The sun streamed through the window, illuminating the sleeping Hermes.
After a few seconds, his eyelids fluttered.
"Huh,"
With a groan, Hermes groggily woke up.
"Welcome back among us, sir," Alida said with a smile as she waved at the waking Hermes
"Hum," With a groan, Hermes sat back up
"Did I sleep again?" he asked, stifling a yawn
"Yes, you know we do it every time, or it could be painful,"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. So, have you thought about my proposition? You have already seen me naked, a meal will not be much for you," he said with a roguish smile
"It will be my pleasure, although half the goddesses here already saw you naked, but don't worry, I tried my best to protect your purity."
Creak
The door of the next room opened, letting the goddess Maia enter.
For a second, her steps were a little unsteady, but she quickly steadied herself. She cast a wary glance at the goddess beside her son.
"As you can see, my lady, your son's examination went very well; he is perfectly sane, all his injuries have healed. He is maybe in even better health than before his unfortunate injury." Alida said with a smile as she bowed toward Maia
"I ... see," Maia had a complicated glance as she looked at the smiling goddess standing at her son's side. She wanted to scream, curse her, warn Hermes that she was dangerous, a traitor, but...
She knew better...
"I am so glad to hear that. Come, let me see you," she said, walking to him before thoroughly examining her son.
"Everything is good, I feel like I know," Hermes said, looking at the worried expression on his mother's face.
Her expression strained hearing that from him, s she knew very well that everything was in fact not well, but she just took him in her arms.
After a few seconds, they left the room with Alida and her sisters waving them goodbye with radiant smiles on their faces.
Anyone seeing so much beauty directed toward them will feel blessed, but to Maia, those smiles looked like demons' sneers.
'I need to find a way to warn them."
...
Later
Zeus' throne room
"So how are you, son!?" zeus seated on his throne, asked as he saw his son walking toward him
"I am well father. I have fully recover and I am ready to serve you once more, my king," Hermes said solemnly as he kneeled on one knee in front of his father.
"Excellent, excellent, I knew I could count on you... and... how is your little brother?" he asked tentatively.
Taking a deep breath of sadness, he said, "He is as well as can be, stable like they already informed you, and... we already know one of the ways to save him."
Indeed, everyone in the room knew that to save the little prince, a price needed to be paid, someone of his blood needed to share his essence with him.
"Unfortunately, we can't do that now; we are not in a position to make this kind of sacrifice. Maeron is waiting for the slightest mistake to attack." Athena, always the voice of reason, said from her place beside her father, "I even suspect that it might have been the reason why he didn't outright kill you both."
At Athena's words, everyone frowned
"Do you think that they might have betrayed us?" Zeus asked, his eyes turned fierce
"It is possible, with how father treated them, it is a possibility," Artemis said refearing to the torture that they had been subjected to.
"If I had been treated like that, I would be filled with resentment."
"Well, I for once disagree," Apollo said,
As the eyes of everyone turned to him, he elaborated, "You feel that way because you are strong and have the power and the standing to feel resentment. Most people would never dare to feel an ounce of resentment toward the us, let alone their father."
They nodded at that after all they had all lived for a long time, all of them had their share of darkness and injustice that they inflicted toward other, and until now very few had dared to even complain about it.
"Yes, plus they have been under observation by father himself ever since Hermes was injured, then...." his eyes turned toward Maia, standing beside Zeus," by Lady Maia,"
"Right..." Maia nodded, but her mind worked quickly.
It was the perfect opportunity to put scrutiny on them, so she quickly added
"I wasn't really focusing on observing them, just making sure that my son was recovering well." This is a possibility that we must keep in mind, they are always the possibility that at least one of them was maybe used. Have the screening of the gods been completed?"
"Not yet, but it will be soon. We were distracted by the attacks that the titans launched... again," Zeus said before turning to a pillar not far away.
"Nikos!"
"Yes, my lord," an unassuming god appeared kneeling there.
"Tonight, you will start..."
"Father!!" Hermes interrupted the discussion, "Why are you still kneeling there, son?" Zeus asked, a little confused at his son's behavior
"I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for what you did, to save me..." A smile of relief appeared on Zeus' face, hearing that, he was still afraid that his son was harboring resentment toward him, but seeing and hearing that relieved him.
"... but I would also like to ask you to be more lenient in your dealings with the healers, they not only save me, for which I am grateful, but they are also an important part of the survival of Olympus. Due to my prolonge stayed there i saw that every day multiple gods come and go out from there, we can't completely alienate them, of course, we need to be sure that they are loyal to Olympus."
"..."
Silence filled the room hearing that, and they all knew that to be true; their gaze turned toward Zeus. They had already once said something similar, but at that time, he was so filled with anger and grief that he didn't listen to anyone.
"You are wise, my son. Stand up now. And... you are right! We need their expertise to win this war. In every war, healers are important," He said. Zeus was not a fool, he was just prond to letting his emotion run wild.
"You heard my son Nikos, when you visit their memories tonight, try to be gentle and make sure that they have no recollection of it."
"Of course, my king," Nikos said before fading away like a long-forgotten memory.
Zeus' eyes turned back to his son Hermes, now standing,
"Come closer, take your seat."
At once did a table materialized, and slowly everyone sat down.
It wasn't the seats of the Olympians as the mortals see it; it was a table where every member of Zeus' faction had their place.
"We need you, son," Zeus said seriously, his eyes fixed on Hermes
"AS you already know, we are completely cut off the world, force to keep the spacial barrier active or that blasted Maeron could use it to teleport monsters or Titans directly in Olympus...."
Hiss
Someone took a sharp breath, remembering an instance where it happened
"And the realm below is overwhelmed by monsters,"
"Is it really that bad?" He asked
"It is worse than before," Artemis, goddess of hunt, said, furrowing her sharp brow, "The speed of reproduction of those creatures is terrifying. I suspect that in tartarus the conditions of survival were so harsh that only a handful survived. The environment here must feel like paradise; as a result, we are overwhelmed."
"In these conditions, we are trapped, unable to communicate with the other god realm."
"We don't know the situation of the Underworld, the garden of Demeter, and even of most of our city, except for those that we manage to save. Of course, we are always pushing back the horde, and we manage to recover a few great cities and towns, but..."
"But we need you, son," Zeus finally said after everyone said their piece
"You are the only one that is fast enough, except me, to scout further away without being caught. and maybe even recover information on the situation of my brothers and sisters. I could go, but it will leave a gap for Maeron to exploit."
His gaze turned toward a city far away, but close enough that he could see it when he focused enough.
Argos.
He saw the hole that he had created with his attack on the city still there, like a scar that had yet to heal or a reminder.
Not far away, on a throne, a figure seated there looked up after sensing the probe; it was MAeron, a wicked smile appearing on his face.
The two, father and son, seem to lock eyes, watching each other with a gaze full of hatred and resentment.