The Last Demigod Ch. 02

He chased after the beast that was slowed by Artemis' arrows. It sensed him near, turned, and crouched low in defense. He set his feet and yelled, "COME ON!"

The beast leapt forward and he slashed in response. His blade connected with one of the heads slicing it off, but the unharmed head snapped at his leg. The fangs left a long shallow cut along the length of his thigh. He stumbled back. The dog beast in front of him only had one working head left. It crept low and began to circle him. He kept his blade between both him and the beast until finally the beast lunged. He stepped to the side, turned, and cut the beasts head off.

"HAH!" Anthony called out. He then turned to see Artemis defending herself with her two long daggers against one dog beast. He then saw Heracles with the two beasts in each of his hands.

"BEAST!" he yelled out with his own thundering voice. The one by Artemis saw its brethren and retreated.

She sheathed her daggers and set an arrow to her bowstring and aimed.

"No," Heracles said. "Kerberos has showed his hand. Let him know that the son of Apollo will not be so easily defeated," he finished with a smile.

Artemis slapped Anthony on the back of his shoulder. "Nice job."

The three regrouped and sheathed and packed their weapons. All then remounted their horses and continued to head towards Litochoro with Heracles at the front.

"Hey," Artemis called out to Anthony. "What were you going to tell me about your dream?"

"Oh, oh yeah," he replied. He suddenly couldn't remember. He was feeling sick.

"You ok?" she asked.

"Yeah... no, I..." he said before he felt off his horse.

"HERC!" she called out.

He turned to see Anthony on the floor as she jumped off and was at his side. She inspected his person and found the slash that the dog beast had left him.

"Shit. We have to find shelter," she said.

Heracles nodded. He picked Anthony up, placed him on his horse. The two remounted with Anthony's horse's reins in Heracles' hands.

"I know a place," he said.

-

The streets of Mt. Olympus were filled with every single god, goddess, nymph, Immortal, and muse. The heavenly city was filled with chanting and praise as Zeus, the father of all the gods, stood atop the podium just within the gates of Mt. Olympus. The golden gates were wide open as the greatest hero of that time stepped in for the first time as a god, Heracles.

"Welcome, my son!" Zeus said as his voice boomed over the loud chanting of the hundreds gathered.

Heracles was greeted by each of the hundreds of extended family and friends. He recognized gods he had fought alongside, his half-siblings, and demigods who had also died and become gods like him. He slowly made his way to where Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Hades stood waiting to greet their newly arrived Olympian.

"Welcome," they all said in sync though he noticed Hera and Ares seemed to hold some disdain.

Apollo was the first to greet him, followed by Artemis.

"Welcome, brother," Apollo said.

Heracles grasped Apollo's forearm in greeting, "I can't tell you how honored I am to meet the god of the Son."

Artemis pushed in between the two and wrapped his arms around Heracles before yelling, "Herc! You finally made it!"

Heracles laughed. "How long has it been?"

"Thirty mortal years, I think," she replied.

"Looks like you two have a lot of catching up to do," Apollo said as he turned before giving Heracles one last pat on the arm.

He began to head back towards his residence as he passed his father, Zeus. Zeus stopped him by grabbing gently at his shoulder.

"Tis a fine day," Zeus said followed by a hearty laugh as the gods and goddesses surrounding Heracles uncorked their bottles of wine.

"Fine day it is, father," he replied as he continued to walk. He squeezed in between the crowd as they all flowed in the opposite direction until finally he was able to walk without being bumped.

Moments before he arrived at his palace, he saw both Hera and Ares conversing just outside Ares's home. It gave him pause, but he shook off the thought.

A stinging suddenly gripped hold of him. Anthony opened his eyes and grabbed at his leg. He saw Heracles and Artemis sitting beside him.

"What... what happened?" he asked. His head felt hot and heavy. The pain in his leg was unbareable.

"Everything's fine," Artemis said.

"But my... my leg..."

