Daniel
The wind ruffled my hair, and I sighed contentedly. We had left a few hours ago, the Titaness leading the massive Armada the Navy of Chaos Isle had become.
No sea monsters would attack us. So much power rang out into the depths of the Ocean that even the most fearsome beast slinked into the crevices of the Ocean Floor.
My thoughts returned to Sophia. I hadn't talked to her ever since that dream message, and I was starting to get worried that no single message had come through to me. Especially after a month.
"Grandmaster..." Someone said behind me, and I turned to see the man that was given to me as a Second-in-Command to my ship. Ship-Master Kirn.
"Yes, Shipmaster?"
"You've got an incoming call at the meeting room."
"We have a meeting room?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Of course, did you not know?"
"I wasn't showed that such a thing existed."
"Huh-" He said, "Well then, I'll show you to it. I must say, it's quite a sight in itself."
I chuckled, "On this ship, what isn't?"
"That is true too, Sir." He smiled.
"Alright, show me to the meeting room."
"Very well." He turned around and started walking towards the elevator leading down inside the hull of the ship.
In no time, I was standing in the Cargo bay, packed with boxes of Food and Water. A Machine was covered by a massive drape. I was told it was a water filtration system, that could make Sea Water Drinkable.
There was a Legion of Deactivated Automatons standing in a nice bunch beside the Water Filter Machine, and then more covered contraptions. Daedalus had left them as a surprise for me. The outline I could see was intriguing, but I'd let a surprise remain a surprise.
We continued down towards the Crew Quarters, stopping on the level where all the Utility Cabins where.
I counted them up, remembering the list Daedalus had gone through with me. But there was one more unaccounted for.
That's the one we walked through. Double doors. I hadn't been this far down yet, having to learn the ins and outs of the Command Center. After that, I went up to the Top Deck for a bit of relaxation.
The Double doors opened up to a massive room, mostly taken up by an incredibly large table, with leather chairs tucked underneath it every once in a while.
"Here you go, Sir. Your Chair is right here." He pointed to the one closest to us.
"Thank you, Dismissed," I told Kirn.
He nodded, before exiting.
I had no clue how this would work, but I was sure that we wouldn't be meeting here. That would be too much of a hassle.
The moment I sat down, each chair was filled by a figure. Ghostly and see-through.
"Welcome, Sir!" Harold smiled.
"What..."
"Holograms. Give a Master Craftsman and Inventor enough time, and he makes wonderful things."
"Daedalus hadn't even mentioned that this existed."
"He likes his surprises." Harold chuckled.
There was silence for a few seconds.
"I'm guessing I should start somewhere."
Harold nodded.
I stood up and looked around at the table of Ship-Masters. Everyone followed my lead.
"I welcome everyone to our very first War Council. I am as much out of the picture as everyone else is, maybe even more so. That is, except for Harold. With these words, I will give word to you Master Harold. You may sit."
Everybody sat down, and Harold continued.
"Thank you, Grandmaster. So, as many of you know, we are currently heading towards the beaches of Portugal, where our Forward Operations Unit has hopefully finished construction on the Base we'll be defending. Once there, we'll need to unpack everything from the ships as fast as possible, though the Titaness should be the first. Me, the Grandmaster, Phoenix Squad, and the Grandmaster's Personal Guard will be joining us, as well as the crew of the ship, on a journey to the Island of Sardinia."
There was no murmuring, nothing. Harold continued.
"I believe that General Reyes has only recently gotten a report about the progress there, therefore I asked him to save reading it until we have all gathered together. If you allow it, Grandmaster, I wish to give word to the General now."
I nodded, and the man stood up somewhere near the middle of the table.
"Thank you." He said, bowing his head slightly whilst unscrolling a piece of parchment, "The Report goes as follows: The Work on defenses is near complete. We've calculated in all space the army and supplies will need. Scouts have returned from the new Canal made between Spain and France. They say that the enemy is a week's march from our position. Place of defense is slightly hilly, all Trees and major obstructions of the line of sight have been cleared, and integrated into the fortifications. The Automatons are finishing up construction, and we await your arrival."
