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Book excerpt

Chapter One

            The battlefield, as it was, had old scars created by primordial powers that had been locked in battle with the Gods, however, the Gods themselves did not have any hope to defeat the Titans on their own. Zeus and the other sky fathers of the cosmic families had created twelve weapons of unimaginable power to help get the job done.

They were effective and vanquished their enemies with an unrelenting force that had never been seen before. Unfortunately, the weapons they created were also alive, and they could dream and think for themselves. After the last enemy titan was defeated. They wondered. They wondered if there was any good reason to serve inferior beings.

They didn’t come up with one. Now, the second Great War raged. The former Titan fortress they called Othrys stood miles high, black and burned with old strikes of power. It loomed behind the army of Gods who were making their last stand against the weapons made to help them fight.

            “You know, there had to be better ways of beating the Titans,” Hades said as a ball of golden fire sailed over his head and crashed into the fortress behind them, exploding into a billion sparks. “Yeah, but this was the most effective way, trust me, I know what I am doing, brother. We had to create help if we were going to have any chance of winning,” Zeus replied to him, tired of repeating himself at this point to everyone. Hades just wanted to rub it in while he was still alive to do it.

Eleven of the beasts were marching in their direction. Their footsteps were shaking the ground continuously. When the roar of their leader came over the battlefield, Zeus knew that they were about to attack. The old white armor he wore started to crackle with blue energy as he prepared for what was coming next.

“Hades, make sure everyone is ready and make sure no one breaks the line. This plan is really important,” Zeus said. Hades looked at him, his dull red eyes shifted to the right. “You just want to make sure Ares doesn’t do something stupid, right? So, I’m a babysitter,” he replied, annoyed at the idea. “You got it,” Zeus replied, and Hades just sighed. “Fine,” he replied and disappeared into the crowd behind them.

Zeus turned his eyes back the beast who had just arrived, and even now at this late meeting and their potential deaths imminent he still couldn’t help but admire his work.

“It’s about time he showed up,” Zeus said in response to that horrid shriek that was still fading away. The leader of the beasts appeared in front of the other eleven. He was a skeleton that would later be the inspiration for every bipedal dinosaur to exist in the future. The beast had long arms with hands that ended in claws. A skull with the shape of a carnivorous beast, a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth and empty, black eye sockets. It was completely consumed with white and cold spectral flames.

            “Zeus, I can’t believe you convinced us to make these things, what kind of maniac are you?” Odin asked as his blood ran cold, gripping his spear tight in his left hand. He didn’t mean to ask that out loud but now that the moment had come, the fear got the better of him.

“Ha, Odin. How quick you turn your opinion when the tides turn, stop being so pathetic and get ready to fight,” Zeus replied to him and sent a massive bolt of red lightning across the dark green skies with a thought. “We’re here, aren’t we?” Ra asked him and winced at the sight at the twelve living weapons that lumbered in their direction.

“Yes, we are,” Izanagi., who was standing next to him with his blade drawn, replied.

“It’s time to get to work,” Zeus said and motioned to the other leaders to follow him as he flew into the sky. Odin, Ra and Izanagi floated into the air and followed him ahead of the army of gods that waited below. “Do they have names, I never bothered to ask,” Izanagi said and Zeus nodded. “They do,” he replied. Izanagi in his bright red armor flew up to Zeus. The King of the Olympians turned to face the army below.

“Oh great, it’s speech time,” Ra muttered under his breath as glowing armor appeared around his body. “At least it’ll be short,” Odin replied as blue armor appeared around him.

            “Today is either the last day we have, or the beginning of a new age of peace. We have to fight to survive. I know I have made a grave mistake, but I hope to fix that now. These, Yokaiju, have to be stopped. Hold nothing back. This is the last battle of a long, and terrible war. I need you, we all need one another. Let the heavens reign now and forever!” Zeus shouted out to the Gods on the ground in a voice that echoed like thunder.

            “Not much for inspirational speeches, is he?” Thor asked Poseidon, lifting his hammer off his left shoulder. “Nope, not so much. On the other hand, at least it’s short. You should have seen him a couple of ages ago. I swear he wouldn’t shut up trying to inspire us to fight the Titans,” he responded, thankful for a short speech.

Thor couldn’t wait to fight these savage beasts, they were everything he ever dreamed about and really, the only thing he had dreamed about for a long time. He gripped his hammer tightly in anticipation.

He had always the thought the Titans were weaklings and didn’t know what all the fuss was about; however, Odin forbade him to fight in the war. He had no true idea how terrible they were and how many lives were lost in the war before the Yokaiju were created.

Thor had no idea how much Odin and Frigg protected him from the horrors they unleashed on the Gods. He long remembered the misery brought down on them when a titan whose name he never knew, killed Baldur. Ever since, Thor wanted to fight someone, anyone. These beasts would have to do.

            “And with that said, let’s get to why we all came here,” Odin shouted, turned around to face the enemy. “You know the plan, you know what we need to do, let’s get it done,” Ra shouted to them and the rest turned as well.

            “Follow my lead,” Ares shouted and started running first before anyone else did. “No, wait for the…” Athena tried to stop him, but it was too late, he had already started running in that direction. The Olympian raised his mighty sword and ran forward, with his burning shield in front of him.

