Summary: Perseus, first-born child of Poseidon and Amphitrite, God of the Stars and Constellations, of Navigation and of the Astral Plane. Patron of Heroes and Mentor to the Goddess Artemis. Sitting upon the ruling council of the Gods for thousands of years – and now facing the end of Olympus.
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Discord server created for Astraeus – A place for Q&A, as well as general discussion of the story and somewhere I will be posting upcoming dates that I plan to update. I will also post there if there is a delay in my schedule, as well as try to take time to speak to people who enjoy the story so far, and even those who take issue with it.
Anyway, thanks to everyone supporting my work and on with the show!
Chapter Ten
Falling from the heavens was like a roller coaster that never seemed to end. The constant pit in his stomach, however, was overshadowed by the rage and near-helplessness he'd felt at seeing his daughter so close to a Titan, with only a single Guardian defending her. Leo was powerful, for sure, but Perseus fought Krios on a number of occasions when he was young and knew for certain that the lion wasn't nearly enough to stop him.
The power of a Titan turned upon mortal children would be similar to an ant beneath a boot, and the immortals who preceded the Gods were never known for their restraint.
They were ravenous creatures and they devoured everything they could lay their ancient hands upon. In the case of Krios, that extended to the stars as well. Krios was intimately familiar with them, and had ruled them for at least as long as Perseus had. He'd taken a very different approach to his mastery over them, consuming the energy of stars to empower himself, even as he destroyed what he was meant to nurture.
Perseus drew a large portion his power from the stars as well but never to their detriment. He hadn't ever consumed a star fully until it burned out beneath the strain as Krios had. It was gluttonous and unnecessary – merely a cover for his own weakness. The rule of the Titans could be summed up pretty easily. Gluttony, greed, and crushing everything that walked the earth beneath their overwhelming might. They took their domains and perverted them into something unnatural. They were unfit to rule, and so they were cast down in fury and fire. The pit was where they belonged and he fully intended to see Krios all the way back home.
However, if Krios walked the world once more, it stood to reason that his son, his brothers and his nephews did as well. His granddaughter, Hecate, had to be suspect with the strength of the barrier that managed to deceive the Gods. All of the old alliances had to be put into question, and if Kronos himself returned…
Perseus dreaded more than anything the thought of his paternal grandfather walking the world once more. A creature of wrath and cruelty, to whom Time itself bowed...Zeus had earned his throne when he cast the Crooked One down. That being could have no place in the world. He was as foul as the Primordial Tartarus himself, and should never again see the light of day. Hopefully he was destroyed as fully as his own father Ouranos and unable to return.
Still, as he fell past the edge of his own territory and entered that belonging to Zeus, Perseus cast aside his thoughts on other enemies for another day, and instead took note of how he met no resistance from the sky itself. Zeus was opening the way for him, and allowing – for the first time in recent memory – his full strength to descend from the heavens.
The truth was, sheer distance often limited his ability to exert his power upon the world as a whole. The fact that anything he wished to call from the heavens had to first pass through Zeus' territory meant that he'd always been forced to use caution with how he did so, and he could almost never call upon his full strength unless the King allowed it. It was a limit that nobody else had to deal with, but was the price Perseus was forced to pay in order to claim the stars beyond the sky at the end of the Titanomachy.
He hadn't been exaggerating when he told Thalia that every moment spent beneath the heavy and oppressive sky felt like he was trapped and cut off from his own strength. Now that Zeus was opening the way for him fully, almost in welcome, it gave him a surge of energy that seemed to banish the emptiness he still felt after his failed attack on Hades. His body still ached, but pain was something he could deal with relatively easily.
As he fell further and further through the sky, passing through the heavy clouds, they parted for him willingly as if they were massive white gates opening at his approach. Behind him, still perched further in the heavens and awaiting his call, Draco stared downward eagerly at the opening. Scorpio was still drifting, hunting…
On the earth far below, neutral territory as far as the Gods were concerned, he could feel the arrival of Hermes. Moments later the distance between himself and the demigods, whom he could now feel at the breaking of the barrier, lengthened and seemed to stretch in an instant as they were taken far away. Good.
Leo was still battling, and his anger was equal to his namesake. He was given the task of protecting Atlanta and he would see it through with the same ferocity as a lion defending his pride. Until his enemy was dead or Perseus stopped giving him energy, he would fight on. Perseus could feel something very similar to Tmima trying to exert it's will upon the lion, trying to subvert it's control, and yet with the original creation firm in his grip, Perseus would not allow it.
It was one thing to slowly and secretly use such an item from the shadows, and quite another to force control over a subject he was currently focused on.
Still, even the attempt infuriated Perseus even more than he was to begin with, and he allowed himself to swell with enough energy to level a small city down to dust. If the fallen Titan wished to take something from him, then he'd damn well have to earn it. Light flared around his form, bright and hot, and as his falling speed increased, he saw the rapidly approaching Krios look upward in fury and try to leap aside. Perseus made impact just a few yards from his enemy, just as he allowed Leo to fade back into the heavens, and the world erupted in an explosion of power as he unleashed the energy he carried with him.
Unfortunately, there was a mortal highway very close by and, a moment later, it wasn't there anymore.
Thalia didn't know what to feel, or to think. She was still overwhelmed to be standing in the throne room of the Olympians with so many immortals surrounding her, all of them important to the world in a way she never would be. They were ancient and powerful deities and standing just a few dozen feet from her was her father.
Through the Iris Message, the blinding light that was Perseus' entrance onto what she now knew would be a battlefield still shined brightly, and as much as she felt personally elated that he was okay despite the fight she witnessed in the sky, it still caused a dread to weigh upon her heart. She didn't know a lot of things, didn't understand most of the world she found herself in and was often flying by the seat of her pants from day to day, but she did know one thing.
There were people down there in Mack, Colorado.
Her father sent Hermes to get some demigods out of there – the quest, if she heard right – but there were still people. Mothers and fathers and innocent kids that were now in the path of an enraged God and his enemies. While she certainly looked up to Perseus as a mentor, Thalia felt a pit in her stomach as she realized that, to the Gods, the people in harms way were nearly irrelevant.
There could be babies, barely old enough to open their eyes, and kids on a playground. Moms, real moms who loved and raised their kids, and dads who were as strong as superheroes to those kids. People were down there, real people who were about to be destroyed and would have no chance of survival. They probably wouldn't even see it coming.
She knew it wasn't her place, but she felt like she needed to…
"The people," she said quietly, though she realized that every God heard her as their faces turned to her. "There are people down there, and if a fight breaks out…"
"Death will follow…" the dark-skinned, winged man said in an eerily calm voice.
