Chapter 10 - Delphi - 

After two weeks of travel and no closer to Lysander. Atheas, Sirosa and Odysseus finally reach Delphi, stopping into a local tavern in the city for a night’s rest. They gather around a table for a nice hot bowl of black broth and bread for supper, Sirosa turns to the siblings, "I do not understand how we have not caught up with your father", he says, "we have travelled hard and fast over the last two weeks and still there is no trace of Lysander". "I do not understand this myself", Atheas replies, with a worried look in her eyes. "Could he have gone somewhere else instead of Mount Olympus", she says. "It is possible, but I do not see why he would do that", replied Odysseus. "We need to get more information". Sirosa and Atheas look to Odysseus in agreement. They settle into the local tavern for the night and get a good night sleep. Through the night Atheas has a restless sleep, having vivid dreams of a woman calling to her from what looks to be a temple, the strange woman, dressed in a long flowing white dress, long brunette hair, green eyes, and red lips, calls to Atheas.

“Atheas, find my temple at the naval,

There you will find the information you seek”,

Atheas wakes violently, screaming and panicked, she sees that it is morning, so she runs to Odysseus and Sirosa and tells them about her dream. She explains that the strange woman asked her to find the “naval”, not understanding what it means she hopes that Sirosa and Odysseus can tell her, Sirosa turns to Atheas and says, "I have heard of a story about Zeus, long ago he stood at the top of Mount Olympus, holding two eagles, he sent one east and the other west, where the two eagles met he would declare the centre of the world, it’s possible this is what the woman in your dream was talking about, the naval is another way of describing the centre, so the woman in your dreams is telling you to find the centre of the world, to find the information you seek, we need to find a library and find out more about the centre of the world", said Sirosa.

Suddenly behind them a voice calls to them and says, you do not need a library to find the naval, they all turn to see an old man dressed in dirty rags, a long scraggly grey beard, broken teeth, one eye as orange as the sun and the other grey as the moon. "What do you mean sir?", asked Atheas, "why do we not need a library to find the naval", she asks? "Because the naval is here in Delphi", replied the old man. "Any man of Delphi knows its location, the only issue getting to the naval is the Sphinx. the Sphinx has been guarding the naval since Zeus declared it the centre of the world". "How do we get to the naval?", asked Atheas. the old man replies, "follow the path to Mount Olympus, when you find the invisible trident, stay true to the right, you will find the Sphinx waiting for you, but be warned, the Sphinx will set out challenges, you will be challenged with three riddles, if you get anyone of them incorrect, you will die". "Who are you sir?", asked Sirosa, "how do you know all this information?" The man replies, "I am but a lonely traveller my son, Remember stay through to the right", he says as he walks out from the tavern. Atheas jumps from her seat to find out who he is but by the time she reached the entrance the man had disappeared.

She returns to Odysseus and Sirosa, "how are we going to find an invisible trident", she asks, with a worried tone to her voice. "I do not know," replied Sirosa, "but we must start somewhere". The three of them gather their things and start their journey to the path of Mount Olympus.

As they walk down a long forest path, Atheas turns to Sirosa, "Sirosa did you speak with your mother about your father?". "Yes, I spoke to her", he replies. "Apparently, he cared for me a lot, he also left me one more thing other than my shield", he stops and pulls the helm from his satchel, solid gold with the black mane, Atheas and Odysseus are in awe of the sight of the piece of Armor. "Wow that is beautiful", said Atheas, "have you tried it on yet?", she asks. "No, I have not tried it on yet, I am afraid to". Odysseus looks to Sirosa with a confused look on his face, "why not Sirosa, such a beautiful piece or Armor should be worn". Sirosa hands him the helm, "look at the inscription on the inside", he says to Atheas and Odysseus. They take the helm and look on the inside, both their eyes open so wide at the sight of the inscription, "the power of a god", says Atheas, "could this mean", she says with a quiver in her voice, "could this mean, this is your relic, that if you put this on you will gain the power of a god". "I am guessing so", said Sirosa, "but I am afraid, I do not want the power of a god, what if it changes me like it did your father, what if I become cruel and bloodthirsty, I like who I am, I do not want to change". Atheas looks to Sirosa with sadness in his eyes. Sirosa puts the helm back into his satchel and they continue their journey to the path of Mount Olympus.

They have now been walking for half a day, they decide to rest for some supper. "we need to rest for a bit", says Odysseus, they settle under an olive tree for a few hours and fill up on bread, after supper they continue their walk, suddenly they come to a fork in the road, with three roads leading off to different paths, Atheas turns to the others, "which way is it?". Sirosa mutters under his breath, "the invisible trident", he turns to the siblings and says, "it is the invisible trident, look, one leads west, one leads north and the other leads east, three points of the trident, this must be the road the old man told us about". Atheas turns to him with a smile on her face, "we must stay through to the right, so we go east", she says. "Are we sure we can trust him?", says Odysseus. "We have no choice but to trust him", replied Atheas. "let us go, we are wasting time", says Atheas, she starts walking down the path. With a reluctant expression on his face, Odysseus starts walking down the east path of the road, following behind Atheas and Sirosa.

As they continue their journey down the path of Mount Olympus, Sirosa turns to Atheas, "I am sorry about your mother Atheas, I really am, I cannot imagine how you are feeling right now. I just can’t believe that a relic of the gods can make someone that crazy and blind to what really matters, I think that is why I’m so afraid to put on my helm, I’m afraid what will become of me once it is on", Atheas turns to Sirosa, "that will not be you Sirosa, you have a kind heart, you know what matters", they both look at each other with a slight smile on their faces, behind them Odysseus rolls his eyes, "come on you two", he says as he pushes in through the middle of the two of them, "we need to make haste if we are to find the Naval", he says. They all begin to quicken the pace.  After three hours, they finally reach a small shack, in total darkness, surrounded by wild trees and shrubs, it looks to be that no one lives here, or has for many years, "we should stop here and eat", said Atheas.

As all three of them tuck into some broth and bread, they are that hungry they do not even speak to one another, leant over their bowls they shovel the food into their mouths. Eating too fast, Sirosa sits up right, "Uh oh…. I do not feel so good", he jumps up and runs behind the old run-down shack and vomits, his broth and bread coming straight back up. After a few moments Sirosa rises from his hands and knees, as he is walking back to Atheas and Odysseus he looks at their faces, their eyes wide open and a look of panic on their faces, he stops and asks, "what is wrong? Is there still vomit on me", he asks, as he checks his robes. Atheas raises her hand and points behind him, he turns slowly to see a huge beast standing behind him, he cannot believe his eyes, the lower body of a lion, the upper body and head of a woman and wings of an eagle, it was the Sphinx, with a fright Sirosa jumps back and stumbles into Atheas. All three of them unsheathe their weapons and ready themselves.