Olympus was currently in a strange state.
Hercules had just denounced godhood, demanded a divorce, abandoned his post, and disappeared from everyone's eyes.
To say it was causing concern would be an understatement.
Most of the gods were present, and it left them all speechless.
Perhaps there was one exception.
Where the majority of the Olympians were utterly confused, Dionysus calmly sipped on his drink as if he understood the actions of his half-brother.
The only god among the ones present who was once a mortal.
"This is unacceptable!" Hera hissed. "Who…!?" Even she was having trouble finding the words.
"Sacrilege." Zeus's fists tightened.
"Did Herc really give up his godhood!?" Apollo asked in confusion. "Why? How?"
"Shit, man, I knew he was pissed but…" Hermes said quietly. "What the Hades…"
The words bounced back and forth for a while now, as none of them could quite wrap their heads around it.
They were gods.
They were above mortals, the same way a human is above an ant.
Who in their right mind would want to go back to being a mortal?
It went against every idea and concept that existed within them. In fact, it went beyond that; it was insulting to believe that being a god was worse than being a mortal!
That Hercules reviled his godhood so much that he ripped it out!
Poseidon was one of the quieter ones.
Mostly because he had a feeling that his son was somehow responsible for this turn of events. Considering that his son should have been arriving and passing through the Pillars of Hercules right about now…
"Have we ever had this happen before?" Demeter asked. "One of ours…renouncing their divine status?"
Athena shook her head. "It is a first…the closest would be Hestia giving up her throne, but that's…different."
Even Hestia had a confused expression on her face.
Perhaps she wasn't 'offended' like the others, but as a goddess she had trouble understanding it.
Wasn't being a god better than being a human?
It was 'common sense' for the gods.
"Is this betrayal?" Hepheastus asked.
"Is it?" Ares muttered, though keeping his voice down. He was still being punished, but this was a big enough deal that he had been brought back up to Olympus to participate in the council. "He's still one of ours, right?"
Ironically, Ares liked Hercules.
Ares treated Hercules like a true brother.
But even so, he had strange feelings about what just happened.
Apollo opened his mouth hesitantly because he had a thought he didn't know he should voice. "Pops…"
Zeus, furious but likewise stunned into silence, snapped his head towards Apollo. "Apollo, if you don't—"
"The Prophecy." As soon as he said the words, the already tense atmosphere elevated to another level. As soon as he said it, the others immediately understood.
Some of them had their eyes widen in realizations; others began to mentally evaluate it and weigh the possibilities.
Zeus, though, his eyes glowed and his hands crackled under his silent rage.
"He…technically counts now." Apollo said hesitantly still.
A half-blood of the eldest gods
Shall reach sixteen against all odds
And see the world in endless sleep.
The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap
A single choice shall end his days.
Olympus to preserve or raze
They all knew the prophecy at this point.
But none of them had ever considered the possibility that it could be about an older demigod, especially one who was, at the time, a god himself.
But now…
Hercules was a demigod again—a half-blood.
He reached sixteen against all odds, based on how Hera tried to kill him so many times.
The other lines were vague, about things that may not have happened yet.
But it was enough that he fit the criteria.
"Well, isn't that something? Bet you regret making his life hell now, don't you, Mom?" Dionysus opened his mouth with a chuckle.
"Dionysus!" Hera hissed, standing up from her throne; the full fury of her anger bore down on him.
However, Dionysus surprisingly just rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, get mad at me for what you did. Don't start." He looked back at her. "Remember, I was also a Half-Blood and qualify as wellif I follow in my dear brother's footsteps."
The threat had significantly more teeth to it than what it would have had mere hours before.
And the verbal slap was enough that Hera was completely taken aback, as were the other gods.
"Enough." Zeus said firmly. "Dionysus, I will not hear a threat of that ever again."
Dionysus just raised his drink in acknowledgement.
Truthfully, it was an empty threat.
Dionysus would admit it; he isn't nearly as courageous as Hercules and didn't have the same indomitable spirit to actually go through with that kind of thing.
"I don't understand…" Apollo muttered. "His body should be breaking down." Several eyes turned to him. "I mean, as a god…ironically, if he shoved his own divinity back in, he should have been fine, but it would have still been painful. But now that he's 'mortal' again, his body should be breaking down…"
So said the God of Healing.