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. She stood there self-consciously and the massive figures of her unknown relatives towered over her like giants, but she needed them to care that their actions would have consequences. That the innocent kids caught up in this mess would be destroyed without even a fighting chance. Kids just like her and her friends, even if they didn't have a God for a parent.
"She's right," said Athena, and Thalia nearly sagged in relief. She couldn't make a difference, but Athena could. "A divine battle won't stay contained to a small area, and especially if the three of them show the restraint they're known for. We need to evacuate the mortals."
"As far as locations go, it's nearly as good as we could hope for, given the circumstances," said the God she now knew to be Hermes, father of Luke. He'd just taken his seat on a gleaming silver throne with the back shaped into a pair of wings, caduceus in hand and a pair of serpents moving slowly around it. "Most of the area is national parks and Native American Reservations, which aren't heavily populated."
Zeus stared at Thalia, ignoring his other children speaking for just an instant, and she almost imagined she saw something in his eyes directed at her. Maybe it was an emotion like love, or maybe it was pity – it was gone too quickly for her to know for sure. After just a brief moment, he turned away.
"Ares," he commanded. "Get the mortals' military to create a perimeter around the area."
The one she'd correctly assumed to be Ares rose from his throne of chipped and battle scarred wood, his clothes shimmering to become a formal military uniform. His chest was decorated with patches and symbols to denote rank, his shoulders as well, and a bunch of medals were pinned to his jacket. Having seen high-ranking generals on TV, she realized that whatever rank his uniform spoke of likely far outpaced those she'd seen.
"There's a few Air Force bases around Denver and Colorado Springs," he said, an amused smile crossing his features that might've been handsome if he weren't so mean-looking. "I'll get them, and they can take some ground troops from Fort Carson. It'll probably take a bit, but they'll be en route."
He disappeared quickly, and Zeus immediately addressed Hermes. "Do what you can to divert all travelers from the area."
"On it," he responded with a sharp nod, and he was gone as well.
"The wildlife and the Natives will need seeing to," said the child-like goddess who she assumed was Artemis. She never even rose from her seat, and instead just vanished.
"Aphrodite, you and Hephaestus work together and send out a broadcast to the mortals you can reach. Divert them from the area as widely as you can manage." Zeus ordered. The pair of them rose, Aphrodite's beautiful flowing dress transforming into a crisp business suit and a microphone appearing in her hand while her husband merely snapped his fingers. An oversized news camera appeared in his grasp, and he rose to join her as they moved to the far side of the room near the doors.
Finally Zeus seemed to glance skyward briefly, and Thalia felt something pass over her. "I'll handle the air traffic," he said. "That's the best we can hope for at the moment. The rest…should they be destroyed, they will find their peace in the Underworld."
"Agreed," Poseidon grunted, his eyes still locked onto the Iris Message. Thalia began to turn back to it as well, as the bright light had faded, but was distracted by a flicker next to the two thrones at the front of the room.
"What's all this commotion…?" A female voice began to ask as another beautiful Goddess joined them, but the words were cut off as the woman caught sight of her. The immediate fury that crossed her face allowed Thalia a pretty good guess as to her identity, and she felt once more a sinking dread in her heart. "What the hell is that doing here!?"
Hera had arrived.
The devastation which announced his arrival was as widespread as it was destructive. A new crater had replaced the town, and much of the surrounding area, and brought with it a cloud of dust and a flash of white-hot fire that incinerated the buildings and reduced the mortal footprint on the world to near nothingness. The energy released was on a similar scale to a mortal nuclear bomb, though without the devastating and poisonous fallout.
Most of his energy had been released in a horizontal trajectory, in an attempt to destroy his enemy who'd dodged the direct impact, and so while the crater wasn't very deep, it was extremely wide and far reaching. It stretched far beyond the borders of the tiny town, and regretfully there were most certainly mortal casualties, though he wasn't in a position to gauge the extent of them.
However, the divine energy not far from him meant that he hadn't destroyed Krios as effectively as he'd hoped, and instead the energy he'd released was being absorbed and devoured by something the fallen Titan carried. As he stood from his crouched landing position, armored in the reformed metal from his previous fight and blade in hand, Perseus heard the sound of a slow clap welcoming him back to the mortal plane.
The dust and floating debris cleared with no effort of his own, and he was left with a creature he'd personally destroyed so very long ago. Perseus stared at his one-time adversary with a hatred he reserved only for the true enemies of Olympus. This being before him was one who'd haunted his early life so very long ago, and one he'd finally defeated in a final clash that shook Greece to it's core. He never imagined he would be face to face with him again, especially after the thousands of years of silence from the Titans and their allies.
"Bravo," Krios taunted, a smirk edging his lips. "You've successfully managed...nothing, as usual."
"Nothing," Perseus agreed, nodding though his face was still set into a mask of fury and hatred. "Just like my killing you so very long ago. How's the pit, by the way? Took you long enough to escape. I've seen a dozen creatures reform a dozen times since your fall. Must be that inherent stench of weakness that oozes from you."
Krios laughed, a flash of light in his palm summoning his famed polearm – a long shaft of mortal steel and a large bronze sword blade at one end, creating a halberd of sorts. The steel shaft had a spike at the opposite end that was useful for skewering mortals. It was engraved from tip to tip, and had drawn Perseus' blood a dozen times over.
"That shiny sword of yours deserves all the credit, really. Without it you were-"
"Still head and shoulders above vermin such as yourself," Perseus interrupted. "The blade helped, once, when I was very young and still new to the world. Tell me, how does it feel to be destroyed so thoroughly by someone who walked the earth for only two decades? And by your own domain, no less? The humiliation must be...well, I wouldn't know, I guess."
The sting of that humiliation could be seen plainly written on the Titan's face. Perseus was only a decade old when the war for control of the world began, and only two decades old upon his victory. It was an embarrassing failure that he would never allow his enemy to recover from. However, thoughts of old battles were driven from his mind as he caught sight of the bright, white ring on the hand of Krios that hummed with a similar energy to Tmima.
"Ah, so you see it," Krios said lowly, a grin stretching across his face. "Quite the thing, isn't it?"
"A cheap knock off at best," Perseus responded, his anger a burning thing deep within his chest. "Tmima was born in the depths of Tartarus, forged from the fires of the Phlegethon and cooled in the River Styx. It was cleansed of all impurities in the waters of the Lemnos and gifted to me in the hope of a better world. Do not attempt to compare the two."
