Disclaimer: We do not own the gods/goddesses of the myths, we do however own these particular plot lines and personalities of these deities. But, do we really need this? I mean come on...
War of the Gods Chapter One – The Battle Begins
"They do like to make an entrance," Artemis smirked, looking at her friend.
Nemesis looked behind her at the army that was prepared for their cause. Men stood in the back ready to come to their aid, half-changed wolf lykens stood at the centre with bows and arrows at the ready, and the vampyre cavalry sat upon their horses with lances and spears. Artemis gazed worriedly at the woods where Nathaniel, the general of her lykens and her consort, stayed with his trained force of wolves to attack the rear of the opposing army. Apollo glanced there as well, as his own lover and leopard lyken general, Markus, who by chance was Nathaniel's elder brother, stood with his own army of trained lykens.
A lightning bolt from the heavens struck the ground in the center of the battlefield. The clouds from which it came spilt apart and Zeus, the All-Father and Father of the Twins, road his chariot, pulled by two massive lions, down towards the battlefield. His armor glowed as brightly as the heavens, and their colors changed as the sky did – in this time, in varying shades of grey. His long hair was the purest white of lightning and the similarities between him and the Twins – they were the only of his children that looked anything like their father – was unbelievable. His eyes were the grey of the stormy skies with a streak of lightning through them. He was broad and muscular – more than the two of his offspring that stood against him – and his face set in anger at their rebelliousness. Nine gods and goddesses, with their armies, followed him to the battlefield.
Aries, God of War, was at their forefront, just behind his father. His armor was his usual – Greek-style leather with some metal pieces. He rode his trained black stallion, a wicked grin on his face, dark hair streaming behind him, bloodlust clearly evident in his pale silver eyes. Behind him, his centaurs ran; ready to fight in the battle.
Hephaestus rode a chariot of iron, the metal from which his armor was also made – and strengthened by his power over the metal and his forges. He carried his hammer with reluctance – he had always thought the Twins to be the last people to go against the Gods in such a crusade.
Athena rode upon a huge white owl, arrogantly wearing no armor into the battle. Her pale hair streamed out behind her as she flew with her spear raised, an eager smile on her face – she had always hated Artemis and Apollo for having been born with such powers.
Poseidon came upon the winds, trident in hand and ready for the mêlée. His eyes were pure drowning blue, and his armor seemed to be made of the same swirling colors of the ocean. His hair was sea-green and streaming from beneath his helmet, his skin the color of a fish's belly.
Juno, wearing golden armor, was followed by her army of fighting, Amazon women. She was obviously keen for this encounter – she hated her husband for his constant affairs and lovers, and seeing as these were the most powerful of his children, she would enjoy killing them. Hermes, wearing only his usual attire, carried Juno's banner as he followed her chariot, but in front of her army.
Aphrodite, finally having been taught to fight, and wearing armor of a ghastly pink, rode in front of an army of love-struck men that seemed to be following her if only for her beauty. She smiled happily as she strode into battle – as children, Artemis and Apollo, and Nemesis when she visited Mount Olympus, had been little hellions and destroyed her things again and again.
Diomede, tall and proud in her wheat-colored armor, rode before the approaching army, lighting the fields before Artemis, Nemesis, and Apollo ablaze with a large torch. Erebus came at the rear astride Cerberus, granting life to the dead, raising them to fight against the rebels. Resplendent in obsidian armor, he rode reluctantly into battle – he saw no reasons why the two groups should be fighting against one another.
The three opposing gods merely smiled at each other, eager to do battle to prove themselves. Nemesis let out piercing scream, like that of a bat, eye-teeth lengthening beneath her face-cover – a signal calling their soldiers to attention, and the Gods to shrink back slightly at the sound. The werewolves set arrows to their bows. The vampyres drew their swords and set their pikes and spears at the ready. Zeus did not slow his lions as his chariot leveled with the ground.
Artemis looked at Nemesis – who nodded – and turned around, in her chariot, looking at the army behind them.
"Are you prepared to die?" She called, voice magically amplified to the army.
"We are," answered the vampyres. The werewolves howled in reply to their goddess and the wereleopards shrieked. Half of the man-wolves stepped forward and drew their bows. Artemis spun back again, watching the large army advance. She drew back her arm and gave a short howl, heard only by the army. Her cry was shortly followed by the leopard-like shriek of her twin.
