"Zeus, what is the reason behind this meeting" Hermes asked.
"How should I know, I did not call this assembly" Zeus replied, then turned to Hera.
"Why are you looking towards me, it wasn't me either" Hera said.
The gods began to murmur amongst themselves, as confusion spread throughout the throne room.
Suddenly flashes of red, yellow, pink and blue light appeared before them. The gods stood there in awe, as four seemingly young woman emerged from the beams of light. They were the Elements, the life forms whom even the gods feared.
There before them stood Savannah the eldest, whom controlled the power of fire. She wore a scarlet toga, which matched her crimson eyes. Her skin was a creamy hazel color, and her hair as dark as night flowed down her face in curls.
Beside her was Lena, the second eldest, who controlled the power of lighting. She had on a golden toga, which accentuated the specks of yellow in her hazel eyes. Her skin was a soft golden brown, and her fair-haired curls traveled down past her shoulders.
To her right was April, who had the power to control the wind. She wore a dark pink toga, which was nearly similar in color to her pink eyes. She had a creamy hazel skin tone, and her feathery brown hair was tied up in a bun, leaving only two locks of hair running down the side of her face.
And last but not least there stood Angel, April's twin, looking virtually identical to her sister. Except for her skin tone which was lighter than that of her twin, and her wavy raven hair, which ran down her back. Angel had worn a sapphire colored toga that almost matched her eyes, which were as blue as the morning sky. She had the power to control water.
Mumbling soon arose from the gods, as this was the first time many of them had laid eyes on the Elements.
"Silence" Zeus yelled, as the room then became quiet.
"To what do we own to such an honor?" Hera asked.
"We have called upon this meeting to speak of a great threat against mankind. The release of Dahak" Savannah replied.
"We have already taken care of it, Xena and Hercules are on their way to fight Dahak, as we speak" The King of the Gods spoke, with confidence.
"Do you honestly believe that those mortals alone can defeat Dahak? They can not even begin to fathom his powers" Lena replied.
"So what does that mean? Dahak can not be stopped?" Artemis asked.
"Not necessarily. You all know of the prophecy correct?" The wind deity questioned.
"Of course. The only one who can defeat Dahak must be filled with wisdom but young of age, must be skilled but pure of heart, and must be powerful but not immortal" The Queen of the Gods stated.
"Exactly"
"So what's the problem? Xena and Hercules are powerful, skilled, good, wise, and not immortal" Zeus said.
"Yes, but they are not young of age and pure of heart. Evil and all things associated with it such as rage, and hate will not be able to defeat Dahak, for only goodness has the power to penetrate his wicked soul"
"But there is no one who is all those things" Zeus said, aggravated.
"There is one" Angel replied, then paused. "The child of War is the key to stopping Dahak"
"The child of War? How can one of Ares' children be anywhere near pure of heart?"
"…Sabrina" Hera said faintly, with a look of alarm on her face. "She is who the prophecy speaks of. Isn't she?"
"Yes" Savannah answered, almost regrettably.
"But this is madness, Sabrina can not go up against Dahak, she will die" Artemis said, enraged.
"It is Sabrina's destiny to fight against Dahak. Whether she lives or dies is in your hands" Angel replied.
"What do you mean?" Athena asked, as confused as the other gods.
"If the powers of all the gods are transmitted to Sabrina while she is battling Dahak, she will be strong enough to defeat him" The Thunder Element answered.
"And when we give our powers to her, what will happen to us?" Hades asked.
"The reign of the gods shall end" Savannah answered.
"What in Tartarus does that mean?" Deimos yelled, walking to the middle of the room where the Elements stood, before continuing. "You want us to sacrifice our selves for mortals"
"Lower your voice Deimos" Hera said cautioning him.
"Yes Deimos it would suit you well to heed Hera's warning, for if you do not you shall suffer the consequences for such disregard" Savannah said, in a dark voice.
At that very moment a swirl of blazing red fire materialized on the ceiling above them. The gods gasped as the fire seemed as if would fall upon them in any second. Fear grew inside of Deimos as he turned to the Elements; he quickly apologized and practically ran back into the crowd of gods.
"Savannah this is not the message we want to send them" Lena whispered to her sister.
"I know, but he asked for it" The Fiery maiden whispered back, then looked up at the ceiling as the swirl of fire rapidly vanished.
