Lea made her way to Olympos, eyes darkening as she saw the statues prowling around the mountain.
She left Salome on the ground level as she moved around to shore as many as the defenses as she could.
Depressing was not a word that usually describes Mount Olympos, at least not from the mythos but it looked that way now. No fires lit the braziers. The windows were dark. The streets were deserted, and the doors were barred. The only movement was in the parks, which had been set up as field hospitals. Will Solace and the other Apollo campers scrambled around, caring for the wounded. Naiads and dryads tried to help, using nature magic songs to heal burns and poison.
She felt something ached painfully within her when she saw an area that was filled with lingering mageia... familiar mageia and a pool of golden ichor.
Kírkē was not to be found.
She sealed up the opening as best as she was able to before continuing back towards the mainland. She met up with Annabeth, Grover, and Percy as they walked towards the palace. It was where Kronos would head. As long as the defenses continued to fall, as long as they kept getting pushed back... he would make his way up the elevator and destroy the throne room, the center of the gods' power.
In a way, most of that didn't matter from the way that the trio stared at her pale pallor.
Percy quickly made his way to her side, lending her strength as they walked to the palace doors.
The bronze doors creaked open. Their footsteps echoed on the marble floor. The constellations twinkled coldly on the ceiling of the great hall. The hearth was down to a dull red glow. Hestia, in the form of a little girl in brown robes, hunched at its edge, shivering. Lea's brow furrowed. She had seen that little girl before at the Camp. She had waved at Lea before.
Percy's cow goat friend swam sadly in his sphere of water. He let out a half-hearted moo when he saw them. In the firelight, the thrones cast evil-looking shadows, like grasping hands.
Standing at the foot of Zeus's throne, looking up at the stars, was Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She was holding a Greek ceramic vase.
"Rachel?" Percy said. "Um, what are you doing with that?"
She focused on him as if she were coming out of a dream. "I found it. It's Pandora's jar, isn't it?"
"Please put down the jar," he said.
"I can see Hope inside it." Rachel ran her fingers over the ceramic designs. "So fragile."
"Rachel."
His voice seemed to bring her back to reality. She held out the jar, and he took it. Lea waved him off, stumbling over to what she assumed to be Hermes' throne-if the way she felt compelled to it was any indication- and leaned against it.
"Grover," Annabeth mumbled. "Let's scout around the palace. Maybe we can find some extra Greek fire or Hephaestus traps."
"But—"
Annabeth elbowed him.
"Right!" he yelped. "I love traps!"
She dragged him out of the throne room.
Over by the fire, Hestia was huddled in her robes, rocking back and forth.
"Come on," Percy told Rachel. "I want you to meet someone."
They sat next to the goddess. Lea rested her head against the throne.
"Lady Hestia," Percy said.
"Hello, Percy Jackson," the goddess murmured. "Getting colder. Harder to keep the fire going."
"I know," Percy said. "The Titans are near."
Hestia focused on Rachel. "Hello, my dear. You've come to our hearth at last."
Rachel blinked. "You've been expecting me?"
Hestia held out her hands, and the coals glowed. The tension seeped out of Rachel and the warmth of the fire seemed to spread across her.
"To claim your place at the hearth," Hestia told her, "you must let go of your distractions. It is the only way you will survive."
Rachel nodded. "I . . . I understand."
"Wait," Percy said. "What is she talking about?"
Rachel took a shaky breath. "Percy, when I came here . . . I thought I was coming for you. But I wasn't. You and me . . ." She shook her head.
"Wait. Now I'm a distraction? Is this because I'm 'not the hero' or whatever?"
"I'm not sure I can put it into words," she said. "I was drawn to you because . . . because you opened the door to all of this." She gestured at the throne room. "I needed to understand my true sight. But you and me, that wasn't part of it. Our fates aren't intertwined. I think I've always known that, deep down. You have soulmates and I... I don't?"
Lea stared a bit confused. She was pretty sure that Rachel had just dumped him which was crazy because they were never even together.
"So . . . what," Percy said. '"Thanks for bringing me to Olympus. See ya.' Is that what you're saying?"
Rachel stared at the fire.
"Percy Jackson," Hestia said. "Rachel has told you all she can. Her moment is coming, but your decision approaches even more rapidly. Are you prepared?"
Lea leaned forward a bit. Something about those words held meaning.
The sound of footsteps echoed. Annabeth and Grover came back into the throne room and stopped when they saw them, or well, the look of comtemplation and deep determination on her brother's face.
