The God of Gravity part 3: Apocalypse

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“Are you ready?”

“You don't need to ask that.”

He jumps over the rock so I start to move. I go around and waited for his Cessation but he didn't use it. His face is quite neutral as he stands up straight, sheathing his dagger. Later did I see that it's someone we know. 

Wait… a goddess with that mighty stature?“Lady Hilde!” I exclaim, seeing her limping on her way to where she thinks Olympus still exists.

We run towards her but it takes her a while to recognize us from the distance. Her armor is in shambles, her broken mask is barely filtering the air she takes in, and she has wounds all over her body. She's taller than us. Our heads barely reach her high shoulder—although drooping. We could only help her walk straight by grabbing her waist and raising her arms. I'm at her left, Darius at her right.

She puts her weight on us then with a weak voice, she says, “Who… are… you…?”

“I'm Leonide, the God of Gravity, my lady. And that's Darius, the God of Wrath.”

She scoffs just as I replace her mask with a better one. “I'm… also… Goddess… Wrath…”

Aiding her to walk, Darius doesn't like what she said. “There can only be one!” he argues. “I'm the God of Wrath!”

“Hey, you're talking to an Olympian!” I scold him. “Curb your pride and keep quiet or someone will hear us.”

“It's okay…,” she says. I look up to see her face. She is smirking as she says, “you… keep that lame… title.”

“Huh?!!” Darius reacts. Although I sense no enemies near us, my worry inflates.

“Darius!”

“You want me to throw you away, woman?!”

“Manners!” No matter how I yell at him, he doesn't listen.

His grumbling stops before she asks, “Where is Olympus?” and looks at where the mountain of Olympus was.

“Kaboomed into nothingness!” he declares.

She chuckles. “Pathetic.” 

I expected that she would be stunned by it. I guess I was wrong. “But we have a lot of survivors, my lady,” I say to her. “Olympus still exists as long as we do.”

“You're half-right… about… that. Let's… see how long… you keep… thinking it is.”

What does she mean? 

Nevermind. I have to focus on getting her to the bunker without exposing the location of the entrance. We stop because I sense other demigods that are too close to the entrance. I'm not sure if they're enemies or not. I should expect that they are because only both of us are allowed to go out. 

“I sense demigods,” I point to the northwest. “About half a kilometer from here, Darius. Take them out quietly. I'll take care of Lady Hilde.”

“Okay!” he answers. Letting go of her, he runs into that direction. 

“What?” Lady Hilde asks me. “I sense… no one.”

“No one can hide from me, my lady,” I say to her. “except Darius.”

“You're… human. How?” 

“I'm the God of Gravity.”

Showing me her sneer, my legs feel frail for a second. “That's… unexpected.” 

At the distance, we sense Darius taking out the demigods, creating shockwaves. In an instant, he lands near us to help me carry her. This is good, we are getting near.

“A boy… like Enzo… Both of you… must be…” She grunts in pain then puts up a smirk. “loved by… them.”

“Who, my lady?” I ask.

“You'll… find out…” She begins to lose consciousness. “…soon,”—is the last word she utters before sleeping.

We have arrived at the entrance. This time it is hidden under the wreck of an airplane. They change the location of the entrance constantly to avoid getting found out. But with my ability, it's easy to guess where it is. The Masked League does not know that there is a bunker in this place.

The entrance opens for us so we jump down as soon as it did. They take Lady Hilde as soon as we leave the airlock. Then nobody thanks us for it but we don't care. This time, Lady Mila didn't expect us to arrive since we just went out and return sooner. Or maybe she has something to do.

Just as we are near our room, the gods who gave us steak the other day come out of nowhere, giving us applause and their annoying smiles. “Welcome back and we praise you, our heroes!” announces their leader. 

He tries to embrace us but, “Don't go near!” we both blurt out.

He's so cringe that it gives me uncomfortable goosebumps. We pass by them and I let Darius threaten them with his glare. For once, I find Darius's intimidation useful. I'm glad that we get to shut the door to conclude that it's over.

“What the heck's wrong with those ugly gods?!” shouts Darius, climbing up his bed.

“I know, right? They feel close to us that we don't even know them.”

“Next time I see them smiling dumbly at me, I'll flatten their faces with my foot!”

“Don't even… unless you want to be kicked out of this bunker.”

“Tch! I don't care!”

I let him be as I lie on my bed. He's not gonna do it anyway. He has a sister to look after now. I bet he thinks about her too. No one will look after her if he gets banished. We get to sleep early again—win for us. Sleeping is the only thing I look forward to. Maybe I will dream of being in my parents' embrace again. Maybe Mom will cook food for us, Dad will tell me his lame puns, I get to kiss Hera's soft cheeks, and listen to Sander's informative speeches. But every time I close my eyes, I have to wipe them. They pour from my eyes without me feeling it does: The tears.

-

*

Regulating her breath, Mila is outside the emergency room of the bunker. She is worrying about Hilde. Santos is healing her using tools that are for surgery with the help of other assistants. Since he could not heal as well as he did before, he has to use the tools as an aid for his healing power.

