by Jory Smith
Jessica jumped up and started chasing Athena around the tent. The spectators started laughing out loud. As Jessica was chasing her around Athena yelled out.
“Look at that fury gentleman. The Kraken did not have a chance.”
Jessica finally caught up to Athena and tackled her through the tent’s opening and the whole room stood up in clapping.
“Alright men!” Amadi yelled. “You will celebrate tonight. Remember tomorrow we have to go back to business of wiping these scum off this island.”
The whole room erupted even louder and his men continued to drink. Amadi took one last drink and walked out to find Athena.
Athena was outside leaning against one of the tents that were set up.
“Where did Jessica go?” Amadi asked.
“She went to bed. I guessed I embarrassed her too much for her to stick around.”
“That was kind of harsh,” Amadi said as he pulled up a chair and sat next to Athena. “Why did you do that?”
“It was a sisterly prank.” Athena replied. “She is family.”
“That was kind of harsh wasn’t it?”
“Not really,” she answered with a grin on her face. “I remember one time I was supposed to be part of this important ceremony for my priestesses. When I appeared in front of them, I was completely naked. Heracles had somehow stripped me naked when I was teleporting. I had to change the ceremony on the spot.”
“Well, I will never get you guys.” Amadi said. “Terry and Nicolai should be on their way back with the shards. Do you have an idea on how we are supposed take control when Zeus is gone?”
“I have been thinking about that,” Athena said. She went and sat in Amadi’s lap. “Honestly I don’t think it’s going to be hard. If we just assert our control I believe we can take over. Terry is going to replace Zeus and Nicolai is going to replace Hades, if we were to leave them alone, they won’t trouble us at all. We will just have to worry about the other gods.”
“I think you are right. I am sure we are not the only ones planning a coup. Perhaps Terry and Nicolai will help us.”
“And we will have to move fast. We will have something that the other gods won’t have,” Athena said confidently.
“What is that?”
“We will have the humans.”
“Why is that important?” Amadi questioned. “How are they a deciding factor?”
“We gods have a base amount of power. Some of us have less and others more. Zeus has the most, but he is very close to his brothers and sisters.”
“Brothers and sisters? How many are there of the Originals?”
“From Cronus, seven were born; Zeus, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon and Ares. But like I said, gods have a base amount of power. As we grow older, our powers increase. I will never equal Zeus or any of the original gods, unless the humans are involved. When a human prays to a god, their powers grow exponentially. So someone like me can become more powerful than the original gods.”
“How are we going start having the people pray to you and me?”
“When we liberate them, we will say it was by our will and power that saved them from Ares’ destruction. We will be liberators while Ares is a conqueror. They will praise our names for the ages.”
“I like that plan a lot, let’s make this happen.”
Not having slept since he entered Ares’ domain, Terry watched as the sun rose above the horizon signaling yet another day of being trapped in this hell hole. Carefully pulling himself out of the crevice he used as a shelter, a snap of a twig was heard from afar. Summoning his weapon, he watched for whatever was stalking him. Scanning the area, something caught his eye in the thick brush that was white. Not carrying what it was, Terry shot towards it when a loud growl erupted from the brush and out came a cat like creature.
The creature had two long whit fangs protruding from its upper jaw, having eight limbs the beast closed the distance between it and Terry. Terry sunk back into the crevice and continued his firing. As each round entered the beast’s body, it seemed to get angrier and started reaching into the crevice to kill its prey. Terry kept firing until the beast went limp.
Pushing the beast away as he climbed out of the crevice, Terry examined the beast to see what killed it. Finding that his bullets only penetrated about an inch of muscle, he found an arrow protruding from its back. Pulling the arrow out, he saw that it had severed the beast’s spine.
Curious to how the arrow killed the beast and his bullets didn’t, he inspected the beast. Guessing the arrow had hit the only weak spot on the creature; Terry pulled out his pistol and shot the same spot the arrow hit. Just like Terry figured, his pistol had done more damage than the arrow. Grabbing the rest of his possessions from the crevice Terry continued his journey west towards Ares’ castle.
