Purged by Flames

Chapter Zero: Prologue

The Reign of Time Chronicles

Book One: Purged by Flames

Act One: Our Faults

Chapter Zero: Prologue

I run through Olympus, looking for the two Immortals that could save us all. And by us, I mean all living beings.

In was in ruins, that was what I noticed first. I knew for a fact that New York looked worse than Hiroshima, but I never expected Olympus of all places to look like this. Then again, Camp Half Blood was little more than a pile of Ooze now.

I fought back tears. I was one of two to survive. Only two to survive the apocalypse. I was the only Demigod to survive. The other survivor was Aunt Rachel the Oracle. When the wave reached Camp, she went all Oracle-of-Delphi on me and pulled me tight. I heard a boom. When I came out of her embrace, I knew the world had changed.

A small circle of life surrounded us. Grass and flowers grew like they used to. At least, that was the case in our circle. Outside was a different story. The world was scorched with heat. Dry earth covered the ground, not a patch of green or any color for as far as I can see. The Cabins were leveled. Everything was, really. Sure, the hills were still tall, the valleys still low, but all of Western-Civilization was in collapse.

Worse still were the mangled corpses of everyone littered on the ground as if they were litter to be picked up. Yet no one would. As I saw the faces, I knew the names. They were wrinkled and old, as if they were there for eons, not seconds.

Jedediah Adams, son of Mercury. Cassie Smith, daughter of Iris. Michael Amorcron, son of Hephaestus.

Friendly faces piled on the ground. On the rise, two bodies laid together hand in hand. I try to keep in my sobbing. Mom! Dad! No, don't go there. That'll just break your hope. My eyes close. Hope. I don't have it anymore. Stupid Hope. Terrible Hope. Idiotic, freaking horrible, no-good,-

My eyes flash open. Hope. Where did Hope lie? In the hearth. And it just so happened that the two people who might be able to actually help me are there right now. So I took the Camp van and drove to the one building that I knew would still be standing. At least, still standing now. In a week, probably not.

And so there I was, running towards the old throne room. It was still the throne room, yet if time went on, it would never be used again. As I walked through the gate, I saw them sitting by an empty hearth.

"Lord Hades, Lady Hestia, are you all right?" Hades looked himself over.

"I think I may be one of four who are," he replied, a sore grimace around his face.

"They have gone," simply stated Hestia.

"Who?" I ask, wondering who she had grown close to beside Uncle Nico.

"Everyone," Hades answered for her, "All of the Olympians, all of the demigods, all of the mortals and immortals besides you, me, Hestia, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare." A look of sorrow passes between them. I knew how it felt.

They're entire family was gone. No brothers or sisters, no nieces or nephews, no sons or daughters and no one else

besides them.

"I was told to come here and meet you in case... In case..." My throat felt dry.

"In case this happened?" He swept his hand around the room.

"Yes sir," I responded. "But why? My parents never explained it besides that you were the two on Olympus to survive. Why are you two the strongest? And how can we fix all of this?"

"Well," Hestia remarked, "I do not understand it fully. I do not believe my brother does either. However, I will try my best to explain."

"We are the two strongest because we, in all actuality, were the first borns of our types, the gods. That must have given us more strength or a boost or something. I'm sure your mother would've had a PowerPoint with all that on it. We would rather not rule everyone. You may not hear of that because Hades is disrespected and I am... Well, I am forgotten."

"As for your second question, why us? Your parents knew us. They were some of the few who knew our power and our grief. Grief for what humanity and the gods had done. They knew that we would survive this and that we would try to help the human race survive. But alas, we cannot. But they also knew of a talent that can be used once a milenia, a power so dangerous that it was passed on through the people who would try to do good and only good. This, we inherited from our mother Rhea, who was blessed by Chronos, who had faded long ago. Your parents knew that the best chance we have of getting the world back on track was by using our gift." Here Hades took over.

"As for your how, we shall deal with a concept that has been in the back of Human Consciousness since Zeus-knows when. You have seen it in your Police Boxes, in your Cars, in your Time-Turners, and even in your own Spaceships! Yes, I am talking about time-travel. We can send someone back in time to stop terrible things from happening. The first time we ever used it was the last. You see, this can rewrite history. Back in ancient times, Athena and Poseidon were lovers and they both took their vows so that they could not have any half-blood children. Immediately there were problems. About 2000 years after the wedding, they started fight. After one particularly nasty brawl, it left Athena fading and Poseidon would be out for a hundred years. So Zeus called an emergency meeting. There we offered our powers for use. This would prevent any further deaths or injuries between the two. Aphrodite volunteered to go because she said that she needed to watch a ship sink or something like that. We assumed she would only break up a relationship between them, not anything else. We were wrong."

"Aphrodite said it would be a good idea to bring Medusa into Athena's temple to make Athena jealous. That couldn't have gone more terrible. Then she has the 'genius' idea to get them to compete for the land we now call Athens. She thought that the city would adopt both of them as their patrons and that would rekindle their relationship. She didn't realize that a city can only adopt one god as it' patron. What she caused was more of a catastrophe. Because of that, a little dispute called 'The Trojan War' was started. When Aphrodite returned, she was in tears. She was yelling that she had ruined her own OTP and that she was the cause of so much hate. It was tough to get used to them hating each others guts. Zeus banned time travelling for it had caused too much pain."

"But now, we must hope this will work." remarked Hestia. This time, we'll be sending you in hopes that you don't mess it up too much.

The two Gods put their hands together and concentrated. A circle of Flames and Night appeared in the hearth, like a doorway. It radiated power like no other than I had ever faced. It was like looking at a pond, as if one touch and it would all ripple away.

As I approached it and almost walked into it, I heard a strained voice from Hades say some words that I couldn't quite comprehend.

"Oh, and you'll be going back into you parents time to fight off a force that time traveled too."

I stood there, stunned, as Hestia pushed me through the hearth.

And that is the time that I, Charlie Jackson, was pushed through a portal, possibly leading to my doom, by my favorite relative.