Chapter 35 ~ Vytoni
A few things happened as Vytoni practically shoved herself off Nethrys. She watched as Katerina fell to the ground, and three ghostly figures rose from the ruby amulet Kat always kept on her throat.
They were nearly identical, wearing silver, bronze and black Greek armor; their skin looked like it was sewn from mist and smoke. One of them was holding a gold saber sword and a katana; another was holding a bronze spear and a retractable shield; the last one was holding a scythe in one hand and a battle axe in the other. All three of them looked at Katerina, waiting for orders.
"Hysminai, spirits of battle and combat. Attack and terminate the enemy!" Kat commanded, pointing to the phantom lady, who was battling Nethrys and Lysandra. The three nodded and sprinted towards the attacker; their feet barely touched the ground. Katerina was on the ground, curled up into a ball and gripping tightly onto her legs. Vytoni followed them, holding her staff at the ready as she watched them silently as they leapt at the ghostly figure.
The spirits fought against the phantomess as if they were both solid figures battling against one another. The combat ghosts sparred skillfully, jabbing and prodding the lady, making her wince and snarl in pain as she fired compressed air by punching and kicking at them. The war ghosts simply shrugged off the air and continued to attack the white lady.
Vytoni could just spot Scarlett huddled up next to Nethrys, hugging his arm and resting her head on his shoulder. Rolling her eyes, she gestured at the Phantom, which -because she was weakening due to the battle deities- the others were now fighting. Nethrys nodded and said something to Scarlett, shrugging her arm off his and running to Vytoni's side.
"So what's the plan?"
"Hit it with sharp things until it dies."
"Oh," Nethrys frowned, then shrugged, "Yeah, that's pretty good." They took off running, and somehow, without telling him she knew he knew what to do. A perfect team.
He took the main offence, distracting the Spirit along with the Hysminai and Vytoni reached into her back pocket and fished out a silver bracelet in the shape of a snake. Feeling very satisfied with herself -as she knew that Elektra and Adrian now owe her a hundred drachmas, she concentrated on the ruby eyes and breathed, "αφυπνίσει." Awaken. A thin line of blue fire spread along the bracelet, and then there was a snake about the length of her finger - No - hand, forearm...
The snake reached the length of two feet, and was watching Vytoni patiently, awaiting for further orders.
"You're poisonous, right?" Of course, the snake didn't reply, but Vyt swore she saw it wink, "Uhh... bite that ghost lady with the elemental powers - You know, the one attacking everyone else."
The snake hissed, it's spiky red tongue flickering in and out. It slithered away, it's smooth body quickly heading towards the White Lady.
"A little help here!" Nethrys narrowly dodged a blast of ice shards, almost knocking into Vytoni, "... You know, if you could spare some time in your busy schedule."
"Fear not, damsel," Vytoni replied, biting back a laugh. She turned to face the Ghost, but she realized she didn't need to have bothered; the snake had done it's job well, and it's target was writhing on the ground, her pale form shaking visibly. One of the Hysminai stood over the figure, it's axe hovering inches from her throat. It raised the axe, reminding Vytoni very much like an executioner. Luckily for the weaker stomachs, the Lady burst into a shower of embers, so no one actually saw her head being chopped off.
The Hysminai turned to Katerina, saluting her with odd, ghoulish smiles before turning into gray dust. William was carrying Katerina as if holding her over the threshold; her body drooped over his two arms which were holding her securely, her arms wrapped limply around his neck. There was a dark indigo coloured bruise of William's right cheek, probably caused by the spirit lady's simultaneous rock bombs. Trudy and Adrian were in each others arms, comforting each other and hugging. Lysandra and Elektra were busy checking Enryx's ankle, which he h strained while fighting. Briefly, Vytoni checked for her own wounds; despite the mud and dirt, there were none.
"Now we need a way to get to Courtney and Logan - before, you know, the world practically goes insane with all those demented fear monsters," The others stopped abruptly and stared at Vytoni, as if their brains still needed to register what she just said, "Or, you know, we can wait here. And let everything else die," She added under her breath.
Nethrys seemed to hear her, his dark eyebrows half-raised in amusement, "She's right," He agreed, "We need to get moving."
"Or we can let them come to us," Lysandra noted thoughtfully. They turned to her in alarm, especially when she added, "No wait, they're already here."
Vytoni glared at the approaching vehicle, which somewhat resembled the unfortunate love-child of a helicopter and a war tank. It was pure black, except for the deadly metal blades that sang through the air. Vyt loved it. At least now I know what I want for the solstice.
