38

Tartarus - Present time

Cronus and General Varta had just finished their supervision of the army of the Persian Immortals and were ascending the stairs of a high stone pedestal on which dozens of flags bearing the satanic symbols of Tartarus fluttered on high poles. Upon reaching the top, the King of the Titans spent a few moments staring silently at the hundreds of armed warriors lined up below him in perfect formation, smiling with satisfaction behind his golden mask. Next to him, the black-clad General Varta constantly shifted faces until settling on that of a black-haired bearded man. It was the form he liked to assume when attending official ceremonies in Tartarus.

“My sons... Listen to me!” Cronus announced to the Immortals. Not only did he feel great admiration for their fighting skills, he also felt an affinity with them, since they never revealed their faces either, constantly hiding them behind frightful golden-black masks. What he liked most about them, however, was that they sought vengeance for the dishonourable defeat they had suffered centuries ago, just as he did.

“The time for justice is near. Tomorrow the gates that lead to the hated Utopia will finally open. In a few hours our thirsty mouths will taste the blood of the Orizons and of their allies and our strong hands will seize the Sacred Flame. Then, the path to the Elysian Fields will clear for us and we, the Titans, will put an end to the sovereignty and the lives of those miserable, arrogant creatures who call themselves Gods. And you, my brave Immortals, will get the opportunity to wreak your vengeance on those two Greek heroes you hate most - Spartan King Leonidas and Macedonian King Alexander, who the people of Earth, in their paranoia, called “the Great.”

“Yes, my children,” Cronus raised his voice even further so that he could be heard over the grinding of teeth and the growls of hatred emitting from the mouths of the thousands of Immortals. “Believe it. The time has finally come for your weapons - made of the toughest and blackest steel of Tartarus - to slice off the heads and rip out the hearts of your eternal enemies.”

A tremendous war cry rocked the entire cavern. The King of the Titans turned his gaze to Varta and motioned for him to give a speech to the Immortals as their appointed general and leader.

With an expression of sardonic satisfaction, the lanky, black-clad man bowed towards Cronus and turned to the crowd of Persian warriors lined up below them. “My brave Immortals!” he shouted, lifting his arms high.

His words were cut short by a mighty rumble of panic that seemed to come from all the entrances of the cavern at once. Cronus and General Varta saw Python appear at one of the entrances, followed by a group of armed Demons.

“My brother... it’s a disaster!” the sorcerer of Tartarus shouted.

“What’s happening, Python? Speak!” Cronus commanded.

“The Orizons and all their allies from the Land of the White Sun,” the sorcerer panted, “they have invaded Tartarus and are already in Charon’s Cavern!”

“What?” The King of the Titans howled. “How dare they? How is this possible?”

“It seems that the Gods helped them open a gate from their world and they are now leading them straight to our palaces.”

“Are the Gods with them, too?” Cronus roared.

“According to the report I received, there is only one - the so-called God of the Underworld, Hades.”

“That bastard!” Cronus spat. “But how did they get to Charon’s Cavern? Why weren’t they stopped by our Demons?”

“Your Majesty,” the sorcerer said, cowering as he spoke, “you are forgetting that you, yourself, commanded all our Demon armies to gather in the Cavern of Acheron, from which I would open the gates tomorrow in order to attack Utopia.”

Cronus was shaking with rage, furiously clenching and unclenching his steel fists.

“May I speak, my king?” General Varta enquired. Cronus nodded. “It seems the Orizons and their allies do not intend to invade our palaces on their own, otherwise they would have already done so. I think they are most likely waiting to join their forces with those of Zeus and the other Gods; perhaps even with those of an entire army under the leadership of the heroes that I believe may soon invade our world from a gate they will open from the Elysian Fields.”

Cronus raised his head high and let out a wild cry like a wounded lion. “Dammit! They have taken us by surprise. And just a few hours before we were to invade their worlds. This can only mean that they knew of our plan!” He shot a flaming gaze at the sorcerer of Tartarus.

Python felt the ground disappear beneath him.

“The oracle is to blame, my king!” he wheezed breathlessly. “It appears that the damned creature was able to predict our moves and...”

“It’s your fault, sorcerer!” Cronus hissed menacingly. “Because despite all your admirable skills about which you constantly boast... you ultimately weren’t able to trap and neutralise a... little girl, as you, yourself, insisted on describing her when criticising General Varta!”

“I did everything I could... Your Majesty,” Python wailed.

“Which proved insufficient!”

The King of the Titans turned to the black-clad figure next to him. “General Varta!”