"Percy?" Annabeth didn't sound angry anymore—just concerned. "Should we, um, leave again?"
His face cleared before turning to look at Rachel. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you? I mean . . . you talked to Chiron, right?"
She managed a faint smile. "You're worried about me doing something stupid?"
"But I mean . . . will you be okay?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "That kind of depends on whether you save the world, hero."
"Hestia," Percy said as he picked up the pithos, "I give this to you as an offering."
The goddess tilted her head. "I am the least of the gods. Why would you trust me with this?"
"You're the last Olympian," Percy said. And Lea understood. A smile twitched onto her face. "And the most important."
"And why is that, Percy Jackson?"
"Because Hope survives best at the hearth," he said. "Guard it for me, and I won't be tempted to give up again."
He was braver than Lea. She would've lobbed the thing at Kronos' head and gauge his eyes out.
The goddess smiled. She took the jar in her hands and it began to glow. The hearth fire burned a little brighter.
"Well done, Percy Jackson," she said. "May the gods bless you."
"We're about to find out." He looked at Annabeth and Grover and Lea. "Come on, guys."
Then he marched to the tacky thing that could only be their Father's throne.
The seat of Poseidon stood just to the right of what Percy told her was their Uncle Zeus's, but it wasn't nearly as grand. The molded black leather seat was attached to a swivel pedestal, with a couple of iron rings on the side for fastening a fishing pole (or a trident). Basically it looked like a chair on a deep-sea boat, that you would sit in if you wanted to hunt shark or marlin or sea monsters.
A bit stereotypical, but Lea thought she was getting a feel for that.
"Help me up," Percy told Annabeth and Grover.
"Are you crazy?" Annabeth asked. Lea snickered.
"Probably," he admitted.
"Percy," Grover said, "the gods really don't appreciate people sitting in their thrones. I mean like turn-you-into-a-pile-of-ashes don't appreciate it."
"I need to get his attention," Percy said as she leaned against it, crossing her arms. The feeling of the sea that washed through her? Oh, it was perfect. Her core appreciated very much. She only imagine how it would feel for her brother to actually sit upon it. "It's the only way."
They exchanged uneasy looks.
"Well," Annabeth said, "this'll get his attention."
They linked their arms to make a step, then boosted him onto the throne. Lea kept quiet about the fact that she could have levitated him up there, straining core be damned, until she realized that Percy wanted her up there too.
Well, shit.
She felt like a baby with her feet so high off the ground, and she refused to look down because high places did trigger a bit of her anxiety regardless of her flying spells. She looked around at the other gloomy, empty thrones, and she could imagine what it would be like sitting on the Olympian Council—so much power but so much arguing, always eleven other gods trying to get their way. It would be easy to get paranoid, to look out only for her own interest, especially if she were Poseidon. Sitting in his throne, she felt like she had the entire sea at her command—vast cubic miles of ocean churning with power and mystery.
Why should Poseidon listen to anyone? Why shouldn't he be the greatest of the twelve?
She shook her head before she started to dive deep into the fixation of ancient greek culture because she was sure that she read somewhere that Poseidon had been the greatest of the twelve at one point.
The throne rumbled. A wave of gale-force anger slammed into her mind: WHO DARES—
The voice stopped abruptly. The anger retreated, which was a good thing, because just those two words had almost blasted her mind to shreds.
Percy. Lea. Their father's voice was still angry but more controlled. What—exactly—are you doing on my throne?
"It was Percy's idea," she blurted. Percy pinched her.
"I'm sorry, Father," he said. "I needed to get your attention."
This was a very dangerous thing to do. Even for you. If I hadn't looked before I blasted, you would now be a puddle of seawater.
"I'm sorry," Percy said again. "Listen, things are rough up here."
He told him what was happening then his frankly adorable plan.
The power of love and family.
His voice was silent for a long time.
Percy, what you ask is impossible. My palace—
"Dad, Kronos sent an army against you on purpose. He wants to divide you from the other gods because he knows you could tip the scales."
Be that as it may, he attacks my home.
"I'm at your home," Lea said. "Olympus."
The floor shook. A wave of anger washed over her mind. Percy clutched her hand, and she almost thought she had gone too far, but then the trembling eased. In the background of the mental link, she heard underwater explosions and the sound of battle cries: Cyclopes bellowing, mermen shouting.
"Is Tyson okay?" Percy asked.
Lea blinked. The question seemed to take their dad by surprise also.