"How are we so sure that the enemy will attack us, instead of just using another place to camp down. There's a lot of places still left along the entire beach." I said.
"We can't be for certain Sir, however, our best guess is they will attack us. Tartarus, or whoever leads this part of his army, knows what we are fully capable of and that his attack only fuelled our plans for revenge. He won't let us stay there so that at any time we can attack him in the side. If that's not true, we can still count on the fact that he wants us dead, and he'd be more than willing to send Monster fodder baying for blood against us. He'll be sorry about it though. We've got tons of firepower, and not just the Heavy Weapons we brought in our Cargo holds."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"Seeing as how the ships will have little use of them, being so far out that firing would risk hitting our own defenses, I thought about carrying all Cannons and other the other weapons we can remove, to the shore."
"And how exactly do we do that? There are thousands of cannons." One shipmaster said.
"We have automatons. They are easily strong enough to carry a cannon each. A few rounds with the Troop Transport Ships and we've got all of them on land."
No other questions came from the crowd of Shipmasters.
"That is a very good idea, General. I hope you've already figured out that with me and Harold's Absence, I will make you Commander of the defenses."
The General smiled. "Thank you, Grandmaster."
"Anything else we wish to discuss?"
There were no hands.
"Okay then. I wish everyone a comfortable journey. This War council is concluded." One by one the Holograms disappeared until only Harold and I were left.
"Sir, there's one final thing. It's something a bit more personal."
"Huh?"
"Well, during the first days of your training, I sent a lot of groups around America, including myself and a few of the Phoenix squad members, for recruiting new soldiers."
"Yes?"
"One of my stops was at the Amazons in Florida. They only recruit women as warriors, so I thought to ask around if they could point me towards anyone they knew of. When I got to their HQ, I had the luck of meeting none other than their Queen, just recently arrived from quite a big adventure. I was allowed to talk to her, but in the same room sat someone I hadn't thought would be there."
"Get to the point, god damn it," I muttered, getting annoyed at Harold.
"Sophia. Sophia sat there."
"She joined the Amazons?"
"No. She was there with a few Romans and other Greeks, and I could only talk with her for a brief moment, but she said she was fine, and asked about you."
"What did you say?"
"That you're fine too, and healed by your encounter with the Leitus."
"Okay... Good." So she was okay. At least she was when Harold had met her, "Anything else, or was this it?"
"This was all I had to say."
"Thank you, Harold." I smiled. He took that as his sign to leave, so he did just that.
That's when I decided that I had to contact Sophia again. Be sure she was okay.
Just had to wait for the sun to set.
Atlas
"Are the Catapults ready?" I asked the Small Persian standing next to me.
"Yes, General." He said.
A month had passed since I had started preparations. Mostly it was waiting for Tartarus' little mortal helper to arrive.
There was no denying the Mist surrounding the Orchard was strong enough to deflect the projectiles. So he sent someone called Pasiphaë. I had no idea how a Mortal could do anything, but I wasn't that stupid to go against Tartarus.
Capturing a God was going to be easy, though I'd have to move fast if I'd want to keep this army alive. I didn't see much loss in them, but Tartarus wants these worms alive. I had to comply with his wishes.
"Alright. Pasiphaë, start whatever you must."
She nodded, though I saw her eyebrows scrunch up in annoyance.
A few minutes passed with her doing nothing else but standing there.
Then, with a loud yell, a massive ball of green light flew towards the invisible mist wall of the Orchard.
Just before the collision, the part of the wall became visible. Then I was momentarily blinded as it crashed against the wall.
When I looked back, I could see it crumbling, burning like it was paper.
I smiled.
"FIRE!" I roared, and without hesitation, every single siege engine I had lined up fired their payload of Imperial Gold Balls at the Sacred Orchard of Hera.
