AN: I routinely have people question the accuracy of my world, and while some changes maybe inaccurate and totally of my own volition (like Athena's hair being blonde, for example), others (such as the Greek and Roman side of gods), are made to be as accurate as possible for my readers. While I do love feedback, make sure you are absolutely sure that I am wrong before you post a review or comment trying to correct me.
Responding to reviews
In response to 'TheNobel1': If you read, you will notice that my readers voted for a harem. I suspect that most readers' negative connotation of a harem is that the women in the harem become objects and have no personality by the end of the book. If you notice, my book is primarily centered on action, and with my best dialogue skills, this will be avoided. Everyone should at least give a harem fic a try.
In response to 'HellRaiderS': Thank you!
In response to 'AG23': You'll find out in this one!
In response to the faithful 'Guest': Thanks!
In response to 'ThunderSphinx': No. You are incorrect, Discordia is the roman form of Eris, obviously. Bellona's closest Greek aspect is Enyo, and while you are correct in that she technically doesn't have a Greek form, I made it Enyo because it is the closest form of Enyo.
Perseus meets the Council
Ascension of the Fallen: Chapter 16
Mars lay dormant in bed, having been asleep for nearly a week now.
The throne room of Olympus was dead silent.
Not a single chirp could be heard from the usually feuding Olympian council.
Every single god could feel that something was off, and everyone fell silent, nervous in their thrones as they leaned on the edge of their seats.
Suddenly, cracks appeared all over Ares' blood red throne.
The Olympians watched in shock as the throne of the war god crumpled into dust.
A cardboard box appeared in front of them, and Hermes was in the room with them…
Zeus turned pale white, shaking as he rose from his throne. Droplets of sweat appeared over his forehead as he opened the box, and screamed in terror.
The other council members took a look, and had various degrees of reactions, ranging from shock to disgust to an ejecting of matter from the stomach (Aphrodite).
Tattooed across the forehead of Ares were the words "The Ascension of the Fallen has begun."
Elsewhere, in Perseus' base, Mars lay in a vegetative state, close to awaking again as nymphs and naiads scurried around, bringing the doctor ingredients as they attempted to wake him. His domains had gone into overdrive as he had to essentially carry two times his load due to the death of his Greek counterpart, Ares. Thus, his bodily functions were shutting down, and he was in a state of unconsciousness, purely connecting with his expanded domains.
Drops of water fell from stalactites onto the floor as the dripping droplets echoed throughout the massive cavern.
A dark figure tread carefully, his boots crunching on the floor as he entered into the very heart of the cavern, the roof several hundred feet high.
He narrowed his eyes, noticing something on the roof.
Suspended in a cage from the ceiling was the unconscious goddess of the hearth, her clothes slightly ripped and torn, and bruises and gashes all over her skin.
The very sight made Perseus clench his fists in anger, but he restrained himself from running towards her. Any immortal that could capture an elder goddess, especially the second born of Kronos, was not to be trifled with.
The dark god allowed a small smirk to dance on his lips as his senses washed over the seven unknown presences in the room. Clearly, they thought they would be able to ambush him.
Understanding that Perseus had sensed them, one of the figures waved their hand, lighting all of the torches.
Eight figures gathered before him, exuding a rather powerful aura, worrying Perseus slightly.
The lead figure was an intimidating sight; he was seven feet tall and fully kitted in blood red armor, with a massive, flaming broadsword.
He walked towards the unfazed dark god, dragging the flaming sword across the floor as sparks danced on the ground of the cavern.
He abruptly stopped before the god. Perseus could feel the heat from where he stood, and it was scorching hot, hotter than the flames of Hyperion. Still, he stood his ground, forming a barrier of darkness around his skin to protect himself from the heat.
"I, am Slaine, Prelate of flame. Leader of the council of the Seven, and your end," he boomed, expecting the god to cower before his might.
The god of darkness simply snorted in derision.
Dumbfounded, the daimon wordlessly gestured to a stocky, burly man who was brandishing a glowing blue axe and an intricately crafted shield. The man was, simply put, built like a body builder, and by the looks of it, was possibly stronger than even the minor god of strength.
"Cobalt, Prelate of cobalt."
A man of few words…The god of time could respect that.
A tall, green daimon stepped forward with an agile grace, prompting Perseus to growl slightly in anger, recognizing the man who killed his pupil.
"Jade, Prelate of jade, and slayer of Persetrius, your prized pupil…," the daimon let out a taunting smirk, baiting the dark god to attack him, "I have to say that he was a rather easy target."
