Love or Not

Chapter 22: Consequences

Summary:

Aries and Nyx have returned to Olympus, and all hell breaks loose. After refusing to hand over the scepter, family tries to figure out a way to get Zeus to agree to release his prize to save their son.

Aries & Nyx

As the two gods watched Zeus leave the hall, they were scared about what would happen to their children if they didn't obtain the scepter, but more worried about what Phanes would do when he found out.

Phanes had a temper, and there were a few times when all the gods felt they would never see another day. His tantrums were legendary. Some of the world's wonders, for example, the Grand Canyon, were created because of Phane's displeasure.

Zeus and other gods tend to forget that Phanes created the worlds; he could end them. It was a terrible gift for such a scary god. They didn't understand just how powerful he was until that fateful day.

Millenniums ago, Nyx could not remember how many, but it was long ago. Zeus had teased Phanes with the scepter in his hand. Zeus could never help himself. Zeus was always looking for ways to torment him. He needed to get that oh-so-good feeling that he had won over him at something.

In his search to defeat Phanes, once and for all, he left no stone unturned. Zeus found an old spell book Hecate left lying around. How fortunate, he thought at the time. It had been confiscated before a big event that every God would attend.

In the book, he found a spell to separate one's consciousness from the corporeal. It was perfect. At the same time, the spell was never meant to last forever.

It was just a little trick that Zeus felt would teach Phanes his place in his world. He would have decades of fun teasing Phanes after he changed back. But it all went wrong! The spell was not to separate a consciousness but to create one!

The Dark was born that day. Zee had been only a child when he was forced to defend Zeus against The Dark. He was severely hurt in the process, and Zeus never lifted a finger to help him. Aries was devastated.

Zee had a god's death that day. Well, sort of. It was how every God died in any case. It was like the sleep of the dead. Zee had to spend decades in a deep sleep to recover from his wounds, but he was the first God who was never the same after waking. His very fundamentals were changed. It scared all the gods.

Until, by chance, he came across Zeus holding Nu's thread millions of years later. His life changed instantly. His life was in Zeus's hands, and he would protect what was given to him.

Zee was never meant to stay in Olympus like the rest of the gods. He was destined for more extraordinary things. Zee never regretted his choice, even when his father ranted and raved for decades to change his mind.

Nyx mused how funny life is like that, even for the gods. A god child she had remembered when his awakened had rocked Olympus by his change in behavior was now her son-in-law.

"Maybe this was why it happened, so that he would be worthy of her son," Nyx murmured.

In any case, Zeus never apologized to Aries or Zee for what happened that day. Aries felt at that time he had lost the son he had cultivated into a fierce warrior whose first instinct was to fight and kill.

Upon awakening, Zee had changed. He became logical, vocal, and tactical and was known as the great negotiator with war as a last resort. Aries's heart broke, and Zeus ruined his son. The entity must have changed him beyond repair, and he was no longer the son he begged to be created to be his equal.