Lightning Fades

The war was over. They had won... after years of fighting and death; they had won. And now they were standing in the hall of Olympus’ Grand Throne Room. Kenzo had been the one to defeat Zeus, stabbing him in the heart with his Krono’s scythe. Which he had stolen from him years ago. Now it was over, those who only saw them as faceless Warriors could no longer use Demigods; they wouldn’t have to protect a King who only sat on his arse and cheated as they died for him. “New Rome and New Athens are on fire,” Jacin shouted as he ran into the room, pulling Kenzo’s gaze away from Zeus’ throne. Everything would have to rebuild, but it would seem that Kenzo had more important things to worry about than claiming their enemies home as their own. “What happened?” Kenzo asked. Jacin Fowl was the one of Jupiter. A Roman demigod, this entire time they hadn’t known about the other camp. April Carmody walking behind him, along with her brother; Augustine Cornwell. Both had tablets in their hands, their tanned skin paled. “Zeus and Jupiter had placed bombs under the campgrounds, along with New Venice,” April said as she stared at the screen. “He had it done during WWII, paranoid bastard had done it in case, Poseidon or Hades turned on him at any point.” “This was before the pact between them to not have any more children,” Augustine added. “How?” “April and I had found the information in Athena’s old study. It would seem she was trying to find the bombs to remove them,” Augustine said. Zeus had been the last of the Gods to be removed, the rest of the faded around four years ago. The enemy army losing more and more demigods to their side as they faded. Some had stayed on the Gods’ side to the bitter end, even when their godly parent had faded from the world. Kenzo knew some of those who hadn’t left, would stay at the Camps to fight against them till their death. Following the lead of a girl that was younger than all of them. “How did they go off?” Kenzo asked. “It would seem he had linked them to his life force,” April said. “Threatening to kill their children if anything happened to him,” Augustine said with a shrug. “Athena wrote he had threatened some of his generals with them.” “We’ll need to call a meeting. April, Augustine and Jacin, I need you to grab everything who’s there,” Kenzo said as he glared at Zeus’ throne. He would have all of them destroyed, replaced. “We’ll have to ask the Follett siblings if anyone survived.” “Willow and I got everyone out of New Rome and New Venice, some refused to go with us,” Jacin said, Kenzo staring at him with a raised eyebrow. “Rome had turned our backs on the Gods before, does anyone remember the Holy Roman Empire?” “Wait, Gwenore would have been at New Athens,” April said a second after Augustine and Jacin left the room. “And she’s the only child born of a water deity; we could lose the oceans, rivers and dams. If she’s dead, humanity won’t survive long without water. It might not even rain, it won’t end well.” “I knew we should have kidnapped her,” Kenzo groaned. “Kidnap Gwenore? You wouldn’t have been able to, she’s never forgiven you for trying to poison her when she was a child,” April reminded him. “I haven’t forgiven you for that. Besides, she wouldn’t have left the camp behind. Even if Poseidon and Oceanus were some of the first to fade. They had wiped each other out, along with Poseidon’s wife and children.” “She was also one of the few who was still close with her mortal family,” Rhoda Follett said as she walked into the room with her siblings behind her. “Zeus would have threatened them to make Gwenore stay since he had lost Hades and his own children. She was the only child of the Big Three that he had left.” “She wouldn’t have been the only one, they never would have left with their family’s life in danger,” Kodiak Follett added. “And now they’ve been killed by the very man they were trying to protect.” “Damn him,” Kenzo said. “No one at either camp survived the explosion,” Naoki Follett said as he appeared behind Rhoda and Kodiak. “The Underworld is in a mess, has been since Hades and Persephone faded two years ago, but the looks of it Hermes had tried to bring some order to the mess before he faded a year ago. Isobelle Martin and James Cameron are still organising the Underworld, we’re keeping the victims separate to talk to them about what happened.” “And the other underworld deities?” Kenzo asked. “They disappeared a year before that,” Augustine said as he walked back