Return of the Hero 13 - Calling Heaven

The Bel Air rumbled beneath him as he drove, the scent of oil and dust filling his nostrils. Lucas had the window rolled down, one arm hanging loosely out the window. Nothing played on the radio - it was dead anyways, but Lucas hummed a tune to himself all the same. Outside, forest rolled by.

Tall pines and lush greenery covered the mountainside, a cool breeze and fresh air chasing the scents of the car itself away in tantalizing waves. Lucas turned the wheel, the Bel Air rolling into a relatively empty campground. He turned the key before it even stopped, killing the engine and letting the car glide into a parking spot. For a moment, he just sat there, enjoying the moment. The fresh air. The genuine leather seat beneath him. The foam beneath that -

Yep, he was getting out now before the moment was ruined. False things like foam still bugged the crap out of him. If anything, it had gotten worse since his time in the hospital, not better. At least the leather of the seats seemed to act as an insulator to whatever the foam stuff did to his spiritual energy; it wasn't perfect, but it was a relief.

Lucas rolled up the window to his car and placed one hand on the hood, admiring the shining black paintjob for a moment before turning his attention to the forest proper. A single blue tent sat at the campground, which looked in large part completely unmaintained, a far cry from the crowded campgrounds he remembered from his youth. Many of the signs on the way in had been faded and broken, and it had taken an extra fifteen minutes just to find a road maintained enough for his Bel Air to comfortably run down.

It was all just more evidence of how the world had changed. He wondered if it was because people simply didn't have the time anymore to do simple things like forest service, if the deaths of so many made this area less tenable to maintain, or if people just cared less about the wild places. He doubted it was the last one.

Lucas took another deep breath, running a hand through his hair, slicking it back.

The idea, and the reason he'd come out here, was simple. If in the city he accidentally dialed Hell, and if in a gate he connected to wherever that gate was most closely related to, then he had to go somewhere that was more benign. Quieter. Calmer. That way, nothing would interrupt his call to heaven.

He was glad to see he was largely correct in his assumption, and he hadn’t even found the best spot yet.

Way out here in the mountains - a mere two-hour drive away from the city, but still far enough - everything was much calmer. The natural energy flowed through the land without being tainted by the constructs of humans, earth spirits were far calmer and not shouting as much, demanding he help fix things…

It wasn't perfect by any means. To his eyes, the land still had some issues, not all of it man-made. Sure, there was residual toxicity from mining efforts years and years ago or whatever, but at the same time there was some anger within the earth, too, and naturally painful energy flows. Water and oil pockets beneath the crust, fractures in the ground that twisted the energy into different shapes. Lots of things could affect energy.

"I think my sensitivity is going up," he muttered, popping the trunk and grabbing a water bottle, just in case he had to hike a ways to find a decent spot. Ever since he'd left the hospital and started his physical training, his body had been adapting more and more to the power of his soul. Now he was sensing more and more of the world around him, seeing it too, and that wasn't always a good thing. The spot he needed to find had to be good enough. It couldn’t be just anywhere. There was a lot of interference already, he didn’t need to compound his issues.

Lucas cracked his neck and forged onward, forgoing any trails to hike off-road, weaving between trees and wading through the waist-high, golden grasses of the occasional meadow. He listened to birds sing and watched squirrels as they scampered about the trees. The occasional chipmunk chittered at him as it munched on seeds, and a small herd of deer watched him warily as he passed.

"Definitely not a Disney princess," Lucas muttered with a slight smile as he stared back at the deer; three does. They were hesitant about him but not spooked, which was a good sign. But neither were they inclined to run up to him and prance about like they were in said types of movie. Which was a little disappointing, if he was honest. Even real men could want birds to come sit on their should and to walk side-by-side with deer.

It took another half an hour just for him to find a spot that suited his needs. Everything else was either too benign, or earth spirits bugged him too much to keep looking, keep exploring, see what else he could find.

The place he found was nothing special. Just a little grove of trees in the center of a rather large meadow, rising up from it like an island in a sea of gold. From his position on the edge of the trees, sitting just before the meadow itself, he could actually see the road below. A truck trundled down it, kicking up a plume of dust.

Lucas let out a deep breath.

"Right then. Let's get this started," he closed his eyes, settling in the lotus position with back straight, clearing his mind as he had practiced.

Almost immediately he was bombarded by requests for help - and they mostly came from the earth spirits. He pushed them away, knowing he couldn't ignore them forever but also knowing that he had some other questions that needed answering first. Priorities. He couldn’t solve everyone’s problems, so he sank deeper into meditation.

The trees themselves groaned behind him as his consciousness expanded, touching upon the spiritual world far deeper than it did in his conscious, waking mind. The tree spirits were curious, greeting him like an old friend, showing him flashes of memory and pushing his spirit deeper into the planet, far beneath the surface of the world.

