The God of Gravity part 3: Apocalypse

Council of Olympus Mons

Lady Mila wants both of us to come with them. To where—I don't know as well as why. “For what reason, my lady?” I ask.

“Argh!!” Darius cries in pain but Lady Aurelia laughs at him.

“To the meeting with the Seaters of Olympus Mons,” Lady Mila answers.

“But we're not part of it.”

Darius sighs behind me, probably out of relief when Lady Aurelia finally lets go. “Be thankful you have that relic,” he says. “If not, your hands will be crushed right now.”

“It doesn't matter if you're not,” says Lady Mila. “Both of you are just as important as any of the Seaters of Olympus Mons.”

“Okay,” I nod. I couldn't stop showing her my frustration. I don't like meeting with them, especially with Shui and his monkey friend is there.

“Is it fine?”

“Yes, it is, my lady.”

The way she puts that faint smile at me, makes me feel guilty showing her my frustration. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. She helped me in many ways so it's fair that I should always do her a favor.

Darius panics, “Stop, stop, stop, STOP!!!! ARGH!!!”

I turn around and he loses to Lady Aurelia without her gauntlets in the contest of grip strength—which I find surprising. I never thought that she's stronger than him. I always thought that he is the strongest among our generation.

So, we follow behind them. Darius is frustrated because of his loss, although Lady Aurelia didn't take it seriously at all. We didn't talk until we stand in front of this double door. It is made out of bronze with the large insignia of Olympus Mons. It is the globe of Mars with a vulture over it. The vulture is one of the animals that represent Mars or Ares, the first God of War.

Lady Aurelia pushes the doors, swinging them open to the inside. Up ahead, in the center of the room, a large circular table is situated. The room is lighted up by fluorescent lamps from the ceiling. The caramel walls and floors are well furnished. They are already sitting: the Seaters of Olympus Mons. Sitting there, they look at us. I don't like being watched. Cairo doesn't look at us. He must be upset about what we treated him the other day. It's hard to apologize to him and I don't know why.

“This the meeting of the Seaters of Olympus Mons,” says Shui, glaring at us. “why did you bring them here?”

Darius squeezes his fist but I'm not even in the mood to do anything. I'll just wait until all of this is over.

“Right now,” says Lady Mila, sitting on her chair. Her sister sits beside Eleanna. “both of them are important and will be a great help to us.”

“Help with what? To sweep the floor? Okay, do that.” He smirks at me.

Then Darius says, “Do you want me to sweep the floor with your face?” He glares back.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Arua speaks out.

“Stop it, guys,” says Dyami.

Leaning forward from the back of her golden seat, Eleanna speaks, “Both of you can sweep each other's faces anytime but not here. Understood?”

In seriousness, she looks at Shui, and he submits to her power. Serves him right. Then she looks at Darius. For a reason, he looks away but still frowning and folding his arms as we stand behind Lady Mila. Damn… Eleanna knows what is “power” so well. I expected Darius to speak against her as he does with everyone.

“Alright,” she nods and leans back. “Lady Mila, please brief everyone with our current situation.”

She stands up from her seat. “Yes, my lady.” Holograms appear in the middle of the round table. It shows the globe and the locations of the Demigod Clans marked with red dots. “Every one of the Demigod Clans is in hiding. Including Olympus but excluding the already-fallen Miyamoto Clan, every stronghold has been completely decimated.”

Wait… what? 

And it seems I'm not the only one who is in disbelief. Minor gasping fills the whole room. “Decimated?” asks Liliana. “As in, gone?”

“To put it that way, yes,” Lady Mila nods. “I'm gravely sorry for what I'm about to say to you—who come from the other Demigod Clans. As what Lady Eleanna described to me, like what happened to Olympus, huge atomic explosions happened under each of them.” The hologram shows pictures of different craters. I figure that's where the other strongholds were. “The casualties are as many as Olympus. We are lucky enough that it just so happened that Lady Eleanna and Aurelia were here on Olympus when that happened.”

