Previously on Morningstar,

The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out. Luke saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. It was Artemis, but she was wrapped in chains, fettered to the rocks. She was kneeling, her hands raised as if to fend off an attacker, and it looked like she was in pain. The Oracle spoke:

Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan's curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent's hand.

Then, as they were watching, the mist swirled and retreated like a great green serpent into the mummy's mouth. The Oracle sat down on a rock and became as still as she'd been in the attic, as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.

Luke's eyes were wide open. "Holy Shit!"

(Olympus)

The streets of Olympus were bustling with activity. There were rumors. Disturbing rumors. Most of the residents of Olympus had no clue that the goddess Artemis was actually missing. So when the rumors started to surface, the whole city was panicking.

Artemis was one of the twelve most powerful gods, and if someone had managed to capture her ... then that isn't very good news for Olympus is it?

No rumour can start without a speck of truth to it. In this case, the entire thing was true. Artemis was captured by the titans.

The Eternal City, Olympus was beautiful during both day and night. A bright flash of gold filled the courtyard of the Palace of the Olympians and three beings emerged from it. Upon seeing them, every immortal present lowered their heads in both respect and fear. Some even going so far as to kneel.

A young god looked to his mother and pointed at Perseus. "Mom, who's that man?"

The goddess stood in front of her son protectively. "Nobody."

Perseus sighed wistfully as he stared at the beautiful structures in The Eternal City. It had been a very long time since he had been up here, and he noticed much had changed. Gone were the marble columns at every turn. They were replaced by actual urban areas. Complete with shopping complexes and theatres.

The population had increased too. Perseus reckoned that there were at least a hundred thousand beings living on Olympus at least, which is a staggering number.

Soon though, they reached the throne room. Perseus entered and looked straight in the direction of Zeus's throne, ... which was empty.

A voice resounded from behind him. "I'm so sorry uncle. I lied. Now give us Artemis back and we won't put you in a cell."

Perseus smiled for a bit. Mostly laughing at himself. He wondered how he could still be so naive. To think that his brother actually wanted to make peace with him? He should have known better. Why would Zeus call him now when he didn't hesitate in blaming him for his missing bolt?

Perseus turned around. Ares and Athena both had their weapons out and pointed at him. Apollo and Hercules were both standing in the throne room already.

Perseus looked at them. "I can't give her to you."

Apollo's eyes blazed. "You will!"

Perseus chuckled. "I can't give her to you because I'm not the one who's taken her."

The Lord of Tartarus glared at Apollo. "And you. If you had half a brain, you would realize who took her."

Apollo lowered his bow. "You ... didn't kidnap her?"

Perseus's glare softened slightly. "No. I didn't kidnap Artemis. But as for these two, ", he looked at Ares and Athena. "They broke their oath. They didn't hold up their end of the bargain. So I'll be taking them. You can tell your father that he can come and collect his offspring at any time."

He snapped his fingers and black chains erupted from the ground, locking them onto Ares' and Athena's necks. Both gods.

Apollo's eyes widened. "NO! Uncle, we made a mistake! We know it's not you now! Just let them go!"

Perseus chuckled. "Apollo, even if I wanted to let them go, which I don't, I did make an oath on the Styx."

Hercules roared and charged Perseus. The latter merely flicked his finger, sending the minor god crashing through a marble column before falling into a vendor's ambrosia store outside the palace.

Perseus snapped his fingers and black smoke enveloped him and his new prisoners.

Desperately, Apollo fired a volley of arrows into the smoke, but they emerged onto the other side.

"DAMN IT!" Apollo yelled as the smoke cleared, and Perseus was nowhere to be seen. So was Athena and Ares.

(Tartarus, Palace of Perseus)

"AAAAHHHH!"

A scream rang out through the palace, shaking the foundations of the structure.

Over a vat of boiling bubbling liquid, a figure was tied up. If one looked upon this figure, they would've never guessed this was Ares, the god of war.

The god was completely unrecognizable. His skin was non-existent, having been completely peeled off.

