Chapter 15 - The Day Of Black Sun

Time moved as quickly as it could and soon enough, some welcomed the last day of the year and the eve of the New Year. Not all worlds moved according to the same time flow, hence the reason it was only this way for some.

The morning of the New Year's Eve, began as every other day did, with the sun peeking through the east, albeit at a slightly lower speed than usual, besides that there was nothing unusual.

People busily filled the streets of various towns and cities on multiple worlds as they moved about for various purposes ranging from, those hoping to make it to their respective workplaces on time, to the children who raced with each other to their playgrounds.

Some went to the shops and markets to purchase items needed to prepare lavish meals for their families to celebrate the end of the year. Some went to the temples to pray to the gods they believed in thanking them for being able to see the end of another year.

In some areas, sacrifices were made in respect to the deities they worshipped for the same reasons as those who went to the temples. Some others prepared for festivals in which they planned to celebrate amongst themselves. All things considered, it was a normal new year's eve form many.

The same applied for the gods and other higher beings as some simply watched the mortals activities from their realms while some descended to enjoy the festivities alongside them. Many even imitated the mortals and organized their own festivals and celebrations amongst themselves. There was happiness in the air almost everywhere.

Naturally some did not share the festive moods as others did, some lamented on how they had gone through another year without any positive changes in their mundane lives, while some cried as the year was one of extreme sadness in their lives.

Some shed tears for the family and loved ones they lost during the course of the year. Others hoped that all their troubles in life would end alongside the year.

It was also on this particularly fine morning that the Olympian sun god, Apollo decided to take a rest from all his worries like others. He took a trip to one of the uninhabited planets in his territory, hoping to enjoy some peace and quiet.

He had lots of duties as the sun god and god of music, poetry light and all the other aspects he governed over. Here, he acted like a normal man who you could find anywhere, one that just happened to enjoy nature.

The planet he went to was one he named Ataraxia, meaning 'absence of mental disturbance'. That was precisely how it was as there was truly nothing that could cause any disturbance to his rest. He descended on one of the high mountaintops admiring the beautiful scenery of the mountain range around him.

The mountains were vampire-white, a wave of white snow went rumbling down the sides. They were all crumpled at the base. The tops of the mountains were all sky stabbing and their legs were very wide, each of them was shrouded in a grey mist and the air was chilling and numbing.

He was descending the mountains along the turquoise-blue stream that wound its merry way into the forest below, babbling and burbling, it sprung over the limestone rocks in its way. Pebbles whisked about in under wash like pieces of glitter.

"They say streams are the liquid soul of the forest and this one is glowing."

He spoke as he looked at the chords of soft light that speared down from above, bathing its surface in gold; it was glinting in sparkles like a thousand diamonds blessed with an inner fire. The hedgerows were pregnant with berries and he plucked some, before laying on the ground to taste them.

He felt energized with their pleasant waft and was about to have a nice nap before sensing the presence of an intruder. Clicking his tongue, he spoke towards the direction he sensed the presence in while still having his eyes closed as he planned to chase them away in order to continue napping.

"Who is it, I'm resting today, if it's not urgent then just go back."

"Brother, this is definitely not the time for rest!" a voice replied.

It appeared the intruder was none other than his twin sister, the goddess of the hunt, vegetation, chastity and childbirth, Artemis.

"And why on Ataraxia would this not be the perfect time for rest?" he asked back slightly annoyed.

"Did you forget how to use your powers? If you did I'd suggest looking at the sky, it'd be a lot more faster than remembering how to use them or any explanation I could give."

At her reply, he finally opened his eyes and stared at the sky, at first, he wondered how it could explain her reason for disrupting his rest however, those thoughts only lasted for just a single second.

It was impossible not to see the reason she was agitated, while many would not be able to see it, however as a god and one who governed the aspect of the sun at that, it was simply impossible for him to not see it.

The moon was in the sky, during the daytime, at the late hours of the morning nearing noon. He was completely nonplussed as he never expected a situation where an eclipse would begin occurring without him noticing, this slightly damaged his pride as the sun god.

Instantly getting up from the ground, he whistled summoning his chariot of Pegasi before jumping on and moving to straight to the center of Olympus, completely forgetting about his sister who was beside him.

On the way he contacted the other sun gods who were arranged into the same group with him using the mirror-like artifact prepared for them.

Five figures appeared on the screen as he began speaking immediately.

"Has any one of you noticed anything strange about today, like moons in the sky at noon?"

Hearing Apollo's words, the five figures instantly realized the situation as one asked back,

"Is there an unscheduled eclipse happening in Olympus right now? There's nothing on my end here." Sol, the personification of the sun in Romersk said.

"There's also nothing here." Wala the Aboriginal sun goddess added.

