The council of Olympus had not gathered in such grim silence since the Titan War itself.
The throne room—usually bright and alive with divine light—was shrouded in the pale gold of unease. The great thrones circled the marble dais, every god and goddess seated, their divine presence dimmed to keep the chamber from cracking under their combined power.
At the center stood Hephaestus, arms blackened with soot, sweat cutting pale lines down his scarred skin. Behind him, the glowing bronze mirror projected images of chaos—mountains trembling, seas roiling, clouds splitting in unnatural storms. The Twilight Forge's pulse could be felt across every corner of the world.
Hephaestus's deep, gravelly voice carried across the hall.
"The weapons have awakened. Their seals are gone. If a mortal, monster, or Titan-spawn wields even one—"
Athena finished for him, voice cold and sharp. "They could slay an Olympian. Permanently."
A murmur rippled through the gods. Even Poseidon's calm eyes darkened.
Zeus rose, thunder echoing faintly in his chest. "Then we will not sit idle. Each weapon must be found and returned to the Forge before its power spreads. Any who wield them are enemies of Olympus."
"Even if they are demigods?" Apollo asked quietly.
"Even if they are heroes," Zeus said.
The hall went still.
Hephaestus motioned toward the mirror, where seven blazing sigils hovered—each marking a weapon's aura. "Their signatures are faint, scattered. The Forge released them across the world, as if testing who would find them first. I can sense where they are—barely—but they move. Someone or something is already carrying them."
Athena leaned forward. "Then we divide our efforts. Each Olympian takes a region."
Zeus nodded curtly. "It begins now."
Hephaestus waved his hand, and the sigils pulsed, forming a world map of molten light.
"The first," he said, "is the Lance of Dawn—forged for your hand, Zeus. It fell somewhere above the Himalayas. Lightning storms the mortals cannot explain rage there even now."
Zeus grunted. "Then the skies are mine. I'll reclaim it myself."
"The second, Aegis Reborn," Hephaestus continued, "is in Northern Africa. The deserts shimmer unnaturally with reflected sunlight—it is drawing monsters already."
Athena rose, her bronze eyes like flame. "I'll handle it. Aegis is mine to recover."
"The Scythe of Dusk," Hephaestus said, voice lower, "has resurfaced in the ruins of Tartarus's edge—southern Greece. The mortals will never find it, but something ancient might."
Hades' cold voice echoed from the shadows. "I'll take that one. No mortal will tread where I walk."
"The Whispering Bow," Hephaestus continued, "was sighted in the far east, somewhere near Japan. The monsters there have grown bold. The Bow is empowering them."
Artemis straightened, her silver eyes bright. "My Hunters are already near the region. We'll claim it before the monsters do."
"The Hammer of Ruin lies deep beneath the ocean," Hephaestus said, turning to the sea god. "It was meant for you, Poseidon. I can feel it stirring tectonic plates."
Poseidon's trident shimmered faintly. "Then I'll dive to claim what was once mine. No creature of the deep will hide it from me."
"The Veil of Moirai," Hephaestus continued, "vanished somewhere in South America. It cloaks even its own aura. I can sense only the echoes."
Hermes raised a hand. "If it hides and moves fast, you'll want me. I'll find it."
"Finally," Hephaestus said, his voice grave, "the Blade of Twilight—my own weapon. It's somewhere on the American coast… near New Jersey."
A sharp silence filled the air. Hera's gaze met his. "Then it's near the mortals we know."
"Yes," Hephaestus said. "And if it chooses a bearer…"
Zeus turned toward Hera, his tone firm but wary. "You'll handle it. You've spent more time in the mortal realm than any of us. Find it before anyone else does."
Hera's lips tightened. "If it's in New Jersey, I already have someone who can help me find it."
She didn't say the name, but some of them in the hall knew it.
The Himalayas had never been kind, not even to gods.
Wind howled across white ridges, tearing through the sky like a thousand shrieking spirits. Ice glittered where no mortal foot had tread in centuries, and even the sun seemed weary, struggling to pierce the roiling clouds.
But Zeus—the King of Olympus, the Lord of Storms—walked through it unhindered.
Lightning coiled around his shoulders like living serpents, flashing beneath his cloak. Every step he took melted snow, hissed steam. When he exhaled, thunder followed.
He was not here to admire the view.
He was here to reclaim his weapon—the Lance of Dawn, the first divine spear ever forged by Hephaestus. It was the weapon Zeus had once wielded when he overthrew the Titans, the spear that commanded not only lightning but the first light of the morning star.
