Author's note:
CRASH COURSE FOR ANYONE WHO IS NOT A GREEK MYTHOLOGY GREEK LIKE ME AND WILL THEREFORE NOT UNDERSTAND A WORD OF THE CHAPTER ONCE THE GODS START TALKING!
You have the God of Time, Saturn. He is where I am starting the family tree so any fans of the relationship between the earth and the sky to produce him... sorry they don't really come into play. Anyway, Saturn had six kids but only four of these children have the control in this story: Jupiter, Poseidon, Hades, Hera. But Saturn is told by the fates that this children will destroy him so he eats his children after they are born, swallowing them whole. Only Jupiter is spared. The Thunderor grows up and kills Saturn, freeing his brothers and sister(s). Jupiter marries Hera and they have two sons, Aries (the somewhat selfish God of War with looks to kill) and Vulcan (not so good-looking, but really great with blacksmith work). Hades kidnaps Persephone, she does the eat the pomegranate thing and she lives with him for half a year. (In my story their daughter is Jenna, but that's just in this story.) Poseidon marries some underwater Princess and they have their son Triton (who is not a god, mind you just a really powerful water nymph type thing...).
But Jupiter is not a loyal God husband type of person. From one affair of his comes the two gods Apollo (the sexy god of the sun, light, and music) and Artimis (the virgin goddess of the moon and the hunt). In my story these are the two Gods who are represented in Sol Sanctum by Luna and Sol... but that really comes into the next story not this one. From another one of Jupiter's affairs comes the god Dionysus (god of wine and all that good stuff). Yet another affair produced Mercury (messenger of the God and patron of travelers and thieves and suff) who in the story is the father of good ole Alex. Athena (the Goddess of Wisdom and Richousness) was born out of Jupiter's skull... what a migraine.
So to sum it all up this is one twisted family! Jupiter, Hades, Poseidon, and Hera are all brothers and sister(s). Because of Jupiter (boo, no womanly respect I tell ya) Aries, Vulcan, Apollo, Artimis, Dionysus, Athena, and Mercury are all brother and sister. And now see who are the cousins.... you ready for this? Jenna is cousin to all above mentioned Gods, yea Apollo and Athena and that group. And even better, Jenna is Alex's cousin once removed! Yea.... one twisted family. What has Saturos gotten himself into?
Oh, and the bit between Vulcan and Aries... well that's because of Venus. Venus was just created and showed up on some sea foam. She was married off to Vulcan because Jupiter wanted to avoid the rest of the unattached male Gods fighting over her be-a-u-ti-ful looks. Vulcan tried to woo her by creating beautiful pieces of jewelry for her. One of these items was a girdle, that when worn no man could resist her. She went and used this to have an affair with Aries whom she thought much better than her lame (literally) husband. (Remember folks, Aries has looks that almost match Apollo) Now in my story Aries does care about Vulcan and keeping marriage holy and all that suff and it is only because of the girdle's witchcraft that he...er, sleeps with her. Vulcan catches them and brings them before Jupiter to have Aries punished. Jupiter says that Aries is home free because it is Vulcan's fault that he made her that girdle in the first place. Oh... and nine months later Cupid is born... okay, this sounds like a soap opera..
Oh MY MISTAKE PEOPLE! I CALLED VULCAN HEPHESTUS AND THEN WENT BACK AND SAW THAT IN A PREVIOUS CHAPTER I HAD CALLED HIM VULCAN...SORRY IF I CONFUSED PEOPLE! FROM NOW ON HEPHESTUS/VULCAN WILL BE CALLED VULCAN AND AT SOME POINT I WILL GO BACK AND FIX THE LAST CHAPTER TO THAT EFFECT! AGAIN, SO SORRY!
Fantasies of the Open Mind
Chapter Twenty: When Fate Decides to Kill
Saturos looked around the chamber wildly, seeing that there was no way out. The door to the outside of the Anemos was shut tight and he knew his trying to move it would not change the situation. He could see in front of him another door, but he would not risk trying to move that door. On the wall above the door were four torches that were right now unlit. Saturos looked at the floor to find he was standing on a large circle of rock that was curiously wrought with symbols that he couldn't hope to translate in this state of mind. Around him there were four small rock bridges that lead to the four corners of this rectangular room. In each corner were tablets, but looking down at the abyss beneath the rock of the room, Saturos decided that staying put would be the best idea right now.
"You know, one of the beautiful things about this room is the echo." One of the fates remarked to Saturos.
"The echo of the heavens. You can hear the gods in their celestial palace in this room." Another added.
"But right now they are arguing outside of the palace-"
"Aries! How dare you defy my judgment?"
"Oh, not anymore." the third fate giggled.
Saturos looked at the three woman strangely but didn't say anything. After all these were the fates. They were even more powerful than the Gods and Saturos really did not want to die again.
Jupiter I will not allow you to do such a thing. I stand by my decision." a voice spoke clearly with such a sound that Saturos's ears rang from the power behind the voice. This voice he knew, as every Proxian knew.
"You make the wrong choice Aries." Jupiter thundered.