“Damn it, Hades, you literally had one job,” Zeus said and his eyes went wide with panic. His kid was ruining everything.

The gods, eager for battle, knew someone was going to signal the attack, but without seeing who actually did it, it was impossible to really know who issued the command.

            Hades watched his nephew lead the charge. Ares had sprung out to attack before he could get to him. “That boy was dropped on his head more than once as a child, I swear,” he said to himself. He lifted his staff, held it in both hands. “Yep,” Poseidon replied to him knowingly with a nod as the other gods began to follow him out into battle.

            Ares stood at one hundred meters tall, his sword extended another forty. He leaped into the air and swung his blade as hard as he could. The diamond sword landed on the deep red and stone skin of Zimri and shattered on impact. The red gargoyle stopped in his tracks as it looked down at its ankle, looking at the Olympian. Zimri spread his blood-red wings casually as Ares looked up at the towering beast.

“Uh,” he said, at a loss for words as the beast’s skin started on fire. Ares raised his shield just in time. The force of the fire alone sent him flying backwards into the sky, hundreds of feet and away from Zimri with ease.

Eros flew through the sky and caught him. “Dad, you’re an idiot,” he said to him. “Put me down, boy, there is a battle to win,” Ares replied with a growl. Eros dropped him immediately and took his bow out. He took aim at the red, burning gargoyle, and pulled back his string. A pure white arrow with a red tip appeared in it and he fired. It was a bright red comet -like projectile that approached Zimri, then it melted away before it even touched him.

Behind the gargoyle shaped Zimri, others got closer. Eleven more nightmares that made Eros cringe. “If you’re going to do something, now’s the time,” Neith screamed as she and Artemis fired their arrows at Zimri. Unlike Eros’, these arrows penetrated the fire and stuck in Zimri’s chest, but they were nothing more than tiny slivers of metal in a vast ocean of fire.

“This isn’t working,” Neith said and pointed out the obvious. “Yeah, do you have any other ideas?” Artemis asked her. “None,” Neith replied but gazed in horror as Zimri opened its gaping maw and let loose a deep red blast of flame in their direction that engulfed everything they could see.

Hermes’ eyes widened as he saw this wall of fire coming at them. No one was fast enough to get out of the way and to be honest, he wasn’t sure there was an escape path to be had. It wouldn’t stop him from trying. He sped as fast as he could and started getting Neith, Artemis and other Gods out of the way of the path of the destruction wave coming in their direction. To him everything was moving at a snail’s pace. Thor had a smile on his face half hidden by his long red hair, and when Hermes got to him, his giant hammer was slowly spinning around by its strap on his hand.

“Barbarian fool is gonna get himself cooked alive,” he said as he grabbed hold of him and Poseidon to try and get them out of the way. He realized even his incredible speed would not be enough. The wall of fire was going to engulf all three of them and countless others.

Agni and Sol dived out of the air in front of him. Sol was living flame, her body was bright orange and yellow, always shifting. Agni was a dual headed giant. One half of his armor was green, the other was blue. “Get them out of here,” Sol said to Hermes as she stretched her arms out to divert the fire. Agni did his best to help as he did the same but wasn’t so interested in talking. The incredible wall of fire bent straight up into the green sky.

They didn’t have any time to warn anyone. Nike, who was flying through the sky, got caught in the explosion. She crossed her silver armored arms in a weak attempt to protect herself. Her white wings were seared black then disappeared, and she fell toward the ground. Sol’s burning body dimmed, because the amount of power it took to divert one blast drained her. Agni caught her and the two of them collapsed to the ground together. “Good work,” Agni’s two voices said in unison. Sol was too weak to respond and it took most of his energy to simply speak.

“I got you,” Thanatos said and grabbed Nike before she could hit the ground. She was glowing red hot and her armor was melting. “You showed up, it’s good to see you,” she replied weakly but never let her sword go. “There is no way I could let you burn. We need one another,” he replied to her with a smile and continued. “Mom’s here too,” he said and Nike was surprised.

“Whole family showed up, I’m surprised we could get them to come, maybe they can help,” Nike replied, but the conversation was cut short. Malpirgin screamed out of the sky flying over the battle field, her bright green wings flapped with such force it knocked Thanatos out of the sky with ease. “Hold on,” he said as he tried to control the descent towards the ground. Nike refused to close her eyes as the two of them fell.

The situation, despite all the power gathered here, was unwinnable. Athena knew this. She stood there in the battle and was looking around, the Yokaiju were surrounding them. Taking their time. This was a sadistic game to them and she knew it. Athena took off towards the sky, towards her father.

“Hey, we can’t win here. Look around,” she said to Zeus in a panic. “Child, the Gods are the masters. I created these weapons, I can destroy them,” he said, and hurled at thunderbolt at the same time. “No, you don’t understand. They are surrounding us, look for yourself,” she shouted back at him over the roar of one of the beasts. He was only paying attention to their leader. He was confident that these weapons wouldn’t have much of a chance. Zeus had underestimated their power.

Zeus finally relented and he saw the weapons closing in from all sides. Somehow, in a matter of minutes, they had repositioned themselves and hardly anyone had noticed what was going on.

This mistake was going to get them all killed. Victory over the Titans, the price had been too high. Zeus couldn’t put the power back where he found it. The nasty taste of something was forming in his brain for the first time, the taste of regret.