“I have seen the children. They are a blessing upon our world. What they are not is a threat. They are innocent babes. What you are claiming is not right. If you continue on your quest for blood of the innocent there will be justice.” His voice grew more hoarse, then suddenly he transformed into his true godly self. Ten foot man with the head of a hawk. He looked deadly, and angry. Osiris watched him with curious eyes. Maybe he was wondering if he was wrong. One could hope. I looked next to Osiris and didn’t see Isis. Maybe she had been locked away for trying to get them to see reason. Or maybe she was still trying in another way. I wish I knew the answer to my own questions.
“And you!” Zeus pointed to Set, who strolled on up next to me with swagger in his step.
“I didn’t get to see the babes, but even I know when something is wrong. And this is wrong.” He said it like it should have been the end all to this whole battle. While I could admit having the god of chaos and violence say this was wrong did make me leap with joy, I could see only a few of the crowd ahead of us took that information in. Zeus heard him, but brushed him off almost as soon as he spoke. Very rude of him. I bet Set could beat Zeus down if it was a hand to hand battle with no powers.
Too bad that wasn’t an option, stripping everyone down to fight like mortals.
Tristan decided to speak next.
“To those who are undecided on our fate, listen to my words. Think of your children, all of them. Remember their first smiles, and hearing their first laughs. I’ve heard these from my own flesh and blood, and I would die for them. My daughter Callista is beautiful like her mother, and shares a wonder for the world that most of you have forgotten.” He took a step closer to me, and I could feel his heat warming my skin.
“My son Ren, he is like his mother’s side: fun, and changes his hair color when he feels emotions or wants to connect with someone.” He looked every person in the eyes, willing them to see our children as the children that they were, and not some monster.
“Are you really willing to have the blood of children on your hands? You, Ares.” He pointed at the Greek god of war, who looked just like his son.
“Do you really want to fight your son over this? Kill him, over something that is not a true threat?” Then he pointed to Athena.
“You’ve already lost your son to this war, Athena. Your favorite son. He sacrificed his life for Thalia and my babies. He covered her body with his, and took a knife to the back because he loved her, and believed they were worth saving.” My head dropped, thinking of Orion. I still hadn’t gotten over what he did for me, and Tristan’s words felt like he was slowly pulling off that Band-Aid. I watched as Athena looked at Zeus; her emotions were clear on her face. She was devastated at losing Orion. Zeus looked at her, and she disappeared, eliminating herself from the fray. My eyes went back to Ares, who was staring at Leander. I knew that Ares cared for him. But I wasn’t sure if it was enough. He loved war, and this was what he was made for. He stood his ground, but I saw his internal battle.
“Ares. Do you still stand with your family, son?” Zeus asked him. Not in anger, but wanting to know his mind. Ares was like Set. The problem child, always creating problems here and there. Volatile. No one really knew what he was going to do.
“I do.” He smirked at Zeus. My heart fell a little. I was hoping he would have chosen our side. I heard Leander chuckle a little. My head flew to the side to look at him. Why did he just laugh? He saw me looking at him, and nodded his head back towards Ares, who connected gaze with me before he disappeared.
“This kid has been more of a family than any of my other shitheads. Can’t let my woman’s family bite the dust, either. Can’t risk not getting any. You know how it is.” Ares reappeared standing next to Leander. My mouth dropped completely. Wow. There weren’t really any other words for his little stunt. I honestly believed he was an all-for-himself man; never would I have thought he would have chosen a child of his, or the family of a lover. When he looked to me, I saw in his eyes that he saw my mother in my face. Maybe that was what truly saved us. It was all for her. We die, and she would never forgive him for participating in killing us.
My head shook from the thoughts of them, and turned back to see Zeus all but roll his eyes at Ares’s antics.
“Anyone else wish to be swayed by the dog’s words?” Tristan growled at his remark. It was meant to sting, and it did. Tristan’s muscles were taut and he was fighting back the urge to attack Zeus right there. A few people in the crowd disappeared, and maybe three more gods came to our side, but that was it. There was still a large army before us.
“Well, now that the awkwardness is over, we shall move on. I understand your feelings as a father, I have recently lost a son in this cause. But he knew what had to be done. I am sorry it came to this, young one.” He looked right at me when he said it.