He's fine. Doing much better than I expected. Though "peanut butter" is a strange battle cry.
"You let him fight?"
Stop changing the subject! You realize what you are asking me to do? My palace will be destroyed.
"And Olympus might be saved."
Do you have any idea how long I've worked on remodeling this palace? The game room alone took six hundred years.
"Dad—"
Very well! It shall be as you say. But my son, pray this works.
"I am praying. I'm talking to you, right?"
Oh . . . yes. Good point. Amphitrítē—incoming!
The sound of a large explosion shattered the connection.
The twins slipped down from the throne.
Grover studied them nervously. "Are you okay? You turned pale and . . . you started smoking."
"I did not!" Percy protested. Then Lea looked at their arms. Steam was curling off their shirtsleeves. The hair on her arms was singed.
"If you'd sat there any longer," Annabeth said, "you would've spontaneously combusted. I hope the conversation was worth it?"
Moo, said the cow-goat.
"We'll find out soon," Percy said.
Just then the doors of the throne room swung open. Thalia marched in. Her bow was snapped in half and her quiver was empty.
"You've got to get down there," she told them. "The enemy is advancing. And Kronos is leading them."
Leaneíras had no idea what was happening on the ground.
With the defenses downed, she had to stay on the mountain to block the attacks that were starting to slip through.
And with just her up there, a few of the minor godlings and nature spirits armed themselves to help her. She nodded at Kairos, that insufferable idiot from so long ago and did her best to ignore the heated look in his eyes as she shielded the mountain from another attack. Her mageia core protested it, but she did what she needed to do.
At her side also was Ioke and Alke, daimonas of onslaught and battle strength. An alien named Empanda saw her moving passed her temple and offered her help while telling her that she hid Kírkē away with the children of some dude named Asklēpiós to heal. Another one name Laverna appeared on a chariot driven by cats and holding Lævateinn in her hand which Leaneíras obviously took back. Someone named Ekekheiria sat comfortably at their side and Gelos stood next to her. Penthos was situated far from him, but close to Eiresione who had approached Leaneíras and placed laurel leaves into her before weaving it and all the braids and beads into an elaborate style. Apóllōn's son, Aristaîos, declares his intent to fight and she's only mildly concern by the bees buzzing under his coat like that one kid from Naruto.
They were supported by statues of the gods, and they stood in preparation to defend the monsters.
It didn't take as long as Leaneíras liked for them to approach. The statues moved first pushing them back and throwing some off the mountain itself. Some froze in place as Kronos stopped them, but she only growled and pushed past her own pain to force them into movement again. They pushed him and his monsters back as best as they could, and she only felt a small bit of a bad about trashing the eternal city. She supposed that the gods would feel actually be happier that they had a city to come back to than the amount of destruction that was needed for it.
But as more and more monsters poured into the city, things quickly took a turn for the worse. Somewhere to her left, Gelos had been drawn away with a bunch of giggling giants on his tale while Penthos was being covered by a bunch of crying empousa. Ekekheiria wasn't actually doing anything as far as Leaneíras was concerned, but she somehow managed to hold a court session where some of those monsters were contemplating a ceasefire so Leaneíras guessed that counted for something.
Aristaîos and his bees were buzzing around, and she was shocked to know that even monsters had allergies and also disturb by the fact that he managed to turn honey into bombs.
She would never look at Honey Nut Cheerios the same.
She doesn't really pay attention to the others just throwing herself into the battle and maybe that's how they managed to corner her. A bunch of giants that somehow managed to fit into the elevator and some dracanae and empousa and telekhines. The statue of Hermes was stomping its foot and smashing them, but more was coming as quickly as it got rid of them.
Leaneíras groaned, arm curling around her stomach. Absently, she could sense the bridge to Olympos dissolving.
Lævateinn was being held alternatively as a staff and as a weapon as she tried to keep distance between them.
But as a few telekhines lunged for her... all she saw was gold.
Kairos stood before her, glowing softly. "Look away, ma chérie." Leaneíras inwardly scoffed, but still did as he ordered. She could feel the heat radiating from him as he glowed with the light of a supernova.
When she gazed back, Kairos was no longer there. Nothing but scorch marks and piles of golden dust that blew away in the same instant.
She made slowly made her way back through the streets, fighting all the while. Mansions were burning. Statues had been hacked down. Trees in the parks were blasted to splinters. The whole mountaintop was in ruins—so many beautiful buildings and gardens gone.