"What do you want?" Enryx stepped out protectively in front of them as Courtney and Logan approached with livid expressions. Vytoni frowned slightly, but hid it from the others. The truth was, she was still quite angry for Enryx -quite literally- stabbing her in the back. It was a good to honest, sharp arrow, but she had a protection rune blazing, so it didn't actually kill her - or get her as dead as she can. However, It was already exhausted from deflecting the other attacks, and so Vytoni had no choice but to black out. The one time I actually thought someone had my back - typical.
"Did you just - I mean - the army," Logan blubbered hopelessly, until Courtney sighed in exasperation and told him -no, ordered him- to shut up.
"It's over," Adrian called out, "We win." Vytoni inwardly winced. Bad move. Courtney exchanged fleeting glances with Logan, before turning back to face them, an unsettling smirk on her face. Suddenly, Vytoni realized that they were no longer on the roof, but in a valley. The whole thing in the castle was just a simulation. This is the real thing.
"Sure you did," She cooed, "Which must really explain why the world is still crumbling into insanity as we speak." She spread out her arms, which were bare and pale, a milky gray color. Vytoni thought she saw little red veins running through them, but Courtney soon lowered them, her sweet demeanor crumbling into pure evil.
"The chaos resides within us," Logan crowed, "To save the world, you're gonna have to defeat us or die."
Vytoni was already moving. She leapt at Courtney, but was immediately blocked by an empousa that stepped in front of her mistress. Snarling, Vytoni didn't waste time, swinging her staff that disintegrated the monster and parried Courtney's blow. Out of the corner of her eye, Vyt saw yet more of those "fear phantoms" swooping in and out of the battles, and even more monsters pouring out of every corner.
Katerina and William were dodging blows from half a dozen of Hyperborean giants, using one to freeze another as they ducked out of reach. Lysandra and Rosamynd were busy trying to fend off a few empousa as they stood back to back, with Scarlett in between, wielding a big shield. Enryx and Elektra were fighting off three -well, two now- fire-breathing automatons; Trudy was fighting a minotaur - Adrian is running to join her now. That left Nethrys fighting Logan.
She took this all in from a fraction of a second, though it was still cost her too much. Courtney thrusted her staff at Vytoni's throat, and she could only turn her head a little to the left, so the sharp blade would graze her cheek.
The cut was a lot deeper than she thought it would. The stinging pain made her wince, leaving her left side unguarded, which Courtney took as an invitation to stab her through the ribs. Vytoni felt her body starting to go numb with shock, but she forced it to start working. She didn't remember falling, though she was on the ground, and she seemed paralyzed; She was also gasping for breath, which was coming out too quick, too shallow.
"Vytoni!" She heard a voice to her right, but she couldn't turn to look. But she still recognized the voice. She would recognize him anywhere. Nethrys was kneeling at her side now, cradling her head on his lap. She wanted to tell him to shut up and keep fighting but she also wanted him with her and she wanted him know that she was okay, and that everything would be just fine.
If only. She struggled to move, to breathe even. She could only stare at him, and everything else fell away, which would have been really stupid but right now Vytoni wasn't sure if she even cared. Nethrys' eyes were clouding over, with storm clouds of dark gray and black spiraling through his iris. She's been reading his eyes, which gave away his emotions all too easily. Black meant worry. He was worried.
He was muttering "No, no, no no no." repeatedly under his breath, and Vytoni shook her head, grateful for the slowly returning of her nerves as her runes kicked into gear.
"Get... off," She coughed, "Stupid... immortal, can't die, idiot... thank you.. reckless..." She was trying to sit up now, one hand supporting her body and the other grasping around for her favorite weapon.
"Look out!" An unearthly shriek tore the air and there was a sickly crack. Vytoni immediately shot up, roughly pushing aside the pain that threatened to leave her incapable again. Nethrys moved to the side, his sword and shield hanging limply on his side as he stared at the ground. A body was on the floor, slumped and unmoving. Vytoni's eyes continued to widen with disbelief as she took in the mangled heap: A shock of strawberry-blonde hair streaked with dark purple and blue highlights; and blood. Lots of it. Red blood, mortal blood. Scarlett.
Vytoni exhaled slightly. Of course. As she tried to tell Nethrys earlier, all of them were Godlings, and therefore immortal, which meant the death in the prophecy could only be Scarlett.
A midnight-black shaft was protruding from Scarlett's abdomen, and Logan was still standing there, grinning like a fool. And a fool he was.
Lysandra had unleashed several feral cheetahs and kept a lion by her side. Enryx was using one of his last batch of arrows on a Chimera which burst into a pile of golden sand. Trudy and Adrian were battling an army of empousa. Katerina was standing by William in shock; her face was ghostly pale and her bright blue eyes were brimming with tears.
