The Victory

Six

The crackled with tension as Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, descended upon the scene. His thunderous footsteps echoed through the crumbling columns, revealing a god consumed by wrath and grief.

Freyr shifted uncomfortably, guilt etched across his features. Despite Ares's final act to end the Goddess's life, Freyr felt he was responsible even though he never meant to truly harm her.

As Zeus approached, Freyr's gaze fell to the shattered passageway that now lay in ruins, its collapse having sealed Aphrodite's fate.

Zeus, his eyes flashing with lightning, demanded answers, "Who dares to take the life of the Goddess of love? Where is Aphrodite's body?" His voice thundered with rage and pain, "Who did this to her?!"

Freyr hesitated for a moment, torn between confessing his indirect involvement and saving Ares from the impending storm of Zeus's fury Ares stepped forward to face his father.

"Father," Ares spoke, his tone solemn and filled with the pain he felt over what he had done, "I am responsible for Aphrodite's death."

Zeus's eyes narrowed, his anger intensifying. "Explain yourself, Ares. Why have you taken the life of your own sister?"

Freyr, unable to bear the weight of his guilt any longer, took a step forward, wanting to speak and not let Ares be the only one at the end of Zeus's wrath while he was responsible for it.

Ares, unyielding beneath the pressure, began to explain, "Aphrodite is the one who took Namira, she chained her underneath my temple ruins with Olympian chains... We were drawn here because Aphrodite had drawn blood. Chaos ensued as we tried to retrieve Namira, but the structure... It is old. One of its columns collapsed and Aphrodite ended up trapped beneath the fallen column... I"

He paused, the image of Aphrodite's broken and shattered body flashing before his eyes before he continued, "We wouldn't have been able to free her from that, the entire structure was decaying rapidly around us. Every bone in her body had been crushed, shattered, she was unresponsive."

Ares paused again, then went on, "The passageways threatened to collapse as well and we were at risk of being trapped with her. I made the difficult decision to end her life swiftly, as an act of mercy, before we fled the ruins."

Freyr started to admit his own part in this again, but Ares held up a hand to him, signalling him to remain silent. Ares continued, "It was an impossible situation, Father. Aphrodite could not be saved. The collapsing temple would've sealed her fate regardless. I ended her life swiftly, an act of mercy, to prevent her from being entombed forever in that forsaken place with no hope of being saved, suffering for eternity, buried underground."

Zeus's rage seemed to simmer for a moment as he processed the grim explanation. After a heavy silence, he spoke with a voice that carried both sorrow and authority, "Aphrodite's death is a tragedy, but if it was a mercy, then Ares, my son, you bear a burden that none should."

The gods, their expressions heavy with grief, stood in the ruins of the temple, grappling with the weight of both loss and mercy. Ares nodded, accepting the consequences, "I bear the weight of her demise, Zeus, and I shall shoulder the blame. If you feel it demands retribution, I accept this willingly."

Zeus regarded his son for a long moment, then shook his head, "Enough suffering and pain has happened, the burden of her death will be punishment enough even though the situation warrants no penalty."

The King of the Greek Gods regarded the passageway, "At least my daughter is free. We shall grief her as is our custom, but then we must face the consequences of losing our Goddess of Love. We have a great need of her."

Ares nodded again, "We will honour her loss." Zeus clasped his son's shoulder, "Don't let the weight of this act haunt you. You did what was right, whereas she made the choices that caused her demise. I will inform the rest of the pantheon... Perhaps it'd be wise not to be in Olympus immediately upon the revelation of her death. Stay with your friends and Freyr. I will call on you."

Again Ares nodded, watching as the storm vanished as quickly as his father dad before he allowed himself to fall to his knees where he stood.

Freyr joined him immediately, embracing him and pressing the softest kiss to his lips, "This is not your burden to bear, I want you to let it go. It is my guilt to carry."

Ares gently caressed Freyr's cheek, "You saved Namira, we shouldn't have sent you here alone. I am sorry that we were not here to stand by you, this burden should never have been yours."

Freyr offered the ghost of a smile, "At least she was freed before this final fate could befall her. It is not the blessing we wanted it to be, but her fate could've been much worse without your part in this."

Thor gently cradled Namira in his arms as he approached the two Gods, "Come. Let's go home."

With that, they left the tragic scene that would no longer stand as Ares's tribute, but now would forever be Aphrodite's final resting place.

Thor led them back to Asgard, directly to his room. Tomorrow they'd deal with the chaos of all that had happened, tonight, they'd simply find comfort with each other and simply try to work through the turmoil of what had happened.

None of them would get much rest.

TBC...