A few minor gods and nature spirits had tried to stop Kronos. What remained of them was strewn about the road: shattered armor, ripped clothing, swords and spears broken in half.
Somewhere not too far from her, Kronos's voice roared: "Brick by brick! That was my promise. Tear it down BRICK BY BRICK!"
A white marble temple with a gold dome suddenly exploded. The dome shot up like the lid of a teapot and shattered into a billion pieces, raining rubble over the city.
Leaneíras didn't startle when she heard Percy, Annabeth, and Grover rush towards her. She had been up on Olympos, repelling the blasts of mageia that Hekátē was sending at the palace. Most of them were quickly repelled by the wards of Olympos and the Anemoi.
She had only barely managed to dodge out of an attack when Kronos and his goons started tearing things down. She had felt when the entire mountain groaned, rocking sideways like a boat in a storm. She could hear Kronos laughing as he approached the halls of the gods and more buildings had exploded in the wake of it.
A fireball erupted on the side of the mountain, right near the gates of the palace and something had ached within her as she desperately held up the rubble of Hermês' palace that she had taken shelter in— it gave her a new appreciation of holding up the sky.
Once her mageia core built enough, she conjured a doorway that brought her back onto the steps of the building; albeit more cracked than when she entered. She looked at her brother and his friends as she absently rubbed soot away from her face.
"What," she snapped, hands snapping up to knock away another curse, inwardly groaning at the pull of her core.
"Are you okay," Percy asked, stopping at her side. She nodded her head, accepting the pieces of ambrosia that Grover gave her. Her core groaned in appreciation, not that it would do much. Earlier like the Rice Krispies, she felt her core Snap, Crackle and Pop. Lady Eurybiê's books had warned her of what would happen if it shattered completely. She inwardly shivered, not wanting to even think of the consequences.
"I'm fine," she insisted as she turned towards the throne room doors. "We need to go."
The quicker that they got this over with… the quicker she could get some help to heal her core.
"I'm afraid," a very familiar voice started. This time Leaneíras did feel something within her crack. It took her barely a second to realize that it was heart and not her core. "That I cannot let you do that."
A crown of golden-brown curls that fell like a curtain brushed his shoulders. Eyes the color of peridots were encircled by dark bags. Freckles danced across his skin like mini targets. Runes of power were sewn into his clothes, using them for protection.
"What?"
"Khaíre, Leaneíras," Alabaster stated plainly. She flinched away from the familiar form of address.
"Alabaster," she breathed. "What are you—"
"I'm sure you know," he told her, drawing forth one pack of his mistform cards. "My apologies that you found out in such a way."
Leaneíras scowled, standing to full height. "You guys go ahead. I'll handle this."
"Lea," Percy started but she waved him on. Around her hand, mageia took the form of Lævateinn which she had lost under the rubble.
"I don't want to fight you, Lea," Alabaster warned.
"You rescued me," she breathed. "But it wasn't really a rescue at all, was it?" Leaneíras growled, tears biting at her eyes. Her core screamed at her as she swung the weapon, mageia burst out, the same shade of green as her eyes. Alabaster raised one of his cards, and she didn't need to hear him to know that he had cast Aufero Sarcina to dispel the attack.
"I'm not letting anything else slide with you fucking traitors," Leaneíras sneered. "Not even the chacha! This is your last time to get funky!"
Leaneíras was from Inwood. She knew how to fight dirty.
He sighed. "I get it, Lea. I do, but... I'll never bow to the Olympian gods after the atrocities they committed. Look at you. Look at the others. You're all blind. It's better not to think of them as gods. The best way to think of them is more like a divine mafia. We can fix this. Together."
Gods, he sounded like Trent. No wonder the two of them and Ethan had gotten along so well. And speaking of Trent...
"Do you know what's like to have foreign mageia pour into you… to dig into your bones like hundreds of needles and hooked chains, binding your own mageia to the walls of your veins unable to escape and just clogging like pressure in a bomb." Her voice was falsely pleasant, almost gentle in its nature like a benevolent god. "I can promise you, Alabaster Cyfrin Torrington, the pain of a few broken bones will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you if you don't stand down."
"I can't do that, Lea."
"Don't call me that." She growled. "But tell me, why. Why did you join him? That bastard is evil!"
He shook his head, sighing sadly. "People think in terms of good and evil, but really, time is the true enemy of us all. Time kills everything. What Kronos is doing… well, this is the end and the beginning. I'm just helping speed up the process." He looked at her pleadingly. "Just step aside, Lea. Let him do this."