"He's hurt?" Hermes asked, furrowing his brow.
"In a manner of speaking." Apollo tapped his throne, deep in thought for several moments before opening his mouth again. "Besides being unbelievably painful, I would assume that his mortal body is now breaking down, trying to compensate."
"What do you mean?" Aphrodite asked. "He was a demigod before just fine."
"Yeah, but…" Apollo scratched his head. "Imagine Demigods are grapefruits, and when he became a god, he turned into an orange." Apollo held up the fruits. "What he did was basically pull out the innards of an orange. Some of the older grapefruit pieces filled back in, but it's not perfect; he's missing pieces, things are out of place, and the shell is barely holding together."
It was a stupid explanation; Apollo would admit that, but it was a difficult thing to describe to those who didn't have the Domain of Healing and couldn't diagnose at a glance.
"His body is trying to remember how to be mortal again." Athena summarized.
"Bingo." Apollo snapped his fingers at her. "And it's having a hell of a time and…well, it's failing. At least from what I saw. He needs to do something to solidify his existence since demigods are more 'physical.'"
"If what you say is true, then how is he…running around?" Hera looked at him.
Apollo blinked and answered her easily. "Because he's Hercules."
Hera scowled, but truthfully, she too found it difficult to reject that as an answer.
Even so, it made her furious still.
"It doesn't matter!" Hera shouted. "How dare he demand a divorce! He has no right! I allowed him to marry my daughter; I oversaw his marriage!"
"Maybe you should have made it so his wife was faithful." Dionysus pointed out. "Ironic that the daughter of the Goddess of Marriage had her marriage implode."
The room went cold as Hera's sharp eyes turned to him.
"You—"
"Sit down, Hera." Poseidon scoffed in annoyance. A tap of his trident on the pearl stone floor caused the room to tremble. Hera glared at him, but Poseidon was one of the gods that could ignore her tantrums if he wanted. "We put up with your earlier tantrums, but I refuse to let you throw another when it's your fault in the first place."
"You're blaming me!?"
"For Hercules deciding that he's too good for us?" Poseidon snorted; even he was offended by Hercules' actions. "No. But don't presume us all fools to know what built up to this point."
Hera sniffed haughtily. "And where were you? You had no complaints when we caged him on that island! But now it's my fault? I allowed him to join as a god! I married my daughter to him! And this is how he shows his gratitude!?"
Honestly, many of them shared her sentiment.
Perhaps not as vehemently.
But a god insulted is a god you don't want to meet.
"Artemis." Zeus's voice cut through the room like a flash of thunder. "Report."
The only god among the council that wasn't currently present. But as soon as he said the words, her divine form descended hastily and shifted back to the more contained state.
"Yes, Father?" Artemis asked as soon as she appeared.
"Where is he?" Zeus demanded.
Artemis was pensive for a moment. "I can't find him."
"Pfft, you—" Ares barely uttered the words before a blast of lightning blew him out of his character and out of the room.
Zeus still stared at Artemis, barely even giving Ares attention as he lowered his hand. "Explain."
Artemis gulped slightly. "I started where he made landfall, and I found traces. But they disappeared. I picked up his tracks again westwards, but again, they disappeared. And since then I've only been able to find sporadic traces of him."
"Your hunters, send them out." Zeus demanded.
"I already have." Artemis responded.
"Good." Zeus gave a curt nod.
"If I could use my divine power—"
Zeus's face twisted into a scowl. "It's against the laws. If you use your divine powers, it will only give him leverage."
To track him using her Divine Power, the world would balance the scales, and perhaps, he would never be found.
It was hard to guess what the cosmic response would be.
It wasn't merely Zeus's laws; it was the laws of the world.
"He knows how to hide his tracks; he was trained by Chiron, and Chiron was trained by both of us." Apollo spoke up.
Artemis frowned, but she couldn't refute it either.
Partly because it would affect her own pride to say that her 'student' wasn't good enough to teach him properly as well.
"If I give you a piece of his Divine Weapon that was left over from crafting it, could you track him with that?" Hephestous offered.
