éskhaton 1/2

Words 16,621

I'm only posting this entire arc because I don't like it.

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Kara Zor-El: The Last Daughter of Krypton

Kara's eyes remained fixed where the stranger had been just a moment before. She blinked and then rubbed her eyes dry of tears, but there was no sign of him. She rose shakily to her feet.

"Hello?" she called. Her question echoed through the forest and disappeared among the waves lapping at the cliffs below. She could hear for a mile in any direction, and see clear as day just as far, and yet, she couldn't find anything to even hint that there had been someone standing amidst the trees.

Maybe she was hallucinating, yeah that made sense, that's why Kal let her be taken by an Amazonian in spandex because she was a danger to herself. It was safer that she was here for everyone.

She returned to Themiscyra, dropping from the clouds to land beside a cluster of old marble buildings, without an Amazon in sight. She closed her eyes, but it wasn't long until she heard the soft crunch of grass approach. Peering through a half-open eyelid, she spared a small smile for the blonde Amazonian dressed in a blue chiton that approached.

"Hi Lyla," Kara said softly not making a move to sit up.

The Amazonian, perhaps Kara's only friend on the whole island, or at least the one that didn't leer at her like a challenge to be beaten, or a walking liability, laid down beside her.

"Something on your mind?" Lyla asked in her almost musically gentle tone.

"No," Kara answered. Even with her eyes shut, she could feel Lyla turn to look at her. Kara didn't know how, but Lyla almost seemed to have a sixth sense about her, knowing when someone was lying, and about things she couldn't have possibly known. The Amazons whispered that she was a Seer, blessed with sight and cursed with visions that she could not control.

"Are you sure?" That's what Kara liked about Lyla. Her questions actually sounded like questions, not thinly veiled commands as Diana preferred.

The Kryptonian nodded shakily, refusing to meet the Seer's eyes.

Lyla looked at her ponderously, examining Kara with eyes far too old and wise that seemed to pierce her flesh before she finally nodded. "Okay. If you ever want to talk, I'm here. Do you want to go to the beach, maybe?"

Kara grinned and almost dragged the other Amazon with her, a laugh leaving her lips, and pushing any thought of what happened on the cliffs far to the back of her mind.

But, when the Kryptonian fell into a restless sleep that night, the stranger was still there, gazing at her with sad golden eyes.

"Find me." He would say, and Kara was determined to do just that.

FRI, 30 DEC 2022, 04:25NEW COMMENT292 CHAT

The Kryptonian is looking for you.

You can see it each day when she ventures through Themiscyra in search of a prize whose location she has no idea of, invariably ending in disappointment when the sky turns dark and there's no sign of you.

It's difficult to provide her clues, the manipulation of dreams is a difficult skill to learn, and you can only appear for a heartbeat in the waking world before your energy is sapped.

You lay out the trail of breadcrumbs over the course of days, appearing beside her in shrines or just out of sight while she trains, slowly inching her ever towards the hill beneath which you're buried.

There's not a trace of guile or weariness in Kara Zor-El, and even when you disappear without being able to answer her questions, she still follows your unspoken urge to follow.

"Who are you?" she mostly asks, almost pleading. You think she craves these small clandestine meetings, as something that is only hers and unknown to anyone else, why else does she regard you with only curiosity and not suspicion?

"A prisoner, a friend," you respond because what use would be giving a name that holds no meaning to her?

The Chains of Hepheasteus are forged by old and ancient magics, designed to hold the greatest of immortals, anchoring you to your physical prison, and not allowing you to project your presence as far as it could be possible.

Its magics bind your tongue perhaps too because you can never get "beneath that hill over there a few hundred feet below ground" before you're yanked back into your body.

And yet still, Kara Zor-El follows, and freedom comes ever closer.

The Amazons watch you day and night, spears gripped tightly, ever watchful, ever prepared, but they can do little to stop Kronos's teachings, and the Crooked One's plans would not be denied on account of a smith's simple chains.

The threads of Time, even on Themiscyra flowed in their own natural course, and as you master their rhythm, so too may you escape the binds that hold you for just a bit longer with each day.

You walk amidst the Amazons again, willing your spirit to separate from your flesh and rise through the earth. You find Kara as usual on her lonesome, blonde locks matted with sweat, and dressed in armor that looked like it had been on the wrong end of an eighteen-wheeler. Two azure orbs flicker onto you nearly immediately.

"You're not going to disappear again, are you?" she asks, slowing to a stop in front of you. She doesn't expect an answer, used to the quiet that came with your arrival and your sudden disappearances.

But today, you are not a ghost, and mist coalesces into the shade of skin and flesh, and you can feel the grass beneath your feet, and the wind on your face, and the sun on your skin...and so many other things you'd once taken for granted.

"I hope not, this is the first time I've gotten to walk in months."

She blinks in surprise, before her rosy lips part into a small but genuine smile. "You're real," her voice rich with relief. "you have no idea how long I thought I'd been going crazy for, seeing ghosts in my dreams."

You nod in agreement. "You're definitely not crazy, the rest of this island that I can't say with certainty."

"I've been searching for you, but," she gestures towards the sprawling landscape. "I just don't know where to look," she says sheepishly. "And I still don't know who you are."

You scratch the back of your head. "I'm Really sorry about that, I'd have given a proper introdcution the first time we met, but it's pretty hard to get out of my current accomodations for long enough to have a conversation. Kind of understand my family a bit now, pretty awful thought." You mutter the last part and offer your hand. "My name is Cadmus."

Maybe it's because you're a projection but the grip she has on your hand is almost absurdly strong. "Kara," she replies, staring at you intently, like you're a puzzle missing a few pieces.

"I'm guessing you have a few questions for me."

"Yeah, a few, starting with how you're here. There aren't any Men on Themiscyra."

"Believe me, Kara, I wouldn't be here if it were my choice. I'm just another prisoner, like you."

She crosses her arm almost defensively and looks away.

"Did you also cause a few million dollars in property damage, and torch a national monument?" she asks bitterly.

You bite back a laugh, you did a lot more damage than what just a few million could cover. "Something like that."

Her arms remain crossed, but she looks back at you. "Why come to me then for help? Why am I the only one who can see you?"

"Because you're the only person who can help me," you answer. "I'm trapped, Kara, and I can't get out without you. The Amazons won't help me, they're the reason I'm here in the first place."

Something lights up in her eyes, the need to be wanted, the desire for someone to rely on her, for a change. A clear weakness, and one that had to be exploited.

"Then where are you?" she leans forward until the distance between the two of you is nearly gone.

You shake your head sadly. "I can't tell you, there's old magic at work. But you're almost there, Kara, just a bit farther. You'll find me where the Amazons don't want you going." And you point towards the hill beneath which you're buried, peeking out in the distance, a great mound amidst a flat plain.

You see resolves settle in the Kryptonian, as she stands just a bit taller, a fierceness in her eyes that would brook no argument. "I'll find you, and we'll get off this island. Together." She vows, and you know in your bones that there's little force in the world that would be able to deny Kara Zor-El her quarry.

You smile even as the chains once more recall you to your prison. "I'm counting on it."

Deep below Themiscyra, stalwart Amazons watch over their prisoner with implacable diligence, ignorant of the finely spun web that slowly begins to enshroud them. Within the realm of the Dead, the Titan King laughs in with wicked glee.

The magics wrought by the Smith God were made to bind Hera herself, perfect in its form and undeniable in its purpose. But the Queen of Doves and the Heir of Kronos were two different things entirely. Celestial bronze varnishes and rusts within the darkness of your prison, punished by the fury of the Titan Lord.

All things bow to time and the work of gods is no exception, and in the silence of the cavern, the old runes flicker and die, consumed by the cold winds of Tartarus and the unrelenting passage of time that wears the etchings smooth.

The unbreakable bindings weaken and fray and once more do the golden threads heed your summons, even minutely.

An anchor has been removed from around your feet, and no longer were you tied to your prison, or forced to wander as a wraith through Themiscyra, speaking in mystery and pressed for time that you could not extend.

Diana disappears and returns to Themiscyra frequently, but never lingers for long before pressing business forces her back to the World of Man. Sometimes, she is gone for days and weeks at a time.

Wonder Woman posed the greatest challenge to your escape, even with all you learned from your father, you have no wish to test who is the better between the two of you when there is also Hippolyta and an island of Amazons that would intervene against you.

Your revenge against her could wait, your freedom is a far more pressing matter.

And the instrument of your liberation comes ever closer, crossing through forest and lakes and the width of the island toward the great hill beneath which you're imprisoned. No longer encumbered by the limitations upon your projection, you follow closely, but do not let her know of your newly reclaimed longevity.

To do so would only invite more pressing questions from the Kryptonian. Guileless she may be, but you know Kara Zor-El is no fool, there is a frightening intelligence behind those wide blue eyes of hers, one that you would not give the opportunity to even begin to question your motives.

Kara desired more than anything to be needed by someone else, and continuing to play the part of the weak and helpless prisoner would only embolden her in her quest.

It's much easier to crush the stab of guilt that wells up within you than it was at the beginning.

It is during one of your many brief visits to Kara's dreams that she speaks to you, just as your form fades to mist and begins its "forced" return to your body within Themiscyra's prison. A whisper that could have passed for the rustling of leaves in the wind to the less attentive.

You turn and find her, resting against the trunk of a tall sentinel tree, head turned upwards into the canopy.

"What was that?"

She jerks her head in your direction, surprise coloring her features. "You're-you're still here?" she asks hesitantly.

You will your form to permanence, changing from ghostly wraith to just less than flesh and blood.