"He wants to kill my brother."
"Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good."
Her eyes flashed in rage.
"You're gonna need some new feet after I'm done making you stand on what you said."
Her hands clenched and teeth gritted together and though her core screeched and pleaded for relief, her eyes bled green.
"I'm going to show you what war with a god really looks like so don't miss," she warned. A storm began crawling up from her soul to cover the entire mountain. Rolling black clouds and lightning rushed across one side of the world to the other as her pain broke loose, covering everything in darkness. It was a power she didn't even know she had: a spell cast, and not a single word said.
Thousands upon thousands of mortals across the world, cried out in alarm whispers of ragnarok and armageddon and frashokereti.
Her eyes flashed with promise, glowing with power as tears of betrayal slipped silently down her cheeks. her hair loose and swirling about her, but her voice… her voice ringed with the sound of prophecy and it sounded like a symphony. A mix of her own and something... something not quite human. Something other. Something divine. Beneath her shirt, her khaos marked glowed through the fabric blood, streaming down her body. "You won't get a second chance."
"I'm sorry, Lea," said the boy, ignoring her. "I wish things could have gone differently, but the gods are dead or have fled their posts. Nothing now stands between us and our worst instincts."
Suddenly, Leaneíras was bowled over by a shockwave of painful, blinding white.
"Still not using not placing battle protections, Lea," he scolded, almost friendly in tone.
"I am Olympian-born. Daughter of Poseidon Aigaiôn. The Twice-Blessed Enchantress and the Walker of Worlds. And I'll be damned if I need protections in order to send you to Hell!"
Leaneíras picked herself—themselves—back up, a growl deep in her throat as she peered at Alabaster in rage.
She tossed her head back and laughed and cried and screamed.
She was hundreds of thousands of years' worth of knowledge and what is he compared to that? Leaneíras was the sea and the sea consumes all: hope, envy, love, and desire.
"By the power vested in me by the throne of Poseiria, I, Goddess of Mischief, Khaos-Blessed of Hermes Kyllenios... condemn you to die!"
She was glorious, eyes a sinister green somehow, ominous in the darkened skies that gave proof of her rage, wind whipping her hair around her face, grief and agony and anger writ in every movement.
She was the embodiment of a storm raging against still blue seas, fingertips glowing green and she launched herself forward, a cry on her tongue as something sharper and much more dangerous took hold of her heart.
Alabaster stumbled on his feet as she drew closer, but Leaneíras paid no mind to that. She continued moving forward, batting away his mageia with ease as her anger leaked out beneath her feet. He had never been afraid of Leaneíras' power—not like she had been— but he had been wise enough to be wary when he heard of how it could pull the stars from the sky and the moon from its orbit.
But more importantly, she was her Father's daughter.
"Let the Skies above me tremble; the Mountains below shake with Rage! I am the mother of witchcraft, bringer of storms, the world must tremble when speaks Sea-Bred Leaneíras!"
The two met in a clash of metal, twisting about each other. He was good. He had to have deceived them for so long, but Leaneíras was better. She trained with earth-shaking Perseus that bares a brave heart was her brother, the best swordsman in over three thousand years. She trained with gods and kings to make way to become a god and queen.
Her foot connected with his chest, and she felt the bone give way as she forced her power through. Alabaster cried out in pain as she twirled around him, the sharpened ends of the staff cutting his skin open and allowing her mageia to seep him.
Vos omnes ministri odey et destructiones et seratore discorde. Et qui libiter opera facitis et tractibus, quod eat noce. Vos conjurae idec nos conjuo et odit fiat mier alve, Alabaster.
He repelled it quick enough before it could take hold, and his own mageia met hers. Illusions poured from him, filled with the power to craft false memories.
She sneered, "Wing of bat and raven eye, lift me up into the sky." floating into the sky as his power seeped into the marble stone. She knew that if she even stepped on one of them accidentally then she would fall for his tricks.
She used her mageia to pull forth crumbled statues and the same cursed marble stone that he was utilizing to throw at him before exploding them as they neared. She called upon every lightning spell that she had, for she knew that lightning storms in witchcraft have potent magical powers to amplify hexes and curses.
But Alabastard was crafty and Leaneíras knew the only way to beat him was to let loose no matter how much it terrified her.
Her hand took aim, right and true, at his heart and without even speaking, the words echoed off the marble walls. " Andrelamastro, matarastar, frocus!"
