by Jory Smith
Being in the back of the group, Terry was the last person to come upon the cave. There he saw the two gryphons that had flown Aphrodite and him earlier. On a fire pit looked like an adult deer. It was turning slowly and juices were dripping off of the carcass. Looking at Jake and his men, Terry saw them eyeing the deer with salivating lips.
“Where did this come from?” Terry asked.
“From them,” Aphrodite said pointing behind Terry to the gryphons. She was already lounging in a hammock made from vines.
Terry looked too the gryphons and behind them came out seven nymphs from the forest. “Okay, where did they come from?”
“I asked for their help since we are going to be staying here for the night,” Aphrodite said as she lazes in the hammock. One nymph with grapes joined Aphrodite and started feeding them to her. “Just because we are outdoors, doesn’t mean we have to live like savages, does it?”
The other nymphs walked towards the men and served fruit and vegetables while one cut up the meat. Ignoring the fruits and vegetables, the men devoured every piece of the deer that was served to them. Watching the scene unfold before him was getting on Terry’s nerves.
“Aphrodite, can I talk to you, in private please?” He said motioning to the forest.
Aphrodite rolled her eyes and got out the hammock. She reluctantly followed Terry into the woods so that they could talk in private.
“What are you doing?” Terry asked as they got out of hearing distance from his companions. “The entrance is right there. Why don’t we go in now?”
“Well first of all, the entrance is actually a mile further into the cave. Second, you don’t want to enter Ares domain right now because it is dark there. We’re not going to enter his domain when it is night. I will have trouble protecting us all during the day, let alone the night. I figured it would be a better idea to stay here tonight, get some rest, during the day we can continue with our journey. Are there any other questions you need answering?”
Maybe I have been too hard on her, Terry thought. All she has done is help me out. Maybe I am wrong about her?
“Yeah, just one.” Terry said trying to cut the tension. “I figured you would have tripped one of them in your bed by now. What’s taking you so long?”
Aphrodite smiled. “Well, because of three things really. They do smell if you have not noticed; in their current condition they wouldn’t last long and maybe I am saving myself for someone special. But don’t worry about that. The night is not over yet.” Aphrodite turned around and went back to her hammock.
Following behind Aphrodite, Terry sat down by the entrance to the cave. Tonight he would try to relax, for tomorrow the real fun begins.
Terry had gone on many missions before, but never before had he felt something like this. For the first time in his life he was worried. The first time he was in his life he may not make it out alive. He had barely made it through his training when he fought against those giants, and by pure luck they had made it past the Daimōn. If the Daimōn hadn’t forgotten about Terry, he wouldn’t have been able to sucker punch it like he did. He knew it was going to be by pure luck again that he would get through this.
“You hungry?” Jake asked standing over Terry. He looked up and saw Jake holding two plates full of meat and fruit.
“Not really, but I’d better eat anyway. It may be awhile till I eat again.”
Terry took the extra plate as Jake sat down next to him. While they ate, Jake started asking questions. “So I have to ask, what the hell is going on here? Don’t tell me you don’t know either.”
Terry sighed as he recapped about what had happened since that day Jake called to have him look after his wife. When Terry brought the subject of his wife up—he saw a sad look form on Jake’s face—so he skipped to the part when Zeus came to him later that day. He told how he was supposed to be a son of Zeus and about the Change. He continued to the day of the Change and the reason why he was here.
“That is one crazy story,” Jake said after swallowing a mouth full of meat. “What I don’t understand is how Zeus is your father. How did that happened?”
“That is not exactly something I would like to talk about, with anyone. Believe me; I still owe Zeus one for that.”
“I would hate to be him,” Jake said before stuffing his mouth full of meat. “What is this thing about going to Ares’ domain she mentioned?”
“There is something I have to go and fetch. Something that will stop what is going on here.”
“Well, if you need help, I can always come with you. I am sure that whatever Ares pulls, it won’t be as bad as the mayhem we used to cause together,” Jake said grinning.
Terry smiled right back. “Oh I agree. But you need to go back and find your wife. I only brought you along this far to get you away from Apollo. You will get your chance to fight with one of my companions. He is leading the resistance and our first area of attack is going to be in the Americas. I have been in contact with him and he is expecting you guys. He will need your help. I asked him to have you go and organize forces in North Carolina. But first, find your wife and get her to safety.”
Jake sat staring at Terry with a look of gratitude on his face. “Thank you. You are a true friend.”
“I am not doing it for you man.” Terry said trying to stay unemotional. “Maybe after this, your wife will stop hating me if you tell her that it was I who got you to her.”
Jake cracked a smile again and continued eating. “I don’t think anything can make her like you, especially after what you said about her.”
“How many times do I have to say it? It was Danny who said she had an adams apple, not me.”
The two men started hitting each other and reminisced about their younger days until night finally came. Jake laid down and passed out instantly.
From the darkness Aphrodite spoke up. “You know he is one of you right. He is not as powerful, but he is still a demi-god.”
Terry nodded absently as he settled in to sleep. Silence came quickly upon the camp until morning.
