Mountain of the Immortals

I was confident in all of our preparations so far. We’d done our best to take out as many of my father's troops as possible and had done so without losing a single one of our people.

We’d also managed to reach A-grade levels way ahead of the deadline we were given by Hyperion to return Hephaestus. That meant that at least we didn’t have to worry about him making a move while we dealt with my father.

There was nothing that would keep him from betraying me anyway of course, but something told me that he wanted my father's reign to end as much as I did. He would never go up against his king openly, and I doubted he had confidence that I would be able to do it. Still, knowing what Hephaestus was capable of and why I needed him, this was the best possible option for him. There was no risk to him personally, and everything to gain if I took out his brother without his name being implicated at any point.

That was, if I didn't make a move against him afterward. I was sure he would do everything in his power to make certain I would never be able to use any titan-killing weapons against him. But I wasn't just going to sit there and obey him either.

With my thoughts traveling further into the future than they should have, we returned home and used the remainder of the enchantment scrolls to bring all of our equipment to +3. As Hephaestus advised, we didn’t dare go above the safe threshold and risk destroying them just to get them to +4.

After having a short shower, I got into something more comfortable. As I was getting ready, I heard laughter outside and looked out from the windows to see my guildmates sitting around a table that was now set up right in front of our home. There were a couple of pitchers of wine and a few dishes filled with cheeses and meats of all kinds.

"Is the story Ares is telling so funny, or has the wine just got to you all already?" I asked as I came out of the house holding a wine pitcher of my own.

"We barely had a cup," Artemis said, trying to contain her laughter.

"Well, whatever it is, looks like Aphrodite isn't particularly enjoying it." I nodded at Aphrodite, who had crossed her arms in front of her and was almost visibly fuming.

"Of course she doesn't like it," Ares replied. "She doesn't want people knowing that—"

"Say one more word about it in front of Zeus and they'll never find your body, dear brother," she replied, giving him a cold stare.

Ares initially smiled at her comment but his demeanor changed quite quickly once he realized Aphrodite wasn't joking. "Well, if you can't take a bit of a joke, I suppose there's no reason to continue." He took an audible gulp from his cup.

I could have pushed them to tell me the story that was so embarrassing for Aphrodite, but it was obvious that pursuing it wouldn’t have boded well for anyone. Especially for me. So I decided to drop it for now.

"Well, here we are," Artemis said, trying to change the subject. "Finally about to have the big showdown."

"Yeah, how are you feeling about that, Zeus?" Hephaestus asked, jumping at the chance to shift away from the awkward silence. "Are you ready to face your father?"

"I was actually thinking about it earlier," I replied. "I have this weird knot in my stomach about what I'm going to say when I face him."

"You're right," Aphrodite said. "After all, once we reach the top, he'll know you're there to take him down."

"Right," I agreed. "I don't know what anyone’s supposed to say in a situation like that. On the other hand, though, I've been waiting for this moment for so long."

"It's been many months since you escaped from Mount Orthys, right?" Ares asked.

"But that's not the first time things went south in our relationship. The dream of a life without my father has been in my head for far longer than that. In fact, I don’t have a single good memory of him in the past thousand years. But until recently, I thought it was impossible to harm him at all."

"And you’re sure you want to do it?" Ares asked.

"Kill him, you mean?"

"I mean kill your father."

"His role as my father was no longer than a few days. That’s how long his affection for me lasted before his paranoia took over him and he convinced himself that one day I'd go after his power. Years of physical and psychological torture, degrading treatment, and finally the murder of my siblings, have all left me with not even a sliver of affection for that man."

"Ares isn’t doubting that what you want to do is right," Aphrodite said. "We all know that Cronus deserves what's coming. It’s no secret that he rules with fear and power. What Ares... What we all want is to make sure that you’re not doubting this decision yourself."

"After watching him devour my brothers and sister, sending the hundred-headed dragon to kill me and then the whole of his armies, you think that I might still have doubts? We risked our lives to get Hephaestus out of that prison so he could craft a weapon that would kill him. And we are leaving to do that tomorrow. There is absolutely no doubt in my heart."

"That’s all we wanted to know," Ares replied. "That you will not falter in the face of danger and strike true against Cronus."

"You have nothing to worry about. Whatever connection there was between us, he made sure to sever and burn it."

"What about your mother, Zeus?" Hephaestus asked.

"Yeah, isn't she going to be there?" Artemis echoed.

"She probably will," I replied.

"And what will her stance be when you show up and try to kill her husband?" Hephaestus asked. "Have you thought about that?"

"My mother was the one who protected me after Cronus devoured her children. Titans can't hurt each other mortally, but she fought him while I was making my escape. She bought me just enough time to get out of there."

"But will she just stand to the side while you kill him?"

"I’m sure she will," I said, though really, I was anything but certain.