"I will stand by all Proxians Jupiter, no matter what."
"It will destroy you in the end, mark my words!"
"Then so be it."
The Thunderor snorted. "Fine then. We shall go on without your power."
"And without mine as well, father." a female voice cut in. This voice sounded calmer than both men had been, more sure of herself. It was the voice of the gray-eyed Athena.
"Athena, would you stand against your father? Against divine judgment?"
"I am the Goddess of Wisdom and what you are doing is folly. Dullahan is Saturn's creation, therefore not even you can control it."
"But that is two against the rest of us. You must see the folly of your own actions, Wisdom Goddess." a silky female voice cut in, as smooth as silk but as sharp as steel.
"There are three standing against you." a deep baritone cut in. This was the voice of Jenna's father, the voice of Hades. "And I will not allow you to destroy my daughter."
"Oh, but isn't your daughter we will be destroying Hades." another God put in, his voice honeyed like wine. "You should be happy, after all when Dullahan is finished you will have one less mortal ghost to put up with."
"Destroy him and you will destroy my daughter, your cousin I might add Dionysus."
"Brother you must know that with only three of you it will be impossible to stop us. There are two gods for each elemental and we only need one to order the spirits of the elementals to light the four keys to open the door."
The torches. Saturos thought. They are going to use the power of the elemental spirits to light the torches. But who are the elemental spirits?
"We will see." Hades answered the God that spoke with the sound of waves crashing on the shore.
"So be it then. When Dullahan is resurrected your punishment will be to join the mortal you so foolishly protect." The Cloud-Gatherer Spoke. "Now let us begin."
Saturos was momentarily blinded by a large flash of light as one corner of the room was filled with purple lights that looked like... the Djinn?
The wind Djinni merged together to create a purple flame that lit one of the torches in the wall. Saturos heard a long rusted mechanism move... one lock on the door had been opened.
"Now Venus." the Thunderor commanded.
There was another flash in the room and Saturos could see earth Djinni create their flame. Another rusted lock opened.
"Mercury."
Mercury? Wait wasn't he Alex's... Saturos's thoughts were cut off by a blue flash of light and another lock opening.
"Vulcan." the command came from the Divine Ruler.
"Vulcan please don't do this. You know that it's wrong." Saturos heard Aries plead with his brother but to no avail as the fire Djinni appeared - three of them looking very, well, drunk- and the last lock was opened. But the door remained closed. Saturos looked puzzled then it clicked. The guardians at the Lighthouse! They were the things keeping the door closed. Only when they were destroyed would the door open. But Felix and the others were trying to light the Lighthouse. Oh no. Saturos backed up against the stone of the door to the outside of the Anemos as the shadows of four monsters appeared and as one began to roll the door back. Well at least Saturos now knew that the other adepts were well on their way to lighting the Mar Lighthouse, but at this time that thought was not comforting.
A low mumble seemed to echo throughout the rocks of the floor and Saturos began to hear footsteps. All the terrors of the stories parents told their children were coming true before his eyes. The stories of a monster that only the keeper of Time himself could control. Parents would say that bad children would be sent to the Anemos's inner chambers to lure out Dullahan because in the dark he could not see, only smell. The smell of mortal flesh. Unfortunately these were the stories that did not have happy endings, no prince to slay the dragon so to speak, and for once in his life, Saturos was afraid. More afraid than he had ever been, of this thing lurking in the darkness that was growing steadily nearer.
The footsteps grew louder and Saturos found that he could back up no further as he was pressed against the cool stone of the Anemos wall.
"Ummm, Saturos? Is there a reason we're pressed up against this wall?"
Saturos looked down to see three fire Djinni backed against the wall with him. "Scorch? Char? Coal?" All three Djinni nodded.
"ARIES WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"
Both Saturos and the Djinni had to cover their ears as the voice of Jupiter thundered down upon their ears.
"Do you now see the flaw in your plan, my father? You need only one God to order the Djinni to light the torch, yet you need only one God to tell them that following that command is entirely up to them." Aries voice sounded smug, even to Saturos.
The Proxian turned to look at the three Djinni skeptically. "So in my time of need, my creator sends me three Djinni... you three Djinni." His suspicions were confirmed when Char hiccuped slightly and he groaned. "I feel so safe now..."
"Don't worry Saturos!" Coal (Scorch? Char? Who knew?) piped up. "There are not three of us, there are 18 of us!"
Saturos looked over to one corner of the room where the insistent Djinn was pointing to see a group of fire Djinni sitting there waving at him. Then he noticed that the flame that had shown red for fire's power was out, and he heard a rusted groaning sound of a lock being put back in place. Suddenly he knew what was going on, but as the footsteps of Dullahan became even louder, he hoped that it could be pulled off in time.
Author's Note:
Rio: And that is where we stop folks. Yes I know this is a short chapter but the Greek Mythology took up a lot of my time. But I promise that the three pages that seem to be missing from the length of this chapter will show up in the length of the next chapter. See ya next Saturday!
Ryu: 72 boot-laces... HAHAHAH (sorry I'm still laughing over that one...)
signed,
Rio the FlowerofBlackFire