Finding the fallen helmet, I placed it upon my head and drew a deep breath.
"Demeter," I whispered in a broken voice, clutching her seed in my hand. "Forgive me. I failed to protect you."
As I gazed upon her ashes, memories of the moments we had shared came flooding back. There had been no one dearer to me than her. We only begin to cherish those fleeting moments once they are gone forever.
The gods had no souls as mortals do. When they die nothing remains. Only memory. I will remember you. I will keep everything of you, Demeter, within my heart.
Gathering every shard of my pain and steeling my mind, I knew: now I had to save what was still left.
All the demons that prowled the golden groves crumbled to ash in an instant. The dark sky above the ruins began to lighten, and the first rays of sunlight fell upon the desolated earth. I felt living souls in the mountains, where Hephaestus' forge once stood. So, some of the people had survived.
Certain that my world still drew breath, I turned toward Aatrox. We had unfinished business.
Crossing the boundary between worlds, I found myself in the midst of a great battlefield. Greeks and Persians clashed without rest the earth itself shook with the thunder of hooves and the clash of steel. And there, standing before me, Aatrox was locked in combat with Heracles, whose body was covered in countless wounds. The Olympians were nowhere to be seen. They had better keep hiding else they would never escape my wrath.
"AATROX!" My voice rolled over the battlefield like a clap of thunder.
"I knew you wouldn't die so easily… not you," Aatrox said, the corner of his mouth twisting in something like a smile. In his eyes burned only the thirst for battle. Nothing more.
"Heracles, he's mine," I growled, and hurled myself at the demon.
"Let our battle silence the whole world!" Aatrox roared, raising his sword.
I poured all my rage into my body, and my spear struck like lightning, piercing him through. I drove it deeper, forcing him backward, crashing through ranks of the Persian army and breaking all barriers with the weight of his own body.
"Yes! Yes!" Aatrox shouted, despite the wounds and pain, his hand gripping my helmet. "Only in battle do I remember what it is to live!"
"I will destroy you!" I snarled, thrusting the spear deeper still.
His hand clamped around my shield, and with a violent shove, he hurled me aside. I struck the ground feet-first, skidding across the dusty plain but kept my balance, surging forward again, ready to strike.
Now I pressed him with all my strength. His sword crashed against my shield, the blows ringing out, but failing to break through. And my spear, like a bolt of lightning, struck again and again, tearing fresh wounds that could not close.
Yet in his gaze there was neither pain nor fear only an endless hunger for combat.
Suddenly, his body erupted with untamed power: muscles swelling, bones stretching, and Aatrox began to grow until he towered over me nearly six meters tall.
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"NOW COMES THE HOUR OF THE WORLDSLAYER!" he roared, raising his massive sword and slamming it into the earth with a thunderous crash.
From the monstrous strike, a wave of darkness rose, devouring everything in its path and draining the very life from the earth. My will clashed with his destructive shadow, and I managed to hold back its onslaught.
The aura around him was deadly to all living things, but it would not stop me.
Aatrox raised his sword high above his head and brought it crashing down in fury, trying to crush me with a single blow. I surged forward, slipping past the deadly blade. The sword struck the ground, and the earth trembled as if the very foundation of the world had shifted.
My spear, infused with my will, shot straight toward his eye. It pierced nearly halfway through his head, unleashing a burst of energy and tearing part of his face apart. I summoned my weapon back.
"ARARA!" Aatrox roared in fury, raising his sword again and unleashing another devastating strike. The wave of destruction from his blade spread even farther, shattering earth and everything around it.
The world could not withstand another such blow. I had to take away his weapon.
Gathering all my strength and will, I soared into the air, tearing the space around me. Almost without slowing, I struck and destroyed one of his arms. Yet the sword still remained in his other hand. The wounded arm healed quickly, and gripping the sword with both hands, Aatrox raised it again for the next strike.
When the blade was about to split the earth, I stood right before him, lifting my shield to meet the blow. Strengthening my will and my faith that I could endure, I faced his power head-on.
