by Jory Smith
Nicolai finally managed to get up and went for the lone giant’s other knee. Not being able to use his powers yet, Nicolai recharged his shotgun and ran towards the giant. When he got close, Nicolai shot its other knee causing the giant to fall flat to the ground. Climbing up the giants back, Nicolai pulled out a knife he took from the training ground and started stabbing its neck continuously with the knife.
Acknowledging that Nicolai had taken care of the giant, Amadi climbed up the balcony. When he looked over the ring of fire, he saw Terry being squeezed by the giant’s massive hand. Amadi took up a sitting position and aimed his pistol. He charged his pistol as much as he could and shot a power round that went straight into the head of the giant. The giant’s body slumped to the ground and Terry squirmed out of the beast’s grasp.
Zeus could see that Tereus was badly hurt from the giant’s crushing grasp, but he wouldn’t quit. Terry grabbed at something which turned out to be the rope he had brought with him. When he tugged roughly on it, the three remaining giants fell to the ground.
That’s why Terry was running around. He was tying them up. Zeus thought. That is not a bad idea. Now they can be easily picked off.
Amadi took that as his cue. He dissipated the fire so that Nicolai could have a clean shot at the giants. Amadi screamed at Nicolai to fire. Nicolai stood up, not caring that he was drenched in giant blood, and started summoning his death ball. All around his hands grew a blackball of energy with a black mist surrounding it. The light surrounding him was getting completely sucked out.
Releasing the ball in the direction of the giants, it struck them dead on. First only one of the giants started to turn to ash, but as the ash spread it climbed onto the other giants until nothing but ash remained. Nicolai fell to the ground.
Amadi jumped down from the balcony and ran to Terry. He picked him up and placed him gently against the wall. Running to examine Nicolai, Amadi noticed he was just exhausted and not injured. After examining Nicolai, he brought him next to Terry and started to treat them both for injuries. He gave Terry and Nicolai healing elixirs and wrapped Terry’s wounds in bandages. After everyone was treated and had water, Amadi joined them against the wall and they just started laughing.
“What are they laughing about? They almost got killed,” Aphrodite said as she sat on the edge of her seat watching the projection. “These humans are crazy.”
“I don’t know about you, but that was amazing,” Athena said.
“I have a couple of questions,” Hermes said. “First, why didn’t Amadi shoot the first giant in the head instead of the hand?”
“Giants have thick skulls,” Athena answered Hermes question. “If you noticed, he had to charge up his pistol a lot to just kill the second giant. Nicolai would have been crushed if he waited the time needed to pierce its skull.” with a look of pity she asked Hermes what his next question was.
“Why didn’t Amadi do anything? He just sat there the whole fight,” Hermes asked.
“He was support. He did his job perfectly. They each had their roles to play and they played them well. I can’t wait to see him in action when he has armies to control,” Athena said as she admired Amadi. She turned to Zeus. “You know those were not normal Giants.”
Zeus just sat nodding as he watched the three men resting.
“Something is wrong,” Zeus said out loud. He waived one of his hands and one of the giant bodies disappeared. “Hermes, go and fetch Poseidon. Tell him it’s a command.”
The other gods looked at him with shocked expressions. The brothers have not talked in a long time. In fact, they usually only talked through servants. They hadn’t been on great speaking terms since Perseus killed Medusa. Their relationship got worse when Zeus killed Poseidon’s son Triton. Poseidon knew Triton brought it on himself for breaking the edict that gods cannot kill each other. Triton had killed Ares’ daughter, Nike. Zeus had to do it or Ares would have killed him and then Poseidon would have killed Ares. Zeus had to stop that chain of events before it spiraled out of control.
“Why haven’t you left? I said go,” Zeus yelled at Hermes. Hermes jumped up and flew out knocking his over his chair and the table holding their drinks.
