Gabriel: Returning to the remains of Mount Orthys
Hi my name is Gabriel and I'm a demigod son of Kronos with a rather checkered reputation. I used to serve five Olympian gods because they did not have a chance to be represented by a demigod. Hera was one of those gods and boy did she treat me like a worthless crock of crap. Anyway, that's the polite, soft version of what went on while I was in a five-year period where I served the gods, Eos, Selene, Helios, Hera, and Hestia.
Enough about my service to the gods, I'm here to talk about a journey I am on to a very special place called Mount Orthys. Almost five weeks ago, I was on a diplomatic mission for Hera and had been captured by soldiers of my father Kronos and brought to his kingdom called Orthys. For two weeks, I was held in captivity until my father's death on Mount Olympus at which point I had to escape before Mount Orthys came under attack. As I had predicted, Orthys was attacked by an army of demigods wearing armor I had never seen before and wielding swords I didn't recognize until after I had escaped.
Unfortunately, I had to kill a couple of these demigods when they chose to attack me on my way out. I stole one of their spears and used it as a means of escaping and ran as far away as I could once I had descended to the base of Mount Orthys. Once I was far from the base of the mountain, I just kept running until I reached Las Vegas than rendezvoused with Hera for my next mission. Now, I was returning to the very place where once my father ruled on high as King of the Titans and former ruler of the universe.
"You know, coming back here brings up some awesome memories of my dad," I joked to Nico. "Did you ever really meet your dad before he was killed?" Nico asked. "Sort of but he was possessing a mortal when we met for the first time in my life," I admitted and hey, it's a "sort of" incident considering he had not fully revived. "So you met him and Luke Castellan, am I right?" Nico asked.
I nodded and added that that was before I was thrown into the dungeons in the bowels of Kronos' palace. "How did you escape?" Nico asked. "Trust me, you don't want to know the story behind that," I answered. "Probably not," Nico agreed.
We both had a good laugh from that and I just knew that we were going to be friends despite the fact that he had taken a WWII battleship cannon and shot at me with it when we met. "Hey Nico, when do you think we're going to be able to revive the dead and get this assault over with?" I asked. "Well, we do have to wait and see if Erebus will show and grant us his blessing. It's our best chance before the dead are raised if we are to take Ouranos and Prometheus by surprise," Nico answered.
Our basic battle plan that we had decided on was that (as you probably got) to wait until darkness, bring up our undead army, receive the blessing of the god of darkness himself, then attack. "But here's my question Gabe: how do we know if he'll accept my request to bless us and not yours?" Nico asked. That was a very good question and that had me left with food for thought for just a moment. Then I answered in the best way I could with the knowledge I had.
"Before your father came to rule, Tartarus and Erebus formed the Underworld and ruled it together. When your father came, he dethroned Tartarus and even dispelled his essence so that the place of the same name is all that remains. As for Erebus, he escaped any real threat Hades could be by creating a field of eternal darkness that would grow ever stronger until it dominated almost all of the Underworld," I explained. "Does that mean Erebus bears a grudge against my father as my father once bore a grudge against Zeus?" Nico asked.
"Erebus is who he obtained your fatal flaw from, otherwise he would have had no flaw and would probably have been the only perfect god," I answered. "That explains why you want me to ask for the blessing and not anyone else," Nico said. "Erebus has no problem with Zeus or Poseidon since neither have done anything, it's only Hades he has anything against. When we last talked about it, he said to me that he hoped it stayed that way if nothing was going to improve between him and Hades," I told him.
Nico nodded his head to assure me that he understood what I had said. But his understanding of what he was saying did not matter to me. All that mattered to me was that Erebus was allowed the chance to put an end to his enmity with Hades before we attacked. It was the least I could do to make sure we had every single asset we could get on our side.
While we waited for Erebus to be able to come to us, I reflected on an old flame I once held in my heart. Of course, this was before my wife Nadine and definitely before my journey in Turkey. During my time under the service of Eos, beautiful goddess of the dawn, she had treated me probably better than the rest with Selene and Hestia closely behind. Every day, after she had done her duty of announcing her brothers return to the sky, she would have me do some sort of chore around her beautiful palace whether it was to go and deliver some items or a message to one of her fellow Olympians, things like that.
The biggest favor that she had asked me had been to find her father Hyperion and ask him where he stood with the Olympians. You see, this was just at the beginning of Kronos' resurgence and Eos seemed to be the only who showed concern for her father. "Does Hyperion even care about the way that you feel about him?" I asked her. "I am well aware of the possibilities of how he may be feeling about my concern, which is why I must know," she answered.
"Listen Eos, I don't guarantee good news but I promise that I will do what is necessary to come back with news good or bad about him," I told her. Then she did something that would galvanize me for as long as I lived. She kissed me on the forehead and though she knew what I was going to say, she thanked me for saying it anyway. "Just return to me with a message from my father, you will be handsomely rewarded either way," she said with a smile.
I knew that she had a child's love their parent but I could never understand it. I mean, my father was never there and my mother had died when I was young so how could I understand something I never had? When Helios returned from driving the sun around the world (you see, he and Apollo agreed to shifts and I worked when Helios was on his shift), I asked for directions to Hyperion's domain since he saw everything. "Follow the sun to the moon to the east for four days then look for a glowing, red Omega symbol," he told me.
I knew better than to question what Helios meant by that and followed his instructions precisely. The glowing Omega was small, making it difficult to catch, but when I caught it I walked to it to an iron door guarded by a fierce giant. "Who are you and who sent you?" it asked with a spear pointing at my head. "I am Gabriel Johnson and I come bearing a message from Eos, the goddess of the dawn, for Hyperion and only Hyperion," I answered calmly.
