Beyond The Impossible

600,000 years ago, Earth

Hestia doesn’t know much about this planet; she’s very fond of its mortal population, but they are so primitive that any sign of civilization is ages into the future. The world itself is pretty unremarkable, but she has no trouble finding her worshippers: she remembers every sacred place dedicated to her, especially the caves… not many mortals have mastered the use of fire on their own, so she’s still credited as the source of light and heat.

But as soon as she lands in front of the entrance she understands that something is wrong: she can’t hear a single voice. As she walks inside holding a ball of flame in her hand to light the way, she comes across what’s left of the tribe… the only reason she doesn’t walk over the corpses is that she’s floating.

<What happened here? Is anyone alive?> she calls out, hearing the echo of her own voice.

<Hi auntie.> is the reply. That voice makes her spine shiver: indistinguishable from a mortal’s, but so utterly calm despite the gruesome situation.

The god sits on a pile of corpses, broken bones and crushed skulls. Some mortals have been pushed against the cave walls so hard they are only splashes of blood now, and considering the unnatural poses of the women Hestia prefers not to think what he has done to them.

<Ares. This planet is not supposed to be under your jurisdiction.> she says, trying to avoid eye contact with him and with the dead bodies.

<I disagree. Aunt Demeter is breeding those things to populate the Galaxy, isn’t it? With the Lar driven to extinction, I’ll need someone else to fight. So I’ve requisitioned a few batches.>

<First of all these are not “things”, they’re people. Second, the Lar aren’t really extinct.>

<I know. It wouldn’t be fun otherwise… I need bodies for my games.>

<Third, and most importantly, these were my mortals. They were worshiping me.>

<Uh. I figured. They couldn’t fight worth s#it. Just like their goddess.>

<What is your deal, Ares? I don’t come to your planet to kill your… oh, please, don’t tell me you broke another one? That’s what, the seventh planet you destroy? Eighth?>

<Ninth, but that doesn’t matter. I was promised this planet, Terra.>

<Who promised you that?>

<My mother Hera, of course. She said it was mine by birthright.>

<Zeus has assigned Demeter as ruler of this planet, Ares, not you. And for good reason!>

<She didn’t ask for it. It was your suggestion, wasn’t it? Otherwise why would my father overlook the God of War over the goddess of fu##ing gardening!?> he shouts, his red eyes glowing in anger.

<You’re not ten thousand anymore, Ares, you are supposed to be a grown god. Until you learn to take better care of your mortals…>

<They are mortals. Dying is literally their defining characteristic.>

<They die, yes. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a little dignity and not… not the temper tantrums of a spoiled child.> she says, her voice trembling as Ares stands up.

If she’s tall by mortal standards, he’s positively a giant. And she can feel the sheer power housed within that body, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice.

<I can break you in half and take this planet by force, Hestia. We both know that.>

<Perhaps. But are you willing to risk the wrath of Zeus? If you lay a finger on me…>

<One day, Hestia… one day my father won’t be around to protect you. And we will see who is the rightful owner of this wretched little planet.> Ares says, walking past her to calmy leave the cave.

Hestia breathes a sigh of relief. She looks at the corpses in silent sadness, then she gets to work to give them the proper burial that they deserve.

 

Today

1 light-year from Earth

The arrival of the first ship to drop below lightspeed shakes Vesta off her memories. The effects of the Palladium don’t extend this far, but this will allow the fleet to slow down in a controlled fashion instead of coming to a crashing halt as soon as their faster-than-light engines stop working.

She’s not impressed by the size of the fleet: she has seen much worse. Many ships pass her by, until the first dreadnaught arrives and stops a few miles in front of her.

Even at this distance, she feels his power. She has no trouble identifying which ship she needs to approach, but she can still feel her heart pounding faster the closer she gets.

Then finally a hatch opens. She can’t hear a sound but she can imagine the loudness of his steps as his bulky armor touches the hull.

<Hestia.> he says. Even through the radio waves he’s emitting, his voice is unnaturally deep.

<My name is Vesta now.>

<I’m surprised you found the courage to show up. The last time we met I voted with the Council of Twelve to exile your ass to that pile of mud you liked so much.>

<I remember. But the time before that, I was holding holding your heart in my hands as my fire burned the flesh off your chest. You haven’t forgotten that, I hope.>

<I have spent the last twenty-seven hundred years getting stronger for this rematch, Hestia.>

<I said that my name is… wait… you are…>

Something clicks in her head. She has spent countless sleepless nights dreading this confrontation, she has had nightmares for several years straight terrified at the devastation that he could cause… and not once, not once she has ever thought of this possibility.

<You are afraid of me.> she realizes.

<What!?>

<That’s why you keep targeting me, isn’t it? Why you’ve always attacked and harassed my worshippers? You were afraid that I could be stronger than you… and last time we fought, I proved you right!>

<Your exile has turned you mad, Hestia. You were never…>

<The exile broke me… I’ve never been weaker than immediately after it happened. I couldn’t even fly for more than a year! You could’ve easily conquered Earth right then, or in the past two thousand years! At least once Noriko made her presence known. It never made sense to me why it would take you so much time to show up… and I just realized… it was me. You were afraid of me. Imagine! The god of war afraid of Vesta!> she says, nearly bursting into laughter.

