CHAPTER 1: THE BATTLE IN THE HEAVENS.
(PRESENT DAY)
Diki halted, her breath trembling in her throat as doubts echoed in her mind. The black wind hissed softly around her feet, lifting the edges of her long, beautiful, black dress and brushing her hair across her cheek. The air smelled of burnt metal and old secrets.
She had walked through endless shadows to reach this place; the edge of Hello, the land where the condemned whispered in chains and the sky bled crimson light. The ground pulsed faintly, as though something alive slept beneath it.
Hades had assured her that Zeus was on his way, as he was fighting his way through the innumerable obstacles Hera had put to prevent him from reaching her, but he assured her that Zeus was most definitely going to meet her on the other side.
Already, he could be waiting for her on the other side, and she did not want to keep him waiting.
Then why did her heart feel so cold as if she was on the verge of making the biggest mistake of her life.
It might have been foolish of her to trust Hades in the past, but He had always been so kind to her. He had also saved her on numerous occasions from getting into trouble with the Queen.
She had no reason not to trust him.
But he didn't like Zeus, and that was reason enough to doubt everything he said.
Yet, Zeus had appeared to her and told her to trust Hades; not to ask questions. Even though it all seemed so suspicious then even as it did now, she knew the reason for it:
There were enemies closing in from all sides and if she hesitated for another seconds, she might destroy her only chance of being with Zeus forever.
She let out a long sigh and raised her foot to take the next step, but His voice stopped her.
"Is anything the matter, Diki?" Hades voice; deep, timber and soft, came from behind her, and she turned.
He stood a pace away, a silhouette carved from night and slow flame. The third of the three towering Celestial brothers: Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, he was very handsome in a very dark gothic way. His cloak gathered shadow and the air around him thrummed. His eyes were black as wet coal; embers of red ghosted at their edges. Even his profile had the weight of an old legend: ears with the faintest curve, a nose long and sculpted, a dark presence that made the world lean toward him.
All around them, the Hello brimmed with dark forms with fiery red eyes, that seemed to gleam with what looked like triumph. Jagged columns of black stone pieced the low sky; rivers of tar bled in slow currents. Soot floated like ghost pollen.
This was Hades’ world, one could only wonder what Zeus had been thinking in asking her to listen to Hades.
Far from Hello, ten million miles away in the valley of Kroshek, a war thundered like a second sun.
Zeus fought hard with his cozillions of army against the joint forces of Hera and Hades
The armies collided with the violence of tectonic plates: sound, heat, motion.
Zeus rode at the storm’s center, a living lightning bolt. His armor was bright white, reflecting a light so fierce it cut shadow. His soldiers; angelic and luminous, moved like a tide of radiance behind him.
The battlefield was a cathedral of thunder. The ground there was not soil but hammered brass and the air thick with sparks.
The opposing armies were terrors in mass forms.
Hera’s troops were swift and terrible: a chorus of short, lithe figures with women’s faces and long hair, swift as blades.
Their armor flashed a blue-gold that bit like winter.
Hades’ legions were a nightmare of scale and horn: tall creatures with scorpion faces, a dog’s tail lashing salt-spray, buffalo horns arching like broken moons, and long frog-like legs that allowed them to leap and crush. Their armor glowed deep red, like coals under a lid.
Against them, Zeus’s warriors were light itself transformed into form: glowing angelic human fighters in white, winged; their armor swinging as it turned the air. They moved with the momentum of starlight and the discipline of the stars.
Zeus raised his shimmering silver sword and brought it hard against one of Hades men, when he heard a desperate call of his name.
He turned and saw his arch messenger; Osolf, the one he had sent to escort Diki to Canuun, a small safe paradise, until he could meet her there.
He frowned.
Why was Osolf here and not with Diki after his instructions?
Lightning wrapped around his blade as he fought, each movement a bright punctuation in the battle’s stanza.
The sky over Kroshek rumbled and crackled with fierce lightning as if someone were striking an invisible drum. Each of Zeus’ strikes caused the lightenings to thunder all around him, sending some of Hades' warriors fleeing. Still, the sight of Osolf racing; breath ragged, put a cold knot in Zeus’ chest.
Down in the kingdom of Kashangar, its people ran for safety as the ground shook and lightening thundered, striking buildings to collapse and roofs to catch fire.
Amy and Kuli were huddled by their mother's side as they stared out of the window at the roar of thunder and fury of the sky.
It wasn't raining a heavy downpour.
It was raining blood.
"Mama, what is happening? This is not rain. It's blood! What's going on?" Amy cried as she clutched her mother's long flowing skirt in a tight grip.
Their mother, a beautiful woman with green eyes, said through trembling lips, "It is the war of the gods. Let us pray for Kashangar that we do not become casualties in their fierce battle."
And boom went down the statue of Zeus causing Amy to screech.
"We must pray!" Their mother said desperately through her tears. "Lord Zeus cannot lose. Our very lives depend on it. "
And they began to pray fervently.
Little Amy opened her mouth to pray but stopped and popped one small eyes open.
She saw her mother and sister on their knees praying fervently.
Then her little voice floated to her mother.
"Mama, Zeus is the strongest of the Olympus gods. Who would dare challenge him, and who would even ever stand a chance to win against him? "
Her mother opened her eyes and stared her, as did her sister.
"Hades," the both echoed at the same time, their faces a mirror of horror.
