Read The Prophecy of Shadows for Free Online Page A

prophecy that said that Cronus—the leader of the Titans—would be overthrown by his kids. In order to prevent this prophecy from happening, Cronus ate each one of his children after they were born. His wife eventually had enough of him eating their kids, so she rescued the youngest one—Zeus—by having Cronus eat a rock instead. She brought up Zeus in a secret cave. Once Zeus grew up he freed his brothers and sisters, who were still alive inside of Cronus’s stomach, and they all rebelled against Cronus, overthrowing him and his supporters in the Battle of the Titans. Then Zeus locked the Titans down in Tartarus—the deepest pit in Hades’ underworld—where he hoped they would stay for good.”
    “Good job, Kate,” Darius said, and she sat straighter, clearly pleased with herself. “But the Titans didn’t give up that easily. What did they do in retaliation?”
    “The Olympians retreated to their home on Mount Olympus, and the Titans used their time in Tartarus to plan the Second Rebellion,” Blake answered before anyone could raise a hand. “Cronus’s servant discovered a portal to escape Tartarus, and the Titans prepared for a battle to regain their place as rulers. They caught the Olympians by surprise, and they nearly won. But then a powerful comet shot through the sky, and the Olympians used the magic from the comet to gather enough energy to defeat the Titans once more. That’s why it’s named the Olympian Comet. This time the Olympians locked the Titans up in Kerberos—a shadow world that’s impossible to escape. They spent centuries banishing all of the Titans’ supporters—demons, monsters, and other evil creatures—to Kerberos as well, before sealing the portal and returning to Mount Olympus.”
    “Correct,” Darius said.
    For someone who’d been acting like this was all a myth yesterday, Blake sure knew this story well. But there was one big part that didn’t make sense.
    “If this is all true, why does no one believe in the Olympians anymore?” I didn’t raise my hand, since speaking out of turn seemed to be protocol around here. “If the Olympians are real, why don’t they show themselves and set everyone straight?”
    Some people in the back whispered, and Darius held his hands up for them to be quiet.
    “The Ancient Greeks used to worship the gods,” Darius explained, pacing in the front of the room. “Then the Romans adopted the religion, making it their own by renaming the gods and giving them traits that better suited their society. But the essence of their belief was the same. Then, their beliefs changed. Does anyone want to tell us why?”
    A blonde girl spoke up from the back of the room. “Constantine instated Christianity in Rome as an official religion around 300 CE,” she said softly. “The Romans swayed to Christianity, and monotheism overtook the Western world. But people continued to practice the ancient beliefs in secret, and Dodekatheism—the revival of ancient Greek religious practices—publicly re-emerged at the turn of the twentieth century. Our numbers might be small, but they do exist.”
    “Thank you, Jessica,” Darius said with a smile. “And to answer your second question, Nicole, the gods do occasionally journey to Earth, although it’s usually in disguise. In fact, it was Ares himself, the god of war, who was behind the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. As some of you may know from history classes, this assassination started World War I. Ares loves battles and slaughter, so creating that kind of turmoil is entertaining to him.”
    I nodded, even though I hadn’t taken European history yet and didn’t know much about World War I. “So the gods sometimes come down to Earth in disguise,” I repeated, trying to take this all in. “But what about all of the other … creatures? The ones from the stories who didn’t support the Titans in the Second Rebellion and who weren’t locked in Kerberos? What happened to