Chapter 2

Athena, the goddess of wisdom, love, and war, was chosen to act by her father as the protector of humanity and Earth for reasons not even she could have understood, in the deepest parts of her mind, Saori still dreams of her last encounter with him within the great lightning hall of mount Olympus.

At that time, the great twelve were all gathered to hear his words, they had been expecting the assignment of a domain or a role within the new structured universe after the war against their ancestors.

Everything went exactly as they believe it would, except the end when Athena was assigned as goddess protector of Earth and humanity, and Zeus announced he would be leaving to the end of the firmament.

"Why!? What could prompt you to leave the domains you conquered? What aren't you telling us, Zeus?" Poseidon, a man with a long beard that reached his chest, blue eyes, and hair that exuded an aura and power similar to that of the water, spoke with an enraged face. He could have accepted everything if Zeus had remained there as their god-king, but instead, he makes decisions and hopes to be obeyed in his absence?

Underneath the golden armor with hawk wings, a mask that covered his face, and lightning patterns across its surface. Zeus had his eyes shut. "Unfortunately, this is a matter that affects all of us, and I'll need to deal with it personally, my actions are ones of compassion to you all, my brothers, sisters, and children, it's a necessary sacrifice."

Dressed in dark violet armor, a beautiful man whose appearance was enough even to catch Aphrodite's attention laughed. "It has been almost a thousand years since the war ended and our discussions over our goals and domains started, you are among the most wicked of the gods Zeus, and you still expect us to believe in your words? How can we be sure that you aren't after means to increase your power even further so that you can treat us all like your slave? Perhaps, you might even be after grandfather Uranus primordial essence wherever it may be, especially since he can't do anything about someone stealing it now that his divine soul was shattered to dust."

The tension increased within the gathering room, every god, be it Aphrodite, Apollo, Hermes, Hephaestus, Hera, Demeter, Artemis, Ares, and even Athena was starting to worry about what might be about to happen, as the Twelve strongest Olympians, they all knew that discord among then could lead to the end of reality as they knew it, after all, they couldn't be killed without using the collective power of every single one of the others and this could end up strengthening their old enemy, an example of such was how even after having his body obliterated into the oblivion, Cronos essence lived on, it continued to feed on chaos even though he was imprisoned in the deepest parts of Tartarus.

Zeus was aware of what his words meant, but he had no choice in this regard, all he could hope was that one of them would side with him, thus giving the opening needed to prevent a war among all of the Olympians.

"I believe father." Small words that bore little significance in other contexts now weighted like heavens itself after Athena stepped forward and openly sided with Zeus.

Zeus smiled behind the mask, while Hades and Poseidon frowned. Some of the other 12 Great Olympians knew very well what went through their minds, as the second generation, their opinions usually don't weigh as much as that of the first.

"Great, just what we needed," Hades smirked. "The daughter protecting the father, how unexpected."

"You think your words will change anything, we want answers, Zeus! Otherwise we-"

"Will do as he says?"

Those words that came out of nowhere made everyone freeze, the surprised look on their faces only increased as a woman with long smooth hair materialized from thin air, her pink dress waved as she floated above the ground, the aura surrounding her had the same color of flames but not their destructive nature, instead, it was warm and filled with positiveness...

"Could it really be?" Aphrodite stood up from her seat and walked towards the woman who had just appeared, her armor seemingly disappearing as she walked naked for an instant before a very decorated dress with a long cleavage that emphasized her chest covered her whole body.

"After hearing my words, I believe you will agree with his decision, as for what you'll do next, I won't interfere..."

...

His lungs seemed like they were about to burst as he greeted his teeth in pain, the blood that fell from his mouth every day had already painted the soil underneath his feet in complete red, after so much suffering and pain in the same place, Ryuuji could confidently say that he had made a very physical connection to this lightning hell.

Every time the lightning hit the metal pole that stood straight on top of one of the hills nearby, part of the discharge was redirected to the ground and the remaining energy was sent through metal wires to the bracelets that Ryuuji was forced to wear.

It had been almost 6 years since he was sent away by Mitsumasa Kido on a mission, the deadline was approaching, and if he failed, either death or disappointment awaited him.

"Ryuuji, I've already told you to clean your mind when training." A man wearing robes that covered him from head to toe slowly approached. "You won't be able to conquer that thing's trust if you don't show the determination and courage to embrace the lightning as part of you instead of an enemy you have to resist."

Ryuuji spat the blood that accumulated in his mouth towards the ground, he looked back at the man with narrowed blood-shot eyes. "Seriously? Look at me! Look at those bruises, the black scars covering 70% of my body aren't just something I can wash off in a bath!"

He stood up and pointed to his naked chest, the gruesome scars that covered his body was the result of years of receiving so much electricity in his veins.

"You're still alive after so much time, that can only mean you aren't far from reaching your goal." The man closed his eyes and sat down.

"What are you doing?" Ryuuji asked with an enraged voice.

"Ryuuji, light, and darkness are all sides of the same coin just like the lightning you treat like a force of destruction and death is also a tool of life." The man lifted his arm that was covered in bandages and pointed towards the sky. "Billions of years ago, before the titans even came to be, the first beings that carried life within them were born thanks to the lightning that ignited a path for them.

"Look within you, find your cosmos, and let all that build up energy within it explode in a discharge of energy, much like a big bang." As soon as he said that, a lightning bolt fell from the sky and hit his finger before another one was shot through his finger towards the sky, but this one carried so much strength within it that it somehow generated air currents that pulled away the clouds for an instant before they gathered again.