Krios shrugged his words off with a negligent shoulder movement, a hatred in his expression that looked to match the same feelings directed at him. It seemed the time for talking was finished – and it was just as well. His own fury seeming to reach a peak, Perseus decided to deal with the wretched creature he was so unfortunate to be related to. A quick spring forward and he brought his blade around to meet the weapon of his enemy, and their battle truly began.
Krios was taller than him by more than a foot, a towering mass of muscle that was capable of both strength and speed, despite his appearance. The length of their weapons were different as well, but Perseus had ample experience fighting sword vs spear and he would be fine. The landscape on the other hand…
The weapons clashed loudly throughout the newly-created clearing, and without trying to focus on several opponents as he'd been forced to do in the throne room, Perseus allowed himself to cut loose. An overhand strike, a pivot to dodge the response, and a sweeping strike that rang off the shaft of Krios' weapon sharply. Locked as they were, he attempted to hook the ankle of Krios and trip him up, but the Titan's footwork was as good as it ever had been. The foot slid expertly out of reach, and the polearm was leveraged to force him a short distance away.
Rather than give his opponent more room to advantage his longer reach, Perseus twisted and allowed himself to roll along the shaft of the spear, his free left hand coming across in a punch that would shatter a boulder and connected with the side of Krios' head with a booming noise that pitched the Titan sideways into a stumble.
A roar of rage was his answer, and the blade of the spear swept upward mid-stumble, Perseus' step back saving him from being sliced from chin to forehead, and then leapt inward once more to keep the distance more to his own advantage.
The last time they fought he was young and untested, but Perseus had lived thousands of years and faced tens of thousands of battles since then. He was stronger, sharper, and better than he was when they last met. Zeus was allowing him unrestricted access to his strength, and his body hummed with the power it afforded him.
The spear was swept aside, a knee leading him into closer range that connected with Krios' hip, unbalancing him, and his left hand gripped the edge of the Titans armor. He pulled, both of their weapons currently out of position, and hammered another knee into the lower abdomen of his enemy that cause an explosive release of air.
Summoning his strength, Krios began to glow with a cold blue light, his eyes flaring as he gripped Perseus in return and threw him away from himself. "Fucking insect!" he roared.
The younger of the pair slid on the newly-loosened dirt and gravel created by his fall, and once his footing was secure, he heaved his blade in a sweeping arc which sent a massive wave of super-heated light toward his opponent. Perseus expected him to try to match power with power, as he always had, but Krios instead lowered his weapon and reached his left hand forward – the light disappearing greedily into the ring and causing it to pulse only brighter.
"You can no longer match me, boy!" he said with a grim and menacing smile. "That blade's met it's match, and without it…"
The Titan clenched his left hand into a fist, and then launched it forward despite the distance between them. A cold blue energy tore across the earth toward Perseus, and he frowned grimly to see his own energy devoured and returned to him so perverted. What a fucking waste. Twisting his blade sharply, Perseus used the flat edge to meet the energy of his enemy and bat it aside and upward. It flew in a long arc toward the distance, but Perseus was already flying into motion. Tmima swept across to bat aside the spear, and then they collided with one another bodily, just as the cold blue light erupted on the horizon with a flash of light and a deafening noise.
They separated briefly, glaring at one another, and then they reengaged – both of them realizing that this would be decided by strength of arms. They could counter the energy released by one another, and unless caught completely off guard, it would be wasteful to continue using it.
Again and again sword and spear rang with the sound of colliding metal, the Celestial Bronze of Tmima which was hidden beneath glowing starlight matched against the steel/bronze alloy that made Krios' weapon. Perseus was the first to draw blood, a strike that nearly beheaded the enraged Titan and instead caused a thin cut along his neck that blistered the already-scarred skin.
Krios made him pay for it with a small gash at his waist where his breastplate ended.
The match wasn't even though, and they both knew it. Even as injured as he was from Zeus' attack days prior, Perseus was expertly handling the fight and pushing Krios around with apparent ease. The skill displayed by the Titan was more defensive in nature, and he was unable to mount much of an effective offense.
Their battle was destroying what was left of the area, little as it was, and they'd slowly moved closer to the edge of the crater. It wouldn't be long before they left it entirely, though neither of them particularly cared. The fire from Perseus' energy which flared around him and strengthened him was countered by a cold blue power that burned all the same, and the air was filled with smoke and a choking heat that would've incinerated a mortal. The temperature of the area had skyrocketed to well above what was natural, and if they left the crater it was likely to cause uncontrolled wildfires.
However, it was when they got close to the edge of the devastation caused by Perseus' entrance that they both heard a noise that gave them pause. During a momentary break in their fighting, they both heard the faint sound of bells and accompanying it was a whispering wind that carried with it the distinct sound of the haunting dead.
Perseus glanced around, wondering if his luck was about to change, and caught a glimpse of movement through the smoke.
A pair of dark horses with eyes of smoldering hellfire broke through the smoke first, their bodies made of living shadow which he recognized immediately and on their dark bridles hung small bells that tolled with every step. A chariot followed closely, made from obsidian and trimmed with gold and gemstones, and carved into it were the faces of mortals twisted in agony, their souls locked into painful and torturous deaths. Riding with the reigns in a firm grip was the dark armored form of Hades, the bronze Helm of Darkness placed like a crown atop his head.
Perseus really, really shouldn't have been surprised to see him. While he was definitely looking for Round 2 with his uncle, as they'd barely even started before they were separated, he was hoping for that time to come when he didn't have to focus on more than one enemy. It was also once more a chance for Hades to get in the way.
"The hell are you doing here?" Perseus asked, his tone filled with contempt as Hades' chariot rolled to a stop. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm busy. Take a number and I'll get to you after I've cleaned up another one of your messes."
"My messes?" Hades asked mildly, a wave of his hand causing the chariot and horses to vanish into a black smoke and disappear. "Whatever mess you've made here is of your own doing, like usual."
Perseus scoffed, waving his blade absently at the Titan who was eyeing them both shrewdly, his confidence gone in the face of the two of them. "Weren't you tasked with keeping these idiots from escaping the pit? That's one of your main jobs, actually. Way to go."
"I'll ignore your bullshit theories for now, and instead allow you exactly one chance to tell me where you've taken my children. They were here, you decided to blow this damn place up, and now they're gone. They aren't dead. Where are they?" Hades demanded, his heavy footsteps and armor shifting as he walked making an ominous sound.
"Heh, who knows?" Perseus remarked lightly, smirking at the face he wanted nothing more than to cave in. "Maybe I sent them somewhere special, where they'll stay as far beyond your reach as my dead children are beyond mine."
