The Forest Gods' Reign [Published]

Chapter 31: Conclusions

By, Alec

Athena asked me to write down what happened next, so I did. Here it is:

She handed her worn, leather journal back to me, hands shaking violently. That defeated look in her pretty gray eyes...it killed me. Another tear leaked out of my eye because I really didn't want her (or any of the others) to die, and I knew she didn't want to either. The gods, my friends, were all I ever wanted and all I ever needed. How was I supposed to go on living without them?

"D-don't cry, Alec," Athena stuttered in Greek, choking on her own words. But she started to cry with me again, and so I did my best to stop myself, seeing that it was upsetting her.

Next, I set the journal down on the ground and wiped my eyes with my bloody hands. "But I love you. You can't leave now, babe. I only got to kiss you once," I said in a shaky but lighter voice, hoping to cheer her up.

Athena just gave me a ghost of a smile in return, her skin losing that amazing golden tone and becoming slightly gray in color right before my eyes. The other gods were suffering the same symptoms, and their skin appeared to sag slightly, their faces sunken in. They were still the inexplicably gorgeous people everyone pictures in their heads when thinking of Greek gods, but now they looked tired and defeated, lacking the energy to live on.

Sniffling, I quickly took a glance around the tent, but it was just in time to see a flash of light from a few cots over, leaving a small pile of dust where the handsome Hermes had been lying not a moment earlier. Six gods left, I thought hopelessly.

My attention was brought back to Athena when she suddenly gasped in pain, but her eyes were still locked on Hermes's cot, as if she were searching for something. However, she obviously didn't see whatever she was looking for, because her eyes only darted back and forth across the tent, and her breathing quickened. Was that fear, sadness, pity, or pain in her voice? I couldn't tell. Admittedly, I had never seen her truly afraid, but there was something different about her in this moment. She only looked back at me, shaking her head.

It was all four, I decided. And it meant bad news, bad news that must have had something to do with me.

Worrying even more than before, I held onto her hands firmly to try to stop her from quaking, but it wasn't really helping much. "Breathe," I commanded in a low voice, carefully undoing her signature side ponytail and running my fingers through her long, wavy, dark hair.

Next, I lifted Athena's head up, so she might be able to breathe a bit easier, and slipped one arm around her slim waist, pulling her closer to me. Our wet, bronze breastplates were the only tangible things separating us, but I could still feel her rising body heat, small breasts and the slight curve in her sides, all highlighted by her armor. She had never let me hold her at all before, and I knew that even if she had survived the war, she probably never would have let me hold her so intimately again. She preferred punches to hugs, indifference to love, and I was okay with that. In fact, I was usually the same way, but for some reason I wanted her more than anything.

Savoring the once-in-a-lifetime moment, I breathed in the pungent scents of sweat, blood and pine trees. She smelled like home. I wanted to stay there forever.

"See you on the other side, everyone," Poseidon's voice suddenly called out from behind me, interrupting my thoughts, and I whirled around in my seat, meeting his sea green eyes only a second before I was blinded by another flash of white light.

"No," I croaked helplessly, knowing that his death would hurt the remaining gods even worse because he was one of the most powerful and one of the first in this generation.