Perseus walked in on the situation. "Enough. Heal him and unchain him."

The two demons who were grinning ear to ear pouted. "But-"

"No buts. That's enough."

Reluctantly, they emptied the vat of acid and lowered the god onto the ground. Two vials of liquid were placed beside him and the chains which bound his hands disappeared.

The god shivered as he tried to take the vials, his whole body trembling in pain. But he managed. After he drank them, Perseus cleared his throat.

"Alright, maybe now you'd be willing to answer some questions."

The war god shamelessly nodded.

"Good. My first question to you. Almost eighteen months ago, you hid Zeus's dildo with you. Why?"

Ares scrunched his eyes. "What?!"

The elder god rolled his eyes. "His Master Bolt you idiot! You hid it with you, along with Hades's party hat. Then Zeus thought Poseidon and I took his bolt, Hades too thought Poseidon took his helm and everyone thought I took both items. That situation was a real pain in the ass you know. But that isn't what I found odd. You knew very well that sooner or later we all would find out. Which means you were only distracting all of us from something. And recently it has come to my attention that the something is Kronos. While you and that other demigod made us run around in circles, Kronos escaped his prison, which makes you directly responsible for his escape ... unless you were manipulated by him. Admit one thing or the other."

There was no hesitation in Ares's voice. He begged Perseus to release him. He admitted the entirety of the truth. He told him how Kronos entered his mind and took over it. Well, some of the details Perseus knew was far-fetched, but ultimately, he believed him. Ares was many things, a douchebag and dickhead too, but he wasn't a traitor.

Athena sat and watched in horror as the war god broke down. Next to her, a duplicate image of Perseus appeared.

"You must be wondering why I flayed him in the first place right? Styx oaths hold no sway over us anyway."

The wisdom goddess's eyes widened, a little startled. "Yes?"

"Well, it's because Kronos still had tethers onto him. I could feel the titan's presence on him even on Olympus. This must've happened years back. The tethers must've grown stronger and stronger over the months. And if I had forcefully ripped out Kronos's presence from Ares, it would have caused a lot of damage to his mind. Think of this torture like distilling a mixture. To remove the impurity, first we need to-"

"Heat it until the impurity is left behind." Athena finished, her eyes wide. "You weren't torturing him, you were trying to remove Kronos's influence from his mind. Father was trying to do this for many months now."

"It's also why I didn't do anything to you. You are here simply as a witness. Something I'll very much need when your father loses his mind. I imagine he won't be too pleased when he learns of this. Perhaps you can show him the truth."

Hours later, the war god was on his feet. He blinked continuously. For some reason, he felt different. He felt a little empty.

"That feeling is normal. A parasite usually forms a strong bond with it's host, and now that the parasite is gone, you feel something's missing."

Ares growled. "What did you do to me?!"

"Calm down brother, he's actually done you a favour."

"A favour?! You tortured me for hours!"

The elder god scoffed. "Please. That's nothing for a god. You and I both know you could've and would've endured way more than that. After all, you are an Olympian, are you not?"

Athena cleared her throat. "Besides, he managed to remove Kronos's influence from you."

The war god was about to retort but he stopped. The lack of constant laughing in his head, the emptiness, the temporary void he felt inside him. "Fine. But I wasn't jesting the other time. Zeus really does want to see you."

Perseus shook his head. "Tell your father to meet me in V. There is no way I'm going smack in the middle of his domain after all this."

Athena frowned. "V? Where's that?"

Perseus chuckled. "Oh don't worry. He'll understand."

(The Void)

The Void. An endless space which exists outside of the universe. A place where no matter exists. Unless you conjure up something. Here, nobody gets an advantage due to their domain. A perfect meeting place for the most powerful gods in existence.

Perseus sat on a simple recliner which floated endlessly in the void.

Minutes later, the blackness of the void turned bright gold and it shone with brilliance. Once it stopped, three figures emerged from it.