"It's healing. We were able to use the peony flower in time," Heracles said. "Rest."

Anthony nodded his head as he tried to calm himself.

Both Artemis and Heracles stood up and left the small cave that they had used as shelter for Anthony.

"You heard him right, didn't you?" Artemis said.

Heracles nodded.

"Hera and Ares."

"Still don't know why father stayed with that psychotic wench," Artemis said.

"It's not something we should be concerned about. We're running out of time, Artie."

"I know, but we can't travel while he heals."

"We may have to. We won't be around for long and who knows how long Athena can keep Ares idle?"

"She may hate him, but she knows how he is. She made sure the collect as many nymphs and muses as she could find."

Heracles shook his head. "We have to go now."

She sighed. "At least give him the night."

He placed his thumb to the side of her eye and gently brushed her wrinkles. "We're almost out of time," he said solemnly.

She nodded.

Artemis went to Anthony while Heracles prepared the horses. He then went into the cave, picked up Anthony and placed him on Artemis' horse. Artemis then hopped on in front of Anthony and had him lay on her.

"Let's go," Heracles said.

The three continued on.

It would be another entire day before Anthony finally opened his eyes. They were a mere hours from arriving at Litochoro, but Heracles knew the horses needed the rest. They sat camp on a small hill over looking the valley that held the small city they were venturing to.

"What's the plan when we get there?" Anthony asked.

"Once we meet the Olympians, we will escort you to the Dias Gate," Artemis answered.

"What's that?"

"The Dias Gate was created by Zeus so that gods and lesser gods, such as nymphs and muses, could travel easily from Mt. Olympus to Earth and back," she replied.

Anthony noticed Heracles was focused on their immediate surrounding area and not on their conversation. He wanted to hear his input, but figured it would be best not to bother him with questions.

"How did Zeus travel?" he asked.

"My father would transform into a giant eagle and fly."

"That's all you have to be able to do, fly?"

She chuckled. "You also have to be an Olympian. But essentially, if you were an Olympian and you could fly, then you could travel as the god of lightning."

"Who else can fly?"

She grasped her chin with her forefinger and thumb. "Hmm, good question. The only other god that could fly that comes to mind is..."

"Hermes," Anthony quickly answered.

"Nice! Did you see him in your dreams?"

He nodded. "I saw him save you and my father."

She smiled. "He was a great hero," she said solemnly.

"What happened to him?"

"We don't know. Last time we saw him, he was with your father," she replied as she stared at the ground seemingly caught in a thought.

He didn't want to say anything more. He could see how worried she was about her father. And Hermes apparently.

The next morning, they arrived at Litochoro shortly after the sun rose. They were greeted by Athena, the goddess of war.

Athena smiled and warmly embraced both Artemis and Heracles at the same time.

"This is Anthony, son of Apollo," Artemis said as she brought Athena to Anthony.

"Welcome, Anthony" the warrior goddess said as she wrapped her arms around Anthony. She was a bit taller than he and he could feel the muscles of her arms and shoulders as she hugged him.

"Where is Ares?" Heracles asked.

"You know your brother. Always the last to rise," Athena said.

Heracles nodded. "I'll go fetch him. We must leave at once."

"That we must," Athena replied. "I'll muster the rest of the Olympians. We should be leaving shortly." With that, she left.

"How long will it take us to get to the Dias Gate?" Anthony asked Artemis.

"It's located in the physical Mt. Olympus of Greece. We should arrive no later than nightfall."

"What do we do when we get there?"

"There's an ancient fountain that was created by Gaia, mother of all life, that sustained the realm of Mt. Olympus. It runs on substance like water called ambrosia. Mortals referred to it as the nectar of the gods."

"You're saying a fountain on earth powered Mt. Olympus?"

She nodded. "Is that so surprising? Mother Gaia created earth before mankind ever existed. Before Mt. Olympus existed, the Fountain of Gaia was simply a fountain that flowed with ambrosia."