Zeus turned back to the projection to see how the three men were doing. The bandages and elixirs were working their magic. The three men were standing. It took Nicolai and Amadi to pull Terry up because his wounds were still not yet completely healed. Terry had tried to brush off their help, acting tough. From this, Zeus knew he was going to be a great leader.
Too bad it has to be this way, Zeus thought. I could use someone like him.
The men entered the next room single file. Amadi was in front with his pistol out and a fireball in the other hand, Terry was in the middle and Nicolai brought in the back.
Why did they have Nicholaus in the back? Zeus wondered. Wouldn’t it be better if Nicholaus was up front? Nicholaus’ weapon wasn’t made for long range.
The three demi-gods intrigued Zeus. If those giants were what he thought they were, the demi-gods were really more powerful than he could even have imagined. Zeus continued to watch as they entered the final room.
The room was bigger than the giants den. The walls continued up farther then the men could see. In the middle a light shone down on one man who stood silently. At least it looked like a man with its two arms and two legs. The creature stood at eight feet and was pure black. The creature was more shadow than man. Then the thing spoke.
“So you three are what got my masters in an uproar? This is going to be too easy.”
Without notice, the creature lifted up its arm and lighting shot from its claw nailing Amadi right in the chest. At the same time it dashed over to Terry, picked him up with the other arm and threw him high into the air, skidding against the wall. Nicolai got in a couple of shots hitting the monster, which stopped him from continuing to electrocute Amadi.
The creature turned his attention to Nicolai and grinned. Moving so fast that it looked like a blur to Nicolai, it dodged Nicolai’s shots as it moved in close. The monster jumped on top of him and took a bite out of his neck. With one of its free claws, the creature started to tear into Nicolai’s guts. Nicolai screamed in pain. The creature was about to gut Nicolai with his other claw.
Nicolai grasped the creatures head with his hands and willed his power to cause as much pain as possible. The monster shrieked in pain as it tried to pull away. Nicolai held on to the monster as long as he could. The creature finally broke free as Nicolai lost his strength to hold on.
Nicolai realized he couldn’t get up. The monster went to perform a killing blow on Nicolai when it was hit in the back with one of Amadi’s fireballs. Amadi then pulled up his pistol for a shot. He charged it as fast as he could before shooting the monster. Amadi shot the beast in the gut and a hole appeared right through the monster.
The beast looked at its wound and started to laugh.
“This is the best you can do?” The creature hissed while playing with the hole. “This is child’s play.”
The monster reached his hands out to electrocute Amadi again, but then he was shot again from above. He looked up and saw Terry falling downward with his side-arm out. Terry shot two more times before charging up again for one last shot at the monster’s head. A gaping hole shone right through its face.
Terry slammed into the monster, causing them to both tumble to the ground. Nicolai and Amadi ran to Terry and helped him up. They started to walk away when they heard the monster stir. Without thinking, all three turned around and opened up on the monster— Terry had summoned his assault rifle while Amadi and Nicolai used their only weapons—until their weapons overheated. Amadi and Nicolai both charged up their respective power balls and unleashed it on the creature. Terry walked up and took out his sidearm and fired it until it over heated.
Behind them Zeus, Aphrodite and Athena dropped from the sky.
“Thank goodness you three are alright,” Zeus said as the gods ran to them. “We were trying t
o get in, but we couldn’t until that thing died.”
“What was that thing?” Nicolai asked. “It almost killed us.”
“I will tell you later,” Zeus said. Right now we need to get you guys to the healers. Your injuries are much more serious than I can take care of.”
Each of the gods grabbed one of the demi-gods and teleported away.
Chapter 12
After looking over Terry, the healers had said it would be ten to fourteen days till he would recover. After having all of his ribs broken, his left lung punctured, his left shoulder dislocated, his left arm shattered, and a concussion, they were amazed that he was even still alive.