The first wore a pinstripe suit. This god had electric blue eyes which shone brightly compared to the blackness of the void. In his hand was a lightning bolt which sparked every now and then. This was Zeus, King of the Gods.

The second being wore nothing but khaki shorts and a Hawaii t-shirt. In his hand was a trident. A shining silver trident. The prongs were sharper than a razor and a greenish-blue aura surrounded it. This was Poseidon, Lord of the Seas.

The third being was dressed in shadowy robes. His eyes were pitch black and in his hand was a helmet. The most terrifying one, which even made Perseus shit himself. This was Hades, Lord of the Underworld.

Perseus stood, or floated rather, towards them. "Welcome to the quintessence. This is our third meeting, I believe."

Poseidon rolled his eyes. "I still don't understand why you call this a quintessence when there's only four of us."

"Details aren't important. But please, let's all take a seat, and keep your weapons in the centre."

Zeus nodded and snapped his fingers. Four thrones appeared and arranged themselves in a circle. In the centre, there was a table. The four gods kept their symbols of power on the table and took their respective seats.

"Alright, who wants to go first?"

(Olympus)

"Where do you think Zeus went?"

"Dunno, ask him yourself once he gets here." Apollo replied to Hermes, while eating from a packet of chips.

The messenger god frowned. "Stop making those crunchy sounds. It's irritating."

A low thud was heard and the gods looked behind to see Athena on one knee, as if she'd jumped from somewhere. "This is the second time something like this has happened. I don't know for sure, but I think father is hiding something. Poseidon isn't in Atlantis, or anywhere on the planet and neither is Hades.

Hermes laughed. "So what, you think the four of them are having a little chat somewhere off the planet? Don't be daft, sister. They'd rip each other to shreds before that happens."

Athena glared at Hermes. "It has happened. Have you forgotten or what? The four of them on a freaking free for all? They randomly attacked each other, each his own side. The dinosaurs were wiped out and half the earth was vaporised. Now, we have a moon and the Pacific ocean thanks to them."

Apollo shuddered, remembering the incident. It was utterly devastating. Olympus too was destroyed, killing a good number of minor gods who tried to get in their way. It was the first time the Olympians saw the true power of the eldest gods. Contrary to popular belief, the battle was really short.

Hermes popped up next to them. "You know, I actually got some of it on tape right now."

Athena's eyes widened . "WHAT?! Where?!"

Hermes stepped back. "Whoa! Chill. It's here."

Athena grabbed it and put it in a DVD player she had conjured up. "I've been wanting to see this for millennia. Hundreds of millennia!"

RECORDING

3 ...

2 ...

1 ...

The camera first was fixed from outside the planet, which looked very different back then. There wasn't that much water and most of the planet was land.

The camera zoomed in onto two figures fighting. The timer on the bottom left corner showed the seconds moving very slowly, which meant the video was slowed down.

Athena gasped, seeing her father and Perseus throwing each other through mountains.

Another shot showed Poseidon and Hades doing the same.

The next bit was hazy, and all you could see was one god holding another by the neck and smashing him into the ground so hard that the very land mass they stood on split into seven distinct continents. A lot of rock which was thrown around eventually floated off into space, which Athena presumed would collide with other big asteroids and form the moon.

RECORDING END

Apollo stood there dumbstruck. "Wha?"

Athena wondered how the earth was still in a circular shape after all this.

Hermes shuddered again. "Remind me not to get on Perseus's bad side. That last bit was him, you know?"

Athena's eyes widened. "What?! He was the one we so idiotically tried to capture just yesterday?!"

"Yes. Hopefully you've learned your mistake. Now hand that tape here!"

The three Olympians froze and slowly turned around to see Zeus and Perseus. "Oh shit!"

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Sorry for the late post. Pls review. And contrary to what you may think, I actually have not made the elder gods(sons of Kronos) more powerful. Zeus bitch slapped the Argo II so hard that it reached Camp Half-Blood in seconds. It only makes sense that the others should be somewhat comparable. But yes, Zeus is slightly stronger than Percy in this.