaged hands shaking Pearl’s before he seemed to realize that was a bad idea and quickly pulled his hands away, just barely escaping the darkness. Instead, he decided to shake Owen’s hand, who, after a few moments of standing still like a statue, returned the movement, grains of sand sticking to Sausage when he pulled away. Pearl giggled under her breath, and Apo let herself sink into this moment in time.
Here, surrounded by her tentative friends, Apo could almost forget that in a few days, two champions would battle again, that she was needed back in her city, that eleven people would be floating along the River Styx by the end of this. As Pearl and Sausage laughed while Owen offered up his comfortable presence, Apo felt… content. That was the word she could best use to describe the mix of emotions swirling in her stomach.
Her wings fluttered softly, relaxing as her friend’s words floated around her. It wasn’t perfect, nowhere near it, but she could try to enjoy these quiet nights with company. She couldn’t say she fully trusted the Feather Holders (a betrayal still far too fresh in her mind), but Apo smiled, chiming in on the conversation every once in a while. Yeah, she could dream that they stayed like this forever.