Dyami, Arua, Cairo, and Kaia are devastated the most. They come from the other Demigod Clans after all. Then I'm a bit disturbed by Eleanna's calm face. Oh, that's right. She has seen the destruction of Asgard with her own two eyes. The pain must've gone away by now. Or… not—I can't be sure. 

“Are there any survivors of my Clan?” asks Cairo.

Swallowing first, Lady Mila tells him, “We haven't found any deity yet. Only humans and demigods who told us that before the explosion happened, there was a coup.”

“What?!!” he exclaims, standing from his seat. Tears begin to fall from his eyes. Murmurs fill the room. “Led by who?”

“Someone named Emaan, the God of Scorpions.”

“I knew it!” He grabs his head with both of his hands.

“And also, with the aid of a group of rogue gods.”

Rogue gods? Wait… Ra Continent… Rogue gods… Wait a minute!

“Who are they?” cryingly asks Cairo.

Lady Mila answers, “I don't kno-”

“I know who they are,” I interfere, looking at the table trying to recall my memory.

“Who?” she asks and I meet the gaze of her eyes. And right now, everyone is looking at me. 

“It's a guess but Jasper told me that he and his comrades come from the Ra Continent before they came here to hunt the leader of the Masked League.”

“He did?” asks Lady Juliet, widening her eyes. 

“Yes, my lady.”

“No, he wouldn't do that.”

“She's right, you filthy human!” the i***t Shui speaks out. “How dare you accuse him?!”

I just sigh because everyone knows he's being a big i***t. I can tell by looking at everyone's faces. Darius is gritting his teeth. His mind could be itching to say an insult.

“I told what I know and never an accusation,” I reason. I wanna get this over with. I hate it here. 

“So,” says Eleanna. “this brother of yours, Lady Juliet is a criminal now.”

“We are still yet to confirm, my lady,” Lady Mila speaks out. “Everything that has been discussed was just a speculation. Please, let us investigate about it.”

“Then how are we gonna do that?” questions Cairo. He's been holding his anger in for a while now. “He has that powerful goddess with her after all, and his eagerness to change the whole Realm in his way. I don't doubt that he planned all of it and killed my cousin, Cleopatra. I think that you think so too, Lady Juliet. You just don't want to believe it.”

She looks down, clearly showing everyone that he is right. He suddenly becomes clever, huh?

“Cairo!” Lady Mila rages.

“And the fact that Leo and Darius didn't apprehend them when they met, proves that both of them are with him!”

I narrow my eyes at him. Darius couldn't still say something so I'll speak on our behalf although I hate it. “No, we're not,” I deny. Explaining further is too tiring. 

“That's what I thought,” he smirks at us. Something is wrong with him. This is not the Cairo we know. “You lack evidence to disprove your involvement with them.” He looks at everyone. “Both of them are guilty!”

Eleanna is just sitting there, absorbing everything that has been discussed. She is calm while looking at us. I put on a disinterested face to shake off any attention towards me, including her. 

Among the murmurs, Lady Mila speaks out, “They met Jasper before we even told them that the Ra Clan has been usurped. We told them just now! If they knew it beforehand, they would've brought them here.”

“Right,” nods Kaia. Eleanna does not react.

Cairo seems to be putting too much effort into trying to get us into trouble. He looks like he is not enjoying the support of others to Lady Mila. “Even so,” he speaks again. “we have to be very cautious around them. They might be spies-”

“Cairo,” I interrupt him. “will you be willing to take that responsibility?” Everyone situates their eyes at me but I don't want to avert my glare at him. “We will fight for our innocence. You know how much we fight if we're in the right. Are you willing to take us on?” 

“Leo, stop it,” says Arua. They are all telling me to stop.

I continue to speak my mind, regardless. “I don't know what's wrong with you recently but I think it's because of how we treated you the other day. Well, I'm sorry for that, Cairo,” I bow. “it won't happen again.” 

Nobody said anything anymore and he just settles down sitting on his chair while Darius is shaking his head at me. He must be disappointed because I let go of my pride. I can't help it, we just want this nonsense to stop. Turning, Lady Mila worriedly looks at me. I just nod and gesture for her to face forward so she did. Lady Juliet is looking down. I never saw her this down before. That Cairo… tch... nevermind.

