Ch. 125 – The vengeance of Herakles
Fenris is lying on the beach, watching the stars as he notices someone looking in his direction from afar. He sits up and turns around. Looking in the distance, on the top of the cliff, he sees Diana riding a horse and immediately smiles.
After a few minutes, she's made her way down towards the beach and gets off her horse. She slowly and carefully sneaks towards the treeline before she sees the tallest person she's ever seen already looking in her direction. "Hello Diana."
Hearing the greeting, she stops sneaking and walks out onto the beach.
Standing before him, he gets down on one knee, but even then she still has to look up. "I'm.." Fenris tries to introduce himself before she interrupts, "Fenris, a God."
"Yes, that's right." Fenris nods.
"A-Are you my father?" She asks, a little nervously.
Fenrir's only response to that question is a warm smile, telling Diana enough as she steps forward and hugs him.
After a while, Diana steps back and looks her father in the eyes. "Why did you never come to see me? Didn't you want me?"
Fenrir simply smiles once more and takes a step back. He jumps up into a backflip and as he's in the air he transforms into a pristinely white hawk.
He then transforms again, into a white stag, then a wolf, a cat and lastly a squirrel. He runs up to Diana and crawls up her body as she giggles. He clings on her upper arm and as she raises it up, he sits down.
"I've alway been around, Diana. Watching you grow everyday. I was there when you took your first steps and spoke your first words. And remember the first time you rode a pony?" Fenris asks.
Diana nods as she recalls one of her favorite memories. "That was me." He says.
He runs down the length of her arm and jumps off, immediately transforming back into his usual appearance.
"You're Snowflake?! Mother said he ran off and disappeared. I searched for days."
"Sorry about that, but I couldn't remain as a pony forever."
"Fine, then make it up to me."
Amused at her attitude, Fenris smiles. "Make it up how?"
"I want another ride on Snowflake." She says looking excited at the prospect.
"Ha! Sweetheart, I'm the God of Beasts and Monsters... I can do better than that." Fenris says grabbing Diana beneath her arms and throwing her up in the air. He jumps after her as he transforms into a large white horse with enormous wings.
He catches her perfectly on his back and she grabs hold of his mane.
He flaps his wings and they take off into the sky.
"Whoa! Hahaha!" Diana laughs out loud and looks at the world below as the trees all get smaller. She looks over the edge of the cliff and sees the mountain range in the distance. "WHOOO!" She yells out as Fenris suddenly starts flying faster.
They take a few laps around the island until Fenris notices a large group of Amazons on the edge of his beach, surrounding a man.
Fenris dives down and transforms back into his humanoid form as he carries Diana in his arms and carefully puts her down.
One of the Amazons notices them and respectfully bows her head. "Lord Fenris, this man claims to know you, he says he must speak with you."
The Amazons make way for Fenris and he's finally able to see the man's face. "Hephaestus? What are you doing here?" Fenris asks, looking at him confused as he's covered in wounds.
The wounds themselves don't confuse Fenris, it's the blood flowing from them. It's regular red blood instead of the golden Ichor it's supposed to be.
"You're mortal..."
Hephaestus stands up, legs shaking and takes a step towards Fenris but falls to his knees. "He's coming. He's killed them all. Stole our power. He's the last God of Olympus."
"Who? Who is it Hephaestus?" Fenris asks.
"Herakles. He's coming f..for- for you." Hephaestus says with his last breath before he succumbs to his wounds.
"Who's Herakles?" Diana asks nervously as she reaches for Fenrir's hand.
"The son of Zeus and the God of strength and heroes." Fenrir answers holding her hand.
"Why would the God of heroes come after you?" She asks, confused.
"Don't worry about it sweetheart, he won't succeed."
------
On Olympus, among the rubble of what was once a beautiful city, an incredibly large, muscular man lifts an enormous pillar of marble over his head and chucks it like it's nothing.
He bends forward and picks up an ancient looking tablet with an inscription written in an ancient tongue known only to the Titans.
He blows the dust off the tablet and smiles before he bites in his hand, drawing Ichor. He smears it across the tablet before it shines in a blinding light and dissipates into energy.
The energy flows into his nostrils as he inhales it all. He quickly starts coughing and drops to the ground writhing in pain.
After a while he gets back up and lifts both his arms. All around Olympus the rubble immediately starts floating into the air.
"Hahaha! It's all mine! I summon the wizard Jebediah." He says before a black man, about half his size suddenly appears before him out of thin air.
The wizard looks around, confused at the sudden change of scenery before he quickly notices the god standing behind him.
"Who are you?" The wizard asks.
"You are in the presence of Herakles, the last God of Olympus. I have summoned you here to help me rid this world of all its remaining gods."
The wizard furrows his brows, confused at the god's words, yet intrigued at the prospect of a world with no gods. "I'm listening."
-----
In the palace of Themyscira, in the throne room, Hipolyta, Diana, Antiope, Alice and Fenris are gathered.
"I still don't understand, why is he coming after you?"
Hypolita looks to Fenris who nods at her before she starts explaining everything to Diana.
"A long time ago, an evil god named Darkseid came to Earth to conquer it. Led by the Gods of Olympus, the tribes of men, the Atlanteans and the Amazons all gathered to fight off the invasion." Hippolyta starts explaining as Alice creates an illusion, showing Diana the armies standing in the valley, ready to face Darkseid's forces.
She keeps showing Diana the images as Hipolyta continues her explanation. "Right as Darkseid and his armada arrived, your father and lady Alice appeared out of nowhere and they started fighting Darkseid's army.
Your father single handedly defeated several of the enemy gods before also defeating Darkseid, forcing him to flee.
Once the battle was over, Ares, the God of War attacked your father. He fought Ares like it was nothing and left him mortal, without his divine power.
Years later, Zeus had found a way to restore Ares' power, but Ares used that same method to steal the power of the other Olympians.
As the Gods were fighting amongst themselves, the humans turned on us and captured us as slaves.
Your father fought and killed most of the remaining gods while Lady Alice rescued us. Afterwards your father created this island and we made it our home."
"I left Hephaestus, the god of the forge in charge of Olympus, to rule over the remaining gods." Fenris starts speaking. "And apparently Herakles has killed all the remaining gods, stolen their power and now wants to kill me as well."
"Aren't you worried?" Diana asks, clearly worried herself. "If he has the power of so many gods, maybe he could do it."
"No, he can't. If he wants me dead, it'll take a whole lot more than the combined power of a bunch of lesser Gods." Fenris assures her.
"I agree." A disembodied voice suddenly resounds throughout the throne room. "That's why I'm not killing you."
Suddenly a bright golden light shines all throughout the Mediterranean, originating from Themyscira.
As the light dies down, Fenris and the others remain safely where they stood before, covered by a shield dome conjured by Fenris.
A large muscular man, about three meters tall suddenly appears in the throne room.
"No! You should be gone. I did everything I was supposed to do."
"Banishing me from this dimension isn't so easy, Herakles." Fenris says as he lowers the shield and slowly walks towards the large god.
"The moment you appeared in this world, my family was doomed. What was I supposed to do?"
"I don't blame you. I'd want revenge just as much as you do. Unfortunately for you, I'm a little beyond your reach." Fenris says before he reaches his hand towards Herakles and telekinetically crushes his skull as he clenches his fist.
At the exact moment of Herakles' death, his body disappears like it's sucked into a wormhole.
"Oh, shit." Fenris says before he and Alice disappear as well.
"No!" Diana screams out as she runs towards the spot Fenris just stood with tears running down her face.