The Fate Chronicles

Ch1 - The Dilemma

The citizens of Olympus cast wary glances at the majestic palace that stood on top of the mountain as they went around attending to their daily chores. It was three weeks after the Giant War and they had just gotten used to the emergency lockdown being lifted. The normally beautiful town had an aura of unhappiness and fear. Fear, not of titans or giants or anyone else, but that of the Olympians taking out the anger and frustration on each other and by extension, their subjects. But so far none of that had happened and that's what the people feared They had expected the usual bickering and fighting and general chaos that followed two wars being fought within one year, not that such a thing had ever happened before. However, the Council had been silent for so long that some questioned whether the gods were still in shock or recovering from the after-effects of being torn between their Greek and Roman persona.

Normally, the sky above the palace, particularly the throne room, would be covered in clouds with random thundering and lightning depending on the gods' moods. Now it was peaceful. Too peaceful. There would be occasional flashing of lights or the faint blue glow of the magical boundary of the palace indicating the gods coming and going, but apart from that there was an eerie silence.

Inside the throne room, sat the gods, each lost in their thoughts or work. For the past two days, fourteen gods had sat and watched over their children, both Greeks and Romans. Some of the Romans had stayed behind at Camp Half-Blood to help with the aftermath of the war, from healing the wounded to clearing up the camp of the debris of the fallen buildings. The gods had witnessed the skeptical friendship evolving between both camps, the unavoidable fights that broke out due to tensions running high, and the effects of PTSD on the children. That, they all agreed, was the worst thing they had ever seen and that was what had rendered them speechless. Now as the gods sat in silence with the one-way IMs opened to both the camps running in the background, they thought about their respective children.

Apollo looked up from his iPad, which was showing him his children, as Hestia appeared next to the hearth. She had gone to check up on both camps since she would usually alternate between Olympus and the camps' hearths. A few moments later Hades appeared in his godly form before settling on his throne, next to Poseidon.

"The doors are finally stable and Thanatos has regained control of them. So we won't have any more problems from that side."

"The remaining giants roaming around?" Artemis asked her uncle.

"They are back in Tartarus," Hades replied, flinching as he remembered getting a glimpse of Nico when the boy had been dragged out of the pit.

Taking a ragged breath in, Poseidon looked up from the report he was reading on one of his provinces, and asked the Council, "Are we going to take a decision?"

Earlier in the day, the gods had been deciding whether they should break their silence and speak to their children or not. Most of the Council had agreed that they should, but Zeus and Hera did not want to break the ancient rules. Somehow they had stopped their arguments before they could escalate into a full-out fight, but as soon as the topic was spoken of, the tension snapped back into place.

"I, for one want to check in with my children. They deserve that much at the least." Hermes spoke up.

"Me too. My children are barely able to heal themselves, let alone all of your children. If I could just go there, all of them could be healed in a matter of hours." Apollo exclaimed.

"No. I said it before and I will say it now. We cannot break the rules. They are in place for a reason." Zeus snapped. "Plus Apollo, you do not get a vote. It was your prophecy that caused us these problems..."

"Father! This was anyway going to happen. You cannot simply blame Apollo." Athena said.

"Exactly. He does not control the future. He only sees it." Artemis continued. They had been on this topic for almost months now.