"Xyla, this cannot continue. You know and we know that he is a bad fellow. Why are you letting this go on?" Zeus asked Xyla almost accusingly.

"Lord Zeus, with all due respect, I know that he's bad but I love him. When he's with me, I forget everything. I don't remember he's the enemy, that he's bad," Xyla said, love glistening in her eyes. "I just don't know what happens to me when he's near."

"Whatever it is, I need you to break it off with him the next time you meet up," Zeus firmly said. "I don't want to hear any excuses."

"I will try Lord Zeus but I can't promise you anything," Xyla said.

"Xyla, I don't know why you are not understanding our current situation. You're putting yourself and all of us in danger by being with him," Apollo said, rubbing his forehead.

"Lord Apollo, I do not mean any harm but I only want to be loved. You guys took that chance away from me when you killed my parents and now, you want to take my lover too," Xyla said calmly.

"We are very sorry about that Xyla but you know why we did it," Poseidon said, sympathising with Xyla.

"No, Lord Poseidon, I only know a part of it. The part where you all told me that my parents were turning bad and were concocting harmful potions," Xyla said, her tone unchanged, her body composed. "But as it turns out, it was a mistake wasn't it?"

"We're very sorry about that Xyla. We really are," Athena said. "We assumed-"

"Yes, you just assumed," Xyla interrupted Athena, her voice soft and calm. "You didn't even bother to cross check did you? No, you didn't. Why? Because the gods' word is always right, isn't it?"

"No, it's not Xyla," Athena said, frowning. "Our word is not always right."

"Yes, but you find that out only as the result of your assumptions don't you?" Xyla said, mocking the gods, her tone now changing to that of an angry and bursting volcano. "Doesn't matter now. Lord Zeus, this is the final time I'm tell you and all the other gods, I'm not breaking it off with him, come what may."

Xyla stormed out of the Temple of Gods.

"This is not looking good for us," Hera commented, watching Xyla storm out of the temple. "We're as good as doomed."

"No we're not," Parvathi said. "We just have to wait for Xyla to calm down."

"I don't think that's happening anytime soon Parvathi. We technically did kill off her parents based on assumption. It's going to take a lot of time for her to cool down," Lakshmi said, knowing how Xyla must be feeling, betrayed, angry and torn.

"We've given her so much trouble. Half of her is filled with sadness, it's a wonder she hasn't turned on us," Indrani said, pitying Xyla, her tone so very soft. "Poor girl."

"Yes and we should be very thankful for that," Shiva said. "But we don't have a lot of time. He's going to strike again. We have a day at max."

"Well, we better start our preparation then," Indra commented.

"What preparation? Without Xyla's help, we're doomed. We're doomed!" Apollo cried out.

"We need prepare at least a little. I don't want to go down without putting up a fight," Lakshmi declared.

"Athena and I had tried to warn you all that it would come back to haunt us and it has," Saraswathi said. "None of you would listen and now, we have to face the consequences of our decision."

"I know, Saraswathi, I know. But what can we do now? It's already happened," Poseidon said, shaking his head. "We need to figure something out."

"Apollo, can't you get one of your Oracles to predict anything that may be of use to us?" Athena asked.

"I can try, Athena," Apollo said, "But it won't even be almost as ten percent as accurate as Xyla's is, and isn't that why we killed her parents in the first place? She had a rare gift and we thought her parents were misusing Xyla's gift. What we never suspected was that her parents were pretending to do so so that they could differentiate between the genuine people and those who wanted to actually misuse Xyla's gift."

"Just try Apollo," Athena insisted. "Who knows? We may at least have that ten percent of a chance then. At least that ten percent."

"Alright, I'll try," Apollo let out a breath and went to one of his Oracles.

The gods soon dispersed to get prepared for battle that may make or break the world.

Meanwhile, Xyla had gone to him, quite intent on revealing the gods' plans to destroy him. She marched into their house and was about to go up the stairs to their room when she heard some noise come from the basement. Surely and quietly, she made her way to the basement, careful not to make any noise and cautious of her steps.

She hid behind a pillar at the foot of the stairs, waiting for whoever was making that noise to show themselves.

"Cyarch?" Xyla whispered as soon as the person revealed himself.

Cyarch walked towards the edge of the basement and Xyla had to stretch hard to see him.

He walked towards a horizontal box that looked to be a coffin and touched it lightly, stroking the lid. "Father, I will not fail you again."

"Father? Doesn't his father live in the mainland of Qrison Vlesa?" Xyla thought.

"I will avenge you, father. I will resurrect you. I will bring you back to life," Cyarch continued, gently stroking the lid of the casket. "The gods will pay for what they've done. The gods will pay for taking you away from me. Even that foolish girl of mine."

"Is he talking about me?" Xyla thought.

"That Xyla. She thought she'd get away with feeding information about me to the gods! Foolish child!" Cyarch muttered.

"Child? I'm a woman," Xyla felt like screaming it out to Cyarch but kept her mouth shut which was a wise decision.

"I've waited over two centuries to find you father and now that I have, there's nothing keeping me from resurrecting you. Nothing!"

"Two centuries? I'm the girlfriend of someone who could be my great-great-great-great grandpa," Xyla muttered to herself, horrified at that thought.

"I made those naïve gods believe that Xyla's parents were evil people and kill them, thinking that she would be angry at those gods but that backfired, so I made her my girlfriend, and this is how she repays me?! Once I resurrect you father, we will turn this world to black and kill all those who dare to disrespect us," Cyarch shouted. "Just you wait."

Xyla hurried back up the stairs and shouted from the living room, "Cyarch? Are you home?"

