The God of Gravity part 3: Apocalypse

Where It Started

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“I brought soup,” says Icarus as he enters through the door.

Hera is facing the wall, pouting her lips, and her eyebrows crashing. She is sitting on the floor and does nothing but frown. 

“What are you doing there?” he asks but she does not answer. “Another one of your dramas, huh? Well, I'll leave this on the table.” He puts the bowl of soup on the table. “I'll go wash myself.”

Still, not a single answer. He leaves without caring about her fussing. All he cares about is to get the dirt and dust from his body. His sweat is making mud on his skin and so it becomes itchy. The frown on his face dissipates gradually as he gets near the shower room.

Other men who worked in the tunnels lined up for their turn. There are a lot of them and Icarus is screaming in his mind, could not wait to get the filth out of his face and body. His wait took more than half an hour. They take their places under the showers. As they wait for the water to flow through the pipes, all of them are thinking of ways to clean themselves faster. The time for the water to flow is limited to save it. 

And when it did flow, they wash themselves as fast as they can. No soap or shampoo and just enough to cleanse themselves from the dirt. Louder than a raging river was the bathroom because of this. For they are fortunate to even have baths. The water stops flowing in about two minutes and those who did not rub themselves well feel unsatisfied. All of the dirt and sand get wash led into the floor sink. After that, they exit for the next batch to use the shower.

Sighing refreshingly, Icarus returns to his quarters. He expects Hera to not eat the soup, let alone touch it or smell it. For a month, he has been looking after her as her guardian. 

He enters the room and sees her in that same spot. Not an inch has changed. Then when he looked at the bowl, it is empty. He nods in satisfaction because he does not have to force her to eat. 

“What's the fuss?” he asks, drying his hair with a towel.

“Why would you care?”

“The elven girls didn't let you play with them, did they?” he speculates. No answer coming from her. “Geez, just punch them in the guts.”

“I don't want to be a jerk like you.”

Lying on his bed that is below the bed of Hera, he says, “You're such a coward.”

Pouting her lips in anger, she picks up a pebble and throws it at his face. “Shut up!”

“It doesn't hurt but, ‘Ouch’!” His nose feels uncomfortable so he picks it. “Treat those brats like how you treat me. Establish your dominance and you'll get what you want.”

“Mom said no one will be my friend if I hurt other kids.”

He scoffs, “Mom… Forget about her and what she said.”

“Shut up!” she screams.

“You'll not survive if you keep thinking like that. This is a different world now, Hera. No one will help you even how hard you plead.”

“That's not true! There are many good people!”

“You're just a child, you don't know much about the world. Your brother is a child too, no wonder he could not even teach you anything.”

“Argh!!!” she roars standing from the ground.

Stomping her way to him, she grabs a broom and uses it to beat him up. He lets her because he cannot feel any pain. Just gentle taps on his face and body. This angers her even more until her arms get tired. She begins to tear up. 

“Don't you talk ill about Leo!” she cries. “He's better than you! So just shut up!”

“If he is, he would've been there for you and your family. If he is, he would've saved your precious Mom and Dad. If he is, then he would've found you by now. He doesn't care about you, Hera.”

“I said shut up!!!” she squeals, hitting him with the broom faster and harder. Still, to no effect.

“I know you're a child but you gotta accept the truth. Stop hoping and carry yourself because no one else will.” Those words are rich coming from him. 

She stops and kneels on the ground, crying. “You're a monster…”

“Tch… Pathetic.”

Staring at the window of the cabin of a ship, Hyun watches the dawn slowly breaking out. Although, the sun cannot be seen in the sky. Here he finds comfort along with his other comrades by taking off their masks. The ship constantly rocks because of the waves and the ice. Only the breaths and snores are the sounds. He is the one who is steering the whole ship for days and days without sleep. His throat becomes dry because of it. Like he wants something to drink other than water.

Sayuri is sitting on the floor, leaning her back against the wall beside him. Her silky hair has grown long, it now reaches her back. Her neck is exposed, and so his eyes stare at it. He finds it beautiful and senses the blood coursing through her veins. He lets go of the helm for a while and kneels to watch her closely, and quietly. She is so vulnerable. Nearing his face at her, he can hear her breath and feel its warmth. It draws him in closer. Inhaling very long and deep, his nose guides him to her neck. 

He opens his mouth and bares his fangs but then changes his mind. Nothing he wants more than her lips. So he goes there, seeking to taste her again to make sure he does not forget. Deliberately, he presses on. His upper lip touches her lower lip. Then her katana stops him from pressing further. Its n***d sharp edge is right on his neck and it is bleeding. Opening her eyes, they glow violet. He smugs and lets her slice his throat to kiss her. 

He pushes against his chest and he whispers, “Shh… they're sleeping.” 

His throat heals instantly. Not saying anything, she just pushes against him. He holds her hands and smells them instead, gliding his nose back to her lips. She kisses back but then kicks him. His back hits the helm and it gets destroyed, making the whole ship unsteerable. Their comrades are startled from their sleep.

