THEOS

Most of the boulders in his way weren't aimed at him. That didn’t stop them from relentlessly crashing against the barrier of his protective talisman three and four at a time seemingly every second. Just the sheer volume of them made the sky above Heracles lethal to be in, and Luke was grateful that he had dozens of talismans burning a hole in his inventory. Each of them ready and more than capable of stopping the Mortal-tier attacks quite easily.

How is he even alive? Even a warrior should have fallen after days of this. Luke thought as he looked below at the figure of Heracles, barely visible through all the debris flying through the air. He had been awed by his martial prowess just from seeing him fight off the giant horde from a distance. Being in the thick of it left him reeling.

Correcting his course with his boots, Luke summoned a handful of untorn talismans into his hands. Calling them directly from his inventory was more convenient, but he suspected that the Son of Zeus would have questions if he used one of them that way in front of him.

Counting down in his head, he replaced his talisman with another one, moments before it was set to expire. Rapidly slowing his descent as he did so, and stopping a hundred or so feet in the air above the man.

“Hey!” He yelled. Waving his arms wildly.

“I’m kind of busy here. You with that other guy?” He said, his voice booming like thunder. A deep guttural and manly sound if there ever was one.

“I am. My name’s Luke, and I have your ring.” He said, tearing the end off another talisman.

“You do?” He asked. Genuine surprise leaving his voice.

“I do.”

“HAHAHAHAHAAHA. At last! Throw it to me.”

Luke slid the metal band off his finger, and dropped it. Almost immediately, it was caught by some invisible force and stilled in the air. For a moment it just hung in the sky, right outside of the bounds of Luke’s barrier. An instant later, the air cracked, and it slapped into Heracles’s waiting palm. Leaving a thin trail of rapidly fading lightning in its wake.

Fancy. Luke thought, impressed in spite of himself.

A talisman appeared in his hand, and a fraction of a second later a bright golden barrier rippled outwards, and washed over and past Luke. He watched stunned and with his mouth slightly ajar as every giant in the area was suddenly pushed back hundreds of yards by the shimmering light, and the sky cleared of their earthly orbs. Leaving him and Heracles alone in the sky, standing under the warm flow of his talisman.

“I thank you!” Heracles said, rising into the air, so that the chain was taught against the slab of metal anchoring him to the ground. He frowned angrily as he tested his bonds, before carefully schooling his expression.

“Don’t worry about it.” Luke shrugged, as he scratched his head. I’m not exactly being altruistic here.

Taking his first good look at the legendary Son of Zeus. He was younger than he would have thought. Appearing no older than twenty, his hair was a matted and sweat soaked blonde. Thin whiskers peaked out from the edge of his lips and the side of his cheeks. Deep bags under his eyes, rimmed his startling blue and bloodshot orbs. Thin strands of electricity seemed to shiver within them, as he stared right at Luke. All told, he looked just like he had been fighting nonstop for days, but still managed to appear handsome. Not disheveled and insane like Luke expected a man in his position to be.

He grinned, as he slung his club over his shoulder like a baseball bat. “Do I know you?” He cocked his head to the side. “You seem familiar.”

“This is the first time we’ve met.” Luke said, tearing his eyes away from him, he scanned the crowd of giants for any signs of Lukeus. Having lost sight of him earlier when he was working his way through the barrage of boulders.

He found him immediately. The newly ascended warrior fell through the barrier and crash landed on his side. Stumbling to his feet a moment later, he walked back to the edge of the golden barrier and postured in front of the Warrior-tier giant he had been keeping occupied. Making one obscene gesture after another at the creature, with a wide grin on his face.

The giant tilted its head to the side, and its eyes crinkled in confusion. Shrugging all six of its limbs, it sat down in a squat and stared right at Lukeus.

That is so creepy. Luke thought as a shiver ran down his spine. There’s something wrong with these things.

“Is that Lukeus?”

“It is.”

“And you said you were Luke?”

“I am.”

“Mmm.” Heracles scratched his chin idly. “Who sent you?”

“Hmm?” The Seed, obviously… but I can’t tell you that now can I? “I don’t know.” He answered eventually.

“Come on, you don’t have to be like that. Was it Dad? Uncle P? Uncle H? Hermes? Ares?” He paled. “Please don’t tell me it was Apollo.” He pleaded. A desperate edge in his voice.

“I- uh.” Luke’s mind went blank as the Son of Zeus rattled off one god after another. “I really don’t know. I’m not trying to hide it from you or anything.” He said, lifting his hands into the air in defense.

He frowned. “You don’t know huh? That sounds like something all of them would try and do. Fucking mysterious assholes.” He grumbled.

“They’re asshols for helping you out?”

“No. They're assholes because their help doesn’t come free. Last time I got in a bind, Apollo made me clean–” He stuck his tongue out and shivered. His face gained a green hue as he remembered something thoroughly unpleasant. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He said eventually.

“That’s fine.”

“I should probably do something about that one, huh.” Heracles said, squinting in the direction of the Warrior-tier giant. His ring glowed on his finger, and a bow appeared in his hand. He drew the string back, and Luke watched in fascination, as an arrow entirely composed out of blue energy materialized.

