AuthorsNote:I always love it when we get to a point where the plot opens up! Thank you again for the reviews, today I am taking you on an adventure into the middle of nowhere. I will let your guide, Cronus, do the talking about your trip!

Its quite interesting. I almost feel like the characters are mine because I've done so much with them. Sadly they are not and I cannot take credit for the characters. Even if I have morphed them into something darker than what they were originally.

Anyways, less blabber, more story. lets go.

Walls of Bricks

Act One: Destruam

Chapter 10

Chapter Theme : Prothean Beacon-Chris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan (Mass Effect 3 Soundtrack)

Cronus climbed and climbed. Winds were harsh on his face. His immortality kept him alive, but the cold chilled him right into the bones. The climb was slow, and painstakingly cold. Agnon was shivering beneath his many layers of fur coats. Cronus was smothered in furs too, keeping the worst of the cold off of him. There were times where he debated whether they were even doing anything but make him heavy. His portals were not working around the peak of the mountain. More magical defences, no doubt. He must have placed them last time he was here.

He couldn't use portals anyways. The gods had entire teams of servants waiting to pick up the first signal of a portal. And so he and Agnon were forced to travel for days, finally reaching the lower slopes and ascending to reach the peak of K2, considered the toughest mountain in the world by mortals. Cronus didn't need to worry about oxygen or cold, but even he found it difficult. The slopes were steep, rocking, and filled with soft snow which provided no support or grip.

It has been too long since I've done a hiking trip. Those portals make it too easy for me. Cronus thought. It was the morning of a clear day. Cronus had lost count of the number of days it had taken him to get here. He may have hoped to be able to reach the top in a few hours, but Agnon was bigger, and thus, slower without the powers he and given him earlier. Cronus, however refused to leave him at the bottom. Agnon had suffered through hell and back. He deserved to see this through to the end, even if it cost them a few days.

He had successfully sneaked his way here without alerting the gods or the team so far. He did so by laying low. He had left his cave, hidden on a tiny island in the Aegean sea and took a boat to Beirut, Lebanon. He and Agnon then traversed across the war torn deserts of Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They didn't stop to rest along this long part of their journey until they came across the Himalayas. They had made most of this journey in just a few days. Cronus committed his powers to keeping them moving quickly. They didn't stop for anything until they found the towering Himalaya Mountains. He had avoided all civilization after Lebanon. Even in the warzones, there were no people to see them in the middle of the desert. They had left no trace of their travels with them. Cronus had carefully disguised Agnon as well. The journey had gone according to plan.

Being undercover however was their only advantage. Cronus had committed much of his remaining power to keep them undercover, that he was low on energy. If the teenagers found him in the state he was in, it would have meant defeat. He didn't even have the strength to make a portal.

He had never felt so weak in his life. Even in tartarus, he had more strength. Cronus felt almost mortal. He felt a need to wear fur clothes and even needed to rest for a few hours once they reached the isolation of the mountains. He felt pathetic, but there was no going back.

At last, they had reached the peak. The wind was unbearably strong, as expected. Snow blew at their faces at blistering speeds. However, the view just took their breath away. The air was clean and crisp. Besides a few clouds, obstructing their view, they could see how close they were to the sky, and how far down the valley ran below. The sun was gaining strength in he late spring morning, and the heat was felt on their skin, a relief from the brutal night of climbing that they endured.

Cronus could feel something warm from inside his jacket. He pulled out the artefact from his fur coat. It was gaining heat quickly. Not like it had in his cave. The heat was stronger than ever before. We're close. As he moved along the peak's line, the rock began to get hotter, and the crescent moon began to glow. They reached a point where the moon was luminescent and the sapphire was releasing so much heat that the snow beneath it was melting rapidly. Cronus began to wipe a way the snow, but as he crouched, the heat of the stone evaporated away the snow in the blink of an eye. Cronus got up awkwardly, staring at the circular trapdoor that he was standing on. They had gone down from the peak a few hundred metres, into a small area that was flatter. There was a trapdoor carved out of the stone around it. Despite its age, the carvings on it were ornate and well preserved, as it had been kept in snow and ice for a long time. There were three main illustrations, one of the sun, one of three stars, and a stone. In the centre of the stone image, lay a small imprint of a hexagon. Perfectly sized for the artefact in his hand.

