Welp...
Here goes....
It's a bit silly at first, but gets more down-to-Earth, especially in Chapter 2.
EDIT: gramar corrections ;-;
"Come on, Icarus," Came Hades's taunt. It was another weak attempt to get me to rush. "There's no need to be afraid."
"Not afraid," I said, carefully scanning the battlefield. There was no point in rushing into things, especially when there was time.
"Oh, come on, I could have spent this past millennium reading a book, catching up on--"
He saw my expression and turned his red eyes slightly away. "On what, Hades?"
"Would you hurry up?" he snapped.
"Fine," I said, moving a rook forward two squares. "Checkmate." I stood up and stretched.
"Wait wait, wait, wait... huh." Hades scratched his head. "Huh. I guess you win... this time."
"Again, I corrected him." Staying with Athena had its benefits; you learned strategy. "Well, see you tomorrow."
He was already setting the pieces back in their starting positions. "Tomorrow... when I beat you."
"Dare to dream," I replied from the doorway. I stepped out into a lobby-type area. Hades had a separate realm all to himself, the Realm of the Deceased. As the name implies, that's where souls go after the body they inhabit can no longer function. It was much like a hotel, or an apartment complex, and even the new, terrified souls who arrived there would soon be at ease. I rolled my eyes as I passed Heracles's soul, flexing at a couple of young soul girls.
People often feared Hades. He was thought of as evil just because he ruled the Underworld back in the Realm of All Realms, where now only mortals lived. In reality, hes a pretty cool guy. The one you REALLY have to worry about is Hera. She's not very friendly.
I walked out of the front door and found myself in the Distance Between Realms. Creative names, I know, but it makes it easier to know which realm someones talking about.
I went to the Realm of the Gods, a realm like the one Earth is in, but with land and a temple dedicated to each god.
Athena's temple was always easy to find. It was designed to be a lot like her, large and ornate on the outside, yet when you went inside, it was designed in a very militaristic and symmetrical manner.
"Icarus!" Athena came rushing down the hall. "Where in the realms have you been?!"
"Hades," I answered, careful not to show panic. She always hated that. "Is there an emergency?"
"Yes, of course there's an emergency! Why else would I be talking to you like this?" She turned around and began walking briskly down the hall. "Come on!"
I followed, careful not to run. She hated that, too. "Care to tell me what's going on?"
"You're the one who's going to be doing the explaining!" She was fuming.
By this point, I was just confused, so I just fell silent and contemplated what I could have done so bad that Athena came for me herself. Usually, she just sent one of her deceased priests after me. I followed her into the dining room, not very large since there were so few guests. Then I started to get it. Though how she found out, I had no idea. I kept following her to the other end of the room, where there was another door that lead straight into the kitchen. She opened the pantry and swiftly turned and caught me by the ear before I could back away.
"Want to explain this?" she asked, pulling me almost into the spaghetti.
"E-explain what?" I said, half-laughing. Maybe it was a weak deflection, but it was the best I had at the moment.
"Why does our food keep going missing?" Her calm was dangerous.
"Uh... I think you should ask Cerberus."
"The three headed dog! What a great idea, Icarus!" The sarcasm layered around her words was thick enough to suffocate. "The only thing is, he's guarding the Underworld back in the Realm of All Realms. He cant go into the Distance Between Realms without assistance." She loomed over my head like a big thunderstorm, twisting my ear until I thought it would fall off. I hated it when she did that. "So, got any other ideas?"
"Umm... am I interrupting something?" One of Athena's priests had appeared at the door.
She released my aching ear and left me rubbing the redness out while she went to consult him at the door.
"Not at all. What is it?"
"Its Poseidon, Wise One. You requested his presence in the Great Hall, where he now awaits your arrival." He had clearly forgotten we were trying to update our speech to modern terms.
"Thank you. Come, Icarus. I want you to be there for this." Athena was already on her way down the hall.
As I followed, I leaned over to the priest. "Are you even trying?"
"Look, man, modern language isn't my thing." With that, he went off toward the main gates.
I followed Athena down the hall, glad to escape admitting that I was eating us out of house and home. We entered the Great Hall, and sure enough, there was Poseidon. He looked to be a young adult, but one with a very stern look on his face that overshadowed his features. As far as I was concerned, the man had never smiled in his life. He was a powerful figure in the Pantheon, however, and matters like these were not to be mocked. Openly, at least.
He nodded at Athena as we entered, narrowing his eyes when they fell upon me. He never did like me very much. That's a story for another time.
"What is it you want, Athena?" He definitely didn't want to be there.
