Chapter Six

Watching the ambulance drive away from the school, the two concerned friends were sat down to be checked for any injuries by the remaining firefighters. Carey had had acute smoke inhalation and Quinton had some minor cuts and scrapes on his hands but fortunately had not sustained any trauma to his head when he fell.

They had been given the all-clear and recommended going to the hospital as a precautionary measure for their minute injuries.

"Do you think she's going to be okay Q?" Carey asked as she sat next to him on the bench while the first responders were clearing the bizarre scene.

"Yeah I mean she's breathing so she will be fine, I promise Carey don't worry." He said comforting her.

"Hey look I'm going to go call her parents and tell them what happened. Do you want to wait in your car for me?"

"Why?"

"So we can go see her at the hospital and get ourselves checked out too."

"Okay then."

Meanwhile, her friends are on the way to the hospital. Xanthippeia abandoned the ambulance and took off running in a random direction in a state of panic. She got several looks on her because of how dishevelled and covered in dirt and ash she was. Her bare feet padded loudly on the tar of the road as she ran. She had no idea where she was going but she saw flashes of water in her head and that drove her to fasten her pace toward the ocean.

However, she did not realize how fast her body had been in motion until the people walking on the street and cars she passed started to fly by like blurs in her vision.

"What the—" That's when she came to a screeching halt with the balls of her bare feet skidding across the hard tar.

She knew her feet must've been scratched up but her body did not register any pain or see anything resembling an injury on her feet as she looked down at them. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked up. Something was definitely wrong here. Why did everything around her come to a stop as if a movie was put on pause?

The street that had been full of rushing people and sounds was now silent as a graveyard. The sounds of cars completely ceased and the people around froze in place as they were, mid walking or talking.

All Xanthippeia could hear was her own rapid heartbeat in her ears and the air that was stuck as she looked around frantically for an explanation for why everything just stopped.

"What the actual fuck is going on here?" she whispered turning her body in an axis to the statuesque world around her.

*Present Time in Dynodes*

The fourth youngest son of Zeus, Leodocus sat on the cliff with his legs dangling off the edge. He awoke early this morning, something that was abnormal for him because whenever the moon was up it meant he was up so he habitually slept in a lot during the day. However last night there was something different in the air, something that made him feel this intense pull in the energy.

He had found her.

The Hemitheos Nexus was one of the greatest tools the young princes could have in this foreign world because without that it might have taken far longer than the four earth months but 60 years it had taken to find her.

While the princes were still in their realm they had begged for help from the creature Fama. She was the deity that kept watch over the many realms in the multiple universes. She allowed the princes to pinpoint the rough location of the descendant, a suburban place on eath. Now they had been travelling for decades using the Nexus to get closer to the descendant from the prophecy that derailed their godly lives.

The Nexus had allowed them to feel the power surrounding the descendant but it was Leodocus that had the more advanced true sight out of all of them to see that the descendant was a female.

Last night while he lay awake under the bright full moon, he closed his eyes and his mind wandered to her. He caught a glimpse of her in his mind and gods she was beautiful. More than her cascading long hair, her lovely sun-kissed complexion and her small petite frame. It was the eyes, her eyes told her entire truth, and her eyes were a beautiful eloquent pale grey that seemed to suck him in with each passing second.

He witnessed her looking up at the full moon sat on the sand of the lonesome beach, she seemed downtrodden. There were definite turbulent emotions swirling in those eyes he had observed. She seemed to be on the brink of breaking down internally, knowing first hand what it was to experience feelings of losing control he empathized and connected to her in that sense.

Leodocus had seen her but for just a short time and he wanted to keep her image to himself. How could she be this evil person the oracle Helenus told them of? She looked innocent like she'd never harm anything or anyone and even at such a dimensional distance he could sense her soul was light as a feather.

Then again Medusa was once seen as an innocent beauty in the eyes of men until she transformed into a bloodthirsty succubus before anyone could realize it. He scolded himself against being so quick to form a good opinion of an unknown mortal how by all accounts was a threat to them.

"How long have you been up brother?" A voice sounded from behind Leodocus that broke him from his reverie. His brother Arcus, the youngest son of Zeus took a seat next to on the rock.

"Sleep has evaded me. My thoughts led me wondering to here."

"Well don't wonder for too long brother, we have a mission to accomplish," he said.

"I know." He said remorsefully. Arcus sat next to him and sighed. Glancing at his younger brother with the side of his eye he sensed Arcus seemed haggard and plagued with deep thoughts, not unlike himself.

"Something is troubling you?" Leodocus quipped. His normally playful brother seemed too tense at that.

"I am at odds with myself brother."

"How so?" he asked.

"We are so close to ending this torture but… to end it we have to end a life. The life of someone who for all we know could be an innocent that has been dragged into all this madness much like us."

Arcus being the youngest of the bunch has not seen as much darkness and impurity in the many worlds as his older brothers have. In a way, he was pure in the ways of violence but valued the importance of killing in some situations. The Allfather, Zeus had chastised him for his gentle soul but it's something within his nature and he could not change it much to the Allfather's disdain.

"Leodocus are you prepared?"

"I want this over as do all of us but I will not give you a falsehood that it does not tear into my very soul that we must kill. In order to be restored in our rightful place, we must do what is necessary."

"But are you prepared to put the sword to someone?"

"It is not something I am unaccustomed to brother as uncle says. Let death not be a stranger." Leodocus said remembering an important lesson his uncle Hades taught him when he had spent a significant amount of time in the Underworld to finish his schooling in dark magic.

While Leodocus and Arcus sat contemplating what needed to be done their older brothers were yards away down the cliff training as is their usual morning routine.

Athens being the eldest of the brothers was the one to lead this training session as per usual but quickly noticed the absence of his younger brothers.

"Where are they?" he shouted over to his two sparring brothers. Methios and Zargreus shrugged while helping each other put on their armour.

Athenios was undeniably annoyed with his brothers that he took to the sky and zeroed in his senses to locate the slackers. It was one of the most grating things about his younger siblings as he was a man of structure and discipline especially when it came to combat and training. They however were not always willing to abide by his rules and regulations so more often than not he had to portray the father and authoritarian role.

They were on a cliff so he summoned the energy from his hands and shot out two fireballs in their direction to get their attention. One of the flaming balls was an inch shy of hitting Arcus on the head. Leodocus, enraged immediately, took to the air in a flash and found his older brother among the sky.

"Has your mind completely abandoned you brother!?" Leodocus yelled, his fingertips sparking with electricity.

"We don't know what we will face and yet you two sit chatting about like a couple of crones!" Athenios retorted.

"You could have hurt him!" Leodocus shouted back, now the anger in him was building rapidly.

"Easy brother no harm was done. Now let's get to work." The elder brother tried to wave him off but it was too late. The short thread of control snapped inside Leodocus as his temper spilt over. Looking at him the bright glow crackling on his fingertips spread up his body as he shook with anger.

"Leodocus be careful where you direct that anger at little brother," Athenios warned noticing the change in his younger brothers' stature as well as the cloud gather and the once bright sky darkened.

"Apologize at once." He gritted, the energy pulsing through his body begging for a release inside him.

"I will do no such thing." Athenios crossed his arms over his broad bare chest not willing to back down.

"Apologize now!" the enraged brother yelled.

"Leodocus," Arcus whispered meekly to try and calm this brother but from experience, he knows nothing could be done to deter the fight that was coming so he instead chose to lift his black wings and fly down to catch however falls first.

The next thing Leodocus charged at his older brother. The ground and sky were rocked as the two sons of Zeus clashed in an epic battle in the sky…