"You know, if you guys have a problem to work out, I can come back after couples therapy," Krios said sarcastically. "Or, and here's a thought, I could offer Hades a pretty good incentive to cut your damn head off. We could work out a favorable deal, where he's no longer the black sheep and Olympus is returned to the shit-hole it began as."
"Fuck off," Hades said dismissively. "You and your kind aren't worth the shit I scrape off my shoes. If I wanted that mountain throne, I'd have taken it myself, and I definitely wouldn't need your help to do it."
"Oh, don't be that way, dear nephew," Krios said, spreading his arms and grinning at Hades. "I can offer you a real seat at the table, where you can rule your Dead and still have a life outside the Underworld for once. Your father can be made to see reason, eventually."
"He. Ate. Me." Hades snapped. "I said fuck off, scum."
"So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" Krios said, shaking his head. "Prometheus said you'd refuse, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway. Always told my little brother to chew his food."
There was a tension building, despite the seemingly calm words bantered back and forth between them all. None of them were allies, and only a spark would be needed to set things off in a spectacular fashion. Perseus knew he was being somewhat childish in not telling Hades his children were safe, just as he knew that trying to take on both of them would definitely be a tall order. However, as far as enemies went, Hades and Krios were ranking right up there at the top and the allure of destroying them both, here and now, was very appealing.
"You should probably think this through a little, Hades," he remarked, knowing it would only piss his uncle off more. "Hestia isn't here to save you now, and with a Titan thrown in the mix...well, Zeus isn't holding me back anymore either."
Hades scoffed, turning his focus to Perseus once more. "You really are full of yourself, for such a weakling. All this time spent with mortals has only diminished you. You're not as you once were, and even then you would've fit squarely beneath my boot. Stop talking."
Krios chuckled darkly at the byplay. A flick of his fingers, and there was a flare of cold blue light behind him. It morphed for a second, and then solidified into the shape of a large ram that glowed in an ethereal light. It's very presence seemed to leech strength into the Titan, causing his eyes to glow brighter as he consumed it's energy for his own use. The constellation Aries (not to be confused with Ares) was one of his own creation, and it was one that Perseus had always neglected purposefully, hoping it would eventually burn out and die.
"I think we should all stop talking, and just get on with it," said Krios, his eyes wide as he became more intoxicated on his own power. Gluttonous, as always.
Hades cocked his head to the side slowly, and beneath his famed helm a slow smirk developed. "Very well," he agreed. He twitched his right hand, the ground letting loose with a deep crack as stone and dirt shifted, a spiderweb of fissures radiating from his feet. Cold, pale hands began to thrust upward from the scorched dirt as far as the eye could see, fingers clawing at the ground. There had to be thousands of corpses struggling free from the earth, and twisting from within the shadows of overturned earth and stones crawled the hellhounds. Their eyes were a glowing red and the tone of their growls seemed to echo from every direction.
Within seconds Hades had an army surrounding the entire field of battle, and while the dead were blank faced and emotionless, they moved with a sure purpose at the command of their master.
"Face it, boys, this is only going to end one way," said Hades. "They may be the corpses of mortals, but they exist at my command and persist on my strength. You're outnumbered and outmatched."
Cocking his head to the side, Perseus allowed a slow smile to cross his face as he felt the approach. He eyed his two adversaries, and his grin only widened. "Let's go then," he said. "But...before that, you should probably look up." From above Draco descended with the speed of a meteor, his roar announcing his arrival as the world seemed to catch fire in a towering inferno. What was once Mack, Colorado was now replaced by fire and wrath.
The tension in the throne room could match the tension on the battlefield. Hera stared hatefully at her, and Thalia wondered if she was going to be burned alive again as she'd been in her dream. The thought of visiting Olympus seemed like an amazing idea, and yet somehow, she hadn't ever thought about just who lived there.
Apollo coughed to cover up an obvious laugh, and Hera's hand trembled as she glanced at him.
As stupid as it sounded, Thalia suddenly found herself pitying her sort of step-mother. Her husband's never ending infidelity was constantly shoved in her face every day. Olympus was filled with immortals father by Zeus, but not by Hera, and Thalia was just another reminder that her husband didn't respect their marriage, even after so long. And from what she understood, everyone just expected her to 'get over it'.
There wasn't anything Thalia could do to change things, except maybe die and be one less child of Zeus, but in that brief moment she did truly feel sorry for being another slap in the face to a wife and mother who only desired a loving and faithful marriage. Her very presence was a direct humiliation to the woman who was called a Queen, but certainly not treated like one.
"Hera, my love…" Zeus began, but whatever he was about to say was cut off.
"Do not!" the Goddess choked, and her anger was mixed with a pain that she was obviously trying to hide. The anger seemed to be winning, as if she were more accustomed to the pain by now. "You will not stand there and make excuses for bringing another creature spawned by you into my home! At the foot of my own throne, no less!"
"I-I'm sorr-" Thalia began, but was also interrupted.
"You will not speak in this house!" shouted Hera, her entire body trembling with rage. Her dark hair, inlaid with a thin golden crown floated slightly as if gravity wasn't affecting it like it should, and her brown eyes flashed white in her anger. She looked as if she were close to assuming her divine form, as if there were a raw energy lighting her from within. She was at the same time beautiful and terrible to look upon.
"Peace, sister," Poseidon said mildly, his eyes still on the Iris Message. "She brings tiding of our enemies, and is a guest for the time being. She'll not stay long."
Hera looked around the room bitterly, as if searching for someone to stand with her on the issue. Apparently not finding what she sought, her shoulders sagged minutely. "Nor will I," she said quietly, and Thalia looked away in fear as she flashed with a white light and was gone. She hadn't assumed her divine form, but that last moment looked as if she'd been tempted and Thalia feared she may actually go through with it for a brief instant. Yet, also in the back of her thoughts, Thalia felt that her leaving spelled some type of misery for herself that was yet to be seen...
Zeus, she saw, had his eyes clenched shut and was rubbing a hand absently across his forehead.
Thalia didn't know what to do or say, but thought that her presence was mostly unwelcome at the moment. "Maybe I should go…" she said to the room at large, but Athena shook her head.
"You're here for a reason," she said in return. "I will apologize, as this isn't exactly what I had in mind when bringing you here, but the necessity of your presence remains unchanged. The vision you had was extremely informative, and must be shared with the Council."
"It was just some guys talking around a table. I mean...couldn't we just tell everyone?" asked Thalia.
