Chapter 1
Athena leapt through the portal, landing gracefully with both feet on the steps of the palace of Olympus. She smoothed her dress down, as if Andromeda’s touch or presence had marked her somehow. A cursory inspection revealed no fault, which left relief flooding through her. She took a deep breath and ascended the polished marble steps before. Each step resounded deafeningly in her ear until she stopped momentarily at the top. She turned and cast a long, considering look over Olympus. In her mind she saw Olympus burning. She saw Andromeda marching up the steps, flanked by her army of hellhounds.
Gods dammit, how had this so rapidly slipped from their grasp? She thought with a snarl and stalked inside.
The palace was quiet, with many of the Gods having left for their own private homes below. Minor Gods were no doubt lounging about near the numerous springs, drinking copious amount of ambrosia. She held back a frown. They were all shadows of their formal selves, little more than children’s stories to the mortals whom once worshipped them. The temples made in their honour were all in ruins, attractions to wide-eyed mortals, whom saw them as nothing more than houses of stone. There was no power in them anymore.
There was no power in a lot of things anymore…except for Andromeda. Whilst the Gods had grown weaker, the persistent thorn in their side had only grown stronger. Quietly biding her time in the shadows of her own making.
With a shake of her head she continued through the palace. She ascended the final steps and pushed open the doors. Inside Zeus’s personal chambers she had flashes of arguments from years past. Arguments over issues, over half-blood children, Andromeda. She thought she’d feel a rush of self-satisfaction that her concerns over Andromeda, her irritation over how he’d handled it – despite her insistence that a more thorough method was needed to destroy her. Instead, her mind was already processing a plan. First, she needed more answers though.
“Zeus! Zeus!” She called out into the apartment.
The room crackled with electricity. The hairs on her arm stood up.
“In here!” Zeus bellowed from the bathing room.
Athena walked into the room, finding Zeus lounging in a steaming bath. He looked up from the clouds of steam, smiling. When he saw the troubled look that was etched on her face, the smile fell.
“What has happened?”
“Your brother is dead. Andromeda has claimed the Underworld herself,” she said and sat down beside the pool, dipping her feet in. “It was quite the show. Did it in front of the senior hounds, Persephone too.”
Zeus’s face darkened. “Is Persephone with her?”
“She did not seem surprised when Andromeda revealed herself.”
“She’s betrayed us,” he snarled. “I will rip her limb from limb.”
Athena waved a hand. “Less us focus on the issue at hand. She will be on the attack, so we must ready our defences. Also, we need to discuss how we will broach the topic with the others. We must be united on this matter.”
“She doesn’t have the power to take us on – let alone to storm Olympus!” He snapped.
Athena waved her hand, summoning a mirage of Andromeda. The look in her eyes as she claimed the throne. Zeus stared at the spectre with a guarded expression.
“We have estimated her long enough, Zeus,” she said gently. “We need to be ready.”
Zeus tore his gaze away from the image and looked at Athena, sensing her direction. His brow furrowed. Without looking away he rose from the bath, summoning the robes to his body, drying immediately. He stepped away from the bath and gestured for her to follow. With a curt nod, she followed him out of the bathing chamber to the main room. He stopped before a band of buttery light that spilt in from the balcony and as he turned to Athena, dark shadows played out across his face. He looked at her cautiously, as if she might be an enemy of his…and she tried not to feel offended by it.
“What do you recall of the war against Kronos? About how I won it?”
Athena arched a manicured brow in bemusement. “You killed him. I was there, remember?”
“Were you not curious how I suddenly developed the power to do so?”
“I presumed you struck a deal- oh Zeus, you struck a deal with her? What in the name of your bloody sanity possessed you to do that?” She exclaimed. With a sigh, she rubbed the back of her neck. “That’s why she’s pissed? You reneged on a deal – Gods, it’s one thing to do it to a human but you know the risk of doing it to an immortal!”
Zeus’s eyes narrowed. Outside, the sky darkened and thunder rumbled ominously. “Obviously, I underestimated her. I believed I had a method to contain her – the method which proved effective to the others, anyway.”
Athena’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “There’s more? Also, how was Andromeda not contained in this apparently fool proof trap of yours?”
Thunder continued to rumble and wrestle in the clouds. A clap of lightning exploded. White light flashed through the room, lighting the cold fury in Zeus’s eyes. Athena knew she was treading on dangerous ground but she was so damn angry. His stupid decisions had always been against mortals before – dismissible. There hadn’t been consequences of a true worth before. Now, to know he’d hidden this for years…all the while their greatest enemy grew stronger!