"I can make some more time," you take a seat beside her. "What did you say?"

Her cheeks dust red in embarrassment. "I said I miss home."

You bite back the urge to ask about the Kryptonian homeworld. The friend Kara thinks she knows wouldn't know who she truly was.

"Everyone misses home," your voice takes on a consoling tone. "that's nothing to embarrassed about."

"Krypton," she answers wistfully. "It was destroyed decades ago. I lost my parents that same day."

"I know what it's like to lose a parent, wounds like that never completely heal. But they do fade, and all you're left with is good."

She sniffles, wiping at her nose. She turns to you, eyes rimmed red, and spares you a trembling smile. "Where's home for you?"

"A pizza parlor. It's gone now, though."

You hear her cough once, then twice, but when you turn you realize the sound is physically holding back the giggling that wracks her body.

Mirth shines brightly in her eyes. "A pizza parlor?" she asks through peals of tinkling laughter.

You nod sagely. "Have you ever had pizza?"

She shakes her head, and you feel a great surge of grief that one could have gone so far in life without having enjoyed the food of the gods.

"Once we get off this island, I'll take you."

She tilts her head cutely. Her locks flutter in the breeze, almost beckoning for you to soothe them back. "Is that a promise?"

"I've never lied to you, and I don't plan on starting now."

A pregnant silence fills the space between you, and you gaze quietly at the canopy above. "What would you do to have Krypton back?" you ask softly.

She does not look at you, but her voice is thick with emotion when she finally answers. "Anything."

Days follow your last encounter with Kara, as you relish in the return of your powers that the chains had denied you for so long. Now, capable of asserting yourself upon the world even trapped as you are, your meeting with Kara are far longer, acclimating her to your presence, and you learn quickly the Kryptonian is all too willing to fill the silences between you with all manner of questions.

On this particular day, she had returned to the cliffs where you had first met, feet idly kicking into empty air, as you sat beside her.

"Hey Cadmus, what's your favorite color?"

You turn to the Kryptonian, your face the picture of disbelief. The sun sets on the distant horizon, painting the seas in red and orange, and highlights her pretty complexion.

"If we're going to plan a prison break together, I need to know your deepest, darkest secrets to know if you're trustworthy."

"...and my favorite color is a statement of my character?"

she attempts to nod sagely, but can't hide the smile fighting itself onto her lips. "On Krypton, the color you associated yourself with was a mark of character."

Your mind immediately turns to Rose, her smirk, her long silver hair, and her bright blue eyes, the memory so strong it's almost as if she's right in front of you. But when you open your eyes, you only see the waves crashing against the shore, and the sun disappearing on the horizon.

"Blue, definitely blue."

A smatter of red dusts Kara's cheeks, and the smile she had fought to hide flourishes like a flower's petal in spring.

You realize that her eyes are the exact same hue as Rose's, as though someone had plucked out hers and put them in Kara's.

You shouldn't have said that, shouldn't have given false hope to a girl willing to cling to any lifeline no matter who was holding the other side of the rope.

"What about you, Kara?" you cough, turning away, hoping your guilt would fade if you don't have to look at its source.

She hums to herself, a soft melody that had no earthly creator. "It used to be red, but I think I'm starting to like gold."

Your father is far too pleased with the latest development in regards to your "tool" as he was wont to put it, chuckling himself too quietly. You realize this is the first time you've seen genuine amusement from Kronos and that the source is from successfully manipulating someone is not lost on you.

"The girl thinks herself in love," he muses. "this couldn't possibly have gone better for us."

You frown. "This couldn't possibly be worse."

"And why is that? If she needed a reason to help you escape then there is no greater impetus than this. Or are you willing to jeopardize the freedom over the brittle, capricious emotions of a mortal?"

"No," you reluctantly answer, jaw clenching tightly as you fight back an outburst. "but doesn't mean I have to like it."

He waves his hand, dismissing your concerns, but your father's eyes are narrowed.

"It is the human in you, a weakness that you seem to cherish for reasons even I can't comprehend. Go on then, child, and decide for yourself what's worth more, your freedom, or your misguided and misplaced morality."

Your and Kara's plans for escape continue through the weeks, as she tests how far she can travel before her minders are alerted, and you slowly continue to undermine the enchantments of the Smith's bindings.

And that is when a new problem besides your collapsing morality presents itself.

If discovering a burgeoning attraction was a breakthrough in terms of your plans, the revelation that Kara was developing attachments, and dare you say, friendships, even, amongst the Amazons, her supposed captors was an unrivaled calamity.

It was an unfortunate inevitability, however. You could not be everpresent beside her, but even a logical justification did little abate to your incensement.

The Kryptonian is kept under strict watch within the city itself, but even when she escapes out to the fields, there is another Amazon, Lyla, a woman from your observation whose entire being is composed of kind, small smiles, and longing looks through eyes far too old directed at Kara.

And for a girl who proclaimed her intent to escape from this island the moment the opportunity presents itself, Kara is far too comfortable in her presence for your liking, laughing freely alongside this Lyra as they walked through idyllic fields or as they swam together in the crystal waters of Themiscyra's lakes.

All the while, you languish within your prison, while the once-believed harbinger of your liberation was turned wayward by friendship. Greed rears its ugly covetous head, a hateful ice that gnaws at reason, a violent gnashing need to tear apart this distraction.

Allowing a situation like this to fester could...complicate your plans for escape. It would need to be nipped in the bud, or rather you would need to convince Kara to do it herself.

However trustworthy she may view you, you can tell she despises the idea of being commanded with a lethal virulence, and any attempt to direct her towards a decision would be severely counterproductive.

You hate how clinical you sound, treating this as if it's a game of numbers and you're just taking whatever decisions to pile up your points the highest like you're some mindless computer.

It reminds you too much of how you have been treated through life, like a pawn on a chessboard, Selina, Bruce, hell even Slade for all you know.

And now here you are doing the same thing.

You can at least promise yourself that you wouldn't leave her out to dry once this is over, you would make good on the promises you made to Kara because that would be the only thing that separates you from the people you refused to be like.

You taste bitter ash on your tongue, but the sweet promise of freedom assuages your guilt, for now.

"How has it been living with the Amazons?" you broach the subject far from the city proper and away from any possible ears.

Kara hums thoughtfully. "It hasn't been as terrible as I thought it would be."

"Don't tell me you're starting to like prison," you laugh. Her cheeks take on a warm hue, blonde locks gleaming in the early light.

"I want to leave," she protests before trailing off softly. "but a lot of them aren't as bad as I first thought."

You're reminded of your first introduction to the Amazons of Themiscyra, of wicked sharp spearpoints held by warriors that bore grim humorless expressions.

You bounce a stone in your hand and then idly toss it into the waves, watching it bounce once, then twice, before sinking out of sight.

"Then you've had a much better experience than I've had. When I get back I'm leaving this place a bad review on Yelp."

"What's Yelp?"

"A cesspit of unsatisfied middle-aged mothers, don't go there."

She tilts her head uncertaintly. "It was bad at first, I hated every moment I was here, but I don't know, I guess, I'm starting to like being on the island just a bit."

"And do you think that's by accident?"

"What do you mean by that?" She asks curiously, but her voice rises an octave.

"I mean," you respond slowly as though calming a spooked foal. "isn't the best way to keep a prisoner locked up by convincing them they want to be here? They put us here. Just because your wardens are playing nice and the scenery is nice doesn't change what they are or what this place is. What do you think will happen if you tried to leave the island?"

Kara shakes her head in denial, conflict waging a battle across her expression.

"Diana can be harsh, and kind of aloof, yeah...but the other Amazons," she bites her lip worryingly. They invite me to campfires at night, sneak me cups of wine at dinner, tell stories and share secrets with me, and help to pick me up in training when I fall no matter if I shrug them off. They treat me like a sister."

"Sometimes even good people can be misguided," you admit. "I for one haven't had a bite to eat in about a year."

"The food's not that bad," she says uncertainly. "you are joking, aren't you?"

Your smile is thin and just a bit gaunt. "The Amazons have very different standards of hospitality from the looks of it. I'm surprised I haven't developed scurvy at this point. When you show up to get me out, mind bringing a blanket, you won't believe the updraft."

Kara rises to her feet, brushing off stray bits of sand. "You're serious," she murmurs, surprise and horror welling up in her eyes.

"Like six feet under, but it's a couple hundred in my case."

"Why?" she asks. "Why would they do something that awful?"

"I wasn't joking that the closest thing I had to home, and I wasn't lying when I told you it's gone now." You begin. "I just never told you that it's gone because some asshole who couldn't handle being told no burnt it down to the ground with the closest thing I had to dad inside."

A presence settles over your mind, letting its displeasure be known. The Titan King is nothing if not covetous of what he considered his, even if that was the paternal affections of his son.

Her eyes widen in shock, but there is empathy there is well, a shared pain between the two of you. "And you did something, didn't you? That's why you're here?" she asks.

"I made sure that he could never do what he did to me to anyone ever again."

She takes half a step forward, an arms length from you. "You killed him."

You meet her eyes unwaveringly. "I told you once I'd never lie to you. I killed him, along with everyone who helped him. And I don't regret it, because now they'll never hurt anyone else."

She goes silent at her word, shoulders tense, but her eyes never leave you, piercing in their intensity as she seems to judge your worth. "Did they deserve it?"

"If they didn't, I wouldn't have done it."

She takes another step forward until you're both but a breath apart. A hand falls gently onto your chest, pulsing with gentle warmth.

