EBC: Olympus is calling

It had almost been a year since the "war" ....... almost a year had passed since the camp of Fire got attacked.................almost a year went by since he last saw......felt......touched.......loved.......his beautiful mate. The mother of his cubs.......the keeper of his heart.....the guardian of the family.........Acacia.

Ever since that day Zeus was not the same. He was always there for his children, of course, that would never change, but even they noticed. It's like something deep within him just.....died that day. Almost as if Acacia left this earth with Zeus' very essence of life, nothing was the same.

He retired his position as a Gladiator after his failure to protect the empire. Many have told him over and over that it was not his fault; some blamed Andromeda for the losses, other placed the guilt on the Hunters, but Zeus always carried the burden of being the one in charge that day.....and along with that....the consequences of his actions.

He spent most of his time in the healers den. At first it was due to his wounds and broken limbs that caused his early retirement, but later on it seemed that he could not survive outside of it. The healers could not tell what was wrong with him, his wounds were healed, leaving a trail of scars on his body; his limbs worked, with some difficulty, but they worked. In their eyes he seemed fine, but it was clear that something was wrong with him, yet it wouldn't be until later when they realized that there was one wound that poisoned his body. The loss of his mate took the strongest toll on the father, his heart, it never healed, and the wound left in it? it never closed, it got infected with time, and eventually, it began to eat him from within.

He began to deteriorate. Each month that passed he seemed less and less alive. He could not sleep, he could not eat. His pelt did not shine like gold as it once use to. His strong legs that could take him in a journey far into the east and back, looked like twigs. His face looked lifeless.....pale......and eventually, not even words made it out of his dry mouth. 

The only moment he would look remotely okay was when his kids would come to visit. His blue eyes seemed to shine once again, even if it was just for a brief moment. Seeing Hercules and Athena felt like a blessing to him, oh to see them grow.........to see them smile, heh, to see them fight....gods, it felt like the stars above were blessing him. His heart ached with great force for Aphrodite's absence, oh what he wouldn't do to have his little girl back with him again....to have her strong little warrior stand tall by his side like she once did. This made Zeus appreciate and be forever grateful to see his remaining kids, more than ever, because the universe could've just made them leave along with Aphrodite.

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A dark veil took over the once bright sky, night fell from it and silenced the world. The deep darkness was all too familiar to the cheetah, he has danced with the night before in his journeys, he knows it like the ballad of the beat of his heart. This night in particular seemed to call at him more than ever, to call him with an all too familiar voice.

Against all odds, he stood up. His shaky and skinny limbs managed to lift the weight of his body. His tail hanged lifeless from the rear of the feline, his breathing was slow and his pelt almost seemed dark, yet his eyes shined like the stars themselves. Slowly and as silently as humanly possible , he walked out of the healers den, out into the cold. He looked up at the sky, it almost seemed to be painted with a thousand suns working as stars, it was a beautiful as he remembered it to be.

A voice called out to him once more, a voice from deep within the darkness of the forest. He obliged to the night's wish and followed the sweet melody that plaid just for him. If there were any gladiators out at this hour he would not blame them to confuse the cheetah with a ghost, and if they were calling him, Zeus was deaf.

He carried on with his slow walk into the forest, he would look up at the trees as they seemed to grow taller and taller withing seconds. The cold wind rustled the leaves from above, making some of them fall from the heights and gracefully land on the ground. Is that what everyone here was? Just a leaf that fell from the sky above and landed gracefully here on the mud and ground? Fallen from the Heavens or Olympus themselves, to fulfill the duty that these castles of divinity have bestowed upon them? Funny how it works, isn't it?

Zeus' body began to give up, without proper food or water his body was never meant to last a walk for too long, and so, he collapsed. A gentle breeze of the night comforted him, almost reassuring him that everything was alright. The voice spoke again, she told him to look ahead. Zeus opened his weary eyes and glanced ahead, a path.......a path that seemed oddly clean. The trees gave way to it, stepping to the side to allow this road of grass to pass through, almost as if it were royalty. Bushes, rocks, small and big creatures, none of them dared to stand on it's path, yet Zeus laid in the middle of it.

From the depth of the dark sky, light began to grow and the night gave in. It looked almost as if it originated from the end of the path itself. It was always there, in the end that is how a night sky works, but this one in particular seemed more bright and more mesmerizing. Zeus looked up as more stars began to appear, his heart beat seemed to grow stronger as well. The strong and constant beating of his heart seemed to grow louder and forceful, almost threatening to brake open Zeus' chest. His breathing began to accelerate, his ears folded back as his blue eyes nailed themselves on the stars above.

A voice from within called out to him again, but this time it was loud and clear, and the melodious voice was one he thought he would never hear again. His eyes began to tear up, tears streaming down his checks, they seemed to clean the fur on their way down, only the pelt from the small trail shined bright like gold as the voice said "it's okay.......".

His front paws struggled to get at least the upper part of his body off the ground, so he can stare up to the sky and see nothing more but the stars. With breath became fog, like it does when it's winter, yet he was not cold. With each exhale this fog or mist began to grow in size. It was not like your normal mist of breath, it was whiter and brighter. And soon enough, from the tip of his nose, the white mist began to fly up to the sky, leaving a trail of white as it did. This trail began to emerge from his chest, his paws, his arms, his feet, everywhere.

His breathing began to slow down along his heart beat "it's okay..." echoed the voice of the darkness "......love, you can let go....." his tears dried up, his limbs felt numb, everything  began to darkened around him "I beat you to it......" his breathing kept on slowing down, harmoniously so with his heart beat ".....but welcome back to Olympus" his vision blurred "Oh, Zeus...." everything went dark......


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NOPE


BYE


SORRY


listening to this in repeat did not help listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=3J…


LOVE YOU ZEUS, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MY SWEET SUMMER CHILD AND YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN



Zeus and art (c)


+ 10 EP to Athena