"So we have no choice in the matter?" Zeus asked, with a displeased expression.
"If you choose not to help, you will not be penalized. No harm shall come of you as a result of your decision" April replied.
"Then it is settled, why should we get involved. I'll will simply keep Sabrina away from the battle" Zeus said, with a poised expression.
"Were you not listening, Sabrina's destiny is to fight Dahak. No matter what you do she will battle against him. If she does not receive all the powers of the gods she will die" Lena said, raising her voice then pausing. "If you can live with your selves knowing that you allowed the destruction of mankind to occur, well then go ahead. Just remember that Sabrina's blood and the blood of all the others will be on your hands" Lena said, with disgust in her voice.
The Elements then disappeared in a blistering array of colors. The room was silent for a moment until Deimos spoke up.
"I say we see what happens. Maybe the Elements are wrong" He said.
Most of the gods murmured in agreement.
"Are you kidding me? Come on you guys, are you really going to let them die. There's no way in tartarus that the Elements are wrong, and you know that" Aphrodite said, a little out raged from how quickly the gods were to abandon her young niece.
"We should lose our lives for what, a bunch of mortals? …I declare we let the mortals fend for themselves"
"How totally selfish are you? You all heard what they said, if we do nothing little Sabriny will die"
"So what, better her than us. We don't owe her anything" Deimos replied, cruelly.
"She is my god daughter and in one way or another connected to all of you. We can not let her die because we are afraid" Aphrodite said, pleading with the other gods.
"Aphrodite is right, we can not stand by and do nothing. If Dahak wins against the mortals, he will soon come for us. And then we will be the ones in need of help" Athena said.
"I'd rather fight against Dahak, than give up my powers just like that" Deimos shouted out.
"Then you are even more foolish then you look. If Sabrina is mankind's only hope in stopping Dahak, and she dies then we'd be dead anyway. What chance do you think we would face against him?"
"This is insane, I will not sacrifice myself for anyone, especially not for mankind. We don't need a pathetic group of weak mortals to help us get rid of Dahak"
"Those mortals are willing to fight Dahak alone, while you hide in your little chamber, and they are the ones who are pathetic, right?"
"Let me tell you one thing--"
"That is enough this discussion is over. Hera and I shall decide the appropriate action that will be taken. We will later inform you of our decision" Zeus said, raising his voice.
The other gods then disappeared leaving only the Queen and King.
"Dear husband, what will we do?" Hera asked, in a worried tone.
"I do not know" Zeus answered, with a look of uncertainty.
Xena, Gabrielle, Hercules, and Morrigan had all agreed that the children should be sent somewhere safe, away from all the chaos that was soon to come. Gabrielle called Aphrodite in the hopes that she would agree to watch over the children for them.
Aphrodite later shortly appeared in a flash of pink light; dressed in her usual rose colored garments. With somewhat a sad smile she greeted the shorthaired blonde bard and the raven-haired warrior whom stood facing her.
"Aphrodite we were wondering if you would do us a favor?" Gabrielle asked.
"Of course"
"Someone needs to watch Sabrina and Adam while we head to Avalon"
"Me" Aphrodite replied, with a surprised tone.
"Well Yeah, unless you don't want to" Gabrielle said, baffled by the look of shock on the goddess' face.
Aphrodite grew silent as she noticed Sabrina and Adam playing with Hercules. She was then reminded of what the Elements had foretold about Sabrina's destiny. Sorrow quickly came over her. The thought of Sabrina dying while in her care, made her shiver inside.
"Aphrodite" Xena said calling back her attention. "If you don't want to do it we'll find someone else"
"Oh no, I'm totally up for it" Aphrodite replied, trying to pull off a fake smile.
"O-kay" Xena said, with a hint of confusion in her voice.
"Don't worry I'll take good care of them" Aphrodite said, in a low but seemly happy tone.
"We know you will" Gabrielle replied, with a warm smile.
Xena then called for Sabrina and Adam.
"Yes mommy" Sabrina said, as she and Adam ran up to them. "Oh hi Auntie Aphrodite"
"Hey toots how would you like to stay with me for the rest of the day?" Aphrodite asked, squatting down to Sabrina.
"But what about my daddy?" Sabrina replied, in a sad voice.
"Oh sweet heart don't worry daddy will be all right" Xena replied, as she picked up Sabrina.