Mother had never been fond of Cronus, but she’d never left Mount Orthys either. At first I thought that she was just staying there to make sure Cronus didn’t derail completely, but I thought that after him eating her other children and trying to kill me, she might have left.

Yet all of our information gatherers had said the same thing. Rhea, queen of titans, was still at the top of Mount Orthys, faithfully at the side of her king. But I was sure that something else was happening. There was no reason she would have remained there willingly. In fact, I suspected my father was probably keeping her there against her will, to make sure that no sensitive information would fall into the hands of his enemies or that he wouldn’t look weak by having his wife abandon him. Little did he know that having to keep his queen bound to his side was the very reason why he was actually weak.

"Sounds like the long road that led you here is about to end," Ares said.

"I don't know about ending," Aphrodite said. "Rather, it’s becoming wider and grander."

"To think I was running for my life some months ago," I said, remembering the first time I’d met Aphrodite. "The waves washed me up on her island with nothing but rags on my back."

"Now this is a story I'd like to be told," Aphrodite said, looking at her brother. "You can imagine my surprise when I had one of the god-princes appear one fine morning and start terrorizing my wildlife."

"God-prince?" I said, confused. "You never called me that before."

"I didn't want it to go to your head. But you are the son of Cronus, the king of titans and the whole Greek pantheon."

"But it's not just that you didn't tell me that so I wouldn't get all high and mighty. You actually gave me a hard time when you found me before you eventually decided to join my cause."

"You looked like you had conviction and resolve. But I needed to make sure you would be able to endure any hardships that your father would throw at you. I wasn’t going to join a suicidal cause without knowing you wouldn't quit yourself."

"Fair enough," I said, and turned to Artemis. "And once she joined me, we needed a place where Cronus would never find me. Somewhere between the earth and the skies."

"So these two started climbing Mount Olympus," Artemis said.

"Is that where they met you?" Ares asked.

"They came into my forest and helped me rid it of a magical rot brought to it by a sick creature," Artemis explained.

"And that's when she joined us too," I said.

"When I took over this place of power, turned it into our guild core and started building it up using its stored MP, there was nothing here but endless plains," I said, stretching my arm out to gesture at the city. "It was because of these two goddesses that we grew so much and so fast. It's all because of them."

Both of them rushed to correct me as I took a sip of wine.

"Actually, we had nothing to do with the management of the buildings and the resource allocation," Artemis said.

"Stop downplaying what you did for this place, Zeus," Aphrodite agreed. "It was because of you that we survived the attack from Typhon. And that global announcement launched our town’s popularity. More and more merchants started coming every day after that, and our follower numbers increased much faster than before."

"She's right," Ares agreed. "Even I heard about it, and I wasn't even in any of the Greek realms. I could only imagine the craziness that ensued here."

"At what point did you join them, Ares?" Hephaestus asked.

"They came to recruit me when I was in one of the Norse realms," he replied. "Let's just say that we had a little adventure there that convinced me I wanted to be part of whatever Zeus was planning."

"Honestly, every time I think about the fact that I'm part of a clan with four other gods, I still can't believe it," Hephaestus said.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Well, mortal guilds are known to have hundreds of members but it's completely different with gods, isn't it?" he replied. "Too many powerful individuals in one guild can be quite hard to maintain. I suppose it helps that we all have a common purpose."

He was right on that one. We were all together because we had a common cause. But what would happen after that common goal was achieved? Would I need to find a new cause for them to rally behind so they’d stick by the clan?

"And it all comes to close tomorrow," Ares said, and downed his cup. "I think I'll take my leave now. What time should we meet tomorrow?"

"Sunrise?" I said, looking at Aphrodite as she’d be the one taking us there.

"Sounds good to me," she replied. "Let's meet at the portal to the sea. We can all board my oyster there."

"In that case,” Ares said, standing, “good night, all." And he started on the way back to his house.

"I think I'll go now as well," Aphrodite said, and stood up. "I'll need to be rested for tomorrow's trip. And you all should be too."

"We're right behind you," Artemis said, stifling a yawn as Aphrodite kissed my cheek before retreating into the house.

"Zeus, before you go," Hephaestus said, "I just wanted to thank you again…"

"You don't need to worry about any of that," I interrupted. "Just enjoy the night breeze, the wine, and the food. Right, Artemis?"

The goddess of the hunt was already dozing off, her neck falling back even as she sat in her chair holding a cup of wine.

"What?" she said, surprised. "Yeah… I'm going to bed."

She placed the cup back on the table and dragged her feet all the way to the entrance of the house, not even bothering to close the door behind her.

"You think we'll make it tomorrow?" Hephaestus asked.

I sighed and looked up at the stars shining above us.

Taking one more sip before putting down my cup, I turned to face him. "We have no other choice."