"He left his Divine Weapon on the island." Hermes interjected.
Again, it went against the common sense of the gods. Even if they accepted him becoming mortal, why would he give up his Divine Symbol too? That was still technically his; he could have taken it with him.
Even for a demigod, who wouldn't want a divine weapon of that level to have on them?
"So he's going west; what's his plan?" Demeter asked. "What's westward that would draw his attention?"
Athena furrowed his brow. "Does he have any…acquaintances that he would seek out?"
They were silent.
Frankly, they didn't know if Hercules had any friends he could call on.
Despite being a fellow god, and after he got caged on his island…they barely spoke to him when not necessary. It's not that they all hated him; their desires for his cage were more from a place of ego and paranoia, not a desire for him to suffer.
Suffice to say, they wouldn't go out of their way to interact with him either since he was far off the edge of the 'Greek' world.
"Hermes, you were the last one to talk to him. Did you say anything that may have…put ideas in his head?" Athena asked.
Hermes scratched his head. "I mean…. I only just told him about the latest news. Things like how Mom's tree got returned, his wife had another bastard at camp, the Hesperides got kicked out, and—"
Athena's eyes widened in realization. "The Golden Apples! Apollo—
"Yeah, I got it." Apollo immediately understood what she was asking. "Yeah, a Golden Apple would probably be enough to stabilize his body."
"No." Hera clenched her fist. "He did not."
"Does anyone know where the Hesperides are? Hercules may seek their aid to sneak into the garden. Perhaps they know secret entrances and exits?" Athena proposed a theory.
"Demeter, this is your domain, is it not? They are gardeners." Poseidon looked to her.
Demeter furrowed her brow. "Just because they tended to the garden doesn't mean they're under my purview. They would be Hera's; I can't claim them."
Everyone looked to Hera again, who had a strange look on her face.
"I can find them; I left a mark so I could…find them…just in case." Hera said carefully. What went unsaid was that she did so so that she could watch their suffering when she was in the mood.
She never liked the Hesperides.
They were supposed to tend her garden and protect her Golden Apple Tree, but instead, they stole apples without permission.
Hera waved her hand, and a familiar screen appeared in front of all of them as a bird's-eye view opened up upon the mortal world for the gods to peer down onto.
"Good, maybe we can find them before—" Athena's words died in her throat.
They all stared at the scene.
Corpses everywhere.
Bodies piled up by the hundreds.
The signs of battle and the smell of death and blood filled their nostrils even from this side of the screen.
But it wasn't the corpses of the Hesperides piled up.
It was monsters.
Monsters piled up and were densely packed enough that it was taking time for them to dissipate properly. Gradually, they could see them start to disappear over time, but it was taking a noticeable amount.
So many different kinds of monsters, plenty of which didn't belong to their 'pantheon,' so to speak.
Logically, they understood plenty of monsters would be thrilled to get their hands on a Hesperide. Either for a snack or…other reasons to have one.
They would have been a hot commodity.
The only reason some of the gods hadn't taken their pick either is that they were worried about Hera's wrath. The thought that she may interpret it as them trying to 'save' some of the Hesperides wasn't worth the benefits.
Their gaze landed on the Hesperides in question, all huddled together around a big bonfire.
They didn't look good, but they seemed to be all alive and unharmed, for the most part.
And the answer to a great many questions came as they noticed the person sitting on top of a giant Drakon corpse.
Hercules.
It answered why hundreds of monsters were now dead.
They also noticed that he had a 'new' club at his side.
Though, it looked…freshly carved?
But it was Hera who recognized it properly. "Is that from my tree!?" She screeched.
To their surprise, Hercules looked up, as if he were looking right at them.
He smiled.
He then reached into his robes and pulled out a golden apple.
While keeping eye contact, he bit into it.
He then raised his middle finger up into the sky.
Hera's scream could be heard by him all the way from Olympus.
[Line Break]
A/N
Second interlude for the story.
Wanted to show Herc sort of destabilizing things in the background while the Gods are going 'wtf is happening'. All the while, Ocean Song has no idea what's going on, he has his own adventure and doesn't even know shit is hitting the fan back home.
If you want to read 1 chapter ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / asotryforone
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