Olympus, throne room
Demeter took another step toward Damon. The throne room remained silent, more out of confusion than surprise, especially among the second-generation gods, who understood nothing. To most of them, Demeter was simply a goddess out of her mind. If they didn't know her, they would probably call her the goddess of dementia.
Even so, few lowered their guard.
Ares frowned, still with his hand near his weapon, though his battle instincts kept him rooted in place. Hermes and Apollo had stopped smiling a while ago, no longer finding anything funny about the current situation.
Athena, for her part, looked at Demeter as if she were a book she couldn't understand. Hera and Hestia watched their sister with pity. It had been a long time since they had lost contact with her, and right now they couldn't take their eyes off the goddess's face, thinking that perhaps she had lost her mind even more. After all, both of them had been watching the Champion of Chaos at camp and had found nothing strange about him. Even so, the feeling of uncertainty they had in that moment was unsettling.
Zeus slammed the arm of his throne, annoyed that he had lost control of the room once again.
"Demeter!" Zeus shouted, grinding his teeth as tiny sparks escaped from his body, looking like a Pikachu about to explode.
But she didn't even turn her head. That was enough to make several gods tense. Demeter could be distracted and strange, too focused on matters they considered insignificant, but ignoring Zeus like that in the middle of the throne room never happened. Meanwhile, the goddess seemed to be in a trance, staring at the face of the man who, despite everything, she still considered her brother. Slowly, she stretched out a hand, wanting to touch his face.
"You used to say that nature never forgets," Demeter said, trying to keep her voice steady and failing. "Even if millions of years passed, it would always remember, and that was why we had to…"
"Treasures and protect it at all costs," Damon finished, looking at his sister with a small smile. She was still as beautiful as he remembered.
Now, Zeus's face truly turned red.
To Zeus, it didn't matter what Demeter had seen in that young man. It didn't matter what connection she thought she felt. First, this little demigod had entered his throne room as if he owned the place. Second, he was losing control of the room. And third, Demeter was ignoring him as if his voice had no value. That was more than enough for the god of lightning to lose his temper.
"ENOUGH!" Zeus roared, shaking the throne room. Several nymphs and minor gods who had approached because of the drama immediately stepped back, because by this point all of Olympus was listening. Demeter did not move. Her gaze remained fixed on Damon, and that finished breaking what little patience the king of Olympus had left.
"I will not allow any more tricks from Chaos in my home!"
A lightning bolt gathered in his right hand under everyone's gaze. Hera's eyes widened. Zeus wouldn't dare attack his sister, right? For her part, Hestia took a step forward to defend the blond and her sister. After all, her sister was still her sister, and the Champion of Chaos had been very pleasant company to her, but it was already too late. The gods' breathing grew heavier.
The lightning bolt crossed the throne room in an instant, aimed directly at Damon and Demeter. In that same moment, time seemed to stop. With a simple thought from Damon, the lightning bolt froze in midair. Then it began to twist, slowly losing its shape as an invisible pressure crushed it until it disappeared before the wide-open eyes of everyone present.
But of all of them, the most surprised was Zeus.
His eyes widened like plates.
There was a saying that the one who hated you the most was the one who remembered you down to the smallest detail. For that same reason, Zeus had only known one person capable of doing what that demigod had just done, and he hated that person with all his being. He had hated him so much that he had tried to erase him from history, forcing the world to believe that those who had once known him only remembered someone dead.
That person was his older brother.
And that young man had just done the same thing, but with an ease that not even his brother had shown so many years ago.
Zeus knew it very well because he had tried many times to replicate his brother's abilities. He had usurped his title as god of the sky, sat on the throne of Olympus, and convinced the world that the sky belonged to him by right. But the truth was far more humiliating. Zeus had never been capable of doing the things Damon did. He could only summon lightning, cause small storms, and move freely through the sky, as long as the sky did not decide to reject him.
The same could be said of the other gods, though for different reasons. They were not surprised only because Damon had stopped the attack, but because Zeus's lightning was not normal lightning. It was his symbol. The power that made even other gods careful when provoking him.
