Chapter 1 - Selene

I have no idea how many days I’ve been stuck in this cell.  I’m not even sure where the cell is, though I have a pretty good guess.  It’s dark, damp, cold, and smells awful.

And all there is to do is talk to Hecate and Odin, who have their cells on either side of me.  Odin’s liquid diet of mead has made the entire place smell like a musty crypt.  Add Hecate’s incense scent to that and you can only imagine the smell that I’m having to deal with.

How did I get here?  Fucking Hermes.  He would have worked out better as the god of chaos instead of being a messenger of the gods.  Asshole.

He came to me with a message that I was urgently needed on Mt. Olympus.  There was a danger to all of us.  We had to come up with a plan to deal with it.

“What’s the danger?” I asked Hermes, wrapping a cloak of stars and night around my shoulders.  “I haven’t heard of anything happening.”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be the messenger, now would I?  They don’t tell me shit.  Just make me go get everyone.  And I mean EVERYONE!  In and out of the Underworld, in the ocean, rivers, forests, and the heavens.  So, if you don’t have any more questions, I’ve got more stops to make,” he said in his signature rapid-fire speech.

“Well, actually - “ I started but he cut me off.

“Great.  See you later.  Byeeee!”  And with that he was gone.

I had a bad feeling about the whole interaction, but I chalked that up to whatever emergency was going on.  I quickly contacted Hecate and we traveled to Mt. Olympus together.  

Hecate and I have always been close, since one third of her personality is the goddess of the night and I am the goddess of the moon.  Kind of a natural collaboration.  But since everything went down with our children 21 years ago, where the witches of all of her three aspects and my wolves got together to help each other, we’ve been a lot closer.  We even agreed to allow those of our children that have mates in the other’s realm cross the borders to be with their mates.  Iris was just the first of many witches in my realm and there are even a couple of my wolves in Hecate’s realm.

It was only natural for us to travel to Olympus together.

We were met by the sight of 11 of the main gods of Olympus being tied up to their thrones, held in place by several entities that I had no idea who they were.  Hecate and I hid behind a large pillar that backed up to a wall.  

Imps, demons, succubi, and demi-gods were holding the 11 Olympians to their thrones.  The only ones that I didn’t see there were Hades, his wife Persephone, and Hermes.

Hades wasn’t that big of a surprise.  He is only allowed in Olympus on the darkest day of the year.  The day of the winter equinox.  It was part of the deal that he made with Zeus when he became lord of the Underworld. He physically could not step foot in Mt. Olympus unless it was on that specific day. 

And Perse is in the Underworld during this time of year.  She's not coming to Olympus right now.

But Hermes?  If he thought that this was an emergency, he would have been here as soon as he finished collecting everyone.  But he was nowhere to be seen.  

That left two options.  Either, he was still gathering other gods, goddesses, demi-gods, and other minor deities and would be along soon.  Or he knew about this.

I can tell which one is probably true from the way he talked to me and how eager he was to leave.

“How do we get out of this?” Hecate asked.  “I’ve been trying to teleport and I can’t.”

Damn, my friend was much better at thinking on her feet than I was.  All I’d been able to do was stare in dismay at the scene in front of us.  But the second I tried, I realized that I had the same problem.

“I can’t either,” I told her, starting to panic.

“That’s by design, dear cousins,” we heard from behind us.  Turning around, we saw Eris, the goddess of discord.  Her name is rightfully translated as “strife” in English, since that’s all that she causes.  Want an example?  She set the events into motion that caused the Trojan War, killing heros and demi-gods, destroying part of the civilized world, and pitting gods and goddesses against each other in rifts that have lasted until today.  All because she wasn’t invited to a wedding.

So when we turn to see her behind us, we know that this isn’t going to be good.

“What is happening, Eris?  Why would you rise up against the Olympians?” Hecate demanded.

Eris belted out laughter so loud that it nearly blotted out the sound of battle around us.  “Because I hate you!  I hate you all.  What have they ever done to help me?  Nothing!  If anything, all you've done is vilify me, when I am only doing what I was created to do.”  The look on her face has turned to pure evil, malevolent glee.  “So, now I'm helping take the power back for all of us who have been crushed by you and pushed to the side.”

From either side of the pillar, several demons appeared.  A combination of succubi, infrites, imps, and shedim wrap chains of silver and iron around us.  It effectively imprisons us. 

But this can’t be possible.  Why are all of these demons here?  From so many different pantheons?  Christian.  Jewish.  Celtic.  

“They shouldn’t be able to cross the barriers of Mt. Olympus, let alone get into the throne room.”  It makes no sense to me.  How are so many different religions able to get in here? 

“Oh, Selene,” Eris laughed.  “Welcome to the new order of things.”

I have no idea what they did with us, but it knocked us out.  When I woke up I was in a cell in what I can only assume is Tartarus, because none of us are able to use our powers.  At all.

Can’t even create a fucking spark to warm up the space.  Get food.  Nothing.

I’m going to assume that it’s so that we can’t escape or get in touch with any of our followers.  But they could at least let our magic work inside the cells.  Cause it’s cold and I’m hungry, damnit.

I grab the bars with both hands trying to summon my power, my strength, and my determination to open this fucking cell.  But, of course, they are covered in pure fucking silver.  I scream as the silver burns my skin, but I keep hold of it.  Silver in and of itself is a soft metal, like pure gold.  Depending on how much silver is in the bars, I might be able to bend them and get out.

But it must just be coated with silver over some other, harder metal.  I can’t move it.  With a final scream of pain and frustration, I let go, pushing myself away from the bars.

“How’d that work out, young one?” Odin asks from the cell next to mine.

“All Father, respectfully, shut the fuck up.  I don’t see you doing anything to try to get out of here,” I retort, pissed as hell and having to wait for my hands to heal.  Being in this cell and having my powers stripped has affected the efficiency of my healing powers.  They aren’t gone, but they aren’t anywhere near as fast as they usually are.

Odin snorts, one of the few expressions of amusement that I’ve ever heard him make.  “All I can tell you, young one, is that this isn’t how I end.  I don’t know about you, but I have already seen my death.  And this isn’t it.  I, at least, will make it through this.”

“Well, that’s so helpful, Odin.  Thank you so much for that,” I snipe out.  He might be powerful and all that shit, but he’s a pain in my ass.

“I get it, Selene, but we already know that brute force isn’t going to work.  All you’re doing is hurting yourself and give the rest of us a headache,” Hecate says from the other side.

“Well, I’ve got to do something!  I’m going insane just sitting here, waiting for something to happen.  Our followers haven’t found us yet for a myriad of reasons and I’m tired of just waiting to see what those assholes are going to do to the world while we rot away here!” By the end of my little speech, I’m screaming.

Suddenly, Hermes arrives in front of my cell.  “I might be able to help out with that.”

“You asshole!” I scream and reach through the bars to grab hold of his neck, not caring that the silver burns my arms, chest, and face in the process.  I grab him and pull him through the bars by the neck.  “At least now I have something to help with the boredom.”

“Wait!  I have news!” he chokes out.

With a growl, I loosen my grip on his neck.  “Speak!  Fast!”

“I know someone who can help get you out,” he coughs out.