Everyone had turned to witness the victim who was sprawled on the floor, her hands loosely gripped onto the spear that was pierced through her stomach under her ribs. Thick, dark red liquid slowly oozed out of wound and created a puddle on the stone ground. Elektra and Nethrys were at her side, desperately trying to patch the wound, but to no avail.
Vytoni looked back and saw Logan standing there, arms crossed and smirking but just behind him she could see an outline of a figure edging closer to him. Katerina. Vytoni could just make her out; she standing right behind him now and her camouflage was slowly wearing out. There were tears streaming down from her eyes and onto her cheeks and she kept glancing from Scarlett's dead carcass to the back of Logan's head. She was holding her dagger aimed for Logan's chest; the tip was pointed just to the left of his spine where the heart was.
Katerina plunged her dagger into Logan's flesh, there was a sickening sliding sound as it penetrated Logan's back. Logan's grin immediately slipped off his face as he looked down to see a tip as black as his poking out. His skin immediately began to pale to a nearly translucent colour that Vytoni could make out his veins coursing with blood and his eyes turned a milky white. Katerina's dagger was practically sucking the life out of him. It made sense, she was a daughter of Hades and her dagger was basically a mini version of Hades' sword. He fell to the ground, the dagger sliding off his slick body as he did so.
Courtney shrieked in rage and sorrow. Vytoni saw her moving away and start toward her cousin, but Vyt didn't give her a chance. She sprang at Courtney, abandoning her staff for a long, hand-and-a-half sword. Courtney spun just in time to block Vytoni, but Vyt didn't give her any time to retaliate as she ducked and attempted to jab at her opponent. With considerable ease from the renewed energy from her runes' resources and the fresh anger and eagerness for battle, Vytoni spun from Courtney's block and came up from behind her, slipping the sword between her ribs as she did so. Courtney let out a small guttural cry and Vytoni stared at her as she crumpled to the ground. Courtney's eyes were glassy as her essence drained out of her a leaked into the hateful prison, Tartarus - Where she belongs. Briefly, Vytoni debated whether to just be done with and make it quick or enjoy her slow, eventual death.
But alas, I guess it's duty before pleasure. Vytoni took Courtney's Javelin-brand staff as a spoil of war, and used it against it's former mistress as Vytoni first thrusted the hot end to burn and brand Courtney's throat. Courtney screamed, but her vocal cords were soon singed and Vyt turned to the sharp end stabbed it through her throat, leaving it there until Courtney stopped complaining and finally shut up and died - or, however close a monster like her could get to dying.
Vytoni extracted the javelin from her now-disintegrating enemy and watched with a growing feeling of muted victory and satisfaction. Then, she turned around again to assess the battle.
Logan's body was already just a pile of dark ashes, and Katerina stood sobbing into William's shoulder as her boyfriend watched with detached emotion at his cousin's remains. Everyone else were crowded around Scarlett's body, but Vytoni could see Nethrys running towards her now. She threw Courtney's weapon and her trophy into the air, murmuring a few words before it vanished in the air, stored safely away. Despite killing both of the cousins, the monsters were still coming, and the phantoms were making a real feast over everyone's despair over Scarlett's death.
Courtney must have given some of her remaining power to an object when Logan died, before I intercepted her. Vytoni immediately turned to the general direction in which Courtney was running from, and almost immediately she saw a huge, wizened tree that seemed to be pulsating with dark energy, which lashed out in tendrils and released even more fear phantoms. It was crude and gigantic, but what really stood out was that it was made of obsidian, or black metal. Vytoni guessed that it was probably reinforced with materials nearly impossible to destroy. I'll find a way.
Enryx and Elektra joined them on the top of the small hill, eyeing the tree suspiciously. "Let me guess. We gotta demolish that evil tree," Enryx commented,
trying not to let the weariness show in his voice.
"Yep," Nethrys agreed, "And I'm that sure if hacking it with swords would do us much good here."
"Maybe we can help," Elektra replied, drawing a silver arrow from her quiver. Enryx copied her, notching a single golden arrow onto his ebony bow. They stood a little ways apart, and after a few, tense seconds, they shot at the same moment.
The arrows shot out incredibly fast, leaving trails of silver and gold as they intertwined and became one speeding rocket of pure energy, in which nothing could stand in their way.
Or so Vytoni thought.
Much to their frustration, the arrows merely bounced off the tree, not even leaving a dent. However, they did induce some sort of unearthly growling noise that emanated from the tree; and out of nowhere, a huge beast that resemble a Nemean lion, but with pure black fur and glowing red eyes sprang upon them.
"Nice kitty," Nethrys said weakly, then rolled out of the way as the lion pounced at him, making a dull thud on the grassy ground.
Vytoni knew that all she had to do was so shoot the beast in the maw when it roared, but she wasn't sure if it was the same concept for this new, twisted version, and she knew they couldn't afford to make a wrong move.