"Poseidon..." she stood silently for a moment, determining her next move. "It's about your interactions with the Realm of All Realms."
I widened my eyes slightly at Poseidon. Any interaction with that realm was forbidden now. The mortals were deemed capable of supporting themselves. The gods were also tired of tending to the mortals all the time.
Except Poseidon and a few others, that is. "What of it? My activities are none of your business."
"Yes they are." She crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto her right leg. She was agitated. "I was put in charge of affairs with that realm. You only need keep to your temple and tend to the Realm of Chaos."
Poseidon narrowed his eyes. "The humans are getting out of hand. We left them to govern themselves, not the realm they inhabit. They're like vandals, destroying Earth for pleasure and personal gain. Next, it will be any other inhabitable world in that realm!"
"They'll never get that far," Athena replied coolly. She shifted her weight to her left. "We made sure of that. And we left them to govern Earth, not just themselves. You are not to interfere with their affairs, especially not through destruction." She turned to me. "Icarus, I want you to go to Zeus. Send him here. He needs to know of this."
"He already does." Surprisingly enough, despite enjoying their deceitful ways, the gods were blatantly clear when they wanted you to be scared. And it worked. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Athena turned to Poseidon, hiding her surprise from everyone but me. "How is that?"
Poseidon smiled. Not one of those pleasant ones, not even evilly--it was just downright creepy. I decided I wouldn't count this as the first smile he'd ever shown. "My brothers stood with me."
Athena fell silent. She was planning her next move. It came to her faster than I thought it would.
"Why would you kill and injure and uproot so many?"
"Athena, you cant honestly say you care for those pathetic creatures. They're all abominations--all of them monsters." He looked at me. "Just like him."
"Hey!" I lifted my chin indignantly. "I at least deserve the accolade demonic winged pig!"
Athena couldn't keep her composure. She erupted into laughter. "What was with that insult, anyway?"
"I-it was the first thing I thought of, alright?!" He was going red in the face. I made my next move and bravely hid behind Athena. "As I was saying," Poseidon continued, "they no longer worship the very beings that made them. They destroy the Earth and everything on it--everything we made. Why shouldn't we punish them?"
Athena sighed. "I understand, but--"
"No, you don't understand. If you understood, you'd stand with us and fight back to take what's ours!" He was almost yelling now.
"Poseidon, I'm surprised at you! We gave them that world, we didn't let them borrow it. It belongs to them now, just accept it already!" I saw Athena clench her fists. She was losing her grip on the situation. I stared at the floor. Any weakness exposed to me was a weakness exposed to all.
If I knew what Poseidon was doing, I'd have told you. All I knew is that the room was now completely silent.
"Athena," He said after a few minutes, "does the world belong to your little pet there?"
"I'm afraid I don't have any pets." A silence. "No, Icarus is not of that world."
"What makes it of our world?" He was using 'it' to describe me. I didn't need to see him to understand that.
"He works for me." At least Athena treated me with respect, at least calling me 'he'.
"Why? What does it want? What is it working for?" Again with the 'it'. I was tired of the gods treating me like some zoo animal.
"He just wants food--" she glanced back and glared at me for a second-- "and a roof over his head."
"Then why doesn't he go with the mortals? He could have all of that and more--much more than you or even I could ever give him." I looked and panicked for just a second, but enough that I fell down. Poseidon had made a quarter of his way around Athena to look at me. "A family-- "he took a step toward me-- "marriage, if you ever aged--" another step-- "power--" another step. We were face to face.
He was a couple feet taller than me, but I made my best attempt to look tough, not jokingly stated this time. I stretched my spine up as far as I could and balled my fists into tighter fists. I glared right back at him, with his ultramarine eyes. "Athena gave me everything. I can never repay that, but I'll do my best. That's why I serve her. I'm not scared of you."
I was a little too cocky with that last sentence. He lifted his hand as if to pimp-slap me, and I recoiled so much I fell again. I was grateful when Athena came between us. "That's enough, Poseidon. Leave."
Blocked from view once again, I allowed myself a small panic attack. It was lovely, sitting there, reminiscing on the fact that the entirety of my millennia-long life had just flashed before me as I listened to Poseidon's receding footsteps.
Athena just stood there. It seemed like the entire Roman Republic could have been rebuilt in the time before she finally moved. She turned and faced me, then waited for me to stand before speaking: "Thank you, Icarus, for trying to help, but don't try anything like that again. I need you at your best for whats to come."
"Why? Whats going to happen?" I could feel the hairs on my neck stand again.
She stood silent for a moment. "At this point, war is inevitable." |
