4. Iridescence
If Cronos' headquarters of deformed room-time had been a nightmare to behold, it still held nothing against the Titan Master himself. This embodiment of ravaging fury, which now came bolting out from his destroyed nest, was the most dreadful thing Hera had ever seen. Her thoughts became confirmed by Leto and Nereus drawing breaths behind her and even the normally held-together Metis muttering a profanity at the sight. Doubtlessly, it was Cronos, the abysmal enigma finally arriving out in the open!
No, Cronos wasn't ugly. Just strange. Strange in a frightful and outlandish way, radiating malice. Just as his dome had been, he was all silvery, as if covered in mercury from top to toe, reflecting the world around him in blues of the ocean and the sky and the rust red hues of the rolling dessert dunes. His head was bald and featureless, save for a sole, horizontally running slit where the eyes should be. A slit shining with bright blue energy. His body was that of a burly humanoid, however larger than anyone around, arms and legs long and ropy, the chest wide and conical, shrinking down to a slim waist where the legs met. But no sign of reproductive organs. The onlookers were soon to learn why those were not needed.
As the Titan threateningly raised his arms in the air, his hands seemed to explode and the fingers turned into sleek silver missiles firing off in the direction of Zeus and his Khaberis fighters. When those severed fingers dashed through the air, they grew and transformed, turned into beings, into new Titans, perfect, glistening mercury copies of Cronos. Meanwhile the hands of the Time Lord had reshaped themselves, only to be deployed in the same way again, ten fingers turning into ten new Cronos clones cutting their way through the air. Three times the Titan leader repeated his actions, and thus 30 nimble figures were soon taking on Zeus and the ones nearest him. But the dexterous Zeus defeated most of the horrid clones and he got help from a tall, burly man wielding a huge trident and a vibrant, lithe woman with wild blonde curls who was launching fire-balls at the attackers.
Relentlessly Zeus kept on deploying that strange force of his, a force which was cutting the new clones in half and in even smaller glittering pieces. Some clones managed to mend themselves; others were destroyed and crashed down on the ground, several of them ending up paled upon the sharp edges of the newly formed lava structures down on the beach. But there was no blood, no bodily innards at all, those Cronides appeared to be more or less solid.
Horrified, Hera watched as the fire goddess got overpowered by about five or six of these silvery Titans. That was something she refused to be the idle witness off, so she launched herself into battle without a single after-thought. Using her trustworthy Soulsinger, she was soon slashing trough quite a number of enemies. The next moment, she had liberated the fire goddess. The striking, blond woman flashed off a toothy grin at Hera.
"Thanks, whoever you are!"
"I'm Hera," came the reply as Hera sunk her blade into another attacking Titan, a more regular one this time.
"I'm Hestia," the fire goddess replied, her soprano slightly husky.
They both turned to find not only the Khaberis, headed by the long haired trident carrier, attacking the clones. Hera's comrades had also hurled themselves into the battle, inspired by their fearless leader. Zeus however had propelled himself around the clones in an agile and swift maneuver and was now heading for the original Titan.
With a growl at this new enemy who was surprising him, the Time Lord rose his right hand, no doubt to clone a new set of little Cronides, however Zeus was too quick, and with his strange energy, now looking like a curved blade, he cut off the Titan's arm. The next second the agile Khaberis somersaulted backwards, avoiding a purple bolt of time-energy being fired against him.
"That was what he trapped us with," Hestia breathed in Hera's ear as she set a Titan on fire. "Me, Poseidon, Demeter and Hades. However Hades got us out. A crazy plan. Actually, he killed us."
"Huh?" Hera's doubt was heard while she swung the Soulsinger in a figure eight and getting rid of another two stygian figures coming for them.
"Sounds strange, I know it. I'll tell you later. When Zeus's done with the asshole."
Strange, Hera's inner voice echoed the one of Hestia. Everything was strange in this place. So when a very much alive goddess of fire claimed that someone had killed her and a few others, it didn't puzzle Hera the least. Besides, ther was no time for confusion, there were Titans to fight everywhere now. While cutting up a foe, Hera heard Hestia exclaim while pointing downwards. The next moment the god with the trident fired off a ray of energy from his weapon. As it hit its target, the ground shook like mad, tumbling the lot of the newly created lava structures, crushing whatever unfortunate being – friend or foe – that got in the way.
