Gods of War (War of the Gods Series) (11 page)

Just as Terry was about to turn to Athena to brag some more, he heard one of the healers running towards him, screaming that Jessica was awake. He spun around and ran quickly to her.

Terry reached the cabin and heard things being thrown around inside. He opened the door and saw Jessica backed into a corner, grabbing everything within arm’s length and throwing it at the servants.

Suddenly a dresser was heading his way. He dodged out of the way and yelled.

“Jessica, what are you doing? Put that bed down and stop acting like a child.”

He must have scared her because she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard his voice.

“Yeah there are a few things you going to have to be caught up on.” Terry looked around and noticed the mess she made of things and said, “Let’s go outside and talk. You made a big mess in here.”

She hurried and ran to him still eyeing the servants. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to put them in charge of her. Zeus should have picked servants that were more human-like.

When they went outside, they walked down into the valley and sat near a pond.

“Jessica, do you remember what happened when this all started?” Terry asked, trying to figure out where to start.

“Yeah, I do,” she replied. “I thought it was a dream, a bad dream. But it wasn’t. Who was that lady who attacked us? What was that monster that attacked Hawaii? What were those creatures? Most importantly, where are we? Last time I was awake we were in North Carolina and now we are here.”

“Well, the lady who attacked us was Demeter. The Goddess of the harvest. The monster…”

“Demeter. Wasn’t she supposed to be good and lovely towards people?”

“Yeah, she was.” Terry started scratching his head trying to explain Demeter’s change of heart. “Zeus has the ability to bring out the worse out in people, the monster was the Kraken. As for the creatures you woke up to, I don’t know. I have not read anything about them or seen them before. Even in the books I was reading, they talked nothing about them. Zeus did mention they were the best healers in the universe so I didn’t think anything of it. And honestly, I don’t know exactly where we are. We were dropped here and told this was going to be where we train.”

“Train for what?” Jessica asked. “What are you guys being trained for?”

“Well, the two men you saw, when we walked out of the cabin, they are training with me to stop Ares from taking over the whole universe. He was the one who was in control of the monster that attacked Hawaii. We are going to stop more of that from happening,” Terry looked up at Jessica and added, “All four of us”

“What you’re talking about? Jessica asked.

“I am a demi-god, same with the other two men.” Looking away he quickly added, “You are one as well.”

“I am no demi-god. I just passed out from the shock of what was happening.”

“No you didn’t. You passed out because your body collapsed from using all of its energy when you saved me from Demeter’s fire.”

“I can’t be a demi-god. I don’t know. I just know you’re different, especially now. When I went into your arms today, I noticed your body was harder and more cut. I am not different. I am just the same.”

Terry got up and took Jessica’s hand. “Come with me. Athena can tell you who you are. If that doesn’t work, we may still have one other way to prove you’re a demi-god.”

Terry and Jessica walked over to the training field and saw Amadi and Athena practicing with weapons. Nicolai was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is Nicolai?”

Athena and Amadi continued to spar with the weapons and finally Athena spoke up.

“He went into the compound to see if he can defeat the compound,” Athena said in between clamors from the weapons. “Nicolai figured he would give it a try since he has his weapon.”

Suddenly a figure came out from the top of the compound and landed a hundred yards away. The figure that got up was Nicolai.

“Damn, the giant got me. I thought I had him, but his club grew longer and hit me right in the chest. Then he grabbed me and threw me out.” Nicolai finally slumped down to the ground trying to take pressure off of his chest. “I see she is awake now, pleasure to meet you.”

“Jessica, this is Nicolai. Nicolai, this is Jessica,” Terry said motioning one to the other in turn. “We have a problem here. Jessica does not believe that she is one of us,” He turned to Athena and Amadi. “Athena, I was wondering if there was something you could do to help prove that she is a demi-god.”

With that distraction, Athena rammed full--force into Amadi and knocked him down to the ground. It was as if she had been playing with him the whole time.

“There is nothing I can do to show her that she is a demi-god,” Athena said. “She will have to come to terms with that herself. I
can
say that she is my sister. We had the same mother. When you have time Jessica, I would wish for us to talk.”

