by Kip Hartzell
Athene-A thought her shyness was almost painful, quite the opposite of her sister. “When can we start construction?”
“We do have problems to overcome; not enough agoam crystals, and personnel. That is if you want it done within the next two-hundred and fifty years.”
“So, you recommend we scavenge more crystals and use the indigenous population,” she said, more to herself than to the others.
“We could ask them.”
“I don’t like it, but we’ll bring it before the Council.”
Athene-A thought it surprisingly easy to get Council approval. Zeusticus vehemently opposed, to his chagrin, it was Her-A, who cast the deciding vote. Athene-A was very suspicious of her agenda.
Cousins, along with other species, were all too eager to help the Gods, construction began immediately. The Cousins dubbed it, Olympus. In the meantime, Zeusticus struck at the Titan outpost, constantly slowing their progress. Many raids were sent to destroy the building, and rescue human slaves. They would be united with family, and then relocated as far away from the rift influence as possible. The attacks did little more than stall the inevitable.
A large village cropped up near the base of the enemy stronghold, where little concern was given to the humans and other species. When they couldn’t work anymore, they were eaten, and then more would take their place. The other species soon became less and less. The vast majority was now Cousin.
Months would drag on as Olympus took shape. The Cousins, and others, were more than eager to help, but unlike their counterparts, the Atlanteans would feed, clothe, and house their help. The Council approved teaching the hunter-gathers farming and domestication of certain animals. They took to it quickly, which worried some of the Council members.
Zeusticus was now always at Mt. Olympus, he and his wife, Her-A, lived comfortably in a portable tent. He was furious that the building was taking so long. He wanted to attack, now. His three-phase plan included attacking the stronghold, the Titans, and the rift opening, at the same time. As more months went by, the Cousins had built a large community in order to supply the Atlanteans with what they needed, while working closely together. The God worship got worse with every witness of a technological use.
Hesti-A showed patience and kindness, when teaching them how to make a home out of what they had, or could make. Demeter showed even more patience and understanding while toiling in the soil. The fields began to produce quickly in the fertile valley. Artemis helped them perfect their hunting and tracking skills. She was in the field gathering data more than she was planning for a battle. Apollo saw to their health, while studying the Titans, and conspiring with Athene-A.
The population was swelling, while new recruits came in as the recued were shipped out. The mountain top was nearing completion on the first phase of the outpost-fortress. Hades and Hephaestus designed the fort to float well above the shaved mountain top through anti-gravity generators and stabilizers. They were to begin the second phase, when the attack came.
Cousins lit warning fires in the early morning mist, while the others abandoned their community and ran toward the next valley. Sensors were limited and the attack could be measured in impact tremors. The Titans were coming down the valley in a frontal assault. They had even more hideous monsters in the lead. Captured Cyclops had been transfigured into hill sized one-eyed, potbellied tanks. Smaller, faster creatures, flew, or ran, toward the base of the mountain. Zeusticus was watching from high, assessing the situation. He noticed three Coordinators, or Generals, giving orders. These monsters were very large with dozens of arms and hands protruding from all over their bodies. The whole scene reminded Zeusticus and Athene-A of Aztek-Alon’s creatures-in another war.
Titans, Uranus, Hyperion, Erebus, Iapetus, and many other new Titans, were bringing up the rear. He didn’t see Rhe-A, Thei-A, and a lot of others could not be seen. He scanned the area looking for another attack. He saw none and deduced Uranus was keeping them in reserve, or didn’t trust them.
Poseidon was doing under water research on the spacial field, when he got the scratchy communication about the attack. As he did, the alarms went off, signaling that a large creature was moving in his direction. He barely got the shuttle out of the water before the monster, Typhon, lunged after him. An exceptionally large Titan, disguised as rock, unfolded out of the water and grabbed the shuttle. “Oceanus,” spitting the name out. He fired on the hand, severing enough fingers to escape. Echidna, with groups of young monsters pursued the shuttle. Its new configuration of weapons zapped flying reptilian creatures as they came into range. There were too many, and he was slowly driven back down toward the sea. His expert skills with currents and hydrology, allowed deception enough for him and his crew to escape unscathed.