A chasm erupted in the earth below and a monstrous eruption of black liquid sprouted from chasm and gushed into the air, fountaining high with a thunderous sound. A liquid Hera recognized by its notorious reek. Oil. Oil, which was drenching all and everything in the vicinity.
"Protect yourself, deities!" Hestia called out as she set fire on the inflammable liquid, turning the lot around them into a burning inferno. Engulfed in flames, the Titans attackers went down, their screams echoing across the dessert plain. However Hera and her little group had discerned Hestia's and the other Khaberis' plan and managed to coat themselves in protective shielding.
"Potent, firebrand!" Metis called out, appreciation filling her voice.
Within minutes the nearest surrounding was totally wiped clean of foes. Save Cronos, whom Zeus was still battling some two hundred meters away, both of them looking like they had neither been injured nor managed to inflict some harm to the other one. Cronos had restored his lost hand; however he had given up firing off clones from his fingers now.
"Are they – equal in power?" Astraios was asking as he flew up next to Hera and Hestia. He looked – and smelled dreadful, drenched as he was in a horrible mixture of oil, Titan blood and other fluids. Hera understood that she came off very much the same, however she couldn't care less at the moment.
"At least Cronos seems to have met his match," Nereus said as they all watched Zeus lash out again with his power, yet hardly scratching his adversary, who was apparently dislocating these dangers to some other point in time.
"But he doesn't appear to be harmed by what Zeus is throwing at him," Leto pointed out, anxiety painting her voice.
"Wait for it," the man with the trident said, sounding oddly assured. Then he craned his neck to meet the eyes of Hera and her siblings in arms. "I'm Poseidon by the way," he added. "And I'm fully convinced that Zeus has a plan."
"Hope you're right then, Poseidon Earthquaker," Nereus replied drily.
Poseidon, Hera thought. There was an exotic ring to that name, which together with the unusual weapon of his hinted that he came from further away than most people around.
The next moment she forgot everything about it when a strange, glittering field was quickly beginning to form around Cronos. A force field which seemed to glow brighter and brighter with every heartbeat. Meanwhile Zeus was backing off, doubhtlessly aiming to keep some safe distance between himself and that iridescence.
And then...
Then the iridescence started to undulate around Cronos, oscillating faster and faster as the power increased rapidly – going from light red to white until it suddenly transformed into a bright blinding nova, shining like a second sun. The orb of light was bleaching reality around them into an over-exposed monochromic inferno, crispy and unambiguous before it imploded in an ear-popping bang, as the surrounding air rushing in to cover the abruptly manifested vacuum. Then Cronos was gone...
¤0¤0¤0¤0¤
Startled and with a sense of dislocation, Hannah woke up. This was the longest dream sequence so far. She remembered everything with such a piercing clarity that she was now perfectly convinced that she had actually lived this. That she really had been the goddess Hera on the battlefield. Sitting up in bed, she pulled the duvet around herself, and tucked the feet under her before she checked the clock. The glowing, red numbers told that it was still some good ten minutes before her wake-up music was about to start, but she decided against lingering. Instead she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and made a face as her feet hit the cold floor. Letting go of the duvet, she flung herself across the chilly room, the hallway and into the bathroom, where she turned on a shower so sizzling she could barely stand it.
Closing her eyes, she turned her face to the shower head, feeling the warm water splash over her form, caress her cheeks and kiss her eye-lids. She was almost expecting the dream to be flushed away with the water and disappear down the effluent the way dreams usually go. But no, the final battle and the fall of Cronos stayed firmly in her mind. Therefore she knew what she had to do. There was no use postponing the inevitable anymore.