There, he met Gaia. Not the literal goddess, but the slight consciousness, the collective soul of the planet Earth itself. It was a wise, ancient being, that reached up and wrapped around him like a mother cradling a child. She asked him what he wanted. He told her to contact Heaven. She hesitated, and directed him upward. So he turned his gaze upward, to the moon and the sun.

The moon didn't acknowledge him, but the sun did. The spirit of that existence was truly ancient, older than some of the gods he had met, even if not quite as powerful. It was warm and kind, like a grandfather, gently asking him what he needed. He told it he needed to contact heaven.

It stepped aside, to let his own light shine into the darkness.

Lucas' consciousness left his body.

And suddenly, he was no longer on Earth. His body was, of course, he hadn't created a portal to heaven, but his spirit had projected itself across dimensions to Heaven itself. He stood in the center of a round room, Greek pillars rising all about him. The roof was covered in a tapestry of stars, twelve giant thrones ringing the far end. A wind blew through the doors behind him, smelling of ozone, lightning yet to strike, and rain.

He knew this room.

This still wasn't the heaven he wanted. What was he doing on Mount Olympus?

"Zeus," Lucas said. The god appeared in a crackle of thunder, lightning trailing from his eyes, his long, white hair flowing and bushy white beard as glorious as ever. His body was muscular, covered only by a white toga, and he was easily thirty feet tall.

Lucas narrowed his eyes. Zeus' expression was...Christ, he'd seen that expression before.

"You did this. This is revenge for the swan story I told Hera, isn't it?" he demanded, stomping his foot like a petulant child. Zeus burst out laughing, lightning cracking and thunder rumbling outside in response to his joy, bolts of electricity dancing in the air like mischievous little fairies.

"No!" he boomed, slapping his knee. "But I was the one who told everyone not to warn you! You should have seen your FACE! Priceless!" he roared out his laughter, tossing his head back, eyes shining with glee.

"You absolute..." Lucas growled out, crossing his arms and wishing to the highest of heavens that he could punch the man in the face. "How did they even know about me?! Who put a statue in that gate? A journal about my power? Who even is the Lightbringer, and why am I in a pantheon of people I don't know?"

"You do know them, oh little Lord of Dawn," Zeus chuckled.

"Call me that again, and I'll climb up there and knock your block off, old thunderbeard." Lucas warned, crossing his arms across his chest. "Don't think I won't.'

"I know you'll try," Zeus chuckled, sitting back in his throne. Lucas ground his teeth futilely, fists clenching at his sides.

"Then explain. Why. This. Happened. How am I being worshipped? Who do I need to punch?" he demanded. Zeus smirked, that infuriating smirk of his that meant he knew something Lucas didn't. Light shot off of Lucas as his control over his emotions slipped; prayers echoed in his ears. Words. Emotions. Feelings. Things people connected specifically to him for. Lucas winced as the sixty thousand or so people reaching up to him from earth at this moment tried to connect to his light – it was only through sheer force of will that he pushed them away, not disconnecting them, but keeping them from drowning out his thoughts.

That had been the first time that had ever happened. Zeus' smile faltered for only moment, then returned in full force when Lucas fixed him with another glare.

"You have already heard the stories of my adopted son Heracles. Of King Arthur, of Cu Chulainn, of even the mighty Houyi, and yet you still wonder how the Earth has heard your story." he asked, leaning forward, and Lucas paused, his rage still swirling in his chest but now it hesitated, momentarily directionless.

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

Zeus leaned forward, eyes gleaming with satisfaction, hands resting upon his knees. "How do you think they had their stories learned? Users of holy magic - those innately connected to, or containing a spark of, one of the many heavens have always been able to discern the truth. Hear echoes of reality. How do you think those stories got disseminated? How do you think Scathatch was said to have existed upon the Isle of Skye? Do you truly believe that others just...let it get out there? Scathatch doesn’t care for that kind of fame. Nor does Houyi."

Lucas thought about it. Considered it. Hummed.

"Yes, I do believe they let it get out," he deadpanned, pointing accusingly at Zeus. "That, or people like you let it get out or sent it out to the mortals. That's what I think. So who did it? Was it Michael? I bet it was him. Arrogant jerk, always thinking he knows what's best,"

"Does he know what's best?" Zeus asked, amusedly stroking his beard. Lucas sneered.  

"Compared to me, sure, but that's not the point here," Lucas complained. Zeus chuckled.

"Quit your whining. It's not like anyone actually knows who you are, besides your siblings." Zeus pointed out.

"I don’t care," Lucas crossed his arms. "I know it was someone. Who did it."

"No one did it. This is a result of your own actions." Zeus said.

"If you don't give me names, I'm just going to blame Michael, or Azazel, or Heracles."

"Lucas Ward is the name you're looking for. If you weren’t so loud in your actions, this never would have happened."

