Disclaimers, etc.: see chapter one.
Lethe's Saga II:
Phoenix Rising
By Eugena
Chapter Two: Fear and Terror
Two raven-haired men faced the remnants of an empty battlefield. Many years ago, there were hundreds of skirmishes on this earthen ground, yet there were none today. War was too afraid. Afraid, not for himself, but for others. He could protect himself, but how could he guard his children?
It had been at least a year since the two men had seen had seen him, yet they refused to look for him on behalf of their sister and mother. These men had been forgotten and written off in legend, and they would leave it that way. They would rather live alone together than to reunite and bring the downfall of everyone.
"I cannot wait any longer," the first one broke the long-standing silence.
"What is a year to us, Phobos, when we can have forever?"
"I suppose that is what Poseidon thought before he died," he retorted.
"I, like you, would prefer not to hide. But if this brings comfort to our sister -"
"We haven't heard from them even before the time of the Twilight. If we cannot go to Father, at least to Mother. If any of them are in danger we can protect them."
"We are protecting them now," he insisted.
"I do not know how they are. I cannot stand this, Deimos! I cannot wait another hour without having word of them."
"Then what are we to do? I will not part from you; we would be weaker. If I am to die, may it at least be with Mother and our sister in my sight."
The brothers looked at each other, their eyes both holding unfaltering determination. Each with the thought of their family on their mind, they faded out with a crimson haze.
Xena awoke slowly from her dreamless sleep. Her mind had become too filled with thoughts of Thrace. Her thoughts had not eased since she had last seen Ares. She remembered riding away from Olympus on the day he had saved her family. One thought of a 'thank you,' and she had moved on, yet an ominous foreboding remained in her heart.
Gods. How many had she killed? Did she even stop to think of what each represented? Did she allot them a passing thought. So many had she killed on that day, yet only Ares and his sister Aphrodite remained on her side. She recalled that Aphrodite had wished to save Gabrielle, but could not without the blessing of Athena.
Now everything had changed. She was enough of a god now. Because of her daughter, she damned the Olympians to their obliteration. To oblivion, perhaps, for she still wondered about what happened to the Underworld. Even as a child, she was terrified of the stories of the eldest gods who had only the Underworld to separate them from mortals.
She had thought, perhaps, that the Twilight was a case isolated to The Olympians. Yet even the Erinyes (Furies), the descendants of Uranos, plotted against her. This time there was no case of cutting the blood tie. Although, this could have been their revenge against Ares' treachery.
"No," she reneged aloud, "that would have been Alecto's alone."
Her words began to stir the bard from her sleep. From then on, she kept her thoughts silent.
Manipulation after manipulation that is what she learned from Ares. She had even become quite good with it herself against him, as she had done on the fateful day when they at last released her from her insanity. Ares had nearly set the scenario for her: Alecto liked to Ares and he used her; conversely, Xena used Ares and set him against Alecto to gain her freedom of mind.
Yet, the Erinyes also attacked. Could they have also discovered her deception? Regardless of the answer, their involvement became a signal for much alarm. She wasn't frightened of them, for she had seen them and laughed, however, the descendants of Uranos and Ge terrified her to the point of breathlessness. Other than the next ruling deities, Rhea and Kronos, there were ten other Titans. Each had a name, a place in history, and most of them had a place of torment in Tartarus farther down than mortals go.
Without Hades, son of Kronos, the rich and dismal ruler of the Underworld, what was left of it? Did anyone reign? Death, she knew, still existed, yet where did the souls go? Where they all made to drink of River Lethe and enter into the Asphodel? What of the souls who already lived in Hades? What if, somehow, the Underworld was destroyed along with its ruler? What happened to her child?
She turned away, looking into the trees. The name of her son was still fresh upon her lips. Perhaps she should have thought longer about whom she killed.
