Where The Dead Ones Go Book 4 -Union-

Chapter 5

"Zenith..."

He didn't react to my voice, or to anything at all.

The once proud and handsome son of Zeus who seemingly can reach the seemingly endless reaches of the skies above us all is now confined to a rusty wheelchair and can't even use his feet.

"I still remember when I was younger years ago. His Eminence, Zenith and Priestess Avesa lead the defense of our settlement proudly," Volker whispered quietly as he bowed in front of the unmoving High Priest staring out at the cold bloody skies outside the broken window of the ruined and barely standing temple of the goddess of marriage, "But the moment Her Eminence fell from one cataclysmic fight protecting the children, High Priest Zenith was never the same."

I almost lost my consciousness when I learned that the surviving twin sister of Taurei fell before we can even meet her again.

Asher curled up at the feet of our friend who seemed to be unperturbed by the painful conversation we are having right now beside him.

"No, Avesa..."

"As more and more demigods and adults fell from battle, he slowly and surely lost what's left of his consciousness and will to go on until he became nothing more than a husk of what he used to be, what he was before he became the only adult and demigod left here with us."

I slowly walked towards my once-powerful and proud friend and kneeled at his side before carefully touching his awfully cold and unflinching hands bereft of the life it once had before.

"Zenith, it's me, Gala, do you remember?" I asked softly but he didn't even blink or recognize my voice at all, "The Vice President of Auxiliary Class, your class, our group, and squad. Do you remember? I am Vaski's wife now. Asher's here for Estelle. Can you just blink at least to let us know you hear us? That you didn't forget about us?"

What seemed to be an eternity has passed and no response, no movement from him apart from faint and laborious breathing as if it's his body that is only alive and his mind, heart, and soul has already departed in this cursed world of ours.

"It has been two years since we saw light in His Eminence's eyes, Lady g*****a," Volker said as he stood beside me sadly looking at the man he served loyally, "Priestess Avesa, in her dying breath beseeched us to not let anything happen to him, to protect and keep him away from harm for he has a greater role to fulfill for us all and that's what we are doing, but we are at our limits."

I slowly stood up and motioned my feral companion to do the same, "Why, Volker?"

"Come, my Lord and Lady, there's a place that you should see. Especially you, Lady Galatea..."

-0-

"Father..."

I cried out loud when I saw the name of the only mortal relative I have, once had.

"Here Lies Galleon Alchimea

Died Year Two of the Second Fall

His Daughter's Memories He Cherished the Most"

Volker pointed at the small mound of snow covering something at the foot of the grave marker of my father, "He said he wants you to have it when you finally came here. That he held on to it for you."

I quickly dig it up and after a few seconds, I saw the comb that Vivet gifted to me back then.

A part of the Imperial Properties that survived the First Fall.

I gave it to my father when he was forced to evacuate before the Last Stand against Typhon for safekeeping.

To always remember me by and be in his thoughts.

He held on to it until the very end and believing that someday, somewhen, even when he is already long gone, I will somehow return and retake it.

"Father..."

I continued crying silently as Asher moaned in front of the grave right next to my father's.

I looked at the name written in the makeshift marker and as if the pain and grief in my heart doubled, even more, when I saw whose name it bears.

"Here Lies Priestess Avesa Bovinae

Died Year Two of the Second Fall

In Her Twin Brother's Arms May She Rest"

"Avesa, no!" I cried out as I groveled towards her gravemarker and hug the cold stone in despair, "Why?! We are supposed to be in this together! You said that we will meet again. I believed in it! But not this way, never this way."

I don't know how long I cried silently with Asher inside the necropolis located at the very back of the settlement until finally, the warm hands of Volker touched our backs carefully.

"Come, Lord Asher and Lady g*****a, you two have traveled so far and exhausted much of your energies reaching us. Let us rest back at the temple so you can at the very least, keep him company and show what little we can provide for you before you continue your journey anew."

We accepted his invitation and managed to barely get a hold of ourselves as we began to walk away from the graves of our beloved with a heavy heart.

-0-

"Asher and Estelle sure get along well, Vivet."

"Hear, hear, Morris. Just look at them go!"

"Now that's a nice catch!"

"It's like they trust each other so much, even blindfolded, they will follow the other no question asked."

"I guess that's the difference of romantic love versus familial love like ours, huh, cousin?"

"I am inclined to agree, Vivet. What we have between us runs in our blood, being, and soul."

"While theirs are purely in their hearts."