With the morning sun, the men worked on cleaning up while Terry stood standing in front of the cave.
“The time has finally come, yet you still stand here. Waiting for Ares to come and give you his shard?” Aphrodite said meekly.
“Just biding my time is all. Where do you keep your shard?”
“I am not old enough to have the power to make a shard. Besides, you would have to make me blush to divulge that big of a secret, and I have not met a man who could do that.” Aphrodite said seductively as she leaned against the wall with her breasts pushing out.
“I would like to meet the man who could do that,” Terry said before clearing his throat awkwardly. “I am going to go in alone. I need you to take them to Amadi. He is expecting these men to help him with the war effort.”
“Fine, I will take them there.” Aphrodite said. Then she started giving him advice. “Whatever you do, don’t travel at night there. Find a place you can defend each night. Be careful, Ares has created some nasty beasts that live there.” Aphrodite started caressing his arm. “I wish you will let me help you. I can hide us from the beasts.”
“You need to take the men back and get them prepared.” Terry said removing her hand from his arm.
“Fine, I am going. You better be out of here when I teleport. This place will light up like a beacon.”
“Alright, I am on my way.”
At the exact moment Amadi and his men were dropped off at the abandoned base, they were attacked by Ares’ men. They were fighting everything, from Minotaurs and sphinxes to automations. Everything and anything Ares could throw at them he did. Amadi looked on as he saw ten men firing at this gigantic bull like statue. They first saw the beast heading towards them stampeding its own allies. Thank god we have the weapons Hephaestus made, or we would have been wiped out already. Amadi’s men were gradually pushing back the beasts. They finally pushed the perimeter out enough for reinforcements to arrive.
The area was still too hot to bring in the transport. They still had to reach the area where the nuke resided.
“Sgt. Major, we need to clear this area now. When the next battalion lands, I want you to start pushing out the perimeter, then use the third battalion to start clearing the area where the nuke is settled.”
Without waiting for any acknowledgement, Amadi pulled out his map of the base and started giving the game plan on how they were going to extract the nuke.
“When the third battalion has the nuke area secured, we will use part of the fourth battalion to transport the nuke to the boat. They have a trailer that should be able to carry the nuke. The rest of the fourth is securing the beach front and a boat at this moment.” Amadi rolled up the map and gave it to his Sgt. Major. “I will help transport the nuke if needed. But I have to be free in case we come up against something our men can’t handle.
“The bomb is not too far away. With luck we can get that bomb and have this area cleared of Ares Troops before night fall. Let the men know whomever has the most kills gets their weight in gold.” The battalion commander saluted and ran off to carry out his orders.
The commander of his first battalion was a good man. He had sided with Amadi when his officers tried to depose him and he even trained his troops well. Amadi needed a new XO and the battalion commander would be perfect for the job. Amadi would see if he made it out of this death trap.
Comets started to land inside the perimeter and men came pouring out of the pods. The commander for the second battalion came running up. Then I have him in command of the second battalion. He was a good man, but he couldn’t command his way out of his own house. That is why I placed his Sgt. Major with him.
The Sgt. Major of the second battalion was a hardened warrior. Amadi knew him back in his days when they were with the Congolese army. Rumors said that one time the colonel he was serving under over rode his orders. The Sgt. Major walked up to the colonel’s office and threw him out of the window. After that incident took place no officer dared talk back to him and the enlisted loved him afterwards. It wasn’t too long before the army got rid of him. When Amadi went to personally recruit him, he was in some bar drinking his pension away. Too bad I can’t make him the commander of second battalion. Perhaps he can get a battlefield promotion. He deserves one.
“Sir, second battalion is here and waiting orders.” The colonel said while saluting.
“I want you to spread your battalion out to line up with the first battalion’s men. We need to start pushing these beasts out. This is going to be our center of command for the war effort.”
“Aye sir,” The commander then turned around and issued orders to his Sgt. Major before they left to carry out the orders.
“If only he wasn’t so loyal. We could get rid of him,” Amadi’s Sgt. Major said.
“I know. I don’t know what I want to do with him.”
“I would make him your XO,” the Sgt. Major said. And before Amadi could say anything, “Then make the first commander your general. You’re going to be a god. You’re not going to have the time to deal with things like this.”
“Yeah, then what are you going to do if you are not going to take my place?”
“Well, I was thinking that you would owe me enough that you would make me a god as well. You will need your own gods under you that you can trust. I don’t know about you, but with all of that backstabbing they do to each other, you will need someone to watch your back.”
“That is good. How come you were enlisted and never became an officer? You’re too smart.”
“That is exactly why I was enlisted. I figured I could run things with a not-so-bright officer as my stooge. Then if things turned for the worse, I could just blame it all on him.”
Amadi started to laugh. “What am I going to do with you?”
“I don’t know sir” the Sgt. Major replied. “But let’s get past this obstacle first. It seems like the extra battalion is doing well. We are actually increasing the perimeter size. Now we just need third battalion and we can get to that Nuke. I hope fourth battalion is doing better than we are.”
