I Am Zeus

The mountain shook like it wanted to rip itself apart.

Erebus's shadows climbed higher, blotting out the last stars, while Tiamat's five heads tore through the waves and skies at once. Her brood poured without end, snapping, clawing, shrieking. Every time one fell, three more crawled from the tide.

But the gods did not break.

Athena's spear flashed, its bronze head sparking as she split a shadow into two, then turned on her heel to stab through the throat of a serpent that had broken past Ares. Her voice rose above the din, sharp as a trumpet call.

"Shields left! Push together! Do not let them scatter us!"

Her command rippled down the line. River gods and spirits snapped their shields into formation, their auras weaving into a wall of light that stopped a wave of venom spewing from one of Tiamat's heads.

Ares crashed into that same line a heartbeat later, laughing like a beast. His sword burned red, flames trailing behind it like comet tails. Each swing carved ten shadows apart, each strike loud enough to shake the slopes.

"Hold your lines!" he roared, his grin wild. "I'll give them something to fear!"

Hermes darted past him, leaving golden streaks in his wake. He slashed with twin blades, his illusions racing alongside him, confusing Erebus's wraiths. They struck at phantoms while the real Hermes cut their throats and vanished before their claws found flesh. He spun back to Athena mid-dash, grinning.

"Your line's too stiff, sister. Let me loosen it!"

"Do your work and stop talking," Athena snapped, though the faintest smile tugged at her lips.

Above, Apollo's bow thrummed. Golden fire split arrow after arrow, raining like meteors into the sea. Each impact blasted chunks of Tiamat's brood into burning steam, lighting the ocean like a dawn that refused to fade.

"Artemis!" Apollo shouted. "Now!"

She answered in silence. Her arrows whistled into the gaps his fire left, silver shafts piercing the survivors with unerring accuracy. One serpent tried to dive under Apollo's light, only for Artemis's shot to pin its skull to the waves before it reached the shore.

They moved as one—sun and moon, flame and shadow, brother and sister weaving death into the sky.

At the foot of the mountain, Gaia struck. Roots as wide as towers lashed out, spearing through serpent bellies, dragging them down into the earth that swallowed them whole. Each step she took rippled the battlefield, raising cliffs, opening chasms that swallowed shadow hordes by the hundreds.

Rhea's fire blazed beside her, bright and sharp, her arms lifted as golden spires shot into the heavens. Each spire detonated in a wave of Titan-force, knocking whole swaths of the brood from the air. Her voice rang clear, not tired, but commanding.

"Stand with Olympus!" she cried, and her light burned hotter.

Oceanus bellowed from the tide, his roar a tidal wave that clashed with Tiamat's fury. He wrapped the sea itself around her legs, currents tightening like chains, dragging her lower. His trident clashed with her scales in bursts that lit the horizon.

But Tiamat shrieked, her five heads snapping as one. Fire, ice, venom, thunder, and scream hit at once, breaking his wave and throwing him back. Oceanus staggered, but Gaia's roots caught him, steadying him before he fell.

"I will not drown," he growled, and surged forward again, the tide answering his rage.

In the center of it all, Themis stood, her scales glowing brighter with every strike of Erebus's darkness. His shadows bent toward her, but when they neared, they broke apart, stripped to nothing by the law she carried.

"Erebus," she said, her voice calm though her arms trembled. "Your night is bound. Even chaos obeys law."

Erebus's void-form stilled. His eyes—black pits swallowing light—locked on her. His voice rolled low, mocking.

"Law?" He spread his arms. The battlefield around him bled darker. Shadows boiled, ripping spears from the hands of gods, turning light itself into blades. "There is no law in nothing. And nothing is what I am."

His shadows struck, crushing toward Themis like a wave.

But Athena was already there. She thrust her spear into the ground, glowing shields snapping up around Themis in layered rings. Ares burst through the same wave, his sword burning with Surtr's fire, cutting the shadows apart in one savage swing.

"Stay behind me, goddess," he barked at Themis. "I'll show this void what blood looks like."

Themis only lifted her chin, her scales glowing steadier. "Then do it within law."

Erebus laughed, a sound that cracked the air. His form expanded, blotting out half the mountain. The shadows surged again, pressing harder.

Tiamat roared back, her five heads crashing into Oceanus's tide, her brood spilling endlessly from her jaws. Each one different—scaled, winged, horned, clawed—but all shrieking with the same hunger.

Artemis shot three at once, her arrows threading through their throats. Apollo lit the waves in fire again. Hermes darted across their backs, stabbing eyes and slicing wings before vanishing into gold streaks. Ares burned deeper into their numbers, his blade roaring like a forge, while Athena's spear struck wherever the line wavered, stitching it tight again.

Gaia raised a mountain under Oceanus's feet, letting him hurl himself higher, striking at Tiamat's central head. Rhea's spires blasted two of her other heads back, their roars deafening but weakened. Themis's law pulsed brighter, her scales tilting, bending Erebus's newest strike just enough that Hermes's illusions could scatter it apart.

For a moment, just a moment, Olympus held.

The sky cracked with power. The sea burned and froze. The mountain bled roots and fire. Gods and Primordials clashed, their roars drowning the cries of mortals far below.

Erebus's voice thundered, louder than all.

"You bleed for nothing! You burn for nothing! I will smother your light until Olympus is forgotten!"

Tiamat's heads shrieked with him, her brood swelling again, the waves surging higher.

And still, the gods fought.

Athena's orders cut sharp. Ares's sword carved red arcs. Hermes darted and mocked. Apollo's fire blazed, Artemis's moonlight pierced, Gaia's roots crushed, Rhea's spires burned, Oceanus's tide struck, Themis's law held.

Together, they fought like one body, one storm.

And high above, Zeus stood. His storm clawed at his veins, screaming to be let free. His fingers tightened on the railing until the marble cracked beneath him.

Not yet.

But when he moved, the world would know.

And the world would remember.