Chapter Three: Darkest Before the Dawn
"Hera how can this be happening?" asked Jay as they stood before the great statue of Zeus. "How can the prophecy be broken?"
Hera sighed. "I am uncertain. It should not be so."
"But it is," Archie muttered. "The question is why?"
"We defeated Cronus," Atlanta stated. "I mean, Theresa took away his powers but we were all there. We were all fighting him when it happened."
"What?" asked Harry in confusion.
"Atlanta's right," Odie agreed. "Technically seven heroes did defeat Cronus. But the problem is that he survived."
"He's done more than just survived," interrupted Hermes as he came flying in. "Come, look at this."
--
The heroes followed the messenger god to his office. Once there he opened a portal to downtown New Olympia which now stood in ruins. Cars were upturned, windows were smashed. There were unconscious and dead bodies littering the street. Atlanta, despite being tough let out a strangled cry. Theresa merely closed her eyes while Harry, Odie and Neil stood there in absolute shock. Jay was the only one who took a stilted step forward, and he was the only one to speak. "What- what happened?"
"It was Cronus," answered Hermes. "His attack came so swiftly. No one was prepared. Not even us."
"Oh god," choked out Theresa as she looked upon the wreckage before her as another vision rose in her mind. She saw in an instant what the Oracle had seen just mere moments before his death. Theresa saw Cronus ruining the major cities of the world. She saw him taking control of the human population and bending them to his will. She saw the evil god of time destroying the gods who had become their mentors and friends. Worst of all, Theresa saw Cronus killing her friends one by one till the world was left with no hope. "NO!" she cried out as the vision vanished. "No. I won't let that happen…" she muttered as she felt a power rising within her. "I can't let that happen."
"Don't worry," Jay stated quietly as he put a hand on her shoulder, stopping the rise in power. "We'll stop him. We'll make him pay for what he has done."
"But how?" asked Neil. "Look what he did at a moment's notice."
"Can we fight against that?" asked Odie.
"I don't think we have a choice," replied Harry.
"We are the chosen seven after all," agreed Archie. "This is what we were meant to do. We were meant to destroy him."
"And we will," Atlanta answered with an optimistic tone in her voice.
"We have too," added Jay solemnly. "But we need a plan."
"What you need is weapons," interjected Hera with a severity and calmness in her voice that none of the young heroes had ever heard before. "Weapons that have been forged with great power…."
The heroes followed Hera as she left the hallway. None of them knew what they were going to do and more importantly none of them knew if they would be able to defeat Cronus before he did any more damage. But most of all, none of them knew if they would survive the upcoming battle and that frightened them. They had never faced anything like this before. Nothing was set in stone anymore. Nothing.