She knew it wasn't much. He was Hekátē's most powerful child for a reason. He crafted numerous enchantments for himself, including a protection spell on himself to protect himself from dying.
"It doesn't have to be this way, Lea. I was always your friend. I taught you almost everything that you know."
She wanted to scoff, but she couldn't deny some of its truth. He referenced spells she had never heard of like it's common knowledge. He wrote spells in latin, ancient egyptian, spanish, japanese, and gods knows what else. He scoffed at the nursery rhyme spells that she liberated from television or books or even recited off the top of her head and was genuinely taken aback when they actually worked. He never worked within the boundaries of light and dark, and she had taken that as following his mother's footsteps as a chthonic deity.
But her friend? No, it was clear he had never been that. After Trent… After Ethan… After Silena… Her friend wouldn't betray her like this. So... "No. I don't think you were."
Her hands touched the old man's body and spread all his stars a veil of mist and cloud, so easily the spells came from her. "By Asteria and Persês: Open sky and do your worst!"
Wide heaven shook and groaned under the charge of the earth shaker's storm brewing daughter. And yet, she stopped not there for another pulse of mageia came from her, and to see with eyes and to hear the sound with ears it seemed even as if Gaia and wide Ouranos above came together. "Boreas, North Wind, I summon you. Euros, East Wind, I summon you. Notos, South Wind, I summon you. Zephyrus, West Wind, I summon you."
And far away in the battle of gods, these four took hold of their stormy children and forced them to abandon Typhôeus the terrible, outrageous and lawless. They joined with Leaneíras, to rush upon those that helped Hekátē's traitorous son and work great havoc among them, and those that meet them have no help against their mischief.
"You have served me well," her voice echoed alongside the marble. "You and Ethan both have shown me beyond all doubt what traitors are. And for that I shall never forgive you. If I ever see your miserable faces again, I will tear your entrails out."
And still, she was not finished, energy wafting over in her waves of green, attacked all around her. And great Olympos was shaken under her as she moved, and the earth ground beneath them, astounding heat seized Khaos, and the boundless sea rang terribly around.
Lost to the full might of her power, it pulsed out into waves sending strength to her allies and snatching life from her enemies below. At that precise moment, she was a sight not meant to be viewed upon by a mortal frame for they could not endure the tumult of the heavens, as lightning flashed and thunder shook.
She cackled and laughed in such a way that it would have fit more in an old movie about witches. Her beaming eyes settled onto Alabaster, smiling with all teeth so similar to her dearest Salome. "Before the passing of this hour, Take away all their powers."
A mystical hue of colors swirled about her.
And her Father, the storm bringer, and her Uncle who delights in the thunderbolt. She took after both as she called up the trailing clouds and massed a storm, with lightning in the squalls, and thunder and the bolts that never missed.
Her mageia built more and more in power and a great shaking of the earth came on, and those that lived within Haides trembled, and the Titanes banished back under Tartaros trembled to the dread encounter and the unending clamour.
"Mystic forces we invite, fill the skies with clouds of night. Be ye far or be ye near, we summon rain to appear. Sky above, gone the sun, melodies just begun. Sky above, come undone, shower rain on everyone. Sky above, come undone, shower rain on everyone."
The world screamed in fear as a clap of thunder boomed across the world as if a bomb of atomic proportions exploded. The demidivine on the ground, on each side of the States gaze upon the sky in fear as before their very eyes, the heavens opened its doors and gave way to ferocious winds and waves that turned into a howling storm.
Mortals ran for cover as the winds were tyrants, roaring and groaning as they attacked the earth with its sharp blades. Rolling clouds came crashing down, and streaks of lightning danced across the land twirling about the various monsters.
Laughter bubbled from within Leaneíras, mixing alongside a fine level of golden ichor that streamed from her ears and mouth and nose. Her arms spread open, eyes sparking at the seams. "Let their powers fuel my own. Let us all have powers grown!"
The storm grew more terrifying by the minute, those on the ground ducked for cover as more and more monsters were being destroyed and titans went down under a heavy assault of lightning that chased them around like an angry old lady with a cane. The storm howled ferociously, an unhinged sort of anger to and nearly capsizing it.
It was ferocious. Large waves and harsh winds sang a symphony that only she could hear. The hailstones clattered to the ground like marbles spilled from a box.
Leaneíras had never felt more alive.
She moved away, and she didn't seem to notice how the rose-gold cartier ring around her finger continuously flashed as she walked to the throne room.