“She emerged and was able to resist the trap. When I went to force it, she used her sword on herself and splintered her soul. I managed to capture two parts, though one was later entrusted to Hades for safe keeping. I retained one, though this was stolen by Eris some time ago in a bid to create chaos on Olympus. The third I never found. Hades placed his piece in Tartarus. The piece stolen by Eris was recovered but Hades had reclaimed it, then decided he would manage its protection,” explained Zeus; after, he frowned, seemed hesitant for a moment before he continued on. “One other escaped but in all this time they have no emerged. I have not sensed them anywhere.”
Athena spun away from him and swept over to the chairs arranged at the side of the room by a blazing fire. She sat down and snapped her fingers, summoning some ambrosia and two goblets. Then, with a cutting glance, gestured for Zeus to sit. He did so, though he seemed more in need of the drink, rather in any sense of obedience. He let the momentarily lapse in her obedience pass.
“So, how many does that leave us in your control?”
Zeus down a goblet of ambrosia in one hit, then set it down on the small side table beside him. “Ten.”
“Why do I get the impression the fact that twelve appeared is not coincidence?”
Zeus’s gaze flickered to the fire, as he was drifting somewhere else in time. “Shortly before the deal occurred a child of Apollo and Hestia appeared to me – an oracle, of sorts. She proclaimed a vision of the new arrivals, that I ought to show care when they came. They would be our end.”
“Prophecies are not usually so clear, even for us,” said Athena sceptically.
He shrugged. “She was the exception…and when the first came through, I had a vision myself.” His eyes darted to Athena, stormy, resolute. “I saw our end in that vision. I saw Olympus burning.”
Athena held his gaze. “And now we face that very vision.” She sighed and down her drink, then looked to the fire contemplatively. “We must decide how to bring this to the others. Rally them by the vision given to you. Apollo should offer his aid with this. We may have an issue with Hermes and Aphrodite though.”
“How so?” Zeus ventured. “Hermes shows no disobedience.”
“He’s become increasingly distant of late. I attribute it to a recent mortal lover. I’ll have her removed, which will bring him back to us. Artemis can be coaxed, if her brother is convinced. Dionysus and Hephaestus will be tricky but I know how to convince them. Unfortunately, there is the matter of Demeter,” said Athena, frowning. “She will prove tricky, especially in light of Persephone’s betrayal.”
Zeus scowled into the fire. “If she dares to protect her child, then I will destroy her.”
Athena rose. She turned to leave but paused, half-turned back. “Before you run off to destroy her, let me do my work first. I have an idea how we can convince Demeter but it must be executed carefully.”
He nodded and said nothing until she was at the doorway, about to leave.
“Why are you always so loyal to me, child?”
Athena lingered in the doorway, her hand clasping the polished stone. “Family fights for family, regardless of their indiscretions – even if there are many.”
Indifference proved a reliable fault in Dionysus. He seemed not to care otherwise about any impending war – he’d fight, if required but, truthfully, he wasn’t much of a fighter. Satisfied he wouldn’t be an issue; Athena turned her attention to Hephaestus. She found the old, leathery God in his forge, hidden in folds of magic beneath Mt Vesuvius. In the buttery, golden glow of the burning forge, framed by the benches full of tools and trinkets, Hephaestus was bent over a bench. He looked up, his golden eyes smouldering, as Athena approached. A frown etched his face.
“What chaos is about to occur?”
Athena wiped one of his benches carefully and leant against it. “A new threat has risen against us. One that spells our end. Your weapons will be needed.”
Hephaestus’s eyebrows rose faintly. “Now that does sound dramatic. Who has screwed up that we now are in a mess?”
“All of us,” finished Athena. “In our blindness, we left a threat to grow stronger. Now this threat has come and we must prepare ourselves.”
A sudden smile blossomed over his leathery face. He rose to his full height, towering over her. “You came to see if I would be a loyal God. Truly, Athena, you used to be better at this. Smarter in your game.”
Athena lifted her gaze and smiled. “So, will you stand with us?”
Hephaestus stared for a moment, saying nothing until he stepped past her, sighing. “I will make the weapons but I will not fight. Will that be enough?”
In the darkness, Athena smiled. “Indeed. Better get busy, though. War is coming to Olympus."540Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftao9YQbQW