Hundreds of arrows caught the air and whistled over the heads of Juno's army. Half of her men and women fell, most dead, others almost there, the rest injured. The first group of weres stepped back and the second line fired on Aphrodite's army. Almost all the men fell – leaving only a scant few.
Nemesis's griffins reared, tired of waiting, their eyes filled with bloodlust. Nemesis drew her sword. She gave forth another ear-piercing shriek.
Nemesis charged through the army, cutting down soldiers as she went, but this was not her goal – Erebus was raising the dead soldiers. She shrieked again, leaping from her chariot and landing on Cerberus. She raised her sword and drove it deep into the animal's back. The dog screamed and toppled onto its side, throwing both Nemesis and Erebus onto the ground. Nemesis immediately set into a roll, getting quickly to her feet and setting down in a fighting stance. Her eyes glowed as she set her shield in front of her body, sword over it as a spear.
†
On the other side of the battlefield, Artemis fought with Aries, forgoing her bow and drawing her whips around his body, trying to find a weakness in the armor.
"Give up little Artemis," he taunted, smile feral. "I am a god, blessed by our father whereas you are trapped as a mortal. You couldn't even defeat Hercules as you are now."
As a retort, Artemis brought up the edge of one whip over his face, cutting it in several places and drawing blood.
"These weapons were given to me before my demise," she smiled manically, eyes glowing with excitement at the site of his blood. "They can still harm you big brother."
She tore at his armor with renewed strength and vigor, enraged at the insults.
†
Nemesis scanned the bloody battle field immediately around her. Erebus stood as well, only a few feet from where she was standing. He drew a long black blade and smiled. It had been made with his own powers, bringing death to and taking death from those whom he chose, and specially crafted so as to be wielded by him and only him – all others would be struck mad. He raised it in front of his face and began chanting softly in the language of the dead – a language known by no other. Nemesis watched as the lifeless men that surrounded them raised to their feet, many rotting, pieces missing, and began advancing on her. She slashed viciously at one, only to have five others come to replace it.
†
Artemis grappled with Aries barehanded. The war god had a bloody bite on one shoulder where the armor had been torn away. She fought with the added strength of his divine blood, which was running from the corner of her mouth, and unseen beneath the veil over her lower face.
"What are you?" Aries asked, eyes wild, seeing her strength. He ripped away the face cover, seeing the blood running down her pale neck.
"I am your worst nightmare made real. The combination of black and white Gods in mortal form, combined with that of the wolf."
Artemis howled at the night's full moon as Aries looked around. He saw that the army that was fighting wasn't all human. Many of the men that fought did so with long, inhuman claws while others feasted on his centaurs with wolfish teeth.
"Abominations," he whispered, listening to Artemis's insane laughter.
He turned to see Artemis with fangs lengthening and dripping still with his blood, the dark blue of her pupil seeming to swallow up the entire eyes, with crescent moon glowing within the dark orb.
"By the gods Artemis," he whispered, shocked, eyes impossibly wide, "what have you done?"
Artemis laughed joyfully, throwing her head back and howling to the full moon once again. Nathaniel and his highly trained band of wolves answered the call of their goddess. Nathaniel's pale green eyes glowed from the darkness with the white pelt the flowed over his shoulders. His armor was the same hues as Artemis, his dark emerald cloak billowing with his long white hair as he carried his brilliant silver shield on his right arm – encrusted with sapphires in the crest of his goddess – and long sword wielded in his other hand. He responded to his goddess's call as his highly-trained forces viciously attacked the zombie soldiers that were attacking Nemesis by the tens.
Markus, on the other side of the battlefield, came running onto the battlefield with his own forces, dressed in gold and pale blue, his icy blue eyes glowing like those of his brother as he responded to Apollo's calling shriek. He carried the same arms as he brother, on the opposite arms, his black hair flowing with his dark blue cloak. He drove monstrously into the forces on the opposite side of the melee.
The goddess only laughed insanely as Aries attacked her with fear open in his eyes.
†
Nemesis didn't stop as she heard the calls and cut down soldier after soldier, trying her hardest to get to that damned God of the Underworld. The wolves, werewolves, and those unchanged, descended on the army, tearing into dead flesh and destroying the bodies to the point where they couldn't rise again. Nathaniel ran to Nemesis's side, snarling with wolfish teeth, and clearing a definite path to Erebus. The Goddess once again let out the shriek, signaling to the demons.
