Twilight of the Gods (Universe in Flames Book 8)

by Christian Kallias

  “Athena?” said Zeus with genuine concern.

  “She’s fine, but many Olympians died in our last battle.”

  Zeus didn’t seem that concerned as long as none of his children had died.

  “That’s the nature of war. Many more will die before this conflict is resolved. Even I'm prepared to die when and if that time comes. As agreed before, you have my full support now. I’ll instruct Athena that she can requisition as many ships as you require to deal with the Fury threat. You should probably try to contact the Asgardians as well. They were instrumental in the last Fury War; they always had an edge thanks to their more advanced technology.”

  “Thank you, Zeus. We’re already trying to get Thor to the table.”

  “Just be careful not to cross him; he’s not someone you want to be on the wrong side with.”

  That information came a little too late since both Chase and Oryn had openly deceived him by telling him the Furies would hit Asgard next, when in fact, Arakan’s current plan was to attack Olympus next.

  “Duly noted. I would be remiss if I didn’t warn you that there’s a potential Fury attack coming to Olympus, so you may want to keep a sizable armada to protect this world. Though hopefully, stopping the Furies on Droxia might make them regroup and reconsider their next target.”

  Zeus’ gaze got lost for a moment.

  “Very well, thank you for the warning. I know very well that one day I might have to face the Furies directly. That’s part of what I created when I sabotaged the weapon that would kill them all.”

  Oryn and Chase glanced at one another with a puzzled look.

  “What do you mean sabotage?” asked Oryn.

  “You see, I couldn’t let you be killed with the rest of the Furies. You were all that I had left from Zalara. I couldn’t let the Asgardian weapon kill you in the process. So I convinced the Asgardian’s top scientist to alter it and make sure the alternate dimension wasn’t destroyed with their weapon.”

  “Was that Kvasir?”

  “In fact it was. You know him?”

  “He’s helped us plenty in the last few days.”

  “I thought for sure he was a goner for helping us modify the weapon.”

  “He’s still alive, though Thor wants to have him put on trial and executed. We released him from his banished prison, and that’s how Oryn and I met for the first time in fact.”

  “Which didn’t go well for any of us,” interjected Oryn, “as I remember.”

  Chase remembered that first encounter very well. If it wasn’t for his brother Argos’ intervention, he probably would have died that day.

  “While I would love to stay and chat, I have a battle to orchestrate on Droxia in a few minutes. Oryn, do you mind giving us just a minute? There’s something else I would like to discuss with Zeus, in private.”

  “Sure, I’ll wait outside the temple. Will you be needing my assistance on Droxia?”

  Chase caught a visual plea inside Zeus’ eyes that determined his reply.

  “I think it’s best you stay here; I’m sure the two of you have a lot of things to discuss. If I need your help, I’ll just swing by.”

  “Very well, I’ll see you when I see you then,” said Oryn before walking away.

  3

  “Thank you for bringing Oryn back, Chase.”

  “You’re welcome, Zeus. Thank you for your full support. I’d like us to discuss my past as agreed, even though I only have a few minutes.”

  “I had a feeling you would. What would you like to know?”

  “Let’s start with my parents. I’d like to know who they were.”

  “Are.”

  “What?”

  “Your mother, at the very least, is still alive. As for your father, Menelas, I’m not sure what happened to him. I lost contact with him when the Furies got trapped in the time-dilated dimension.”

  “Can you explain something to me? I’m thinking Arakan hasn’t aged ten thousand years. I know Furies have a longer lifespan, but—”

  “They can live a few hundred years, and the most powerful warriors seem to last the longest, when they’re not killed on the battlefield that is. But they’re not immortal. Their prophecies talk of an Ultra Fury who would be immortal. Arakan always thought he was the one, but I doubt it.”

  “I’ve been called that.”

  “That would make sense; your half Olympian genes give you immortality. I guess they never realized only a hybrid could become immortal.”

  Chase nodded. “What about my mother?”

  “I believe that would be Athena.”

  Chase’s face dropped.

  “What? That doesn’t make any sense, Zeus. If she is my mother, why hasn’t she said anything?”

  “I don’t think she knows.”

  “That makes even less sense; how could she not know her own son?”

  “Because she didn’t raise you. You have to understand Athena never wanted children. You and your brother’s births were an accident, and when Menelas learned she was pregnant, he arranged to have you abducted right after birth. He was worried you’d be either killed or imprisoned with the rest of the Furies. Since Athena didn’t want children, she didn’t object to Menelas’ plan. Back then she was a very involved Olympian. In fact, she orchestrated most of the war and led the forces of countless worlds into battle. Being a mother and building a family while waging the worst war this universe had ever been witness to weren’t exactly compatible activities. She put herself and millions in danger every single day. There was simply no time for anything else for her back then.”

  Chase felt an emotion aching toward sadness and disappointment at Zeus’ words. Zeus’ revelations brought back painful memories from when Chase had been found without any memories back on Alpha Prime. For the first few years he had felt like he had been abandoned by his real family, and to hear Zeus describe how his mother couldn’t be bothered trying to build a family during the war, only underlined that painful sentiment.