“We will battle, and then we will collect your children.” Heartless bastards. I called them as much. My fingers gripped the hilt of my sword. I was ready, ready to finally end this. When my eyes found Tristan’s on me, I smiled.
“Not even death can part us.” He nodded.
“I’ll always find you.” His words stood true. Our love would never die. We were eternal.
I was immortal because of the ring I was wearing, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be removed and leave me defenseless. Or have to regenerate like the other gods. Their battalion started to move toward us. Tristan gave me one last look before he transformed himself into the bad-ass Anubis I used to dream of. He roared at the horde coming our way, and then ran to attack. The rest of our army followed behind him. Ares, Leander, Set, and Horus, all with their weapons up, running beside Tristan. I took one last breath to myself then dug my feet into the dirt, launching myself towards the clash of metal and the booming of gunfire.
A man who was dressed in tactical gear approached me first, probably wanting to be the one to take down the mother of the abominations. Pity for him; I was a trained warrior. Combining past Thalia and present Thalia, I was a woman not to fuck with. He lunged to the right and tried to swipe me with his sword from above. I blocked him and then used his momentum to push him behind me while spinning and swiping him with my sword. He went down and another came at me. This one was dressed like he would have back in ancient Egypt.
He was better than the tactical man, but he still failed. I was quick, and these men were trying to conquer me with their strength. I was using that against them, and they fell.
A shot fired near me and then something bounced off my arm. My eyes found the person with the gun. A woman, with a rifle in her hands. She shot again, and hit me in the shoulder, closer to my heart.
“Wrong move bitch,” I cursed at her, and quickly picked up a knife from a man that had fallen to the ground, throwing it fast, and hitting her right in the stomach.
“You are quite the warrior. It would be a pity to lose such a strong woman,” someone purred behind me. My feet spun and my sword arced out, missing my target. A very curvaceous woman , wearing tight leggings and a cropped top, stood before me. Her hair was black and was completely straight down to her belly button. Her face was very sharp and her eyes were cat-like.
“Bast.” She introduced herself before lashing out at me with her very sharp-looking claws.
She hissed and came back at me again. I managed to dodge her attack, but then she jumped over me and got me down my spine. I cried out from the pain. It was as if she sliced me open. The triumphant grin on her face told me she thought she had this in the bag.
“Have any children Bast?” I said through my labored breaths. She looked at me like I was crazy.
“Too independent to be tied down to some brats.” I laughed at her response. Some women really felt that way, and that’s ok. But there was one thing this woman didn’t understand.
“You’ll never known how strong a mother is until you threaten her babies.” I moved so quick I even surprised myself. My sword flew out, and with precision sliced right into her heart, like butter. Her eyes widened and her cry to the air sounded much like a cat in pain. The goddess of cats had met her match. Her body disintegrated around the blade of my sword. I stood there for a moment, mentally crossing my fingers that it would take her a little while to come back to her form. She was a bitch. When I looked around for the others, I found Tristan had someone in his mouth, then bit down and the man split in two. Good lord, he was a beast! Horus and Set seemed to be yelling numbers at each other.
“Fifteen!” Horus called out to Set, who pulled his sword out of a man, then yelled back to Horus.
“Seventeen!” What were they doing? I watched them for another minute and realized they were counting people they’d killed, like a game. A big part of me found that sick, and another part of me wanted more blood for all we’ve been put through.
“Thalia!” Tristan bellowed and I looked around. A man was charging me with his sword raised high. I almost got sliced in half, just barely missing his blade. This man was strong, and dressed in armor from ancient Greece. Much like what Alexander used to wear around, this man was no Alexander the Great. He was predictable. He attacked, and with every move he made his eyes would tell me where he was going next. I was able to duck and thrust my kopis right into his stomach. My sword was easy to pull out, and as the man looked at me I saw pain, but I also saw hate for me, disgust even.
It made me look around and watch as everyone fought. This whole thing was a mess, and I was tired of the battle. Right there I dropped to my knees and called out for change to anyone that would see reason to help us all. While these people who we fought believed us to be wrong, they were only fighting for what they believed in. However misguided they were, they were still souls that were dying. I looked up just in time to see a man running towards me. I went to grab my sword but he was too quick, kicking it away from me.