¤0¤0¤0¤0¤
Standing on top of a skyscraper, Zeus was looking out over a glittering city which was so different from everything he remembered of this world before the closure of the Portal. In a way this vast metropolitan area reminded him of Derasone, the now lost town from which he had originated. The neon played over his pensive countenance as he looked down in the evenly cut chasm which ran like a spear through the stark architecture of the concrete- and glass pylons. There, some 300 meters below, he saw the neatly ordered advance of the many automatic vehicles with which the mortals transported themselves these days. Impressive, however they were running on fossil fuels which were slowly poisoning the air around them. Zeus felt the tang of it tickle his nose, noting that the composition of the air was a far cry from what it once had been on Earth.
Lifting his face, he gazed over the sparkling skyline, and toward the dark sea beyond the urban landscape. A sea and a harbour where huge ships moved about. To his left, on its hill stood what had once been Athena's magnificent temple – the Parthenon. It was destroyed, only a shell of dirty marble remained, like the ribcage of some dead animal. For some peculiar reason the derelict structure was bathed in light. He wondered about that for some moments, then he shrugged it off. There was no possible way neither Athena nor he would be remembered. After 3000 years, it was more than obvious that this world had moved on and left all ideas of divine guardians behind.
From what Zeus understood of the brief thoughts he tuned in on, these people nurtured an 'every one for themselves'-attitude and they were preoccupied with all kinds of mundane things. Mostly involving material gains or procreation games. Of the gods and their divine teaching and philosophies remained next to nothing.
Meanwhile, this world was in great peril. It was slowly heating up, due to all the emission of carbon oxide. The seas were dying and so were most of the forests. Everything here reeked of impending disaster. Still, the minds of the people he had tuned into didn't seem to be aware of it. Or perhaps they didn't care. They were too busy making their money and then spending it.
Zeus shivered out of discomfort, in a way he blamed himself for this tragedy. If only he and Hera had been more thorough when they closed the Portal, then he would have been able to open it again, not 3000 years but 45 days later, after their defeat of the Malaikin. Then the world would still be in the shape he had left it. With his Hera waiting somewhere around, with the blue crystal in her hand.
However, there had been no Hera and no crystal. Just this so outright dissimilar world.
"Father?" Zeus turned around at the voice, spotting Hermes landing next to him. The auburn-haired god shone of barely concealed exaltation, his blue eyes glittering. "Amazing, isn't it?"
"You mean – this?" Zeus raised a brow as he lashed out with his hand over the cityscape.
"Of course! It's so volatile, so exciting. So full of things to see and to do. The epitome of a market economy! The liberation of trade, the deliverance of creativity, the freedom of choice..."
"Hermes!" Zeus held up a hand and stopped his son, whose mouth shut abruptly. "That's all very well, a fine description of the pros of this world. But there are cons as well. Problems we ought to take care of, since this is our world as well as theirs. Our creation, our responsibility!"
"Dad!" Hermes protested. "Don't be so serious all the time!"
"Besides, we are here to look for Hera, remember!"
"Yes," with slumped shoulders, Hermes nodded his head. "However, I don't know where to begin. With seven billion people in this world!"
"Seven billions, you're kidding me!" another voice was heard, a female this time. Then Artemis joined the men at the rooftop. She had wound up her raven hair in a knot on top of the head and her crimson and black leather outfit was perhaps a bit too revealing for this world, however Zeus didn't bother telling her that yet, since he wasn't certain they would need to show themselves to any mortals. Besides, both he and Hermes wore their traditional outfits of short tunics and sandals, which wouldn't blend very well either.
"I'm not kidding," Hermes answered. "There are actually seven billion dwelling on this rock."
"Surprises me," his half-sister said. "Then again, if there are more cities like this, I guess it might be possible. This used to be Athens, right? I wonder what our sister'd say if she saw it now," Artemis went on, gazing out over the jagged skyline. "Look at all of those huge flashing signs they have covered the walls with. Confusing stuff, whoever can find anything aesthetic in such designs?"
"They're not supposed to be aesthetic, they're supposed to sell stuff. And it's still called Athens," Hermes confirmed, apparently he had done quite a bit of research down there.
"It does now?" Zeus exclaimed. "After 3000 years. With a race which isn't really known for continuity and where everything beside the coastlines has changed beyond recognition. But that riddle will have to wait. The two of you are my best trackers. You'll work with Iris, Hesperos and Zephyros to try to find the Queen. It won't be easy, I know it, but if anyone can do it then you are the ones."