So another day begins. Today was on the fourth day he resided in Ares’ domain and he was running behind. The rest of his companions should have completed their tasks already. I just hope they are having an easier time with their tasks than I am with mine.
The first night Terry figured he would travel through the night, that mistake almost cost him his life. In just that night, Terry had encountered creatures none of the books he read mentioned. The worst one was the hamster looking one. When the sun had set a furry little rodent climbed up on the log next to Terry. With its eyes glowing yellow, he reached out to pet it. As his hand got closer; it opened its mouth, let out a blood curling cry, and what looked like its tongue projected out of its mouth and latched on to him. Suddenly more came out and they started to do the same thing. When he had about twenty of the creatures latched on to him, his body started to go numb. Terry pulled out his weapons and started shooting them and swinging his body around trying to knock them off.
Then the second night he set up a small camp. When he woke up he was inside a monsters belly. That snakelike creature had swallowed him whole. When he finally tore himself free, it he saw what it was. The face was that of a human, the body of a snake. It had wings protruding out of its back. He still had burn scars from the monsters acid trying to digest him.
Just to get through the days, he would repeat in his head. Just be glad you are not going to the underworld. Imagine what Nicolai is going through.
Out of everything that was happening to him, the weirdest was someone was saving him. It was the second day when he had been stalking an animal so he could eat. Another of Ares’ monsters had jumped out of nowhere and was about to kill him when it went limp and fell down. He checked to see what killed the monster and found an arrow perfectly shot, shredding the monster’s spine. Just like the monster that had happened today.
Not only Ares have these monsters trying to kill me, but someone is messing with me. I need to get out of here.
After a couple of hours trudging through the jungle, he finally stumbled upon Ares’ palace. The palace was enormous and dreary, and hanging from the walls by their feet were slaves. Their heads had been removed and were on a pike above their bodies. Floating above the palace was a dark cloud that covered the whole palace. Who could live in such a place as this?
Not seeing any guards, Terry snuck up to the wall, finding a spot where he could climb over, he started his ascent. Dropping down to the other side, he quickly ran for cover. Silently he continued his advance and made it to the throne room. Hovering above the throne stood what he was looking for.
“This is way too easy,” Terry said out loud.
“You are correct human,” Ares said behind him.
Turning around Terry saw Ares and all of the gods loyal to him; Thantos, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Hades, Atlanta, and many more he could not name. Only one mattered to Terry. It was Aphrodite who was standing next to Ares.
“You were right, Aphrodite. Zeus is planning more than just the control of earth.” Ares turned his attention back to Terry. “It’s your move. Surrender and we won’t hurt you…too much. But make us use any effort and I will give you to Apollo. He has much to pay you back for,
don’t you Apollo?”
Terry looked at Apollo and saw a look of pure anger coming from him. He turned back to Ares and started to smile.
“So let’s get this straight,” Terry commented. “I surrender peacefully and you won’t hurt me too much. If I don’t, then I will be given to Apollo.” Terry stood silent for a second tapping his chin with his right hand and his left hand moved to his sidearm. “I think I will go with option C. I will kill Apollo then I will kill the rest of you.”
As the room erupted with laughter, Terry drew his fully charged pistol and shot Apollo in the chest. With the gods distracted by Apollo’s death, Terry pulled out his Assault rifle and started firing at all of the gods, injuring as many as he could. But there was too many for Terry to handle. He was soon overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Behind him, Aphrodite clobbered him in the back of the head knocking him unconscious.
Chapter 19
For hours Ares sat brooding over the loss of Apollo. Just as they were getting over the loss of Charon, the pain came flooding back as they mourned his loss. Ares was particularly in a depressed mood as he was the one who saw the look of horror form across his face. Apollo dead, I still can’t believe it. That could have been me. He was standing right next to me. .
