After Zia, the kids, Thor, Athena, Felicia and Henry all leave the base, they make their way towards another hideout of Felicia's and Henry's. After getting inside, they begin to talk. "So, try to piece this together for us." Henry says as they sit down. "Now that we're somewhere away from all the U.S. military bases, secret whatevers, prying eyes and listening ears. I want to hear everything, from the very beginning."
"The beginning? Are you sure?" Zia asks.
"I can tell this is going to be a long story." Felicia adds. "But we have time. Right now, time is all we have. I want to start hearing this."
"You're not going to believe this if I do tell you." Zia says. "I'm not even sure which beginning to start at."
"Let's start with explaining what we've seen so far." Felicia says. "The zombie. What was that?"
"Zombie?" Carl asks.
"There was a zombie?" Silas asks.
"What the hell is a zombie?" Athena asks.
"That was... Special Agent Thomas Holland of the MI6." Zia says.
"MI... 6!?" Henry asks in a panic. "A British special agent?"
"Was a British special agent." Zia corrects. "It was... but what he became is this thing... this... drone to be more accurate."
"Drone?" Henry asks. "Someone was controlling it, or something?"
"... Or something." Zia says. "It was a drone from Ares."
"Ares..." Felicia says to herself. "Is that a codename? I don't think I've heard of this man or organization. Who or what is Ares?"
"Ares, as in the Greek god Ares." Zia clarifies. There was a moment of silence before Zia says again "The actual god from Greek mythology. The entity, the god himself, Ares sent this British agent after us to kill us. I know this sounds like a joke, but I am completely serious."
"Zia, you need more time to heal." Felicia says. "Those are just stories, Ares isn't real."
"But he is!" Silas speaks up. "Look, this is going to sounds insane, but those two over there aren't humans. That one is Athena and the other is Thor." As Silas speaks, Thor raises one hand and waves slightly. "I'm not a human either, I learned recently. I discovered that I'm this thing called a laibah. I can shapeshift, like my father, except into a fox, see?" As Silas finishes his sentence, black fox ears spring up from the top of his head and he grows a tail that he shows off and moves to show it's real. "A-and and... this may all sound crazy, I know, but there's even more gods around. Our friend Loki went missing and with Ares is Dolos!"
"Loki!?" Felicia starts freaking out.
"Friend?..." Zia asks. "I know this all sounds too sudden. But to explain some of this, I'm also not a human. That's a long story I'll get to here in a moment to explain, but I used to be a Japanese goddess known as Inari. I was reincarnated as a human... after my fight with Holland, I suffered a massive head injury and lost most of my memories. While in my comatose state, I spoke to Greek goddess Gaia who gave me my old memories from my first life. Due to my head injury, I couldn't remember either memories though. I still can feel some memories inside my head that I just simply can't recall. I haven't gotten it all back yet and sometimes I lose touch with who I am... with which me I am. I'm worried if I'll ever be myself again."
"Mom..." Silas says, trying to think of some way to cheer up his mother. "I-it's going to be okay. You'll always be my mother, and you'll always have me and dad. It can always be worse. What if we never saw you again?"
Zia looks down and smiles to herself. "You really are your father's kid." She says. "Silas... did anyone ever tell you that you're bad at motivational speeches?"
"Well, that would be a really strange thing to be bad at." Silas replies. Zia starts chuckling softly to herself before breaking out in both tears and laughter. Zia kept laughing to herself as she cried, as most other people in the room, aside from Felicia and Henry, stood awkwardly and confused. "M-mom? Are you okay?"
Zia calms down a little bit, tears in her eyes but a smile on her face. "I'm much better now." Zia says. "Now that we managed to give the short version of the story to Henry and Felicia, let me start from the beginning. I'll also explain to you, Silas, about the laibah."
"So, where are you of to now?" Dolos asks Ares in an unknown forest.
"Checking up on the drone." Ares replies in a rude tone. "Why do you keep sticking to me so much?"