And now it had escaped its prison.
The Lance's power called to him faintly, like an echo across eternity. It pulsed in the distance, hidden deep within the mountains. He followed it through narrow passes, through abandoned temples, through places where mortals had left offerings that had long since turned to dust.
When he finally reached the valley where the Lance's aura shone brightest, he stopped.
There, sitting in meditation before a ruined stupa, was a man.
A mortal man.
His robes were tattered orange, his skin darkened by years under the sun, his hair shaved close to the scalp. Before him, planted into the frozen ground, was the Lance of Dawn itself—its golden haft glowing faintly, runes pulsing in rhythm with the monk's heartbeat.
The mortal's hands rested calmly in his lap. His eyes were closed.
Zeus frowned. "A monk?"
The monk's lips moved, and his voice carried softly on the wind. "I wondered when someone would come for it."
Zeus's eyes narrowed. "You know who I am?"
The monk smiled faintly, still not looking up. "The storms told me."
Zeus stepped forward, lightning flaring around his feet. "That weapon is not yours. It belongs to Olympus. To me."
"The weapon chose me," the monk replied, opening his eyes. They glowed with a faint golden hue—the same light that shimmered within the Lance. "It offered itself. I accepted. And I will protect it."
"Protect it?" Zeus scoffed. "From whom? You are mortal. You have no power."
The monk rose slowly, fluidly. The snow around him trembled as if stirred by unseen energy. He lifted one hand toward the spear, and the Lance of Dawn came to him, humming in recognition. The weapon's light intensified, spilling golden rays across the valley.
Zeus froze, feeling the surge of power wash against his own aura.
It shouldn't have been possible.
The Lance obeyed him. It always obeyed him.
But now, in the hands of a mortal monk, it burned brighter than it ever had in Olympus.
"Who are you?" Zeus demanded.
The monk bowed his head. "No one. A man who seeks balance."
Then he moved.
The first strike came faster than lightning. The monk thrust the Lance forward, the air itself splitting as energy tore through it. Zeus barely raised his hand in time; the blow struck his divine shield and sent shockwaves up his arm.
The ground beneath them cracked. Snow lifted into the air in a halo around them, scattering like diamonds.
Zeus roared, summoning a bolt of pure thunder and hurling it toward the monk. The mortal twirled the Lance, deflecting it as if batting aside a spark.
Impossible.
A mortal should have disintegrated.
Zeus charged, moving with the speed of a storm unleashed. The monk met him head-on, the Lance spinning in perfect rhythm, not a wasted motion. Each blow struck with precision, forcing Zeus backward.
For the first time in millennia, the King of the Gods felt pressure.
The monk's voice was calm even as they fought. "Power does not belong to the one who forged it, but to the one who understands it."
Zeus snarled, parrying another strike. "You speak as though you are equal to a god."
"I am equal to no one," the monk said softly. "That is why I am free."
He lunged again, the Lance blazing brighter than ever. Zeus caught it mid-thrust, both hands clamping down on the golden shaft. Sparks exploded between them, divine energy and mortal spirit colliding in a storm of light and sound.
"Yield," Zeus growled.
"I cannot."
"Then die."
Zeus's lightning surged, flooding the Lance. The monk cried out as the divine energy overwhelmed him, searing through his body. The weapon fell still, its glow flickering. When the light faded, the monk collapsed, smoke curling from his robes.
Zeus stood over him, breathing hard. Snow fell silently again.
The monk's hand twitched once, weakly reaching for the weapon. "Worthy… only for the worthy…" he whispered. Then he was still.
Zeus looked down at him for a long moment. The snow covered the monk's face in seconds, a quiet burial.
Then Zeus pulled the Lance free from the ice. Its runes dimmed, recognizing its original master once more—but the warmth in its glow was gone. It felt heavy, reluctant.
He turned his gaze toward Olympus, where storm clouds already gathered to receive him.
When he appeared again before the thrones, he carried the Lance of Dawn in his hand and a thunderous silence behind his eyes.
Aphrodite rose from her seat. "You found it."
"I did."
"And the bearer?"
Zeus's expression did not change. "Unworthy."
Hera's eyes flicked toward him, seeing the faint scorch on his wrist, the mark of resistance. "You killed him."
Zeus said nothing.