“Now that quarrel is over,” says Eleanna. “What else can you share with us, Lady Mila.”

Oh, she doesn't care about that. That's why she's quiet all this time. Sighing, I couldn't wait for this meeting of theirs to be over.

-

*

In the infirmary, Seok is sitting on a chair beside Hilde's bed. She is still unconscious and he reads a book to pass the time. Then suddenly, Aiko appears in the middle of the room. With her, is Narada—who is gravely injured and unconscious.

Panting, she says, “I found him, my lord!” and her knees give up. 

Seok catches them both and yells, “Santos!”

Santos enters the room in an instant. His eyes widen at the sight of Narada's grave state. “Lord Narada!” he exclaims, hurrying to help.

They put him on a bed right next to Hilde. Then his assistants pour into the room to help him push the bed to the operating room. 

“Are you okay, Lady Aiko?” asks Seok, helping her stand on her feet. 

“I'm fine, my lord,” she says panting very hard under her mask. She removes it. “I just need to breathe.”

“Well, get yourself cleaned up. We don't want the ashes to contaminate this infirmary.”

“I will, my lord.” Then she disappears with a flash of light.

All the while, Darius is waiting at the side of someone's door. He looks at his face using the side of his dagger as a mirror. It is rare for this boy to worry about his appearance. Then he looks at the rose he is holding. It is abnormally grown. None of its petals are smooth.

When Yue gave it to him, she said, “I'm sorry, Darius. My fairies tried their best but the seeds have been damaged by the radiation and only one bloomed.” So he had no choice but to accept it.

The door opens and he is startled. Eleanna in her battlesuit comes out from it. He hides the rose behind his back.

“Oh,” she reacts seeing Darius first thing she goes out. “Darius.”

“Hello,” he says looking to the side. “Lady Eleanna.”

“Hi. Do you need something?”

“Nothing. I just want… to ask you if you're fine.”

“I'm fine.”

He finally looks at her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, thank you for asking.”

“Well, uh… I guess I didn't need to give you… uh, nevermind!” He smiles.

“Give me what?” she asks.

“Uh…” He closes his eyes, slowly showing the abnormal rose from behind his back. He is holding it like how he holds a dagger. “For you. I'm sorry it's that ugly because of the radiation.” His eyes are all over the place except on her. Her eyes widen for a bit when she takes it. “I thought you'd be sad for what happened to Asgard so… I thought this will… make you feel… better. But nevermind! Forget what I said! Have a safe mission, my lady!” he bows smiling, and turns to walk away.

She grabs his arm. “Oh, Darius,” she says, hugging him. He is surprised and hears her sobbing a little on his shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispers.

There is a limit to how much she could be stoic. And right now, she reaches it. Swallowing, he wraps his arms around her. She embraces him tighter.

*

-

We follow Lady Juliet as she runs to where the infirmary is after hearing the news of his father's arrival. With us are Hyeon and Lady Mila. I don't know where Darius is. Cairo didn't come with us. It makes sense why, because of what he tried to do to us earlier.

“I hope he's fine,” says Lady Juliet, sounding like she is about to whimper.

“Of course, he's fine, Juliet,” says Lady Mila.

Hyeon is holding her shoulder, trying to calm her down while running. I wonder what happened to Lord Narada. I hope he's fine. He's one of the most important deities in this Realm after all. We depend on his predictions but why didn't he predict this apocalypse? But then, I don't know how his power works.

She enters a door and gasps. When I enter, Lord Seok is already there. I see Lord Narada full of wounds and burns through the glass, being healed by Lord Santos. Lady Juliet sheds her tears and her hands are trembling as she uses them to cover her mouth. Hyeon grabs her and she cries on his chest.

“He will be fine, Juliet,” says Lady Mila, embracing her.

I look again through the glass. I wonder if she's right. Swallowing, I also want to believe that she is right. I don't want Lady Juliet to go through the same thing I did.