In a flash, Lysandra appeared next to Vyt, glaring at the lion with unshed tears forming in her light topaz eyes. Vytoni could tell Lys was torn between trying to help the feline monster or fight it to get it over with. Finally, she shouted a few inscrutable words in Ancient Greek and a Liger appeared in front of her, letting out a huge roar. The Liger matched the size of it's opponent, with a gleaming, sandy-white flank and abnormally long and sharp claws and fangs. The evil Lion growled and pounced at Lysandra's Liger, and they rolled into one dangerous ball of teeth and claws. However, the Liger had seemingly no effect on the Nemean lion, who had already scored deep scratches along the Liger's pelt.
With a great snarl, the demonized Nemean lion glanced a heavy blow on the Liger and rolled over to bite the base of it's skull. Vytoni couldn't tell who was louder: the Liger's anguished howl or Lysandra's piercing scream.
The Liger melted away into a pile of ashes. The Demon Lion let loose a deafening roar, and set it's glowing red eyes on it's next opponent. It leapt at Enryx, who was too busy nocking an arrow to defend himself. The Lion pinned him down by the sides of his body, snarling with feral satisfaction as Enryx's howls echoed the air. Elektra fumbled for another arrow, unable to take her eyes off her suffering brother. Lysandra was on her knees, frozen in place with silent tears streaming down her face.
"Go!" Enryx spat out. To anyone else, it probably sounded like some martyr moment where he sacrifices himself, but Vytoni could see Elektra shooting an arrow, aiming for the monster's gaping maw. Enryx took his gold arrow and, at the last second, brought the shaft up to connect to the silver arrow. The now interlinked arrows spiraled straight into the Lion's mouth, and exploded with the force of a small nuclear bomb. The Nemean Lion's evil eyes widened; it's fur stood up on the ends like it was electrified and then it burst into disintegrated monster guts, raining all over Enryx, who had sunk onto the ground, unmoving.
Lysandra and Elektra raced to his side. Vytoni was about to follow, but then remembered the evil, phantom-making tree, and changed course. The others could take care of Enryx.
She stopped in front of it's inky black trunk, trying to devise the best way to destroy it. A specific idea kept recurring, clamoring for her attention, but Vyt always pushed it back. Too dangerous, haven't tested it. Seconds passed. A minute. They were running out of time, and Vytoni knew it was the only way to kill the tree on such a short notice.
Taking a small step forward, Vytoni placed her right palm on the bark directly in front of her. There was a faint burning smell as the Tree tried to resist the spell, but after a sizzling noise, Vyt took her hand away to see the mark branded on the tree. Immediately, she felt a searing pain on her forehead -between and above the eyes, where supposedly the psychic eye was- and she felt an uncontrollable surge of power overwhelming her.
The rune on the tree burned, turned fiery red. Molten cracks spiderwebbed all over the tree, as if it was about to explode. Which it did. Vytoni felt the force of the explosion drawn towards her, and she opened her mind to it, and absorbed the power, feeling it rush over her, giving her even more boosts of energy. But she couldn't shut it off. Her vision was a little less than a black haze.
Vytoni struggled to wrench herself away from the grip, but it might as well have been Kronos himself she was imprisoned against. It was impossible to escape.
Vaguely, she sensed rather than saw things going a little crazy. Neighboring trees were savagely ripped out of their roots; there was a storm, whipped into a frenzy; her friends were being drained of their essence, feeding her their power.
A hand on her shoulder. Her last anchor. Vytoni desperately grabbed the hand, dragging herself back into reality. The black fog lifted and she saw Nethrys' clear eyes, narrowed in concentration.
"Thanks," She mumbled. Nethrys let out a long sigh, pressing his forehead against hers, which surprised her, but what surprised her more is when she pulled him in for a hug. He stiffened in surprise, then Vyt felt strong, warm arms wrapped around her.
"Welcome back," He murmured into her hair. All this took about half a minute, and Vytoni sprang onto her feet when she heard choking sobs.
Everyone was gathered in a circle around a fallen figure. Vytoni felt a cold feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. The Prophecies only mentioned one death! This can't be!
Lysandra was kneeling down next to Enryx; her face hovering above his. She was sobbing slightly, resting a hand on his forehead and cradling his head on her lap. Elektra was crying into Rosamynd's shoulder, who was fumbling through herb after herb, frantically looking for something to help Enryx. Trudy wept uncontrollably, supported by Adrian, who was staring disbelievingly at his friend. Katerina was looking away, and Wolfe was speaking to her in low tones.
The remnants of the freak storm was still evident, but apart from a few unlucky scratches from flying branches, they escaped unscatched. However, Vytoni still felt uncomfortably guilty. I must be able to do something right.
