Page 26 of Surrendering Hope (The Hope Legacy)

“Primordials were the first gods created,” Aaden says, staring at Emi like he’s never met her before. “Themis is a Titan, a few generations down.” She offers him a warm smile.

I put my head in my hands and wipe my face, slowly processing the identities of those we call friends. “Who’s Archan?”

Jed shakes his head. “Only he can tell you that.”

“Why can’t you tell us?” Zee asks, leaning forward to stare at Jed around me.

“For the older gods, they’re the only ones who can reveal their true identity.”

“But it stands to reason if Archan is your leader he must be a Primordial too,” Aaden says.

Emi grins. “Clever boy.”

“How many Primordial gods are there?” I ask.

Aaden scratches his forehead. “Some sources say four, some say ten.”

“Even if it’s ten, that’s a narrow number, and we have Jed’s identity, so that’s nine.”

“And only six of those are male,” Aaden says, wrapping Emi’s hand in his.

“You shouldn’t be too concerned with who Archan is. It’s more important you understand what resides inside him,” Emi says.

“And what’s that?” I ask.

“The King of Monsters, Typhon. He was meant to be in the bowels of Tartarus, that’s where we left him.”

“Emi,” Jed scolds.

She rolls her eyes. “Have you heard of the saying ‘knowledge is power’, Jed?”

“Have you heard of ‘having just enough information to be dangerous?’”

She stands and plants her hands on her hips. “Then give them all the information. They deserve to know who they’re up against and what they’re fighting for.”

Jed closes his eyes as his head flops backwards, like the weight of the world is dragging him down. “Ask your questions.”

“Tartarus is hell?” I ask.

Keeping his eyes closed, he lifts his left hand and tips it left to right. “Sort of. Tartarus predates hell, and it’s not where we send humans. The worst monsters the universe has to offer are housed there. Hell is built upon its foundation.” Alrighty then.

“Who’s Typhon?”

Jed’s eyes pop open, like this is something he can handle. “The son of Lucifer. He became out of control. We worked together to put him away. I don’t know how he got out, or into the Jar.”

“And what about you? How do you fit into this?” Zee asks Emi.

She shrugs as she crashes next to Aaden. “I was looking out for Natia. I’ve known about the prophecies for some time, and she was vulnerable as she didn’t know her identity. But you muppets got yourselves confused with false information,” she jerks her head at Jed.

Jed glares at her. “Would it have killed you to make yourself known and offer a little guidance?”

“You know I can’t interfere. It shouldn’t have been difficult to work out Zeus laid a false trail to entice you to do his dirty work. Since when have prophecies been infallible? You only need to look at the Nostradamus shit storm which had humans running around praying to gods they didn’t even believe in.”

Jed puffs out a laugh as I ask, “Why can’t you interfere?”

Emi huffs and yanks her hand from under Aaden’s, folding them under her armpits. “Because there are so many fucking rules governing gods, it’s ridiculous.”

“And one of these rules is not to interfere in prophecies?”

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