"That girl," Cyarch muttered and made his voice sweet. "Yes, honey. I'm in the basement. I'll be up in a minute."

"Okay," Xyla shouted as she tried to contain her heartbeat.

"Yes Xyla?" Cyarch asked as he came upstairs to face Xyla.

"Cyarch, you were right about the gods," Xyla choked back a fake sob. She moved towards Cyarch, silently praying that he wouldn't realise that she was acting. She made her body shake and hiccuped a few times to make it believable. "They only wanted to use me against you."

"Thank father you realised that before it was too late," Cyarch said, the wheels in his head and he was smirking inside. "I'm sorry honey. I know how much you trusted them but it's good you realised it sooner."

"I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you. If only I had listened to you earlier," Xyla started crying and hugged Cyarch who hugged her back.

"It's okay. We all make mistakes. You understood your mistake sooner," Cyarch rubbed Xyla's back in an attempt to show sympathy and muttered to himself, "Else I would have to kill you."

"Did you say anything?" Xyla choked even though she clearly heard what he had said.

"Nothing, sweetheart," Cyarch smiled a sadistic smile to himself.

After a few moments, Xyla looked up at Cyarch, "I'm sorry I soaked your shirt with my tears."

"It's okay honey," Cyarch said even though it definitely wasn't.

"The gods don't know I know about that yet. I overheard their conversation. We could use that to our advantage, don't you think?" Xyla asked, wiping her eyes.

"I like the way you think, sweetheart."

"Do you want to me go find out what they're planning? They think I've left to get something from the house," Xyla said.

"Yes, honey. Go ahead. I'll be waiting for you here!" Cyarch smiled.

"I'll be right back hon," Xyla smiled. She kissed Cyarch on his cheek, her lips lingering a moment on longer on his cheek. She slowly moved her lips to his earlobe, "When I get back, I hope we can kill some time before getting to work."

Xyla looked at Cyarch who seemed to be in a daze.

"You little tease," Cyarch breathed.

She winked at him and walked out the door, swaying her hips more than necessary. She hoped this little stunt of her would give Cyarch assurance that she was on his side and was not playing a double game with him. She prayed it would work and went running to meet the gods.

She went to the Temple of Gods and ran past the hall and into a tiny room which was the office. She pressed a button near the bookshelf on the further side and a portal formed on the other side. She ran inside it before it could close and she was teleported to the Throne Room of the gods.

None of the gods seemed to be there except for Hestia, the Goddess of Hearth who was busy keeping the room warm with the fire. "Lady Hestia, may I know where the other gods are?"

"Xyla, they're in the Armoury dear, preparing for the War. You need to run if you want to make it, my dear. I'd hurry up if I were you," Hestia said, smiling. "I knew you'd make the right one, Xyla."

"Thank you Lady Hestia," Xyla bowed and ran to the Armoury which was further behind the Throne Room. She ran as if her life depended on it which was literally true. Not just her life but the entire universe depended on Xyla, even the fate of the Gods.

That was no pressure at all! Absolutely none whatsoever.

Now, because of her foolishness, she may just miss the chance and she knew that even if she survived, the millions and millions of deaths would be on her hands. Her hands would be coated  with the blood of the innocent and she would be next to the devil, for all eternity.

Just thinking about all this gave her the chills. There was absolutely no way she would let that happen now. She needed to put all her effort in and if she didn't make it in time to the gods' Armoury, she'd have to go to the war field and sacrifice herself to save at least a few albeit they wouldn't be able to live as freely as now. She knew Cyarch's secrets and she had to get in time to reveal them to the gods.

"Lady Athena! Lord Hermes! Lord Indra!" Xyla shouted, running into the Armoury. "Please wait. I need to tell you all something. Lady Parvathi!"

The gods and goddesses were their chariots, their weapons in their hands and grave, almost defeated faces but yet, ready to strike at the enemy. They were just about to leave when Xyla burst in. The gods turned to look at her, astonishment and shock clearly visible in their eyes and on their faces.

"Xyla?" Apollo asked as if he couldn't believe Xyla was in the Armoury. "Are you actually here or have I gone mad?"

"Well, you are mad so you can't actually go mad," Hermes laughed.

"I'm ignoring you," Apollo said, not even glancing at Hermes. "Someone answer my question. Is Xyla actually here? Or is it just me hallucinating?"

"I'm actually here, Lord Apollo," Xyla confirmed.

"Oh, thank God! There's no way we could have won this battle," Apollo heaved a sigh of relief. "Please tell you're actually here to help and not to, you know, destroy us."

"I'm here to help you Lord Apollo, but I'm afraid I have bad news... really bad news," Xyla said.

"Xyla, there is no good or bad news," Lord Brahma started.

"I heard Cyarch mumbling that he was going to resurrect his father, whoever that is," Xyla interrupted Lord Brahma. "Is that not bad news?"

"You didn't let me complete, my dear," Lord Brahma said. "As I was saying, there is no good or bad news, but there is worse news which is what you just told us."

"Good save, Brahma," Vishnu laughed.

"Thank you, I try," Brahma winked.

"Who is Cyarch's father if I may ask?" Xyla questioned, her eyes glinting with curiosity.

"Cyarch's father is someone who shouldn't ever be resurrected. He's a demon in himself. He is Sceledrus."

******

I know I said I wouldn't do author notes and I will delete this one soon but I hardly have any free time right now  and I'm unable to update quite often. I was waiting till I finished this chapter but then I realised this will be over 5000+ words and I can't complete this within a week so I decided that I'll just update what I've written so far and just update it again once I'm done with this chapter. Super sorry for the inconvenience and the long wait but I hope it was worth it. :)