None of that mattered to Terry. It was his companions that he was most worried about. Amadi was badly burnt after being electrocuted. His chest and even part of his face was covered with burn scars. Nicolai received a reprehensible scar on his stomach from where the creature gutted him and there was a gash in his neck from when it had bitten him as well. The healers, however, were able to get them patched up.
When Terry woke first woke up since the compound, a full five days later, he was practically healed. The pain was gone, but only if he didn’t move too fast. And judging from how slow the others were moving Terry figured they were in the same predicament.
The door to the cabin flew open and a burst of light entered, blinding the inhabitants inside. Terry flinched from the pain that pulsed through his whole body as he turned away from the light.
Pain shot through his body again when he shifted his body to see who opened the door. After his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw that it was Aphrodite.
“I see you three are up,” Aphrodite said. “That is good. Zeus said you are ready to hear the final plans for the war. He is ready to answer any questions you might have.”
Fighting the pain, Terry slowly got up to get dress. He looked towards the back of the cabin and saw Amadi and Nicolai were doing the same. Terry opened up the dresser and pulled out a chiton. He tried to pull it over his head but failed. The pain was unconscionable when he tried to lift his arms above his head.
“If you need help getting dressed, I will be glad to lend a hand,” Aphrodite said admiring the show.
Terry looked down and realized he was naked. He grabbed the blanket from his bed, ignoring the pain from his quick movements, and wrapped it around himself.
“Yeah, that won’t be necessary. I can manage on my own.”
Aphrodite looked past Terry and asked the other two the same thing. Both of them declined her offer and she stormed off creating a racket.
Amadi approached Terry and said, “Come on Tereus, let’s go and see what the next step is.”
Amadi continued outside shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight as he stepped out.
Nicolai followed behind. “Let’s go, you might want to put the chiton on in the exomie style. It was easier for me anyways.”
Terry watched as they walked away before putting on the chiton. Nicolai was right; the exomie-style was much easier to put on while his ribs were healing. When he was finished, he walked outside to join the others.
The sun was exceptionally bright and it burned Terry’s eyes. After his eyes finally adjusted, he saw everyone sitting around a table with food. His belly started to rumble realizing how hungry he was, it had been a few days since he’d last eaten. Halfway to the table, Jessica got up and ran towards him. She slowly kissed him and then helped him over to the table.
At the head of the table sat Zeus and the other gods.
“Thank you for coming Tereus. Eat, drink; your bodies need it to heal properly. Unfortunately, I am afraid that some of you won’t be unscarred from the exercise,” Zeus said, looking at Amadi and Nicolai. “But I guess some of you will be keeping their pretty faces,” he added, the rest of the demi-gods laughed and looked at Terry.
“But seriously, we need to get down to business,” Zeus laid down his cup and pulled out a shard. “This is called a life shard, my life shard. When a god becomes powerful enough, he can make one. This will save his life if he comes against something that can kill him. With it, he can regenerate and create himself a new body when the old one is destroyed. However, if it is used against him, the wielder can kill him and absorb their power and life force. This is what you are going to do. Tereus, you will do this to me. Nicolai, you will do it to Hades, and Amadi, will do it to Ares.”
The shard disappeared as Zeus picked up his cup and began drinking. “When you do this, we will have to do it at a precise location.”
“Hang on,” Nicolai said, interrupting Zeus. “Before we talk war, I think the first item of business should be telling us what that creature was that almost killed us.”
Zeus looked up at his fellow gods. “A long time ago, the Titans ruled the world, and they did whatever they wanted with little thought to the consequences. Certain things happened, and then the gods took over.”
“That is putting it mildly. You and your siblings almost destroyed the world fighting the Titans,” Aphrodite piped in. She was sitting in a reveling position noticing that Terry was looking she winked at him.
Terry saw a jealous look come over Jessica’s face. Uh oh, he thought. Terry did love her, but sometimes she could get jealous at times. Terry put his hand on Jessica’s knee and gave her a stern look. When she looked at him, she blushed and stopped glaring at Aphrodite.