“They are doing just fine,” Amadi said after he closed his eyes for a few seconds. “The commander of the fourth is in a pissy mood since he has a woman giving him orders. He is too afraid to complain out loud though.”
“I would be afraid of her as well,” the Sgt. Major replied. “After what you said about her, and how she volunteered to go after the Kraken, with Athena behind her staring him down, I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side either.”
Amadi smiled as he watched the battles take place. He was issuing orders through his mind and watched his men carry them out perfectly. “I wish they would just give up. We already have them defeated.” Amadi said.
“You know they are not going to give up. They are trying to perform a counter attack,” he said pointing where the heaviest fighting is coming from.
“Of course why would the fates want to make it easy for us? When the third gets here, we will point them that way. Then we will go after the nuke. We will unleash hell on those beasts.”
“With pleasure, Sir. Perhaps when this is over, we can get that god who made our weapons to make other weapons for us.”
“Like what?”
“You know, drones, mortars, tanks, the whole nine yards.” He started admiring his rifle. “Just think we can take over this whole world if we had things like that made from him.”
“Of course, but I will have to talk with Athena about that. I am sure she can persuade him to do that for us.” Amadi said. He then straightened up tall in his uniform. “The third battalion is on their way. Let’s get ready and show these beasts how to properly kill.”
Jessica watched as Amadi’s battalion set the boat up for the bomb to be loaded. Then the fun part will begin, she thought. Why did I volunteer for this assignment?
Jessica knew each of them had their own agenda and none of them concerned helping the people. Not even Terry. Somehow he thinks he is doing this to save me. Jessica continued with her thoughts. None of them actually care about defending the people of earth. Even Zeus with his talk of saving the humans didn’t mean it.
A messenger ran up to Jessica from the main command post. “The colonel says that we have report of possible enemy combatants coming inland. The scouts said they look like men, but are not exactly men.”
“They are dragon men,” Athena said from behind. She had just walked up from the boat where she was helping with the preparation of the boat. “They are born from a tooth of a dragon, ready to fight and ready to kill. Tell your commander he is to pull his men to the first hill.”
“There are only a hundred of them. We are thirty times their number,” the runner said confidently.
“Yes and there will be three thousand bodies on the ground. You will pull your men back. Jessica and I will handle them.”
The runner acknowledged her orders and ran to his commander.
“What do you mean ‘Jessica and I’?” Jessica asked when the runner left hearing distance.
“Just like I said. You and I will take the dragon men,” Athena said as she started checking her weapons. “They move too fast for these humans. You and I can take them. You have had enough training. If you can’t handle this, what makes you think you can handle the Kraken?”
“Fine, let’s go,” Jessica said as she drew her weapons.
Jessica and Athena ran towards where the dragon men were advancing from. In front of them, they saw Amadi’s troops starting to pull out of their positions. When they reached the second set of hills they saw the dragon men. The runner’s report was correct. They did look like men, but with some differences.
The enemy army came in two sections, each containing fifty dragon men. They were a foot taller and thicker than any man Jessica had ever seen. The armor they had on was in the same fashion that Athena wore, but there was more to it. Their armor covered them from head to toe. The thing Jessica noticed above all else
was their eyes. Their eyes were pure black, which when she stared into them, they seemed to suck out her soul. Jessica felt a slap across her face. After recovering, she stared down Athena.
“Don’t look into their eyes. It will leave you paralyzed. When you shoot at them, aim dead center at their chest. You have to pierce the heart to kill them. Anywhere else the body part will fall off and two more will grow from it.”
“Is that is why you told them to fall back,” Jessica asked. When Athena nodded, Jessica continued. “How do I know I actually killed it and not add to our misery?”
“They will explode. So when you do kill one, make sure you leave at least three feet of space between it and other dragon men. This way the explosion doesn’t damage its friends and create more.”
“You’re kidding me. We will never get this done,” Jessica said.
“If you are balking at this, then you will never be able to face the Kraken. Besides, it has been done before.” Athena gave Jessica a wink and ran into the oncoming army.
Jessica watched as Athena jumped on to one that was in the corner and pierced him with her spear. She held her shield over him so when he exploded, the shrapnel wouldn’t fly anywhere. She then turned to the one on the right and pierced him in the heart while bashing another one backwards five feet. When the first one exploded, she threw her spear in the heart of the one she bashed.
Jessica watched with amazement as Athena continued her killing spree. Athena was actually doing it. She was killing them without causing anymore to be created.
Jessica ran and held out her hand, lifted one up with her powers and shot him like a clay pigeon. Jessica looked over and Athena had pierced one of the monsters, but one close to it tried to jump in the way of the explosion.
Jessica saw that it was out of range of other dragon men, so she lifted her pistol and shot. Athena felt the bullet breeze by her head causing her to look back at Jessica as the monster exploded. That was a close one, Jessica thought. How many more do we have? Jessica surveyed the battle and saw that they killed more than she thought. We started with a hundred and now I only count fifty-seven. Athena came back up the hill, grinning from ear to ear.