I was dying and living at the same time.

Does that make any sense? Probably not. But there's no real other way I can explain it. I wasn't totally conscious of myself, either. I was only… half-conscious. Half me, half… something else. I was sharing my power with someone, but… we were in harmony.

Together, we were a god.

I opened my… our… eyes. We were taller, bigger, stronger. I felt power flowing through our body. We were able to hover above the ground, power brewing inside of us.

An army of monsters - the same ones from before - appeared before us. However, they trembled as soon as they saw us.

"Is that a god?" the male empousa asked.

Yes, we were a god. We were powerful enough to stop the monsters. To do anything we wanted.

"Where did those demigods go?" the empousa asked, looking around. The other monsters looked around as well.

Demigods…

We glanced over our shoulder, and saw two bodies lying on the ground. We felt a rush of pain. It was our bodies. But we appeared to be… dead. They weren't moving at all.

Had we… died?

No, we were alive currently… that didn't make sense. We knew about death. We would've known if we were dead.

We were demigods, a voice explained. Half god, half human. We simply merged our godly halves together to create a new god. That is the only way to save the world.

It was our own voice. We knew what was happening, but at the same time, we didn't. No. Isabella knew what was happening, but I - Nico di Angelo - did not. She knew more than I did. She had been on it since the beginning.

That's right, we did, I thought. So… we're a god now, huh?

That means… we can put an end to this.

"Take them out!" the empousa roared.

We had been two separate people, but now we were one god.

How we were able to fuse like this? We wondered. Well, I wondered. My thoughts were becoming separate.

We flinched at a sharp pain. Stick together. Think as one.

So my question was left unanswered as we floated away from the monsters. We summoned our stygian iron sword, power raining down on the monsters. It was far more powerful than our original sword.

An army of Cyclopes raced towards us. We swung the sword. With one slash, they all turned to golden dust.

I stopped, for a moment. So this is the power of a god…

But of course, this mere army of monsters was not what we were afraid of. No, it was the power thrumming beneath the mountain. The power that reminded us of Tartarus, and dare I say, Gaia.

"We can't defeat them like this," the empousa grumbled. "Fall back!"

The monsters backed away, still watching us. The power grew stronger.

"Cowards," we told the monsters, our voice booming. We weren't used to our voice being so loud.

"Tch," the empousa chuckled. "You know what? Take their bodies. We'll feast on them after this!"

We refused to let that happen. We pulled out a long, golden, flowing whip, and swirled it around in the air. Even a mortal would be able to sense its immense power. We used it to shove the monsters back, keeping them away from our bodies. Golden dust exploded onto the mountain. Judging from their expressions, the monsters didn't seem too eager to attack us again.

We floated toward the bodies, picking them up. They both seemed so small and fragile. Perhaps it was because we were twice the size of an average human, or because it was how gods viewed mortals.

We felt… pity. A weird kind of pity. A pity one might have for a dying ant.

We shook ourselves out of it. No, we were still mortal. These were still our bodies, our livelihoods. Once this was over, we would be mortal again.

Right?

As I doubted myself, I felt the headaches return.

Keep it together, we coaxed ourselves. Keep it together.

As the monsters spread out, the thing hiding underneath the mountain began to show itself. It started with the mountain cracking open. We hugged the bodies closer to ourselves, either for comfort or protection (possibly both).

A different power appeared before us. For a second, we weren't sure if we would be able to combat it. At first, it seemed to have Gaia levels of power.

"This is it for you, humans!" the empousa cackled. "You can pretend to be a god all you want, but you won't be able to combat our greatest creation!"

"Greatest creation," we breathed.

"Exactly," the empousa grinned, mouth full of fangs. "I bet you demigods thought you got rid of us all that time ago, huh? No way. Even with that little prophecy girl, we're still going to come back and destroy you, one piece at a time. And the Gods can't do anything about it." His grin grew. "As you said to me, monsters never truly die, do they, Nico di Angelo? Not like you mortals. Once you die, you're gone for good. We disappear to Tartarus for a while, but we always come back. Evil is the same, you know. No matter how much you want to go away, it will always come back."

He's right, we thought. Evil always comes back to haunt you.

