The Chains That Bind Ch 22

Chapter 22: The Fires of Hope
As Kat seemed to be laughing at both of us, I tried my best to change the subject so I reached into my pack and pulled out the map hoping the next link of the chain was close by. We were running out of time and we still had two links of the chain left to find. As the map glowed it showed a path leading all the way to a small town in Kansas called Lebanon.

“Does anyone know what is in Lebanon, Kansas?” I asked hoping someone would have the answer.

“I’ve never even heard of it before, but what could be in a small town like that?” Kat responded. Erika after getting over her embarrassment grabbed an actual map of the United States out of the back of the car and turned to the page with a map of Kansas.

“Wow, that is a small town,” she said as she looked at it. I went over to get a look at it and noticed it barely had more than a name on it. It was a small town in the middle of nowhere.

“Even if it is a small town, it looks like it will take us a day to get there. I saddest we get some rest. I’ll stay up a bit and put out the fire,” I said to the two. Kat didn’t complain and pulled out one of our unfolding tent boxes, crawled into her sleeping bag and was out before I could say another sentence. Erika was a bit slower about it, but did the same and told me good night before zipping up the tent flap. I sat there for a few minutes poking at the fire.

“What a lovely fire,” came the voice of a young girl that seemed to appear out of nowhere. I must have been more tired than I thought if I didn’t even hear her coming. She looked to be only about eight or nine and had a large brown blanket wrapped around her, most likely trying to keep herself warm.

“Would you like to sit down?” I asked her on instinct. If she really was cold then the least I could do was offer her a seat. She walked over and took a seat next to me. A part of her blanket unfolded as she started poking the fire with a stick causing it to go from being almost out, to becoming a decent sized fire once again.

“Thank you,” she said. “There has been little warmth in this area and your fire caught my eye.”

“Do you live around here,” I asked her. Why else would a little girl be out here all be herself.

“I move around a lot,” she responded with her eyes still glued to the fire, as it reflected in her eyes. “Family to family, house to house, I never stay in one place too long. However, I always feel at home by the fire.”

I had heard similar stories at camp. Demigods would attract monsters or cause problems for their families. Eventually, they would either run away from home or their families would give them up. However, I tried to make her feel better.

“The fire is where people come together, is that why it reminds you of home?” I asked her.

“Yes it is, Nolan Swift.” She turned to me and for the first time I noticed that the fire wasn’t simply reflected in her eyes, but her eyes themselves were fire. However, they gave off a comforting glow that made me feel like nothing was wrong. It was a good feeling.

“Hestia,” I whispered under my breath. It was the first time I had ever met her in person. She would sometimes tend to the fire at camp but would vanish if anyone noticed her.

“Yes, it is I, the goddess of the hearth,” she said. “I have come to give you a gift.”

She reached her hand into the fire and from it pulled out a link.

“This is one of the links you are searching for, my link. It is forged from the combined hope of all people,” she went on. “During the dark days of the Titan’s rule, people were huddled around their families knowing that better times would come. They all hoped that the gods would rise victorious. However, in order to forge this chain, I took their hope and created this link from it. Hope however cannot be taken so easily and the remaining scraps of hope were placed in a pithos so it would never leave humanity. However, even though hope will never leave humanity, humanity nowadays fear to hope and some do not hope at all. The world’s hope is in my hands, and now it is in yours, but be warned as if you do not hope then this link will burn your soul.” She said as she handed me the link. I didn’t know what to say but my body placed my hands in front of me. Hestia smiled and placed it in them. From what I could tell, my soul wasn’t burning up so I thought I was safe for the time being.

“Thank you,” I told her, not knowing what else I could say.

“One more thing,” she said. “You must combine your four links together before retrieving the fifth or you will not succeed in your quest.”

I wanted to ask her how, but before I could say anything she turned to flames and was absorbed into the fire.

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive  21:46, July 1, 2011 (UTC)