Hephaestus watched him quietly, his molten eyes reflecting the faint light of the recovered weapon. "If a mortal could wield that much power… then the world has changed."
Zeus's fingers tightened on the Lance, and lightning hissed faintly along its edge.
"Then we shall remind it," he said, his voice low and dangerous, "who rules it."
In the heart of Northern Africa, the Aegis Reborn drifted across the endless sands like a ghostly mirage. Mortal travelers spoke of a floating disk of light that shimmered like the sun, defending villages from monsters by day and vanishing into the dunes by night.
To Athena's eyes, it was worse—it was thinking.
She stood atop a dune, the hot wind whipping her cloak, and extended her senses. The sand beneath her hummed with the shield's presence.
Aegis, she called silently, I am your bearer. Return to me.
The air shimmered. Light coalesced on the horizon, forming a golden barrier that rippled like water. For a heartbeat, it seemed to approach her—then veered away.
Athena's jaw tightened. "Defiant, are you?"
She leapt from the dune, her sandals striking the shifting sand with divine balance. The shield raced through the air ahead of her, darting between dunes like a will-o'-wisp. It was testing her.
"You think I've grown weak," she muttered. "You think I've forgotten war."
The ground trembled. From the sand erupted a massive scorpion, its tail the size of a tower, summoned by the shield itself as a trial. Athena drew her bronze spear and faced it head-on. The creature struck—fast as lightning—but Athena was faster. She pivoted, the spear flashing, slicing the tail clean through. The scorpion shrieked and fell.
The Aegis hovered above its fallen body, spinning slowly.
Athena raised her hand. "Enough."
She poured her divine essence outward, her power forming a storm of golden wind. The shield resisted—flaring, humming, pushing back. But Athena did not falter. She forced her will upon it, bending light itself to her command.
When at last it yielded, the desert went still.
The Aegis hovered before her, its surface gleaming with new runes. Athena touched it gently, her eyes softening. "Welcome home."
The shield pulsed once—like a heartbeat—then attached itself to her arm once more.
Far below the surface of the Atlantic, in the realm where sunlight never reached, Poseidon drifted through the black water. His trident glowed faintly blue, cutting a path through the darkness.
He could feel it—the ancient rhythm of the Hammer of Ruin, pounding faintly from the ocean's crust. Every heartbeat, every wave that broke against the shore above was its echo.
He descended into a rift where magma met sea, the heat enough to boil mortals alive. From the depths, a pulse of energy rolled outward, shaking the seabed.
Poseidon gritted his teeth. "You will not wake the world again, old friend."
A voice rose from the deep, neither mortal nor divine, but metallic and thunderous.
You abandoned me.
Poseidon narrowed his eyes. "I chose the trident for balance. You were too violent, too wild."
And now the world trembles again. You need me.
The Hammer rose from the trench in a surge of light, spinning slowly, every movement rippling the ocean for miles. Poseidon reached for it, but it pulled back, releasing shockwaves that shattered coral and stone.
The sea god growled and thrust his trident into the current. "Obey your master!"
The Hammer responded by sending a shockwave through the water, a force so massive it split the seafloor.
Poseidon's eyes flashed green. "Then I'll tame you myself!"
The two weapons clashed—trident against hammer—reverberating through the ocean like colliding storms. For hours, the sea boiled, whirlpools opened and closed, and storms raged above the surface as the god wrestled his own creation into submission.
Finally, with a roar that shook Atlantis itself, Poseidon drove the trident into the heart of the Hammer's glow. A massive wave rose from the depths, then collapsed, leaving only silence.
When the water cleared, Poseidon held the Hammer of Ruin in his left hand and the trident in his right. The hammer was still glowing faintly, like a subdued beast, no longer fighting.
"Peace, old friend," Poseidon murmured. "You serve the sea once more."
When both gods returned to Olympus, the air shimmered with renewed power.
The Aegis gleamed upon Athena's arm, radiant as the morning sun. Poseidon carried the Hammer over his shoulder, the weight of the ocean in every step.
Zeus awaited them in the council hall, the Lance of Dawn resting beside his throne. The moment the three relics met, the entire mountain thrummed with resonance, like a heartbeat shared among gods.
Hephaestus appeared in a cloud of ash and flame, inspecting each weapon carefully. "Good. They're stable again. But the Forge still stirs. It wants the others returned."
"The Scythe of Dusk, the Whispering Bow, the Veil of Moirai… and the Blade of Twilight."
Author's Note:
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