Perseus let out a booming laugh, one that sent chills down every council member's spine, "By the time I am done with you, there will be no one left to even remember your name."
A slim yet leanly muscled daimon who wore a silver cloak stepped forward, his halberd on his back. He radiated an aura of battle confidence, as if he was someone who had seen many battles and was sure to see many, many more. This one was going to be a problem.
"Silver, Prelate of Silver, and slayer of Pallas, titan of warcraft."
The former king of Olympus stiffened slightly; Pallas had never mentioned how he had ended up in Tartarus, and he put two and two together.
A particularly curvy, magenta daimon stepped forward, giving off an aura of dangerous precision; one that Perseus believed to rival Artemis and Apollo combined.
"Valx, Prelate of archery. My, my, aren't you a handsome one?" she licked her lips sultrily, swaying her hips slightly to entice the god more, "I can't wait until we capture you, then you and I can have a little fun, don't ya think?"
He rolled his eyes at the flirtatious daimon as another female daimon stepped forward, this time a little taller and slimmer. Her aura was less noticeable than the others, but it radiated that of danger.
This daimon's particular theme was mauve, a kind of pale pinkish color.
"Celra, Prelate of knives."
Finally, the last daimon wore intricate gold armor, and he wielded an enormous golden spear. He stepped forward confidently like the others, boots crunching on the floor of the cave.
"Sentinel. Prelate of gold, and slayer of Menoetius, titan of anger."
Menoetius had also been taken down by one of this wretched council. He could see why this particular daimon could have done it, though. Sentinel radiated an aura of battle intelligence, rivaling and perhaps even surpassing that of Athena. It made sense that he could take down the titan of anger; after all, Menoetius was prone to some mistakes.
The fire daimon, Slaine or whatever, stepped forward again, spreading his arms like he was some grand persona.
"Our goal is to cleanse civilization of its sins, and in particular, immortals such as titans and gods. You stand in our way."
The former king of Olympus nodded thoughtfully. "That's cool. Wanna hear my titles?"
He stood unfazed as the other six took positions, preparing to attack the dark god.
"I am Perseus. God of time, darkness, and mountains," the cave rumbled and shook with every word he spoke, "Former king of Olympus," he spit on the floor in disgust, "Survivor of Tartarus. Slayer of my bane, the Giant King Onus, jailer of Typhon, jailer of the General, Atlas, slayer and jailer of the Titan Lords of the North, West, East, and South: The Scorcher, the Piercer, the Ensign of Farsight, and the Ram. Slayer and jailer of the Destroyer, and the Forethinker. I am he who fought with the Crooked One. Slayer of the giant Orion, and now the slayer of the god of war, Ares. Do you understand who you are dealing with?"
"I'm willing to pardon you for your crimes against Persetris, Hestia, Pallas, and Menoetius if you agree to release Hestia."
The flame daimon known as Slaine snorted sarcastically, "No."
Without warning, the cobalt daimon hurled his battle axe towards the unfazed god, who caught the axe by its blunt head.
Immediately flipping it so that the handle was in his hand, he hurled it at Slaine, who took it right to the chest.
Twisting and ducking, he avoided the arrows of Valx, backflipping to avoid the knives thrown by Celra.
He finally drew his powerful dark sword, parrying the jade daimon's swing and giving him a quick boot to the chest.
His senses reached out, and he erected a barrier of earth to protect himself.
Sentinel approached him warily, taking quick, experimental jabs to prod his defenses; unluckily for him, Perseus grew tired of this in less than a second, and he threw multiple shards of darkness at the gold daimon.
The daimon spun his spear like a staff to parry, but one of the shards found its way through, and Sentinel groaned as it pierced straight through his armor.
Cobalt hurled his shield at the god, but the god simply ducked, and the shield tore straight through the earthen barrier, hitting Celra on her forehead.
Perseus found the Prelate of Fire approaching on one side, and the massive daimon brought down a flaming sword of fire as Perseus rolled to his left. The god stabbed the jade daimon through the gut, but the daimon was no slouch, retaliating with a cut to the thigh.
Perseus felt the intense pain from a distance, but he simply ignored it, and punched straight through the jade daimon's armor and his chest.
Failing to pay attention to his surroundings, the former king of Olympus took several knives to the back, and a hurling axe that nearly impaled him had he not rolled to the side. Instead, the axe caused a massive gash on his lower back.
He grimaced in pain, blocking Slaine's swing with a darkness shield, and sending a godly blast of gold power to attack the approaching Sentinel, who once again spun his spear rapidly to stop it.
He dodged several of the jade knives that the wounded daimon sent his way, and he rolled under the massive halberd that Silver sent his way, only to take a massive punch to his gut.
