I walked down the long corridor my heels clicked on the old rustic floor that was once my home. Olympus. I had made it here, but it was more bitter than sweet. My nails raked along the wall leaving trails of decaying marble in their wake. My mind flashed once more as memories invaded my subconscious. Laughter filled the halls as ghosts from my past scurried around before dancing off behind me. I turned my head as they fled, a memory, just remnants of my past and nothing more. Untempered rage boiled in me, my fists clenching painfully at my sides. I spun, shoving my fist through an already broken wall.
Removing my hand from the wall in a single jerk I shook off the debris and headed upstairs. My imp had told me, once he found me again after my little run in the Erebus and the others, that my father was awake. Whispers through the lesser beings seemed to fear this. Feared my father’s anger at what he had missed. They had hoped for his death, longed for it, and Kronos’ plan of snuffing him out before I could, had failed.
That part I did quite enjoy. Kronos thought he could use me. That I was his pawn, but oh how he was wrong. I had betrayed him, as he did me. Helping Erebus find Hyperion would let him know I was not one to be fucked with. Plus, seeing Erebus once more wasn’t the worst thing. Kronos was smart, though he thought Orpheus would have obliterated the King, and in some aspects he had. But he had forgotten how stubborn my father could be and how it takes more than a poet to bury a King. Eros had taught me one thing when I was on Olympus: Love is a powerful force. And to truly kill Zeus, you would have had to have loved him.
I knew him. He raised me. I knew where to hit him, what hurt the most, and what it would take to wound him. First lesson in taking down Zeus: cut him off from his power. And no, not power in the sense of lightning and thunder. His power was in his family. And what better way to strike at that power base, than to release the one Titan he feared. The one he escaped and hid from while his brothers were devoured.
Lesson two: divide and conquer. Sure, releasing the Titans added more muscle, but I didn’t release them to act on revenge upon his family. I could care less about them. No, I released them as a distraction. While the pawns are off playing, the King and Queen are left unattended.
And finally, lesson three: the only person he truly loves. Hera. Sure, he loves his kids, make no mistake of that, but she was the only one who claimed his heart. He had had wives before her, slept with almost anything living, but something about her made him change. No longer was he the promiscuous God King, but a devoted husband. And I owed her just as much hate, as she had shown me. Granted, her being turned into a teenager had leveled the playing field drastically, and I may or may not, have felt a slight tinge of regret giving her up, but I’d had no choice. I could not feel remorse for a woman who showed others none. She had tricked me. They both had. And it was because of them, the world they loved would be left in nothing but ruin.
I made it up to the main hall, the once epic expanse now looked aged. I ran my hand over nearby frames, dust coating my fingertips. Columns sagged in some places, failing beneath the weight of holding up this once prestige building. This was my home once. A place I loved and thought I could never live without. I thought the emptiness in my chest would subside a little being back here, but all it did was grow. I spun in a slow circle, my arms outstretched as I gazed at the ceiling. I stopped abruptly, staring. Above me was a large crack, shaped in jagged formation. Memories once more invaded as I heard his voice thundering almost as loud as the approaching storm he had summoned. An after-effect of my expulsion from Olympus. A slip of power escaped me and the room shook as I stared. Clenching my hands once more, I called it back.
He’s not here Atë. Not yet. It’s only a memory.
Right. He’s not here. Not yet. So, I would wait. Since no Primordial was here to stop me, I dissolved my form, turning into the black mist with ease. I blended in, matching the shadows cast along the wall. I would wait. After all, it was only fair that it should end where it began.
The sounds of footsteps approaching hours later told me two things. One, he had arrived as expected, and two, I would finally be able to end this. He entered the room and it took everything inside me not to turn this mountain into a heap of rubble. He walked in surveying the room and stopped dead center where I had been previously. He looked so different than the old days. More modern, but still an air of arrogance around him. I had thought he would have brought someone with him after his previous fight, but maybe he didn’t think I would show. Or maybe he didn’t care enough about me to believe me a threat. I was betting on the latter.
I watched a moment longer as he crouched, picking up a piece of rubble from this old building and then he looked upward for a moment and then down with a sigh. My heart lurched, but not from pain, not from hatred, or anger. Did he remember or care what had caused that damned crack? I did. And I thought it was time to refresh his memory.
Slinking through the floor, still disembodied, I crept up and formed wholly into myself next to the man who had taken everything from me. Placing one hand on my hip I tilted my head, smiling coldly.