The other gods had begged Ares to kill the human, all except Aphrodite. She had brought up some good reasons to keep him alive. The human could be used as leverage against Zeus. Terry’s weapons, the god killers, only worked with him alive. Since Zeus has two god killers of his own, he had to have this one. After much bickering and fighting, Ares decided to keep him alive—but first he had to be broken. With screams still coming from the dungeon, the human had obviously not been broken yet.
I am impressed with this human, Ares thought. Seven days with Thantos and still nothing. Even Thantos was impressed that he hasn’t broken down. Thantos took it as a challenge and had been working on him nonstop. For the past seven days, Thantos had been torturing his body while Dionysus tortured his mind. Ares watched one session where Thantos had put these eel-like creatures into his body where they swam through the body’s blood stream causing immense pain. Thantos then gutted him and started pulling out his intestines inch by inch. As his intestines were slowly being pulled, Thantos ended with his eyes, shoving tiny needles into them which caused them to liquefy.
Then there was Dionysus and his mind tortures. In the human’s mind, he saw his woman raped over and over again in front of his eyes. In his mind, he would watch the birth of his kids and stood helplessly as they were butchered in front of him. He saw his future kids being fed to the beasts, he lived the moments where he walked through his house and killed everyone he ever loved. Over and over these images came to Terry. When he was awake and when he slept.
Ares sat in his chair smiling remembering the session he witnessed. The human deserved everything he was receiving and more for what he did to Apollo. Ares took a drink of the special brew that Dionysus made for them. Apollo’s death took a big hit on all of their emotions. Dionysus’ drink helped them push past the pain.
After Ares regained his composure, he left his chambers. Out in the hall were Aphrodite, Atlanta and Artemis waiting anxiously for him.
“What are you three doing out here?” Ares asked the women.
“We are wondering if the human has broken yet,” Aphrodite replied.
“You could have gone to check on him yourself.”
“Yes, we could have. Except that Thantos won’t let anyone in but you,” Aphrodite shot back.
“I did give those orders. If I don’t track whoever goes in, one of the younger gods will sneak in and kill him. Just like you said, Aphrodite, I need him alive.”
“Can we accompany you to see the human?” Atlanta asked.
“Sure, let’s go.” Ares began the decent towards the dungeons hearing the screams grow louder and louder. When they reached the chamber that held Terry, Ares opened the door and walked inside. In the room was Terry hanging from the celling with Thantos in front of him. Terry was still screaming but suddenly stopped as Thantos turned around with a hideous looking tool in his hand.
“Good, you are here,” Thantos said, stepping out of the way. “I think he may have broken. He started talking. You better ask him your questions before he passes out and we have to heal him.”
Walking to the human, Ares produced an ice cold cup of water for him to drink. Terry eyed the water and started licking his lips, yearning for the water.
“You have been strong, human. I am impressed, especially for having such weak blood in you.” Pressing the cold cup to Terry’s lips he continued talking. “Drink, you haven’t had any nourishment for a couple of days. You look dehydrated.”
Terry started to drink some of the water but he started coughing instead. With blood coming out of his mouth he started spitting up blood.
“Easy, don’t drink too fast; it could hurt you,” Ares said. “Tell me, what were you planning on doing with my shard? There is no way you can use it—you are not of my blood. Tell me, and I can make this all go away.”
“Fine, I will tell you,” Terry said in between a cough. “It has something to do with ‘up doc’.”
“Up doc? What’s up doc?” Ares said, looking to Aphrodite. Aphrodite just as confused as Ares was, motioned she didn’t know. Turning back to Terry with anger, he asked, “What’s up doc?”
“Nothing much, what’s up with you?” Terry chuckled. He started to laugh until he couldn’t take the pain anymore.
“You want to joke around? That is fine. We can play many games here.” Ares raised his hand to smack Terry but was stopped by Aphrodite.
“You have been doing it your way for the past seven days,” she said. “Let me give it a try. Perhaps I can break him my way.”
