A garden in Olympus

Arkantos

It had been four centuries since Arkantos had ascended to godhood and his son Kastor had taken over in his stead. Gaia had sealed Kronos away for good, and the world had moved on from the wars with the titans. This led to a relatively peaceful era on earth. Aside from the occasional wars fought between nations, there was no sign of any world-ending catastrophe.

Arkantos sat in a long grassy garden of large gnarly olive trees with his back to a tree enjoying the sun on his skin. He closed his eyes for a moment to get some much-needed rest. The leaves above him providing respite from the harshest aspects of the sun. He slept for over an hour before a breeze began picking up.

The now stern breeze blew across the garden, rustling the leaves and grass. Quite a few poorly connected olive leaves were blown from the branches they resided on and were blown across the garden.

A leaf at the far end of a tree branch across from the god was blown from the branch and landing on his cheek, waking him from his short slumber.

Swiping the leaf from his face, Arkantos grumbled out an incoherent complaint to the leaf that fell off of his face and now lay on the ground next to him. Slowly getting up, Arkantos yawned and stretched his arms to the sky. He wore nothing other than a mild blue Chiton with a golden belt clasped firmly around his waist.

"I see you have been enjoying yourself for the past decade. Being an immortal is tiring, is it not?" A soft woman's voice asked from next to his left shoulder.

"Yes. Immortality has brought me much pleasure. However, I doubt you would come to me just to question if I am doing well Athena. Tell me, what land requires my aid this time?" Arkantos asked, not even bothering to turn his head to the beautiful woman approaching him. The sounds of her war boots walking through the grass over to him told him everything he needed to know as to why she was here. Athena only approached him to warn him of world-effecting disasters.

Athena walked around him to stand in front of him. Her full regalia of divine armor on her stunningly sculpted body. Her golden armor covered most of her body, which included a full face Corinthian-style helmet and golden roundshield. Her spear stood tall in her hand, it's divine metal tip glinting in the sunlight that washed over the garden.

"Portals to unknown realms have been opening across the world Arkantos. Atlantis, Egypt, Midgard, and Hades have been invaded by foul creatures. They have been dealt with, but over the past four months, the monsters have been growing stronger. I want you to go through one of these portals and explore what lies on the other side of these gates. Gather your armor and weapon and I will send you across" Athena informed the god Arkantos.

The main pantheon of gods had been at a standstill on what to do about the gates, and would most likely spend another two centuries before coming to a conclusion amongst themselves before even thinking of consulting the other pantheons, let alone the titans. Athena wanted Arkantos to cross the portals to the other side and come back to report to her, as she felt something was suspicious about these gates.

"What of these portals?" Arkantos asked, putting his hand to his chin in thought.

"They were created through divine magic not too different from our own and lead to another world not too different from our own. Be careful Arkantos, for this is no mere Kamos or Khemset you deal with" Athena said as she waved her hand across his chest, magically donning him in white armor from head to toe with golden lining. A golden hoplon on his left arm and a spear that sparked with lightning in his right hand.

"Very well, I shall complete this task. Hopefully, it is just some god playing a poorly executed joke, and not something more malicious" Arkantos said, not wanting another war like that he had fought against Gargarensis and the titans.

"Is that what you believe, Atlantean?" Athena asked him, cutting through his light-hearted joke.

"I hope it is so. I doubt anyone besides Ares or Hera when she is angry would want a war between the gods again, so shortly after the sealing of Kronos" Arkantos responded seriously, his joking tone now completely absent.

The very first wave

The four heroes

The dreaded first wave had come and the four heroes were summoned forth to the battlefield. The sky had become a swirling chaotic cacophony of colors. Reds, blues, purples, and many other colors gouged streaks across the sky, giving the land around a dark and horrid feeling.

The three heroes consisting of Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki stood stalwart in front of the vast majority of the tears in the land and sky, ready to fight whatever manner of horrors that came out of them. Surely enough, monsters poured out of them, countless waves of goblins, kobolds, and flying beasts poured through onto the land like a blight. They quickly overwhelmed the heroes by sheer numbers alone, covering the land like termites as they cut their way through the mounted defenses.

Naofumi, Raphtalia, Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki were quickly pushed back from the area, forced to retreat due to the sheer overwhelming numbers pouring out. It was clear that this was not a normal wave, or in the least it was unlike any ever recorded for a first wave. The barking and squealing resounded over the rumbling of feet that was the army of monsters.

"I thought the king said that this would be manageable. This is beyond us!" Itsuki cursed as he ran and sniped some of the closer creatures, killing a small portion of the force with area of effect attacks.

"I don't want to die!" Ren growled as he ran, his sword barely of use, as his only long-range attacks were single target skills.

Then for some reason, the force had stopped advancing and had turned around.

"What?" Naofumi asked the question on everyone's mind as he and the group turned to look at the bizarre sight.

Then it became clear.

Long streaks of lightning filled the sky and the sound of ten thousand horses charging from both sides of the invading army thundered out. Charging through the land and sky were white horses ridden by men and women with spears of lightning as they closed in on the army that had only shortly earlier terrorized the heroes.

What followed was not a battle, but a massacre.

The monsters were torn out of the sky by lightning and the ones on the ground were trampled by spectral white horses and riders that showed them no quarter.

Instantly, the army of six thousand monsters was destroyed in one swift charge.

Then as swiftly as the army appeared, it faded into nothingness, leaving only the dead monsters on the open fields.

The heroes and remaining soldiers of Melromarc could not believe their eyes. This must have been a gift from the god they worshipped

Then, out of the settling dust clouds walked a tall man in shining white and gold armor, a golden shield and spear sparking with lightning approached them.

The heroes warily raised their weapons, not sure if this man was their ally or enemy. He had light rough skin and muscles looking like they were chiseled from marble.

"Hail strangers! Can you tell me where this is?" The man called from over twenty meters away, but his sharp and deep voice did not sound very far away. From the hero's perspective, he sounded like he was from a greek story or movie, given his voice, weapon, and armor.

Whatever the heroes thought was going to happen this morning, they were not prepared for what was soon to come.

Nobody was.