"I'm doing the same thing you are." Dolos replies. "I'm betting it all on the best player in this game."
"Stop betting on me." Ares says. "I'm not here to win."
"I know, I know!" Dolos says. "You forget, I know you better than anyone else. You're betting it all on Chronos, and I just happen to be betting on you, Ares."
"I didn't ask for this." Ares says.
"But it's the least I can do." Dolos says. "After all, I've known about you for so long."
Long, long ago, in ancient times, when Ares was still a young god on Mount Olympus, there was a commotion with young Ares. He was assigned his domain, being born a god, the domain of war. While most gods seemed contempt with their domains, or at least satisfied with their domains, Ares was different. As a brooding and stubborn god, he was as angry as he was powerful. He hated his domain. "What's wrong, Ares?" Hera asks as she sits besides her son, Ares.
"I don't want to be the god of war." Ares says. "It's not fair! I hate war! Why do I have to embody it? I just want to live! I want to be free and be happy!"
"Ares, I'm sorry, but it's not like that." Hera says. "You don't have to love war, and you don't have to start wars. You existing simply represents an aspect of human life. War is natural. All living things do it. But as long as we have the gods of war, we can at least make sure that war won't end by causing the end of all living things."
"So if I die, does war stop happening?" Ares asks.
"No, Ares." Hera answers. "Even if all of the other gods of war from around the world die, that would simply endanger the balance of the beauty that living things find between wars. But you are special. Unlike the rest of Zeus's bastard children, you at least have a heart. Don't go wasting that with thoughts of dying, little one."
As Ares grew up, he only became more and more bitter towards his domain, while becoming more and more proud of himself for his strength as he proved himself worthy even amongst the gods on Olympus. He was strong, clever, and unnaturally adaptive. His domain only allowed him two forms of magic as do most domains of gods. For war, he was allowed to use elemental magic and a rare magic nobody else had previously been able to use, mind control. However, his mind control was his minor power within his domain, and it had a very weak affect. It wasn't usable against immortals and even against humans it would often fail. As such, he rarely used it, as it seemed he was only able to use it to start wars.
At some time, Ares wanted to prove himself against another of the gods, another of Zeus's children, Athena. The challenge Ares proposed, however, was strange. He wanted to put Athena down and shame her, but simple combat wouldn't be enough. He wanted to make her feel useless and be cast out from Olympus. He needed some way to guarantee that he's remain safe on Olympus. For if there was any one thing Ares feared the most, it was his own death. He held true to his mother's words and put dying so far out of his mind that even thinking about the simple thought of dying scared him. Due to this, Ares used some humans to wage war on the people of Athens. People whom were once like Athena's people themselves. Using his mind control that he didn't like using, to wage war that he still hates. But he felt justified in the need to do so, even though he hated doing so, when he told himself it's for his survival. "I love war." Athena and many others can see him chanting over and over as he escalates the conflict between humans.
After shaming Athena, she rebelled when confronted by Zeus. Zeus didn't see it until then, but Athena was very defiant towards him, and didn't see him as a father. She left willingly from Mount Olympus and began to lead her own life separately. After wards, the three Moirai sisters came up the mountain with dire news. They confronted Ares and warned of his death. "There is a thread." Clotho says, "that represents you. However, we aren't supposed to see destinies of gods and immortals. This can only mean one thing. The thread ends. That you, Ares, son of Zeus, will die."
"Me!?" Ares responds in anger. "Die!? How!? When!?"
"This is the first time we've seen the thread of a god, so we aren't sure how to determine it." Lachesis replies.
In anger, Ares storms off towards Zeus. Before he could reach Zeus, Ares was intercepted by Hades of all others. "Ares, I came here to ask of your father a favor." he says.
"Get out of my way!" Ares growls in anger. Ares prepares to fight against Hades, only to be stopped by Zeus.
"Cease this nonsense." Zeus demands. "Hades, what are you here for?"
