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I was looking at a map to plot battle strategy when someone came in the tent and peered over my shoulder. It was Leuce. How daring of her to enter without permission. It intrigued me.

She spoke. "If you are to fight a naval battle, I have some minor control over the sea. And that river god can immerse everyone in water and make it impossible to cross when you are being chased."

I turned to look at her. "Why are you helping us?" I asked. I didn't mean to be rude, she struck me as an opportunist and I didn't know if I could trust her to not defect should the battle turn in the enemy's favor.

She looked surprised. Then her expression turned somewhat… seductive. "I am just a weak woman," she purred, tracing her hands along my chest. "What defenses do I have? Every woman needs a reliable protector. You understand this, do you not?"

"Yes," I answered more gutturally than I would have liked. Her lips were inches away from my face. I leaned in but she abruptly turned her back to me, much to my disappointment.

"If a god were to want me, but I not him, the most I could do is run." There was an unmistakably bitter note in her voice. "Maybe I would even be lucky enough to be turned into a tree." She turned around again, staring at me with hunger in her eyes. "But if I were to want a god and he were to want me, I might as well have him." She lifted a hand toward my face but I caught her wrist.

"But what if you were to find a stronger protector across the enemy line?" I pressed.

Her eyes dropped to the metal plate between my legs. "Then claim me now before it is too late," she challenged. "Bind me to you with your superior… protection."

I stared at her blankly. I had a feeling that I was supposed to do something with the burning in my loins, but I wasn't sure exactly what. It had only been a few weeks since I had escaped Cronus' stomach and until recently, my thoughts had mainly been on eating. Well, if binding was what she wanted, then I'd do it. "Right," I stalled. "I'll look for some rope."

Leuce rolled her eyes. "It's a metaphor. If you're lucky I'll even bear you a child." Then she pushed me on top of the table and started to unstrap the fastenings on my armor.

"What are you doing?" I protested. "I need that for protection."

I shut up when she began to take her own clothes off.

For that one night, everything was perfect. However, something was still bothering me. "This is how you make babies?" I asked.

She murmured a yes as she snuggled into me.

I thought of my father, who had chosen to procreate at the potential expense of his own throne (and testicles). I did not think such a venture was worth the possibility of being cast out of power.

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I woke up extra early to do something that I should have done hours ago. I picked up my helmet of invisibility, put on my quietest sandals, and reached for the tent flap.

"Where are you going?" Leuce asked, with a note on anxiety in her voice. So she hadn't been sleeping after all.

"Mt. Othrys," I replied, without meeting her eyes. "My brothers and I agreed that I would sneak into the enemy camp and destroy all their weapons before the first battle breaks out today."

"Without your armor?" she noted suspiciously.

"It is too noisy. I need stealth on my side."

She seemed to accept this answer. However, she seemed unhappy nonetheless that I was putting myself in danger.

"My dear, we are fighting a war. Risk is inevitable." With that, I left with a confidence I did not feel.

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I snuck into the armory and shattered all the swords, spears, and arrows with my bare hands. My palms bled, but I did not care. I was too scared that I'd get caught and be subject to an eternity of torture. On my way out, I also stole a couple of pears and a side of lamb for good measure. They looked so delicious.

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Thanks to my success, the enemy was at a significant disadvantage, but they soon forged more weapons. They proved to be fierce and determined to protect their power.

And so, for ten years we fought. Ten, long years. The Titanides did not take a side as their menfolk had treated them as poorly as us. As we warred, the heavens trembled until it was on the verge of collapsing into the earth.

One may wonder how immortals can truly suffer in a war. In a way, we were the ones who suffered the least. Since there were roughly even numbers on either side, the battle strategy became based on recruiting more mortals for yourself and killing as many of the enemy as possible. This is not to say that the gods were not impacted. Sometimes I wished I could die so it could all be over. There is nothing like having a dear friend die in front of your eyes, or seeing that a charred wasteland is all that is left of what was once a forest teeming with life. Violence is not a healthy state of living, nor is it natural.

As the fighting progressed, it became increasingly difficult to sort allegiances. There was so much defecting, spying, and arms dealing that no one was above suspicion. For example, Epimetheus, Menoetius, and Prometheus eventually switched over to our side. Once a spy caught hiding in a tree, Zeus ordered all the trees to be cut down to deprive the enemy guerillas of their hiding places. Leuce screamed and raged as the dryads were sacrificed fora cause from which they had distanced themselves.

"They're neutral!" she cried hysterically as the foot soldiers went about with their axes. "Most of them are neutral!" She desperately wrapped herself around a white poplar, but the man made as if to chop right through her. I yanked her away in the nick of time. As a nymph, she was very particular about Gaia's children.

She was very playful, especially with the prisoners. She would make them do things like stack up in a pyramid after taking their clothes off. However, I often found myself having to intervene when she took things to far.

"Leuce, my love. Even war requires a certain code of conduct," I once reminded her.

"They showed my friends no orderly conduct," she hissed.

I had no answer to this. True, the war was becoming more and more uncivilized by the day, especially since terror had become a method of keeping the masses under control. Even the civilians could not be trusted since some opportunists took advantage of the Titan-Olympian conflict for an extra piece of land or a little bit more prestige. They made secret deals that helped prolong the war by dragging in third parties that were now obligated to fight. Wherever we advanced, we took everyone prisoner, even the humans. Sometimes they were simply executed on the spot.

Personally, I thought it was a waste of space and effort to round up the humans. These new creations of Prometheus were pathetically unequipped to fight, much less survive. They were not as swift as the leopard, clever as the ape, or as ferocious as the bear. They lacked sharp claws for defense, fur for warmth, and the mental capacity to do anything as sophisticated as start a war. Prometheus frequently hovered over hishelpless creatures like an overprotective mother. I felt sorry for them too, but they were a hopeless cause. I was certain they would cease to survive as a species.

The Titans fought from Mt. Othrys and we made our camp on Olympus, so we were both situated close enough to the coast to fight on the seas. However, our forces were wearing thin, and we would have no chance of standing the next battle unless we concentrated all our resources in one area.

Zeus came up with a brilliant plan. He beckoned over a fragile looking human boy and instructed him to watch for the Titans from the North Temple. "I want you to light a lantern and hang it by the window as a signal," he said slowly and clearly, pointing at a lamp and making a square in the air. "See where they're coming from. One if by land, two if by sea. You understand?" With all of his exaggerated hand gestures, a deaf person would have understood.

The boy nodded and ran off.

I frowned. "Are you sure you can trust him with the task?" I asked. "Humans are not that intelligent."

"We need every soldier we can spare," he replied. "Humans are useless on the battlefield."

We watched for the signal and two lights appeared at the window of the temple. The Nereid's raised the waters in an attempt to flood the Titan ships that were approaching. Leuce and some of her Oceanid friends summoned a minor storm. Unfortunately, our own ships were affected as well. A naval battle in the worst conditions ensued.

I struggled to maintain my balance as the ship thrashed angrily and the enemy kept shooting arrows at me. The biting wind stung my cheeks and the spray from the ocean half blinded me. However, I kept fighting. It would not do for the leader to falter.

When we were weary, when we felt like we could endure the fighting no longer, the Titans finally surrendered. I felt no joy or triumph at the sight of their white flag, only relief.

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