The Path to Victory

Chapter 8


Zeus knew the Kraken was ready. The creature was growing to such a formidable size and not stopping anytime soon, and the god knew this was a good sign to send him out to battle. Either way, Hades’ offspring was getting far too big for the Olympian refuge… and far too aggressive.

One morning Zeus had made the mistake of entering Hades’ recently cleaned bedchambers without knocking, and the creature had made it clear that doing so was rude. Glaring as he was intimidated out of Hades’ quarters, Zeus was beginning to tire of how rebellious and fierce the Kraken was getting to be.

Did it not realize the gods were its masters, especially Zeus himself? The youngest god began to worry that perhaps this monster would prove to do more harm than good on the battlefield if something was not done quickly.

That afternoon, Zeus summoned his siblings to a council, where he intended to suggest that they release the beast into the sea where it could continue growing until it became powerful enough to take on the Titans led by Cronos.

“The creature cannot stay within these walls any longer,” he said, eyeing each of his brothers and sisters in turn as he spoke. Only five days had passed since the birth of the creature, and it had already grown bigger than the six Olympians together. “If we don’t release it soon, we might encounter a problem moving it.”

“Where do you think we should release him?” Demeter asked, looking slightly puzzled. “Should we keep him in our courtyard pond?”

Zeus smiled sardonically. “Into the ocean, dear sister. The creature has already made it obvious that it prefers water to land. In the ocean it will have unlimited access to food and can quickly reach its full size. Once it’s ready… we will use it to launch an attack on Cronos.”

“But how shall we convince him to move from one body of water to another?” Hades asked. “It may not understand what we are trying to accomplish.”

“Then we must somehow make it understand,” Zeus answered, hand massaging the bridge of his nose.

He understood what his brother was trying to say. Why would such a strong-willed creature freely follow any of them without knowing its destination? Already the creature felt right at home in the fortress despite the fact that it was running out of space.

Hera spoke up, breaking the silence. “We’ve never fed the Kraken any meat, not since we found it drinking blood the day it was born. What if we tempted him to follow by giving him some?”

Zeus paused for a few seconds, considering the suggestion. “All those in favor?”

The response was unanimous and positive. Zeus smiled, but only briefly. “Very well. We will try to lead him out with blood and meat. Otherwise I see no other way, short of using force.”

*

The Kraken ignored the attempts by the gods to leave the bathing pool. Only Hades, with his hand in the water, could properly get his child’s attention, but otherwise the creature remained in the water, perfectly comfortable where it was. Not until a scarlet drop fell into the water, swirling as it dissipated, did the Kraken suddenly become focused on the gods. The beast stared intently at the dripping piece of meat held out by Hestia, and soon began to drag itself from the pool.

Since most of the Kraken’s body was submerged at all times, none of the gods could have imagined how large it truly was before it left the water altogether. Hades briefly wondered if his child would have trouble moving that massive body of his on dry land, with no water to support its weight, but the Kraken seemed to manage quite well out of water too, advancing toward them on all six limbs.

Hestia became visibly nervous at the sight of the gargantuan beast in all its glory, and her hand, holding the piece of meat, trembled.

“Stay calm, sister,” Hades whispered, hand on the goddess’ shoulder. “No sudden movements. He will not attack you without a reason.”

Though only Hades and Poseidon had been brave enough to join the Kraken in the pool, it had never shown any aggression or animosity toward their three sisters. Whenever Hera, Hestia or Demeter came to feed it, the beast either tended to stay submerged or peer toward them with indifferent curiosity from the deep edge of the bathing pool.

Once they had managed to lure the Kraken out of Hades’ quarters, all six Olympians could not help but notice that the creature was just barely small enough to fit through the doorway. Had they waited another day…

Once out of in the hallway, Hestia tossed the piece of meat onto the floor, where the Kraken eagerly scooped it up in its jaws and swallowed without a second thought.

Imagining how easily the creature could swallow a god, Hestia felt herself shaking again, but stepped back far enough out of reach and held out yet another piece of bloody meat. The Kraken again took notice and followed her through the halls and out of the refuge.

“Good, good,” Zeus said in encouragement, though Hades had to wonder if his youngest brother was glad to not be the one leading the creature. “Well done, sister.”

The Kraken was delighted to follow the gods as they left the fortress and walked to a cliff’s edge overlooking the sea, as the creature was far too distracted by the offering of meat to care about where they went.

