by Jory Smith
The group was silent for a few seconds when Jessica spoke up. “How did it die the last time?”
“Just like the stories say,” Athena answered. “Perseus used Medusa’s head to turn it into stone.”
“Why can’t we do that this time?” Amadi asked.
“Well, for one, she is dead and her head has rotted away,” Athena said. “Any more stupid questions?”
“Athena, these are not stupid questions,” Amadi said. “We have not grown up knowing any of these monsters. Your knowledge can help us and we will appreciate it if you share.”
Getting flustered, Athena continued with her briefing. “There are two monsters that commenced the creation of all legendary monsters. The first one was Echidna, who is the mother of all monsters. The next one is Typhon, Echidna’s mate. Together they birthed many monsters. Like all gods they cannot be killed. They can be temporarily decommissioned, but they can’t be killed. The Kraken is somewhat similar to these monsters. He has all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses. The only difference between the Kraken and the monsters is that the Kraken can be killed, if you can figure out how to kill it.”
Athena zoomed in closer to show the jaws of the monster. “As you can see, it has thousands of razor-sharp teeth. Each tooth is about twenty feet long and can chew through anything. Its skin is the toughest known matter in the world. Not even Echidna can bite through it.”
She zoomed out to show the whole monster again. “It has four arms and four legs. It also has a hundred tentacles that aids in its movement. It has four more tentacles on its back that are used as weapons. The tentacles have razor-sharp claws that can pierce anything you have on earth. There is no weakness. It was made to kill Echidna and Typhon, if Typhon ever escaped his prison.”
“How about inside?” Jessica asked. “What is inside of the monster?”
“How would I know? I have never been crazy enough to see what was inside.”
“What do you have in mind, Jessica?” Amadi asked.
“What if we made it eat a bomb? I mean a big bomb, and lots of them. We put them on a ship and when he eats it, we blow him up,” Jessica suggested.
“That is a good idea.” Amadi praised. Turning to Athena he asked, “Do you think it will work Athena?”
“What do you mean by a ‘bomb’?”
“A bomb is a device that will cause a big explosion, kind of like what a fireball does when it hits oil.”
“That could work. But like I said, I don’t know what’s inside the Kraken, I don’t know if it has anything inside that will stop the explosion. Let’s see if it will work though.”
“Okay, our set up will be the island of Florida. From there, we will grab some bombs. We can get some really powerful ones here and here,” Amadi said pointing at the map that was now in the shape of Florida. “Seeing how we are guessing on the Kraken’s strength, we will have to go with the biggest ones we can get. We will go nuclear,” The men nodded in agreement. Some were even grinning. “Now, we just need to know who is willing to steer the ship to the Kraken.”
Jessica raised her hand. “I will do it. It was my idea, so I should see it through.”
“Sounds good,” Amadi said. He then cleared the sand table. “Let’s go and make this happen. When we first land, we are going to be overwhelmed, so be ready.”
Amadi went with his officers to gather their men as Athena went to gather her forces. Looking back Amadi saw Jessica was just standing there looking at the map. I guess she is finally going to stop being a pawn.
Jessica stood looking at the sand box, contemplating the plan. They were going to drop in a safe area where none of Ares’ gods could enter. Somehow she knew this was where she had to take charge. For her and for Terry she would shed her innocent shell. This is where she would take vengeance for the innocent.
She was shocked when she first woke up in the valley of the gods, but with Terry’s explanation of what happened and the voice in her head confirming it, she settled down. Then Zeus showed them what was happening on earth. She wanted to take charge and go down and protect the people, but the voice in her head advised her not to. It is not yet time it kept saying. She had learned to trust it and heed its advice.
Throughout her whole life, it helped her whenever she needed the help. Only on a few occasions did she not listen to it. Not counting two them, they had led to horrible consequences. It had become her guardian angel. Ever since Jessica woken from her sleep, it seemed to always be around more, guiding her, teaching her, and protecting her. Most of all the voice had warned her about Zeus. She was supposed to keep acting the innocent until it was time. When you are safe from Zeus that is when you can take over, the voice had said.
“What’s on your mind?” Amadi said to her. He had come
“Nothing, just looking at the map.” Without any prodding Jessica finally spoke her true thoughts. “It’s going to take years to take back America, many more for the rest of the world. God’s are going to have to die no matter what Zeus says.”
“But Zeus has said that no gods can die. You know why.”
“I don’t care, they have to pay. Even if I have to do it, they will pay.”
“How are you going to do that?” Amadi questioned with concern.
“I don’t know?” Jessica replied. It will happen soon.
Chapter 15
“Poseidon will see you soon,” a man said and then walked away.
Nicolai and Hermes had been waiting in on of Poseidon’s sitting rooms for half the day now. Nicolai getting agitated with the waiting while Hermes just sat back drinking and smoking. People continuously filed in and out of the room they waited in; accordingly to Hermes the people were Oceanids, or mermaids in man’s tongue. Hermes was told Nicolai that they looked like regular humans when they were in Poseidon’s domain, but transformed the fins when they were on earth. It was the only way Poseidon could save his people, after being cursed by Athena. They continued the day talking as Hermes told Nicolai more about the world he lived in now.