No matter how many times he saw this display of strength coming from his master, he always trembled with fear. The ability to generate lightning from your cosmos instead of simply burning it was something that not many were ever capable of doing, especially because of how lightning worked in a vacuum and in outer space.

"Master, I can't do this!" Ryuuji fell on his knees and hit the ground with a punch filled with rage, the power of his cosmos bursting through his punch creating a hole 40 cm deep.

"Ryuuji, of the 7 kids that were sent here I knew from the beginning that you were the only one who would survive. Maracaibo lake is not a place for the common humans, this is a prison created by the gods to stop a being of justice and destruction from ever setting foot on the world again."

"What!?" Startled by this revelation Ryuuji barely had time to react when his master punched him with a speed that went above what his eyes were capable of seeing.

"Ryuuji, today is your last day of training, you either succeed and prove that it's finally time for the punisher of sins and bearer of heavens' will to return or you die like the others! I'm sorry for doing this, but my time has come to an end and I won't be able to return to this place for a very long time..." The man lowered his head in shame.

"Master..." Those were the last words Ryuuji managed to say before he flew away through the sky.

Tears fell from Ryuuji's eyes, he hated everything that happened with him, thoughts of vengeance against Kido mostly dominated his mind as the memories of the past 6 years resurfaced on his mind, he knew better than to blame his master for his actions, after all, he was a true hero.

And even though after so much time he was still left in the dark regarding his master identity, there was no man on Earth he respected more than him.

Memories of his master played on his mind as he quickly approached the lake. He remembered one by one those memories. When he arrived with the others, they had to pierce a forest without a guide or supplies for an entire month, in the end, they barely managed to arrive at Maracaibo lake's residence, they were all sick for various reasons, and the man took care of then for an entire week without even asking anything in return.

The trials of the lightning mountain which they were forced to undergo every week, the combat training, he did his best to train all of the kids with the same level of attention, helped them heal their injuries, and protected them from the wild animals when they were resting...

Even then, as Ryuuji had the opportunity to see for himself, his master wandered alone the forest to protect the innocent that wandered too close and were targeted by the lightning bolts from the lake...

Just as he thought about that, his body hit the surface of the lake, the impact was such that his entire body went limp while the splash of water rose almost 4 meters high.

Without strength to move, his body slowly sink within the lake, the lightning coming from the dark clouds above were like soldiers that detected an intruder, they all gathered and started to strike the place where he fell, every time a lightning bolt hit the water Ryuuji's body contorted with pain and his senses were slowly diluted away due to the lack of oxygen and the extreme pain caused by the lightning strikes.

'I... don't... want... to... die...' Ryuuji anxiously tried to move but he couldn't control his body anymore, the pain didn't let him do it. Slowly, the water became dark, he had lost his vision.

He started to lose awareness of his surroundings as one by one, his senses disappeared, the first one was the touch sense, then sight, hearing, smell, and taste. There was only darkness as far as he could tell, for Ryuuji this was the closes thing to death that he had ever felt.

A wave of sadness struck him, slowly he was starting to give up as tears escaped his eyes and merged with the lake.

...

"Ryuuji, I'm sending you together with a few kids to a forest in Venezuela."

"What!? Why!?" Ryuuji couldn't believe his ears as he heard what the old man said. Mitsumasa Kido wasn't someone who joked around, so why!? It doesn't make any sense!

"Ryuuji, I'm sending every single one of you orphans to retrieve something for me, they are relics of the mythological era, armors wore by warriors who fought for love and justice. However, the dangers of this mission are beyond anything most would be able to survive if you accept to leave in order to fetch one of those armors, I can promise one thing for you, and you can choose anything you want."

"Anything!?" Ryuuji gasped hearing his words. Seeing how Kido was being serious he instantly thought of something he had lost many years ago.

They looked at each other but remained silent for a moment, Ryuuji sat down on the couch behind him, and sucked a mouthful of air, to make a decision is part of life, you have to decide if you'll take the right or the left path. Either way, he had plenty of reasons to refuse, and only one to accept, and even then they didn't have the same weight when compared on a balance scale.

The question then was whether or not it was worth it to risk so much for just one thing.

"I want answers..."

"To which questions?" Kido asked.

"I want to know what happened to her, to my mother."

"Very well."

...

Ryuuji's master was sitting on the edge of the lake, he watched and waited, hoping to know if he finally succeeded in his mission.

It was lonely and quiet, the thunders were seemingly inexistent while he watched, all the light reflected in the lake reminded him of a sea of stars, and with each lightning bolt that struck the water, its center became brighter. Then, an explosion happened.

On the edge at the other side of the lake, Ryūji took a deep breath and tried his best not to fall. On his back, there was a shiny blue box with words carved in Greek and even Japanese. The surface of the box had a drawing in high relief of a triangle made of thunderbolts that was erected by three figures.

Two women wearing peplos and himation, an ancient combination of tunic and cloak, the kind that the Greeks used in the past, held the corners of the base. At the top, it was a man in a purple kimono and covering his face with a mask that resembled a demon who held the apex of the triangle.

He sat down on the water, and laughed as he touched the thing, he did it, he managed to retrieve the Pandora Box somehow, what he didn't know though was why it was blue, from what his master taught him about the saints of Athena, there shouldn't be a box with this appearance, they were either meant to be silver or golden, while the armors themselves were divided into bronze, silver, and gold, based on their strength.