"Your mom's right, just watch he'll be doing back flips in no time" Gabrielle said.
"Okay" Sabrina replied, displaying a faint smile.
"We'll have just oodles of fun" Aphrodite said.
"Wait a minute, I'm not going anywhere. I want stay here with my daddy and help him fight the bad guys" Adam yelled.
"Adam don't you want to go with Aphrodite and Sabrina? You wouldn't like for them to have all the fun, now would you?" Gabrielle asked.
"I don't care, I'm not going" Adam replied, before running off.
"Adam wait" Sabrina yelled running after him.
"I'll go talk to him" Gabrielle said to Xena.
"All right" Xena replied, as Gabrielle left.
"Xena" Aphrodite said with hesitation.
"Yeah"
"There's something you should know" The goddess paused unsure of what to say. "It's about Dahak"
"What about him?"
Aphrodite knew if she told Xena about the entire prophecy that it would unquestionably devastate her. And she knew she wouldn't be able to bare the sight of Xena in such misery. So she told her the only thing she could.
"There was like a sort of meeting earlier with the gods, it was something about Dahak and how there is like one person who can beat him"
"Do you know who it is?"
The goddess was quiet for a brief moment before answering. "No…no I don't" She lied, then looked away.
"Well we're not going to have time to go look for them, we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully there's a way around this"
"Yeah hopefully" Aphrodite replied in a voice soft enough to be a whisper.
"Is there anything else?"
"What?"
"Is there anything else I should know about Dahak?"
"No…no that's about it" Aphrodite felt a disgusting taste in her mouth as the words left her lips.
"I should probably go check on Ares"
"Can I come with you?"
"Sure"
Xena lead Aphrodite to the dying God of War. He lay on his bedroll barely conscious, and breathing heavily, as if he were gasping for air. Purple veins surrounded his blood shot eyes, and his trembling hand held a cloth, which was covered in the blood he had coughed out. His skin had been drained of all its color, leaving only a ghostly complexion. And his feeble body hardly had enough strength to left up his head when the two women kneeled down beside him.
"Oh Ares" Aphrodite whispered.
"Hey dite" The mortal god managed to say.
"I guess asking how you're feeling would be a stupid question, huh?"
Ares made a soft chuckle, then wicked at the pain it brought.
"I think it would be better if Ares went back to Mt. Olympus with you and the children" Xena said.
"What no, I'm not going anywhere" The former god uttered, as he tried to sit up then screamed from the excruciating pain.
"Ares don't" Xena replied, gently laying him back down. "It's for the best"
"Bro she's right, maybe it would be better if you stayed on Mt. Olympus until this was all over"
"NO"
"Would you stop being stubborn for a minute, this is your life we're talking about" The Warrior Princess replied, with a hard sigh.
"No…I'm not going, I'm not leaving you" Ares said, in barely a whisper.
As Xena struggled to fight back the tears, she felt as if something in her heart was dying. As if part of her soul was almost gone.
"You're not going to lose me" The raven-haired beauty spoke, as she began to caress his face. The feel of his ice-cold skin underneath her warm hand made her slightly quiver.
Aphrodite looked at her brother and began feeling the tears tugging at her heart. The sight of her once powerful brother in such agonizing pain saddened her. At that very moment she felt something she had only felt once before. The feeling she had when she found out about the twilight of the gods; the realization that the end was near. Either way the gods would lose whether it was by our own choice or by the hands of Dahak. The goddess thought to her self.
"I'll bring you to Avalon" The fair-haired deity spoke out.
"Aphrodite you know that isn't a safe idea" Xena replied.
"I don't care. Look Xena we both know that the sooner you get there the better. Ares doesn't have much time left"
"But Aphrodite--"
"But nothing. So what if I lose my powers at least I'll be going something" Aphrodite said, tightening her jaw as determination beamed in her baby blue eyes.
The Warrior Princess looked at the goddess before her, and could tell that Aphrodite had no plans of changing her mind. "Fine, but I don't want you to bring us too close, I'd rather avoid you losing your powers"
With a sigh Aphrodite nodded in agreement.
As the two women sat motionless along side the mortal god, the air around them became filled with uncertainty and fear. With each person thinking of another, but sharing the same focus: death.
As was decided earlier Aphrodite took Sabrina and Adam to Mount Olympus, before transporting Xena and the others a good distance from The Gates of Avalon. Once that was done, she headed back to Mount Olympus. When she got there, Aphrodite saw how miserable both the young children looked. And so she decided to liven up the mood.