He banged on the door three times with one of his big fists and waited a moment. Then a slide opened across the door and two glowing orbs that looked like miniature suns peered out the door. "Master, a mortal has come bearing a message from Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Does that sound familiar to you at all?" the giant asked.
"Eos is my eldest daughter by Thea, did you ask for his name?" the source of those eyes replied. "His name is Gabriel Johnson and it seems he is unarmed," the giant said. "Let him in, I want to see him in my throne room at once," the voice ordered. Then the slide closed, those eyes went out of sight, and the door creaked open just enough for me to walk through without trouble.
After that, I was immediately entranced by the wonders of Hyperion's palace. Outside, it had looked like an old military base but inside it looked like one of those places where they had lights and pictures to simulate day and night only the real skies were in this instead of just pictures. I guess I could say it sort of reminded me of one of those casinos in Las Vegas where they do those crazy shows for audiences that are paying any attention. "Are you going to stand around in awe of my domain that you're going to forget the message that my daughter entrusted you with?" that voice asked.
I snapped back into reality and looked directly at the creator of all this himself. Hyperion was a tall, imposing man with a long cloak that had blinking stars on it. His eyes were those orbs I had seen outside that looked like miniature sons and his height made me practically bend all the way back just to look at his face until he sat on his throne. "Master Hyperion, your daughter has sent me here to inform you that she is worried about you. She wishes to know if you will remain on the side of Olympus or if you will be neutral in the return of the Titans," I explained.
He chuckled and I politely asked what might be so funny to him. "I sided with the Titans in the first war between Zeus and Kronos. Truly, I am astounded that my daughter expects me to forget the call to arms and either help Zeus or remain neutral. But then, she is quite a winning creature when you consider that she was the one who persuaded Zeus to spare me from severe punishment when I was captured by him," he told me.
"So this is how you repay your daughter for doing that? She's your freaking daughter! I don't have a parent in my life and even I know that you're doing is crap," I replied. "Oh dear, I am so scared because I'm insulting my own daughter. You know, you're very funny for a demigod son of Kronos," Hyperion said.
"What's so funny about a daughter's plea to her father?" I asked. "Oh nothing, just that I have to ask that you leave now. My answer has been given but if you need a simpler message to take back then take this: 'Eos, if you will stand with Zeus than expect me on the opposite side'. She should get the picture from that one about where I stand with Zeus and the returning Titans," he answered.
While I stood poised to destroy him first chance he gave me, he called for his giant soldier that had been at the door. Though they spoke at a volume so low that I couldn't hear them, I could read lip movement very well. What he told the guard to do was that if I gave him an excuse to do so, he was to kill me at once. Luckily for all of us, I gave the guard no excuse to try to kill me and went out quietly to report what I had learned to Eos.
After another four days, this time to the West, I returned to Eos' palace where she stayed and gardened during the day and frolicked in pleasure with whoever was there with her during the night. But during the times known to us as dawn, her role as a goddess was active. Sadly though, none of her experience as a goddess of Olympus was going to prepare her for what I had to tell her. Luckily, I was bought a little time when I had to ask if she was in the garden or in her throne room before I had to tell her.
When I found her, it almost made my heart shatter to have to tell her then see her face as she reacted to it. "Eos, I have returned with the reply from your father Hyperion. He was not the most hospitable god I had ever met but his abilities in hospitality served my purposes," I told her. "Speak Gabriel, I am prepared to know what my father has decided even if it's not good," she replied.
I related to her what Hyperion had told me to say as well as what happened throughout my stay there. With some courage but mostly grief, I watched as she began to release golden tears of betrayal and regret. "Then may Olympus curse him to whatever punishment it deems worthy of him!" Eos screamed as she began crying. I ran to her and held her in my arms, letting her cry on my chest though I tried to cheer her up.
"This is how he repays me for defending him against Zeus? Is this how he chooses to thank his children for leaving him something to rule over?" Eos asked. "I only met Hyperion once but I could easily figure that at best, he was a very selfish god," I agreed. "Perhaps you're right about that Gabriel but do me the kind honor of being my bedmate for the night?" Eos asked.
I had to admit that I found myself blushing when she said that and she laughed although she was still crying. "If it pleases my lady then it shall be done," I told her. She giggled and I spent a night with her before she did her duty as goddess of the dawn and the whole day in bed after she returned. In those few hours that we spent together, I still feel to this day as though we loved a lifetime's worth and that she still has some feelings for me.
As I brought my mind back to the present moment, I saw that Helios was almost done with his journey across the sky to conclude another day. I made sure that Nico was ready to greet Erebus when he arrived since this had to be done right or else we would be done for. Still, I had to wonder how it could have come to this when peace could have been achieved after the death of my dad Kronos. But then, Prometheus did need an excuse to redeem himself from the fact that he had killed my family and turned me against the Titans.
If only I had killed him in one of our three previous duels so that it wouldn't lead to this. That's right, we had three duels before I met the demigods of Camp Half-Blood or Thalia and her Hunters. The first time, I was so miserably defeated that if Helios had not made the sun glow to burn Prometheus then I would have died. After that, I had two draws where I saw him retreat after declaring that it was impossible to kill me.
But this time, I would see to it that I at least scored a victory if I had to face him again because now, I was not interested in his head for the sake of revenge. I was interested for the sake of justice to my family and restoring honor to my mother's clan. Before I let my feelings for even thinking about Prometheus cloud my better judgment, I reminded myself that it might not be the best thing to try and take Prometheus' head now. Besides, what if killing Ouranos was what was necessary rather than letting him escape for Prometheus?