“Could we not have gone to the shore?” Hades asked, looking down the cliff with regret.

“The waters are deep here,” Zeus answered. “Who knows how big your child will grow in the sea… here it will have enough space to grow and plenty of food from the animals that swim here.”

“How do you intend to make him jump?” Poseidon inquired, watching as Hestia threw another piece of meat, which the Kraken easily caught in the air with its huge maw. It was not only huge, but also fast. Tricking it would not be as easy as Zeus thought.

“That should be easy enough,” the leader replied confidently. “It seems willing to do anything for meat, and this is how we shall lure it.”

Thus, Zeus instructed Hestia to throw the next piece of raw meat over the edge of the cliff, in an attempt to make their weapon dive in after it. Hades gave his younger brother a look of discontentment, but he did not voice any objection. Zeus was their leader, after all; they had to trust his judgment. Perhaps even this simple and straightforward plan would prove itself successful.

All six Olympians gasped in sheer surprise when the Kraken, rather than diving in after the meat, sent out one of its long tendrils and captured the food in mid-air. A frustrated growl could be heard from Zeus, but Hades himself had to hold back a smirk. His child was smarter than Zeus gave it credit for.

“Now what?” Hestia asked. It had been her final piece of meat, and she doubted that the creature would have fallen for the same trick a second time, anyway.

Hades’ eyes widened when Zeus pulled his sword from his scabbard and headed for the beast.

“Zeus, what are you doing??”

“Bait has only worked for so long,” the younger god replied, “and now we must use force.”

Without hesitation, Zeus jabbed his sword at one of the creature’s armored legs. The Kraken hissed and growled in displeasure at the treatment, but refused to jump from the cliff.

“Stop!” Hades exclaimed, hurrying forward and grabbing Zeus by the arm. “How is this supposed to help?! Stop, I say!”

“Unhand me, Hades, I know what I’m doing!” Zeus snapped at his older brother, reflexively shoving him aside. Still weakened by the healing of his wounds, Hades was easily thrown aside and he landed on the ground in a heap.

The Kraken was not pleased by the sight at all, and gave a shrieking roar at Zeus. Before he could react, the leader of the Olympians felt something large and very hard impact with his head, and when he was already on the ground, momentarily stunned by the blow, he realized it was one of the Kraken’s limbs.

A scream sounded from one of his sisters, and Zeus was just barely fast enough to roll aside and avoid being crushed by the creature, as it directed another blow at him. Frantically struggling to grab his sword, Zeus would not hesitate a second to slay the creature should it attack him again. A weapon that could not be controlled was no weapon at all.

“My child, stop!” Hades shrieked, rushing forth to bring order into the chaos that had arisen. Pressing his own body against the massive, scaly one of his child, he focused intently on soothing the beast. Physical contact with it had certainly worked in the past, and this was literally a matter of life and death.

“Calm yourself…” Hades whispered, cheek against the Kraken’s belly, and to everyone’s surprise, the thing lowered all its limbs and the menacing growls and hisses died out.

“No need to be so upset, my child…” the elder god patted the moist gray flesh of the creature. “No need…”

The remaining gods watched in awe as the Kraken became still, and Zeus stood up, sword at the ready in case anything should go awry, but to his amazement, a second attack did not occur. Hand still gripping his hilt, he looked on as Hades continued to mutter words of comfort.

Finally, Hades nudged at the creature and stepped back, saying, “go home”. The Kraken turned, gave a low growl, and leapt off the cliff’s edge. A distant splash followed.

A minute rolled by and the gods began to wonder if their plan had worked at all. Perhaps the creature had swum off and would not help them whatsoever, or even worse, would go join Cronos’ ranks.

Zeus voiced his concern, and based on his voice alone, was already planning to be angry with Hades over the whole ordeal. Then a familiar shriek sounded from down below. Curious, the gods looked over the edge and saw a pleasant sight, at least to Hades. The Kraken was swimming in circles and calling upward to them. It then dove back into the water and swam off after a school of fish.

“Do you suppose we will ever see him again?” Poseidon asked, actually feeling regretful. While he had never had a special connection to the creature like Hades, they had at least tolerated each other, and he realized he even missed the Kraken, a handful though it was.

“We will,” Hades replied, sounding oddly sure of his words. “Trust me, brother, we will.”

The six Olympians turned away from the cliff and headed back to their refuge.


TBC...