Athena had just appeared on earth when she was startled by the sight of a blinding white flash of light over the horizon followed by a thunderous boom. She then felt stupid going after Hephaestus instead of her father for he needed her the most.
It was quite ironical that the god that was prophesied to be the one to kill the king of the gods was the one now worrying about his death.
"It has started, we're all going to die," Hebe spoke up as she appeared to be slightly shaken by the powerful display of might. For a moment she was glad she wasn't on the receiving end of whatever powers were at a clash.
"I want you two to go back to Olympus." Athena directed at the two goddesses.
Suddenly an attack came swiftly that Hebe and Hestia had no time to defend themselves let alone dodge. Dozens of thick vines snaked around the two goddesses before toppling them and effectively pinned them to the ground. Athena fared much better by going for four successive back-flips that got her out of the vines reach.
Landing on her feet, she got out her twin swords and slashed cleanly through two vines that lashed at her new position. "You'll need to do a lot better than that Demeter if you hope to get past my defenses."
"I wasn't trying to." Demeter materialized in front of Athena.
"Then why waste your time attacking me."
"I'm not." She replied with a smile after which a dozen versions of her appeared, each in a stance ready for combat. They quickly surrounded Athena who still locked eyes with the original. "You're stalling."
"Good, now shall we continue?" Demeter smiled.
Demeter once again lashed out at the younger goddess using her vines which Athena skillfully evaded, but this time each copy of herself joined the attack, and several more vines shot from all directions. Athena went for a quick burst of slashes that were quick enough to slice all the vines dropping them to the ground.
Before she could prepare for Demeter's next attack, the ground underneath her shifted into quicksand and began swallowing her quickly. Switching tactics, she phased her body out of the sand and rushed for the two pinned goddesses.
Demeter launched another attack in the form of roots that shot up in her path with every step she made, but she was too quick and skillfully dogged and slashed them down. She reached the two goddesses in no time and freed them with precise slices.
"Go now while I cover you." She turned to face Demeter and her constructs but was surprised to see her pause her onslaught.
Raising a questioning eyebrow at her. "They may go, my quarrel is with you," she pointed at her. "We can't," Hebe spoke up forcing Athena to turn towards them.
Trying herself, she could summon the Aether, but she couldn't access the heavens. Looking up towards the sky, she saw thick clouds that had effectively covered the whole expanse within the scope of her sight.
She was surprised not to have noticed but considering it was nightfall, she couldn't blame herself. She realized that they were trapped.
"Get behind me," she ordered the two goddesses before summoning for the aegis.
***
Zeus felt the pull on the aegis and realized her favorite daughter was in danger, he quickly released it and turned to face the now rising Poseidon after being severely burnt and had his spine broken.
His regeneration kicked in, and by the time he was completely up, he was fully healed. He called for his trident which shot to his arms.
'You can't kill me, Zeus.'
'No, but I can wear you out until you can't regenerate anymore.'
'Then what?'
'Then I'll decide whether to tie you up here and let my eagles feed on you, or banish you to Tartarus. Where is the weapon?'
'Now why would I tell you?'
'Because you'll face far worse than the two outcomes, I've given you.'
'I don't have it.'
'Bullshit! I don't believe you.'
'What little brother, you came rushing thinking I was the one to kill you?' Poseidon mentally chuckled.
'No, that's not my job.'
'What's your job?'
Poseidon pierced the ground and quickly dove in prompting Zeus to leap into the space in response as a large crack on the ground rapidly approached him. Switching his motion, he dove back to the ground and smashed it with his right fist causing a massive shock-wave that rippled throughout the moon.
There was a mental scream of pain before the trident shot from the ground and impaled Zeus on his back. Zeus gritted his teeth to muffle a scream before he grabbed the trident embedded in his back and pulled it out.
'To test your capabilities. To weaken you.'
Zeus laughed. 'How's that working out for you?'
Just as he finished the trident disappeared once more, and Poseidon materialized a few meters away from him. Poseidon once more shot forward towards Zeus who more than willingly welcomed the oncoming brawl that his brother never learned not to use on him.