"Um," Vyt cleared her throat. They all stopped, almost comically, and turned to her with empty stares, "Maybe I can help." Their eyes all widened, and they all scrambled back to let her through, save for Lysandra, who couldn't seem to hear -or see, or feel- anything. Cautiously, Vytoni knelt next to Enryx, staring at his pale face, which was framed with shoulder-length black hair, hiding the gauntness underneath. She glanced momentarily at his chest, then tentatively placed a hand on his wound. Like, last time, it left a sizzling sound, but when she removed her hand, it was glowing warmly, seeming to spread life and energy throughout his body.
Vytoni gasped as she felt invisible scraping at her sides, and then a battering tempest seeping the life out of her. She opened her mind again, but instead of taking his essence, she gave it all back, pouring out her energy into his quickly healing body. This time, she was able to tear herself away before it was too late. Just in time. Still, Vyt had to blink a couple of times and shake her head roughly to drive the nausea away.
"By the Gods," Lysandra breathed next to her. Vytoni respectively moved away from them, feeling as though they should have some space.
"Morning, sunshine," Enryx grinned, then coughed. Lysandra started laughing, first hysterically, then she was unable to stop. When she finally did, there was a long moment of silence, in which Lys smiled at Enryx, then lifted his head from her lap and kissed him.
It didn't last too long, though long enough for it to become uncomfortable for everyone else. Enryx lifted his arm and pulled her in tighter, then they broke away, laughing.
"Hey, lovebirds," Vytoni felt it was appropriate to break into this happy reunion to mention, "We're not done." The response was mixed: Some stiffed and raised their weapons, and some let out a groan. Nethrys raised an eyebrow at her, but he didn't unsheath his sword.
"There's a few calls we have to make."
The next few hours were a blur to everyone. Rosamynd had given an emergency Iris-message to Hermes to pick them up in his private jet that was labelled 'Caduceus Airlines'. All the Godlings either slept or got medical care from some Healers that were working with Apollo. It didn't take long for them to fly to Manhattan, where Hermes dropped them off at the nearest air strip. They said their goodbyes and thanks to Hermes and then split off into three cabs to the Empire State Building.
By the time they reached there it was nearly sunset, the sun was just dipping out of sight and the sky was a purply blue. They walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building and shuffled up to the front desk. The front desk was a raised podium, so they had to look up at the man at the desk. He was tall and elegant, with caramel-colored skin and bleached blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag which read 'Bob'.
"600th floor, please." Lysandra chirped.
"Sorry, I'm afraid that floor doesn't exist." Bob looked down at them with smug blue eyes.
"Okay, let's not do the thing where you pretend you don't know what we're talking about. Because we both know there is a 600th floor that leads to Olympus. So let's just make this fast, we need to see Zeus. It's an emergency." William demanded, slapping a hand on the desk, trying to stare Bob down.
"No appointment, no audience, kiddo. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced." Bob simply replied and started to pretend to type something on his laptop.
Nethrys reached forward and grabbed Bob by his tie. He pulled him towards him, leaned in and whispered in a threatening tone. "Listen, Bob. We need to see Lord Zeus. Immediately," He let go of his tie but still leaned in, pinning the poor manager down with his piercing -and for this matter, angry- stare, "And if you need more convincing, then maybe my friend here can knock a little sense into you." Vytoni took this as her cue to step up, angle herself so all her weapons caught the light and let her runes glow. It was all for show, of course, but no one needed to know that. Vyt added an evil smirk, just for good measure.
Bob scrambled out of his seat, fumbled around his desk for a key card, then handed it to him. "Insert this in the security slot."
"Thanks," Trudy said sweetly, handing the man two drachmas.
They rushed for the elevators and managed to all fit in one. As soon as the elevator doors closed, Nethrys slipped the key into the slot. The card disappeared and a new button appeared on the console, a red one that said 600. He pressed it and we waited. Elevator music played softly as everyone stood there silently and watched the digits change quickly on the tiny screen above the console.
Finally the elevator doors opened. Vytoni stepped out and started to walk but stopped abruptly when someone let out a small squeak behind her. Annoyed, Vyt turned around to tell them to shut up when she caught sight of their faces and decided that whoever made such a weird noise was perfectly entitled to do so.
"Holy Hades!" She heard Katerina say behind her. They were standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air, walking one behind the other. Below them was a full view of Manhattan - or, rather the top of Manhattan. It felt like they were on a plane again. In front of them, white marble steps wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky. From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, it's summit covered with fresh snow. Clinging to the mountainsides were dozens of multileveled palaces -a city of mansions- all with white columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires. Roads wound crazily up to the peak, where the largest castle gleamed against the fresh snow. Precariously perched gardens bloomed with rose bushes and olive trees. Vytoni could make out an open-air market filled with colorful tents, a hippo-drome, a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain and a grand coliseum on the other. It was a perfect replica of an Ancient Greek city from the paintings and legends except it was real, and not in ruins. It was new, and clean and colorful; the way Athens must've looked three thousand years ago.