Utilizing his authority as the Olympian god of the sun, Apollo confirmed that a series of mass eclipses had begun within Olympus. A certain area had already been darkened almost completely. As he told this to the others, their reactions were ones of shock.

"Does this mean that the father of the prophesied 'child of destruction' is an Olympian?" Saule, the Baltic sun god asked.

As Apollo was about to reply he realized he had arrived at mount Olympus, disconnecting the artifact after informing them of his intention to speak with Zeus and asking them to check with other groups, he jumped down onto the courtyard of the building where Zeus and Athena were currently engaging in a conversation.

Sensing him they looked up to see him jump down, as he landed he immediately began speaking.

"A series of mass eclipses beyond my control just begun, the solar deities theorized that the location where the mass eclipses begin is the location closely related to the prophesied child's parents, as we know where the mother is, the only other place it could possibly begin in is in his father's location or where he's from."

Pausing temporarily to take a deep breath, he continued speaking,

"The only place the mass eclipses have begun is in Olympus, i contacted five others on my way here and they haven't noticed any signs in their pantheons."

Hearing and realizing the meaning of what he said, Athena asked skeptically,

"Are you sure you aren't coming to conclusions too hastily?"

Apollo's reply however, was one of annoyance.

"Do you really think I'd do that at this point in time, the area the eclipses are covering is increasing as we speak, no matter how I look at it this is clearly abnormal. This leaves us only one alternative explanation, Today is the day of 'Black Sun'."

As soon as he spoke, the ambient energies around him thrummed as if agreeing with his words. Seeing this Zeus no longer had much doubt. Before he could speak, Apollo's communication artifact rang out, picking it up, the faces of more than ten figures appeared contrary to the previous five.

"Apollo, it seems Olympus is truly related to this matter, None of us here have noticed any signs of a mass eclipse occurring, if it has already begun in Olympus then it seems that the god who sired this prophesied child is an Olympian." One of the voices spoke solemnly. Hearing this, the others nodded in assent.

"How would you figure out who it is then?"

"I believe you said an area had almost darkened completely, which gods have territories in that area?"

As they began asking questions, Zeus finally spoke up,

"This is a matter for Olympus to handle; I would appreciate it if you did not pry." Hearing his voice, the sun gods finally realized that Apollo was in Zeus' presence, after paying their respects to him as the Master of Olympus, they terminated the connection.

Thinking that the news of the prophesied child being related to Olympus was going to spread quickly, Zeus sighed before telling Apollo.

"You were too hasty, you shouldn't have let them realize the eclipses had begun in Olympus."

Before he could continue to scold Apollo, Athena finally spoke up,

"What part did you say has almost been darkened completely?" at her question Apollo tensed up visibly before looking towards Zeus then replied with a slightly shaking voice.

"Southern Olympus."

As he spoke Zeus' aura exploded as he couldn't calm himself, picking up Apollo by the collar of his shirt he asked again to confirm.

"WHAT! ARE YOU SURE OF THIS?!"

Apollo and Athena were subjected to the full brunt of his violent aura, however Zeus didn't seem to care about this. He only looked straight at Apollo waiting for a reply,

"y-yes"

The moment he heard that reply, he dropped Apollo back on the ground before activating the authority of the Master he possessed as the King of the Olympian Pantheon. One of the abilities this authority allowed him was to check the index of the gods of Olympus, it allowed him to see their locations if they were not actively trying to hide it and if the person in question was not in Olympus at the moment, he would be aware.

Other Masters all posess the similar abilities

Scanning all of Southern Olympus, he noticed most of the gods there were all present. As for the few who were not, he found them in other parts of Olympus, all except one. The only one who possesed all the qualities they had theorized the father of the prophesied child would posess.

He decided to check what could be considered an entry & exit log for for all the gods of olympus. He looked for the name of that certain god and he found it.

Apparently that god had left Olympus not long ago, and he moved in the direction of western Olympus. As he got this information, he barely managed to calm the rage that overflowed from within, he immediately contacted Poseidon and told him about it. Poseidon's territory was in western Olympus and he was even more shocked at this discovery than Zeus was.

Looking at Zeus' reaction, Athena confirmed her suspicions as she spoke up,

"It's him isn't it?, although it's a stretch to say it's a hundred percent certain, he definitely fits the bio for the god who could be the father of the prophesied child."

Zeus' continued silence, further confirmed that he had the same thoughts as she did, that was also the reason why Apollo was reluctant to state who's territory it was.

After all, it was certainly the exact same person had a look of acknowledgement on his face that day they heard of the prophecy. He also possessed the strength, rank, and status Athena theorized the father possessed.

'As I thought, he really did know something.'

The missing god was the Ruler of most of Southern Olympus, the elder sibling of both Zeus and Poseidon.

Cattleya Vaughn's hooded best friend and father of her unborn child, was none other than the King of the Underworld, Hades.