On reaching him, he went for a left jab with his trident which Zeus quickly deflected with his thunderbolt and threw a hook of his own. Poseidon swung his head back and turned his trident over to favor the spear end and went for Zeus' chest, but the thunder god was too quick once again as he vanished into a lightning flash and appeared behind his brother delivering a powerful knee jab on his back that resulted in a sickening crunch sending him bowling to the ground.
He followed it with sucker punch towards the prone Poseidon who had turned on his back. The impact created a huge crater that visibly cracked the moon, effectively knocking the supreme god out.
'Stay down, that's where you belong.'
Zeus summoned the Aether and disappeared, appearing on Olympus. Glancing down the night skies, he realized it was completely covered with thick clouds.
"Hera!"
***
Heading straight for his chambers, he was intercepted by Hera in the throne room.
"Going somewhere?"
She was currently leaning on her right elbow on his throne's armrest dressed in her usual toga. "You defied my orders."
"I did my king, but I had a compelling reason."
"I don't want your excuses. I want to know where you've been. I had to send Artemis after you." "I was in a meeting of my own. I'm a queen after all."
Zeus slowly began moving closer to her, "I wasn't made aware of it."
"I didn't want to interfere with your meeting."
That wasn't the answer Zeus expected and he zipped across the hall and grabbed Hera by the neck, lifting her up a few feet from the ground. Even in his watered-down god form, he was easily seven and a half feet tall, a full foot taller than also a quite tall Hera.
Grabbing his right arm with both her arms she tried as she could but couldn't overcome the might of the Thunder God. She wanted to hex him, but the last thing she wanted was to battle an even angrier Zeus who would without doubt retaliate and ruin her plan.
"I know who has the weapon," she tried to breathe her words out before his hold on her become too strong for her to speak.
Almost immediately she found herself dropped on the ground.
"Speak."
She could hear faint crackles of lightning sparks that she was quite familiar with indicating his bubbling angered state. Rubbing her sore neck while she stood, she gathered her power for what was to come.
"Me."
There was a brief calm in Zeus before a blue streak of lightning shot from his upturned arm to smash on Hera's chest sending her crashing through one of the palace walls and into the rooms behind it. Without wasting time, Zeus leaped through the air after Hera and landed on the spot her fall had ended only to find her gone.
"Witch!"
Closing his eyes, he sent a ripple of power through the air that bounced back and forth on every surface of every room in the palace. He could read other minor deities but nothing to suggest it was her.
Then he detected her presence in their private chambers. He immediately flew there and forcefully opened the already slightly open double doors. She found Hera lying on their bed. "That hurt."
"And I'll do a lot more than hurt you if you don't give the weapon to me."
Getting up from her bed. "There was a time you used to be the perfect gentleman, noble and considerate. What happened to that man, the man I fell in love with?
"You used to have eyes only for me."
Zeus paused his retort to contemplate his answer. Finding none, his face turned into a scowl, "He's long gone."
"I was hoping that man was still somewhere in there. You changed Zeus, I used to love and adore you, and what do I get in return, dishonesty, betrayal, unfaithfulness. What did I do wrong Zeus, tell me?"
Tears began to stream freely down her cheeks.
"Nothing, I just grew weary of you."
"Then why not set me free instead of humiliating me for millennia. Is your ego that big that you just couldn't let me go? I would have finally found happiness, and we wouldn't be here fighting.
"Zeus, you turned me into something I abhor. Look at me. I'm not this person. You made me this way. This is on you."
Hera finally reached the weary god, and they stared into each other's eyes. She then turned her back to him and took two steps forward.
"And you know what the worst part is? Throughout all that, you never even asked for a simple apology. I kept forgiving you regardless, but deep down it still hurt knowing you'll just do it all over again.
"You broke my hurt, Zeus, over and over, it eventually shattered. I picked up the pieces and modeled them back together. This time without you as part of it."
In a blur Hera turned, a sword in hand and aimed for Zeus' head. Her motion was however completely stopped just a centimeter away from his neck and her whole body froze in place. Zeus' face was a mixture of anger, surprise and a faint trace of guilt or so Hera thought.
Dropping his left hand that he used to stop Hera's motion, he went to take her blade away from her while she was still frozen in place.
"I've got to hand it to you, I almost felt guilty…almost."
Then he felt it. His chest jerked forward, forcing him to gulp a lung full of air. Looking down his torso, he saw another blade covered in his own blood protruding from his chest, just where his heart was positioned.