“What?!” jumps Jasper from his sleep because of the noise. He sees Hyun standing up, Sayuri leaving the bridge, and the helm nonexistent. “What the hell happened to the helm?”

“I sneezed so hard,” says Hyun.

“That's very convincing,” remarks Jasper, standing up. He walks to the front of the bridge, near the windows. The bow of the ship is pointing to the north. “Thank goodness we're at least pointing in the right direction. The land is in sight.”

“Really?” asks Hiroki, standing beside him. He squints to see very far. “The air is unusually clear now, huh?”

“Yeah. The deities are working to clean the planet after all.”

“But there's still a fallout and radiation left,” says Prisha. “At this rate, they can't revive the planet in less than a decade.”

“That's quite a long time,” says Jasper.

“Yes, it is.”

Philip is awake but chooses to stay out of their conversation. But then, “Are we near Asgard?” he asks and walks beside them.

“Kind of,” answers Prisha.

Hyun says, “We might wanna bailout because we're gonna hit that iceberg right there.”

They see it of course and no doubt the ship will hit it. So, they gather their things and wear their masks. Sayuri is there on the deck, already summoning wide swords for her, Hiroki, and Prisha. Hyun, Philip, and Jasper can fly on their own.

They set off as soon as they are ready. They fly over the iceberg then the ship collides against it. Tons of ice come shooting out of the cracks in the iceberg. The ship is still floating but its course changes. It is nothing but a ghost ship now.

While flying, Philip asks, “Does Asgard still Exists?”

Jasper turns into himself and stands on the wide sword Hiroki is standing on. It goes rocking and he is nervous that he might fall.

“Watch it, Jasper!” he blurts out. Jasper just puts his arm over his shoulder.

“Maybe,” Jasper answers to Philip. “After I saw Ashe directly going north when he rescued your friends, I figure out that he's bringing them to Asgard. And the fact that he doesn't care to do maneuvers to mask his destination, Asgard might be heavily defended—that's why he's confident. Also, the masked men already know that it is. I had a talk with them a while ago.”

“So, what do we do there?”

“The Olympus survivors will be there, right?” They nod. “Then Dragunov will likely pay them a visit when he's ready to attack again. And Lady Sayuri is gonna kill him this time. Now that I know who he is, I have a plan to take him down.”

He smirks and Philip swallows. “He's a madman,” he says in his thoughts.

“So,” he speaks. “who is this Dragunov?”

“What I'm about to tell you guys is confidential information.”

“Well, not anymore,” says Hyun.

“Yeah, not anymore… Well then. The story happened mostly on Jupiter. I know that Prisha knows a lot about Jupiter than I do but-” He looks at Prisha. “please let me tell the tale.”

“Okay,” she says, smiling wide that could rip her lips.

“Nice! Okay, so… Dragunov, the God of Strength is a Martian deity. Born and raised on Mars but trained on Earth. At that time, the Expeditionary Force of Olympus is being led by Rai. Dragunov is recruited to be part of it along with Hilde, Damon, and other veterans of today. The expedition took place on Jupiter—a very violent planet full of titans. The titans were just swimming in the harsh storms of Jupiter and only a handful of them were on the large floating islands. The floating islands were the remnants of an ancient civilization called, Aruzhan. They're intergalactic species. This civilization was more advanced than ours. The technologies they had discovered were so complex although not working anymore. What they wondered about is how the islands keep floating above the planet for millions of years—possibly billions.”

“By orbiting, of course,” says Hiroki. Jasper smirks at her. “Don't tell me…”

“Yes, Hiroki, they don't orbit. In fact, they only stay on the part where Jupiter is facing the sun to get the most of it. Apparently, these species are pretty much like us. Maybe even they are our ancestors. The reason for that is-”

Prisha cuts, “The islands are about 113,000 kilometers from the center of Jupiter or simply nearly 43,000 kilometers from the predicted surface of Jupiter. Which then makes the gravity more than but close to 9.82 m/s²—the gravity of the Earth. The islands are dispersed around that altitude but the average gravity of the islands is 10.01 m/s².”

Jasper looks at her for five seconds. “You hurt my feelings, Prisha,” he says.

“Sorry.”

“Well, thanks anyway. I didn't know the altitude… and gravity.” He clears his throat. “Where was I? Oh, yes. The species have the same preference for gravity as the living things on Earth. So, the chance of them being our ancestors is high. The DNA tests also show the same. That's where the reason for Dragunov's betrayal starts. He thinks that we strayed from the path of greatness. Our evolution strayed from what's used to be our peak of evolution.” Jasper chuckles a little. His comrades except Sayuri and Hyun are disturbed. “So he wants to redirect us on the right path. He started by trying to incite betrayal in the Expeditionary Force. Only a handful joined his cause but they fought evenly. The only god he wasn't able to handle is Rai. He lost to him and sent him falling into Jupiter to die. For some reason, he survived.”

The thought he left on their minds is very deep. The reason for Dragunov seeking to kill everyone is now clear. More reason for them to take him down. Up ahead, the coast is near.

“Welcome to Asgard, Everyone,” says Hyun.

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