Lightning reached out and cracked the sound barrier, while blasting the incoming boulders into large rocks. Zeusticus continued his defense with his mind, and whatever weapons he could find, in order to destroy the building size rocks before they crashed into his mountain creation. He noticed quickly, that they were not using much technology. The only thing he could see, was the Titans had dragon scale armor on them that looked like a tunic that stopped just above the knee. It had many shades of blues and blacks, as if made in a hurry.
“Athene-A, what are those?” Zeusticus asked over the crackling comm.
“Rhe-A called them, Hekatonkheires, something like shock troops.”
“Take a group and go left, I’ll go right. We will attack the Titans behind their line of defense, maybe, it will draw the others away.”
“You want us to abandon the base?”
“The base is already lost. We need to inflict as much damage as possible so they’ll think twice before attacking again. Now, move out.” He leaped from a Pegasus onto Hermes, and gave quick directions.
Athene-A searched for a target, while noticing most of the possessed Atlanteans were not present. Uranus and Erebus were guiding the specialized children, who were now two-thirds the size of their forebears. Athene-A only recognized a few of them from Rhe-A’s mind. Koios, who stayed close to a female called, Phoebe. Tethys, Crius, and a few others she had no name for. All typical Titan humanoids, except a very small and young one, she thought could be, Atlas. She could sense the potential strength in the smaller one, and now may be their only chance to avoid a future Destroyer.
Athene-A relayed her observations, that the Titans preferred close combat, ripping and tearing, rather than projectile weapons. Their quick regenerating properties showed them not to fear getting hit. Athene-A conveyed her intentions, and the squadron swooped in. Atlas was away from the group when he looked up to see dozens of Pegasi diving in on him. He had little time to react. He, and Athene-A locked eyes as a borage of fire power came his way.
Athene-A’s spear tore through him first as the others shredded him down to pebble sized fleshy parts. Athene-A sent her results to Zeusticus, who, immediately began organizing squadrons to focus on one target at a time.
Cousins watched from a mountain ridge at the spectacle. Fire and lightning rang out over the valley. Dark clouds gathered, blocking out the sun. It was like bees fighting off a bear. Many wanted to join the fight, but Lot, held them back, saying it was not their time.
Several Titans had made it to the summit, dismantling the Olympian base, one massive rock at a time. Some, well placed shots sent Titan after Titan tumbling down the mountain side. The concentration of fire, along with, relentless pursuit, finally caused the Titans to begin a fighting retreat. They retreated cautiously, taking as much of their comrade’s body parts as possible.
Zeusticus stood on the edge of the flat mountain top looking inward at the devastation. Athene-A, and the rest of the Council members, strolled around trying to shake off the shock of the attack. “It will take years to rebuild,” Zeusticus said, sensing Athene-A’s approach. His moral was down, kicking a stone in frustration.
“Yes, but we learned something.”
“What, how we can be defeated.”
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��No, that we can defeat them, but only if we stay together, fight together.”
Her-A moved in, sensing she was losing influence to Athene-A. “My husband, you were magnificent.”
He began to cheer up.
“We also learned,” Athene-A continued, ignoring Her-A, “that they attacked too soon. They are in need of more agoam crystals. We have not progressed far enough for their use in our fortress. There were none here.”
“We should continue our attacks, in order to slow them down,” Zeusticus demanded.
A quiet year passed before Olympus could be powered up. The city-sized outpost floated a thousand feet higher than the smoothed surface of the mountain top itself, the city glistened with white stone walls, and a decorative marble polished floor. Jay thought the pillars and columns made it looked more like an ancient Greek tourist attraction, than a battle station. Fighting between the two groups had gone on sporadically over the year. Light skirmishes took place away from Olympus. Rhe-A reported to Athene-A as much as possible. There was dissention among the Destroyers on who was better to lead, and what they were trying to accomplish. Rhe-A and Cronus were sewing as many seeds of dissention as possible, without being punished. Several others had joined them. Some original Titans, others, the children of the Titans.