"I will be lying if I say that I am not envious. Now, if only you could help me with Avesa."

"Seriously Morris, do you "even" need my help with that? I am already supporting you with common things you don't want to do in front of a self-respecting woman."

"But even then..."

"Look, you have access to my mind, what I don't and what I want to see. That's a big advantage you have over other men. You can already easily avoid common mistakes that boys "always" does when dealing with us girls."

"But..."

"Shush, cousin, look, Vaski's heading in our direction."

"I know that look in his face. I bet he pissed of Gala, again."

"What else, Morris? That's, what? The tenth time this week if I am not mistaken?"

"Yep, tenth, Vivet, and we are not even past Wednesday. Oh boy, are we going to break the record of fifteen times last week?"

"Looks like it, now let's see what is it this time..."

"Yo, Vaski my tall, dark and handsome man, what's the tea?"

"Tea?! I'll tell you what's the tea! Your close friend just slammed her door in my face when I demand a date! How rude!"

"Ouch! That sounds and looks painful, my man. However, I will let my more experienced cousin here to tell you how to get out of this quagmire you have easily put yourself in. Vivet?"

"Look, Vaski, for starters, you don't "demand" dates with your girl. You "ask" nicely, sincerely, and twenty-four to forty-eight hours before you even dare to."

"Why?! No time like the present just like what Kairos always say!"

"Oh gods, of all the boys you have to ask for advice, it's him!"

"He is "your" boyfriend, Vivet. You two always look like you are getting along well when all I even get are doors shutting in my face, a punch in the gut, and a kick in the groin with g*****a!"

"Morris, please save me. I don't want to slap him for Gala. I will not encourage our close friend to be more physical with him than she already does daily. No, scratch that, he is pissing her off almost every time he opens his damn mouth!"

"On it, cousin. Look, Vaski my man, different strokes with different folks. You can't just look at Kairos and how he deals with Vivet here and do the same with our increasingly violent close friend."

"Okay..."

"Look, Vivet already accepted the fact that Kairos will never act like a normal boy. The same as you, me, and the rest of our male classmates. Well, excluding Taurei since he is not "human" in the strictest sense, but anyways, Kairos is a brute guy as you well know. Did you see what he did with his steak last night? Vivet already and fully accepted that part of him with a heavy heart since she knows that no matter how much he tries, he just doesn't have the normal sensitivities and table manners of mere mortals like us. Now, not all of us are perfect, you must show Gala your rougher parts slowly and patiently and wait for her to accept that it is part of your very being. As the son of the god of the seas, you can be as calm and friendly today but harsh and insensitive the next."

"Okay, that's a lot to take in but I think I get it now."

"Good, because I don't want Gala to lose this only chance she will "ever" get with love, Vaski. Female children of Athena are more high maintenance than the daughters of the goddess of beauty. I don't want her to be an old maid, Vaski, do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Vivet. Loud and clear."

"Perfect. It's not just that. Your father will come crashing down on me when I failed to provide a proper and perfect wife for you. I promised that in front of you and Rebie so if you don't want your father to murder me, be a good boy and return to our close friend and ask nicely, humbly, and sincerely. Go on, chop-chop!"

"You can do it, man! We are here to watch just how far she can throw you out of the window and if you can break the record you set the other day."

"Nicely, humbly, and sincerely. Nicely, humbly, and sincerely. Nicely, humbly, and sincerely. Nicely, humbly, and sincerely."

"Well, at least this might be better than yesterday, Vivet."

"I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you, Morris."

"Hey, that's our Vaski right there! Why so negative and pessimistic?"

"Because this is more than him and Gala. This is about their parents more than what they can even imagine."

"Parents?"

"Just look again at Estelle and Asher, cousin. Look, they are so close and loving right now, I bet they don't even notice that they are consciously."

"Well, now that you mentioned it, they are. Oh, wait a minute!"

"Yep, Aphrodite and Lytta are not that different when you get down to the basics. Love, rage, beauty, and ferality. If anyone is going to ask me, you can't unleash a potent rage if you don't have strong emotions to fuel it. Estelle and Asher just "click"."

"Our Scythian friend here, however..."

"Heh, cough up Morris, he landed outside our dorm fence."

"Sigh, you are draining my allowance slowly but surely cousin."

"Of course I am. I mean, Poseidon is as unpredictable as Aphrodite when it comes to behavior while Athena is as sure as Hera when it comes to a one-track mind when it comes to love."