And then suddenly, Athena just disappeared.

“Is it just me, or was that just cold?” Jessica asked. “What does she mean I am her sister?”

“Athena has always been like that ever since her city was destroyed,” Hephaestus said from behind. He had just finished the weapons for them. “I don’t know what she means about you two being sisters. You will have to talk with her about that.”

Hephaestus turned to Amadi and gave him his Desert Eagle. He then handed Terry a 50 caliber Smith and Wesson that had a scope on top. Then he proceeded to give Terry another weapon that didn’t look like any gun Amadi or Nicolai ever seen. As Terry was inspecting the weapon, Amadi asked, “What kind of weapon is that? I have never seen anything like that before.”

The grin on Terry’s face grew. “With this being magic and all, I thought I would go outside of the box and look cool killing Ares and his allies. “He lifted the weapon up to show it off. “I actually took the design from a few video games I played. It’s a mixture between the assault rifle in Halo and the M-96 Mattock in Mass Effect 2,” Terry noticed that they were looking at him weird. “Don’t be jealous if you guys can’t think outside the box,” Terry said as he went back to admiring Hephaestus’ work.

Hephaestus then turned to Jessica. “To you, Nikoleta, I give you these. Don’t worry. I won’t tell Zeus your name. He fears you so I took extra care into your weapons. May they protect you.” With a wave of his hand, Hephaestus disappeared.

“Okay,” Nicolai said still lying on the ground. “Do any of you think that was weirder than normal?”

Terry looked at the weapons Hephaestus gave Jessica and was amazed at the craftsmanship. He could tell that Hephaestus took his time in crafting them. They looked similar to Terry’s .50 caliber Smith and Wesson, but they were two Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan. The parts were extraordinary. Terry didn’t even recognize the material Hephaestus used to create them.

“Terry, how did he know to make these?” Jessica said almost in tears.

“Well, I know how your adopted dad had one of those and would take you to go shooting. I thought it would be something nice to give you so that you can protect yourself and remember your father.”

Jessica walked up and hugged Terry. Amadi and Nicolai left to let the couple have their privacy.

As Terry took Jessica in his arms he thought to himself.
What did Hephaestus call her? What did he mean by Zeus fearing her?

As Jessica stood there in Terry’s embrace a voice came to her mind. It was the voice that has guided her for her whole life, her guardian angel.

You are correct Jessica. You are not a demi-god, you are much more. Soon your time will come.

Zeus eyes lingered on the filled cells as he was led down the hall. The prison had grown aggressively during his reign, and rightfully so. There had been many plots to try and overthrow him, many who had disobeyed his laws. He wished he could kill them all, but he couldn’t. Instead, Zeus built this prison.

“How are the new cells coming along?” Zeus asked the creature that led him.

“It is almost done, my Lord. The warden has the engineers creating it to your specifications. It will be the strongest cell that has ever been built.”

“Good, that is what I want to hear. It will be needed soon,” Zeus said, complimenting the creature.

“How is prisoner 865132? Still alive I hope?”

“Yes my lord. She is alive as you wished. Just as you commanded we leave her alone and make sure she lives in luxury.”

Good
Zeus thought.
She was still linked to that box and if she died the prisoners within would be freed.
Zeus didn’t dare to link the prison box to another. That would leave it weak for an instance and they could escape. That is the last thing he needed right now. So he put the box’s welder in his own prison. But in a much better cell than his other prisoners.

As Zeus and his guide continued walking down the hall, the screams that echoed throughout the halls grew louder.

“Who is that screaming?” Zeus asked.

The creature turned to him and grinned. “That is prisoner 96158. Do you wish for us to stop?”

“No, and in fact I don’t hear enough pain in those screams.”

“As you wish, my Lord,” the guide responded. The screams grew worse, leaving Zeus satisfied.

Zeus hated the creatures that worked the prison, and wished he didn’t have to follow them. But this was one of the security measures he installed. Not only did the building change locations, but inside would change as well. Only these creatures knew where to go because they were a part of the building, a living prison.