“Fine, you can have him. You have two days. Don’t argue. You have two days because that is when we will meet with Zeus to accept his surrender,” Ares ordered. “Artemis, you will go to him today and tell him that I have his son. If he wants him back, we are to meet where it all started.”
Ares waited for them to acknowledge his orders and stomped out of the room. The time for strategy and diplomacy was over. He was going to finish it his way.
“Father, everyone except Hermes, Aphrodite, and Tereus are here,” Hebe said. Noticing the look of concern on Zeus’ face she then added, “What’s wrong? You look like you have to bed a Gorgon.”
“It’s bad, Hebe. It’s really bad.” Zeus stood up from his chair. “I went to see the Graeae and what they told me was bad. Since I didn’t have their eye to make sure they were telling the truth, so I didn’t believe them.” Zeus walked to the edge of his chambers and stared into the cosmos. “But then I had a visitor today. She confirmed everything the Graeae said. Come on. Let’s go and tell them the bad news.”
Zeus took his daughter’s hand and they both walked into the ante chamber. The room had turned dark to reflect the Zeus’ mood. The people in the room had noticed the change of lighting. They looked up at Zeus and looked at him with concern on their faces. Zeus sat down on his thrown while Hebe took one of the empty seats.
“As you can see, we have some empty seats.” Zeus motioned to the chairs. “We are missing Hermes, Aphrodite, and Tereus. Nicholaus, can you please tell everyone what happened to Hermes?”
“Like I said before, Hermes took me to the underworld.” Nicolai said staring Zeus down. “When we got there, we were attacked by three gods. I don’t know who they were. Hermes said they were the judges of the underworld, or something like that. While he drew them off, I took the ferry, killed Charon, and entered Hades’ palace. It took forever to find the palace though, and even longer to find the shard. You could have given me a map or something to get there.”
His story fit the reports Zeus had gotten. Not many humans knew about the three judges, but Zeus did feel Charon die, as well as Apollo. It was like his soul was torn from his body.
“Why did Hermes enter the underworld? He wasn’t supposed to go in.�
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“We were going to go through Poseidon’s entrance to the underworld, but Poseidon wouldn’t let us use his entrance. He didn’t even allow us entrance to his domain. I think his neutrality is over.”
“That means Hades must have talked him into joining,” Zeus said. “Ares now has four of the original gods on his side. Including Aphrodite, he has more power than me now.” Zeus took a deep breath and then looked at Jessica. “I received word earlier today that Tereus has been captured by Ares.”
Jessica gasped. Now worried, the other two demigods sat in their seats with unease. Zeus could tell from their body movement that they were uncomfortable.
“For the past seven days they have been torturing him, trying to break him, to turn him to their side. Amazingly he has been able to resist their efforts, but I am afraid it won’t turn out so well.”
“Why? What is going to happen?” Jessica asked.
“In two days, Ares wants to meet and have me surrender. His messenger said he will bring Tereus with him and some other friends as well. I am supposed to bring whoever I can assemble, or who is willing to come with me.” He looked at Athena before speaking again. “One last thing, Apollo and Charon has died. You humans probably have not felt it, but we gods have. If you have noticed us acting a bit depressed lately, that is why.”
“Did your messenger say how it happened? Who was your messenger?” Athena said, almost in tears.
“The messenger was Artemis. Somehow Ares is controlling her.”
“I wonder how he is doing that,” Hebe said.
“That I don’t know.”
“Okay, so what are we going to do now?” Jessica asked, interrupting everyone. “What are we going to do to get Terry back?”
“We are going to go meet Ares. Everyone is coming, everyone here except Jessica and Hebe.” The two women were about to erupt with protests but he stopped them before they could say anything. “Listen. The reason you are not going with us is because of two things: one, he doesn’t know about you two. He still thinks you are asleep Hebe, and he thinks you are just some demi-god. Two, you will be needed here to protect the humans.”