"Trust me, dad, we will find her," Artemis said in a self-assured voice, "if we so should turn every one of these cities upside down and shake it!"
"I wouldn't recommend that course of action," Zeus chuckled drily.
¤0¤0¤0¤0¤
As soon as it was clear that Cronos was gone to not be coming back, the party started. While the sun set in the west over what was once a battlefield, and more and more stars emitted across the darkening sky, people – gods as well as mortals - were gathering around huge bonfires, ate and drank, sang and danced. Already they were starting to spin the tale of Zeus' defeat of the Titan Time Lord. Even now that story showed the inevitable signs of being blown out of proportions, and Hera knew it would echo through ages and across light-years.
Together with Leto and Astraios, she was making her way through the swaying and heaving hordes of celebrating people. She really wanted to find Hestia again, since she wished to know where this fire goddess and her powerful and enigmatic friends came from. It seemed like a mystery to Hera that a group of complete strangers could show up seemingly out of nowhere, hurl themselves into this war, which has been going on for so long, and then send just one single man to defeat Cronos. This Zeus, who was he? Was he really the liberator the reveling people around were holding him for – or was he another threat? A new danger manifesting itself out of nowhere?
Nereus' words echoed in her mind – 'That man is too powerful. One single person with so much potency, it can never end well! So much strength of body will suffocate the mind and taint the sense of reason, bring out the worst in a man.'
She had shrugged it off by then, but seeing the way Zeus defeated his adversary, that huge orb of iridescence, which had imploded upon Cronos, the old sea god's words of warning had come back to her. None of those she asked had any idea of what that shimmering orb could have been, what powers really had been at play there today. It worried Hera. This world was her responsibility – or should have been – had not Cronos changed all that. And she was fully intent on taking it back. But first she had to find out if Zeus could be an even bigger threat than the Titan had been, if they weren't jumping out of the frying pan into the fire by welcoming him.
The one she believed could answer this, was Hestia. She and Hera had got quite a good report earlier. If Hera would ask the right questions, she held no doubt that she would receive the correct answers.
Yet finding the blond fire goddess wasn't the easiest thing to do, given the enormous crowds gathering on shore side plains now. Striding purposefully through the throngs of people, Hera suddenly discovered a bonfire burning with a strange blue light. It was as if its emittance was the complete opposite of the normal, yellow fires of her world. She held no doubt that this was where the Khaberis gathered. Seeking with all her senses, Hera thought she felt the essence of that sea-god with earth-shaking abilities – Poseidon. However she had met him for such a brief time that she wasn't sure it really was him. But in that case Hestia would not be far away, so Hera set her course towards the place where she had discovered this powerful aura.
But it wasn't Poseidon she found. It was Zeus.
¤0¤0¤0¤0¤
If she was to find Zeus it would do no good staying in Stockholm. No, Hannah would have to follow her heart to Greece and to Mount Olympos and do whatever was in her might to locate that blue crystal again. Because it was her key to the Other Side – and the man she loved.
Luckily for her those late winter days were quite calm workwise. She could as well take her translation work with her and the few upcoming meetings were possible to postpone. Claiming family reasons – it wasn't really a lie, right?
Hanna spent the midmorning with browsing purposefully through travel agencies on the net, trying to find the most convenient way to go to Mount Olympos. However most of the agencies selling trips to Greece were just offering charter tours, and there were no charter tours to Mount Olympos, most of them seemed to go to one island or another. Not to mention that they began first in late April or early May. In the end Hannah settled for a Ryan Air flight to some insignificant Athens suburb, where she would rent a car and drive to Olympos. That would mean a terribly early rise, on the other hand she ought to be able to nap a bit both on the bus transfer and on the flight itself.
Next Friday was the trip due, and suddenly Hannah could hardly contain herself. She was finally going to do something, an attempt to take one small step in a positive direction. One step closer to her Zeus, who was waiting for her on the other side of the portal. She was sure he was, she could feel in her heart - in her whole being how he wished for her to be back with him.