"If I ever got my hands on the people responsible for taking away my home," she finally says, and her blue eyes turn vermillion for a heartbeat. "I'd tear them apart too."

There is something almost savage in her expression, a hidden fury that had been simmering under the surface finally given leave to explode forth.

"But that's not why I'm here, Kara," you reply, placing your hand atop hers. "I am here because I'm not human."

Her gaze flashes to your intertwined hands before returning to you. "You're not from earth?"

"I wouldn't know, but when I bleed it's not red like everyone else's. I never knew my mother, but my father is the reason I'm here. What I'm about to say is going to sound crazy, I know, but hear me out. My father is a Titan. My father is Kronos."

The sun darkens and the wind blows just a bit colder at the invocation of the Titan King's name. Kara shivers but she looks to you nonplussed, unfazed by the declaration, was it bravery, or did she simply not know who you spoke of?

"So, you're a demigod, just like Diana."

"The difference is her father is the king of the gods, mine is the devil and the Amazons refused to allow me to walk around freely. They don't shy away from death, but to them, I'm something out of a horror story so they've shoved me underground and thrown out the key."

You can see the connections form in her mind, of your treatment and hers, that you were both other in the eyes of Amazons and suffered for it, and with a deep sense of satisfaction you know you've won.

Her eyes narrow and once more gleam vermillion. "A key won't stop me from getting you out. Nothing will."

You smile genuinely. "I know but it's nice to hear you say it."

The day finally approaches. Diana had left Themiscyra once more to answer a call to stop some intergalactic threat or another, a situation that would preoccupy the Amazonian princess's attention for the foreseeable future, meaning that her eyes would be far from her homeland and from you.

Kara informs you that preparations for the Panathenaea have already begun in Themiscyra, as the Amazons prepare a multi-day festival in honor of the Goddess of Wisdom, one of their greatest patrons.

It would be the best opportunity for you to enact your escape when the warriors of Themiscyra are at their most vulnerable. You had been a model prisoner, and you have little doubt that even unintentionally, the guards who watch your prison would be lax in their vigil.

The binds that hold you quiver minutely, straining as times current continue to ravage the metals and the enchantments imbued upon it. Weakened though they may be, they would still need to be removed by another, and you can feel Kara approaching, gliding through the air.

Dusk has fallen, casting red and orange light into the cave. And even as entombed as you are, you can almost feel the celebrations underway throughout the island.

You wait, conserving your energy, and then you hear it, a minute rumbling, quickly building into a thunderous crescendo overhead. The small glass pane at the ceiling of the cave shatters into a million jagged shards.

You immediately turn your head, shielding your face as the pieces tumble below with a quiet whistle, breakingly loudly against stone and skin or disappearing into the depths of Tartarus below.

You turn to look up and see a figure floating downwards, dressed in a flowing white chiton. Her blonde locks flutter in the winds with her descent, and her blue eyes are fixed upon you.

Kara Zor-El lands in front of you without a sound, the very picture of an angel tasked with your deliverance.

She places her hand on her hip and pushes stray strands of hair from her face. "Ready to get out of here?" she asks.

Her nose scrunches as she takes stock of your bindings, the gleaming bronze chains connected to the corners of the cave that kept your arms suspended over your head. Hairline fractures stretch across the surface, fine cracks nearly invisible to the naked eye, but present enough to impair the potent magics.

Her eyes turn wary at the gleaming runes that are near incandescent in their light, pushed to their limit in attempting to keep you bound even as the rune network itself was failing by the moment.

A horn drones loudly from far away, and an alarm had been sounded. The Amazons would be upon you soon, and if you weren't out of the chains by then, you know the pit beneath your feet would be your new prison.

"Just pull them," you assure her. "I've already taken care of the hard part."

"Says the guy in chains," she huffs without any venom but does as you say, grabbing a chain with each arm. And with a grunt, she begins to pull.

The cavern walls groan and shake, dislodging dust and pebbles that clatter into the darkness of Tartarus.

Kara's face turns a deep blooming red as she strains with effort. The ground beneath her feet cracks and craters as she digs for purchase. The chains of Hephaestus shimmer and cry out like a living thing, twisting and bending but still refusing to break.

Her eyes once more take on a vermillion hue, and a violent jet of energy shoots forth from them. The chains turn from their original bronze to a burning red to white hot, and you can feel the waves of heat radiating from the metal, so fierce it's enough to slick your back with sweat.

A cacophony of noise rose from outside, the neighing of horses, the rumbling of marching footsteps, and the approaching muffled voices of Amazons. You're almost out of time.

You can see the realization settle in Kara's eyes, followed by a wave of fierce determination, and she pulls on the chains again with all her might. The cavern ceiling shakes once more, and great spiderweb cracks form across its surface. The chains emit a keening scream of protest, and Kara's huffing breaths turn to a shout of exertion.

You join with her, summoning up whatever power you had at your disposal, pummeling the enchantments with all the force you could muster, straining your body against its chains with all the strength in your muscles, and then finally, a link of the chain breaks with a sudden startling crack.

Time pauses as the runes of the Chains of Hepeheastus gutter out and die, and its metal surface rusts away into dust. Energy surges into your veins, filling every pore and vein and the cavern is consumed in a supernova of light as incandescent golden threads jump to your instinctive command.

The chains shatter into a million pieces, scattering throughout the cavern in a violent explosion as magics of the Smith God are finally dispelled violently and totally.

You and Kara are thrown sideways by the blast, skittering across the small platform and clutching at the rock to stop yourselves from falling into the Pit below.

You grab at each other's arms, almost cradling one another for support, before you come to a stop, with your heads just jutting past the rock, giving you a full view of the complete and overwhelming nothingness of the abyss that looks back at you from below.

You heave your first full breath in years, cold air filling your lungs, and watch as the gleaming shattered pieces of your bindings disappear forevermore into the void of Tartarus, flickering out of sight one by one like dying stars.

You lay there for a long moment, processing what had just occurred, stunned with disbelief. You hesitantly raise a hand above your face and look at your unshackled wrist, the flesh is worn raw and red and scarred, but unbound. Your laugh quietly, chest rumbling, holding your face in your hands simply because you could do it.

You're finally free. You push yourself to your feet and turn to the one who made it possible. Kara sits across from you, her legs underneath and arms on her knees. Her blonde locks are matted to her face with sweat, and her cheeks are rosy from the strain. She blinks up at you as you stand in front of her and offer your hand for her to take.

Hers is small and delicate in your grasp, belying the strength of its owner. A girl with the ability to overcome the power of a god is anything but weak.

The two of you look at each other, taking stock of the other for perhaps the first time, but neither of you breaches the silence.

"You didn't have a beard before," Kara blurts out, before slapping her hands over her mouth, one over the other, mortification blooming across her features.

You blink in surprise before bringing a hand to your chin and find wiry and thick hair where smooth skin used to be. "Yeah, I guess I do. Never had one before. I kind of like it."

She does not voice her opinion, still fighting to contain the blush from her sudden outburst. You look down at the petite Kryptonian who barely reaches your shoulders and give your most grateful smile.

"Thank you, Kara, for freeing me."

"It's-it's nothing," she stammers. "I made you a promise, didn't I?"

"Promising something and doing it are very different things. But maybe not to someone like you, Kara."

"So what happens now?" she asks.

It is at that moment, the stone entrance to your prison rise with a low rumble, and the furious clatter of armor and hurried voices fill the cavern.

"Now," you turn to the entrance of the prison high above. "We escape."

Kara's eyes go wide as she takes in the small army of Amazons that filter into the room, weapons in hand and dressed for war, each of their gazes filled with grim and staunch resolve.

"I can't fight them," she confides in you her weakness, and averts her eyes in shame.

She grasps at your arms, digging grooves into the skin. "Promise me, you won't hurt them more than you have to. I know they did terrible things to you, and they may deserve it If not for them, then please for me?" She pleads.

Above you, you can hear the Amazons prepare their spears knocking arrows.

You place a hand beneath her chin and gently tilt her head so that your eyes meet. "Then close your eyes, Kara. Can you do that for me?"

She hesitates, fists clenching with indecision before she reluctantly nods and obeys.

The moment her sight closes you turn to look at the Amazons who waited above, spears guarding whatever footholds and small pathways dotted your prison while dozens of arrowheads remained fixed upon you.

"Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" you call out.

A single arrow whistles towards you, its trajectory aimed directly at your eye. The bronze arrowhead stops suddenly a hairs width from its target, the ash shaft pinched between your thumb and forefinger. You press down and it cracks and half, clattering to the floor.

You smile wickedly. "That's what I thought." Your hand rises slowly.

"Fire!" someone commands from above, and the Amazons loose their bows, a hundred bronze arrowheads cutting through the wind straight towards you and you alone.

You snap your fingers, the sound reverberating through reality itself, silence following in its wake, and once more does Time bow to its master.

*

*

POV Switch:

The Amazon, a few minutes before….

This should not be happening, Atalanta thought to herself even as she rushed to keep pace with her sisters. The spear in her hand was heavier than it should be, the armor she wore every day twice the burden to carry on her shoulders. She hastily wiped at the sweat that matted her forehead and touched at her eyes.

This should not be happening, she repeated to herself, as though fervent pleas to the gods above would break her free of this unfolding nightmare she found herself trapped within.

Today was supposed to be of celebration in honor of the goddess Athena. Torches had been lit, from shore to shore feasts had been prepared, and sacrifices for the altars. The games had been just about to begin, presided over by Hippolyta herself.

Then the long ominous drone of the conch horn echoed like a thunderclap through Themiscyra, a sound that all Amazons knew by heart to dread. Invasion. But there were no ships approaching by sea or invaders by air, the threat came from within the island, from its sole prisoner.