“At your command, my king!” the faceless man replied, standing at attention before him, proudly raising a head that had taken its usual form of a skull. Two creepy red flames burned within its eye sockets.

“Take your Immortals and lead them immediately to Charon’s Cavern. There, try to delay our enemies for as long as you can. Do everything possible to prevent them from entering the gates that lead to our palaces. Meanwhile, I will gather all the Titans and our entire Demon army from the Cavern of Acheron. Then we will come and find you as soon as possible.”

General Varta bowed and descended the stairs of the pedestal two at a time.

“My sons!” Cronus shouted to the Immortals. “These filthy entities - the so-called “defenders of Good” - have dared to set foot in our world... But we will make them pay dearly for their impudence! They will feel the wrath of the Titans barrel down upon them and by the end of today Tartarus will become their dark eternal grave.”

The crowd of black-clad warriors burst into cries of wild excitement.

“Evil will prevail!” Cronus boomed.

“Evil will prevail!” the Immortals replied in unison.

* * *

The two-mile-wide Cavern of Charon resonated with the galloping of horses and the voices of thousands of warriors from the Land of the White Sun. The walls emitted an ominous crimson light. The forces were lined up in battle formation opposite the three large gates that led to the Palaces of the Titans. The members of the War Council of Utopia gathered before their troops.

“I expected the creatures of Tartarus to provide a more enthusiastic welcome for us,” King Turgoth joked.

“Indeed, not a single one of our rivals appears to be here,” Lady Felicia said.

“The resistance we have encountered so far, from the moment we passed through the gate that God Hephaestus opened for us through to the traversing of the tunnels leading to this cavern, has been minimal,” Lord Leiko added. “The few Demons who happened to find themselves in our path just ran away in a panic.”

Bull the Minotaur smiled with satisfaction. “It appears that we took them by surprise.”

“Thanks to the plan of God Hades!” Princess Rebecca said. “It was his idea to lead us here. He assumed that since the Titans would be preparing for tomorrow’s invasion of Utopia, they would have their whole army gathered in another, more expansive cavern... And it seems that the God of the Underworld was right.”

“Hades may be one of the most important Gods, but he still gives me the creeps,” Leylah muttered. “I don’t think I will ever get used to his appearance... On the other hand, of course, I like the way he can disappear from one place and instantly appear in another, simply by snapping his fingers.” They all laughed, happy to relieve the tension for a few moments.

“That’s exactly how he vanished a while ago,” Doctor Afterland said, holding the Sacred Flame. The warriors of the Land of the White Sun were each equipped with one spark of it, wearing it in a special orgonite pendant designed for this purpose. “He must already be in the place from where the Gods and the heroes will enter Tartarus in order to lead them to this meeting point.”

“Let’s hope that the Gods arrive before this place is crawling with Titans and Demons,” Leiko said. “Let’s not fool ourselves, my friends. It will be impossible for us to confront these monsters alone, in their own world and in open field.”

“Speaking of monsters... Look there! It seems that the bad guys have finally decided to come join us!” Turgoth said, pointing to the Gates of the Palaces of the Titans. They all turned and saw that, from one gate, a great army of armoured warriors was streaming in and lining up opposite them.

“They are not Demons,” Nemesis said. “They appear to have human form. Who are they?”

“They don’t look like Sartani to me,” Bull grinned, “which means I have permission to smash their heads in... right?”

“They are the Persian Immortals,” Turgoth said, frowning. “The Titans found a way to retrieve their souls from Hell and now they are throwing them into battle on their behalf.”

“In the History of Earth, the Immortals are referred to as some of the most fearsome fighters of all time,” Julia Feredini remarked.

“And indeed they were!” Turgoth confirmed. “That is why we should not underestimate them now. We are dealing with a perfectly coordinated, trained and disciplined army that is not going to attack us blindly, as the Demons of Tartarus usually do.”

“Whatever they do, we will send them into nothingness!” Bull rumbled.

Leylah raised her hand and pointed to the centre of their opponents’ formation. “Look who their leader is.”

“General Varta!” Prince Alexander said.

“We must get that vile creature out of the way as soon as possible,” Turgoth said. “That is where the Immortals are vulnerable. If they lose their leader, they become completely disorganised.”

“Leave that scum to me!” Alexander said, clenching his teeth.

“The enemy has fully lined up,” centaur General Hunter pointed out, “but they don’t seem to be making a move against us.”

“Just as we await the Gods, they are waiting for the Titans while they guard those three gates,” Rebecca said.

“So why don’t we wipe them out before they get help from their masters?” Turgoth suggested.

He looked around and everyone nodded their agreement.

