The Fall of the Ancient Pantheon

Ch.3 The Fate's Warning

Damon's POV

This morning felt… off. A quiet, inexplicable sense that something was wrong, something just out of reach, gnawed at me. I couldn’t shake the feeling—it was as if fate itself were holding its breath, waiting for the inevitable to unfold.

I arrived on campus around 9 A.M., later than usual. The urge to take things slow was overpowering, though it made no real sense. It was almost as if my body knew something I didn’t, pushing me to delay the inevitable. I tried to focus on the small details, one step at a time. The usual rush felt unnecessary today. As I crossed the street through the employee parking lot, I deliberately slowed my pace, letting the seconds stretch, as if stalling for time. With the university’s grace period, I knew I had a 15-minute window before I was officially late. It was just enough time, perhaps, to add a little chaos to my morning.

But then… something snapped. A strange sensation—an undeniable pressure—suddenly hit me, like the impact of a speeding car. Wait. No. It was a car. I could feel the momentum pushing me forward, but there was something else, something deep within me that surged instinctively, a protective force. My godly essence—ancient, untamed—leaked out, ready to shield my mortal form. But I could not let it fully manifest. Not here, not now. If I did, the call would come. I’d be summoned back to Olympia, back to them. Back to him.

The ground hit with a sickening thud, my body crashing into the pavement. And in that instant, I realized the truth. My powers were already stirring. Too late. I had been summoned—not by choice, but by fate itself. And now, I was standing before my brother and the Fates on Olympia.

“Brother, so nice of you to show up to your invitation today,” the sarcastic tone of my brother, Zeus.

I rolled my eyes, “what is it that you need brother? I see you summoned the fates as well.”

My brother rose from his bright and fluffy cloud throne with a sigh, “Look, Poseidon. The fates have informed me that danger is lurking near you in the mortal world.” He turned to the fate of future and motioned for her to speak.

“Yes my lord, I will inform him,” she walked towards me and took my hand. I felt a shudder go down my spine as her eyeless eyes looked at me. Those empty eye sockets are just, gross… “My lord Poseidon, allow me to show you.”

I shut my eyes, surrendering myself to whatever she wanted to show me. The moment my lids closed, a rush of images poured into my mind, each one more vivid than the last. They weren’t just flashes—they were… real. They twisted and churned, a chaotic swirl of what was to come. And then, there she was. A young woman, appearing here and there, her face flickering like a shadow in the corner of my vision.

But then—that image. My chest tightened. There she was again, but this time, the scene was different. She was in my arms, lifeless, her blood staining my skin. Her eyes—those eyes—empty and wide open, staring into nothingness. The breath caught in my throat. A cold shudder ran through me. I yanked my arm away, my heart hammering with a fury I couldn’t explain.

Why did it hurt so much? Why was this affecting me like this? I’ve lived for millennia, seen countless deaths, countless tragedies—yet this… this random woman, this fleeting vision, was tearing something inside me apart. I had no connection to her. I had no reason to care. And yet, the pain—the weight—of her dying in my arms... it was unbearable.

I had never felt this before.

I couldn’t explain it, and the silence that followed felt ominous.

“What is this?!” I exclaimed.

“My lord, it is as you have seen. The thread of fate has been drawn, and it is woven into the very fabric of your existence. I regret to inform you, my lord,” she said, her voice thick with reverence and sorrow. She bowed deeply before continuing, her words carrying a weight that pressed against the air between us. “She is the one destined for you. And yet, tragically, she is fated to die by your hands. Unless her choices alter the course before her, it is you who will bring an end to her life.”

A surge of anger coursed through me, relentless and consuming, crashing over me like waves on an unyielding shore. The rage I had long kept buried—buried beneath centuries of control—rose with a force I could no longer contain. In ancient times, I had unleashed this fury on the mortal realm itself—storms, tempests, fires of wrath—wrath that tore at the fabric of the world. Now, that same fury flowed from me, through me, into the earth.

How? How was this possible? After all these years, after all the time that had passed, I find her—her—and she is meant to die at my hands?