After what felt like an eternity, the blade was finally pulled back, roughly exiting from his back. Zeus stumbled forward trying to turn whilst maintaining his balance. His hold on Hera broke and her arm dropped.
Facing his assailant, he wasn't surprised to see his traitorous son. "So, you've finally grown some balls. But you're going to need more than that if you think a little stab is going to stop me." Pain started progressed slowly from his heart and grew in intensity throughout his body. Trying to speak again, he coughed up a mouthful of blood before dropping onto his left knee.
Hera appeared in his vision, her face glistening with tears. "Now you know what it feels like."
The pain came back again. Causing Zeus to groan before shaking violently and dropping on all fours.
"It works," Ares pointed.
"Of course, it works,"
Before Hera could continue, the room they were in began to shake gently at first, then more rapidly as small chunks of the roof and walls began to fall randomly.
"Is this also supposed to happen?" Ares spoke as he started looking worried.
"I don't know. There has never been a record of a killed god before."
The shaking spread to the whole palace as Zeus dropped on his back grabbing the large hole on his bleeding chest and gave an ear-shattering scream of terror which thundered throughout the heavens. Every single god heard.
The gathered clouds in the sky turned into a lightning storm that covered the whole earth, lighting up the night and dark skies. The rapid shaking of the palace turned into more violent tremors creating large cracks in the walls of the Olympian palace before rapidly spreading throughout Olympus, further rousing every god, goddess and the supernatural as they felt a power surge that rippled throughout the whole of Olympus. And then it was all gone.
The darkness returned, but soon clouds covering the heavens dispersed clearing into a sun on one side and a bright moonlight and stars on the other. Even Hera felt it, her dominion over the sky left her leaving behind an emptiness. This unsettled her.
Together with Ares, they had initially fled the palace following a lightning tempest that left the whole palace burnt into a crater and Zeus' body was nowhere to be seen.
"So that's how a god dies."
"No, that's how a god-king dies."
Glancing at the sword he still held, he could still see the blood smeared on it. "What about the weapon?"
"It will be mine and mine alone to keep."
"Why? I like it."
"Ares, you have so many enemies most of whom are equally powerful if not more powerful than you."
"Well, let them come, I shall kill them all."
"And that's your blood-lust talking and not reason."
"Come on mother, a power like this isn't supposed to be hidden, it is supposed to be used, put the other gods in line and return Olympus to its former glory."
"Ares, the blade. Now!"
"Fine you always too rigid, no wonder father got bored of you."
"Watch your mouth."
"No matter I've done my part, now I want my share of his power." Hera grew silent at that. "What? You heard me. I want his power like you promised."
"I don't have it. It's gone. All of it. I no longer have dominion over the sky."
"How's that possible?"
"I don't know. Like I said we are treading on uncharted territories, our union is what gave me limited dominion over his domain. Now that he is dead, I guess I lose that. Now I'm just another supreme god, not a ruler."
"Maybe we—"
"No! I'm not going back to those three hags for insight. Zeus is dead, at least we accomplished one thing. As for who is going to be the ruler of the skies, that we will have to wait and see. This dominion can't be left unattended."
"His brothers could make a play for it."
"Then let them, they'll end up fighting each other anyway and no time to rule their respective domains let alone ours."
Rising from her crouched position as she traced the rough surface at the top edge of the crater. "For now, we shall have to live without tornadoes and thunderstorms among other disasters."
"Is that a good thing? The humans will go unchecked."
"At this point you, me and every other god knows that the humans rely on us less and less with each passing day, that's another reason why we needed his power. We were to remind them together with their other foreign deities that we are the supreme rulers of everything.
"But we shall have to wait and see what happens. I'm sure Gaia will intervene in case it gets out of hand, she's pretty adamant about balance."
The two then walked out of the ruined palace and had to walk their way to Ares' place as the Aether wasn't available either. As they gained further distance away from the palace, the morning sun arose, shedding light across the heavens and earth bathing the two with a welcoming warmth.
"He won't be happy about this."
"We shall deal with Apollo when it comes to it."
They silently descended the last large stairs that lead onto the palace grounds and into a forest that led to everywhere.