She threw open the door like a queen to her kingdom.
(This was her Uncle's house.)
Her lips, cherry red and luscious as silk in the light, curved into a smile that promised bloodshed.
The fighting within came to a stop, but she had seen all that she had needed. Kronos was attacking Percy like a whirlwind And Annabeth had intercepted Ethan from trying to get behind her brother. Grover was playing his reed pipes.
If she could see how she looked to others, she would notice the way her hair was blowing through the air without any wind… she would see how her eyes were gleaming a sickly green and her bare feet left craters in the ground as she moved across the earth.
All of them stared at the imposing figure that she cut as she stood in the doorway, though a look of horror and grief crumpled Ethan's face at the body she threw at his feet.
"You should have never sent a troll to face a queen." Her eyes settled onto the King of Titans.
"I never liked when people attacked my friends," Leaneíras murmured. Her hands rose up and hit Kronos directly in the chest. She moved closer to him, floating across the floor. "Two warring souls now burn inside where only one can reside, let love's light end this cruel possession, host soul reject the poison essence."
Kronos laughed. "What was that supposed to do?"
But they only smiled secretly, as she understood, good plainly see what was going to be needed to right the balance and those golden eyes filled with trepidation and wariness. Quicker than possible, he rose to his feet and struck her across the face.
She moved with the force out, leaving gorges in the ground.
"NO!" Everyone but she and Kronos yelled.
She lay sprawled on the ground, laughing in delight as her face healed right before their eyes. Percy lunged at the titan and they continued their dance until Kronos backed him up against the throne of Hephaestus—a huge mechanical La-Z-Boy type thing covered with bronze and silver gears. Kronos slashed, and Percy managed to jump straight up onto the seat. The throne whirred and hummed with secret mechanisms.
Defense mode, it warned. Defense mode.
That couldn't be good. Percy jumped straight over Kronos's head as the throne shot tendrils of electricity in all directions. One hit Kronos in the face, arcing down his body and up his sword.
"ARG!" He crumpled to his knees and dropped Backbiter.
Annabeth saw her chance. She kicked Ethan out of the way and charged Kronos. "Luke, listen!"
Leaneíras stood to her feet, eyes burning brighter yet cooled to the sun on a loving day for she could not bear to harm them.
Kronos flicked his hand. Annabeth flew backward, slamming into the throne of her mother and crumpling to the floor.
"Annabeth!" Percy screamed.
Ethan Nakamura got to his feet. He now stood between Annabeth Percy who couldn't fight him without turning his back on Kronos. Grover's music took on a more urgent tune. He moved toward Annabeth, but he couldn't go any faster and keep up the song. Grass grew on the floor of the throne room. Tiny roots crept up between the cracks of the marble stones.
Kronos rose to one knee. His hair smoldered. His face was covered with electrical burns. He reached for his sword, but this time it didn't fly into his hands.
"Nakamura!" he groaned. And Leaneíras smiled. "Time to prove yourself. You know Jackson's secret weakness. Kill him, and you will have rewards beyond measure."
Ethan's eyes dropped to Percy's midsection before looking over at Leaneíras whose mageia manifested like a cape flying in the wind.
"Look around you, Ethan," Percy said. "The end of the world. Is this the reward you want? Do you really want everything destroyed—the good with the bad? Everything?"
Grover was almost to Annabeth now. The grass thickened on the floor. The roots were almost a foot long, like a stubble of whiskers.
"There is no throne to Nemesis," Ethan muttered, eyes still on Leaneíras as she walked over to him. "No throne to my mother."
"That's right!" Kronos tried to get up, but stumbled. Above his left ear, a patch of blond hair still smoldered. "Strike them down! They deserve to suffer."
"You said your mom is the goddess of balance," Percy reminded him. "The minor gods deserve better, Ethan, but total destruction isn't balance. Kronos doesn't build. He only destroys."
Yesterday is history…
Ethan looked at the sizzling throne of Hephaestus. Grover's music kept playing, and Ethan swayed to it, as if the song were filling him with nostalgia—a wish to see a beautiful day, to be anywhere but here.
His good eye blinked.
Tomorrow is a mystery…
Then he charged . . . but not at Percy.
While Kronos was still on his knees, Ethan brought down his sword on the Titan lord's neck. It should have killed him instantly, but the blade shattered. Ethan fell back, grasping his stomach. A shard of his own blade had ricocheted and pierced his armor.