She had seen him brought to the island almost two years ago, bound by the lasso of Hestia, ichor-stained teeth bared in a snarl, and his eyes the color of a molten gold gleaming with cunning and frightful intelligence.

Something animal that sat between the unbreachable space between divine and mortal, an aberration blessedly imprisoned far beneath the earth, never to be allowed to threaten the world of the Amazons or that of Men.

And yet, the worst had come to pass, she mused. Neither the seeress nor Diana had accounted for the possibility that the Crooked One's heir would defy that which was considered impossible.

Now, ἔσχατος was unleashed, Pandora's Box opened once more, and she feared there would be no closing its lid this time.

The heavy gates to the Titan's prison groaned in the complaint as they rose, revealing the cavernous sanctum in which the Titan was bound. Darkness stared back out, and no sound emerged from within.

A cold wind billowed forth raising the hairs on the back of her neck. Go back, a voice in the back of her mind whispered. There is only death within.

She pushed the thoughts away and stepped forward, Amazons had no fear, not even of death.

Atalanta took up position with her sisters on the parapets that overlooked the yawning chasm below, her spear shouldered and replaced by a bow carved of yew with an arrow crafted not of mortal steel but of celestial bronze knocked. Mundane weapons would find no purchase against this enemy.

The platform that jutted out into the center, nearly a hundred footsteps away from the cavern walls, should have been where the Titan was imprisoned. But the chains of the the Smith god that should have held him bound were nowhere in sight, and the Titan stood, unbound. But, he was not alone. A woman was beside him, dressed in a white chiton, with blonde hair that fell to her back.

Kara Zor-El, the Kryptonian. Someone who could have been a sister, turned traitor. Atalanta's grip tighetned upon her bow.

As though sensing her thoughts, Kara turned her eyes upwards and then immediately returned them to the Titan, her lips moving with words that the Amazon could not decipher. The Titan seemed to contemplate her words, unaware or perhaps unafraid of the small army of Amazons above. He tilted the girl's chin up, and embraced her. A soft golden light encompassed Kara's form before dissipating.

The Titan extricated himself from the Kryptonian, who remained frozen in place, unmoving.

"Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" he asked.

Atalanta's grip on the bowstring disappeared, and her arrow sped forward. The Titan watched its approach with disinterest, not moving to even dodge, and just before her arrow found purchase, it was plucked out of the air by the Titan with careless ease. The shaft broke with a loud crack and its broken pieces clattered to the ground.

"That's what I thought," the Titan said, unfazed at the hundred Amazons staring down upon him. It was ridiculous for there to be no fear in the Titan's visage, unarmed and unarmored and only just freed from his prison of two years. It should be he was afraid, not her.

"Fire!" Her captain commanded. A hundred bronze-tipped arrows sped forwards in a hail of death.

The Titan lifted his hand, the world turned a bitter freezing cold, and the strength sapped from Atalanta's body, her shoulders sagging under a heavy weight that had suddenly appeared upon it.

The arrows stopped midflight, not broken by any force or scattered about. They had simply stopped, paralyzed within invisible amber.

Frozen in time.

Atlanta trembled at the barest expression of the Titan's power. Amazons had no fear, but then what other feeling was there to describe the equally overwhelming urges to both flee to the furthest corners of the world and grovel at his feet that warred in her mind?

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" the Titan asked, his voice a cold and hoarse baritone that scratched like knives against the cave's walls. "I can't deny that I'm kind of insulted."

"Kara, move away!"

"She can't hear you." The Titan responded, shaking the frozen Kryptonian to no effect. " She'll open her eyes in some time and not even a second would have passed in her mind. But you won't have the same luxury of ignorance, I want you to remember what's about to happen."

The Titan snapped his fingers, and the world was bathed in golden light. Atlanta blinked, turning away from its cold blinding radiance. When she turned back, the Titan was not there. A cry of pain rang throughout the cavern, followed quickly by another and the clatter of armor against stone.

The Titan appeared on the other side of the cavern, casting aside Amazons like ragdolls and dashing them against the walls, neither spear nor sword or arrow finding purchase.

Atalanta could only watch with horror as one of her sisters was thrown from the parapets and plummeted toward the darkness of Tartarus below. Atlanta's own shout of horror was accompanied by many of her sisters, incapable of doing anything to save their sworn sister.

The Titan turned from where had been locked in combat with four of her sisters and extended his arm outward, exasperation and annoyance playing across his visage.

Her sister's wail of fear and fall were both abruptly cut short, and the Amazon was left suspended in the open air, eyes blown wide, mouth parted in an unspoken plea, and arms outstretched, but she was no longer falling.

Then the Titan disappeared, and her sisters began to fall again.

Atlanta pivoted upon her backfoot too late to do anything but watch as the sister who was once beside her toppled to the ground, the Titan standing over her fallen form, nonplussed.

She thrust her spear forward, a war cry on her tongue, but she found no purchase. Atlanta stared uncomprehendingly as the celestial bronze spearpoint passed through the Titan, right where his heart should have been, and the once solid body turned into a pale shade. She drew back her spear, a warning at the back of her throat.

The titan turned his head, amusement in his golden eyes.

"Too slow," he said. Fear poured down her spine. The Titan's lips had not moved. The voice had come from behind her.

A flare of pain tore through her body and the Amazon knew nothing more as Morpheus claimed her with welcoming arms.

You walk slowly to the entrance of your prison, leaving behind you the broken and humbled forms of your Amazon captors.

A heavy stone slab bars your way, impossible for any mortal to lift, and you realize that the Amazons who entered the chamber had made their peace by not leaving it alive. Your opinion of them rises just a hair from rock bottom for a moment before it craters back down.

The stone shatters into a thousand pieces behind the force of your blow and you pass through as though it had not been there in the first place. Two Amazons stand behind it, wiping the dust from their eyes and gathering their wits from the conflagration of rock that had fallen upon them. They each have large two-handed mallets in their hands, each the size of a man.

You slip forward before they could recover. The one on your left raises her weapon in a high overhead swing, but you had already pivoted on your heel before the swing had fallen and the air brushes against your face as the blow strikes only earth.

Caught off balance, the Amazon lurches forward by her own inertia, right into your waiting extended arm that catches her in the throat. She crumples to the ground, gasping for air. You drop immediately to a crouch, and the other Amazon's swing goes wide. You kick out your backfoot striking her directly in the ankle.

The bone gives way and the Amazon drops to a knee. Already turning, you grab her head with both hands and bring your head down in a vicious headbutt. Her helmet crumples and the Amazon's eyes flutter closed, and you let her limp body slide from your grasp.

You continue forward, meeting again another stone slab that impedes your path. It, along with the Amazons behind it meet the same fate as the ones before.

And once the final barrier to your freedom shatters, you find yourself on a ridge overlooking the island, a cold comforting wind brushes over you, and the dying light of the setting sun bathes the land before you in an aurora of orange and red.

The city of Themiscyra rises up on the distant horizon, and the very sight of it stirs the overwhelming urge to reclaim that which laid beneath it, your birthright. You jump down to the fields below and make your way toward the City of the Amazons.

The flowers and grasses dance to a soundless tune, and the trees of Themiscyra's forests extend their branches almost in greeting. Even the soil beneath your feet hums with a comforting familiarity.

The air is sweet to taste, driving the exhaustion and fatigue from your boons, and that is when you sense it, a muted presence that permeates the very world around you, and when you attempt to follow it, you find no source, because it is everywhere, extending as far as your as senses can go, pulsing through the forests and fields.

It is not malevolent or dangerous, but remote as if it is but an observer that has finally taken notice of you and is weighing its opinion of you.

Gaea, the earth itself. You didn't think you were familiar enough to call her Grandma, just yet.

The Amazons were fervent worshippers of hers, you had seen many shrines to Gaea throughout the island, and of what you knew of Mother Earth, familial relations were not enough to escape from her fury, whether they be husband, son, or grandchild.

Ouranos had not survived her fury, and even Kronos, her chosen son had lost her favor and as a result, lost his throne too. The ones she had risen up in your father's place, the gods of Olympus had only just survived her wrath in the form of the Gigantes.

Mother Earth was the true kingmaker of the divines and you could keenly feel Her pondering just how you fit into Her depthless plans.

You slow to a stop. She surely knew what you planned to do, you doubt any plan or scheme of yours could pass out of notice of the earth itself, and yet, She does nothing to impede your progress.

In fact, you can sense the sense of amused curiosity that rises out of her silent observation as though a million eyes flick to your person for the briefest moment, deciding if you'd look best with a crown or thrown into the Pit.

You kneel down, running your hand through the soil. "Nice to finally meet you...what should I call you?" you ask aloud. "Mother Earth? Lady Gaea...Mother Gaea? But you are my father's mother, so that does make you my Grandma, and I've always had kind of a green thumb. So, mind if I call you grandma?"

The presence startles back at your request, and after a long moment, the grass rustles in the wind with a sound vaguely like laughter. Not exactly a yes, but if it would have been a no, you would have definitely known. Mother Earth wasn't exactly shy about showing her anger.

Gaea's presence retreats and the plant life around you returns to its original unanimated state. An unnatural gust of wind blows from behind, urging you forward.

Themiscrya's landscape passes by in a blur as you bound in leaps and bounds to the city, clearing through fields and forests and over creeks and eddies with each step you take, until finally, the city proper emerges before you. It is not right to call it a city, you realize immediately, more of a fortress. Ringed with curtain walls that rose two dozen feet high, its stones fashioned with a latticework of runes, and a deep moat that separated the lands around to a singular entrance blocked by a shimmering bronze portcullis. Watchtowers rose up on every side and along the parapets lay ballistae and onagers, and all manner of siege equipment.

