Return Of The Godslayer

Chapter five

Four years ago
Sector 12—Camp Half-blood
Citadel

The council members sat quietly in the dimly lit room, their eyes glued to the large screens in front them.

There was no need for words anymore. They were all thinking the same thing and as much as they hated it, there was no other choice.

They wished they had the gods to blame—or even the Fates themselves. Unfortunately, the last of the ancient gods disappeared in the Vanishing and for all anyone knew, they were all dead.

The mortal races had to help themselves, as they've always had to.

Sure, there'll always be those who yearn for the gods who damned them. Some even devote their entire lives to searching and hoping and praying. Sadly, the heavens have nothing left to give but more heartache and death. Babel can attest to that, its ruins still drift among the aether.

Then there are those who burn with neverending hatred. Their lust for vengeance all that keeps their shattered hearts still beating. Those are the ones who blame the gods every minute of every day for everything wrong with the world. They are also the ones who devote their entire lives to fighting for peace. The ones willing to sacrifice anything for even a glimpse of the world without the chaos of war. In the end their bodies burn beneath the blackened sky, their blood taint the ruins of once great cities whose only propose it seems, is to bare witness to the end of the world.

War and all its pain and madness seems as never ending as death.

These quiet individuals, however, had no one to blame except themselves—and each other.

They were guilty of just as many sins as the gods themselves and their list of atrocities were growing faster than the souls could make it to what remained of the underworlds.

We did it for Earth, That's what they used to tell themselves.

We did it for our families, for the future of our dieing races!

We did it so no one else had to!

It was sin nonetheless.

They're a bunch of sinners and hypocrites and murderers, every last one of them, but when it came to survival, they're the best Earth had. They would have to learn to live with their sins as the gods did, or pay for it as all mortals do.

"How depressing," came the voice of Sir Arthur of Avalon, sector eight's representative. "That the fate of the world would reside on these… children. Are these truly the greatest heroes of the age?"

"Don't be foolish, Arthur," Issac Prior—senior director for sector 12—scowled the knight. "I recall the Titan Atlas said the similar thing right before he was shoved beneath the sky. Each one of these individuals have surpassed our highest expectations of them. They will make fine heroes."

"Of course they will," said the chief lector for sector two. "That's why they were chosen. It's pointless to complain when so much is at stake. As you can all see, I have already decided on my hero and I strongly suggest who do the same if they are to be ready for the Rising."

"And you, Father Mathew?" Issac asked the old man across from him. "Will your hero be ready in time for the Rising? I am aware their is much unrest within the walls of Eden."

"Nothing that cannot be handled," Mathew smiled. "My people are a bit old fashioned is all. Demons and fallen angels were never their favorites, much less the children of them. What concerns me, however, is the absence of our leader."

"Yes," Sir Arthur agreed, turning to Issac. "Have you any word from the goddess?"

Issac stared at the empty chair beside him where the leader of sector one, Queen and goddess of the Resisting armies, always sat. Though their rare gatherings had no official leader, it was she who everyone looked to for advice given her superior knowledge and power. It was she who had ensured the alliance remained during the chaos of the invasion when mortals and gods alike quaked with fear and monsters went into hiding. It was she who assembled the world leaders and led them to war against the Forsaken, bounding them by oath to fight to the very last. Even when all the other gods fled to the safety of their realms, she stood and fought beside the mortals. And two years after the Vanishing she was still fighting.