"Okay so what would you mini's like to do first?" Aphrodite said, trying to sound cheerful.
"I want my mommy and daddy" Sabrina exclaimed, in a depressed and saddened voice.
"Oh, come on we don't need them to have some fun. I mean, I'm a god and you're both…well…half gods. Above that, there is no supervision. What more could you ask for?"
"As the son of Hercules, I demand to be brought back to earth, to assist my father"
"Geez, take it easy mini Herc. Your dad has all the help he'll need. Don't sweat over it, everything's going to be fine"
"How do you know?"
"I just do, trust me"
"I still don't believe you"
"You need proof, fine here you go"
With the wave of her hand a large book appeared resting on a stand. Aphrodite opened the book to reveal an image of Hercules and the others making their way to the Gates of Avalon. Argo II was dragging Ares on a stretcher while the others were on foot.
"See they're just fine, no need to stress" Aphrodite said, closing the book.
"Can we look in the book when ever we want to see them?" Sabrina asked.
"Sure toots, but for now lets go do something to take our minds off the whole thing"
"Okay"
"And how about you mini Herc., does that sound good?"
"Fine what ever" The small demi-god answered, with a grumpy voice.
Aphrodite led the two children to a room filled with strange trees and exotic plants. Where the song of the birds echoed though out, and little creatures scurry from place to place. It was as if they had found a paradise, which had been hidden amongst these walls. The children gasped with delight as they looked up to find no ceiling at all, but instead the sky in its place.
They continued making their way to the center of the room. There in the middle of all this beauty stood a small stallion, whose coat had a creamy tan complexion, and whose mane was a fiery red. Two large picturesque wings adorned the horse's smoothly curved back, and on top it's head laid a pearl covered horn.
"You remember her, don't you Sabriny?" The goddess asked.
"Yeah, it's Sky" Sabrina answered, as she made her way to the stallion.
Once the horse had recognized the small child, she fluttered her wings as her horn began to glow.
"Oh Sky I've missed you" The small child said, hugging the stallion.
"What is that?" Adam asked, shocked by the sight of the creature before him.
"This is Sky, my horsy. I got her as present from my grandma"
"Wow she looks so cool"
"Well you mini's have a blast. I'll be right back, there's something I need to take care of" Aphrodite said, before leaving the room. She was hoping that Sky would keep the children busy long enough for her to figure out a way to keep Sabrina out of danger.
While Aphrodite was trying to devise a plan, The Elements were busy with a similar problem.
"Lena would you relax, there's nothing to worry about" April said, as her sister paced back and forth.
"What are you stupid? Don't you realize what will happen if Dahak is not defeated?" The Thunder dominating beauty replied, as she stopped pacing to turn to April.
"Of course I do, but I have faith that Sabrina will stop him"
"But what if the Gods decide not to help?"
"That won't happen"
"How can you be so sure? By the way those gods were acting at the meeting it doesn't seem like they're planning on helping anyone"
"Would you give them a little more credit than that"
"What are you talking about? Since when do you have any faith in the Gods?"
"Lena has a point. Weren't you the one who wanted to get rid of the Gods just because you thought they didn't fear you enough?" Savannah asked, with a chuckle.
"That was like how many hundreds of years ago, time to let it go. But right now we need to face the facts, without the Gods Sabrina doesn't stand a chance against Dahak"
"Okay fine let's say that a majority of The Gods are willing to help, but a few of them aren't. What then?" Lena questioned.
"Then we persuade them to change their minds" Angel said, with a smirk as her sapphire colored eyes twinkled with mischief.
"Exactly what I was thinking" The wind deity replied.
"No" The fiery maiden quickly said.
"And why not?"
"Like you said, we need to have confidence in them to make to right decision"
"But you've seen what will happen if they choose not to help. Dahak will destroy all things good and pure. And a dark cloud of death and misery will engulf the world. Do you really want to entrust the fate of mankind to The Gods?" Angel asked, with fury in her voice.
"We have no other choice. We gave our word that none of The Gods would be harmed by us as a result of their decision. There's no going back" Savannah replied.
"Do you mean to tell us that there is nothing we can do?" Lena asked, enraged.
"I am afraid so" Savannah answered, with a troubled expression.