Waves crashed against the cliffs far below the palace with a force that shook the foundations, salt spray carried upward on winds that howled like living things.
The crew stood on the palace roof with Jax, weapons ready, faces turned toward the storm that had chased them across the world and now waited to finish what it had started.
Jax gripped the parapet, the sea-blue cord from Nausicaa still knotted around his wrist, the golden calf from Helios huddled near Ment’s feet, lowing softly as though it understood the end was near.
The thunder rolled closer, each peal deeper, angrier, and in the flashes of lightning Jax could see the shape forming over the water, a colossal figure of storm and wave, trident raised, eyes burning white with divine fury.
Poseidon.
Eur stood beside him, shield planted, voice steady despite the wind tearing at his cloak.
“He’s here. The final wrath. Everything we’ve done led to this.”
Jax nodded, the weight of ten years settling on his shoulders.
“We don’t run. We end it.”
Thea scanned the horizon, bow in hand.
“Waves are rising. Krakens in the distance. He’s bringing everything.”
Phil nocked an arrow, eyes narrowed.
“I’ll take the eyes if I can see them.”
Ment gripped his pot like a lifeline.
“We fight for home. For all of us.”
Pol and Kid stood shoulder to shoulder, spears ready.
Kid’s voice shook but held.
“We’re with you, Captain.”
A blue box tore open in the sky, visible to all, edges crackling with lightning.
The first wave hit the cliffs, water exploding upward in a white wall that drenched the palace roof.
Lightning forked down, striking the sea, illuminating the krakens rising, dozens, tentacles black and massive, eyes glowing with the same pale blue as the shades on the beach.
Jax raised his voice over the roar.
“Form up! Eur, center! Thea, Phil, ranged! Ment, Pol, Kid, flank! We hold the roof!”
The crew moved as one.
The krakens struck first, tentacles whipping over the cliffs, slamming into the palace walls with force that cracked stone and sent marble shards flying.
Eur planted his shield at the edge of the roof, roaring as a tentacle crashed against it, the impact driving him back but not breaking his stance.
Thea and Phil loosed arrows from higher ground, shafts finding eyes and joints, ichor spraying across the stone.
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Jax activated every skill he had left.
He darted forward, dagger flashing, severing a tentacle that reached for Ment.
The limb fell, writhing, black blood hissing on the roof.
Ment swung his pot, crushing another tentacle tip.
Pol and Kid thrust spears, pinning a limb to the stone.
The sky split.
Poseidon descended, not in body but in force, waves rising like walls, lightning arcing from trident to sea, wind whipping into a hurricane that threatened to tear the roof apart.
Jax shouted over the gale.
“Hold the line! Use the walls for cover! Thea, Phil, eyes! Eur, tank the waves! Ment, Pol, Kid, sever tentacles!”
The crew obeyed.
A massive wave crashed over the roof, sweeping Kid toward the edge.
Pol caught him, muscles straining, pulling him back.
Thea’s arrow struck a kraken eye.
It screamed, sinking.
Phil’s shot hit another.
Jax climbed a broken pillar, dagger raised.
He leaped onto a tentacle, slashing deep, riding it down as it thrashed.
The storm intensified.
Lightning struck the roof.
Eur’s shield glowed red-hot.
A blue box flashed.
Athena’s light flared around them, a golden shield against the storm.
Poseidon’s avatar rose from the waves, a colossal figure of water and lightning, trident blazing, eyes white fire.
The sea itself obeyed him, waves forming fists that slammed the palace.
Jax shouted.
“Target the trident! Disrupt the storm!”
The crew focused.
Eur charged forward, shield raised, taking a wave that nearly drowned him.
He held.
Thea and Phil loosed at the trident.
Arrows struck, sparks flying.
Ment threw his pot.
It hit the avatar’s knee, staggering it.
Pol and Kid flanked, spears thrusting at the water form.
Jax leaped from the roof, dagger aimed at the trident.
He struck.
Lightning exploded.
The avatar roared.
A blue box appeared.
Jax landed, rolled, stood.
The avatar raised the trident.
Lightning gathered.
Jax shouted.
“Now! All together!”
The crew charged.
Eur bashed.
Thea slashed.
Phil shot.
Ment clubbed.
Pol and Kid speared.
Jax leaped again.
Dagger plunged into the trident’s core.
The avatar screamed.
Lightning exploded outward.
The storm broke.
The avatar dissolved into water and wind.
Silence.
The sea calmed.
A final blue box appeared.
Jax stood on the roof, breathing hard.
The crew gathered around him.
Eur lowered his shield.
“It’s over.”
Jax looked at Ithaca.
Home.
Finally.
- Mercy or Vengeance? Would YOU have loosed the arrow like Jax? ????
- Favorite moment: Antinous’s throat shot, Penelope’s tearful “Odysseus?”, or the crew bursting in? ??
- Poseidon’s wrath next, what’s your call for the final storm? ???