1: The Son of Ares

Lotus Casino and Generals?

   We finally get to Los Angelos, but I've lost track of the kids it's like I can no longer sense their presence. I know they stopped around here since the truck is empty and in this heat they couldn't have possibly gone far.

   Then after about half an hour I finally find a decent clue there's this building called 'Lotus Hotel and Casino'. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers... lotus blossom, maybe. I'd never smelled one, so I wasn't really sure.

   I'm about to go in when Medusa grabs my arm having left her teddy in the car. "Wait this is the Lotus Casino time moves differently inside and you'll never leave until decades or centuries have passed on the outside." Medusa warns.

  "I'm sure they're in there I still have to go inside." I say realizing this is a bad situation.

  "Alright, but we go in together." Medusa says as she might have some resistance having been a monster until recently and it seems she's kept some of her abilities.

   We head in and are immediately bombarded by casino bellhops and waitresses. They keep saying try our samples and take these cards try out this new game but we manage to push past them. We ask around and ignore the old slang these people use as they've likely been here for a long time.

   We can't seem to find them and the worst part is that the staff won't tell us anything useful. That's when the atmosphere of the place starts to kick in and I feel almost like I'm having an out of body experience yet I still relatively feel in control of my actions. It's almost like I'm getting high just by being around this place, but thankfully Medusa doesn't let me out of her range and she looks after me.

  That's when I see something that I just can't resist you'll never see a hot blooded male who wouldn't rush to this. It's a strange type of battlefield where you can run around killing holographic enemies and lead the charge like a general or commander not to mention they have all my favorite food on several plates at the entrance.

   I didn't have enough self control and I wound up trying it. It quickly turned into a three person free for all each leading a small army of a hundred in a desert terrain it's like call of duty or something but in real life.

   My base is in the center of an oasis protected by the tides and there's only one bridge onto my base that any enemy will have to cross. That's when I see something truly beautiful and at the same time intimidating. The entire lake is frozen in an instant this was the work of someone really powerful yet I can't sense any divine presences.

Across the ice charging at me is what seems to be two hundred men which likely means that the other two joined together, though I don't know what they look like nor who they are. I ready my men in tactical positions near the houses in small numbers with many escape routes and ways to decimate large numbers like this.

"For Ares!" I yell out a battle cry signaling my men to prepare their defenses although I hadn't anticipated the lake being frozen it's nothing detrimental to my plan.

I equip my armor and weapons. I could melt the ice as the enemy is going over that, but it wouldn't be a challenge I want to win this with strategy and battle skill.

I get to one of the defensive cannons lined up at the edge of the town meant to pick off people on the sands. I ready some ammo and being the son of the war god I instinctively knew how to operate the cannon. I light the fuse and in a loud boom a small chunk of the charging army is sunk into the ice dead. I get an idea and I grab a few curtains from the houses rip them apart into long ropes and I tie them to the triggers of multiple cannons loading them up.