The thing appeared before us, covering us in a shadow. A shadow even I couldn't control.

I thought of my sister. It'd been four years since she'd died, but… I still felt the pain of her death every day. Not to even mention her resurrection. I could never see her again. She was gone. Forever.

No, you can't think about that now. You can't fall apart.

We stared up at the monster, wearing a grim expression. It was towering above us. It really was Gaia all over again.

But as a god, we knew we could handle it. We had no either choice.

We realised what it was. It was the collective power all the monsters had been storing in the mountain, maybe as some kind of backup plan in case Gaia's scheme failed. Or was it something else entirely? Whatever the case, we needed to stop it.

Isn't this what Isabella was going to die for?

We shook our head, covering our bodies in a protective spell. We placed them on the ground. Don't think about that now.

Weapons in hand, we flew towards the shadow-y mess. Somehow, we were a natural at flying. Like we were born for it. The huge monster's features were obscured, but I saw a row of fangs, clawed hands, and reflective eyes.

We saw our reflection in its eyes: we were twice as tall as an average human, with a glowing complexion, golden, glowing eyes, and flowing, black hair. Our face was feminine, with beautiful features, but our body was more masculine. Overall, we appeared to be androgynous, with a black trench coat over a grey shirt. We had dark blue jeans and black trainers. We were somewhat human, like most gods, but you could definitely tell we were a god as well.

Focusing back on the battle, we held the sword in one hand, and the whip in the other. We flew towards the monster, swinging the sword. The monster stumbled back, before straightening itself.

"You can't win!" the empousa yelled. "You never will win! Even if you defeat us here, we'll always come back!"

We ignored his yelling, raising the whip and wrapping it around the monster. We flew down at a speed that rivalled Hermes and smashed the monster into the ground.

Somehow, we knew exactly what we were doing. No, I understood why. Isabella had been waiting for this battle her entire life. She knew what she had to do. She only needed my power to go along for the ride.

That thought irritated me.

You can't think about this now, she told me. Please, Nico. Stay focused.

Did your dad know as well? I found myself asking.

She didn't respond to that one. We brought our focus back onto the battle. The monster was laying on its side. We... we were winning.

Now, time to end this!

Suddenly, the monster got back up, readjusting its figure. It sent a humanoid fist flying towards us. We flew out of the way, just narrowly. We gave a glance at our bodies, which were still fine, thank the gods.

The monster noticed our glance, and turned towards the bodies as well. Before it could do anything, however, we used our sword to slice its arm off. Waves of golden dust poured from the wound, covering the entire mountain like a desert.

In the distance, we could hear machines whirring. It was familiar.

Mortals, we thought, grimly. Helicopters were flying above us, trying to record the whole situation. Part of me wondered what they were seeing. Who knows what the mist was doing to their vision.

We ignored the mortals for the meantime. We flew towards the monster once again, sword in hand. We shoved the sword deep inside the monster's abdomen, then brought it upwards. The monster roared, sending soundwaves hundreds of kilometres away. To my surprise, though, it didn't die. In fact, its hand reached out and grabbed us.

It began drawing us towards it. Our eyes grew watery from the pressure on our ribs. We tried to fly away, but for some reason, we couldn't. Our feelings were too mixed, stopping us from making a move.

Come on, I pleaded. We need to move!

The monster's face was drawing closer. The helicopters weren't doing much to help. Neither were all of the police cars that were driving up the mountain. Mortals for you, I suppose. They only show up to gawk and take photos.

The monsters beneath us were smirking evilly. They were convinced they'd won. That made us mad. Extremely mad. We tried to fly away - no, I tried to fly away, but Isabella wasn't letting us.

What are you doing? I demanded. That monster is going to kill us!

Her voice was sad. Nico, this… this is where it ends.

Wait, what?

I can't let you sacrifice yourself. I'm sorry.

I felt the pain again. She was trying to… split us up?

No... I understood. She was sacrificing herself.

No, I thought. You can't!

But she wasn't listening to me. I cried out, everything falling apart. I was dying, I was living, I was in Tartarus, I was in Elysium, I was a god, I was a mortal…

Goodbye, Nico…