Through the glass, Mila observes. Her uneasiness deliberately fades away. In the hands of Santos, Hilde is going to be fine. Then the door swings open at Mila's left. Seok comes in with a little distress lingering on his face. 

“Lord Seok!” she exclaims. “Welcome back!”

“Nice to see you again, Lady Mila,” he nods and looks at Hilde through the glass. “How's the operation going?”

“Her wounds have been thoroughly cleaned. She has bone fractures but Lord Santos just healed them recently. He just has to close the wound with stitches.”

Seok sigh, “That's good to hear.” Mila looks at Hilde for a while before he speaks again. “So, the boys found her…”

“That's right, my lord.”

“Excellent. Your decisions saved us all, Lady Mila. As expected of you as a Third Seater.”

Scratching her nose with her finger, she shows she can't take all of the credit. “It's Leo and Darius who did it all, my lord.”

“Then I shall go and thank them later.” He smiles as if all of his worries of earlier are gone. “But listen to me, Lady Mila.” She looks at him while he keeps looking at Hilde. “We're in a dire situation where we are forced to play every card we have to survive. Right now, as I see it, you too think that those two boys are our best cards right now—and I agree. But the best cards don't always have to be in play. You risk more when you become dependent on them. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my lord, and I was considering that too. I want to conduct a meeting with the Olympus Mons Seaters. But since you left, we didn't have the time to do so. I hope this time, we can work something out.”

“Oh, please do, Lady Mila. I'll handle the things around here now. You're free to do anything you like.”

“Thank you, my lord,” she bows.

“Did my message get to Lady Aiko?”

“Yes, my lord. She's out searching for Lord Narada as soon as I gave her the letter.”

“Good. Any moment now, she should return with him so we, the Third Seaters of Olympus can also talk.” His tone was dead serious and his face is stern.

Mila senses something is not right but pretends that she does not.

After that long surgery, they put Hilde in a secure room with a lot of guards waiting outside the door. Mila proceeds to gather the Seaters of Olympus Mons. As luck would have it, they are complete. She wakes up early to prepare. Getting off of her bed, she yawns and hears the loud snoring of her sister. She climbs up the ladder just to see her sister looking like a cavewoman.

She shakes her and says, “Wake up. We gotta prepare.”

Yawning, Aurelia says, “No.”

“You have to. It's your obligation as a Second Seater.”

“Just… go for me.”

“That won't work! Get up!” She slaps her bare leg.

“Ouch!” she cries. “What's wrong with you?!!” Mila smugs at her. Frowning is what Aurelia puts on her face because her sleepiness is gone. “Great,” she complains in sarcasm.

Mila climbs down like a winner and waited for her sister to climb down too. Aurelia sits on a chair, facing a tall mirror. With a brush, Mila cleans her sister's golden hair. They do not talk while they are doing this. It is a given that both of them like this session of theirs. And it is a way to spend their time as sisters. Mila likes her sister's hair and Aurelia likes being groomed. Then they have not been doing this recently because of the circumstances. In the mirror, Mila notices that Aurelia is looking a little down.

“I miss Father,” says Aurelia. “and Danae.”

Stopping for a while, Mila realizes she does too. “Me too,” she agrees, continuing to brush her sister's hair.

“I'm scared, Mila.”

“Why?”

“What if Father and Danae don't come back?”

Swallowing, she says, “No, Father and Danae are very strong—you know that. They will come back to us.”

“It just makes me feel bad because I was mean to them.”

“You know, I do too. In fact, I was meaner than you but don't worry. They love us more than you know. They will not hate us even though we're mean to them.”

“Are you sure?” she asks, wiping her tears.

“Yes, I'm sure.” She hugs her from behind. “We're family.”

After their preparations, they go out and knock on Leo and Darius's door.

*

-

Damn… who is it early in the morning?

The knocking continues. Well, let whoever is doing that. They'll leave soon...

They're still knocking!

“Go away!” shouts Darius.

“Argh!!” grunts a girl behind it. 

After lightning from the door, we instantly kneel on the floor as someone grabs a hold of our napes. Someone's feet are in front of us. I look up and see that it's Lady Mila, clad in her battlesuit. She's frowning at us for some reason. Lady Aurelia is pinning us down.

Struggling from her grip, Darius rages, “You crazy- Argh!!” She squeezes her grip even more. “Stop that!”

“What is it early in the morning?” I ask.

“You guys are coming with us,” says Lady Aurelia.

“To babysit both of you?” he mocks. “No! That's not our job!”

“You really like to make me hurt, don't you, Darius?”

“Argh!!” he screams. “Why the hell are you so strong?!!”

“Phew!” we both sigh in relief after she let us go.

She shows us her gauntlets. They are colored in gold so they are synonymous with her golden battlesuit.“Gauntlets of Aktzin,” she says.

“Do you want me to shatter that?” Darius threatens.

“Let's see you try.” They start a contest of grip strength. 

I find it less amusing so I turn my attention toward Lady Mila. “What's this all about, my lady?” I ask her, feeling irritated. Who can blame me? They barge in early in the morning.

“Both of you will go to the meeting with us.”