Ok, so I seen a review mentioning the Songs of War by what is now Squared Media, then Black Plasma Studios. I will say this now: Strider/Stryker is an Ardonian.

I will be going into details of who he is and what he is over the course of the next four chapters.

Enjoy this next chapter, all of you.

Silver Hearts

Chapter Six

"Hauntings of the Past"

Third Person POV

"You cannot hide from me." The disembodied voice snarled, its tones echoing through the chamber. "You cannot flee from your creators!"

The scene then suddenly changed as the dark throne room vanished and was replaced by the Acropolis as fires burned around two figures standing on either side of the Parthenon.

"There is nowhere to run!" Athena's voice cried out as her spear impaled itself in a pillar mere inches from Stryker's face.

Stryker remained silent while grasping the spear generously "donated" to him by the 'wisdom' goddess, and yanking it from the stone column. He turned to see her standing tall with the fires of war blazing in her gray eyes, and he knew what he had to do to end this. Words would not suffice in this circumstance.

With his armor cracked in numerous places and blue-ish silver blood dripping onto the stone floor, the Ardonian rose to his full height in the face of his challenger. The goddess scoffed as the male stood, knowing she held every advantage.

"So, this is the great Ardonian Champion?" she admonished, sizing him up and noting his fine armor, exceptional battle prowess, and clever tactics that got him to where he was now.

Standing across from her.

"You're something, I'll give you that, but you're no god." Athena sneered while the man remained silent, his multicolored eyes searching. "You could never strike fear in m-"

The goddess was cut short as she suddenly felt something hit her sternum and she looked down to see the gaping hole now present in her chest. The goddess of battle strategy's wide eyes shot up to see her foe leaving a throwing stance and slowly make his way towards her. She staggered and fell backward, gold ichor pouring from her body and pooling around her fallen form. The Ardonian entered her field of view, which was rapidly darkening by the second, and silently knelt beside her as his eyes never left hers. He then lifted a single purple flower and placed it over the open hole where her heart would be and spoke in a soft tone.

"I never wanted this. Perhaps some time reforming will allow you to see the wisdom in others and not just within yourself." And with those words, the goddess crumbled into gold dust, her essence en route to Tartarus for reformation.

As the warrior sighed and rested his forehead against his knee, a female voice spoke from behind him.

"As much as I hate you for your actions against her, I cannot fault you in the strategies you used in this battle."

Stryker stiffened, then slowly stood and turned to face the speaker, who was none other than the Queen of the Olympian gods.

Hera.

"She gave me no other road to walk upon, so I did what I had to do to reinstate order once more." The warrior responded gruffly while a silver, double-edged sword dancing with black flames appeared in his right hand. "What do you want and why should I care?"

"You should be grateful we don't smite you into the Fields of Punishment, mortal." Hera snapped, her brown eyes glowing slightly. Her attitude then changed to alarm as she saw hints of a humming blue aura surround the warrior before dissipating.

"You can try, but I am far above you." He chuckled, genuinely amused by the little queen's attempt at a threat. "Tell the others that the Champion has returned. Begone."

The warrior flicked his wrist at her, and the goddess shrieked as a blast of pure energy sent her teleporting back into the throne room of Olympus. Alone, Stryker sheathed his sword before yelling in anger, annoyance and frustration.

Anger toward the pantheons and their cockiness.

Annoyance toward the mortals who couldn't get along.

Frustration toward everyone as he cleaned up their messes.

And, falling to his knees, Stryker slammed his fists down on the floor in the temple, unleashing an ungodly explosion that shook the ground for miles around while a massive dome of crackling red energy leveled half of Athens. The Acropolis was nearly destroyed in the event, with the roof being blown to smithereens as the blast severely damaged the infrastructure surrounding the temple. Citizens of Athens were not spared either. Many were caught in the dome's blast zone, alongside the fighting warriors on both sides, and were immediately vaporized into dust motes. Even the rainbow goddess, Iris, shut down any projections of the city and surrounding areas seconds after the discharge. She materialized within the burning temple and saw the kind-hearted warrior, exhausted beyond measure, slumped upon the floor with tears streaking his grime-covered face. Iris knew exactly who he was, as he always paid with three to five drachmas for every message he sent through her. Nobody else would ever do that. Hugging him around his shoulders lightly, the goddess flashed both of them to her home where he spent months recovering while the outside world remained clueless to his whereabouts.

Line Break

Strider POV

I woke with a start, panting like I had run a hundred miles nonstop without water and cold sweat beaded my face. My eyes darted around, taking in my surroundings as my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. I could see Thalia resting on a bunk across from me, the rest of the hunters were crashed in other bunks around the cabin and Artemis was-

A pressure against my back halted all forms of thought as a slender arm reached around my chest and pulled me back against the goddess.

"And where do you think you're off to so early?" Came the sleepy inquiry as Artemis buried her face into the back of my neck, inhaling my smoked hickory scent.

Chuckling softly, I rotated around so that I was facing her and my face flushed at the sight before me.

Artemis, the goddess of the moon, hunt, man hating and childbirth, was half naked pressing against my, a male's, body without a care in the world.

Mentally berating myself, I managed to keep a straight face as I replied. "I get up at this time regularly to do my morning exercises. Go back to sleep."

"But… want you… here." The goddess whined, tightening her grip as I tried, and failed, to get up.

I sighed, knowing that to remove myself from her would only upset her, so I did what any person would do… I laid back down and embraced her while she rested on top of my chest.

Guess I'm not only the pillow, but the mattress now too. I thought to myself as a smile formed on my face while Artemis fell into a sound sleep.

And closing my eyes once more, I drifted off into the realm of Morpheus with images of the goddess of the moon dancing behind my eyelids.

Thalia POV

I awoke to giggling and hushed conversations, my eyes opening to find myself lying comfortably in a bunk in cabin five. The other hunters were gathered around what was normally Artemis's bed, talking quietly amongst themselves.

"What's going on?" I asked while yawning, stretching my arms outward before standing up and joining my sisters.

What I laid my eyes upon was something truly unbelievable.

Our mistress, Artemis, was comfortably lying stretched out on top of Strider while her head was tucked under his chin. Her arms were encircled around his neck and above his head. One of his arms was limply hanging off the side of the bed, the other had a hand simply resting on one of her legs. Expressions of pure contentment were on their faces while they rested and I felt that we shouldn't disturb them.

"Okay, everyone out." I softly ordered the hunters. At their soft groans and complaints, I continued. "Staring at our lady as she sleeps is borderline creepy, and to paint you a picture: that male hasn't had a decent night's sleep in centuries. Let them be." I gave the resting form of Strider one last glance. "He's more than deserved his peace."

And with that, we began filing out of the cabin, heading to the pavilion for breakfast. As I was leaving, I gave one last look back at the pair still sleeping and grinned as I shut the door silently.

He needed this for sure. But that doesn't mean we'll let them sleep in every morning…

Heh, yeah… I'm that evil author who is gonna slow burn this relationship. I will tease the heck outta y'all and there is nothing you can do to stop me!

Now, I have a poll for the comment section so do be sure to vote. Strider tames a wolf in the next chapter, I will tease that much, but I want YOU guys and gals to choose her name.

Leave your reviews but add in one of the following names to cast your vote!

-Victoria (Since it has 'victor' in it to shorten 'victory')

-Star (She'll be black with white flecks on her coat)

-Astra (Same appearance as Star but the coat will ripple as if black holes are passing through the stars, distorting reality among the cosmos) -Nova (A reference to cosmic 'supernovas' when a star dies and then goes boom)