<Who the f#ck is Vesta?>

<You don’t… you don’t remember?>

 

 

753 BC

The fire is burning in the temple, living proof of the devotion to the goddess Hestia. The goddess whose fire kept homes warm and families safe. The gentle goddess who never raised her hand against her brothers and sisters, who never shared their desire for power.

The goddess who couldn’t hurt a fly. The goddess that the young girl worshipped, and whose pure white robes are now red with blood.

<She called your name, you know> Ares taunts her. She will never forget the glee in his voice.

<Praying for your help or some crap like that. She didn’t put up a fight…it was quite boring, really. Maybe she was a little too young to be violated. How can you even tell with these mortals?>

Hestia carries in her arms what used to be a twelve year old girl. Now she’s a bloodied corpse.

<You know what’s the most pathetic thing? You don’t even know her name. And you know why? Because these fu###ng fleshy things don’t f###ing matter, that’s why. So stop preaching Zeus and the rest of the fu###ng family to treat them with respect, will ya?>

Hestia looks at her brother’s son. Her eyes are burning with the heat of a billion stars, and her voice is on fire. Like her father’s.

<Her name was Vesta.>

Today

Ares sees the fire light up in Vesta’s eyes, and he assumes a defensive stance.

<SOUL FUSION!> she yells, her body suddenly surrounded by an aura of fire and Blood.

Ares unsheathes his sword and prepares to battle. She does the same, concentrating her fire in a two handed sword; the heat is so intense that the hull of the dreadnaught begins to evaporate, and the two gods levitate above the fleet.

<Now this is more like it!> Ares says, right before the two charge at each other.

 

Asgard Station, Null Zone

Noriko Null isn’t comfortable to have Hermes in her private station, but she has little choice: what she is trying to do goes so far beyond science that the help of a god is absolutely vital.

Although handing over the sword she has worked so hard to forge still feels wrong.

<Be careful with it.> Dmitry Voron warns Hermes. The god takes a good look at the Russian scientist and shakes his head before talking to Noriko.

<This guy, sunshine? Really? You could’ve laid with me and you chose this…>

<Focus, Hermes. The Shadow Network is scanning for Gamma Ray Burst, you won’t have much time to get the sword to one of those and charge it up.> she points out.

<Why is it so hard? There are multiple GRBs each day.>

<If I was looking for the light emitted by a GRB, yes, that would be easy… modern astronomers do that all the time. But that light was emitted billions of years ago; I’m scanning for GRBs in real time, but in a given galaxy they happen very rarely… and today only few galaxies have the kind of stars that generate them.>

<It could be several millions of years before a GRB goes off in a nearby galaxy.> Dmitry clarifies.

<That’s right. I’m counting on the fact that the universe is big enough that somewhere there’s one just ready to explode, and that you’re fast enough to catch its energy in time.> she tells Hermes.

<Flattery goes a long way with me, I’m not embarrassed to say. But I’m impressed that you have technology that can scan a sizeable portion of the universe!>

<Working outside the universe has its advantages. Unfortunately it can only detect the most energetic phenomenon in existence: it’s basically useless if you’re looking for anything else.>

<Ah, sunshine, your modesty never ceases to amaze me. My role in this is clear, but I do have one lingering question… what did you call this?> he asks, holding up the sword.

<To be honest, I haven’t really… there it is!> Noriko says excitedly, pointing at the coordinates shown on a screen.

<Got it.> Hermes nods, disappearing from view.

Three seconds later

6,000,000,000 light-years from Earth

Halfway across the observable universe, Hermes catches his breath. The voyage has left him exhausted; his body is beginning to feel the fatigue at the worst possible moment: when the nearest black hole devours an entire neutron star.

As the star is crushed into oblivion in a matter of seconds, energy is released during the collapse along the axis of its rotation around the black hole: the result are two jets of matter streaming in opposite direction, focusing a truly cosmic amount of energy in a very tight region of space.

Hermes gets as close as he can to the energy stream and unsheathes the sword: its black blade is no longer isolated by the magnetic field generated by the scabbard.

As the blade touches the stream, something incredible happens: the sword absorbs the energy and annihilates it. Although it might look like a blade, it’s actually a non-gravitational singularity… the energy basically ceases to exist once it’s banished to a pocket dimension.

Hermes isn’t sure of how long this is supposed to take: Null said that the process would become self-sustaining after the sword had absorbed enough energy. What she didn’t mention was that this would make the sword even more dangerous to wield… it begins to draw more and more power, and Hermes has to use all of his divine strength to pull it away from the stream.

He holds it up: it’s so dark that even next to the most energetic event in the universe not a single photon is able to shine light on it. And he is sure that, if he hadn’t pulled away, this monster would’ve devoured the entire celestial object in a matter of minutes.

<I have seen Drylon weapons less terrifying than this one. Null really has unleashed a new scourge among the stars.> Hermes tells himself, carefully shielding the power of the dark blade by sheathing it inside the scabbard, where it’s isolated by the magnetic field.

<Hmm. “Starscourge” seems like an appropriate name.> he says, running back to the Olympian Galaxy.