"What was the purpose of ambrosia before Mt. Olympus was created?"

"That I don't know," she chuckled.

"I'm sorry for all the questions..."

She lovingly wrapped an arm around him and said, "Don't ever be sorry for that. Your inquisitive nature only means that you're very intelligent. I don't know if you know this, but your father was also considered the wisest Olympian to ever have existed. You remind me so much of him."

That made him smile. "So if Mt. Olympus was destroyed, what happened to the Fountain of Gaia?"

"It stopped running. There was a link of ambrosia between Mt. Olympus and the fountain. When Mt. Olympus was destroyed, it stopped flowing."

"So what we need to do is get it running again..."

"Exactly."

"Why wasn't this done before?" He paused and then asked, "Do we have any ambrosia?"

She smiled. "We do have some, yes. The last bit of it. And this wasn't done before because when Mt. Olympus was destroyed, we became mortal and mortals cannot set foot in Mt. Olympus. Even if we did use ambrosia to restore the fountain, the children of Typhon would destroy the link again."

"What if mortals do go through the Dias Gate?"

"They would die," she replied gravely.

He nodded his head slowly.

"That's one of the reasons we need a Demigod. You have the blood of a god running in your veins making you able to enter Mt. Olympus once the Dias Gate is opened."

"And then I have a child with another Olympian..."

She didn't answer right away. He noticed a tear well up in her eye.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I misspoke when I told you that our godhood was restorable. Zeus was called the Father of all gods for a reason. He wasn't technically a father of all the Olympians, but all Olympians were connected through him. He created Mt. Olympus in his image and we came after him. Once Mt. Olympus was destroyed, that link was severed. Even if my father survived the war, he would not be able to set foot in Mt. Olympus."

"Wait, wait, I'm lost."

"Once you enter Mt. Olympus, you will recreate it as you see fit. All Olympians' links to Zeus and Mt. Olympus were severed once Mt. Olympus was destroyed. But once you create it, all gods after you will be linked to you."

"But I'll be the only one. How could I make more gods?"

"It's something we've all worried about. We don't know. There were very few times where Zeus had bestowed godhood on a mortal or made a mortal an Immortal, but we don't know how he did it. All I know is we've got to get you to Mt. Olympus."

"What about Typhon?" he wondered.

"I'm sorry, dear nephew, we can only hope that you will find the power to defeat him."

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before finally asking, "Are you sure I'm the last Demigod?"

She bit her bottom lip and looked away.

"No, we don't know for a certain," answered Ares as him and Heracles came up behind them. "We don't know how many of your mortal women our pervert of a father fucked after you were born. Not to mention the other countless gods who fornicated with your kind."

Heracles turned and sent his large fist into Ares' face, knocking him to the ground.

"Still the kiss ass, I see," Ares said as he slowly got up.

Artemis turned to Anthony and said, "You're the last one any of us spoke about before Typhon attacked."

Heracles nodded. "It's true. Olympians tend to talk about their mortal offspring. It's a type of gossip for them," he added with a shrug.

"Let's move out," Athena commanded.

Heracles, Ares, Athena, Artemis, and Anthony all gathered at the top of a mound as they watched dozens of Olympians march towards Mt. Olympus.

"Do we have a plan?" Anthony asked.

"I already told you," Artemis replied.

"No, I mean, to deal with Typhon. Wouldn't he be guarding the Dias Gate?"

She shook her head. "He doesn't know where it is. He will, however, notice us moving towards Mt. Olympus."

"That's what we're for," Athena answered. "We're going to protect you."

"So listen to every word I have to say and don't be a hero," Ares added.

"Don't mind him. He's always been a fool," Athena said.

As Heracles, Athena, and Ares began to move ahead of the Olympians, Artemis tugged at Anthony's arm.

"If we run into any trouble, trust your instincts. Remember, you're the son of Apollo," she said.

He slowly nodded as they followed the other two.