It was burning in his hand. Taking in a breath of thin air, he gently placed the almost molten object in its place. The entire stone began to glow orange. Cronus stood back as the orange glow spread to the rest of the circle. The heat was so intense that Cronus began to think he was next to lava. Suddenly, as the glow reached it's apex where the heat and light suddenly stopped. The stone trapdoor was now black and burned, and crumbling down into a vertical chasm below. The way was dark, and one could not see the bottom, but Cronus managed to make out what was below.

"Come along Agnon. The water at the bottom will break our fall." Cronus told Agnon, but the big giant was cold, tired, and reluctant to go down. He grunted.

"Look, the seal will have broken down the magical barriers. We should be able to make a portal out of here. Don't worry Agnon. You'll see home again, I promise you." Cronus had no idea if it was actually true, but he needed the giant to come along with him.

The giant reluctantly agreed to follow Cronus down the deep chasm of doom. The fall was long, but as Cronus had promised, there was water to break their fall, and an island was nearby to swim to. The island had a single coal torch burning to give light to the small rock. As Cronus grabbed it from it's rusty metal stand, he could see only a few feet away from him. Enough to see the grey shore on all sides.

Agnon stood behind him, as Cronus surveyed the area. He couldn't see much, but he could feel them. There was something here, and it was watching him.

Out of the black, voices came from the blackness. They spoke in a language older than anything on the earth, yet Cronus recognised it as if he had been fluent in it yesterday.

"We always knew you would come back Cronus." The voices were deep, and made the ground tremble at every word. Cronus felt a shiver down his spine. The voices belonged to something gigantic. A monster. They spoke simultaneously, but Cronus remembered they all belonged to the same being. "Alas, it is because we were right, and you were wrong."

Cronus understood every word of the language and replied in equal fluency. "I'm not here to admit anything. I'm here to offer you a deal."

"The one who imprisoned us here now wants to free us. The thought is almost, amusing. Your fight is not with our enemies, yet you desire our help."

The voices rang deep into Cronus's eardrums. Every word was a headache and had no fluctuation to it. They were void of emotion. They sounded like robots. Gigantic robots.

"From our prison here, we have watched time go by, and have witnessed the progression of the mortals. One million five hundred and twenty years ago, we could see their potential and we warned you of the inevitable future should they be allowed to live; that they were a blight that had to be dealt with. An infection that would spread and consume all in their path. Fumbling in ignorance, you disagreed. You defended the mortals, and when we insisted on their destruction, you imprisoned us."

"I wasn't going to condemn an entire race to extinction from something they hadn't done."

"You were unwise. As they grew, they gained power over the world. The power to mould and shape the world used to belong to the immortal kind, but now it has spread to be used by unworthy beings. They have built their own mountains and carved their own seas, while the gods have sat int heir homes eating ambrosia."

"It wasn't exactly my fault. Zeus imprisoned me for three thousand years. I couldn't do anything. He's the one who allowed them to grow them the way they did. He should be your enemy! Not me."

"Zeus was not the cause of their advancement. He has only been as ignorant as you, simply hastening the process. He has tried to control them, and he has failed. The mortals are too unstable and too many to control."

Cronus began to grow frustrated over their accusations of his ignorance. "Proving me wrong won't get you out of here. Joining my fight will. I have waited for four thousand years to take back my throne, wil you not join me?""

"We have no quarrel with the gods. They are no longer worthy adversaries, and none of them were even born when you imprisoned us. However, in your desperacy for our resources, you do have what it takes to free of us from our prison. Terms could be met."

Cronus managed to allow a smile to escape. It would be a very short-lived smile.

" Our shackles, however, are not so easily broken, and neither is our allegiance easily gained. We will fight for you, if you accept our two terms of alliance. Your ignorance and crave for power have left you blind to the true threat at hand. The mortals have been growing, and they will continue to grow, as long they exist. They will ravage this world until there is nothing left. Life will cease to be. Mortals threaten all of life itself, and when all is exhausted they will diminish as well. It is in our interest to preserve the existence of life. Along with aiding you in your conquest, we desire to eradicate humans from all existence."

Cronus's smile faded away at the thought. What? All of them? These things were right that humans had spread quickly and gained power over the world, but to kill them all was an even more demanding task than taking on the gods. "All of them? You cannot be serious, that's impossible!"

