Chapter 81: Olympus Has Fallen (823 BC)

823 BC, Olympus

(Medusa POV)

Shit, I was fighting a Horcrux, all this time. I just decapitate the man and start sensing for a soul piece. I quickly find it in the form of the serpent staff that Herpo held. With a sneer on my face, I conjure some Fiendfyre and direct it at the staff. A high pitch scream pierced the previous silence, signifying the Horcrux’s destruction. After I was done, there was nothing left of it but ash.

This could end up catastrophically, I needed to deal with it before it’s too late, if it isn’t already.

With no one to stop me, I through the gates of Olympus. I wear my invisibility cloak; the deathly hallow allowing me to bypass the ritualistic wards as if they weren’t there and I finally enter Olympus. The sight that greeted me was the complete opposite of how I saw it in Hestia’s memories. The city of Gods was supposed to crowded, filled with markets and young gods trying to sell their goods. But now, Olympus was deserted. There was no sign of life anywhere and the silence was deafening.

I walk around and try to sense for any sign of magic; a ritual of the scale Herpo described should have been pulsing with magic. I was not disappointed; there was powerful traces of magic leading me to what I assume is the coliseum.

I make my way there and, suddenly, my magical sensing came blaring into life. If what I was following was a spark, what I sensed now was an entire bonfire of energy. Shaking my head to focus on the task at hand, I step into the coliseum to find it entirely full and completely quiet. The center of the coliseum was turned into a copy of the council room; every member given a seat with Zeus at the top. The stands were also full with what I assume are thousands of minor gods.

But even though all of the Olympians were there, there was not a single sound; everyone seemed to be in some sort of trance. The energy was so dense that it started to get visible. There a beam of energy coming from the sky and concentrating on something in front of each Olympian.

I focus on the object; it looks somewhat circular. The light from the energy is too dense to make sure. But then I realized that the light is different for every participant in this ritual. The members of the council, particularly Zeus, had a much stronger light than the others.

I look at the object in front one of the minor gods at the back and discover the object to be an apple. However, it was halfway gold and was slowly turning into gold completely. I look around and find that in the front row, Hestia was there.

She was also in the trance but she was chained down as if she was forced to do this. That’s my Hestia; resisting to the very end. She was also holding our bracelet; she must have tried to contact me somehow. Now that I know that Hestia was somewhat safe, I had to focus on the ritual.

Analyzing the magic, I discover something startling. This energy wasn’t magic but soul energy. They were absorbing the soul energy and storing it in an apple somehow. Each apple was connected on a deep level to each participant. The apples are fundamentally changing; the amount of soul energy was too much for it not to. The apples served as a stabilizer as a constant influx of souls would be too much for anything with a soul to handle. The soul is a person’s identity and taking on the soul of another will fundamentally change who you are. But the apples are somehow being used to remove the identity of each soul and just storing what appears to be pure soul energy.

I’m assuming that after the ritual is complete, everyone will eat their apple and will supercharge their own souls. The amount of energy would overwhelm their bodies but their souls will be too strong for them to die, meaning that they would become beings of pure energy and ascend into godhood.

Unfortunately for them, Agamotto’s spell, which is being maintained by the sanctums, is actively banishing every god or demon on the planet. The gods of Olympus will be removed from this realm and transported randomly into a god’s or demon’s realm. I do not have to tell you that most of them would not like having intruders in their domains. I don’t think that Dormammu or Chthon would welcome them with open arms. They would be destroyed easily and with them, the last traces of Atlantis.

Furthermore, the souls were not full souls but fragments of the souls of every worshiper. The soul is meant to be whole, that was the first law of soul magic, and this ritual is causing thousands if not millions of people to lose a part of their soul which will affect their afterlife. A fragmented soul is just left in limbo until the whole soul is reunited. When the entire soul has moved on, they stay in limbo, losing their identity, until they’re basically a blank soul that will then be reused later.

This ritual could hypothetically doom thousands of people into an eternity in Limbo. Not touch, no smell, no sound, no sight. Nothing but the void and they will be conscient for everything. At first, they will turn mad and then they will start to lose their will to live, their will to think their own identity, until all that is left is a blank soul. For someone to be forced into this without actually doing anything to merit this punishment, is beyond cruel. I could not let that happen.

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There was only one thing that could help me with this this and it was the soul stone. With barely a thought, the necklace containing the soul stone opens, revealing its glory to the world. I can feel that the soul stone itself was perturbed with what it was seeing. I could feel its outrage, its fury at souls being used in such a way.

