POV of everyone on the ship.
"What do you mean he is not on this ship?" Mr Roman bellowed at his crew members. His son had been missing from the ship for four hours and no one seemed to know his whereabouts. Where had he gone off to?
Throughout the journey, he had been talking with his brother Senile until a horrified Olly broke their reunion with the shocking news.
"Have you checked the rooms and kitchen?" Senile asked.
"It's not a large ship brother," the dark god replied. "A young adult shouldn't be that hard to find. He is not on this ship."
"He might have fallen off during the storm," Olly noted. "I did a head count and found him missing after the storm had subsided."
"Well why didn't you lead with that then?" Trina snapped angrily. "We have to go back for him."
"We can't," a worried Indigo disagreed. "We don't know when he fell off or where. We can't blindly turn back."
"Yes we can. It's Xerxes we're talking about here," Harry noted.
"It still doesn't change the fact that turning back could lead us into danger, although I think Trina is right. We should go back and look for him, that is the only way."
"Olly, I cannot believe that you of all people would spit those words out," Indigo hissed angrily. "It's not possi..."
"It is if we try," Trina retorted.
"If everyone would settle down..." Senile began as he was interrupted by unruly arguments.
Mr Roman at this point was getting impatient and he could not stand the arguments which played out before him.
"ENOUGH!" he yelled out with thunder and lightning reverberating through the skies bringing utmost silence to the ship. "Your bickerings are driving me mad."
"I..."
"Shut it, Indigo. Not another word from you. Infact, not another word from any of you."
Moving away from the silent crowd, he walked to the bow of the ship with his brother following suit.
"What's on your mind?"
"I don't know brother. But I have an idea on how we're going to find my son."
"Care to share?" The god of war asked inquisitively.
"The oracle in the ten temples would give us the answers which we seek," he squinted ahead. "If we go back now, we risk losing precious time and Petra does not have enough of that. We might even have a run in with Mars and his minions, we're already short-staffed in the defense area."
"So you're prioritizing the safety of your crew as well as the health of the Xaj over your own flesh and blood?" The god asked in astonishment.
The god nodded from side to side, "Do not twist my words brother. I thought deeply about it and this is the only way."
Senile peered into the gods face searching for hints of uncertainty but could not find any.
"You're really serious about this," he smiled.
"Stop doing that," Mr Roman sighed.
"Doing what?"
"That."
"What?"
"That thing where you make me feel uncertain of my choices and you give me the look of 'It is going to blow up in your face'."
"You usually are," he said, folding his arms. "For most of them anyway. And it usually blows up in your face. Violently."
"Remind me of three cases where I was uncertain of my choices and it escalated into something chaotic," the god straightened up.
"I'll give you four," he smiled. "The first was before you left heaven. You didn't want to be human, but you also wanted to grow amongst them so you could feel their pain."
The dark god grunted, "I did not like the part of being born again, let alone by a mortal being."
"But it was a rule you agreed to. We all agreed to it. Every god would be born by a mortal before being able to live amongst them, it was a rule."
"It was a joke..."
"That only I refused to abide by and I was cast out for it."
"I'm sorry. I did not know that it would be like this."
"No need for apologies. I don't care anyway. Being a god amongst humans should be a taboo. It brings nothing but pain and suffering to both parties as we both can see."
They stared at each other in silence until Senile broke it with a deep sigh.
"Sorry about that," he apologized. "The second was before the birth of your son. You asked me for help in protecting him to which I declined because my hands were tied."
"Yes, it really was," the former general replied sarcastically.
"May I remind you that you broke another rule. Gods of heaven and hell should not procreate. You agreed to that as well."
"I didn't know..."
"That it was a rule?"
"I didn't know..."
"That it would be like this?" Senile finished irritated. "Y'know, if you are not going to abide by such rules, then what's the point of making them."
"Okay, fine. You've only mentioned two cases where I was uncertain and it backfired."
"Don't be shaken god of darkness, unlike you I still have excellent memory," he chuckled. "The third was when your powers were taken and you needed someone to protect your family. This time, I appeared and asked to be by your side but I was turned down."
"You had turned me down before, it was right that I should do the same."
"Do not be a fool Mephistopheles," he barked. "Your wife and new born child were supposed to be your priority, but you let your pride and ego get in the way. I came back because of them. If Uranus was going to be your enemy, I had to be by your side. Zemeta and Gagontae, your sisters had to be by your side."
He peered into the distance again, "They would never leave Uranus' side."
"You know nothing about your family, do you?" The warrior god chuckled. "We might banish and punish but we are not synthetic creatures, we are living beings. We care about our creations just as much as we care about our own brothers and sisters."
Mr Roman choked back a sob after hearing those words. Years had passed by since he last spoke to any god, he had been living amongst humans after the fall of his reign.
"Even after your detachment, some of us disagreed with Uranus over his decision. We are not all bad. We do have feelings brother, giving us space away from you would not heal up that hole which you have."
He stretched out his arm as his brothers words sank into his heart. His son was all that mattered to him, he was the only thing connecting him to Aurora and he would do anything to keep him safe.
"You said you had four," he noted coldly. "What's the last one?"
Senile narrowed his eyes as he bided his time. He knew his next words needed to be taken carefully or he might have to be in battle mode soon enough.
"We know about the prophecy Mephistopheles," he heaved as his brothers eyes widened giving him a ferocious look. "The reason you were banished and your powers taken away from you wasn't to punish you for breaking the rules, it was to weaken you from protecting your son, the vessel for Callipso."
The dark god shook from within at what he had heard. The prophecy was supposed to be between him and Raïs.
"Now before you do anything rash, know that Raïs is not to blame for it. Uranus had been afraid ever since we fought that creature and he had been taking drastic measures to keep us in check," Senile stated. "Even if it meant killing the god of wisdom and prophecy to attain his powers of foresight."
Killing?
Raïs was no more?
"B... But..." he stammered. "We can't be killed permanently. We would be reborn."
The god of war frowned, "Uranus found a way with Mars. That was how Aurora died. She hasn't been reborn for years brother. I'm sorry."
'No' he thought. This cannot be. He had been looking forward to seeing his wife when the war was over... This had to be a joke.
"He knows about the prophecy, Mars is just a pawn in the game of a bigger threat. I was sent by Oceania to retrieve you from your crazy quest of locking away your sons power. He is the key to defeating Uranus, god of the heavens."
How worse could things get, he wondered. It was a lot of bomb to drop at once. He had barely recovered from losing his wife and now this...
"Where do we go from here?" he asked after finding his tongue and regaining composure.
"Fields of Talily. The final resting place for the goddess of love," he replied.
Mephistopheles sighed while letting tears flow down his face.
"Hang on Xerxes," he said under his breath. "I'll be back for you."
***
N.B: POV meaning Point of view