"If by 'guys', you mean enemies of Olympus we thought destroyed and never to return," said Athena. "Also, the voice you heard at the end...only our King may make a ruling on this matter, and I hope with all of my being that it wasn't whom I believe it was."
"What is this, then?" asked Zeus. "What did she see?"
"You must see for yourself, as any speculation by me couldn't possibly be fully accurate," Athena responded. "We can all bear witness to it, but Morpheus will still have to be questioned."
"And where is he, anyway?" Zeus demanded. "I called for him, and he knows better than to ignore a direct summons."
There wasn't any answer, but Thalia saw from the corner of her eye as Aphrodite and Hephaestus approached from where they'd given their impromptu news report. She hadn't been able to hear the words spoken, but they'd apparently broadcast it to every television and radio in the affected area. Within moments of them taking their seats Ares returned, still in uniform, and nodded distractedly at Zeus. Apparently from that, it meant the military was mobilizing.
Artemis returned next, though she didn't say anything, and Hermes was last. He appeared in a burst of movement next to his throne and sat down with a huff. "Done, as much as possible anyway. The highway is mostly gone near the fight, but I was able to redirect traffic along a more scenic route to the south. Hopefully it's far enough away."
Glancing back at the Iris Message, Thalia wasn't sure it would be. A fight had broken out, and Perseus was going toe to toe with a monstrous man similar to those she'd seen in her dream, vision, whatever. They were moving incredibly fast, and everywhere they went fires were springing up and the ground was being ruptured beneath their strength.
She'd only begun weapons training formally over the last several weeks, but from what she was seeing, there was no way anyone at camp would be capable of keeping up with these two. They were fast, and their strikes looked hard enough to shatter the lesser swords the demigods favored. Their attacks were ruthless, and yet neither of them seemed to flinch away from the conflict, but instead rushed in for more.
They'd also said Hades was on the way, but Zeus hadn't seemed very happy about it, so that meant he wasn't necessarily an ally in this fight. She wondered if this were part of the prophecy given by the Oracle, and if the 'compass' spoken of really meant Atlanta, or her father. If Perseus lost, what would the outcome be in the end? Would it really be a darkness spread over the world, or did it mean that his failure against Hades meant the beginning of the end in another way?
She thought perhaps she was overthinking things, but prophecy was always difficult to predict, so…
"We need to get on with this," said Hephaestus, his voice deep and gruff. "We can't wait forever for Astraeus to return, or for Hera, or for Demeter for that matter...whatever we're here to see, let's see it."
"Agreed," said Apollo. "Hera isn't likely to return any time soon, and neither is Perce, for that matter. Not sure what Demeter's up to, but we can fill them in later."
"Harvest season is finishing in Mexico and reaching it's peak in some of the southern states," said Artemis quietly, her narrowed eyes locked onto the battle unfolding. "Demeter is likely to be distracted for some time."
"Very well. What is it we're supposed to see, Athena?" asked Zeus, returning to his throne so that only Thalia was left standing.
"Thalia, if you please?" Athena asked in return. "Do as you did before, and remember your vision with as much clarity as possible. I shall do the rest and project it for all to see. Afterwards, we shall have to make certain there's no lasting harm done from the attack, and find out from Morpheus how such a thing was even possible."
Thalia nodded once, and the short explanation at least cleared up the question as to why Athena didn't just leave her at camp and show her own memory of seeing the vision to the Gods.
Thalia repeated her process from earlier in the day, thinking of the room and the table and the men surrounding it. The task was easier when she wasn't in agony, and she brought it forth in her mind with a surprising ease.
The memory played like a hologram for all to see, and she did her best to ignore the smell of ozone that was steadily increasing in the throne room. Poseidon's eyes were locked upon the image with a hatred that was as fierce as it was open, and Zeus was steadily breathing through flared nostrils.
"Hyperion, Perses, Oceanus, Prometheus and Iapetus…" the King muttered in a low growl. "Krios is with Astraeus, and that only leaves Koios unaccounted for. The General they speak of is Atlas, and as of now, still struggles in vain beneath the sky."
However, as angry as he appeared at the sight of the men around the table, the final voice seemed to freeze him in place. Poseidon rose to his feet with a fury to match a hurricane, and Zeus had gone still, though a weight began to press upon the room as if the sky itself was leaning on them all. It quickly became uncomfortable for Thalia, and then when the voice spoke in that language she couldn't understand, Zeus leapt to his feet and a crash of thunder seemed to shake the foundations of Olympus.
"That tongue is dead!" he roared. "Never to be spoken again while I wear this crown!"
Thalia realized it was speaking the Tongue of the Old Times, a language spoken by the Titans before the Gods were born. Chiron mentioned it in their Ancient Greek studies, and while he claimed to know it, he refused to utter a single word in that language. He claimed it was forbidden by Zeus on pain of death. It was another attempt to erase the Titans from the face of the world and secure his rule.
"Kronos," Poseidon said quietly, his tone not matching his temper at all. "I'd recognize that voice anywhere."
"So even he returns," said Athena. "I'd hoped I was wrong, but I couldn't know for certain until I showed this to the eldest among us."
"He has not returned, nor will he," said Zeus, glaring as the golden fire enveloped Thalia's dreaming form. "If he'd returned, he would be sitting at the head of that table. He would have a thousand servants fulfilling his every desire. His cup would never run empty, nor would his ravenous appetite allow an empty plate in front of him. No, he has not returned, and I will make certain it stays that way."
Zeus turned to leave just as the hologram faded and there appeared to be a disturbance in the Iris message. A black chariot had arrived – Hades she assumed – and things were probably about to get really, really bad.
"Don't you think we should stop this fight, given the circumstances?" asked Athena seriously toward her father's back as he made for the door.
"I don't give a damn if they kill each other," he snapped, lightning sizzling across his form as the scent of ozone strengthened. "I have more important things to deal with."
Just as he left the doors, a lightning bolt flashed from the sky and consumed him, and he was gone. The clap of thunder that followed would remain in Thalia's memory for the rest of her life. It sounded as if the top of the world had been blown off, as if the heavens themselves had broken open and the earth would split in two, and brought a sharp pain that felt similar to needles stabbing deep within her ears.
Athena was staring at her worriedly, her mouth moving, but Thalia couldn't hear a thing, though her ears suddenly felt warm and wet.
The arrival of Draco on the battlefield seemed to be the spark to ignite everything. A grim satisfaction settled over Perseus as the comforting heat of one of his oldest companions surrounded him, and the roar of challenge as he descended was a boost to his own confidence to see this through. Time after time he'd overcome seemingly impossible odds, in both his lives, and he'd never been one to shy away from a fight.