"Yeah, that and Athena and Poseidon are not on the "best" terms so to speak."

"Athena always one-upping Poseidon on every turn. Poseidon holding a grudge and trying to make things harder for his niece all the time, Vivet."

"Exactly. However, as Taurei and Avesa's mother has shown us all, even the most inflexible and goddess-like her can change even just a little."

"Welp, this is the first time I saw Gala rushing in to save the back of his boyfriend from a fall. While I doubt it's our words of advice that helped him. I think I can dare to say that they are improving a lot, eh, Vivet?"

"They surely are even though it is painfully slow, they "are" improving."

-0-

"Lord Asher! Lady Gala! Wake up! You gotta wake up! Please!"

I was pulled from my deep slumber and vivid dreams when cold hands shake me to consciousness.

I saw immediately the panicked face of Volker now putting Zenith on his wheelchair with the help of the son of Lytta hurriedly.

"What happened?!"

"Monsters! Thousands upon thousands of them from the south! Our scout spotted them emerging from the ocean!"

No!

Typhoon sent even more monsters after me and Asher after we drowned our pursuers!

"This is all our fault, evacuate the civilians as far as you possibly can!" I began ordering Volker as my canine companion pushed Zenith out of the room hurriedly, "Man the walls and prepare the launchers and mortars! Make sure there is an escape route ready for the defenders as soon as we are about to be overrun! Close the gates and bring all those who are not part of the guardians but can handle a weapon to defend the evacuees!"

Volker nodded quickly as he relayed my orders to his soldiers the moment we stepped out of Queen Hera's ruined temple and into the quiet of the night that belies the horde that is to come to destroy us all.

"I don't even know if I have the right to command you all but do what you think is for the best. Asher and I will head for the front and try to stall them until we reached our limits. Don't be afraid to continue the bombardment even if we are to be caught by the friendly fire, we can defend ourselves."

A lie.

There's no hope of defending even against the monsters.

I barely, if, at all, recovered from a single night of fitful sleep and Asher as well.

I saw him limping when he guided Zenith out of the temple earlier.

We have pushed ourselves to our maximum limit and depleted of any reserves we need to even last to make a small difference in this coming battle.

"But, that is just suicide!"

I grabbed the heritor of the goddess of snow and goddess of dawn that bore the vestiges of the pale skin of Chione and the bright eyes of Aurora as I painfully try to remove in my mind that he could be the child that Vaski and I have dreamed of before, "Listen to me! This is war! Innocent lives are at stake! You shouldn't think about the two of us! Think of the children, Volker! Now, to your stations!"

I pushed him away like a mother forcing his son from the horrors of what is to come and hope against all hope that he, together with all of the inhabitants of this settlement will escape this tragedy in the making.

I began running towards the gate, almost tripping along the way if not for Asher who caught me with his great but tired body.

"You can still run away, Asher. What I am going to do is flat out suicide, if all else fails, you make a break for it with Zenith and continue our journey without me!"

But he just grunted as he pushed my body with his head on his back before glancing at the necropolis where Zenith's wheelchair can be seen in its entrance.

"Why is his..."

"MONSTERS ON THE HORIZON! NUMBERS, TOO MANY TO COUNT!"

"MAN YOUR STATIONS! ALL AVAILABLE WEAPONS OPEN FIRE!"

"THE EVACUATION IS ALMOST COMPLETE!"

"WE CAN BEGIN THE BOMBARDMENT AT ANY MOMENT!"

"PREPARE ALL AVAILABLE AMMUNITION AND USE EVERYTHING THAT WE GOT!"

"THE CHILDREN MUST SURVIVE! OUR LIVES AS THE ONES BEFORE US IS ON THE LINE!"

"HOLD THE LINE FOR AS LONG AS WE CAN!"

"THEIR SURVIVAL IS OUR FUTURE! FOR HIS EMINENCE!"

"FOR HIS EMINENCE!"

"OPEN FIRE!"

An impressive display of spear and ice balls barrage were launched to the heavens above as it rained down destruction towards the seemingly neverending tide of monsters appearing from whence we came yesterday.

"It is our fault, Asher," I whispered at my canine friend as he limped towards the gates slowly closing as we speak, "We brought those monsters here, the least we can do is to be a bait and use ourselves as a distraction to buy the children with more time. Are you with me to the bitter end, my nephew?!"

To answer my question, he sprinted at high speed so fast we are already in front of the black horde in a split second.