  “I can see you’re disappointed,” added Zeus. “Look, those were difficult times; once Arakan learned of his wife’s deception, he went into a hatred-fueled spiral that sent the universe into its bloodiest conflict in eons.”

  “Doesn’t exactly make me feel better.”

  “It’s not supposed to. You asked me about your mother, I’m simply giving you the answers I promised.”

  “But that would make Aphroditis—”

  “Your aunt, that’s right.”

  There was already a strong bond between the two of them, but Chase never imagined it could be a family tie. With the impact of that life-altering realization, he immediately felt that leaving Aphroditis in the machine, no matter how adamant she was that she needed to stay in it, was no longer an option. He would get her out of there, no matter what.

  “So Oryn is also immortal?”

  “Of course. Who also happens to be your aunt. Half removed.”

  “That’s heavy; she looks younger somehow.”

  “Well, she was trapped in that dimension with Arakan and the rest of the Furies. While age barely shows on an immortal being, at least not after many thousands of years, she would be a younger soul. Time passed considerably slower in their dimensional prison.”

  Oryn, my aunt? This day really gets weirder by the minute.

  “What else can you tell me about my father?”

  “That he was a great warrior; I sense a lot of him in you. Like you, he didn’t agree with what the Furies were doing. He was caught in a war he didn’t want to be part of, and was forced to switch sides to be able to live with his conscience and protect his children in the process.”

  “What I don’t understand is why we aren’t older? Argos seems to get younger lately and it’s something I’ve been wondering about. But with everything that’s been happening, it is something I didn’t really have time to ponder.”

  “Immortal beings age faster when they are exposed to negative emotions. We still don’t die, but we get whiter hair an
d more wrinkles too. Since he’s fighting with you now, and accepting that his old ways were the wrong path, it could be the reason.”

  “I guess from that point of view it would make sense. It would also mean that his heart is in the right place now.”

  “Chase, that may be true at the moment, but I’m not exactly sure about Argos. You two seem to be diametrically opposite. Perhaps he can become another good Fury, but I would keep my eyes open in the future. Argos has travelled down a path littered with power-hungry goals, and it might not take much for him to switch sides again.”

  Chase had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case, but he made a mental note of Zeus’ words nonetheless.

  “He had plenty of opportunities to kill me and didn’t. And he’s saved both myself and my son not long ago.”

  “Back then he only spared you because he needed you to get the machine operational. I can’t be sure of anything, and this is just what my gut feeling tells me from meeting him here when the three of you came to Olympus. I’m glad to hear he’s no longer the power-hungry crazed Fury he was before, but only time will tell if this is a new leaf or just a temporary phase that suits his long-term plans.”

  Chase found the thought incredibly depressing. He had to admit that he rather enjoyed the new Argos and his feelings for him had turned from murderous to actually compassionate. He was also happy to have his brother fight by his side now. He would hate to lose that but knew better than to just ignore Zeus’ warning. For the time being though, Argos clearly was on his side, and with everything happening that was good enough for Chase.

  “Very well, I’ll keep an eye on him. I really hope you’re wrong, though.”

  “So am I, Chase. Is there anything else you’d like from me?”

  “Not right now; I have to return to the fleet and deal with the Furies trying to destroy Droxia.”

  “Good luck, Chase.”

  “Thank you, Zeus.”

  Chase teleported away and Zeus walked toward the gardens to meet with Oryn.

  “LONG TIME, NO SEE,” said Cedric.

  Yanis’ eyes lit up at the sound of Cedric’s voice, but when he turned to see his friend, he felt uncomfortable seeing him in his current state.

  “I look worse than I feel, don’t worry. I’m still me,” said Cedric joyfully.

  Yanis got up from his console and hugged his friend.

  “I’m glad to hear it; it’s so good to have you back.”

  “It’s good to be back. Thank you for saving me.”

  “From what I heard you saved yourself.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without all my friends’ help. I’m very grateful.”

  “We have to get these implants out of you.”

  “Amen to that, but when we do, we need to discuss the possibility of having others installed. We just need to refine their appearance, and I need my good looks back if you catch my drift.”

  Yanis snickered.

  “I hear you. After we deal with the Droxian emergency, we should try and operate on you. We’ll need Chase or Argos to heal you while we go in though.”

  “I’d rather it’d be Chase; not exactly a fan of Argos.”

  “Not many are. But all things considered, he’s been pretty good to us.”

  “I don’t trust him, don’t think I ever will—” There was a moment of silence before Cedric continued. “Actually, I’ve come to apologize.”

  “What could you possibly have to apologize for?”

  “I stole the ancient tech. Well, I had Ares take it from you for the wrong reasons.”

  “What? Why didn’t you ask me for it? And what did you need it for?”

  “That’s the thing, I couldn’t take no for an answer. We used it to store Spiros’ consciousness into the device, as it was the only thing that had the capacity we needed in such a short time, especially with Earth’s electronics mostly still down.”

  Yanis’ face hardened. “Cedric, what if you erased or deleted valuable data inside that sphere? I was counting on it to develop the blink drive.”