The roar of the dragon was enough to spark the battle into full force. Hades looked upward and darkness surged to defend him, even as his army of the dead began tearing across the ruined earth at a breakneck pace to converge on both Perseus and Krios with abandon. Meanwhile, Krios leapt forward toward Perseus with a hatred rarely seen, and the heat didn't seem to affect him any more than it had when Perseus himself descended from the heavens.
Their blades crossed at the exact moment Draco made contact, and the world erupted into a blank white canvas as the power of one of the greatest constellations was unleashed. The crater immediately doubled, and then tripled, and in the center of the blaze Krios roared his challenge directly into Perseus' face. The corpses were turned immediately to ash, as were some of the hellhounds, but most of them escaped into small crevasses of shadow before the impact.
Hades was swallowed by darkness before the light could reach him, and towering over the entire battlefield at an enormous height that would allow him to look easily over the tops of multi-story buildings, the dragon welcomed himself to the mortal world.
The second roar of Draco was one of unbridled rage – he wasn't the most stable of the Guardians – and from his glowing white body even Krios was forced to turn aside. The force of the heat and light which left him could equal a mortal hydrogen bomb, and the shockwave that blasted from him would travel for miles in every direction. A simple motion from Perseus stopped his own strength from harming him, but Krios was launched away as if he'd been struck by a bus. His ring was protecting him from the direct heat and the raw power, but not the concussive force the blast created.
A cold blue light approached from the right with impressive speed, cutting through the power of Draco with apparent ease, but a truly massive clawed foot smashed into the glowing form of Aries and pounded the rogue constellation into the ground before it could reach Perseus. The dragon would handle the ram, and so Perseus turned to engage his own enemies, but was stopped as a pale, slimy hand thrust upward from the ground and gripped his ankle with a monstrous strength.
Hades leapt from his nephew's own shadow with his dark blade leading the charge, and Perseus barely dodged the opening strike. However, he'd been expecting an attack from his blind side – Hades' specialty – and so he was prepared to face his uncle once more.
Their blades crossed with a force that would shatter mortal steel, and Perseus didn't hesitate to parry the strike and return with a sharp thrust, which was knocked aside, only to re-purpose the motion into a slash that rang against the Stygian Iron blade.
A spear entered his vision on the left, and Perseus ducked hastily, twisting out of the path of Hades' blade and leaping free of the pair of enemies that surrounded him. Krios made to turn and follow, as if he were going to use Hades as an unwilling teammate to outnumber Perseus, but was forced to make a quick stutter step and change direction before the black blade of Hades could bisect him at the waist.
"Don't pretend like we're allies, you useless worm," Hades growled. He made a fist, and the ground beneath Krios ruptured as half a dozen corpses surged upward to seize the Titan on every available surface. They were tearing and clawing at whatever they could reach, and Hades made to leap forward with his blade, but Perseus was quicker.
Tmima very nearly tasted blood as Hades was forced to dodge the downward strike, and then he unleashed the power of his Helm. Perseus faltered as a fear gripped his chest that he wasn't able to control, while Hades took advantage of the opportunity to bring his blade into an upward slash that narrowly missed his nephews lower jaw.
The glowing representation of Aries – an enraged dragon rearing behind him – slammed into Hades with the force of a freight train and launched him away from Perseus in retaliation for the attack on the creature's master.
Allowing Draco to pursue both the ram and Hades, Perseus launched himself at the struggling Krios and carved a clean slice into his torso, splitting the armor and also cleaving through one of Hades' minions. Krios shouted as golden ichor sprayed from the would, which was unfortunately quite shallow due to the strength of his armor, and the dead which clung to him erupted into a blue flame beneath his power.
The pair of them crossed blades again, but were forced to divert their attention as the corpses summoned by Hades just kept coming, rising from the ground and launching themselves into a run at the pair of them. They were physically strong and their bony finger curled into vice-like grips around whatever they could reach. If not dealt with they would quickly overwhelm their prey.
The ground bucked, destabilizing the entire area and Perseus felt a grim sort-of acceptance as Hades unleashed his strength in the face of Draco's assault. Chains of iron and diamond leapt from the ground, attempting to leash the dragon forcefully, but Draco only roared his own challenge and fought on, a breath of white hot fire forcing Hades to once more take refuge in the shadows. The chains had been successful, however, in capturing Aries – they dragged the creature downward, and squeezed until the massive ram shattered like glass and the light faded. The constellation would be returned to the heavens.
Forced into fighting a literal zombie apocalypse, Perseus realized that the distance between himself and Krios was getting larger and larger. The dead were forcing them in different directions, and the hellhounds were making their appearance once more – each of them which lunged for Perseus being turned to golden dust near instantly.
And then the earthquake started.
Hades arose from the ground as a towering, ghostly figure of shadow and terror, and the earth buckled beneath his might, rupturing upward in all directions. Gem studded crown atop his head, the God roared his anger and the ground shook as he tore something from the depths of the earth. Bones emerged, massive and stained, and at the call of the King they rearranged to form an ancient drakon – a monstrous cousin of the dragon which immediately seized it's deadly jaws around the tail of the partially chained Draco.
Perseus immediately fed more of his strength into Draco, and the bonds shattered as he grew even larger, turning to face the creation of Hades. Still, this was getting him nowhere. At the current rate he was going to be forced into calling more of his Guardians to earth. The pain from his previous injuries by Zeus, which had been mostly ignored, was beginning to take a toll and he felt his own breath become slightly strained.
Krios was getting further away...almost as if he were…
"No!" Perseus roared, realizing the cowardly shit was trying to escape – trying to get far enough away that he could vanish by assuming his divine form and disappearing into the heavens again. He couldn't do so while near his enemies, as it would endanger him as much as it had when Perseus did so in the throne room. He was trying to gain distance for safety enough to flee.
Sending a silent apology to any mortals who were still alive in the area, and bracing himself for pain, Perseus raised his clenched fist and tore it downward with authority. From high above, the skies were disturbed as dozens of small meteors entered the atmosphere, and at their speed, they made contact within moments. The world exploded with a terrifying force.
Apollo once more stepped up to heal the damage she had no chance of escaping – this time ruptured eardrums from her father's exit – and as he did so Thalia saw Poseidon leave in a much more reasonable manner than his brother. The other Olympians were falling into conversation, and still the Iris Message showed the battle taking place on the other side of the country.
The battle, if it could even be called that anymore, had become something she could no longer identify with at all. No more were they fighting with swords and spears, but now with a Godly strength which she found herself unable to comprehend.