Unluckily for the Prelate of Silver, he had layered his skin with darkness before the attack, causing several bones in Silver's hand to be displaced.
With a roar, the god kneed him in the gut, and swiftly moved away to avoid several more arrows sent by Valx.
Cobalt, having recovered his axe, threw it towards Perseus.
Having been preoccupied with deflecting Sentinel's gold shards, the god used the same trick again, hardening his skin with darkness, but the axe still cracked his sternum painfully.
Celra had managed to sneak up behind him, and she almost stabbed him in the back multiple times, but he erected an earthen barrier behind him.
A few moments later, with the wave of his hand, he disintegrated the barrier, catching the Prelate of knives by surprise and stabbing her straight through her stomach.
She stumbled, as he grabbed her by the neck and used her as a body shield against Valx's deadly arrows.
After a couple seconds, he flung the body away as he grabbed Silver's halberd and used it to block Slaine's deadly broadsword.
With a quick twitch of his fingers, he froze Slaine in time. He immediately stabbed Slaine's gut multiple times as the Prelate of fire was immobile.
When he lost grip on time, Slaine's body finally felt the effects done on it during the freeze, and the fire daimon doubled over in pain.
Perseus kneed him in the gut and wrenched the fire daimon's sword from him, using his tremendous strength to heave it with one hand towards the jade daimon.
Several arrows landed before Perseus could freeze them, piercing through his pants and landing in major arteries of his legs. He could already feel the poison setting in.
With a stumble, he dodged the axe sent by the cobalt daimon, but he took a jade dagger to the upper back, and he was punched hard by the Prelate of cobalt, so hard that he went through one of the walls and into another cavern.
Perseus felt a stream of scorching fire push him backwards, but he deflected it towards the approaching silver daimon.
Silver let out a burst of silver light, trading hits and beaming Perseus in the chest.
The god fell backwards, and all seven of the council took the opportunity to attack him from all sides.
One moment, Slaine was swinging his broadsword, and the next, Sentinel was jabbing at him with lightning quick thrusts of the spear.
Perseus was being overwhelmed on all sides and was slowly beginning to give in to his wounds.
"ENOUGH!"
With a massive explosion of gold and black power, the cave's walls shook, as the entire Council of Seven was blown away from him.
A whirlwind of black and gold swirled around the god, leaving him unseen to the wide eyes of the Council.
A six-foot four god emerged from the swirling darkness, looking every bit like the powerful god he was.
He stepped forward menacingly, radiating an aura of pure rage as his pitch-black eyes induced an animalistic fear in the council. A halo of black and gold levitated above the god's head, spinning madly as his
Shadows danced all across his bronze face, shrouding the left side of his face in darkness.
The staff of Aesea was held in his right hand, and in his left, he wielded his symbol of power.
To the chagrin of the Council, his wounds were completely healed, save for a few scratches and bruises.
"You are weak," he proclaimed, forcing the Council to their knees with the combined power of his aura and the staff, "undisciplined. Cowering on your knees before me. You are unworthy of the Mantle of cleansing civilization. My Ascension Day is coming, and do not get in my way," he hissed, narrowing his eyes at each and every one of them as he choked them with his staff, "for if you do, you may not live to see the light of day again."
His aura lifted, and the god turned to leave to the other cave, but a massive, combined beam of power from the seven blasted him.
Perseus spun around, quickly conjuring up a wall of earth, but the beam broke through that, and he conjured a dark shield.
He skidded backwards from the impact as the Council moved to attack him once again.
The god slammed his staff again, freezing the cave, save for him.
Particles stopped moving, and the Council was immobile. No longer could the cavern's floor be felt while walking; instead, the floor was perfectly flat, with no bumps.
Quickly, the god flung knives to cut the cage from the ceiling, catching the massive cage with a skilled expertise.
He wrenched open the bars, freeing Hestia, who was still unconscious.
But his control over time weakened dramatically as several of the Council burst from their bonds, lunging at him.
The god of time flashed away with the hearth goddess in the nick of time.
AN: I used a quote from Destiny 2, ten cookie points if you find it…
Key for names and titles
The Crooked One/Mad Titan: Kronos, obviously
The General: Atlas
The Scorcher: Hyperion
The Piercer: Iapetus
The Ram: Krios
The Destroyer: Perses
The Ensign of Farsight: Koios
The Forethinker: Prometheus
For Hyperion, Koios, and Prometheus I honestly just made up names, and I wanted them all to sound decently cool, so this is what I did.
Let me know what you think
Until next time!
-thann3