“That’s it, then!” he shouted, raising his clenched fist. “The battle of Tartarus begins!”

“Fight, my friends!” Rebecca cried. “Fight bravely like never before - in defence of Good in all worlds!”

The members of the War Council let out a collective battle cry and split up so that each could stand in front of the unit he or she commanded. Rebecca lifted her sword high and lowered it so that its tip was pointed at the enemy. The army of the Land of the White Sun moved like one coordinated body towards the Gates of the Palaces of the Titans.

Once they had covered the first hundred yards, the Princess of Utopia commanded that the trumpet sound, thereby giving the signal for the cavalry to advance. A moment later, General Hunter’s centaurs galloped forward to the right of the army of Utopia while to left of the Utopians galloped hundreds of Amazons under the leadership of General Nemesis. A second trumpet sounded, warning the warriors of the infantry, which consisted of Orizons, Sharkans, Cyclopes and Porth, to raise their shields above their heads as the enemy released a black cloud of arrows upon them.

General Varta, realising that the enemy cavalry was going to strike the side of his army, ordered the unleashing of a dozen hellhounds - the three-headed dogs of Hell that were bigger than elephants. These frightening beasts crushed with their paws, slashed with their serpent tails and grabbed with their loathsome jaws some of the soldiers of Utopia. Yet soon they fell dead, pierced by a multitude of spears and arrows hurled at them by the centaurs and the Amazons.

A few minutes later the cavalry was hammering the enemy on both sides while the infantry of the army of Utopia had reached General Varta’s men. The Immortals, however, seemed to be withstanding the attack, battling with admirable concentration, strategy and determination, and managing to curb the impetus even of the gigantic Cyclopes. They killed many of them with spears forged from the black steel of Tartarus, penetrating the enormous bronze armour of the one-eyed creatures of the Land of the White Sun. Only the Porth, the leadership of which was undertaken by Bull, had managed to create a gap in the defensive line of the Immortals.

Rebecca and Turgoth fought side-by-side brandishing their frightful swords, the Titan Slayers. They crushed the shields and the weapons of the Dark forces and ripped off their heads. Nevertheless, they could see that their army didn’t seem to be breaking through the front lines of their enemies.

“If the Titans arrive before the Gods, then we are doomed!” Rebecca shouted as she plunged her sword into the chest of an Immortal.

Turgoth brought his sword down on the head of another opponent, smashing his skull as if it were a nutshell and splitting it in two. “So let’s do something to prevent that,” he growled, using the back of his hand to wipe off the black blood that had splattered across his face.

“We are moving on to the second phase of our plan!” Rebecca shouted behind her and instantly an Orizon on the front line sounded the trumpet twice.

“The signal!” Leylah and Alexander said as one. They had been placed on the last line of the Land of the White Sun army in preparation for this moment.

“Forward, my friends!” the young princess shouted to the group of young Orizons around her.

“Find General Varta!” the prince bellowed, jumping high and hovering in the air.

A hundred more young Orizons, led by Leylah and including Gregory and Anna, ascended swiftly to the roof of the huge cavern, rising more than seven hundred feet in the air. They flew over their army and headed towards the Immortals. High above enemy lines they circled like hungry hawks searching for their prey.

“There!” Leylah cried.

Alexander followed her gaze. Indeed, somewhere in the middle of the back lines of the enemy formation was a large chariot, in front of which a hellhound was tied. On the chariot stood General Varta.

“I got you now, monster!” Alexander murmured, pulling another two swords out of the sheaths on his back and diving fast towards Varta. Leylah and the other adolescents poured down behind him, swarming above the chariot and close to the Gates of the Palaces of the Titans.

“Apollo!” the young princess shouted and within seconds she was holding the bow of the God of Light in her hands. As she prepared to shoot a light arrow at General Varta, Alexander stopped her. “No, Leylah... Leave him to me, please!”

The General of the Immortals was smiling as he watched his army successfully repel the attack of the army of Utopia. He felt absolutely certain that he could hold them there and keep them from reaching the three gates before the Titans arrived. Suddenly he heard the howl of one of his guards.

“Watch out, master! They are above us!”

Varta looked up and his face turned as red as blood. “Why are you staring at them?” he screamed. “Kill them all!”

The black-clad men encircling his chariot hurled arrows at the young Orizons who were swooping down onto them like raptors. Three of the Orizons were struck and fell lifeless into the throng below but the rest landed around the chariot, spreading death with their crystal swords and daggers.

Only Leylah and Alexander continued to hover in the air. The princess shot a light arrow into the three-headed hellhound, instantly vaporising it in a bright blast. General Varta’s chariot, however, remained completely intact. Then the prince let out a wild cry and lunged to the ground.