The enemy fortress was still not complete without more agoam crystals. Uranus made the decision to attack Mt Olympus against many protests. He threatened to send the dissenters back through the spacial field, to another dimension if they didn’t comply. The attack was set for morning. They marched all night and were poised to attack, when the first incoming missiles struck. The Titans were caught completely off guard, and were systematically being blown apart by the Olympian fortress. Atlas, who was now almost the size of Cronus, levied his strategic mindset and saved them from utter devastation. They retreated as quickly as they had arrived.
The Atlanteans pursued with a relentless borage. Pandemos-Aphrodite was sensing victory as she blazed in a circular pattern around Uranus, but she got too close to the limping Titan. He reached out and grabbed her, cutting the Pegasus in half, with one quick motion. He tossed her into his mouth and down his throat. The attack team was stunned, and were infuriated when Zeusticus called them back. They wanted revenge.
“We didn’t need to incur any more casualties, we had won,” Zeusticus roared.
“But we could’ve finished them,” Poseidon roared back.
“You know that’s impossible at the moment, besides, I have reliable information from Athene-A that there’s dissention in their ranks. Cronus is planning a coup with several other Atlanteans.”
“Why wasn’t I informed?”
“I just found out before the attack. Brother, we need to be patient this time.”
“I need to be kept up to date. Come, Apollo, we need to make plans, in case the coupe fails.”
“How are we going to get close enough?” Apollo asked.
“We can use the sea and cloak, with a few modifications.”
“Let’s see what you’ve got.” Apollo said, happy to be leaving the situation.
Chapter Sixteen: Deception
Rhe-A and Cronus watched, as what was left of the attack force, came limping back. Uranus still didn’t trust them enough to bring them to the fight. Which was fine with them. They gathered around the base of the mountain where Cousins worked mindlessly to build a fortress. A Cousin would get to close and be scooped up and eaten so the fresh DNA would complete the healing process. Rhe-A felt sick every time she witnessed this. She had not eaten a Cousin since she became self-aware. Cronus was different, however, he tried to gain trust by blending in.
“I warned you not to attack their base without weapons,” Cronus barked, as Uranus heavily sat down, and began to chew.
Cronus’s act was so convincing, Rhe-A was beginning to doubt his humanity.
Uranus got up, and with large space black eyes, stared down at Cronus. He yelled for Brontes. The massive giant Cyclops rumbled forward, missing an arm, “Gather Steropes and Arges, and meet me at Gateway.”
“Yes, my God.”
“Wait, bring the Hekatonkheires, also.”
“Briares, Cottus, and Gyges?”
“Yes, you brainless slug, now!”
“What are you going to do?” Gai-A suspiciously asked.
“They failed me. I am returning them to Asgard.”
“But that would be torture for them, death would be preferable. I created them with great care. They don’t deserve this because of your failings.” Gai-A’s defiance didn’t go unnoticed.
Uranus reared back and pounded Gai-A to the ground, and kept pounding. After a few moments of watching the spectacle. Cronus stepped forward. “My Creator, I have some ideas I would like to discuss with you.”
He stopped, blood dripping from his fist. “Very well, tell me on the way to Gateway.”
Gai-A spied the act of Cronus, and gave him a thankful look through one good eye.
Jay looked over the spacial rip with fascination. The lava wasn’t hot, he determined it wasn’t lava. It was the accumulation of photons, tetryons, and many other spacial bonding properties. He watched intently as Uranus gave orders. “Hyperion, Iapetus, Crius, bring them.”
They pushed the Hekatonkheires and Cyclops into the pool, letting Uranus led the way.
“We need to get in there,” Rhe-A said, to Cronus and Maemosyne.