Corpses and hellhounds, visual manifestations of the constellations. Light and shadow and fire, all of it summoned from beings who might appear like humans, but were obviously not anything close to it. She watched as a dragon made of light dominated the battlefield, only to be answered by a similar creature of bone to answer it. Dead, half-rotted things sprinted like Olympic athletes, and three 'men' just took it all in stride and crushed whatever came their way beneath overwhelming strength. It was terrifying and awe-inspiring at the same time.
These were her Gods, displaying their strength and commanding the forces of nature beneath their power, and they were also her relatives. Her uncle and her cousin and…whatever Krios was. It was a proof that needed no faith, because she could see it as clearly as her own hand.
"Incoming…" a clear, calm female voice sounded from the image, and suddenly the world changed beneath the destructive rain as meteors pounded the area like artillery and caused such devastation like she'd never imagined.
"Oh dear," the winged man muttered, staring at the image and frowning. "Well, I guess as our King no longer requires my pres-"
There was a rustle, and then the Goddess who could only be Artemis stood but a few feet from him, bow drawn and arrow pointed with precision at the side of his head. "You'll take not a single step," she commanded fiercely. "You think I don't see your intentions? To aid your master in the battle against Perseus? You'll die before you leave this hall."
"'Fraid she's right, bro," said Apollo. He was still standing casually and smiling, but his blue eyes were like marble and trained on the man. "See, me and Perce, we're friends and all, but if he were anyone else I'd just let you go on ahead and do what you want. Not my business. However, he took care of my baby sis, still watches out for her, and my kids too, so…well, you probably don't wanna walk that road, yeah?" Apollo's form flickered, and in place of the casual attire he wore before was a shining gold armor with a long, blood-red cloak which brushed the floor by several inches.
There was a pause in the throne room, and Thalia held her breath as battle lines were drawn in front of her very eyes.
"There will be no interference from anyone in this room," Athena commanded, cutting her eyes to Ares briefly, before returning them to the other man. "Especially not on the side of Hades. Whatever happens, his actions should have consequences. He's shown himself to be an oath-breaker and eluded justice from the Council, and then refused to show when summoned. You will not aid him now."
"And the mortals?" the man growled, obviously displeased.
"The dead will still be dead when this is all over," said Artemis, unwavering. "Take a single step and join them."
The man smirked at her condescendingly. "And once more the Olympians unite to do as they please," he remarked.
Ares snorted. "Don't be so damn dramatic, Death Breath," he said. "We ain't united against your boss or whatever. Most of us don't give a shit. Truth is, I'd like to see the punk get pounded into the dirt by Old Man Hades, and I like a fight no matter the occasion. However, looks like a good fight – this time against Titans – is just around the corner. I'm not gonna miss out on that just to help you, Loser."
Aphrodite giggled behind her hand. "By the Fates, can you imagine the type of love that's born in a war over control of the world? Tragic love stories that are as beautiful as a flower, and wilt just as quickly, or even those great and epic romances that survive through all hardship as two people cling to one another while the world falls apart. So good…"
Hephaestus snorted disgustedly as he rose from his throne. "Fucking crazy, this whole family…" he muttered, disappearing silently.
Thalia agreed with him, though she wasn't stupid enough to say so out loud. It seemed the elder Gods – Zeus, Poseidon and Perseus – were furious at the sight of the Titans, while those who were younger were either unaffected or else were looking forward to the conflict. She guessed Aphrodite was technically older, but she hadn't fought in the Titanomachy – her hand was more subtle than direct conflict. The stories said that Poseidon falling in love with Amphitrite changed the war, as Perseus was born from it, and so perhaps that was her contribution, or maybe not. It was hard to tell.
"It doesn't look like we'll see Morpheus today about your dream, child, so I'll send you back to camp," Athena said, and Thalia felt a pit form in her stomach.
"But Perseus...he's still fighting," she protested, motioning toward the IM.
"He is," Athena agreed. "But there isn't anything you can do about that, and Olympus isn't a place meant for mortals. You should go, and tell Chiron to expect one of us soon."
"But…" she started to protest again. However, before she realized what was happening, the world seemed to fold itself around her and with a sensation of vertigo, she was no longer staring at the throne room of the Gods, but instead at the Rec Room in the Big House. "...I….dammit!" she finished, stomping a single foot and uncaring that it likely looked childish to the other counselors gathered around the ping-pong table.
"Thalia…?" Chiron questioned, appearing surprised to see her.
"No time, we need an Iris Message. Quick!" she nearly shouted, a sense of urgency gripping her. She had to know if Perseus was okay, or if he wasn't. Not only did the camp barrier depend on him, but she'd started to depend on him as well.
"What's going on?" Chiron nearly demanded.
"It's Perseus, and...and Titans and Hades," she fumbled.
"Titans?!" Chiron said forcefully.
"We don't have time!" she said pleadingly. "The Titans are back, all of them, and Perseus was fighting Krios in Colorado, but then Hades showed up and Perseus was fighting him too...my dad's throwing a fit somewhere and the other Gods are all threatening to fight amongst each other… and there was this one God with wings who was going to go help Hades fight Perseus, but then Artemis wouldn't let him and...and…"
She felt a little light headed and out of breath, and she wasn't sure why. She hadn't done anything, but it was hard to catch her breath all the same. "People are dying in Colorado, the Gods even said so, and they tried to evacuate them, but there were explosions and earthquakes and dead people and meteors…"
"Calm," Chiron soothed, rushing toward her. "Someone get her some water!"
"Yes!" she said, still gasping slightly. "Water! We need an Iris Message!"
Her legs felt weak and suddenly she needed a chair. She felt like she'd run for miles and like something heavy was pressing down on her chest. Everything felt like so much and she knew she wasn't explaining things right but the words wouldn't come out the way she wanted them to. There was so much to say, but there wasn't time because Perseus was still fighting, and the Gods were talking about a war for who would control the world, and people were dying…
She could feel the storm inside her, aching to be released like a knot in her stomach as her divine powers tried their best to surge outward from her. Lightning, and thunder and rain and wind were all trapped inside her and screaming for release.
Remembering the mist that fell gently from the ceiling in the throne room, Thalia tried her best to imagine it and allowed some of the knot in her stomach to loosen.
"Uh, Grace…what're you doing?" she heard Katie Gardner asked.