They were led into the Hall of the Gods; the largest room in Olympus, and the place where all special occasions were held, which includes the Winter Solstice. They walked in with their heads down, staring at gold stone floor which made an echoing sound when a step was taken. Vytoni looked up quickly and spotted the Gods were talking amongst themselves, perched on their thrones with a goblet of nectar or wine in their hands. Her eyes trailed upwards towards the ceiling, the navy blue ceiling glittering with constellations - Vytoni found the Huntress, a tribute to the fallen Lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade. The Gods stopped their bickering and chatter when they saw the Godlings approach them. The thrones could be seen in deeper detail as they got closer.
The thrones were shaped in an inverted 'U' in the center of the Hall of the Gods. Zeus' throne was one of the largest and was made of platinum with lightning; designs and symbols running down the sides of his throne; On his left hand side was placed Poseidon's throne. There was a built-in holster for his bronze trident which was glowing green around the tips. The throne was decorated in corals and sea creatures; Hera's was made out of ivory and it had a skillfully done picture of a willow and peacock on it; Demeter's was full on naturistic, it was woven out of apple tree branches, wheat stalks and dried grass. It had a small eggshell coloured cushion and backrest where Demeter was sitting comfortably; Ares was sitting quite crookedly on his throne. Vytoni could tell that the damage Kronos did on his throne was still not repaired but she secretly wished all of it was damaged. It was made of leather and chrome with fairly large human skulls -that didn't even look human- built into the arms. A Hunter -Daughter of Ares- once told her that the cushion that Ares was putting all his Godly weight on right now was made out of human skin; Athena's was silver with golden basket-work on the back and sides and a crown of violets, made from blue lapis lazuli set above it; Apollo's throne was golden with magical inscriptions carved all over it. It represented the sun, healing and poetry. The back of the throne is shaped like a lyre and has python skin to sit on. There is a sun disk above with twenty-one rays made out of golden arrows; His twin, and Vytoni's long considered best friend and even sister, Artemis' throne was completely silver and was decorated with animal pelts. It had two date palms on the back and had a waning moon on top of the throne, with little stars scattered here and there; Hephaestus' was by far the most impressive, with some sort of robot-ish, modern look, covered with bronze and silver gears which were spinning extraordinarily fast. It looked like something out of those mortal commercials; Aphrodite was perched on the edge of her seat, which was also silver, but was inlaid with gems like aquamarines and beryls. The back of the throne was moulded like a giant seashell and was dressed in swan feathers; Hermes was the only one still talking jabbering softly into his cell phone as his two snakes wriggled impatiently. His throne was rather crude, cut out of gray stone with ram's heads on the armrests and swathed in goatskin; Dionysus was gulping down a huge jug of red wine, resting his huge self on his leopard skin backrest and cushion. His throne seemed to grow from grapevines; Hades was watching the Godlings and staring with his intense black eyes. His throne matched his eyes; black, cold and hard. It was made completely out of black marble, and looked a little lopsided and uncompleted, since it was recently added.
A crowd of minor Gods were milling around the room. Vytoni scanned them and immediately caught sight of her parents quietly talking to other with huge smiles on their faces - or as close of a smile as they could get. Hecate turned and caught her eye and her smile brightened. She murmured something to Morpheus and gestured to them.
"Godlings," A voice boomed. The powerful voice of Zeus echoed around the Hall of the Gods, the Godlings looked up at the God who had stood up to welcome them. The Godlings gave a quick bow in respect, which the God nodded politely in return. The Lord of the Gods sat down again, waiting for the Godlings to approach him. Zeus was in his normal attire; a navy blue pinstripe suit matched with black oxford shoes. Zeus had long dark gray hair with matching gray eyes; his face was grim but handsome and proud and had a neatly-trimmed dark gray beard. The Godlings approached him with utter silence, legs trembling and heads respectfully down. Zeus was in giant human form, as all the Gods were. As they approached him; the air crackled and smelled of ozone.
"Zeus, King of Olympus and Lord of the Sky. We come to you to address the incident that happened-" Enryx started to explain but Zeus held up his hand to interrupt him.
"You will introduce yourself to me one by one. Starting with you, I know you are not one of us." Zeus said nodding to Enryx. "You are Roman."
Enryx nodded looking at Zeus, "Yeah, I'm Rom-"
"Yes," Zeus interrupted again, "It's 'yes', not 'yeah'".
