“What’s he doing?” Erebus looked over to Poseidon, whose expression had turned grim.
“Fuck,” Poseidon hissed, uttering a line of curses as he nearly stamped his foot on the ground. “He’s turned himself into a conduit.”
“A what?” Erebus sounded incredulous. It was something they had never seen the god do before. They watched as Zeus’s entire body grew obscured, invisible in the waves of lightning that kept coming from the sky. Typhon reared back and with a tremendous shout, leaned down and picked up Zeus with a hand that covered the god’s whole body.
Erebus watched in morbid fascination as Typhon’s entire figure was lit up with electricity, waves of sparks cascading over him as he convulsed wildly. He looked like a fish trying to breathe on dry land. The monster heaved, dropping Zeus with a shout like he had grabbed a burning torch, which, in a way, he had. Poseidon was still cursing up a storm next to him as Erebus watched Typhon collapse… and not get back up.
The entire battlefield fell silent. A few harrowing moments passed, and as soon as the gods were sure that Typhon wasn’t getting back up, they cheered. Kronos and the rest of the titans retreated once more, and the gods didn’t bother giving chase. They were too busy rushing towards Zeus, Apollo and Ares picking him up off the ground, dusting his clothes and helping him walk off. The great carcass of Typhon gave a morbid twitch every once in a while as the last of the lightning shuddered through it.
Suddenly, Hades was beside them, shaking his head and wiping blood from his arms. It likely was not his own blood. He nodded once at Erebus and clapped Poseidon on the back.
“Did we come up with a plan B, brother?”
30
Nyx wasn’t sure how long she sat with Thanatos, who said nothing in return. He simply waited. When she felt like her soul had been excised, and the greatest of bleeding wounds had been staunched, he stood. He walked off in no direction and disappeared, heading to wherever he was needed next. Someone always needed Thanatos, and he needed tobeneeded. Nyx didn’t take any offense to it; she knew that was his nature. It was the only way that he knew how to help.
She sat there for a little while longer, digging her toes into the black dirt of Tartarus, watching as the shades slid by in peace. It looked like a ghostly dance, some of them greeting each other, but never stopping. They would move as if they were floating on water, in perpetual motion, until they, too, had spent out their demons and were ready to reemerge.
Finally, Nyx was ready. Her heart no longer felt like it was being ripped out of her chest, and her body didn’t feel on the verge of collapse. There was a persistent ache in her mortal bones from the stress of managing both the powers of night and darkness, but in that pain, there was strength. The strength of softness, of her heart that bled for her lover, but a soul that refused to stop. Nyx had accepted that she would always love Erebus. She wasn’t going to waste any more time, secretly furious with herself that shedidn’thate him for what he’d done.
The light around her got brighter, and Nyx realized she didn’t remember leaving Tartarus. She had dissolved into the sky and surrendered, her primordial form stretching out over the Underworld like she had just awoken from a nap.
“Nyx.” A soft voice caught her attention, and she recognized Hecate. The goddess often used her witchcraft to let her voice find Nyx, wherever she was, in times of crisis. It took only a moment for Nyx to materialize in the courtyard of Hecate’s home, where she was already waiting.
“I see you’re at least getting used to greeting the immortalsoutside.”Nyx couldn’t help but smile.
“I have had to redo my kitchen at least three times in the recent weeks.” Hecate rolled her eyes and waved her hand in the kitchen’s direction. “Which maybe it needed it one time. Not three.” Nyx crossed the courtyard as her legs materialized underneath her, moving like she was walking on water.
“Why do you call?”
“You need to see what’s happening.” Hecate’s voice was serious. “There’s more than Zeus’s game afoot. I hear things.”
“What things?” Nyx’s voice dropped as she leaned in, studying her friend’s face for the answer, but Hecate shook her head.
“A battle is starting. Prometheus is dead.”
“Prometheus? The titans killed one of their own?”
“The whispers say that he attempted to broker peace, and the titans thought he was an official envoy from Zeus, but he went on his own.” Hecate chewed on her lower lip, a habit that she only took to when she was excessively nervous.
“Go. Hide in the shadows, if you must, but watch the battle closely, Nyx. I fear for all of us if you’re not there.” There was a severity in her tone that Nyx knew she shouldn’t take lightly; something had spooked Hecate, a woman who by definition was very difficult to frighten.
“I’ll go.” Nyx nodded and Hecate’s face caught in surprise. She hadn’t expected the primordial to go so easily. Nyx nodded in acquiescence as if she read her friend’s thoughts. “I trust you. You would not ask me to go unless you had concerns.”
Hecate nodded, grabbing Nyx’s hands and pressing a kiss to them.
“Be careful.”
Nyx tossed some of her hair over her shoulder. “It is them who should be careful. There is nothing above or below that could surpass me.”
Hecate let out a long breath.
“That’s what I’m concerned of.” There was a wariness to her as if she had already felt the tremors of Erebus losing his grip on himself that very morning. Nyx said nothing, breaking eye contact with Hecate for a moment before she began to dissipate.
“I’ll be careful,” Nyx promised.
Hecate’s face lightened slightly at the promise. She watched until Nyx was no more, ascending out of the Underworld and towards the frontlines.