William, the leader of the demons who had been waiting with his own demon army, received Nemesis's call for reinforcements and flew down the middle of the battlefield, cutting a portal down the whole length of the army. William himself stood tall at eight feet, gold eyes surrounded entirely by a moor of inky darkness. His skin was ebon-hued with highlights of azure and violet. His hair, falling into his eyes and down his back in a tail to his knees, was the same color as his skin. Markings of silver fletched across his face, chest, arms, and hips. His armor, enchanted silver with the darkest of eerie sheens protected the demonic general against some of the purity attacks. His grin was feral, fangs poking out over his lips. He watched eagerly as the horde of demons ran out of the portal in the middle of the three armies, enthusiastically seeking out any thing, or any one that they could fight, tearing paths of destruction.
†
Artemis, meanwhile, had succeeded in binding Aries in the special chains Nemesis had received from Hephaestus – chains that were made especially for the Gods, as even the Titans couldn't break them.
She climbed back into her chariot and surveyed the battle. On every side, three armies of the white gods were being driven back by their own forces. She saw Nemesis matching swords with Erebus, with Nathaniel and her wolves preventing the dead from rising, and turning those who had already risen.
They were winning – Artemis could clearly see that, but where Zeus was, she didn't know. She rode into the most chaotic of the melee, seeking the man who had sired her.
†
William, meanwhile, had captured both Juno and Aphrodite, and was happy slaughtering the army of Aries, who – lost without their commander – were wandering mindlessly around the battlefield.
†
One the opposite side of the battling armies Nemesis was winning her own fight with Erebus.
"What do you say Uncle?" The goddess neatly parried a swipe at her shield-arm. "Why do you fight with these pompous white gods? Join us! Fight against Zeus, you know that it is the correct road and that he needs to be put down!"
"You are out of control Nemesis!" He made another sweep of his sword, jumping efficiently over the blade of her sword, coming at his knees. "Zeus is my brother, and yes your mother may be my sister, but I am only trying to maintain the balance between black and white."
"Balance, Uncle?" Nemesis thrust her sword towards Erebus's head, shield clanging against his sword. "You call what they are doing balance! If they win this battle they will kill all the dark gods and their servants, including Artemis and myself!"
Erebus gritted his teeth, aiming his sword for her legs and hitting that forsaken shield. "I will petition for your freedom, niece."
"They will never let us go!" Their swords ground against each other, metal grating against metal. "We are too dangerous a power against their rule! You already know this!"
Erebus turned resolute, almost sad. "Than you leave me no choice, I will fight along side my brother and his wife."
Growling, Nemesis drove her sword deep into Erebus's chest.
"Traitor!" she snarled in his surprised and gasping face. "You have asked only for death!"
†
Zeus leapt from his chariot and fired bolt after bolt of white lightning into the heart of William's demonic army, destroying at least ten of them with each bolt.
Erebus turned his head towards Zeus, pain in his face as he clawed at the black sword in his heart.
"Brother! Help me!
Zeus, without any hesitation, jumped back into his chariot and spun it towards where Erebus was losing terribly to a mortal Nemesis.
Nathaniel, seeing what was happening, stepped out in front of Zeus, hoping to gain favor with his goddess and lover by at least capturing her father, if not harming him. He raised his sword, intent on toppling the chariot.
†
Nemesis jerked her sword out of Erebus's chest, holding him steady with the fiery strands of his hair. She turned from her task in time to see Nathaniel step in front of Zeus's chariot, sword leveled at his chest. Zeus raised his arm, bolt in hand, for a killing blow.
When Nathaniel finally noticed Zeus's hand raised, time itself seemed to slow down. Nemesis tried to get to him but Erebus – finally recovering from the hole in his chest—stood, wrapped his arm around her chest and shoulders, and drove a concealed, enchanted knife into her thigh.
Her eyes widened as she saw Zeus prepare to plunge the lightning into the lyken's heart.
"NATHANIEL!"
A/N
Hello there. This is something that we came up with completely on our own, thank you, and we apologize for the use,misuse, and abuseof the different gods and goddesses. A lot of this will be explained in the future, so please, hang in there with us, and again, we apologize. And please, read and review, as you can tell, this probably needs some improvement and we will need your help with that. Thank you.
--Artemis and Nemesis