The leader of the Immortals heard a voice behind him. “Hey! Mr. Faceless!”

Varta turned and a horrible curse sprang from his throat upon seeing that Alexander, himself, stood on the chariot. He lifted his armed hands and crossed the blades of his two swords, managing to trap the prince’s weapon between them just before it struck his head.

“We gave you the chance to savour true power in the service of Evil... But you threw it away! And now you are going to regret it bitterly... little boy,” Varta hissed, his face now covered in green reptilian scales.

“It is you who will regret it, scum!” Alexander nailed his second sword into the general’s stomach.

Varta’s eyes bulged and his face lost every feature, becoming as white as chalk. His arms became paralysed and his swords fell to the ground. He attempted to say something but all that escaped the horrible hole that served as his mouth was a creeping rattle and a river of thick blood.

“My greetings to eternal nothingness!” Alexander shouted and sliced his enemy’s head off, striking both crystal blades into his throat at once. The cloak of the General of the Immortals fell empty at the prince’s feet as the body of the loathsome creature disintegrated into stinking black ashes.

Alexander shouted for the other young Orizons to follow him and leapt high in the air once more, flying back to the lines of their troops. Six of their own had died but their goal had been achieved. The Immortals were now leaderless.

While above the army of the allies, the young Orizons saw the imposing figure of Bitho the dragon appear. The giant winged creature had entered the cavern through the same tunnel that the army of the Land of the White Sun had used to descend to Tartarus and was now flying fiercely towards the enemy.

The young Orizons approached and flew alongside the dragon.

“Hey, Bitho!” Leylah said. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to stay in Utopia to guard the Sacred Flame, just as Sphinx Glory will stay in the Elysian Fields to guard the Flame there.”

“Indeed, my princess,” the dragon replied. “But I couldn’t rest staying away from this great battle, which will surely determine the future of the whole universe. If today all the forces of Good lose the war and you and the Gods die in Tartarus, how could I then defend the Flame on my own against an entire army of Titans?”

“Well... you are quite right, I suppose!” Leylah admitted.

“That is precisely what God Hephaestus decided when I shared my thoughts with him. And for this reason he agreed to my request and opened a gate for me so that I could come to Tartarus and join you all. I must repay my ancient debt to the Gods and I may finally be given the chance to do so!”

“What debt is that?”

“Perhaps you will learn of it later,” the dragon responded enigmatically. “First we must win this battle. Isn’t that right?”

He lunged on his own at the army of Immortals while the young Orizons landed on the front lines of the allied army and continued to fight at their parents’ sides. The Immortals had become aware of the loss of their leader and had begun to become disheartened. They started to edge back, withdrawing towards the Gates of the Palaces of the Titans. A few minutes later, the Persian warriors were actively fleeing, pursued by Bitho, who was spitting huge jets of fire upon them from above, turning hundreds of them into living torches. They ran screaming until they fell lifeless to the ground, their bodies continuing to burn until they were just shapeless piles of glowing ash.

Stepping on corpses and sliding on the black blood that had soaked the ground, the army of Utopia now moved steadily forward, literally harvesting their opponents like corn. Before long not a single Immortal was left standing in the cavern and only a few hundred of them had managed to escape the carnage, dropping their weapons and running in panic to hide in the Palaces of the Titans.

The Orizons, Cyclopes and mounted Amazons were continuing their march forward in order to enter the gates and finish off the last of the Immortals when Rebecca commanded the trumpeters to sound the end of the first battle and signal the regrouping of the allied army nearly a mile away from the Gates of the Palaces of the Titans.

“Fifty dead and around a hundred injured Orizons, some of them seriously wounded. This is the assessment of our first battle,” Doctor Afterland reported. “I hope that the Gods have managed to fulfil their promise.”

“I am sure that the Gods were able to save the souls of the fallen and accept them into the Elysian Fields before they die here and pass into nothingness,” Rebecca assured him. “My dear Doctor, please take care of our wounded as well as you can.”

“You know that I will, my princess,” he replied. “This is the reason why I brought with me a large amount of the Flame and the volunteers from the hospital.”

Rebecca turned to the other members of the War Council. “We did well, but let us not be carried away by our euphoria and let us be very cautious, because...”

Her voice was drowned out by a crescendo of infernal screams from the three ominous dark Gates of the Palaces.

“The Titans are coming!” Turgoth shouted.

“Hold your fighting positions!” Rebecca cried out and then shouted orders to the trumpeters, who imparted them to the entire army as it scrambled into a new formation.