This city had been built to withstand if the world of Man ever returned, a bastion made to resist even Heracles or those who could his rival his strength, and within its heart laid your prize, and you would tear down these walls brick by brick if that's what it took. But, before you could even face the challenge of breaching the city's enchanted walls, another issue presented itself.

Arrayed in formation outside of the castle stood a field of gleaming bronze shields and spears and armor. An army of Amazons dressed for war. Your eyes scan their width...hundreds, maybe even thousands of them, all here for a single express purpose, stopping you.

And at their head stood two women, one with long red hair wrapped in a ponytail, armed with a spear twice the size of her, Artemis. And beside her stood the familiar figure of Donna Troy, dressed in her outfit studded with glimmering stars and a golden lasso hanging at her hip.

You look to the walls and spot Hippolyta, marked from the rest of the Amazons by the tiara that glinted on her head. The might of Themiscyra had assembled here, all except for one glaring omission, Diana was nowhere to be seen.

You walk forward, unconcerned by the bristling phalanxes that impede your way, or the rows of archers trained upon you. You stop a football field's distance away, arms crossed over your chest.

"Bend or break, Amazons. The choice is yours. I will have what is mine, it is your choice if I have to go through you to get it." Your voice rings out over the distance, sharp and clear and most definitely heard.

They glare back at you silently. Donna steps forward, hand raised, and no trace of the terrified girl you had encountered two years ago to be seen in her expression.

"Amazons, let him hear your fear!"

Together a thousand defiant voices answered her call, a roaring crescendo of defiance that thunders through every edge of the island. "WE HAVE NO FEAR!"

You smile, rolling your neck, each sharp crack of the joints loud enough for the Amazons to hear. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"You have no fear?" You ask, pacing parallel to the phalanx laid out before you.

"Then why do you hide behind each other from me? Even from here, I can feel your dread. Are you not the greatest warriors in all the world, or was that a lie? Has your exile from the rest of the world softened your skills?"

A stream of arrows rises up from the Amazon's ranks, like a murder of crows darkening the sun in their ascent. But, you had already moved, deftly slipping through the torrent that thundered all around you without a scratch as they thudded harmlessly into the earth around your feet.

You stop, turning directly to face them, and stretch your arms wide. "Am I not a worthy challenge for all of Themiscyra to stand against me? Why do your best not come to face me, then? Is it because even they know they have no chance of beating me?"

At first, there is no response to your challenge, the words seemingly absorbed by the solid line of spears and shields. Hippolyta does not stir from her vantage on the castle walls and you prepare yourself for facing the entirety of Themiscyra head-on.

A sudden rustling appears in the center of the formation, and the Amazons part to make way for a tall red-haired woman armed with a large spear, her mouth bent into a vicious scowl. She comes to a stop halfway between the army and yourself, close enough to see the fury clear in her bright green eyes.

"You asked for a challenger, Titan," Artemis drives the butt of her spear deeply into the earth, and places her fists on her hips in mimicry of your own gesture. "Here I am. Come and face an Amazon of Themiscyra if you dare."

"I asked for a challenge," you reply but approach nonetheless. Only a dozen footfalls separate the two of you now.

"Don't think you will land a blow as easy as you did last time. I put you on your ass with my hands tied behind my back." You lift your wrist for effect, the flesh still raw from where the chains had affixed themselves.

Her scowl deepens and without another word, she dislodges her spear from the earth twirling it overhead in a casual display of strength that leaves you supremely unimpressed.

"Single combat, then? I'd hear you say the words yourself, but I think your honor is equally as worthless as that of your princess."

"I'll have your tongue for that. Single combat, Titanspawn, I swear it by the Styx." Thunder rumbles overhead in response to your declaration.

"And just where would you like my tongue?" you ask.

Artemis graces your response with a growl of anger. Her body tenses, the earth splinters beneath her feet and she flies forward in a blur of red, a spear aimed directly at your heart.

She's fast, you'd give her that much credit. You pivot off your back foot, anticipating the strike and moving to create a distance between the two of you, but in a feat of prescience or of hard-earned battle experience, Artemis follows, and the spear tip nearly grazes against your chest.

At the last moment, you drop to a crouch and turn your head to avoid the blow, slipping into her guard and your fist finds purchase in her gut. A second and third blow indent themselves deeply into her breastplate, marring the bronze metal.

Artemis gasps as the breath are driven from her lungs but she does not drop her spear. Her right leg kicks out and a flash of pain sears its way up your leg as it catches you right above the kneecap, but you remain standing. Artemis steps back and twirls, her spear scratching the dirt where you had just been.

The two of you circle each other once more, the pain in your leg already receding, but blood dribbles from Artemis's lips, and her breath comes in a slow ragged pace.

"Tired already? We're just getting started." you jeer. "Need a break, maybe a band-aid?"

Artemis readies her spear once more. "We do not bow. Never again." The bracelets around her wrists glint in the moonlight.

Her eyes widen as you appear in front of her, one hand pushing the spearhead high upwards, overpowering her grip with ease, leaving her guard wide open. Soft cartilage and bone give way with a loud crack under your first and Artemis howls in pain, a hand instinctually moving to cover her nose. A second blow renders her spear arm immobile and from there it's all too easy to grab her by the waist then and bring her high overhead.

You lean back and allow gravity to do the brunt of the work of driving the Amazon helmet-first into the ground. A cloud of dirt and dust flies into the air, and you twist the Amazon onto her back, hands still wrapped tightly around her waist. Your knees lock her legs together, giving her no avenue to escape.

Artemis's eyes are dazed and blurry, but awareness returns just as the blows begin to rain down once more again upon her form. Her arms come up in a vain attempt to stem the tide, but to no avail, and the Amazons of Themiscyra watch on in stony silence as their champion is torn apart.

Gold and crimson stain your knuckles, when you finally stand back up again, looking down at the fallen Amazon. Her armor is nothing more than torn strips of metal, warped into an irreparable state, her helm long cast aside, leaving her fiery locks free to stain the mud she laid in. She looks up at you with a single half-closed eye.

You pick up her spear and raise it high above your head. "Then you'll break."

Gasps of horror ring out from among the Amazon lines, as they watch on, helpless to intervene and save their sister.

Artemis closes her eyes, and you bring the spear hurtling downward.

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aerion78: Updates will now be in third-person. Your self insert is dead.

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The spear found met its mark with a thunderclap of sound. But, it did not pierce Amazonian flesh. The spear finally came to a halt with half its shaft buried deep into the earth. Had it been even a hair's length to the right, it would have been buried in Artemis's skull.

A palpable silence fell over the battlefield, as though the entire world held its breath. Artemis's eyes open blearily, covered in the shadow of Cadmus's form and the sun blazed overhead.

Confusion and recognition in swift succession played across her expression followed by the arrival of something between relief and fear when it was not the judges of the Dead that greeted her, but the Titanspawn that she reviled so much. instead. She watched transfixed as he loomed over her, unable to remove her gaze from his eyes.

"This is all the mercy I have for you," he said, and then stepped forward, leaving the spear impaled where it was. Cadmus raises his foot high overhead and brought it down upon the Amazon in a vicious stomp that once again sent her back into the arms of Morpheus.

The Amazon would not die, He had made a promise to not kill any of them to Kara. after all. The difference between living and surviving, however, was not so black and white.

Leaving the suitably humbled champion of the Amazons in the crater of her own making, he moved towards the army that waited for his approach with grim anticipation.

"Is that the greatest champion Themiscyra has to offer?" he asked, examining the ranks of warriors with thinly-veiled distaste. The hubris and superiority they had flaunted when he had first arrived were nowhere to be seen. "If it is, then stand aside and let me pass."

The Amazons responded in unison, bringing their weapons hammering upon their shields in a rhythmic cacophony that stirred the ichor in the Titan's veins.

Hippolyta drew her blade skywards and drew her horse into a canter forward. Conch horns blew from behind their formations, and at their command, the Amazons began their advance like an army of ten thousand flies laying siege to a spider's web.

Cadmus had read once that gods would descend from the heavens and make war on the mortal plane, and the only ones capable of stopping or even impeding their rampages would be a fellow godling or an equally exceptional mortal, like Diomedes who defeated Ares outside the gates of Troy. But when there was no equal or greater force to impede a god intent on destruction, the result of defiance was a foregone conclusion. Complete and utter destruction.

And there were no such heroes within the army of the Amazons. Maybe there had been at one point in time, but whatever mythical prowess they once possessed long ago had now atrophied into mediocrity.

Like a scythe through a field of wheat, the Cadmus parted the Amazonian phalanxes with terrifying speed. With neither sword or shield in hand, he vaulted over the long lines of pikes that moved to block his assault in a single leap that landed him in the heart of the formation. With a swipe of his hand, the Amazons to his left were scattered, their blades and armor broken.

The Amazons around him swiftly recovered swinging their weapons inward in an attempt to encircle him, lashing out with spears and swords and any other weapon they held in hand. Not one found purchase in spilling ichor. Pivoting to his left and out of the way of a thrust that would have taken him to the side. Cadmus grabbed the offending arm at the wrist, pulled the overextended Amazon forward, and tugged hard upwards. Bone gave way with a sharp crack, and the blade clattered helplessly to the ground, followed by the Amazon herself, incapacitated by a blow that crumpled her helm at the temple.

