No More Olympus

Part 3: The Olympians

"I have failed," Wallace King sighed as his feet dangled over the side of the cliff.
Far below were the calm navy blue waves of the ocean, each tiny ripple reflecting off the late-night moon.
He looked down at his hands which had once been that of any other man but were now spliced with the green scales and bronze claws of a Gorgon.
"My dear child," the voice said, "On this day, you have done many things, but fail is not one of them."
"Our goal was to convince the gods to save our planet," King argued, "And today I might as well have declared war on the entire pantheon."
"That was your goal," the voice corrected, "A foolish one if I may say, based on campfire tales and the trust of beings that are not as wise or noble as they claim to be. But do not blame yourself, you are hardly the first to fall victim to their lies, I once found myself equally disappointed by the gods."
"Yes, of course," King nodded in understanding, "I'm sorry, my lady, I forgot who I was talking to."
"You are forgiven," the voice assured him.
"So, what do I do now?" King asked,
"Hey, buddy!" A voice a few feet away called out, "Who ya talking to?"
King's massive lion head spun around toward the voice.
"Omar Anzo," he growled.
"Wallace King?" General Anzo asked, recognizing his chief historian through the hideous mutation. He had ditched the jacket of his uniform and was now only in a white tank top and cargo pants, "Dear lord, so that's what happened to Pandora's box, you had it the whole time you sneaky bastard."
King didn't react, instead only staring down the general.
"Do you know how long I've been looking for that?" Omar continued, scratching his bald head, "And here you are, having used it to turn into... this."
"What do you want with Pandora's box?" King demanded.
"Nothing now," Omar chuckled, "I'm not here to ruin you party."
"Enough of this," King growled.
He roared into the night sky, releasing three clouds of smoke which floated to the ground below him, the smoke solidifying in the form of three golden Nemean lions.
"Aren't you full of surprises?" Omar chuckled at the trio of beasts that pounced toward him.
The general flung his fist into the face of the first beast, crushing the lion's skull and killing it instantly while, of course, leaving the indestructible hide on top completely unmarked.
The second lion leapt toward him, to which Omar calmly reached up and grabbed the airborne lion's neck, snapping it with one twist of his fingers.
The final lion then swerved around him, leaping on his back and sinking its fangs into his shoulder, making him the only one of the three beasts to draw blood. This didn't last long, as Omar grabbed the lion's upper jaw and flung him off the cliff and into the water like it was a trash bag.
"What are you?" King questioned as Omar wiped the blood from his shoulder, revealing that hardly a mark had been left from the lion's mauling, "Are you another god?"
"It does not matter," the voice hissed, "Kill him and be done with it."
"That is hardly necessary, milady," Omar assured the voice.
The two fell silent at this.
"How do you hear me? " the voice demanded, "I speak with no sound."
"Regardless of how you speak, I can still feel the vibrations," Omar shrugged, "You might as well be right next to me."
"I repeat," King insisted, "Are you a god?"
"Do I look like a god to you?" Omar asked with a smirk.
King could've sworn his eyes had turned yellow for a brief moment.
"If you're not a god," King continued, "Does that make you a monster?"
Omar sighed.
"Best to say I'm adjacent to both," Omar shrugged, "But your little disembodied friend there is correct. Who I am is unimportant. It's you, Wally, who is important here."
"Do not call me that," King demanded.
"You see, Wally," Omar continued, "My boss sent me to retrieve the box, so we could use its contents to achieve our goals, then you found it and thought it would be a good idea to take a peek inside. As we know from its namesake that probably wasn't the brightest of choices, but hell, we're here let's roll with it."
"What are you proposing?" The voice asked.
"What I'm proposing is very simple," Omar continued, "That you simply fulfill your every whim, your heart's desire, so tell me, Wally, what do you want to do with this newfound power?"
King paused for a moment.
"The gods of Olympus have abandoned humanity," King began, "The world is in desperate need of their power, and yet they waste it by hiding it away, a power that rightfully belongs to the world, well, if they refuse to fix this world I will."
Omar grinned enthusiastically.
"With the strength of the world's greatest monsters," King continued, "I will rip that power from their very corpses. If they refuse to use it for the good of mankind, I will, I will become this world's new master, this world's new god... it's King!"
"Yes, my child," the voice roared in victory, "Fulfill your destiny, rip the gods from this world and take your rightful place as its lord!"
King lifted his head toward the sky with new purpose, extending his wings and raising his arms above his head.
"Okay," Omar nodded, pulling the two of them out of the moment, "You two sound like you know what you're doing, so I will leave you to it."
The general turned to walk away.
"General Anzo," King called out, stopping him in his tracks, "This master of yours, are they a god?"
Omar paused before turning back toward King.
"Perhaps," Omar shrugged.
"What do they want?" King questioned.
Omar thought for a moment.
"Chaos," he settled on. He smiled almost as if he found something funny.
"And which Olympian wants this?" King asked.
Omar chuckled.
"The Olympians were not the first, last or only pantheon out there," He asked rhetorically, "No, no, it's a larger world than any of us can possibly imagine out there, Wally. Bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger than any deity out there that I've heard of. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting back in the States, and it's a long swim."
"You have yet to answer my question," King reminded him, "What are you?"
"Oh, I'm one of a kind," Omar smiled. His eyes were now an ugly dark yellow.
And with that same grin on his face, Omar Anzo stepped forward off the cliff as naturally as one could, diving into the sea below.
King peered down at the surface, expecting any moment for Omar to emerge to take a breath.
Instead, what he saw was a massive creature moving below the waves, gliding through them almost impossibly silently.
The lion was then suddenly pulled under, and the waves were still.
"It seems there are other forces out there, my lady," King remarked.
"Never mind him, child," the voice soothed, "You have a more pressing mission at hand."
"Yes, my lady," King nodded, "With the sense of smell of the Nemean Lion, I can place them on the winds. I believe they're in Athens."
"Then it is Athens," the voice agreed, "Where the Olympians shall fall."