“I think Hyperion has delved too far into the Destroyer’s darkness. I don’t think he can be trusted,” Maemosyne whispered.
“Agreed,” Rhe-A said. She looked at Cronus critically in the distance, and then looked away.
Months slipped by, as Typhon and Enchidn-A repopulated the monster population. They weren’t happy about losing so many of their children, but would never defy their leader. Meanwhile, Uranus became irritable and insecure, because the Atlanteans had not counter attacked like they had in the past. He felt he knew these annoying pests, but they kept proving resilient. He made his plans known to assault the strong hold again. The need for agoam crystals was essential for his plan.
Gai-A quietly slipped up behind Cronus and Rhe-A. “You sound-dissatisfied,”
They were surprised, but didn’t show it. They looked down.
“We are observing,” Rhe-A responded, not making eye contact.
“Several of his experiments required observation, even the failures,” she commented skeptically. “My children should not have to pay for his mistakes.”
“Cronus looked up. “Perhaps his failures are his own making.”
“What are you suggesting, half-one?” Gai-A purred, as she circled the two.
“Someone else should be conducting the experiment.”
“Spoken like a true Destroyer.” She smiled a bruised face, and walked away.
“How can we get inside?” Rhe-A quietly asked.
“I believe the agoam crystal he imbedded in us will allow access,” Cronus methodically said. “We just have to get passed Typhon.”
“I have a plan,” Rhe-A said, and then she walked away.
The small humans knelt at the sight of Athene-A and Rhe-A conversing in the light of the full moon. Athene-A pulled away a hand from a large finger, and nodded in understanding of the situation. She had learned more about the Destroyers than they had in thousands of years. The detachment was left here to monitor the Atlanteans left behind. They had thwarted several of their efforts, and the Destroyers wanted to know how. But this group was of lower standing in what was called, ‘The Common.’ Their orders were only to monitor and report, but communication had been sparse since the alien ship departed the solar system. They had over reached their authorities, and were interacting with their experiments. The rift was going to destroying them all, if they couldn’t control it, or close it. Agoam crystals were needed at all costs.
Gai-A moved silently through the darkness. The foot of the mountain cast a dark shadow from the moon. Cronus was there, he only noticed her when she was next to him.
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br /> “Your punctuality is notable,” she remarked, floating around him, staring into his eyes.
“I am eager for a change,” Cronus mechanically said.
“As am I.” She brought out a crescent shaped weapon, the blade glistened in the reflection of her scaled armor.
“I understood that we, half-ones, were not to have weapons.”
“Then the surprise will be all the better.”
“When shall I conduct the experiment?”
“During regeneration is when he is at his weakest.”
Her melancholy voice was strange to Cronus, against the seriousness of the situation. “Soon, then?”
“Yes, soon.” She turned and disappeared into the shadows.
Behind some rocks nearby, Maemosyne overheard the deception, she smiled and slinked away.
“Approach half-ones,” Uranus boomed from his stone throne at the foot of Mt. Orthys. He took time out of his busy schedule of torturing and thrashing the human Cousins, to recognize Maemosyne.
“Thank you for addressing my concerns,” she said, without looking up. “I have information that might interest you.”
“Go on.”
“This information is valuable to me,” she played.
Uranus rose in anger, but stopped himself. “I could just squeeze it out of you.”
“But then the information may not be accurate,” she humbly replied.
“How valuable?”
“I want to sit at your side.”
His laugh boomed across the valley, something not commonly heard. “Very well, but I will be the judge of its value.”
Hyperion approached Uranus and knelt. “Lord, the attack has begun.”
“Implement battle plan.” He left as quickly as he had come.
The attack-for a diversion from the Atlanteans, was far more ferocious than Uranus expected, but the defenses mostly held. He watched from his enormous stone throne, as a blast struck at his feet. He stood up and walked toward the chaos. Cronus moved slowly toward the throne. When he reached for the agoam crystal flint sickle-it was not there.