Project GODS

Project GODS: Discovery

Hey everybody! New part, Im excited! tell me what you think, vote if its good enough, critisize! --Zanintia

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I had never particularly liked Ares. I was never one for cruelty or unnecessary warfare, but those two things were what Ares existed for.

"Who is all here?" Ares called out. I felt like I was back in school, and our trainer was taking attendance.

"Demeter!" I heard a woman call out. She was soon followed by other voices, including mine.

"Apollo!"

"Artemis!"

"Athena!"

"Hephaestus!"

"Hera!"

"Hades!"

"Aphrodite!"

Then there was silence, our voices lingering like the last notes of a song.

"Where are Zeus and Poseidon?" Hera called out.

"Their bodies were found earlier," Ares said, making a face that he must have thought was mournful.

"Oh no!" Athena cried out, shattering the silence. Zeus had been our leader. He and Poseidon may have been slightly boring, but they were fearless and smart, good leaders and good men. No one else said a word. I could see them now, their dark hair and rugged looks. They always listened; even if they knew better than what we were talking about.

"There seems to be no one alive except for us," Ares said, looking around. I had to agree. The numbers of people who had stirred were none, besides the super beings. A quick survey of the area could reveal that even to the most untrained eyes.

"The eight of us need to stick together. We're all each other has now," Ares said, his aura completely somber. No one disagreed, because for once, he was right. Sticking together was the best thing for us to do.

We all fell in together, salvaging what we could from the ruins of our home. We found some survival kits, backpacks, and water bottles in the refrigerators we found under the rocks. Other than that, we had nothing. Everyone stocked up on a backpack with a survival kit, and we all set off to find somewhere to set up camp.

Our survival training was beginning to kick in, all the lessons we ever learned, all the training classes we ever took, they all went into overdrive. I remembered being told to stick together, but I was also told not to move. If we were to be found by someone, which I assumed we were aiming for, then why were we moving so far away from the place that rescuers would look first?

We walked along silently, the distance blurring as thoughts rushed through my brain like wind in a blizzard.

I couldn't help but wonder why Zeus and Poseidon were the ones that had to die. I always did like them, like older brothers. They truly cared about what happened to all of us, and did their best to make sure that we were all treated fairly.

I also couldn't help but wonder why Ares wasn't upset by this at all.

As a matter of fact, no one but Athena and I had expressed any grief. Everyone seemed strangely emotionless, completely unlike the way everyone normally was.

I kept silent, mourning in silence for the people lost to me.

To be honest, there wasn't much to say.

We kept on, walking until we reached a small clearing in the woods. It was grass and dirt, an open clearing surrounded by exotic trees and berry bushes surrounding it. It wasn't huge, but the perfect size for a small group of eight people or so. We all stood in a line, staring at the area and unsure of what to do next. Demeter walked out of the formation first, striding over to the bushes, breaking open the small berries with expert hands and smelling the juice that stained her palms purplish-black.

"They're good," She said, popping them into her mouth. "Very good. And over there I can see some herbs that can be used for healing and other such things, if I am correct." She was a serious woman, tall and dark haired. "I believe that this is a good spot for all of us to stay, Ares." She looked to him for approval. Something inside my body stirred, noticing that everyone had seen Ares as the leader. I noted this fact and cautiously agreed with Demeter.

"I agree," I said, kneeling down and noting the multiple tracks of deer that covered the dirt in the clearing, disrupting the smooth, unbroken covering of dirt. "There are many animals to hunt as well. I estimate that there are three or four herds of deer in this general area, and many more inhabiting this island. There are many types of meat to be hunted." I stood up, looking not at Ares but at the whole group.

"Those herbs are for healing," Apollo said, walking back from looking at the herbs Demeter pointed out. "Basic headache, infection fighting, and anitvenoms. Basic ingredients, but I can work with them easily." Everyone looked at Ares, waiting for approval. He put on a pondering face, and seemed to mull it over for a minute or so.

"I suppose we have found an ideal location." Ares said, scratching his head. "Let's set up camp. We need saplings, ferns..." and he went on to list all the generic materials for building simple huts, things we had learned in our first lessons when we were still developing.

I went into the woods with all the others, gathering the materials and putting them in piles. Though the branches cut my fingers at times, we all ignored the small cuts and kept at it for almost two hours until we had a good stockpile of materials. It was Athena and I that started building the huts, one for every person.

The clearing was quickly filling up, a pile of gathered food growing off to one side, herbs at another. Hephaestus was already building a fire in the center, and people were walking through it quickly and efficiently. It seemed that all was right in the world, perfectly fine. We were together, we were working, and we would soon have roofs over our heads and a steady food supply to eat.

It was when I went back into the woods for an extra fern, I saw that something that changed everything. Something that showed me that everything was terribly wrong.