Sword in hand, he parried a dozen strikes in a blink of an eye, batting swords outright of their wielder's hands, breaking spear hafts on his knee, batting aside warhammers with a bat of his palm, and responding with his own ripostes that invariably found purchase, and just as quickly as they rose to meet him, did the Amazons too did fall.

The maelstrom continued in furious gales of violence, rippling and seething with steel, and with him at the eye of it all. Thought was replaced by instinct, tempered by the singular restriction that Cadmus had imposed upon himself, though there were more than a few encounters that skirted dangerously closed to breaking that oath.

A column of riders rode forward with a reering war cry, intent on trampling him beneath the hooves of their steeds which stood twice as tall as any other on the planet. Cadmus dropped the sword and shield in his hands and planted his feet well into the ground. When the first rider came into range, he did not move to block her strike, but instead slipped beneath it and grabbed her mount by its forelegs. Muscles groaning in opposition, he twisted like he was throwing a discus, and tossed them both like a projectile into their comrades with a calamitous crash that brought all thirty of the riders to the ground. He felt a shred of pity for the horses.

Time's golden threads imprisoned Amazons in their hundreds, paralyzing entire formations mid-step before they were scattered like toys across the crater-ridden battlefield. But for every hundred that fell, one did land a glancing blow. Ichor dripped in rivulets from across his arms and legs and chest, along with a litany of countless scratches. The rags he had worn were now reduced to hanging strips of cloth.

They healed soon enough, the skin knitting itself back together before the horrified eyes of the Amazons, as the sacrifice of their sisters was undone in the span of a heartbeat. Hundreds laid broken around him, phalanxes reduced to upright spears and broken shields, and contingents of cavalry brought low, mount, and rider one in all.

Cadmus stepped through another hail of arrows, launched just a bit closer than last time, but to equally little effect. Fire burned in his veins, filling him with a vitality that bordered on boundless, while the lines of the Amazons slowly thinned, and Hippolyta's tiara came ever closer. An Amazon lunged from behind, physical desperation driving her actions that he could feel almost internally. He caught her by the throat and tossed her aside, or he would have, if not for a golden lasso that suddenly wrapped itself around his arm, trapping it in place.

He turned to the source of his newest annoyance, to find Donna Troy staring back at him, marred in dirt and scratches, and fury burning in her lightning-blue eyes. Cadmus cocked his head and dropped the Amazon in his grip to the ground without a second thought, his attention focused solely on the next challenger that stood in his way.

"I don't remember fighting you yet," the Titan noted, examining the humming cords of rope blessed by the gods themselves wrapped tight like a vice around his arm and coiling even tighter with each testing movement. Not the same as Diana's, though, weaker in a way, its presence less permeating, and the compulsion to submit only like a strong breeze against his mind compared to the suffocating whirlwind that true lasso was capable of.

An inferior duplicate in every conceivable way, much like the heroine herself.

"Are you here to play the hero, to try and stop me?" Cadmus asked, his gaze moving to the recovering Amazons nearby, pulling themselves from the ground and leaning heavily upon their weapons. Whatever fight they had at the beginning, had long ebbed from them, replaced by a heavy weight that clung to their shoulders, and averted their eyes from him whenever he deigned to turn his attention upon them.

Fearful. The one thing an Amazon could not be.

"I will stop you, or I'll die trying," she replied, but the warbling hitch at the end of her declaration weakened its delivery in his ears.

He couldn't help but laugh at her words. "Why is it always death with you?"

Cadmus drew his arm close, unmindful of the golden lasso's groaning complaint, nor the searing pain that scored through his body. Donna clung to the rope with both hands, even as the force of the pull dug her heels deep into the dirt. She pulled the lasso, expression contorted in effort, but his arm did not budge.

The second pull tore her feet from the ground and Donna was suddenly in the air hurtling towards Cadmus.

She recovered from the sudden departure of her feet from land, twisting in mid-air to right herself, but not quick enough to avoid the fist embedding itself deep in her stomach. Donna groaned in pain, the grip on the lasso loosening as the breath in her lungs was violently ejected by the impact.

She had no time to recover from the backhand that sent her to her knees. Admirably, she was able to defend the next handful of blows interspersed between the attempt of clambering back to her feet before she disengaged herself entirely with a backward leap. It was only temporary relief before Cadmus quickly closed the distance once again, and the two exchanged an unequal torrent of blows.

Donna had clearly been trained in hand-to-hand combat, but she had never been trained on how to survive against someone stronger than her or faster than her, and even more skilled than her. Allowing a glancing punch that left her overextended, Cadmus responded with two quick punches to her sternum, that broke her defense and a third right below her jaw. The Amazon stumbled backward, sporting a bruised lip for her efforts.

"I honestly expected more from Diana's star pupil," Cadmus said.

Donna's eyes turned a brilliant azure hue. "You haven't seen anything yet," she growled. Her hands twisted into a swift procession of overlaying patterns accompanied by indiscernible incantations. It was only by his Second Sight that Cadmus avoided the vermillion wave that consumed the area he had once occupied, reducing the earth to smoldering ruin. A bolt of lightning and luminescent deadly light followed quickly thereafter but were also similarly dodged.

So she was a mage, Cadmus realized. A potent one at that. Maybe this would be interesting.

There had been no challenge of single combat for this fight, and the Amazons did not wait long to make use of this fact. In between dodging magefire, Cadmus suddenly found himself attacked once more on all sides in a bristling assault of celestial steel. Like flies buzzing around his ears, Cadmus batted away their attempts with prickling irritation. Their ineffectual attempts did provide Donna the time necessary to recover, and the heroine capitalized as much as possible, loosing a torrent of magical conflagarations.

Unfortunately for her, Cadmus did not fear magic, not when he had undermined the very spells of the Smith God in his blessed metals. He did not know the intricacies of magic as a practitioner would, but he knew enough to tear it apart, because destroying something was far easier than creating it, and Cadmus had always posessed a certain proclivity of reducing complex creations to rubble.

He could not manipulate the magic itself, but he could trick it in a sense, forcing it to spend entire lifetimes in the spand of a second, far longer than any spell was of mortal incantation was made to last. And by the time they came even close to making contact, the magical foundation collapsed and the spells sputtered and died into nothingness.

Donna could only muster an expression of surprise when her spells suddenly failed her, and Cadmus appeared suddenly in front of her, tearing through the Amazons at her side with contemptuous ease. A punch to the liver drove the fight from her, and an arching strike to the temple sent her careening to the ground. He grasped the lasso still held in her hands, but rather than pulling in direct contention, he twisted the rope.

"That's enough spellcasting from you, I think." She blinked in response in stunned confusion.

It was too late for her to understand what was occurring before the lasso had already begun to loop about her neck. Her fingers scrambled for purchase, eyes widening in desperation. Cadmus turned himself completely to face her from behind, planting his knee in the middle of her back, and pushing. Unable to put up any resistance, Donna fell to the ground unable to slow her fall, still attempting to remove the lasso from around her neck to no avail.

It was then a conch horn echoed from behind him, droning in two quick successive drones. He turned to follow its source, and to his ire saw the golden tiara of Hippolyta swiftly disappearing in the direction of the walls of Themiscyra. The queen turned in her saddle only once, and caught his eyes, before swiftly pressing her heels into the side of her mount and riding with all due haste in the other direction.

Anger fueled his actions as he forced Donna to watch the flight of her queen and still-standing sisters from the battlefield. "Look at your queen," he snarled into her ear, forcing her farther to the ground, staining her outfit in mud and grime. "Is this who you swore fealty to, a coward?" Donna whimpered in response, her strugglings slowly ceasing, even as she glared up at him with equal amounts of anger and desperation.

He regarded the defeated heroine beneath him with contemptuous pity. "This will not be the last time we meet, Donna Troy. I hope next time you will pose a better challenge." He struck her on the temple and all fight left her as she went limp. Cadmus stood and released his grip on the lasso, allowing both blessed weapon and unconscious heroine alike both to fall into the mud.

Then, he began to walk towards the walls of Themiscyra, and the familiar presence in the back of his mind grew with each step he took.

The white walls of Themiscyra are reduced and crumble to dust with a wave of Cadmus's hand. No opposition awaited him as he walked over the ashes of what had once been an unbreakable stone not even a minute ago. The city is silent as the grave, its sprawling avenues devoid of life, and the torches that hung throughout the city slowly guttering out in their scones.

He walked through its empty streets, admiring the temples and shrines that were present wherever he turned. He had seen them in his dreams, but they were quite something else in the real world. Each altar held some sort of sacrifice or offering, and not one shrine showed marks of disuse or disrepair, each and every one of the shrines was meticulously clean. He couldn't help but marvel at the expression of true worship displayed here, a sincere belief in deities that was nearly alien to him.

How did the gods gain such devout believers, he wondered, who would give of their own gains without complaint? And, where were these gods now as those who worshipped them were under siege? Maybe they were the Amazons the fools for putting their faith in gods such as these who could not even stir themselves to defend those who visited their shrines. Maybe they were both equally wrong.

He could feel the presence of something alien within each shrine, hovering like a shroud that extended only to the walls of the enclosure. It was faint but surely there, dissipating outwards from the source of its power. This was why the gods needed the Amazons, Cadmus realized, to extend their influence. It was intended to be a relationship of mutual gain, belief, and submission for protection, and yet he saw no protectors there.

His father may be truly right, that these gods who sat on Olympus may truly be unworthy of their lofty position. And if Kronos spoke truly, which Cadmus did not doubt in this case, then he possessed the ability to change the status quo.