The halls also grew to allow him and the creature to pass as they walked through. Behind them, the walls would shrink back down. In each chamber there were spikes all around that could collapse and kill any trespasser. And if that wouldn’t kill them, the guardians would.

Zeus noticed one looking at him. They wanted to kill. They needed to kill. They hadn’t killed in such a long time, and they were growing anxious for the taste of blood. One snapped at him and his guide quickly turned around and pierced its skull with its claws. If it wasn’t for the guide’s presence, it probably would have killed him. Just the sheer numbers of guardians could easily kill him, even though he was immortal. Few things could kill a god and these were one of them. Zeus’ father would be proud of him and the prison he had built; it was from him that Zeus got the idea from.

As the party got closer to the designated cell three crackling voices called out to him.

“Zeus, long time it has been—“,

“— without the knowledge we can give you,”

“You have brought it have not you?” all three sisters said finishing each other sentences.

Zeus hated it when they did that. “I want you to stop talking like that. Deino, you will be the only one who answers my questions. Do you understand me?”

The three sisters nodded as Deino asked, “What can we do for you today, Lord of the Gods?”

“I need you to read someone’s fate for me.” He handed Deino the locket of hair he’d stolen from Jessica. “She is a daughter of Metis.”

“Still worried about that prophecy, Zeus? It was supposed to be a son of Metis that would overthrow you, not a daughter,” Deino said mockingly.

“I know that,” Zeus said sneering. “I need to know if she is the one to predetermine my falling.”

The three Graeae sisters huddled around the locket of hair and dazed off into space. After a few minutes, they snapped out of their trance and Deino gave the hair back to Zeus.

“She is a daughter of Metis. But she is not the one that will precede your destruction. Now for our payment. We demand to be made whole.” She kept her hand out to receive their eye.

“You have one hour,” Zeus said, dropping their eye in Graeae’s hand.

He turned his back on them and started to pace
. If this girl was not the one, then who?
Then just like one of his bolts quickly striking its target, the thought came to him.
This girl could produce a son with Tereus. If they did, their son would still be considered a son of Metis. I have to stop that from happening.

He was about to retrieve the eye when a loud explosion rang through the prison, followed by a wave of raw energy.
Who could have that much power?
Searching with his mind he looked for the source of the explosion. His search took him to his own domain into Athena’s valley. There stood Nicolai holding a weapon of some sort. As Zeus probed the weapon he concluded that was the source of the weapon. Things were unraveling faster than he imagined. Commanding the guide to take him to the nearest exit, Zeus raced towards the prison’s exit unknowingly leaving the eye behind fear began to creep in his mind.

I have to get things under control; I am not going to end up like my father
.

I sure did miss earth
, Ares thought.
It is great to be back
.

Ares sat on the throne in his newly built temple. He had commissioned his new slaves to build him a temple. The building was grand. The ceiling was created from black marble. On each end was a chandelier made of gold and platinum candle sticks. Pillars made entirely of a diamond seemed to grow from the ceiling to the floor. In the center was a gladiator pit made of concrete and red sand hauled in from the Sossusvlei sand dunes. No human before the Change began could have built something this magnificent, even with help from godly powers.

Ares would have been enjoying himself more if it wasn’t for the woman on his lap fidgeting.

His taste in woman must have grown while stuck in his domain. He never enjoyed being with the weaker sex this much. He was turning into Aphrodite.

Artemis fidgeted again and he pinched her butt. “Stop fidgeting. I am trying to enjoy the show.”

Before him in the gladiator pit, stood what used to be the rulers of the African and Asian Nations, fighting to the death. It had taken a little encouragement to get them to fight. One leader had thrown down his weapon refusing to fight. Ares motioned to his monsters and they tore him limb to limb. The Minotaur chieftain was still gnawing on his leg. Out of twenty leaders only two of them remained, the others were either dead or dying on the floor.

Ares had his money on the one with the scar across his face. He may have been smaller, but he was a fighter. Ares could always tell who the fighter was. Too bad this one wouldn’t serve him. He had already offered these men the opportunity and they had spat it in his face.