"There is no other solution. The infection must be stopped before it consumes the world. Then. All life would cease to exist. Both mortal and immortal would suffer. We do not wish it to be necesary, but there is no other way and we must do what has to be done. We have the resources to pursue this, as well as aiding you. You need not be involved, you must simply allow it. We will do the rest."

Cronus took a deep breath. What these voices never failed to do was have any hole in their arguments. He managed to remember what they had been like. These things were many minds in one body, and in his early days, they had been members of his counsel. Over the years, they had given him good advice that strengthened his kingdom, until the day they came to him about the mortals. They had been as unemotional then as they were now. When you talk like a machine, you tend to think like one too. They were systematic, and that was why they were so efficient. The problem was that they had no sense of morals, and their advice was riddled with things that were morally conflicting for both god and mortal.

Cronus needed that efficiency, but was it worth the price of seven billion mortal souls? He hesitated before replying to the voices. Cronus had no particular love for the mortals. Perhaps they are the cause of the loss of my power. If I eradicate them, my powers could return. Cronus also recalled the times over the past few years that he had cursed mortals and wanted to eradicate them as well. Seven mortals were proving to be hard enough, while seven billion seemed impossible, so Cronus often forgot about those interests, especially when the Heroes began taking the offensive more often.

Cronus sighed, hoping he would not regret his decision, "Very well, and what is your other term?"

"This is less so a term than a necessity for us to function. When you imprisoned us, you deprived us of our bodies. We require bodies to function."

Cronus frowned. "So, I'm just going to 'give' you bodies?"

"Precisely. You currently have everything we need to return to our physical form. A drop of a titan's blood would be potent enough to give us immortality. However, we will also require to consume mortal flesh. We ask of something more dear to your heart. We are immortal, but our children are not and they require flesh. Your assistant will suffice."

"Agnon?" Cronus blurted. Agnon heard his name. The poor giant had not understood the strange language that the others were speaking and was standing behind Cronus awkwardly. Cronus looked to the giant's confused face. He replied to the voices in the ancient tongue, "Will you hurt him?"

"The process will require us to consume him. It is necessary to take body form."

So they said in their deep voices. They had no idea what this meant. Agnon had been there since he escaped from Tartarus two years ago. Many of his friends had died along the way, and he was the only one left of his kind. Cronus had yelled at him, tantrumed at him, and hit him countless times, but the giant was still loyal. If Cronus gave the word, Agnon would die for him. They both knew that. Despite all that he said to Agnon. He was Cronus's only friend. He couldn't understand what was going on, as Cronus asked himself what Agnon would do. Cronus whispered;

"Mother Gaia, Father Oranos, forgive me." He turned around to the blackness and spoke in plain English.

"You have a deal." Sacrifices have to be made.

"It is done then." Replied the deep voice in english as well. Cronus reluctantly whipped out his scythe, and pricked his finger. The drop of blood that oozed out seemed to vanish in thin air. I'm sorry, old friend. The giant began to grunt in a panicked tone behind him. The grunts began to become deep grunty screams that seemed to go on forever. Cronus just kept his back to it, pretending not to notice. He didn't want to see what they were doing to him. He had never felt such an epitome of regret in his long life.

The screams stopped, and Cronus knew it was over. I'll see this through for both of us.

The silence was suddenly interrupted by a earth shaking sound that seemed like a long strike thunder. The ground shook even more a deep groan grew louder, and louder, and louder, until they seemed to burst even the god's eardrums. He looked into the darkness of the cavern. The black fog was slowly beginning to fade Three pairs of massive eyes, opening one pair at a time. The pair on the left were a fiery orange, the ones in the right were sky blue, and the one in the centre had void black eyes, outlined by yellow. They had long, slitted pupils like those of a snake. Three voices boomed.

"We are free, and we will do what must be done with fire, ash, and sky. We are legion, for we are many. Yet we are one. We are Harbringer. Prepare for ascension."

Odie could see him across the road. The old man sat where he always did. In front of his magazine stand, reading the day's newspaper. Not that he ever needed to know what was going on. The oracle always knew what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen, and that was why Odie had come to him.