There were few things that I had taken beauty in, but such I sight of pure destruction I had only seen long ago, in the First Titan Wars.
Once the light subsided once more, I saw only fiery patches remained of the once scenic view.
I walked over to the very first of the trunks and kicked it.
It turned to ash the moment my foot touched it.
A Painfully loud scream ripped through the air, and the Golden Form of Hera Appeared in the air in front of me, her face contorted in rage.
"WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE?" She asked.
Without thinking twice, I smacked her out of the air, only to grab her mid-air and smash her against the ground as hard as I could.
I pummelled her body, again and again, her golden glow fading with every hit. After the Fifth or Sixth, I lifted my arms for the final blow that'd finally knock her unconscious.
A Wave of Birds blasted me in the chest, sending me flying through the air.
Hera rose to her feet, her anger returning.
The Birds were pecking my skin, but they were nothing more than an annoyance. I slapped two dozen to the side with a single swipe, and that was the end of them. Their frail bones weren't made out for taking damage.
"YOU. YOU HAVE DESTROYED MY MOST SACRED POSSESSION." She Screamed, tears rolling down her face.
At my feet was a ball of Celestial bronze, melted together from the intense heat that had dominated this place only moments ago.
I threw it at the Goddess, but it was blasted out of the air.
With a Roar, I charged at her, bringing both my hands down on her in an overhead swing.
Her eyes widened, and she held up her stick of peacock feathers. A weak defense against such an attack.
The blow carried through the Stick, once more bringing her to the floor.
"You are no match for a Titan."
I whistled, and not a moment later I could hear the thuds of Ladon running over. He stopped a few meters from us.
"Dragon! Yes. Attack this Titan at once." Hera commanded.
"Oh no. I'm afraid you don't command this creature any longer." I smiled.
"You are mistaken, Titan."
"No, you are. You see, I haven't seen or heard you once talk with Ladon, connect with it. On the other hand, my daughters and I, we've lived here for millennia."
Her eyes widened, realizing that what I was saying could bear some truth.
"But..."
I pointed at Hera, and she was gone. Disappearing down Ladon's Throat.
With a Smile, I walked back to the Persians.
"You, mortal." I pointed at the Persian man who commanded the other soldiers, "Take the Celestial Bronze shrapnel scattered in the ashes of the Orchard. Resmelt it, and make chains fit to keep a Goddess safe."
He nodded and scurried off.
My plan had worked. Better than I had hoped. There was no lightning, no Storm. Zeus didn't dare attack me now. Meddling with Tartarus' Plans were something he didn't want to get into any more than he had to.
The smell of Cowardice and fear. I could smell the Top of Mount Olympus even from here, so strong was the smell.
The General
"My Lord, we've finished the fleet," I said, bowing down low in front of Tartarus.
"Very Good, General. Order the Fodder to pack up the Camp, and start sallying over the Gap."
I nodded and walked away.
"And tell them to hurry up or I'll make sure they'll never see the light of day again. I've waited too long for them to finish these ships, and have little patience for anything else."
Once outside, I passed my command on to Midas, who scurried away.
Horns blew, and the Camp instantly filled with the buzzing of monsters.
Rome was our target, one Tartarus was quite keen to reach. I was not one to question why, so I did not. What I had seen so far through various messages, our forces were doing incredibly well in America, though Failing to kill the remaining Demigods was an annoying hitch in the plan.
Each day we stayed here, more and more, so-called, Followers of Tartarus joined the Camp. Mortals.
When I had asked about them, Tartarus had told me that having more Fodder to throw in the Meat Grinder never hurt.
Half an hour passed, and already ships packed with monsters were sailing over to the far side of the Gap.
Millions of Monsters.
I doubted even the Gods themselves couldn't stop us, no matter what they tried.
The Fire of Revenge burned in my heart. On the Gods, on the Demigods.
But most of all, there was one person. One name.
Daniel. James. Greenfield.