Paradise Island.
Underground corridor.
This dark corridor twisted and turned, narrow and oppressive. The stone walls were carved with ghostly, terrifying images—fallen giants, Furies, vengeful spirits, banshee haters, demons, devils, and other depictions of malevolent beings. The murals conveyed dread and exuded a dark, sinister aura.
The Furies were the collective name for the three goddesses of vengeance in Greek mythology, embodiments of the wrath and vengeance of souls who died unjustly in the underworld.
The corridor was dark, dilapidated, and filled with stale air. From a distance, the sound of footsteps echoed, and several figures appeared.
Diana walked in front, holding a yellowish glowing oil lamp. She accidentally kicked a fallen piece of a demonic stone mural, shattering it. As dust billowed into the air, she waved her hand and continued forward.
It was thanks to this dark corridor that Victor and Hal were able to reach Paradise Island from the outside world.
In the future, Diana would discover this passage after rescuing a group of three-eyed giants. She would later allow Victor, Hal, and others to enter Paradise Island through it, leading to events that exposed many of her secrets. Gaining Diana's trust, Victor and Hal left Paradise Island to confront Bardi. In the end, they lost both their forces and their chance, and now Paradise Island belonged to Bardi.
But now, everything felt different. There were no creatures here, only desolation, decay, and a lingering sense of death.
"Thousands of years ago, I explored this corridor. At the end, it wasn't a gate to the underworld. It was merely a portal embedded in a rock wall. It looked like a gate to hell, but it definitely wasn't," Hippolyta said.
She was on Bardi's left. Hera walked on his right. They followed half a step behind.
Hippolyta glanced at this so-called son-in-law with a complicated expression.
With Bardi's approval and Diana's arrangements, Paradise Island had secured the Amazons' survival in a new form. It was a relief, but also bitter. From now on, Paradise Island was this man's instrument.
"Did Zeus really send you to Paradise Island to avoid the Queen of the Gods? Wasn't the Amazons' purpose to guard the gate to the underworld?" Bardi asked thoughtfully. This contradicted what he understood.
Could Paradise Island really be so simple? Were there no deeper secrets?
"Amazons never had such a duty."
Hearing Bardi mention Zeus in front of her daughter made Hippolyta's face stiffen. Diana still didn't know that her mother had been Zeus's lover and that Zeus was her biological father.
Sure enough, Diana, holding the oil lamp ahead, slowed her steps and asked, "Avoid the Queen of the Gods? Mother, did we offend the Queen of the Gods?"
Under the yellowish glow of the lamp, Diana's face showed confusion. She had never learned the true reason the Amazons had been placed on Paradise Island. All she knew was that they trained there to protect humanity in the future.
Hippolyta's expression grew more awkward. She hesitated.
"You didn't know? Your mother was Zeus's lover. Your father is Zeus," Bardi said casually.
He had no reason to hide it. It wasn't a secret worth keeping.
Of course, for Hippolyta, it was always difficult to tell her daughter that she had been someone's mistress.
Even more unexpectedly, her daughter had now followed in her footsteps—becoming Bardi's lover.
"Hera above… How is that possible…"
Diana was stunned. In the flickering lamplight, she turned toward her mother in disbelief. When she saw Hippolyta nod bitterly, she froze.
Her father… was Zeus?
In that stunned silence—
"I'm here!" the glamorous Hera suddenly spoke, stepping forward. Her long legs wrapped in stockings moved gracefully as she adjusted her glasses with a hand.
She responded to being called, misunderstanding the phrase.
Of course, "Hera above" was just Diana's reflexive exclamation. Hera, the goddess, was one of the deities Diana believed in.
Naturally, this wasn't Bardi's artificial intelligence Hera.
"Not you. Stand down," Bardi waved dismissively at the glamorous Hera with a smirk, clearly not addressing her.
The elegant Hera quietly withdrew her step and returned to Bardi's right side with a cold expression.
After that interruption, Diana regained her composure. She quietly sorted through her emotions and began to understand the grudges and reasons behind Zeus sending Hippolyta to Paradise Island.
It was said the goddess Hera was extremely jealous. Perhaps Zeus had done this to protect both Hippolyta and Diana.
Now that she had become Bardi's lover herself, Diana felt a sudden sympathy for her mother. She offered her a look of silent comfort.
They dropped the topic.
They continued walking until they reached the end of the corridor.
A half-open door stood before them. In the dim glow of the oil lamp, a three-headed dog was engraved into it, with a snake for a tail and venomous serpents coiled around its neck.
This was clearly not the gate to the underworld. The underworld's gate wouldn't be marked by Cerberus. The three-headed dog of Hades was merely a guardian.
Beyond the door was a rocky mountain wall.
It was as if the path ended here, cut off suddenly by stone. There was no way forward.
Bardi scanned it using both X-ray and long-range vision, but saw no passage beyond.
He rubbed his fingers along the mountain wall. It crumbled like tofu under his touch, leaving a clear finger mark.
"These walls don't seem to have weathered thousands of years," Bardi said.
He crumbled the stone between his fingers. It turned to fine sand and spilled from his palm.
If this corridor had truly existed for millennia, the rock structure would have changed. But here, the stones were loose. There was airflow in this corridor. The walls should have compacted and hardened.
None of them understood Bardi's true reasons for investigating this place, or the significance of what he just said.
"Other than Victor and Hal, no one has entered this place for thousands of years?" Diana asked.
Bardi didn't respond. He simply glanced at Hippolyta.
A theory was forming in his mind.
Most likely, this too was a result of the Flashpoint—an event that had altered time and space. Paradise Island had changed, and Hippolyta's memories from the past no longer matched this timeline.
This, he concluded, was also why Paradise Island had lost contact with the Olympian gods.
All of it was due to the Flashpoint.
"Let's go. Take me to the spire. I want you to reopen the communication circle and contact the gods of Olympus."
They returned to the surface. This time, Hippolyta led them to the magical spire of Paradise Island, constructed for communication with Olympus. They activated the magic circle and attempted to make contact.
But the blue light of the circle shimmered faintly, then faded. No response came.
The connection was cut. Olympus had severed the link. No communication was possible.
The contact failed.
As before, the gods of Olympus had abandoned them.
Hippolyta and Diana's expressions darkened. They weren't fanatics. They had willpower, unlike some of the Amazons who clung blindly to faith.
Still, seeing definitive proof that the gods had forsaken them brought sadness.
Bardi narrowed his eyes. He looked through the spire into the night sky, speculating silently.
This was yet another temporal dislocation caused by the Flashpoint. It had cut off Paradise Island from Olympus, preventing any divine communication.
After considerable analysis and deduction, Bardi was certain.
This world was a Flashpoint event.
And it was gradually becoming his reality, merging into a stable timeline. The Flash would be unable to undo it.
"All right. That's enough."
Bardi nodded, left the magic spire, and returned to the palace to rest.
Paradise Island now belonged to him. The entire world had been conquered in just two days. There was no more resistance left on Earth.
Originally, Bardi had expected his final challenge would be against the gods of Olympus. But the Flashpoint had severed time and space. The gods never appeared.
That was fine.
At last… Earth had been conquered.
That night, Diana slept in the palace.
The next day, Diana broke her waist.
(To be continued.)
***
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