Kronos rose unsteadily, towering over his servant. "Treason," he snarled.
Grover's music kept playing, and grass grew around Ethan's body and oh–Alabaster was there too grimacing in pain also. Ethan stared at Percy, his face tight with pain. Leaneíras' mageia surrounded him.
TODAY IS A GIFT!
"Deserve better," he gasped. "If they just . . . had thrones—"
Kronos stomped his foot, and the floor ruptured around Ethan Nakamura.
Zephyrus of The West Wind,
The son of Nemesis fell through a fissure that went straight through the heart of the mountain—straight into open air.
GIVE ETHAN NAKUMARA A LIFT!
"So much for him." Kronos picked up his sword. "And now for the rest of you."
But the fissure pulsed green and the body floated back into the throne room. Three different rings pulsed with mageia.
Leaneíras turned those beaming eyes onto the king of titans.
"Now the party has really started."
WORD COUNT: 6635
THINGS TO KNOW:
1) Ioke - Daimona goddess of onslaught, battle-tumult, pursuit and rout
2) Alke - Daimona goddess of battle-strength, prowess and courage.
3) Empanda - Roman goddess whose temple never closed to those in need
4) Laverna - Roman goddess of cats, thieves, cheats and the underworld (an indigenous roman goddess)
5) Ekekheiria - Daimona goddess of spirit and personification of truce, armistice, and cessation of hostilities.
6) Gelos - Daimona god of laughter.
7) Penthos - Daimon god of grief, favored those who weep for the dead.
8) Aristaîos - the mythological culture hero credited with the discovery of many rural useful arts and handicrafts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of the huntress Kyrēnē and Apóllōn.
8A) When Aristaîos was born, according to what Pindar sang, Hermês took him to be raised on nectar and ambrosia and to be made immortal by Gaia.
8B) Thanks to a vast family-tree and connections, Aristaîos is a god and patron of a wide array of rustic and rural arts, crafts, skills, practices and traditions (handicrafts)-often associated with smallholdings-some-of-which is overlapped with his many relatives.
8C) Like his Family fw him heavy. I think the only ones that didn't teach him something was Háidēs, Ζεύς, Hḗrē, and Hestia. Aphrodítē and Árēs didn't teach him anything but he married one of their granddaughters.
8D) He's the Hēraklēs of the rustic arts.
9) Eiresione - the personification of an object very important in many Greek rituals and ceremonies: a branch of olive or laurel, covered with wool, fruits, cakes and olive flasks, dedicated to Apóllōn and carried about by singing boys during the festivals of Pyanopsia and Thargelia, and afterwards hung up at the house door. It could only be carried by children who had two living parents. The song they were singing during the ritual was also known as "eiresione":
Comments from the Author:
1)1? more chapter before TLO arc is over... Idk... I know fillers are coming but the HoO stars on New Years. I'm still contemplating how I want to start it off, but we'll see when I get there.
2) Honestly, I'm not satisfied with the fight scene in this, but alas... here we are.
3) Yk, I doubt Rick intended it as this, but the significance of Rachel standing at the foot of Ζεύς' throne as she looked at the stars... it's just wow. Ζεύς is the god of fate and destiny. He's the god of the sky. He's the god of law and order and obviously, he's the king of the gods.
3A) Also, her hoping the pithos with only Hope on the inside and He was the one that created it.
3B) Oh, its just too good and I know that Rick didn't even see it that way.
QUOTES:
1) "I'm going to show you what war with a god really looks like." -Diana of Themyscira (Prime Earth)
2) "The Gods are dead or have fled their posts. Nothing now stands between us and our worst instincts." -Diana of Themyscira (Prime Earth)
3) "You have served me well. You have shown me beyond all doubt who the killer is. And for that I shall never forgive you. If I ever see your miserable faces again I will tear your entrails out. Go! Get out of my sight!" —Odin Thor: Trial of Thor Vol 1 #1
4) "I am Asgardian-born. The blood-son of Odin. The Lord of the Storm and the Raging Thunder. And I'll be damned if I need a hammer in order to raise some Hel. But this day I will claim one nonetheless. No matter how much blood I must wade through. So swears the Unworthy Thor." —Unworthy Thor Vol 1 3
5) "By the power vested in me by the throne of Asgard, I, Thor, God of Thunder... condemn thee to die." —Thor: God of Thunder Vol 1 16
6) "... I am the god of Thunder, lord of the savage Lightning, the very skies must tremble when speaks The Mighty Thor!" —Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 26