The farewell to the Island of the Amazons was brief and stripped of all sentimentalism. Hippolyta handed us our weapons and the secret of how to cross the mystical mist that protected our home. I looked back one last time, seeing the silhouettes of the warriors on the slopes—silent promises of a harem that awaited my return. But the blood of Zeus in my veins did not call for waiting; it called for conquest.
Crossing the veil was like plunging into freezing water, but what we found on the other side was not the idyllic world Diana had imagined in her books.
The smell was the first thing that hit us: burnt metal, rotting flesh, and chemical smoke. There was no sound of lyres or the thumping of hooves, but a constant, metallic roar that made the earth tremble.
— Eron... what is this? — Diana whispered, her hand tightening around the hilt of her sword. She wore human traveling clothes, but her posture was still that of a goddess among mortals.
We were in northern France. The sky, once blue and clear, was torn apart by planes that looked like iron birds spitting fire. Before us, a muddy road was filled with men in gray uniforms, marching with rifles on their shoulders.
— This, Diana, is the true nature of men — I replied, feeling a shiver of anticipation. — They stopped praying to the gods and decided to become demons.
It didn't take long for us to be noticed. A detachment of German soldiers stopped a heavy truck in front of us. They barked orders in a harsh tongue, pointing their firearms at us. An officer stepped out of the vehicle, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of surprise and a malice I recognized instantly. He looked at Diana as if she were a spoil of war.
— Halt! Wer seid ihr? — the officer barked, approaching Diana with a crooked smile. He reached out to touch her face, ignoring my presence.
Diana hesitated; her training as an Amazon princess forbade her from attacking without direct provocation. But I had no such restraints. I was no hero from children's legends; I was the son of the King of the Gods, and that mortal was touching what was mine.
Before the officer's hand could reach Diana's skin, the air around me crackled. There was no warning.
I grabbed the man's wrist and the electricity flowed—not as a spark, but as a violent, blue voltaic arc. The sound of his scream was drowned out by the thunderclap of the lightning. Within seconds, the officer was nothing more than a charred body smoldering in the mud.
— Eron! — Diana exclaimed, horrified by the speed of the brutality.
— They wanted a war, didn't they? — I looked at the other soldiers, who were now chambering their weapons in a panic. I felt the power of Zeus vibrating, thirsty for blood. — Let's give them something they've never seen before.
I wasn't there to save the world. I was there to watch it burn, and to ensure that, in the end, I was the only one left standing upon the ashes.