Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 211: Regroup

From my perspective, the bad thing about a Planet that was claimed by an active Pantheon was the interference of the Gods, from Caesar's perspective that was a good thing. My battle with Tisiphone did not go unnoticed. Any attack on the Gods of Olympus was sure to draw the attention of a few.

Although they didn't descend from the Heavens, tossing thunderbolts to smite me for my presumption, Hephaestus and Gaea did act. Part of Hephaestus' Domain included power over volcanos. It was the heat from the planet's core that allowed him to forge god-touched weapons. He joined hands with Gaea to undo the destruction I had unleashed. The magma and volcano that I had freed was stilled, the flow reversing and returned to the depths of Mother Earth. Once calm was restored, Gaea healed the breach and devastation I had made when I encouraged the volcano to explode.

Their Divinity was felt by everyone on Rome, not just those left alive in the city Ephesus. They didn't restore the destroyed buildings, roads, or statuary, but they did heal the land, transforming crater into rich loam, ripe for planting and full of the nutrients that can be found in volcanic soil.

I watched as the world healed and wondered not for the first time how Gaea could be a part of the Olympus Pantheon. Zeus and his ilk had done more venal and cruel things to her children than any other faction. Each of the Titans forced to endure endless torture. I realized the Titans had been no better, but I could never fathom giving up or turning my back on my daughter. Her death shaped every moment of my life from that point forward.

I didn't care that they were able to repair what I destroyed so easily, what was worrisome was that they were able to do this without becoming manifest. Their will made these changes without leaving Mount Olympus. It was one of the biggest differences between a Ranked: King and a God. Teigh could have affected the same changes, but he would have had to have been on the planet and on sight to make them.

Hephaestus and Gaea had stretched out the smallest tendril of Divine intent, that same Divine nature that was used when creating the Universe. The difference was that the Divine had fractured after the multi-verse was created. The One becoming the Many as Gods were formed and claimed domains they resonated with.

I thought allowing such Power to manifest with character flaws and foible idiotic, but perhaps there was a reason. The Gods were tasked with upholding the Laws of creation, to guide and give life to all mortal creatures. Maybe without those flaws and foibles, there would be no inspiration or creativity. Maybe the competition between Pantheons was needed to spur innovation. Perfection could become boring, opening Pandora's box may have released our devils, but it also released our better natures.

I wondered if the Gods had opened their own Pandora's Box. An event that forced humanized them. The Universe would have been a much better and well-maintained place if emotions, jealousies, and envy did not play such a large part within the psyche of each individual. Gods and mortals alike. But perhaps those emotions were needed for the flashes of brilliance, the genius behind composition and artistry.

When you were a Goddess, why would you care who was more beautiful? There was no subjective way to measure that beauty, anyway. So why smite any mortal that might utter a phrase that offends you? Why bother noticing? What does it matter what a creature so insignificant in the weft and weave of the Universe thought or said?

The only explanation I had been able to come up with was that it was these mortal foibles that gave the Gods an extra dimension, that allowed those that revere them to recognize themselves in Their reflection. It made it easier to realize that a spark of the divine could be found in all life, knowledge that was reaffirmed anytime an individual Ranked up and became a God.

If Olympus was the shining jewel, the place where the Gods resided, Rome was the cross-roads of their civilization, the nexus and center were all commerce intersected. Not all, but enough information about the Olympian's business practices could be found here. I had spent days leading Tisiphone a merry chase, giving Lord Aesin a chance to raid the business sector of as much information as he could.

I hoped it would be enough because this tactic would only work once.

Ephesus would be rebuilt, the buildings and infrastructure that survived the volcano were mostly centered around that commerce district that was such a vital part of the Pantheon's prospects. Heavy enchantments, inlaid with vast amounts of Silinium, were not proof against attacks, but they came close. It would take a planet-destroying attack to shatter the integrity of these buildings.

When it came to battle with Gods, the only advantage anyone who hadn't ascended had was that for all their power, they weren't omnipotent or omniscient. Within the purview of their Domain, they were transcendent, unless competing Gods who claimed the same Domain clashed. But because they couldn't see or predict what you were going to do, you could confound them. Which is what I had been doing.

My delaying tactics. My hit-and-run strategy was working. It was also pissing Tisiphone off. But her anger was good for me. She was less likely to react in a logical manner or stop and attempt to understand my actions and strategy. The angrier she became, the more her reason devolved into barbarism. It was why she was known as the goddess of destruction. Her anger and rage could not be contained; she was created without the capacity for temperance and subtlety.

I had two days left to complete the quest I had received, and I hoped I hadn't been forced to make a strategic mistake. The Legionnaire's shield wall had forced my hand, creating the volcano had allowed me to escape. But it had garnered the attention of major Gods. Hopefully, their interference was one of reflex, a Divine muscle spasm that returned to rest once the immediate concern had been alleviated.

If Hephaestus and Gaea were acting, then our battle had to have gained the attention of Ares and Athena. I prayed fervently to the Tuatha de Danaan that they would not intervene if they had noticed this conflict.

I did spare a thought for my compatriots, certain that they had escaped, even as a small lingering doubt remained. I was certain Lord Aesin would be fine. He would adhere to the plan we'd made before arriving on Rome. I would make as large a distraction as I could, he would pilfer files, databases, and private M-AI. Stealing wholesale if the device wasn't easily cracked.

I believed the rest of the contingent of artists had escaped through the Summerlands. But with the possibility of Ares and Athena into the mix, there was enough lingering doubt that I wondered if I was willing to sacrifice their lives for knowledge about my daughters?

I didn't have long to consider that question before Tisiphone found me. My capsule had been ejected into the substrate, a reverse meteor traversing the sky had caught her attention even in her rage. That she had paused her attack long enough to allow Gaea and Hephaestus to heal the breach I had created was a minor miracle.

There wasn't time to hide, so I could only rely on confusion. The Sidhe's greatest power was illusion and glamour. From the very beginning, our Courts, our people have confounded and tricked anyone we have encountered. It is hard to resist the glamour of fairy, and I called upon and extended that glamour now.

One of the secrets to a successful illusion is to always anchor the false to some bit of truth. Standing on a platform of metal, overlooking Ephesus made that difficult, but not impossible. A flock of birds, a chaotic swarm of animals that had taken flight to escape the eruption filled the sky. I reached out my intent to the thousands and thousands of flying creatures in the area and crafted my illusion.

As the spell took hold, I used my control of magnetism and adjusted my trajectory so that I would intersect with the densest flock of birds. They flew in harmony, even in their panic, an undulating mass of color so tightly packed to occlude the sun, each touched by and made a part of the anchor for my illusion.

And where there had been only me for Tisiphone to home in on, easily identified as a shooting star launched across the heavens, there were now thousands. Each bird, each flying critter transformed into an exact replica, even down to the torn sleeve on the shirt I was wearing.

Where before there had been a migration of color and form, there was now a progression of conformity. And because I used each animal as an anchor for the illusion, it became that much more powerful. Each life investing a small part of their energy to add to the illusion, creating a glamour so powerful as to confound the senses of a minor goddess.