Cadmus had no fight with the gods...yet. Even if he could put the blame of his imprionsment upon them, even only an accessory to the crimes of their worshippers. But, that would likely be more than a headache than it was worth. He already had enough enemies for a lifetime. He left the shrines of the gods as they were and continued forward to his ultimate destination, the citadel at the heart of the the city, atop a great hill, under which was the rotted wooden door, and the room in which the black stone from his dream awaited him.

It was at the barbican of the citadel did the last of the Amazon defenders make their presence known, unleashing a torrent of stone and arrows from high upon the parapets. With but a wave of his hand, the avalanche halted in mid-air and Cadmus continued forward, and as he passed out of range, only then were the stones and arrows allowed to clatter to the cobblestones. He grasped the metal of the portcullis in both hands and the celestial bronze warped and rusted within his grasp before completely dissolving into nothingness.

The Amazons within the keep were but a pittance in comparison to the army that had stood against in the fields below. None of them did not bear some wound from the massacre, but each to their credit did not balk when he approached. The golden doors to the palace remained closed behind them, and Cadmus knew that Hippolyta awaited within, the last opposition in his way. He wasted no time with these pawns, dashing them against the walls and stones before they could even blink.

The twin grand doors were magnificent in design, exquisitely crafted with metal and jewel work detailing a thousand myths and victories to be forever enshrined for all of Themiscyra to see. It paid Cadmus no little pleasure in tearing them off their hinges and hurling them into the city below.

The Queen of Amazons awaited him upon her throne, dressed for battle, a gleaming xiphos laid across her hip, and the girdle of her namesake wrapped around her waist, gleaming with power.

A cadre of Amazons stood at the foot of her throne, among them one who Cadmus recognized as the Seerees that had befriended Kara.

"I looked for you on the battlefield. I did not take you for a coward, Queen Hippolyta."

"If I were, Son of Kronos, you would not have found me here." She replied cooly.

"Then let's get on with it, I've waited two long years for this."

Hippolyta did not make any move to rise. "You did not kill any of my Amazons. Why?"

"How do you know I did not?"

Her eyes bore into him with chastising reproach. "I have seen a thousand battlefields, child. I know what death looks like."

"I made a promise. I do not go back on my word, unlike others."

Hippolyta nodded and rose from her throne. "Thank you for satisfying my curiosity." She drew her blade.

Cadmus scoffed. "I'm not in the market for a dancing partner."

Whatever Hippolyta imagined would happen, a valiant last stand, a miracle to turn the tide as the seconds ticked to midnight, nothing of the sort would come to pass. The Amazons stood against him, and as a result, the Amazons fell. Warcries turned to cries of pain, armor cracked and swords shattered, while shadows danced a haunting tune amidst the brazier fires.

Fifteen Amazons including Hippolyta stood against him in the throne room. In the span of three minutes. Only two remained. Hippolyta herself and the Seeress displayed remarkable abilities besides being able to see into the future.

He had sworn an oath to not kill, but duplicates were a gray zone that Cadmus was more than happy to exploit as he dispatched them without any need to worry about breaking his promise to Kara. A swipe of a sword he retrieved from a fallen Amazon removed the Seeress from the board, as she fell to the ground, nursing a cut to the stomach.

Only Cadmus and the queen of the Amazons remained, each circling one another, one with experience wariness, the other with the surety of youth.

"Was this all really worth it, Hippolyta? You could have just stepped aside and none of this would have needed to happen."

It was a lie, Cadmus knew.

Hippolyta shook her head, sword still steady in her hands. "We swore an oath to our gods."

"And look where that got you. You need better gods."

Hippolyta lunged forward with extraordinary speed, a move that would have caught any mortal off guard. Cadmus parried the blade upward, forcing Hippolyta's momentum upward, and then jammed the pommel of the blade into her exposed midsection. Hippolyta gasped but did not fall, stepping back and drawing her blade in a wide overarching slash that cut nothing but air.

Cadmus thrust forward, only to be parried away and the two once more locked blades in a contest of strength. Much to his surprise, it was a contest the queen proved to be his equal. No amount of force would force her to relent, and the queen matched his strength unexpectedly with her own pound for pound. She suddenly broke the lock and struck him across the face with a force more expected from Diana than her.

Cadmus spat ichor onto the ground. It was then his eyes fell downward, to the shimmer girdle about her waist, and the answer to how to defeat her.

Hippolyta did not miss where his eyes, and shook her head. "It will not be as easy as you think. Only one has ever taken this from me."

"We'll see," Cadmus replied.

Once more did the two cross swords, in calamitous clang of steel. Sparks flew with each impact as each searched for an advantage only to find nothing. Or, so it seemed. Time's golden threads awaited his command, and it was only when the right opportunity presented itself did he seize it. It was but a slight raising of her blade, an instinctual response to a feint that spoke more to her exhaustion than any sweat or injury could that made all the difference.

He snapped his fingers, Time slowed to a crawl and Hippolyta could only watch as he lunged forward, grasping the girdle around her waist and pulling. It came undone with a swift tug and the world sped up once again and both queen and Titan fell to the ground, but only Cadmus rose.

"Only one," he threw back Hippolyta's words as he moved to stand over her, weighing the girdle in his hands. "You need to take better care of it then."

He pondered what to do with the defeated queen, who looked up at him with quiet resignation, before deciding it was best to leave her as she was, suitably humbled. "I will be keeping this," he told her. "let its loss be a lesson on humility for you."

Hippolyta could not muster a response besides reaching out weakly as Cadmus turned away from her and towards the eastern-facing wall.

His hand traced the grooves of stone instinctually before suddenly latching on to a loose brick and pressing. The space around the bricks suddenly gave way to a spiraling staircase of rough-hewn blocks that led to the darkness underground. He grasped a torch and began to walk.

The presence was now at the forefront of his mind, growing with each step he took. When he came to a fork at the bottom of the stairs, a physical impression turned him to the rightwards path, and continued to guide him through the myriad of forks and mazes that followed.

Time lost meaning here as Cadmus wandered for what may have been minutes or even hours until finally, the winding paths came to an abrupt end at a single inconspicuous door made of brown rooted wood with a rusted steel handle. It was freezing cold to the touch, but comforting in its own odd way. He breathed deeply and pushed the door open.

At the center of the room stood a single featureless pedestal carved from marble, and atop it said an inconspicuous jagged piece of pitch-black rock. Frost radiated around its surface turning the air around it into an icy haze that orbited around it. Cadmus stepped forward without pause, as the presence in mind that had lurked ever since he arrived upon Themiscyra suddenly disappeared.

The stone called to him, not with words or any speech that could be comprehensible to any other. But, in a way that reached into his very being and spoke to him, and told him that this was his by right, that this stone had always belonged to him even if he did not know it. He cupped the stone in two hands gently, running his fingers over its surface, memorizing every inch down to the last detail. There were runes carved into its surface, mangled, broken, and indecipherable, like a single piece of a puzzle.

This was but one piece of something much greater, Cadmus realized. Something that had once belonged to his father, and now belonged to him. The Black Throne. This single shard was but the beginning, he would have to find the others wherever they may be on the earth. Only then, would he be unassailable, only with the full fight of Time itself at his beck and call would he never have any cause to fear someone else.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sudden woosh of air from behind the doorway. Turning, he met the worried eyes of Kara Zor-el, filled with trepidation. "I saw the battlefield...there were thousands of Amazons just lying there." she shivered from the cold, opening her mouth to continue but found nothing to say. Her eyes fell to the stone in his hand.

"What are you doing, Cadmus?" she asked with wariness coloring her words.

He smiled, a thing of feral triumph.

"I'm claiming my birthright."

His hand closed around the stone and the world was bathed in a brilliant and cold golden light.

There was only darkness around him, an endless expanse without end accompanied by silence. He could not open his eyes, nor turn his head, or even speak word. And then, he felt a gust of wind upon his face bringing with it the cold chill of sea spray, and with a thundercrack, lightning illuminated the world.

He was standing atop a jagged outcrop, in the middle of a storm without end. As far as the sky stretched, storm clouds blotted its expanse. Lances of pale blue lightning tore through their curtain and lashed against the raging sea that roiled with great waves that swallowed the low fields below with each tide.

Eleven sundered remains of what on closer inspection appeared to be thrones lay scattered in a U-shape around him. Even what remained of them was beautiful through the utter destruction that laid waste to the intricate runework and craftsmanship that took to create them. At the center of the U was another throne, this one the only one among its bretheren untouched, and lacking any of the pageantry of its siblings.

Simple and austere in design, crafted from night itself in color. What designs it bore on its surface glimmered the color of quicksilver and gold, ever shifting and circulating in upon itself.

At the foot of the throne were three men each of whom bore a shocking resemblance to the other, full-bearded and powerful in build, dressed for war in shimmering bronze war. Cadmus could only tell them apart by the the color of their eyes and most importantly the weapons they wielded in their hands.

The left-most posessed sea-green eyes and carried a golden trident in hand, upon which a serpentine stream of water in the shape of a snake coiled about and extended its body across the man's shoulders.

The right-most wore a black helm upon his head through which twin black orbs peered through. He carried a simple spear in his hand and a lash at his hip. And between them both stood who Cadmus assumed to be their leader by the position he carried at the center.

He carried something that shouldn't be even possible to have a weapon, a lightning bolt the size of his torso, crackling with barely-constrained electricty.

At their feet was a fourth man, who unlike the clear victors before him, was dressed in but a simple black toga that billowed around his thin and near-emaciated form. His beard was long and gray and haggard and fell to his knees in length. But even through his gaunt features, the similarity between this stranger and the men standing above him could not be denied.