  “Blink drive? What the hell is that?”

  “It’s just a theory at this point but my research and reverse engineering on that tech seemed to indicate this sphere could have been a vital part for a new type of FTL engine allowing ships to travel almost instantly anywhere.”

  “Is that even possible?”

  “I don’t know, it’s too early. But that might be a moot point now if whatever data was inside the sphere has been erased.”

  Cedric looked away. “I’m sorry; I just wanted to help Gaia recover Spiros’ consciousness.”

  Yanis exhaled deeply. “Look, I like Spiros and was very saddened by what happened to him but you should have asked me, and Chase should have made that decision, not you.”

  “I know— but put yourself in my shoes for a moment. It’s my body, my hand that killed Spiros.”

  “No! Gaia 2 was in control of your body, and you are not responsible for any of it.”

  “That’s not how it feels. I guess you wouldn’t understand.”

  Yanis put his hand on Cedric’s shoulder. “You’re right, I can’t pretend to understand how this felt, and I’m sorry for giving you flak for this, but we need to think of the bigger picture here, and that’s defeating the Furies. If we could make a blink drive the implication and the strategical edge this would give us is way more important than the life of one man. And even if I had been the casualty, I wouldn’t want you to do this on my account.”

  Cedric felt guilty. He knew Yanis was right. The sphere was a potential game changer, something he didn’t know when he requested Ares to get it for him.

  “Yanis, please understand I didn’t know about this blink drive.”

  “Would that have made a difference had you known?”

  Cedric couldn’t tell. He was impulsive by nature and, seeing how affected Gaia was at the loss of Spiros, he wasn’t sure he would have stopped to ponder the consequences.

  “To tell you the truth— I don’t know.”

  “Well, at least you’re being honest. Anyway, what’s done is done, and there’s nothing to be gained by pointing fingers now. We just need to see if that stunt of yours has made irreparable damage to my research on that ancient tech.”

  “I’ll do everything to help you. Even if we erased some of it, we could potentially try a recovery algorithm.”

  “You do realize both our tech and more advanced ones don’t rely on something as primitive as magnetic hard drives where you can still dig deep and try to recover old data.”

  “Surely there is some sort of built-in data protection features for cases like this? I have a hard time believing low-tech would be more advanced because of its antiquated design.”

  “There are probably some, but it’s not something that will be apparent since we don’t fully understand their tech just yet. Anyway, we need to dump the data off the sphere soon and see what’s what. On that regard, where are you going to dump Spiros’ consciousness? A battle droid?”

  “I’ve asked Argos to make me a clone body.”

  “With Chase’s approval, I take it?”

  “He’s not exactly been free for me to talk to up until now.”

  “Oh boy.”

  CHASE RETURNED onboard the Hope’s bridge a handful of seconds before the entire fleet exited hyperspace. Sarah got up from the captain’s chair to let him take his place and sat on the nearest one. She gently brushed his forearm.

  “Everything alright?” she asked.

  Chase had no doubt that he must have appeared concerned. The slew of information he had acquired in the last minutes had been overwhelming and he didn’t exactly know how to process it. But right now he had to stay focused on what was to come.

  “We’ll discuss it later; I’m not sure if I’m alright.”

  Chase saw the worry in his loved one’s eyes.

  Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything later, he told her telepathically.

  “Status report,” he
said out loud to the bridge crew.

  “Exiting hyperspace corridor now.”

  “We’ve just exited hyperspace,” said Daniel from the tactical console. “Holy crap! There are no less than fifteen Fury destroyers, and they’re pretty much done annihilating the Droxian orbital forces. Looks like we arrived in the nick of time.”

  What else is new?

  “What’s the status of the planet? Have they started firing on it?”

  “It doesn’t look like they bombed it from space, however I’m reading strong energy signatures in many of the largest towns that have been under construction since the last attack.”

  “Scan for Fury life forms in those areas.”

  “There are at least half a dozen signatures, perhaps more; the damage and explosions could be masking them.”

  Argos and Chris entered the bridge.

  “Looks like we have Furies attacking cities from the surface of the planet, like you, Miseo and General Arkoolis did the last time,” said Chase.

  Argos pressed his lips together before speaking. “It’s standard operating procedure for an invasion. Furies are so powerful they rarely need air support to wipe out a civilization. Not only that, they crave the thrill of the fight and—” he hesitated.

  “And killing,” Chase finished his brother’s sentence. “You can say it, we all know what Furies are.”

  “Should we go take care of the planet-bound opposition, then?” inquired Chris.

  Chase rose from the captain’s chair. “Open a channel to Athena.”

  Athena’s face filled the bridge’s main holo-screen.

  “What can I do for you, Chase?”

  “I’d like you to take command of the fleet while we go take care of the ground forces currently wiping the Droxians once again.”

  “I can have a battalion of Olympian warriors accompany you.”

  Chase looked at Argos, and he didn’t have to even ask. Argos understood that he was requesting his council.

  “They must have sent elite warriors. While we could use the backup, they’re very likely to be wiped out quickly and only provide a temporary distraction. I think we can manage without them.”