Hercules stared around the temple's interior and sighed. It looked like a hundred temples he'd been in over the years, temples to Hera, Zeus, Ares, Aphrodite, the litany went on and on. When he'd been younger he'd been more devout but years of seeing the petty cruelty of humans in the name of the Gods had soured him to it, And after a while he'd even stopped believing the Gods even existed, after all humans didn't really need the impetus of the Gods to be cruel or monstrous, Monsters didn't even have to be real when he considered some of the truly monstrous things he'd seen humanity do.
The marble pillars seemed to mock him as he strode in moving towards the altar, it seemed the Gods were real after all though, this new God was wreaking havoc on Greece and Artemis and tracey had come to help change it, he didn't think they'd realized just how much they'd changed things though. His strange little family of misfits and outcasts was more whole, more at peace for having taken this journey even if they didn't remember what they'd seen in the temples. He stopped in front of the altar and waited, wondering what he was supposed to be facing in here.
The answer appeared rising up out of a massive brasier, a male form nearly 8 feet tall wreathed in flame stared down at him. "Hercules, son of Zeus, savior of mortal kind." The voice sounded like an avalanche and was thick with disdain and sarcasm.
"Echthros I assume." Hercules drawled.
The New God inclined his head. " I am that. Tell me mortal, why have you come?"
Hercules folded his arms as if he were bored. "I came to ask the aid of the Gods in stopping you, I take it they're a bit indisposed?"
Echthros laughed and the fires blazed higher. "They were so busy with their petty squabbles that they didn't even notice my rise to power and now it's too late."
"So what do you have planned now that you are in power?" Hercules had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what this new God, whose name meant Enemy, had in mind.
"Oh I think you know. I will burn the world and feed on the ashes. I am a God of Chaos after all and I've had a long time to plan." He swept an arm out and one wall of the Temple vanished replaced with terrible scenes of Tartarus opened spilling the dead into the living world, Mount Olympus was a smoking ruin and the seas boiled. Hercules ground his teeth watching the world burn.
"We'll stop you." He snarled.
"How? You are five mortals, just a Thief, a broken Amazon, a Seer who is losing his Sight, an Untested Boy and you… a damaged demi God with no real power besides your strength and what good is strength when you face a God?" Echthros sneered
Hercules frowned, the God had forgotten about Artemis and Tracey and he suddenly grinned. "You've missed a pair." He said.
"Impossible. I have seen you five on your quest up the mountain." Echthros snapped.
Hercules shook his head. "Not five, Seven. You missed the two women we traveled with. A sorceress and a shapeshifter. Not very bright for a God are you?"
"There are no such creatures here. This is a world without such powers." The flames around the new God writhed in agitation.
That was an odd thing to say Hercules realized. "You aren't from our world. You're like Artemis and Tracey, you wound up here somehow."
Ehthros hissed in agitation. "No, Impossible! They cannot be here!"
"They're here alright and they've brought magic with them." Hercules retorted enjoying the agitation.
The room was suddenly awash in flame though none of it seemed to touch Hercules. It flowed through the temple and poured out through the windows as Echthros agitation grew. "I was promised, this was a barren world with no magic… he lied!" Echthros howled and stalked towards Hercules who stood his ground.
"They brought magic with them and now you're shit out of luck." He smirked.
There was a flash of light and another figure appeared in the temple, another flash and another figure and another until the temple was filled with fire and the immense towering forms of the Gods. Echthros quailed staring around him at the Gods with their beauty and their power wrapped around them like armor. One by one they leveled their pointed fingers at the New God who howled throwing his arms up to ward them off. "It was promised! A Barren world to despoil!"
Hercules couldn't be sure but he thought there was an answering voice in the sea of flames but he couldn't make out the words. Echthros began to shrink, the flames that made up his form dulling to a sullen red then going charcoal black in patches. He tried to gather the sea of flames around him to save himself and Hercules decided he'd had enough and swung his massive club catching Echthros under the chin and sending him reeling into the wall.
The new God lay against the wall, patches of charcoal black spreading as the flames died away then he too was gone. One by one the Gods vanished, nne so much as glancing in his direction until there was only Zeus left behind. Zeus remained as the temple began to fade around them Neither spoke, Hercules couldn't think of a damned thing to say to his Father and Zeus seemed content to remain silent. Autolycus, Amphiaraus, Atalanta and Iolaus were standing in a cluster a few feet away all staring at Hercules and Zeus, He barely registered that they stood in a circle of bare rock while the rest outside the circle was blackened and seared, some of the rock was even melted as though an enormous heat had melted the very earth. Artemis and Tracey were nowhere to be seen however.
After a moment Zeus inclined his head to Hercules in a respectful sort of way and Hercules returned the gesture then Zeus too was gone. He walked back to his friends, his strange little family and Autolycus let out a shaky breath. "Well then, who wants off this mountain before we freeze to death?"
Hey everyone, I just wanna say thanks for being so patient. I run my own business and summer is the busiest time of year for us. I have several new fics in this series that are written but not edited and I just don't have enough time to work on them right now but they will be coming! Sso pleas keep us in mind and watch for the next Fic featuring Artemis and Tracey!