"Well, in the underworld, we have seen a large number of souls being sent to me at one time." Hades replies. "I'm aware of the recent happenings of Mount Olympus, so I'll make this short. Do not abuse the domains you were gifted with for personal gain. That is not why we were created."
"Hades, I'll take your advice when you can serve a purpose that benefits me. Until then, I don't want to see your face around here again." Ares hisses.
"Silence!" Zeus says. "We have a lot happening between us, the humans and Chronos. I understand the concern, but I will guide the rest of the gods. Believe in me, Hades."
"I guess that's about as good of an answer as I could hope for." Hades says in disappointment. "I will be taking my leave."
As Hades walks away, Ares thinks to himself about the conflict between Zeus and Chronos. Zeus hasn't yet started his war against Zeus but he has heard Zeus complain too often about it, and Chronos's abuse of his immense power. "Ares" Zues says. "What did you come here for?"
"Nothing." Ares replies. "I think I've got what I need for now."
After Ares leaves, he finds himself thinking to himself at the edge of a pond. "What do we have here?" Dolos asks as he approaches.
"Dolos, leave me alone." Ares says. " I am thinking."
"About hating your domain?" Dolos asks.
"I love war." Ares replies. "With war I gain power. With power, I gain the ability to survive, to push on."
"Then you hate dying?" Dolos asks. There was a long pause before Dolos continues. "You know, I am the god of deception. Illusion magic and distortion magic. I know when someone is lying and when someone is trying to illude others."
"What do you know?' Ares scoffs.
"I know when someone is a true master of deception." Dolos replies. "You see, you may have others fooled, but I am aware of your nature. What has you exercising your power, Ares, god of war?" Ares continues to look down at the water without answering. "You know, he may be our enemy, but if it has someone like you afraid, I'm sure the consequences are dire. What do you know of Chronos's power?"
In shock, Ares raises his head and looks at Dolos. "Were you listening in on me?" Ares asks.
"Nothing of the sort!" Dolos pleads. "I just have been thinking about it too. With all the whining Zeus bellows, what makes the other side so bad? Seems we're just two peas in a pod."
"Open your mouth about it, and I'll end you personally." Ares says.
"Then we have an accord?" Dolos asks.
"I am not shaking your hand." Ares argues.
"Then may I ask what has you sitting so anxiously?" Dolos asks.
"I was warned of my incoming death." Ares replies.
"Then you are afraid of death enough to swear by your domain that you hated so much?" Dolos asks.
"Still do hate it." Ares says, then pounds both of his fists against his own thighs. "I just wanted to live! I just wanted to be alive, to continue on, persevere. I had hoped maintaining my spot on Olympus would secure that, but it seems that is not the case."
"Olympus won't satisfy you?" Dolos asks. "Then leave it behind! Why bet on a losing horse? Death for gods is a rather dire consequence. When we die, we experience oblivion, not heaven. I can see why you'd fear it."
"I was thinking" Ares says, "what if Chronos has the power to maintain my security?"
"God of time?" Dolos asks as he thinks. "I guess if you were running out of time, then time would be the one thing you need."
"Then I will be leaving." Ares says as he prepares elemental magic to kill Dolos. "And you will not be saying a word of this to Zeus."
Dolos lazily raises his hands in surrender and says "If I wanted to expose you, I would've done so decades ago. You think I only just learned of your history?"
"Where did you learn all about me?" Ares asks.
"Please, Ares..." Dolos says lazily, "you think I'm one of them? I am only good at making the Olympians think I'm on their side. I'm the god of deception, you see. I am the apprentice of Prometheus. I know full well how capable Chronos is too. If I were you, I would've gone to Chronos first. However, I can help you. Or, you can go on your own. The choice is yours."
After a long while of thinking, Ares finally releases his magic and stops trying to kill Dolos. Dolos finally puts his hands back down and begins traveling with Ares. "Let's go change fate then."
"First, we stop to see Prometheus." Dolos says. "Chronos has been a busy man lately, but Prometheus will know where to find him."