Her strategy now was different. This time all the Orizons would fly and try to strike the towering Titans from the air. The Amazons and the Centaurs would simultaneously attack the leaders of Tartarus from below, while the Porth and the Cyclopes would undertake the confrontation of their demonic army. It was, of course, a desperate plan doomed to failure since now they were preparing to fight an inherently unequal battle against the most powerful creatures in the universe, who were invulnerable to their weapons.

“At least the three of us have the Titan Slayers in our hands,” Rebecca said to Turgoth and Lady Felicia.

“But from what we know, not even these swords that are charged with the Sacred Flame can kill a Titan,” Felicia reminded her.

“What would happen if all three of us struck the head of one of the Titans at the same time?” Turgoth wondered.

“That’s a very good idea, my king!” Rebecca replied excitedly.

“Let’s try it, then!” Turgoth said. “At worst we’ll give a Titan a great headache and at best we may even manage to split his head in two... Although I don’t think that we’ll find anything inside...”

At that moment the giant figures of the Titans arrived through the Gates of the Palaces with the imposing King Cronus leading the way. His howl resounded throughout the enormous cavern of Tartarus, freezing the blood of even the most courageous warriors in the allied army. The reptilian monsters lined up, growling savagely and puffing smoke, while two large armies of Demons emerged from between their massive legs and moved into position.

Bitho the dragon landed next to the leaders of the Orizons and lowered his head towards Rebecca. “My princess, I think that you all know that without the help of the Gods you stand no chance of defeating the Titans and that in less than half an hour you will all be dead. I am therefore begging you to retreat immediately.”

“You think that I haven’t thought of that, my dear dragon? But even if we run into the tunnel through which we came, do you believe that the Titans and their army won’t come after us? Besides, the gates that Hephaestus opened from Utopia to Tartarus will have closed by now and as you can see neither he nor Hades are here with us right now to open a new gate through which we could return to our world. So even if the Titans don’t catch up with us, the only thing we will accomplish is to get lost and run eternally hunted inside the endless labyrinths of Tartarus.”

“I am not suggesting that you retreat backwards, but towards that opening,” Bitho said, pointing with his head to their left.

“What’s there?” Rebecca asked.

“It’s the tunnel that leads to the sealed Gates of the Elysian Fields, through which the Gods will come.”

“You mean that if we make it there we will meet with the Gods and the heroes as they arrive in that spot?”

“Exactly, my princess! And then you can return here together - a united army able to crush the Titans.”

Rebecca remained silent for a while, examining the cavern and calculating the distance they needed to cover. “I think that no matter how fast we run, the Titans will have enough time to strike down nearly half of our army before it reaches that tunnel.”

“Don’t worry, my dear princess! I will delay them.”

“You... alone? But...”

“We don’t have much time, princess. Please do as I ask. Waiting even a minute longer might be too late!”

“Oh, Bitho!” she said, deeply touched. “How can we ever thank you?”

“By allowing me to sacrifice myself for you!” the dragon replied, bowing towards her by lowering his head before spreading his wings and soaring high.

Rebecca gave orders for the army to reform and told them to move rapidly to the left.

“Where are you going, cowards?” Cronus crowed, seeing that his opponents had begun to withdraw. A few moments later he realised their plan and turned to the Titans lined up behind him.
“Don’t allow them to enter the hole that leads to the sealed gates! Ahead, my brothers! Crush these mice who dare to infect our dark world with their luminous presence!”

The ground of the enormous cavern trembled beneath the footsteps of dozens of Titans and thousands of Demons as they rushed furiously to catch up with the army of Good. The air vibrated with the beating of wings and the horrible shrieks of the flying Demons as they rose from the ground and escorted the walking hordes of Tartarus from above.

Bitho, who had been flying in circles at the highest point of the domed roof of the cavern, turned his body vertically to the ground, pressed his wings to his back and let himself fall like a missile. Forcing out a jet of fire, he created a hole in the black cloud of flying Demons. Passing through it, he opened his wings to perform a manoeuvre which would allow him to head towards the Titans.

Cronus felt his head being wrapped in flames before an enormous weight hit him on his back, dozens of razor-sharp teeth piercing his neck. Mad with pain, he stumbled and slumped to the ground, face down. The other Titans stopped running and watched in astonishment as their leader writhed beneath an enraged dragon.

“My king!” the mouths of all three heads of Typhon shouted anxiously as he lunged at the dragon, hitting him with his six powerful hands. Bitho was forced to loosen his grip on Cronus and sped upwards again, spitting out a jet of fire at Typhon’s head. The Titan fell backwards, screaming. Seconds later the brave dragon was struck by a beam that sprang from the mouth of a gigantic reddish-gold lizard. It was Rhea, riding Sphinx Calphie.