I spoke, my voice cold and precise, the calm before a storm. "What path must she walk to avoid this fate?" My gaze burned into her, unrelenting, as her body slowly rose to meet my eyes.

She hesitated, her face etched with regret, before answering in a tone laced with despair. "My lord, I cannot say. I do not have the sight to see it, not yet. The path she must take remains hidden from me, at least until she stands before us, here in Olympia. Until then, the only path visible is the one that is yours—and yours alone." She lowered her head once more, an apology laced with helplessness in every gesture.

The silence that followed hung heavy between us, thick with unspoken truths.

My heart is hammering in my chest, each beat a drum of fury and desperation. The anger threatens to boil over, a searing heat that burns from within. I’ve never felt this broken—this utterly crushed. Destined to kill the one who was meant for me? How cruel, how utterly twisted. And yet... she—the titan of creation, the one who shapes fates—has a knack for throwing us into the most unfathomable chaos.

"Brother," I finally speak, my voice a rasp, low but sharp. I lift my gaze to him, my brother—the one who should have all the answers, the one who holds the power to change this. “I need to bring her here. I need to save her.”

Zeus exhales deeply, a sound filled with ancient weariness. "Bringing a mortal here is impossible, you know that. Only immortals can pass through the gates." His eyes flash with something I can’t quite place—concern, frustration, or maybe fear. It’s hard to tell.

I ignore his words, desperation clouding my mind. “Ambrosia,” I ask, my voice tight with urgency. “Can we spare some for her? Anything... something that might help her?”

"What foolish request is that?!" Zeus roars, his voice cracking like thunder. “A full blooded mortal would be instantly killed by it!"

I swallow hard, the weight of the situation pressing down on me. And then, out of the silence, came the voice. Low, dark, and suffused with a chill that made the air seem to grow colder.

“If I may, brother.”

We both turned as one to the voice, the one we both knew too well. A voice that could raise the dead with a single word. Hades.

“Ah, Hades. How are you, brother?” Zeus asks, though his tone is more weary than welcoming.

“I am as well as a dead man can be.” Hades steps into view, his shadow falling over us like a shroud. Every step he takes sends a shiver through the air, the coldness of death itself drawing nearer.

“What is it you want, Hades?” I bark, my patience unraveling. “Spit it out.”

A laugh, rich and dark, rumbles from his chest. “Patience, brother. Always so quick to burn.” He moves closer, his gaze sharp, predatory. As he comes into full view, he lowers himself onto the seat just beneath Zeus’s cloud throne, his very presence draining the warmth from the air.

"And so what?" Zeus snaps, impatience bleeding into his words. "What does this have to do with anything?"

Hades tilts his head, as though bemused by our confusion. “Are you both so dense?” He lets out another dark chuckle, the sound of it sending a shudder through me. My patience is wearing thin. “Listen carefully. A child of the mortal world—never, and I mean never, is destined to a god. Gaea’s words... have they slipped your minds?”

The name Gaea hangs in the air like a curse, and Zeus’s eyes narrow, thunder rumbling ominously in the distance. “We are not to speak of her!” his voice calm but threatening, like an animal stalking his prey, the storm within him awakening.

“And if her seal is broken by the mere mention of her name,” I add, voice tight with warning, “you—Hades—will be solely responsible for sealing her again.”

Hades smiles darkly, unbothered. “Unless the three of us speak her name together—in unison—that is the only way to break her seal.”

Zeus’s thunderous glare flickers with fear, his voice laced with warning. “The safest course is to never, ever speak her name.” Lightning cracks violently above us, though neither Hades nor I flinch. The three Fates, however, tremble beneath the weight of it all.

Another laugh—low, sinister—echoes from Hades. “How about we summon Selene?” he suggests, his eyes gleaming with something dangerous. “She’s an expert in these matters. Her children always find themselves bonded with what she calls a ‘goddess-gifted mate.’"

The room goes deathly still. And for the first time, the weight of what’s at stake truly settles upon me. What is the price of saving her? What would we have to risk changing the fate that binds us?