It was morning of prom day. Nobody was at school. They were all either sleeping or getting their hair ready. Odie wanted to make that gender specific, but Neil diminished any hope of that gender classification. Odie had been the only one up in the house. He checked the mail and brought in the packages of tuxedoes that each of the boys had rented. The girls and Neil had done their shopping months ago; Atlanta had reluctantly bought a dress as well after Theresa's constant persuasion. However, she had refused to be seen in it until the actual night. Nobody and even seen the dress besides Theresa, Atlanta and Neil.

Odie chuckled; Time is Atlanta's greatest enemy. The girl never had much patience with people. If it came to tracking a deer, or ambushing Cronus, Atlanta could wait as long as it needed. But she lacked the same patience with people. She preferred to be a lone wolf, or with Archie. At least before the island incident.

Last night was a long one. Jay had decided it was time to hand over Eric. Jay, Herry, and Odie were the ones who did it. Atlanta was already in bed and Neil didn't want to be near the politics that would ensue. Theresa went far enough to slap Jay as they walked out the door. The trip there as easy enough. Huddled close at midnight, nobody was around to notice an unconscious, handcuffed man between four young adults. Nobody talked though, and it left an eerie silence all the way to the school. When Jay brought Eric to Hera, her eyes went wide as an eagle's wingspan. She had clearly not expected this, and Odie remembered the exact words she said.

"Well done, we will make sure justice is served to this traitor." Jay smiled, but he did ask why he was so wanted by the gods.

Hera relied coldly, "I'm disappointed in you Jay. We have given you our hospitality, and resources beyond any mortal, and you hid him from us for over two weeks." She sighed, " Still, it was a means to an end. Leave us. We will take it from here and you must be tired."

All three of the guys felt uneasy walking out of Hera's solar. Odie recalled the conversation that he had with Eric earlier that night. He began to wonder if he really was telling the truth. Hera avoided Jay's question, and she had been quick to get rid of the team.

Jay must have been upset by Hera's reaction. It may have given him some doubt about his actions, but Jay had been a little off since he started dating Sabrina. He wasn't bewitched, like he had been with Medea, but he was distracted from the team. He would be seeing her every other night when he usually spent his sleeping hours staring at maps and books. He didn't even sail anymore. When he was focused on fighting Cronus, he would go sailing twice a week, just to escape, except now he had found a new escape, and it was one that was hurting the team.

The guy had never been involved in relationships since he arrived in New Olympia. He once said he had a girlfriend back in Collingwood, where he used to live, but it ended quickly when he was sent off to 'astronaut school'. Since then, Jay kept most to himself in terms of girls, and was in fact quite oblivious to the fact that Theresa was head over heels about him since the first day they met. Jay couldn't pick up the clues and hints she dropped. While funny for the first while, it grew painful to watch. Odie didn't know if Jay was interested or not, but he sure as hell didn't know that she was. Seeing Jay tell her he was handing Eric over was the worst. You could see her heart breaking, like after a long fight, she just couldn't carry on. She just seemed to give up on him.

He hadn't traversed half way across downtown on a hot, sunny Thursday to think about his friends. Not to himself at least. The traffic light now showed the white walking man instead of the red hand, and Odie crossed the street with several dozen other people, each on their own adventure of the day. Odie's adventure was just beginning however. It was going to be a long day.

"Odie! Good to see you." Greeted the old man, not even looking up from his newspaper. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for your big night?"

"I still have time." The Oracle took his paper down and smiled at the young man,

"Look, you know why I'm here Oracle. The team-, everything is going wrong. Jay is distracted with his new girlfriend, Theresa won't talk to him, Archie won't talk to anyone and there's talk that the gods are going to kill us. What can I-?"

"Nothing, Odie. There is noting you can do now Odie. Not at this point in time."

Odie's question was answered before he even asked. "Nothing? What do you mean nothing?"

"Things are now in motion that cannot be undone. You can try to stop, and you will fail."

Odie had not traversed across the city to be told to do nothing.

"There must be something I can do."

"You should save your energy. If I were you, I would stop worrying and try to enjoy tonight. There isn't much time left."

"Time left before what?"

"That I cannot tell you. You will know soon enough." The oracle took a sip from his half melted Slurpee. "You have a second question?"

"What were you going to say? Something bad is going to happen, isn't it?"

"Yes, and you have another question."

Odie clenched his fist. The oracle was not being helpful. The Oracle had a tendancy to be cryptic and he always gave answers the way he wanted to. Odie just decided to go long with it. There was no point fighting with him.