“Tear him apart!” the Queen of the Titans squealed, watching Bitho fall onto a swarm of Demons below. The soldiers of the Titans had already lunged onto the wounded dragon and had begun to hit him furiously with their hooks, daggers, swords and axes, like thousands of ants falling on a beetle to smash it and carry its pieces one by one to their nest.

The dragon raised his head and looked in agony towards the warriors of the Land of the White Sun. He saw that they were now close to the entrance of the tunnel but needed several more minutes until all of them had made it through the relatively narrow opening in the wall of the cavern.

“The time that I have bought for them isn’t enough! I have to delay the Titans a little longer,” the dragon thought, mustering the last of his remaining strength to stand up and shake off the demonic warriors of Tartarus as if they were insects. He spun around, gushing out a jet of fire and turning many Demons into kindling and then into ashes. Within the flaming circle he had created around him, the dragon spread his bloodied wings and again lunged at Cronus, who had been helped up from off the ground by two of his brothers.

Jets of fire and lethal rays hurled from the mouths and the eyes of the Titans, burning and piercing his already destroyed body. Still, Bitho was able to once again swoop onto Cronus and nail his teeth into his throat. The King of the Titans let out a muffled scream, but this time he reacted instantly, piercing the dragon’s ribs with the bony scythe that protruded from his hand. Dozens of other hands with huge crooked claws grasped the guardian of the Sacred Flame to haul him off of Cronus’s body before they started beating him and tearing him apart.

“Now leave him to me!” Cronus yelled, black foam erupting from his mouth.

The dragon again tried to stand but he didn’t make it this time. His wings were now perforated and his backbone cracked in several places. He was seconds away from losing consciousness when his blurred eyes made out Cronus looming over him and raising his scythe.

“And now you die, dragon!” the King of Tartarus shouted.

“You are doing me a favour... And I thank you for it... my brother!” Bitho replied.

“What? Why are you calling me your brother?”

“Because I was once one of you.”

“What do you mean? Who are you?”

“I am Prometheus!”

“Prometheus? You miserable traitor! So, that’s how the thrice-accursed Zeus hid you!” Cronus howled with rage and sliced into the dragon’s neck with his scythe.

The King of the Titans spent a few moments staring in disgust at Bitho’s headless body, surrounded by hundreds of Demons frantically dancing, screaming and brandishing their weapons. Then he turned to the other Titans. “Onward, my brothers! Let’s dispose of all the loathsome creatures that dared to invade our world.”

The army of the Titans continued its course towards the allies accompanied by a black cloud of screeching Demons flying overhead. The defenders of Good were now barely a hundred yards from the opening of the tunnel.

Far away, at the end of the tunnel, a black-clad man appeared, standing still and looking around him.

“Who is he?” Turgoth asked, not being able to make him out on account of the distance.

“I think it is God Hades,” Rebecca said.

The God of the Underworld, assessing the situation in the cavern, raised his hand and motioned silently behind him.

A moment later the allied forces of the Land of the White Sun burst into cries of joy as the greatest of the Greeks, King Alexander the Great, lunged into the cavern on his horse, Bucephalus, followed by hundreds of mounted Macedonian warriors. Behind them, another three hundred Spartans, under the leadership of King Leonidas, entered proudly with their crimson chlamyses waving. Next to appear was Achilles with his famous army of Myrmidons. Tailing them, thousands more horsemen and warriors on foot poured out under the command of other ancient Greek kings, such as Theseus, Perseus, Jason and the resourceful Odysseus. They were all among the heroes that the Gods had invited to live eternally in the Elysian Fields with them, in order to honour them for their feats on Earth.

Next to them, Field Marshal Foster, riding the winged horse Lenus, and Lord Life, on Pegasus, advanced along with the Orizons from the Elysian Fields, many of whom were also mounted on winged horses.

Rebecca immediately began giving new orders, placing the allies of the Land of the White Sun beside the array of heroes who had come to their aid.

“Don’t stop, my brave soldiers! Crush them!” Cronus howled, seeing that some of his warriors had eased their step, hesitating in the face of such an onslaught.

At that moment the Gods of the Elysian Fields began to emerge from the tunnel. They looked like beautiful men and women dressed in ancient Greek martial attire. Their bodies glowed, radiating a wonderful blue light, and then started to change form and become increasingly taller, taking on their glorious, gigantic, divine figures.

