This realm was hers. Minerva thought, fueling her determination. The older beasts had no authority here, she alone owned that power.
And she felt it, the raw power seated inside of her. If any part of her was Olymperian apart from her eyes, and some features, then it was barely up to a percent. All of her was abyssal.
She drew on a power that she understood.
If your ruler wanted to fight, then all beasts be it small or great had to donate.
And so Minerva drew from them, from all in the abyss, and with a swish of her spear all the army faded into nothing.
"I AM MINERVA, DAUGHTER OF CAIRO. WHO DARES CHALLENGE ME?" She screamed at the top of her voice.
Nothing moved, no one answered.
"You will obey me." She commanded, pulling at their powers furiously. They all conceded, no one dared challenge her.
She turned, and walked back to the elevated platform.
They had forced her here against her will, and tried to destroy her. Now she was in control, so she would do as she pleases, and fix the abyss how she saw fit.
She stood like royalty in the middle of the platform, the lesser beasts repairing the ruins at her command.
This was an altar that had been destroyed.
She held them together with her power, and the broken pieces obeyed, staying in their rightful positions.
She held tightly onto the spear, drawing the power of darkness, and channeling it into herself.
She began by consolidating the her core first, and then poured it all up into the endless bleakness, her spear falling from her palm, as she raised her hands up.
Nothing happened for some time, but soon enough the bleak void began to ripple.
Minerva did not know what she was doing, but she felt it was needed. She looked up above, watching as all manner of beasts writhed, and howled up above.
Their forms could not be fully seen, only their outlines and the color of their eyes.
Minerva suddenly remembered that when she had punched the floor in anger, she had bled. She shook the realization off, and concentrated on what she was doing.
The abyss had been stagnant without its ruler in place, and now she was reviving it and setting the beasts free to roam within it again.
She was letting the darkness and bleakness evolve like it had always done before Queen Cairo was imprisoned.
She stopped when she felt she had given enough, and stretched out her hand, willing her spear to get into her palm but it did not.
The globe of undead came out of her spear, and broke. The spirits dispersing into the darkness and she bid them farewell.
A smile graced Mineeva's lips, 'I have done well.' She thought, mentally giving herself a pat on the back. Now she could concentrate on finishing her weapon.
She sat cross legged on the floor, and sealed herself inside the broken altar, bringing the spear closer to where she was.
Her abyssal essence flowed out of her, along with the minor abyssal spirits that had crawled into her skin, filling the place up.
She cut her palm, a hiss sounding as her blood dropped on the spear and then she closed her eyes.
She began channeling the power from her core into the spear, till her powers recognized as a part of her, and it became one with her.
All the things Minerva did were feats she knew she would not be able to accomplish naturally, but inside the abyss, she felt unending power flow through her.
She was unstoppable here.
Merva stretched out her hand again, and the spear rose from the floor into her hand. She smiled, making it disappear, and then summoning it again.
'It went well.'
She dismantled the spear quickly, and turned it into her soul shattering gun.
This was the main reason that she loved this.
'But there was nothing to test it on.' She thought, saddened by that. And she could not blindly fire in here.
She stood up, and dismissed the seal.
Minerva walked about for a while, and took to the endless bleakness she called sky.
There were many winged beasts up here, flying, but somehow they never bumped into the other.
After going back and forth, and in circles, she came back to the ground and then vanished.
Back in the chambers Serine was with Merva who had just woken up.
Merva felt distraught and panicked, wondering where Minerva was, and why she even left.
Serine did not really get the situation, but as she understood from the last incident, Minerva was not inside her and that was a bad thing.
Minerva appeared in their midst in her full form. Merva could see her clearly. She turned to check if Serine could too.
Serine also saw her clearly.
Minerva shifted into her ordinary form, her wings, nails and horns gone.
Serine gasped lightly, shocked at how Merva and Minerva looked so identical and yet very different.
"Minerva," Merva exclaimed as she got up. "You have your human form now." Examining her in wonder.
Minerva walked to them, and they both noticed the airs about her that made her seem different.
She stretched out both her hands towards them, and they took it.