"It's about Eric. Has what he's been telling us the truth?"

The oracle smiled at that one. "Parts of what he has said are true, some, less so. Not by his fault, but the mind is a strange thing Odie. Not all are as stable as you. Less stable minds are open to, well, you may find memories can get 'altered' ,fabricated, and even erased."

"So his memories aren't real?"

The Oracle frowned "I didn't say that. I simply said that his words were not 100% true. Cronus's plan however, is pretty close to the truth."

Odie took a moment before nodding grimly. "I feel like he's forgotten some detail. I feel like there has been something missing in his story about Cronus's plan."

" You are a smart one. Yes, your friend Archie made sure that memory would have trouble returning to him that night in the temple." I haven't forgotten. Odie thought to himself, " He forgot that the scroll mentioned that I foretold a prophecy that was wrong."

"What? How is that possible?"

The oracle shrugged. "It isn't. I'm never wrong. I've seen the beginning of this world, and I see how it ends. I have no way of being wrong. It is as you say, impossible. Cronus was a fool to think that I was. He wrote a scroll many millennia ago before he was overthrown. By sealing the scrolls, he kept his memories of the incidents in them. A god who rules that long would have many regrets, and things he would not want to remember. He claimed that there was a time that I was wrong about a prophecy about his downfall."

"So he's opened the scroll and remembered what it was." Odie gasped. That thing he had picked up in the temple must have been a key to an ancient artefact from his rule. "I have to tell the others."

"I just said Odie, it's too late." The Oracle warned him. " Your energy will be better used later in time."

"But we have to defeat Cronus! You foretold it!"

"You will, in time. Cronus still has a part to play in the greater scheme of things, as do you and your team. Remember this Odie."

Odie didn't want to remember this. He wanted to be sick. The oracle hadn't said it, but shit was about to hit the fan, and he could do nothing to stop it.

"If I can't do something, could someone else, like Zeus?"

"Zeus?" The Oracle laughed at Odie, "Tell me boy, where was the last time Zeus did any fighting? Who do you think holds the power?"

"The gods of course," Odie said instinctively. The Oracle is up to something. I feel that I'm not right.

"Titans and gods have come and gone through time, and yet, here I remain. Am I powerful Odie? Odie, when I make a prophecy, am I spitting the truth from what I see? Or am I fabricating fate with my very words? No, I do not control fate, I simply understand it. Even the gods don't govern fate, and as time has passed, they've also been finding that they can govern even less. They've told you forty six times that there are things outside of their control. The gods are not powerful enough to stop this. Immortality does not mean invincibility. Why else would they fear you?"

Great he's gone cryptic, thought Odie,"Me?"

"Mortals. If they had nothing to fear, they would rule your realm as if you were ants. Why don't they? I'll tell you why, because you mortals have more influence than you think. You have power. You can build concrete mountains and carve rivers into the land." The Oracle smiled as he watched Odie think about what he had said.

"Fate and the future are strange things Odie, and there are few who understand it. There are things that are guaranteed to happen. Those are the things I foretell, but what people don't know, is that the future always has a degree of probability where things can change. Thing of 'constants and variables'. You will defeat Cronus. I guarantee you that, but how, when, and most importantly, why will be changed forever. Heed what I've told you, and prepare yourself."

"Prepare? You just told me to do nothing."

"Nothing at this moment in time."

"Then what must I do to prepare?"

The Oracle smiled again, and leaned in, looking at Odie. "Tell me Odie, what makes a brick wall withstand stress?"

Odie frowned. What kind of a question is that? "The bricks are bound together by mortar."

"Very good." The Oracle said, "Without mortar, the bricks would fall apart under stress. The mortar binds the bricks together. Making them capable of withstanding almost anything."

Odie frowned even more. "What does this have to do with the team?"

"What differs a team from bricks? Alone you can withstand little, but when you have something that binds you together like a glue, you are stronger. Many people become one team, in the same way many bricks become one wall."

"What do you mean by this?"

The oracle leaned forward even more; his glowing eyes were staring right at Odie. " Dark times are coming, Odie, and the brick wall is going to come tumbling down. But what is broken can be rebuilt with the right tools. Find your glue, and by the gods, protect it with all your might."