“Brave defenders of Good!” the King of the Gods, almighty Zeus, boomed, “It’s time to put an end to this recent rebellion of the Titans and their followers.”

The army of the allies and heroes burst into cheers, which turned into blood-curdling war cries and fanfares sounding for attack. They began to charge the Demons, signalling the start of a new Clash of the Titans which would go down in history as the War of the Gods.

As they approached their opponents, Rebecca commanded the Orizons to take off into the air in order to deal with the flying Demons and provide support from above.

A few seconds later, the forces of Good and Evil fell one upon the other, raising a terrible pandemonium of war cries and weapon clashes. In the centre of the huge crowd as it mercilessly clashed were the gigantic forms of the Gods and the Titans, every strike of whom made the huge Cavern of Charon shake to its foundation.

“Today the sun sets on your kingdom!” Cronus screamed and blew a large jet of fire at Zeus.

The King of the Gods was protected by two of his children, Ares and Athena, who fought by his side. They joined their shields in front of him, blocking the flames that sprang from the horrible mouth of the Lord of Tartarus. Zeus responded instantly, raising his hand and hurling a thunderbolt that hit Cronus straight in the chest. Cronus fell back onto a swarm of his own Demons, crushing them under his enormous weight.

Zeus lunged forward and kicked his eternal enemy in the head before he managed to stand up. But then, the King of the Gods felt a terrible burning in his hand. He had been wounded by a pair of red beams stabbing out from Rhea’s eyes as she rushed to help her husband. The reddish-gold lizard was about to deal another heavy blow to the King of the Gods when Hera intervened, shooting from her fingers ten blue beams, which caused a searing pain for the Queen of Tartarus, scarring her body forever.

Cronus managed to get back on his feet and attack Zeus again. The King of the Gods ducked in order to avoid the enormous scythe that nearly cut his throat. He dealt a powerful punch into the belly of the Titan, making him step back with an involuntary moan. Zeus hurled another thunderbolt that hit Cronus directly in the face, flinging him a hundred yards back and rendering him nearly unconscious.

Meanwhile, God Hephaestus was escaping from a grip that Typhon had got him in with his six arms. He then used his hammer to relentlessly hit the three heads of the infernal monster, making him step back, dizzy.

Goddess Athena was attacking Enceladus with her spear, turning the reptilian creature with the ten heads and the three tails into a stone statue. The Goddess of Wisdom killed the first Titan, followed shortly afterwards by the God of War. Ares, having parried with his shield the huge crooked claws of another monster, slashed at it with his sword, cutting off two of its arms and then all of its necks, eventually rendering it lifeless on the ground.

Apollo disintegrated another two Titans with a burst of light arrows. A cloud of dust, raised by the battle, made the air heavy and stifling.

The Orizons, having already annihilated hundreds of flying Demons, started to regroup, hovering over the army of Utopia.

“Things are going quite well,” Rebecca said. “The Gods seem to be prevailing over the Titans and the heroes are mowing down the Demons like grass.”

“Our army is doing great work despite being exhausted after its earlier fight with the Immortals,” Turgoth added, flying next to her. “So, what now? Are we just going to sit here and watch the battle from above or should we see what these swords can really do?” he said, brandishing his Titan Slayer.

“Good idea!” Rebecca said excitedly.

The Orizons of the Land of the White Sun and those of the Elysian Fields, united under the leadership of Field Marshal Foster and Lord Life, were landing to help the infantry where they needed it. Leiko and Mo were leading the Cyclopes and Bull was commanding the Porth. The minotaur hadn’t felt such heat in a very long time and was bulldozing everything in his path, leaving almost nothing for his troops.

Leylah shot three light arrows in succession that exploded on the horned head of a jet-black monster with the make of a dinosaur whose back was covered in spiky tentacles. As the Titan was paralysed with pain, Rebecca, Turgoth and Felicia seized the opportunity to swoop down from above and nail all three swords into his forehead at once. The creature of Tartarus opened its huge mouth but wasn’t able to make a sound. A moment later, it fell forward with a thud.

“I think we killed it!” Turgoth said.

“The Titan Slayers did their names justice!” Rebecca laughed.

God Hephaestus raised his head towards them. “Indeed, you deserve congratulations. You sent this despicable creature into nothingness. But now you need not risk your lives anymore. Allow us, the Gods, to take care of the rest of the Titans.”

“Back to our troops!” Rebecca shouted and immediately all four of them flew towards the army of Utopia.