into the room with a bag around his shoulders. “We finally got rid of the Gods... only for the world to end,” Kenzo said as he ran his fingers through his hair. The Gods were gone, and now, their only water demigod was dead. He knew the nymphs would do what they could, but they weren’t as strong as a Goddess or God was. “What do you mean?” Kodiak asked. “Gwenore is dead,” Kenzo said. “And she’s the only child of a water god,” Rhoda said. “Gwenore isn’t dead,” Naoki said. Well, at least Kenzo knew who the new God of the Dead was. He had taken out a tablet from his bag. “She wasn’t at either of the camps when they blew up. At least, her name isn’t on the list.” “We need to find her then,” Jacin said as he returned; members of Kenzo’s army trailing in behind him. Standing in front of Kenzo, Jacin stood next to him along with the Follett siblings, April and Augustine. He all of them were tired of war; Zeus’ army had been exhausted the last time he had seen them. “We need to organise the underworld, along with tickling the backlog of Spirits from the war,” Naoki said. Rhoda and Kodiak nodding their heads. “But we can ask the campers. Maybe one of them might have known what she was doing.” “She could be with her parents,” Augustine said. “Their dead,” Naoki said. “We already talked to them,” Rhoda said as she crossed her arms. “Zeus killed them a week ago.” “I doubt it. Even before I left a few months ago, she was already pulling herself from others,” April admitted with a shrug. “The death of her half-brothers, along with Poseidon fading in front of her, broke her more than she will admit in the last four years.” “Half-brothers? Triton? I didn’t know they were close,” Kenzo admitted. “One of her half-brothers wasn’t human,” Augustine stated. Everyone stared at him before they sat on the floor. “Many knew Poseidon as the Father of Monsters for a reason.” “Helia?” Kenzo asked. “Yes, pain in my ass,” Helia Fowl said as she stood next to her baby brother; he knew that she had spent years thinking that he was dead. When in reality, Zeus had taken Jacin away because he was Roman and Helia was Greek. “You and anyone wanting to join the Hunter’s need to keep an eye out for Gwenore,” Kenzo said. “We’ll join you once we’ve got our jurisdiction’s sorted out.” “So that means I’m the new Goddess of the Hunt?” Helia asked. “Yes, it’ll also be your job to bring any stray demigods to the mountain to be placed with their siblings, we’re not leaving anyone behind,” Kenzo said. He would not be like Zeus. “Naoki, Rhoda and Kodiak, one of you will be on the Olympus Council, along with having one of your own. We’ll split up the upper world and the underworld. You’ll bring any concern they have to our attention and I’ll being any concern from the upper world to yours.” “And the sea?” Augustine asked. “Gwenore is the only one left, but we can’t trust her. In the end, she fought against us, and we’ll need to monitor her,” Kenzo said. “You also can’t have one person on a council. We’ll need to figure out the sea once we’ve found her, along with figuring out if we can trust her.” “We’ll talk to anyone who has rules in the Underworld,” Rhoda said as she put a hand on her siblings’ shoulder. “Get everything in the underworld in order, but Helia, we’ll see how many Hell-Hounds will help sniff out any demigods.” “We’ll have a meeting once a week. I’ll want you to give regular updates, in case something pops up,” Kenzo said, Rhoda and Naoki nodding their head. The three Follett siblings left, Kenzo nodding his head as the rest of the former demigods left as well. “I’ll start making plans,” April said. “You are the new Goddess of Architecture, April. The Throne Room is in your hands,” Kenzo said. “Along with Augustine being the new God of Knowledge.” “Sarah Dickinson is the new Goddess of Wisdom,” April said. “And Easton Grey is the God of Crafts. Olivia Bowden is the Goddess of Libraries, and Natalia Baker is the Goddess of Writing. Finally, Winter King is the new Goddess of Communication, her brother; Summer King is the God of War Strategy.” “I’m glad you’re sorting things out,” Kenzo said. He knew that Apollo and Hermes had been overworked with how much they had domain over. Something he wouldn’t allow to happen underneath his ruling, each God would focus on one thing and one thing only. It was going to take a while to fix things, and he had a feeling that something would fall to the wayside in his mind. But he had friends to remember, things he might forget.