Just in front of the fallen stranger laid a simple scythe, as tall as any of the men, with a long blade of something almost like metal but gleamed in a way that was almost like a diamond.

The man turned his head away in Cadmus's direction and he saw two pools of molten gold where the man's eyes would be. Cadmus's breath caught and recognition flooded his mind.

The situation in of itself would have been more than anyone to be able to handle. What made it even worse was that each of the men bore a striking resemblance to Cadmus himself.

THU, 29 JUN 2023, 08:02NEW COMMENT304 CHAT

It was not the largest stretch for Cadmus to realize just who he was looking at. He had seen his Father before in Elysium, but not in the broken state that he presented now. And if he were correct about that, then the three younger men who could only be his sons had only one possible identity.

The sons of Kronos, Zeus, Hades, Poseidon. His...half-brothers.

The broken thrones told him that he was on Othrys, and the time...right after his father's defeat in the Titanomachy.

Cadmus's eyes drifted to the scythe that laid upon the marble floor and dread pooled in his stomach.

None of the gods nor Titan paid him any attention, too focused as they were upon the other.

"Does it feel as you thought it would?" Kronos rasped. Coughs seized his body and he hacked ichor on to the ground.

Zeus looked down upon his father impassively while lightning tore through the skies above. "It will be soon enough, once you rot in Tartarus with your brothers."

The Titan King's responding cackle lay tinged with madness, and remained so even as Zeus reached for the scythe that laid but a few feet away.

"They were always weak. They were not strong enough to accept our Mother's offer. If they could not carry the scythe, they could not be king." He fell silent, and then stared ponderously at his youngest son. "Do you have the strength to rule then, runt?"

Zeus nodded. and the lightning bolt in his hands dissipated in a flurry of shimmering sparks. He lifted the scythe, holding its handle in two hands.

"Do not think this is the end," Kronos abruptly spoke and Zeus froze. A sudden tension seized all three brothers, rooting them in place. Ozone permeated the air clinging to each breath Cadmus took.

"A gift, from a generous father to undeserving sons. Just as my sire, Ouranos granted to me upon the eve of my coronation. A portent, a warning, a prophecy if you would dare to call it that. Just as the sky remains, so too will the sands of time, and nothing can remain without a lord for long. Just as the age of Ouranos gave way to the age of Othrys, so too will the star of your unborn kingdom be eclipsed by another. Heed my words, ungrateful wretched spawn of mine. I name the downfall of your reign. Remember it and dread its coming for all the good that it will do you."

"éskhaton," Kronos whispered with vicious glee. "First it will take your servants, and make mockery of their sacrifice. Then it shall profane your temples and finally it shall come for you, and there shall be nothing left of Olympus."

The raging sea and thunderous skies and moaning wails of the dead went abruptly silent. The three brothers looked to one another and spoke silently.

"Enough," Zeus commanded suddenly, and his two elder brothers inclined their heads in acquiescence. "We are not you, Crooked One." Zeus spoke to his sire. "We shall not make the same mistakes you did. We will rule well and justly."

Kronos smiled through ichor-stained teeth. "I said the same to my father before I put him beneath the scythe as well."

Zeus raised the scythe high, but just as it reached the apex of the arc, all four men suddenly turned and swiveled their heads, and four pairs of eyes fixed themselves upon Cadmus.

"Another lays claim to the mantle of Lord." The three sons of Kronos intoned as one. "Let this avail of you such aspirations, Usurper."

The scythe cut down and Kronos fell with a laugh upon his lips.

Cadmus opened his eyes and let out a shuddering gasp.

His outstreched palm was open and empty, the stone that he once held in its grip now gone. The torches had guttered out and the blistering cold that once surrounded the now bereft pedasetel had given way to a pallid warmth.

He gazed down at the cracked marble surface that the piece of his father's throne had rested upon, readied for the return of the voice that had hounded all the way to her. But, there was only silence and feeling of satisfaction that swept over his shoulders and through his bones.

Like a surge of water through a dam, he could feel this nameless energy flood his every crevice, driving out whatever exhaustion that still clung to him and mending the torn and reddened flesh to scar tissue.

It was an intoxicating rush that dissipated as quickly as it arrived and left as quickly as it arrived. But in its wake, Cadmus felt whole for the first time ever, and stronger than he had ever been.

________________________________________

The Shattered Throne of Themiscyra:

- A fragment of the Black Throne has been wrested free from the Amazons of Themsycira, beginning the reclamation of a lost legacy, and once more brining the eternal island under the soverignity of Time's inexeroable march.

________________________________________

"You said that was your...birthright." Kara's sudden statement startled Cadmus aways from his reverie. The Kryptonian eyed him not suspicion but with wariness. She floated just an inch off the ground waving back and forth as if unable to decide whether to approach him or get away. Her eyes flicked from the empty pedastal to him with specatcular speed, and her brow remained furrowed in thought.

"It was." Cadmus replied, turning to face her fully. "The Amazons had taken it from my father and they would never have given it to me. It was one of the only things that remained of him that he left for me."

"So you took it back," The tension lifted a bit from her body and she nodded her head as though it as though it were the most logical thing. And for a girl who had nothing left of her whole world but a name, she too would have done the same.

He took a step closer lowly. "And you helped me,"

Used Her. Cadmus shoved the thought away.

"And I can't ever thank you enough for that." He stepped past her, and offered his hand. "Now let's get off this island."

Kara looked down at beckoning hand for a long moment, a conflict of emotions playing across her featueres before suddently stilling. She smiled and reached forward.

As they walked through the maze - floated in her case, and back to the surface of Themiscyra.

Hippolyta was there to greet them upon their emergence from the catacombs, still sprawled on the ground but cognizant enough for terror to enter her eyes upon seeing Cadmus. She forced herself up by the elbow, but did not reach for the xiphos that laid a few feet away from her grasp.

"What have you done, Kara?" she rasped. The Kryptonian averted her eyes from the fallen queen, and fell a step back in an attempt to hid herself from Hippolyta's reproachful gaze.

"Speak to her again like that, Hippolyta, and you won't have any more use for your tongue." The Amazon met Cadmus's eyes and wisely fell silent.

Kara remained closed around herself as they walked out of the throne room, refusing to move her eyes from where they were glued straight ahead lest they catch sight of the many of her fallen former sisters that laid scattered in every direction.

Cadmus could feel her gaze boring two little holes into his back keenly at times, and he could even guess the thoughts running at breakneck pace through her mind, attempting to reconcile the carnage all around them with the person she thought she knew.

Neither spoke until they reached a vista on the edge of the island, overlooking the unending expanse of ocean that surrounded Themiscyra that abruptly ended in an impenetrable shroud of dark clouds and mist that reeked of magic eons old.

"So, this is it." Cadmus could hardly believe it himself. He was at the cusp of freedom, something he never could have imagined when he was shipped to this place two years ago.

"But how do we get pas that?" Kara asked, distractingly worrying at her bottom lip. Cadmus swiftly turned away.

He reached down running his hand through the blades of grass. "You can leave that to me."

Magic ran through even the smallest grain of Themiscyra, magic that made the plants flourish and sustained the fields for animals to graze freely. It was infinitely more potent than anything even Hepheastus's chains could compare to, a blessing laid upon blessing into an unbreakble lattice that would protect this island from hunger and starvation indefinitely.

But, the magic that guarded the island from the outside was of a wholly different substance. Stolen, a pale imitiation of his own and wholly unworthy of existing.

This thin and permeable boundary that not even split Themiscyra from the world but from time itself had existed for so long on the power of his father's throne, but now that it had been reclaimed, this mockery of Time could be brought to an end.

Cadmus reached forward, gripping the thin fabric of magic in both hands. Then with all his might he pulled.

It gives way as easy as tearing a piece of paper in two, with a violent wrenching shriek of glass shattering multipled a thousand times over and a howling cold wind that buffeted the shore.

Before his eyes, the pale horizon of Themiscyra is illuminated in a thousand shattered gleaming pale interconnected lattices of gold that in the course of a few seconds dissipate into nothingness, and with them so too did the mist and clouds also depart revealing an expanse of gleaming blue ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see.

A pressure Cadmus did not even realize existed lifted itself from his chest as the outside world that he had been cut completely off from reappeared once more, like a pond reconnected to a vast and unending ocean.

Cadmus turned and found his companion watching him with a swirling tribulation of emotions.

"What are you thinking, Kara?"

"You destroyed the shield." Kara began. "...I didn't think that was even possible."

"Impossible for most," Cadmus replied. "but not for me."

She worried with her hands, averting her eyes to the sea beyond.

"That magic protected them from the rest of the world, to stop them from ever being invaded again. I don't know everything but I know that much. Now it's gone."

Cadmus was silent for a long moment before he responded. "It may have been like that in the beginning, but the Amazons have been separated from the world for too long. You can't hide yourself away from the world simply because you don't like it." He looked at her meaningfully. "It also doesn't give you the right to force others to do the same. The Amazons thought there was something wrong with us, maybe now they'll learn it was they who were in the wrong."

He sincerely doubted that, and if the Amazons did miraciously grasp the enormity of the mistake they did, it was never his intention to do so. He wanted to hurt them and what more could he do than to tear down their blessed their world at its foundation?

Kara nodded her head in agreement at his words, even though she reamined clearly conflicted, unaware of Cadmus's internal thoughts.

The two fell into a companionable muted silence, staring out into the horizon, both wondering, What now?

Freedom had just been a concept, a goal to chase and challenge to overcome, but now that it was in his grasp, Cadmus had truly no idea what to do next.