Seeing their king lying on the ground and five of their brothers fall dead, some of the Titans had already begun to retreat towards the Gates of the Palaces. One of them was Python, who had no intention - whatever the reason - of sacrificing his eternal life. The sorcerer of Tartarus settled for hurling a few purple beams from his eyes that only made contact with the shields of his opponents. Then he miserably dragged his serpent body to hide behind the last row of Titans.

* * *

Thousands of Demons lay lifeless on the ground in Charon’s Cavern, while those who remained alive ran through the tunnels in a shrill panic, eager to lose themselves within the labyrinths in the depths of Tartarus. Hephaestus was tying up Cronus with his specially-made, unbreakable crystal chains. As soon as the King of the Titans fully regained consciousness, he was left looking silently around him in a daze. Next to him, also bound in chains, was Queen Rhea, her pride more wounded than her bloodied body. Near her lay Typhon, smashed by the blows of the hammer of the God of Fire, and the Devil, one of whose horns had been crushed by Poseidon’s trident. Along with them another five Titans had been taken prisoner, while the rest had run away to hide in their palaces, led by Python, who was pursued by a persistent Apollo who continued to dart him with his light arrows.

The Orizons gathered where Bitho the dragon had fallen.

“We are not going to leave the body of the guardian of the Sacred Flame to rot among the corpses of the vile Demons down here in filthy Tartarus,” Rebecca declared, her voice ringing with emotion. “We will take him with us to bury him in our blessed Utopia.”

“He sacrificed his life to save us from certain death,” Doctor Afterland said. “Thus I think it’s worth building a brilliant monument dedicated to this selfless creature near the place where our Sacred Flame burns so that we may remember him forever.”

An exclamation of surprise rose from the crowd of Orizons as the body of the dragon started to become transparent until it finally turned crystal. Before their very eyes the glass statue disintegrated into thousands of pieces and a dark-haired man dressed in a black Ancient Greek tunic emerged from within.

“You don’t need to organise a funeral; nor the construction of a monument for me, my friends,” he said, smiling.

“You are Prometheus!” Rebecca exclaimed excitedly.

“Yes! And, as you know, I was once one of the Titans.”

“Your story is well-known!” Leylah said.

“Then you are already aware of the fact that I was actually one of the most powerful Titans. One day, however, I was captured by Zeus and, realising how miserable my life had been up until then, I asked the King of the Gods to grant me the opportunity to show him my remorse. So he transformed me into a dragon and then, thousands of years later, he assigned me to guard the Sacred Flame in your world.”

“And you proved worthy, oh Prometheus, serving Good as very few in all three worlds have!” Zeus boomed from behind the crowd. “Thus from now on you belong among the Gods and you will come to live with us in the Elysian Fields.”

The Orizons burst into wild cheers, lifting the new God of the Elysian Fields and raising him high.

A short while later, Apollo walked out of the Gates of the Palaces of Tartarus, followed by Ares and Athena.

“It’s over!” the God of Light announced. “I extinguished their Black Flame and from now on they won’t be able to open the gates nor have any sort of access to our worlds for many, many years.”

“Are you sure that they haven’t hidden a small amount of the Flame anywhere?” Zeus asked.

“Father,” Apollo said, “you know that because of my nature, I can sense the presence of the Sacred Flame, but also of the Black Flame - even if they are on the other side of the universe. I can assure you that I found all three locations where the sorcerer Python had hidden the Black Flame in his stinking workshops.”

“Did you kill that scum?” Hephaestus asked.

Apollo laughed. “Unfortunately I couldn’t find the coward. Apparently, he is dragging his slimy scales around the darkest labyrinths of Tartarus.”

“Enough of war and killing!” Zeus said. “We are leaving this miserable world right now. I, myself, will seal the Gates of Tartarus again. And since they don’t have even a spark of the Black Flame, the Titans will never be able to get out of here again.”

The sarcastic laughter of the King of Tartarus echoed around them. “You think that I, Cronus, will give up, oh Zeus? You think that I won’t do everything possible to eventually find a way out of this grave in order to come and destroy you and your worlds?”

“I have no doubt that you will try to do so,” Zeus replied.

“Then why don’t you just kill me?” the Titan howled.

“Because I’m not like you,” the King of the Gods replied calmly.

“But look what I’ve done to your beloved Earth!”

“You did manage to cause great Evil, that is true. But I will fix that, too.”

“You cannot anymore!” Cronus laughed. “It’s already been a couple of hours since I unleashed some of my favourite beings. The Sceptomorphs have already begun to devour those miserable apes that call themselves humans and to whom you were crazy enough to offer one of the most beautiful planets in the universe.”

“That means it’s time for the Guardians of Earth to awake!” Zeus boomed.