Steel met steel. The world shook from the new wave of destruction. Aatrox put all his fury and might into that strike, but the shield held firm, as did my spirit. The moment had come to shatter the concentration of his power.
In the next instant, I cast the shield aside, and my spear struck the sword's blade. A wave of my will surged through the steel, and cracks began to spread across it. Focusing my will at the spear's tip, I delivered the decisive blow, driving along his sword and splitting it apart.
Deprived of his weapon, Aatrox began to return to his former shape. In that moment, still in the air, I directed my fall straight toward him, aiming the spearhead at his chest. He met my gaze without fear, knowing this was the end.
The spear drove into his body, pinning him to the ground.
Defeated, Aatrox lay motionless; his body was scarred with deep wounds from my spear. He was still alive, silently staring straight into my eyes.
"Your invasion ends here. And you will die," I said in a hoarse, weary voice.
"I will live until all life perishes," Aatrox rasped. Those words were his last.
My spear pierced through his head. I stood over my fallen enemy until I was sure life had finally left his body. Under the weight of my power, it began to crumble to dust.
And then the world around, as if taking a deep breath, was filled with life once more. In the distance, I saw the Persian army start to collapse the warriors fell one by one, their souls fading along with the power that had driven them.
Could it really be over?
Breaking through the boundary of worlds, I returned to the golden groves. Approaching Hephaestus's forge, I lightly struck the massive doors with my fist and heard a quiet whisper inside.
"Open the door, it's Atreus," I said, though I could have flung the doors open myself. But I didn't want to frighten them any further.
The door creaked open, and the first person I saw was Pandora.
"They killed my father," Pandora said, then broke into sobs.
"Forgive me! I couldn't protect you all," I said, struggling to hold back my anger and guilt. Pandora pressed her face against my chest, allowing herself to cry.
"Is my mother alive?" Cassandra asked, her voice trembling. As hard as it was to say, the truth remained the truth.
"No," I answered, sharing her pain of loss.
"Mother…" she whispered, and tears flowed down her cheeks again. Red marks on her skin showed she had already been crying and now could no longer hold back her grief.
It was the day we lost everyone we loved.
Demeter.
When everyone had been given shelter and I made sure no wounds remained, I returned to where she and I always sat. Once, a tree she had grown stood here. Now nothing was left.
I took a small seed from my belt and stared at it. What did her last words mean?
"I hope you'll become a good father…"
Scooping out a shallow hole with my hand, I gently placed the seed inside and covered it with earth. Channeling a fragment of my will into it, I filled it with life. Slowly, through the dry ground, a sprout broke through, rose higher, and became a small sapling.
Every sprout needs time to become a tree. And so does this one.
If I can destroy any fate, then the fate of those around me is doomed to turn to dust.
Hecate's power now bends to me. As does the craft of Hephaestus. And now even nature itself bows before my will.
The Pantheon is not a name. It is a title borne only by the one who, in the end, remains the last god.
************************
Zeus sat upon the throne of Olympus. The dark gods had set a trap for him, delaying him long enough to stop him from intervening in the final battle. Only one thing troubled him: in the end, Atreus still survived.
Athena entered the hall.
"So this was your scheme?" Zeus said, fixing her with his heavy, piercing gaze.
"Yes, Father… But I had hoped it would end differently," Athena answered, bowing her head.
"Your plan failed. And now you will have to deal with the consequences," Zeus said sternly.
"I will fix this," Athena replied firmly.
"Do not forget, daughter, whom you weave your plots against," Zeus reminded her, hinting that she was scheming even against him.
"Yes, Father," she answered.
Her plan had seemed simple: unleash the World Ender upon Atreus. At first, it went as intended she had discovered where his grove was and guided the demon there. Aatrox was supposed to kill Atreus. But he failed. And now Atreus had returned far stronger.
For a moment, her gaze lingered on the wall, where symbols of the gods were carved, each reflecting their essence and domain. The symbol of Hecate now burned with a different mark. Then the sign of Hephaestus changed, and after it, Demeter's as well.