The Son Of Snakes

63 - The Ender Of All

Ashes.

That was what he had become.

His cloak laid on the ground, useless without someone to wear it. And clutched tightly in Ria's hands was the bandana which he would always wear.

She let out a guttural scream, clenching the bandana tight to her chest as tears flooded from her eyes. She didn't care about how unsightly she looked or anything else.

All she cared about in this moment was him.

And he's gone.

All that remained was ashes.

Nothing but ashes.

"You bastard!" Screamed Melinoe.

She went to lunge forwards, but was stopped by Bellerophon. She looked back at him, her face a mixture of pure anger and sadness, tears flowing down her eyes as she sniffled.

Bellerophon slightly shook his head, a frown on his face. They had no idea how strong this monster was.

Melinoe relented, glaring back up at the floating snake.

"How dare you..." Artemis tightly gripped her bow, her teeth clenched as she fought the urge to scream at the unknown creature before them.

"No..." Pythia dropped to her knees, her hands clasped over her mouth and her eyes widened in pure shock. Tears trailed down her cheeks as she fully comprehended what she had just witnessed.

"Where is Nikolas?" Athena demanded.

Athena was livid, but still kept a fairly calm persona. At first, one wouldn't assume that it hit her as hard as it did judging from her voice. But one look upon her face betrayed all of that.

Tears silently fled from her eyes burning with rage as she stared down the creature known as Ouroboros.

Inwardly, she had felt as if her heart had been torn into a million little pieces. But she had to stay strong for everyone else.

Because many of them loved him just as much as she did. And if he was truly gone...

Athena felt a lump in her throat as Ouroboros stared into her eyes knowingly. It was like he could completely read her, with that equivalent of a grin on his snake mouth.

"I'm sure you already know." Ouroboros stated. "But it doesn't really matter. You all will be joining him soon."

"What are you talking about?" Athena practically forced the words to come from her throat.

"The end of all, of course." Ouroboros spoke. "Did you forget about the prophecies? The ones I created?"

"You?!" Hera gasped.

"You..." Athena growled.

"Yes, me." The humongous snake chuckled. "And you all played your parts perfectly."

A being that could give the gods themselves a prophecy? But it couldn't be a Titan, or else Athena would've recognized the name...

Whatever it was...

It was more dangerous than Zeus.

And it took away the man she loves.

"What are you?" Athena hissed.

"It makes sense you wouldn't recognize me, for I barely have interacted directly with inhabitants of the world." Ouroboros chuckled. "I don't see a point in hiding it."

Ouroboros stared at all of them, the blood red eyes of the beast seemingly piercing their souls. An overwhelming power seemed to wash over them.

"I am the primordial which has existed since the beginning, and will exist until the end." Ouroboros spoke. "For eternity I have watched over the cosmos, and for eternity I will continue to."