The first thing Hermes talked about was the creatures that had attacked them on the surface. They were called Manticores. Hermes mentioned that someone had to have made them stronger, because the ones he was familiar with couldn’t fly. That led Hermes to give a crash course on the difference between legendary monsters and the regular monsters they encountered.
“There are two different kinds of monsters, Nicolai. The ones that are immortal like us gods and the regular creatures like the Manticores. The legendary monsters are the offspring of Echidna and Typhon. You can kill them, but they will come back. Unlike regular monsters when you kill them, they stay dead.”
“That is totally different than what the books say,” Nicola stated. “How about Atlantis? I mean why is this place underwater?”
“What do you humans say happened?”
“According to the books that I read, Atlantis tried to invade Athens. They failed so Atlantis was sunk in the ocean.”
Hermes spit up his whine in laughter. “Who said that?”
“It was Plato, in one of his stories,” Nicolai said.
“Humans actually listened to that mad man? You know that man was crazy. He pleaded to the gods for help in his work. None of the gods took his prayers, so he gave up his daughter’s virginity to whoever could help him in his work. Dalos took him up on that offer and apparently tricked the rest of the world into thinking Plato’s work was actually good. I just didn’t realize his prank was still going on,” Hermes lifted up his drink in toast. “Not bad Dalos, wherever you are.”
“Ok, then what happened?” Nicolai said, interested now. He had always been a fan of history.
“Well the story goes like this. Poseidon and Athena had never been close ever since she cursed his lover, Medusa. One day Triton, Poseidon’ son, overheard Poseidon ranting about Athena, so he decided to do something. Triton took his army and attacked Athens and practically destroyed the city. They did what every army does well—burn, pillage, ra
pe and murder. Triton himself even raped Athena’s high priestess. Nike—who is Ares’ daughter and being madly in love with Athena— went to stop Triton. Triton ended up killing Nike during the battle. On his way back home, Ares was preparing his army to go and kill Triton and all of Atlantis. Athena cursed the people of Atlantis for their crimes. She took away their legs and made them part fish. To save Atlantis and his people he sunk the city and took it into his domain. That is why they have legs here; Athena’s curse can’t reach them while they are here.”
“So what happened to Triton?”
“That was one person Poseidon couldn’t save,” Hermes said. “To appease Ares, Zeus killed Triton. Zeus couldn’t allow Ares to kill him because of the Edict that is in place, the one that states a god cannot kill each other or interfere with each other’s plans. As time passed Zeus knew something wasn’t right so he had me investigate what happened. As it turned out, Eris was behind it all. She tricked Triton to go and kill Nike.”
“Eris, why have not I heard of her? Where is she in all of this?”
“She is where her antics can’t harm anyone ever again.”
Nicolai sat back drinking from his cup, then a question popped into his head.
“If you are immortal, why were you running from the Manticores like that?”
“Because of the pain,” Hermes replied. “We may be immortal, but we can still feel pain. I hate pain. I tend to stay out of its way as much as I can.”
Hermes continued his history lesson as time continued to pass. Nicolai sat back becoming impatient. He enjoyed a good history lesson but this was the worst time to have one.
“Why are we waiting for Poseidon anyway? We are supposed to be entering the underworld right now. Why can’t we just enter the underworld without Poseidon?”
“Because I am the one who controls the only entrance into the underworld, in my realm,” Poseidon said as he walked in.
Hermes jumped up and greeted him. “Lord Poseidon. May I present to you your nephew Nicholaus, son of Hades. We would like to thank you for your hospitality and for allowing us to use your secret entrance.”
“What makes you believe I will allow you to use my entrance? I could just hand you over to Ares.”
“Why would you want to do that? Ares is supposed to be the one…” Nicolai tried to say when Hermes cut him off.
“What my companion was about to say, in an unpleasant manner, is that Ares will demand your loyalty and Zeus will leave you alone.”
Hermes continued on when Poseidon didn’t speak. “I know that you and Zeus have had your difficulties, but at least you two have maintained diplomacy. You two respect each other, while Ares does not respect anything. He consumes everything he touches. He does whatever he wants and we have to pick up the pieces. It was him during your fight with the Titans that almost caused the world to end. It was Ares that caused your son to be taken from you.”
Poseidon was clearly shaken by the last part. Nicolai watched as his hand clenched into a fist and his eyes narrowed with anger.
“You may use the entrance as you need it,” Poseidon said coldly. “Right now it is time for dinner. You will join me.”
Poseidon turned around and walked away. The servants who had been following him stayed to drop off some clothes.
“These are for you to dress for dinner. It will be served in thirty minutes.” Then they turned around and left.
“You really can’t mean for us to go to dinner with him, can you?” Nicolai asked.
“Yes we will. Its takes time to build rapport with Poseidon. If this war wasn’t going on, he would let us go through with no trouble.”
“What if he betrays us?”
“He won’t,” Hermes said, soothing Nicolai’s fears. “He hates Ares more than Zeus. Even without the incident with his son, he would still hate Ares more. Ares has done the unthinkable.”