There was a rolling, dark cloud forming tightly against the ceiling, flickering with blue light, and a faint breeze had picked up in the Rec Room. She realized that it was too much. She was a second away from creating a thunderstorm indoors. Pulling back slightly, the storm fighting her the entire way, Thalia called silently for the mist to fall on the far side of the room. Several kids yelped as the water began to fall on them, moving out from beneath it, but the small amount of control over her powers seemed to ground her somehow.
The lights from the window crossed the water, creating the briefest shimmer, but it was enough. "Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please show me Mack, Colorado," she said, her voice firm and her breathing once more slowing to something approaching normal. She saw Chiron flick a coin into the mist, and flushed as she'd forgotten that part. Zeus probably didn't have to pay, but she would have to.
The image darkened, and then a cool female voice responded. "I'm not sure that's wise, Daughter of Zeus…"
"Please," Thalia asked. "Athena never said I couldn't see the fight, only that I had to return here."
There was a pause, and then… "Very well."
The darkened image cleared, and all eyes in the room widened as the devastation became apparent. Nobody seemed to care that she was making a massive mess on the floor as the mist didn't disappear like it did on Olympus.
Uncaring if anyone watched, Perseus struggled to his feet amongst the ruined world that surrounded him. He was hurt, that much was obvious, but Draco's form curled protectively around him meant that he hadn't suffered the worst of it. He released the injured Guardian, allowing him to return to the heavens and rest, and realized that the rest of the world hadn't escaped as easily as he had.
Clouds of dust covered the world – what was left of it – and everything as far as the eye could see was leveled. The impacts had destroyed Hades' entire army of dead things, and the hellhounds as well. The drakon bones were splintered and broken, no longer forming a whole creature and they were unmoving, half covered by dirt once more.
There was a coughing grunt, and Hades was slowly pulling himself from the dirt, his body covered in small wounds that bled with golden liquid. His Helm of Darkness was laying on the ground several feet away. He looked as if he was very close to one of the craters, as if it barely missed him, and he hadn't been able to escape in time. His dark armor was broken and cracked, his skin covered in a fine layer of dirt and ichor, and Hades suddenly didn't look as commanding as he once had.
There was, however, no sign of Krios.
Not amongst the corpses of Hades' minions, nor was there any golden dust where the Titan had been just before impact. His weapon wasn't lying around anywhere, and nor was any pieces of his ancient armor. He could have been hit directly, but that was unlikely. Perseus couldn't aim the meteors so precisely. He could call them in a general direction, and their own mass and velocity would do the rest.
He'd escaped, then.
Allowing his fury to surge to life once more as Hades cost him his victory by his mere presence, Perseus moved into a stumbling walk toward his uncle. He was injured and tired, but he was better off than Hades, and that's all that mattered. His blade was out of reach, torn from his hand in the chaos that descended on the battlefield, but that was just fine. He owed his uncle a beating anyway.
The older of them looked at him and chuckled darkly, though he still wasn't upright. "That…" he spit forcefully on the ground. "That was a move I didn't expect. Something you might've done when you were still-"
A boot to the stomach cut off his words as Perseus slammed his foot forward. Hades rolled with the strike, groaning and trying to reach for a weapon. Perseus followed and kicked his hand away from it, before surging forward with an armored fist to Hades' face. It was satisfying in the extreme, and Perseus hammered again and again. The rage and fury he'd built toward his uncle, the pained face of his long-dead daughter flashed across his thoughts.
"It's cold," she'd said.
He'd not only defiled her soul and disturbed her restful afterlife, but he'd hurt her by doing so. Again and again he allowed his fist to fall on the face of his uncle in repayment for the pain he'd caused an innocent girl who died for nothing except because she was born in the first place.
Finally he stopped, gripping the dark armor of his enemy and jerking the older God's face closer to his own. "Do you have anything so say for yourself, you fucking animal?" he shouted. "Break your oath and use my dead children as leverage in your games! Now, you've cost me my victory on an entirely different level, and for what?!"
Hades was injured, there was no doubt, but his dark smile returned even through the bloody golden mess that was his face. "….fetch, Cerberus."
Perseus never got a chance to do more than widen his eyes before he was steamrolled from the enormous three-headed Hellhound that erupted from Hades' shadow. A jaw clamped onto his leg mid-flight, and he roared in pain as the monstrous creature carried him away from Hades, shaking one of it's heads and tossing him bodily across the battlefield while the other two howled their fury. He hit the ground with a brutal force, the air leaving him immediately, and struggled to right himself in response to the next attack.
It never came, as the towering hound merely scooped up the Helm of Darkness in one mouth, and gripped Hades' armor with another. They collapsed into the shadows more quickly than he could respond.
Hades had escaped as well.
The blast of energy that left him in his wrath had no effect as Mack, Colorado was long gone.
Author's Note: Another chapter done, and we finally get to see some action. It was a little chaotic, as writing three different enemies fighting is a little more challenging and I think that fight scenes are my weakest point currently. I am working on it, but I still feel they need to be a lot better.
I know a lot of people wanted to see Hades or Krios dead, but I hope they were satisfied with Perseus' victory, as hollow as it was. I feel like he finally got a pound of flesh from Hades. They were never going to team up, no matter the enemy, and because Hades decided to enter the battle it allowed Krios to escape.
I try to follow a strict rule when writing – things only happen and move forward because other things happen. Actions must have consequences, not always favorable, and because of that the battle cannot end the same way if something happens that changes things. I attempt to stay away from "This happens, then this happens, and next this happens," and instead I try to write in a way so that "This happened, because this happened, and therefore this happens in response".
As far as Thalia's scenes, they were meant as more than just showing the fight from a different perspective. I needed her first real interaction with the Gods to take place, and I think it rolled into the chapter nicely, and also gave me a chance to show a little of what is happening with the other Olympians behind the scenes without randomly throwing another PoV into the story.
It was a stressful situation for her, all things considered – she was attacked and burned, healed, and then thrown into a Council with the Gods. She sees her mentor in a battle, is briefly confronted by Hera, and then is brushed aside by her father as he learns of his enemies. Then, she's sent back to the camp as if nothing happened.
The brief beginnings of shock, or a sort-of panic attack I think are believable, but I've never personally had a situation like that so I'm not sure that I got it right. I tried to portray that she didn't realize she was panicking and why, but that she was sort of in shock. Not sure I did it justice to be honest.
All in all, I'm satisfied with it even if other people aren't.
We have a few more chapters in what I've termed as Arc 1, and Arc 2 will follow. I've stated in my Discord that I intend for there to be 4 Arcs leading up to the final fulfilling of the prophecy. This story still has a long way to go yet..
As always, I appreciate all reviews and all of the people who are continuing to support my work.