"I guess I can make people see me now." She said, laughing delightedly.
She took on a spirit form where only Merva could see her, and smiled conspiratorially at Merva before she turned human again.
This was her new life, and she had a choice on whether people saw her or not.
"But what about the force that attacked you?" Merva asked, but Minerva dismissed her worry.
"We will think about that later."
The lights were flickering, but they all ignored it.
*** ***
Zeus tossed on his bed once again, he was back to that dark place that was like purgatory.
He heightened his eyes, and began running, pausing when he was supposed to and walking cautiously across the floor so that he will not trigger any trap.
He had now mastered everything about this place.
Far ahead inside a cell covered in darkness, Raven still sat huddled, but now her head was no longer buried between her knees even though her hands were wrapped tightly around her legs.
"Raven." Zeus called to her, his voice echoing, and she looked at him wide eyed.
That was her only reaction.
He tried to get closer, but the distance kept increasing like it always did. "Raven, its me Zeus."
She nodded slowly, acknowledging him.
He ran through the corridor, bypassing all the traps. He heard the sound of chains dragging through the floor again, and he avoided it, escaping.
Raven was still surrounded by the dark light, her divine essence and core energy was still floating up slowly disappearing into the ceiling.
But it was going slower now.
She looked smaller and weaker than the day before.
It was evident that most of her was gone, and she was gradually fading away.
He raced towards her, and turned his lightning into a rope and tangled it in the bars when the distance increased.
He lifted from the ground, the rope shortening, bringing him closer to the cell.
"Raven, can you try and get u?."
He heard a viscous growl, a large beast from passage on the right side of him, and launched to the ceiling before it could hit him to the other end.
Zeus finally reached the cell, and atruck it with all his might as creatures began forming from the darkness behind him.
He did his very best to destroy the bars, and finally opened it in such a way that she could come out.
One of the beasts pulled him from behind, dragging him away. He manifested his staff, lightning crackling around him together with the shadows, and struck the beast with it.
One snarled at him and then lunged at him, but he dodged. The beast fell to the floor, and dispersed into smoke when it struggled to get up.
The cell was weaker than before, of that he was sure. He widened the hole he had made, stretching out his hand for her to take it.
She placed her shaking hands in his, and he pulled her up gently and got her out of the cell.
Many more beasts came for him, many more forming from the darkness and joining the ones that fought him.
"Shit." He exclaimed, fighting them while protecting Raven from their claws.
They regenerated the more he destroyed, their claws striking him, but the cuts that they left on his body healed instantly.
He pushed them back, looking for an escape route for both of them.
"If I get us a way out, but you have to hold tightly unto me, can you do it?" He asked her, but he heard no answer from her. He continued fighting, not daring to look back.
"Raven, can you hear me?" He shouted above the chaos.
The beasts almost pulled him down to the ground, but he outsmarted them, his brain working fast while they growled at him.
He looked up, his face a picture of fear as a beast tried jumping on him, before he struck it down.
His power exploded, destroying them all.
He watched them regenerate again, and blasted them off.
He turned back and glanced at her. She was seated on the floor, her body bunched up. "Get up. We have to get out of here." But she looked at him weakly, she had no strength left in her.
He carried her from the floor, blasting the beasts behind him when one tried to claw at him.
He had never got a chance to really try disappearing. but he did it anyway.
They were in a snow capped mountain, darkness reigning over the sky with the little light available making it look ethereal.
"You are safe here." He told her, holding her hand and warming her up with his powers.
They stayed that way for a while, her in his arms warming up while he stood.
She stirred, looking at him gratefully.
"You can drop me now."
He helped her stand on her two feet's, and helped steady her until he was sure that she was strong enough to do it on her own.
"I should get going." Raven said, looking behind her.
"Where to? Back to your family?" He asked.
"No." Raven answered. "Far from here."
"But isn't that dangerous?" He asked, looking at the distance and then back at her.
"Will you come with me then?" Raven asked, looking at him hopefully. "It will be better at least." But she saw the confusion in his eyes, and laughed weakly. "I did not mean that, I know you cannot do such."