“Yes, well after we took over, I found a tome that told about other beings,” Zeus continued. “In this book, it talked about two forces. One force embodied good and the other embodied evil. Being curious and young, I went in search for these forces. As I searched, I stumbled on a different dimension I never saw before. I began exploring this dimension and stumbled upon two creatures I never saw before— they were battling each other fiercely. One was made of pure light, in the shape of a female body while the other was pure darkness, in the shape of a man. Naturally, me being who I am, I went to the aid the female. It was a battle I wasn’t prepared for, the creature made of dark almost killed me. After the conflict, the woman healed my wounds and told me everything.”
Zeus paused the story and started running his finger on his goblet. There was this look on his face that none had seen before, not even the other gods. For the first time, Zeus was showing fear. Aphrodite looked like she was about to say something, but Zeus started talking again.
“She told me that since we had killed a few Titans, the dark entity had been able to slip through the prison’s seal,” Zeus held up his hand to stop the questions from being asked. “He was a Daimōn, or otherwise called a ‘demon’ in human terms. She said in order to prevent more from escaping, I had to create more gods and link their life force to the prison that held the Daimōn in their place. That’s what the Titans were here for; they helped seal the Daimōn. Since all of the Titans are either dead or made into gods, we had to take their place. Unfortunately, some have escaped their prison, and that is what you encountered in the compound.”
Zeus got up from his chair and turned away from them. In front of the group a sphere appeared out of nowhere. It was a replication of earth. Zeus turned around touched the sphere causing it to break apart. In the middle was an even smaller sphere.
“She didn’t explain much. She just showed me where the prison was. What the humans call the core is actually the prison.”
“Without the core, this planet won’t be able to hold life,” Amadi said. “How can we destroy them?”
“You don’t defeat them. We continue with the plan with Ares.”
“Why can’t we fight them?” Nicolai asked.
“Her kind defeated the Daimōn and put them in a prison that currently resides in the center of the world, to give life to the world. If they die, we die. If they get released we die. The only way we live is if we keep the status quo.” He then stared at the gods sitting at the table. “That is the reason for my actions. If more of us die, more of those things will run rampant on this earth. They will destroy everything.”
> “Why haven’t we seen one of these good creatures?” Nicolai asked. “Why aren’t they helping us?”
“I don’t know. I have tried to search others out, but I have not had any luck. Perhaps they only come when we need them the most. Perhaps they are all dead,” Zeus said. “Or maybe they are preparing for the daimōn to break free. In the meantime, we need to concentrate on our current problem. Amadi, do you have an idea for how we are going to do this?”
Amadi sat there trying to absorb all of the information he had just heard. After a few moments of silence he finally spoke up.
“Well, we have three fronts and three people. One of us has to go to the underworld, one to Ares’ lair, and then one to conduct the war on earth. Are there any conditions that I need to be aware of before I come up with the game plan?”
“Yes there is,” Aphrodite answered. “First of all, not many people can enter Hades’ lair. He has always been a private person. How he has done this, we don’t know. But we believe that the only one here who can enter would be Nicholaus.”
“I guess he will be going after Hades. I assume Hermes can take him to the entrance?” Amadi asked.
Hermes coughed up his drink. “Me? Why would I do that?”
“We will need you to take Nicholaus as far as you can and bring him back. Being the messenger of the gods you probably have access to the underworld that not even Hades knows about. Or am I wrong?”
“No, you are not wrong, Assaraeus,” Zeus cut in. “Hermes, you will do it. I know you have your secret routes. You had to have picked up secrets since you can’t teleport directly into places.”
“Fine, I will do it,” Hermes said grudgingly.
“Great, now we have to deal with Ares’ domain. Naturally, it should be Tereus who goes there. Seeing how you will need both Athena and I to run this war, which just leaves Jessica for the battle on earth.”
This time Terry was surprised. “What are you talking about? Jessica isn’t doing anything of the sort.”