I try to use it to reverse the effects and it started working for a couple of seconds before one of the Olympians started to cough golden blood. With a quick diagnostic charm, I determine that interrupting the ritual would end up killing everyone from the shock. The apples were too tightly bound to the users and removing the soul energy damages the apples which in turn hurts its master.

If I was there earlier, I could have prevented this but I was too late.

I have to kill them; I have to kill Hestia. The stone seemed to agree with this decision as it thrummed on my chest.

But this time, I had enough. This was getting too much. I had just tasted a glimpse of happiness in my life and I was not going to lose it. I will not lose Hestia as I lost Atlan. This is too much even for me; it will break me. I refuse to be alone in the world, to become the lonely god.

So, I exclaim to no one in particular, “NO! I refuse. I am not your puppet. I will not lose and keep losing like some sort of cosmic joke. I’m done. NO MORE!”

With newfound determination, a plan forms in my head. It’s a mad plan, but it’s a plane nonetheless. I do not need to kill them to save them. I just need to stop the connection and find something else to feed the apples.

I can feel the soul stone vibrating warningly at my plan but I ignore it. I will not be the last Atlantean!

I put the soul stone at the top of my staff, Death’s staff, and then violently stab it into the ground. All seven celestial runes appeared into the air. Runes was always my strongest subject, let’s test how much I can do with it on the fly. Suddenly, Olympus started shaking and suddenly Olympus wasn’t on a mountain anymore but on some sort of floating rock. There was no start or no end, just Olympus. It was a dimension that I created on the fly. Well, not really created, it was already there but it was empty, I just created a gate to it and moved Olympus in it, then I transported everyone there. I didn’t have time to admire my work because without a connection to the souls, the Olympians started the throw up golden blood. I needed to replace the soul energy with something else.

That’s why I chose this dimension in particular, it was almost saturated in magic. The ritual will continue by replacing the souls by simple magical energy. I then use the soul stone to return the souls inside the apples through the portal to the real world. Slowly but surely, the souls started returning to their owners and the apples became full of magical energy instead of soul energy.

Doing something like this is very draining, but doing it without any plans, that’s almost suicidal. Gasping in pain, I double over, nauseous and throw up. I used too much magic and channeled the power of an infinity stone. I was too tired to even think straight and I could feel me passing out anytime soon.

The ritual was finished and the Olympians were starting to wake up. But now, I had a choice to make. The gate was closing permanently. Technically speaking, I turned this dimension into a realm and the Olympians into realm lords. Of course, they’re weaker than almost any of them but they are all the same. And while sorcerers could have connections to certain realms and borrow power from them to perform certain spells, a direct connection to an inhabited realm are automatically closed by the sanctums to avoid realm lords invading the earth.

Which brings me to this choice, to stay or to leave. Hestia was bound here like the rest of them because of the connection to this new realm. But to stay with her, I would have to give up my home. But if I leave, I’ll leave again and I refuse to be alone anymore. I’m done with this.

The choice is simple, I’m going to stay. Maybe I’ll even bang some sense into the idiots that remained of my first home.

With my decision being made, I stop resisting the sanctum’s magic and let the gate close for good but before it could close, some sort of wraith got out of what I assume is Hades’ body and flew and went through. That must be Herpo. Hades then turned limp and fell dead. To tell you the truth, I was too tired to care about it. I slowly limp towards Hestia, to make sure she’s okay. I remove her bindings and to my relief, I could feel her moving. She sleepily mumbled, “Medusa?”

“Yes, it’s me, love.”

Her eyes then were wide awake and she jerked up, “Medusa, you have to stop them, they’re doing something horrible…”

Before she could continue, I interrupt her, “I already took care of it. How do you feel?”

“I feel weird. Not bad just different. What happened?”

“I had no choice. It was either that or you dying. I created a new place, just for Olympians, just for us, away from the mortals. What you’re sensing is the new magic going through this place.”

She looked at it confusingly, “So you trapped everyone here? What about you?” she asked pleadingly, “are you going to stay?”

I smile at her, “It will take something extraordinary to take me away from you.”

I kiss her deeply and slowly lose myself in the sensation. I was interrupted by some sort of jerking motion, pulling me away from her. I thought it might be one of her brothers but, it was some sort of shadow. I try to resist but I can sense its power and it feels cold and almost infinite. I know that I don’t have a chance.

I look at Hestia’s worried eyes and say, “I love you!”

I was completely swallowed by the shadow and all I could see was darkness. I don’t know if it was my kidnapper or my own exhaustion, I pass out all the same.

I didn’t realize then that this would be the last time I ever looked at Hestia’s face. I only wished I could have had more time with her. It was unfair but life is unfair, the only thing that’s truly fair in this world is Death.