Enryx sighed and continued "Yes, I'm Roman. My name is Enryx Junius-"
"You are a Godling, are you not?"
"Yea - yes."
"Gods do not have these - Surnames, are they called? Those are for mortals."
"Uh, right. Anyways, I'm the Son of Apollo and Luna, the Roman goddess of the moon." Enryx quickly glanced at Apollo, who was staring at him with extreme intrigue. Selene, the Greek equivalent to Luna, frowned slightly, then turned away.
Elektra who was standing on his left stepped forward and gave a quick respectful bow and smiled. "Lord Zeus, I am Elektra, twin sister to Enryx and daughter of Apollo and Luna." Elektra stepped back and started to fiddle with her bracelet.
Lysandra was on Enryx's right and was grasping his hand until she let go to step forward. She shifted a little, her fringe tossing a little to the left, until finally she stood straight and faced Zeus. "Lysandra, pleased to meet you my lord." She gave him a smile, showing him the fang on the left side on her mouth, and bowed a little. She continued, beaming, "Your brother Hades is my father, and Hecate my mother," Vytoni looked over to see Hades gazing at his daughter, Katerina; not paying attention to what was going on. Hecate however, was grinning proudly at Lysandra; Vytoni caught her eye and Hecate gave her a reassuring smile and an approving nod. Lysandra stepped back and took Enryx's hand again, holding it tightly.
Rosamynd shuffled forward slightly and gave a small curtsey. "My lord, I am most honored to meet you. I'm Rosamynd, Daughter of Hermes and Hebe." Hermes immediately shut his flip phone with a loud click at the mention of his name and looked over at Hebe who was standing amongst the crowd of minor Gods and Goddesses and blushed a scarlet red. Hebe had flaming ginger-red hair with a wreath of flowers perched on the crown of her head. Zeus nodded at her and she stepped back into her place in line.
Adrian quickly lifted his arm off Trudy's shoulder and took a few steps forward and took a bow. "Adrian, sir. Son of Ares and Nemesis." He said boldly, then took a big step back in line as Trudy stepped forward.
"Your honor, I'm Gertrude, daughter of Aphrodite," Trudy gave a small nod in Aphrodite's direction and got a dazzling smile in return. "And Hephaestus." She looked over at Hephaestus, who was slouched on his mechanic throne and gave him a smile which was almost identical to the one Aphrodite gave her. Hephaestus sat up a little and gave her a wave. She got back in line and Adrian put an arm around her shoulders again.
Vytoni could hear Nethrys -who was next to her- gulp and inhale deeply. He stepped forward and bowed awkwardly. "Hi. Nethrys. Enyo and Momis. My lord." He stepped back, looking at the marble designs splayed on the floor. His father, a man with black hair and harsh, pointy features, looked up, glanced at Nethrys, then waved awkwardly. Enyo, a tall woman with olive skin -like her son- grinned and winked at her son.
Oh. My turn. "Vytoni, Daughter of Hecate and Morpheus." There were a few small mutterings, then Vyt remembered she forgot to address Zeus. Why should I? He never did anything for me. She shrugged, then saw her mother, smiling proudly, her silver designs flashing. Next to Hecate, Morpheus had his black hood back, revealing tousled, salt and pepper hair and a gray stubble, paired with piercing blue eyes. Vytoni didn't meet his gaze directly, because she knew she would probably pass out, but she lifted a small corner of her mouth to show that she knew he was there.
"Katerina, your Honor. Delighted to meet you. I am Daughter of Hades and Hecate," Kat looked as if she was debating whether to curtsy, then decided against it. She looked over to Hades, her father, who gave a tiny nod of approval. Morpheus lifted a dark eyebrow at Hecate and mouthed "Two?" Hecate blushed, then shrugged. Katerina nudged William, who looked like he was on the verge of running away.
"Greetings, my lord and honor. Uh. I am Wol- William," He cleared his throat, "You can call me Will...but anyway I'm the son of Nyx and Phobos," He winced when murmurs broke out through the small crowd. For the first time, Vytoni realized how strange this must be, with ten Godlings standing in the middle of a council, dripping ichor everywhere.
"William?" A smoky voice whispered, Vytoni looked to see who called for William. She looked into the crowd of minor Gods and Goddesses to see a hooded figure standing amongst them. He was a God, presumably Wolfe's father. How could Phobos be here?
"I'm your father," He held up his hand when the Godlings started towards them, "But I am not Phobos. Do you understand?"
"...No." William turned to face the hooded figure as he approached him.
"Erebos?" Nyx emerged from the crowd, dressed in a black silk dress that swept across the floor as she walked up towards William.