Damon turned his head. The small smile he had given his sister had already disappeared from his face.
"Were you going to hit her too, Zeus?" he asked, his voice echoing throughout the room.
Demeter slowly lowered her hand, still at his side, but now her eyes were completely open. Hera stood from her throne without realizing it.
And then, just like that, chaos erupted in the room.
The first to move was Ares.
"Arrogant bastard!" the god shouted, launching himself toward Damon with a divine sword in hand.
Damon didn't even fully turn his body. He only moved two fingers downward.
The air around Ares suddenly became heavy. His feet sank into the marble, his knees gave out, and his sword fell to the floor with a metallic sound before he could even raise it. The god of war gritted his teeth, trying to stand, but the pressure on his shoulders increased enough to force him to remain kneeling.
"You move like someone who never thinks before attacking," Damon said, glancing at him from the corner of his eye. "That explains a lot."
Ares growled, furious, but couldn't answer.
Then roots of vine burst from the marble, quickly advancing toward Damon as they tried to wrap around his legs and arms. Damon let out a small laugh, turning his gaze toward Dionysus.
"Seriously?"
With a simple movement of his fingers, a gust of air exploded around him. It wasn't strong enough to destroy the room, but it was enough to rip the vine roots from the floor and push everything out of his personal space. Ares, who was still kneeling under the pressure, was sent flying like a stone toward his own throne.
The impact made the marble tremble.
"Kyaaaaa!"
Aphrodite let out an exaggerated scream, covering her face with both hands to protect her makeup from the small fragments of stone flying through the air. The goddess of love, who until that moment had been looking the demigod up and down as if he were a piece of candy too tempting to ignore, pursed her lips in annoyance.
"Be careful, damn it. This makeup doesn't fix itself."
Ignoring the goddess of love's screams, Damon looked at Dionysus. The god of wine tried to keep a firm expression, but the nervousness in his eyes betrayed him. He had attacked because he was an Olympian and because staying still after Ares would have been humiliating, but now that his attempt had failed so easily, he seemed to regret drawing Damon's attention.
Damon let out a small laugh.
"I don't understand how you can be considered an Olympian god," Damon said, looking at him mockingly as he raised a hand. "I'm sure there are minor gods who would do better than you."
Dionysus gritted his teeth, but before he could answer, the air in front of Damon compressed.
With a simple movement of his hand, an invisible pressure struck the god of wine in the chest. Dionysus was sent flying backward, dragging his feet across the marble before crashing into the base of his throne with a choked grunt.
All of that happened in a matter of minutes.
"No…" Zeus muttered, his face hardening. "That's not possible."
Zeus was certain of it. That young man had some kind of connection to his brother. He didn't know how, he didn't know why, but the way he attacked was something Zeus would never forget. Then he remembered the third symbol that had claimed that young man at camp, the symbol none of them had given any importance to, believing it belonged to some nameless minor god, and for the first time Zeus began to feel a bad feeling.
But he didn't have time to think too much about it, because Hera stepped in front of him.
"Zeus, stop this right now."
The god of lightning looked at Hera with rage about to overflow.
"Now you're on his side?" Zeus spat, his eyes full of rage. "So I was right. You let him into your cabin so he could fuck you, you damn woman."
"Well, let me tell you something," Zeus continued, as lightning ran across his body. "I am the king of the gods. You don't give me orders."
Zeus raised his hand to slap Hera.
But he never touched her.
A ring of fire appeared around his arm, closing with enough force to stop him dead. Zeus opened his eyes, looking at the fire before slowly turning toward his older sister. He swallowed hard, knowing perfectly well that Hestia was much stronger than him.
Hestia watched him from the hearth, with an expression of complete disapproval.
It became clear to everyone which side the two goddesses were on.
And the rest of the Olympians were about to discover why. :D
>>>>>>>>>>
Drop stones, please
https://discord.gg/ZD4VaEzes
P@treon: Brotato up to chapter 101