It shot through the air silently, past Lukeus, and through the barrier, before sinking into the giant's chest. The monster didn’t even realize it had been hit, before its entire upper body vanished in a spray of bloody mist.

Holy shit.

“That never gets old.” Heracles grinned. “It’s one of my sister’s old bows. I don’t even know what tier it is, but I killed a Hero-tier sky kraken with it on the way here. That little thing is puny compared to it.” He said, gesturing to the remains of the giant.

“I bet it is.” Luke nodded slowly.

“Hey Heracles, you asshole! I had that!” Lukeus came flying through the air, and tackled him. Only for Heracles to stop him dead in his tracks, a single palm cupping his forehead

.

“Little Lulu’s all grown up, isn’t he.” He said, ruffled his hair.

“Don’t call me that.” Lukeus snarled. “I’m not a kid anymore.”

“I can see that. The way you tackled that giant was something else. I remember you being such a scaredy cat… You’ve come a long way.”

He blushed bright red, and turned away. “Why’d you come to Sylcra anyway?”

“We were getting bored on Lemnos, and then I remembered that Sylcra was pretty close, and you guys had a pesky giant problem. I figured, why not. It had been a while since I last saw you and Nel, and I bet you could use some help, and the rest of the crew could blow off a different kind of steam,” he wiggled his eyebrows, “and kill some stuff. They’ve grown weak after years in paradise. When we got here though, there was a huge line of ships waiting around the entire archipelago.”

Lukeus nodded. “Arke. She has a blockade surrounding the entire island. Won’t let anyone come and go.”

“So that’s what that was. Huh. Well, I figured I’d go and check it out, so I flew ahead, and this crazy strong winged lady stopped me. Then I was like, do you know who I am? And she was like yes, I recognize the arrogance of Zeus’s spawn when I see it. So I was like, then you should know not to stop me, and long story short, she let me through.”

“She let you through, and tied you to that rock, and then took your storage ring and tossed it somewhere?” Luke asked.

“Well I may have cussed at her a bit. And I told her, that there wasn’t a chance in Hades that my whole crew was going to wait outside, and I was just about to signal them to fuck the blockade and come through anyway, when she put me to sleep. When I woke up, I was chained to that thing, and then a few days later that big giant popped out of the ground, and since then, more and more of these things have been popping out. I gotta tell you Lulu, I don’t know how you all live on this island if those things come every ten years.”

“We manage.”

“I bet.” Heracles nodded. His ring glowed softly, and a talisman appeared in his hand. “Jason, it’s me, Heracles. I’m still alive, but some crazy lady with wings imprisoned me. I need you to gather the entire fleet, break through the blockade and free me. If you could get every other ship waiting to dock to move in as well, then that would be best. This lady is strong, but she won’t kill everyone if you all move at once.” He spoke to it, a grin stretching his face, he ripped the bottom half free, and it flew off into the sky.

Fuck yeah. Luke cheered internally. Problems solved.

“What was that?” Lukeus frowned.

“That was what it sounded like. If that lady really thinks she can keep me locked up without reaso– with some flimsy excuse and not get payback, then she has this coming.” He grinned.

“Heracles, this is my home.” Lukeus said slowly. “Arke is strong. Why would you put her against us like that?”

“Are you–”

“I’m not defending her, or saying she was right to keep you trapped here but there's more at stake than her ego and yours. If she decides to go berserk, and kills everyone here, then sure. The gods will avenge us, but we’d still be dead.” He said slowly.

Heracles looked affronted by the very idea. “That won’t happen.” He said resolutely. “I know her type. She bullies the weak and runs scared with her tail between her legs when someone with more leverage and stronger backing comes along. Why is she here anyway? Did you do something?”

“No. Some soul escaped with something and she’s hunting it down.”

“She put a blockade around the entire island to catch a zombie?”

Lukeus shrugged.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“I know. Everyone knows.” Lukeus crossed his arms under his chest.

“Do you have a way to break free of that manacle, while we wait for your… friends to join us?” Luke asked him, hoping to change the subject.

He frowned. “I do.” His ring glowed once again, and his club vanished. In its place a small knife appeared in his hands, made of the same shiny metal as the cable and the giant chunk of metal keeping him tethered to the ground. “This should be able to cut it without destroying the island, but I’ll need a few hours. The barrier is good for a day or two, so we should be safe in the meantime.

In that case. Luke turned to the horde of assembled giants just outside of the golden barrier. “Take your time. I’m going to go kill those. It seems like a bad idea to leave them lying around, even if they are in the middle of a desert.”

“Oh, those aren’t a big deal. I have a bunch of Saint-tier talismans, we can have them–”

“No.” Luke said. “I have a sword. It’s good enough.”

“Are you sure? That’s a lot of giants.”

“I’m sure.” Luke insisted, before turning on his heels and walking towards the edge of the barrier. “If you really want, we can blow them to smithereens when it’s time to leave, if there are any left. Until then, I got it.”

There’s no way in hell I’m going to let this many points be wasted. Not when the Warrior-tier is right there for the taking. He thought to himself, barely managing to reign in the grin on his face.