"Mother? W-what's going on? Who's he?" William glanced at the hooded figure in confusion. Vytoni saw Zeus staring at the confused family in mild bemusement. Nyx started to whisper to him in hushed tones, placing two hands on his shoulders and looking into his eyes.
Nyx looked up at Zeus and apologized, "Zeus, my lord. Please excuse my son and I for a second." Zeus nodded and watched the two of them exit the Hall of the Gods with Erebos following behind. Vytoni concentrated for a moment, then William slapped the back of his neck, where unknowingly she placed a spell to hear what they said once they returned to the hall. Hecate glanced at Vyt, who shrugged innocently and studied the ceiling with renewed interest.
"Mom? What in Hades is going on?" Vytoni was facing William's point of view, and was facing a man with a gaunt, drawn back face, shuffling nervously from foot to foot. Beside Wolfe, Nyx was wringing her pale hands, then seemed to catch her self and instead clasped them behind her back.
Vytoni knew she wouldn't really be intruding, but frankly, morals haven't really stopped her before. William started pace back and forth, looking at anywhere but the God and Goddess in front of him. They were in the side room, where Vytoni briefly saw William's parents were seated on the edge of a plush couch. Above them, a big mantel clock chimed twelve, signalling the official start of December 21st, the Winter Solstice. Dimly, Vyt realized that she hadn't slept in three days, including today - or was it tonight?
"William," Erebos said softly, "Please take a seat." Wolfe stared at him for a long second, then plonked himself down on a stiff chair, opposite of them.
"I don't get it," William was saying, "You said Phobos was my father. I grew up my entire life believing that, when I was really free from their grasp all along." Vytoni knew that by "their", he meant Courtney, Logan and their parents, in all their -well, ungodly- glory.
"Please try to understand," Nyx had tears pooling in her eyes, but she seemed to be holding them at bay, "When Phobos found out I had you, neither of us had any idea who your father was. We just assumed you were son of Phobos, and so he took you. It was only recently when Erebos here contacted me through Iris Message and had asked to meet me. So I agreed, despite our past relationship we managed to reconnect again. I told him about you and how Phobos took you."
"That's what I wanted to meet your mother about, I heard about you from some of the Gods; they were told that nine Godlings had gone on a quest and they were keeping an eye out and making bets on your friends victories. Then when they fought against you, Logan and Courtney. They told me about you; the boy who could disappear into the shadows, I became interested of course. A boy who could share my abilities but was not in relation to me. I immediately went to Hades -which was rather simple considering we work with each other- who was one of the only people to have similar abilities to me."
Nyx nodded in agreement and tried to paste a smile on while Erebos continued his explanation, "I went to Hades to ask if he had heard of you and if you were in relation to him. But he hadn't heard of you and that he didn't know if you were in relation to him. So I went to Nyx, also one of the people who had similar abilities to me."
"It was a day or two after your friends visited me at the Copenhaver Castle. Erebos came to me and asked if I had any children so I obviously said yes. I told him about you and how Phobos took you away from me.
"We didn't realize exactly who you were until Erebos confronted me about you. Of course, we figured it out in the end."
"Yeah, I get it," William mumbled, then awkwardly shook hands with Erebos, his new father.
"Chin up, love," Nyx wiped away a tear, then gave her son a watery, but loving smile, "It's showtime." Together, the three of them rose from their seats and walked back to the Throne room, where everyone had paused to wait for them to return.
"Hey," Nethrys' voice tickling Vytoni's ear snapped her out of her eavesdropping, "What'd they say?"
"Was I that obvious?" Vytoni said incredulously.
"Nah... I just know better than most."
"Oh," Vyt didn't know how to reply, so instead she watched William, Nyx and Erebus walk back into the room, with Erebos' arm on his son's shoulder, looking far happier than when she first saw him.
When William's parents left and he was returning to his place by Katerina, Wolfe caught her eye and gave her a accusatory glare, indicating the spot on his neck, where Vytoni long since withdrew her magic.
I must really be slipping off my game, Vyt mused, silently frustrated in already two, possibly, three, figuring out her trick in approximately five minutes. Nethrys, seeming to catch her mood, snickered and congratulated himself, which inevitably earned him a nudge in the ribs.
"Ow," He complained, then gave Vytoni his best charming smile he could muster, "What did I do?" He asked innocently.
"Oops, did I do that?" Vyt gave him a winning smile in return, which lasted a fraction of a second as she rolled her eyes and shook her head, turning her attention back to Zeus, who was clearing his oh-so-loud-and-godly throat to get everyone to shut up.
"Now Godlings, as you were saying," Zeus gestured at the Godlings to resume, and Rosamynd stepped forwards, after a few encouraging nods from her companions. Rosamynd cleared her throat nervously and in a loud and clear voice, began to recount their whole adventure.
~~~END OF CHAPTER 35~~~