“What has he done?”
“You know those giants you fought in the compound?”
Nicolai nodded and at the same time he moved his hand to where he had been gutted by the shade.
“Well, they weren’t fully giants. They were half Titans. The only way they could have gotten into that compound was by the shade. We believe Ares has allied himself with the shade you fought and its kind.” Hermes picked up his exomie for the dinner. “Even if this war wasn’t going on that, the fact that he had dealings with Titans would call for his execution. So get dressed, shut up, and we can get through this fast.”
Nicolai closed his mouth and started undressing. He just had to be patient for a few more hours and then he could find Celeste. Just a little bit longer and then he would see her. When he becomes ruler of the underworld, she would be by his side forever.
Nicolai now dressed in his formal was seated next to Poseidon throughout the dinner. With his mind on other things, Nicolai concluded the dinner was uneventful and boring. Poseidon and his court feasted with them while a few acrobats put on a show. Poseidon seemed like a good man to Nicolai, only he kept asking him a bunch of questions.
Getting frustrated, Nicolai stopped the questioning. “Why do you want to know all of this about me?”
Hermes started coughing on the food he was eating while Poseidon just laughed. “If you are to become my new brother, I should get to know you better, don’t you think? We will be family, after all.”
“So you know what we are up to?” Nicolai asked. When Poseidon nodded, he continued. “Why are you still helping us then?”
“I believe peace will finally come when you and Amadi take over your fathers’ roles. I have lived through many wars. I have seen horrors that you cannot even imagine—not even the deepest levels of Tartarus can match them. If we fight, we will end up like the Titans and the horror that I have seen will destroy this world.”
“What do you mean Amadi and me? How come you didn’t say Terry?” Nicolai asked puzzled.
“You really think my brother would give up his throne for peace? He killed his own father—our father—to reign. He has done bad things to keep his crown. He has even held my son hostage for all these years in prison,”
Hermes interrupted. “Lord Poseidon, I beg you. Let’s talk about this in secret? I don’t think…”
Poseidon cut Hermes off before he could finish. “You shall be silent in my kingdom, Hermes.” Hermes kept trying to talk but no sound came out of his mouth.
“Zeus has done the unthinkable,” Poseidon continued. “In his prison he has held hostage any god, goddess, or magical creature who has went against him. To build his prison, Zeus went to Typhon and offered him an alliance. He promised to give Typhon and Echidna a domain if he would let Zeus build the prison inside him. Typhon accepted Zeus’ offer, becoming both warden and prison. There is where you will find all of the Gods who have ended up missing.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Nicolai asked as he watched Hermes being held in his chair by invisible restraints.
“There are a few things you can do for me. There is a lot more that I can do for you after you take over your father’s realm.”
“What assurances can you give me? What will stop you from betraying me like Zeus has done to Terry?” Nicolai said looking now at Poseidon. Then he pointed towards Hermes, “And what about him?”
“He will not be allowed to leave. I cannot get my son back without your help. Hades has already denied my request to bring Medusa back. If you do this for me, I will forever be in your debt.”
“What do you mean by ‘bring medusa back to you’?”
“Medusa and I were in love.” Poseidon divulged. “The problem was that she was a priestess of Athena. When we wed and consummated our marriage, she broke her vows as a priestess, so Athena turned her into the monster that you have come to know. Since Zeus’ edict was in place, I could not do anything to take revenge. Hades would not bring her back to me either when she died because I would not help him in one of his many plans to overthrow Zeus. For too long I have lived without Medusa.”
Somehow Nicolai knew Poseidon was telling the truth. He didn’t have the ability that Terry had to know when someone was lying. He just had his own experience to go on. Nicolai also recognized that drive. It was the same drive that led him to Celeste.
“Okay, I will take your word for it. We have a deal.” Nicolai and Poseidon shook hands. “Now if you can show me where the underworld is, I would be glad to continue my journey.”
“Of course, I will take you to the entrance myself.” Poseidon stood up and led Nicolai out of the dining hall. “I will also give you some items that you will need so you don’t get lost. You may have Hades’ blood, but you will be killed if you are not prepared. The underworld is no place for the living.”
While Poseidon and Nicolai left, Poseidon’s guards took Hermes, stripped him of his sandals, and confined him.
Terry felt like the rest of the day went on forever. They had to hike through some deep brush and adding to the pain was Aphrodite in the front swaying her hips in that revealing dress. Some of the men in front of Terry would fall down or get hit in the head from a branch then swear because of the distraction Aphrodite generously provided.
Terry didn’t mind since he had his mind on other things. His main concern was on the other men. Even though they have been trained by the best, they had been awake for days, and Terry knew they wouldn’t last for long. None of the men complained but Terry could tell they were getting tired. He saw it in their actions. Their breathing got heavier as the day passed; their pace was much slower than earlier in the day. Some of them would actually stop to catch their breath. The mana was wearing out.
A whistle came from ahead. Terry looked through the brush and barely made out a cave. Thank god, Terry thought. We are there.
