Filius chaos

5 - The courtroom

Sekrit

"Mother, he is here!"

Tartarus's voice echoed through the palace.

I turned sharply.

There he was.

My son.

Perseus.

Tartarus carried him carefully in his arms, his enormous form strangely gentle as he held my unconscious child. I immediately rushed toward him.

For millions of years, I had watched Perseus grow from afar.

I had seen him take his first steps.

I had watched him laugh.

I had watched him cry.

I had watched him fight monsters, gods, Titans, and forces that should have been far beyond the capabilities of a mortal demigod.

But seeing him this close was different.

My heart ached.

He had grown into a warrior.

His body carried the evidence of countless battles. There were scars I had never seen before, and even in unconsciousness, his face looked exhausted.

Weak.

Broken.

My eyes narrowed.

The Olympians had done this to my son.

My anger began to rise.

I could feel the fabric of reality itself trembling around me.

I wanted to punish them.

Every single one of them.

How dare they?

How dare they betray a child who had spent his entire life protecting them?

Chaos must have sensed my anger because he stepped beside me and gently took my hand.

But before I could calm myself, I noticed something that made me smile.

His eyes.

Perseus had inherited my eyes.

The same eyes that had belonged to me since the beginning of existence.

The only other one of our children who had inherited them was Erebus.

I smiled proudly.

It seemed I had won the bet.

Chaos had been absolutely convinced that our son would inherit his eyes, just like all our other children.

Instead, Perseus had inherited mine.

However, despite his eyes, he looked remarkably like his father.

The shape of his face, his hair, even some of his expressions reminded me of Chaos.

Yet I could still see myself in him.

My son.

Our son.

Chaos came up behind me and looked down at Perseus.

"Look, dear," I whispered. "Our son looks a lot like you."

Chaos smiled.

"But he has your eyes," he replied, "and your stubbornness."

He gently pinched my cheeks.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was."