Lucas narrowed his eyes at Zeus, arms still crossed and filled with impotent rage. Zeus' smug face was looking very punchable. But at the same time, he needed answers of all kinds, not just to whine and moan.

"Fine. Be that way. I’ll drag it out of Michael himself next time I see him. Then give me other answers. I need to know what's happening on earth, why things are the way they are, and why no one told me about it before I left." He demanded, pinching the bridge of his nose. "More importantly, what to do about it."

Zeus rumbled, thunder booming outside as he leaned back in his throne, adjusting his toga. "We're not going to ask you to do anything about it," he began, and Lucas snapped.

"Don’t lie to me. You lot forced me to go back to earth. Called it vacation," he accused, pointing at him dramatically. "Then I get there and you expected me to do what, nothing? My brother and sister are fighting for their lives all the time, the Earth is recovering from nearly six years of constant conflict with magic screwing everything up, and now I'm being worshipped!"

"You misunderstand. Nothing my son or Archangel Michael told you was a lie," Zeus told him, eyes shining with unrestrained glee. "It is a vacation. Earth is nothing compared to the forces of the Unspoken Ones, compared to what you have faced. But also, no, we don't expect you to do nothing," he paused for dramatic effect, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees to speak conspiratorially, the joy on his face and in his voice completely evident. "We just knew we wouldn't have to ask you to do anything."

Lucas opened his mouth to protest, to complain and whine and moan and accuse, but the protests fell flat on his tongue. "You absolute...oh I hate you. I hate you all. Why not tell me, then? Huh? Why that?"

"Simple. You would not have acted the way you have been if we told you. In all honesty, you probably would have messed it up." Zeus admitted with a shrug. "What would the first question have been, had you found out what the Earth would be like? That the fabric between dimensions was shaken enough to connect Earth to higher realms?"

"How to fix it. What do I do to stop it." He deadpanned, then considered it more. "I probably would have walked in there with more intent to be...well,"

"A Hero," he said, nodding. "But the Earth has plenty of Heroes. Your siblings are among them - and, if you haven't figured it out yet, they have very powerful guardian spirits guiding them."

"But they were getting it wrong! Did you see what their magic was like?! It was all twisted and misunderstood!" Lucas complained. "It hurt me just looking at them! If they have powerful guardian spirits then sure, they’d probably have figured it out, but come on! That was ridiculous!"

Zeus nodded, gesturing for him to continue. Lucas glared at him, then tilted his head up to look at the ceiling, breathing out through his nose. He hated when they did this. Didn't just give him a straight answer - they knew he already knew the answer, he just hadn’t arrived at it yet, and made him get there rather than play it straight. It was all a manipulation game, he knew, to get him to act a certain way. Jerks. If knowing what the Earth would be like meant he would have walked into the Earth like a general, set on commanding armies, then how had he entered it this time?

Like a tourist. Until he figured out what was going on. Then he'd been -

"You've got to be kidding me," he realized, jaw clenching as he screwed his eyes shut. "A teacher? You want me to be a teacher?"

"No, of course not. You chose to be a teacher," Zeus said, far too amused.

"I swear, when I return to Earth I'm going to look up all your myths just so I can spread word about your infidelity to Hera," Lucas promised. Infidelity all three of them knew were lies, but that was beside the point.

"It won't matter. This is amusing enough for me that any retaliation from you just means I win more." Zeus told him, grinning beneath that bushy beard of his. "That said, the Earth doesn't need the great Lord of Dawn." Lucas cringed at the name, hating it with every fiber of his being. "Nor does it explicitly need Lucas Ward, commander of Heaven's armies. What it does need is Lucas Ward, the one who knows truths the Earth has long forgotten. Lucas Ward, the patient man, who wants to help his kid siblings understand who and what they are becoming."

Lucas turned his gaze to the floor beneath his feet, studying the white marble with sudden intensity.

"I hate you," he breathed, finally. "This isn't a vacation at all."

"Sure it is! It's just a different vacation than you expected." Zeus said.

"So, what, I'm just supposed to teach Earth the proper way to go about things? Work with them on their spiritual stuff? And don't you dare patronize me by saying 'you're not supposed to do anything,' you know what I mean so don't be nitpicky." Lucas snapped when Zeus opened his mouth. The god flashed his brilliant white teeth in a smile, and shrugged helplessly.

"That's a good start. You will die on Earth, eventually. Teaching them how to stand on their own feet so you don’t have to constantly prop them up is a good start." Zeus said.

"And what if my work starts attracting attention the Earth doesn’t need?" His first thought was of Azazel, and a dozen other demons that had taken an interest in him. Or other malicious beings.

"It already has. There's no helping it, truth be told. The gates, as the earthlings call them, are changing everything. Your mere presence there will help stabilize things. Active participation, of course, will help speed stabilization along, but that's up to you in the end." Zeus tried to reason. Lucas narrowed his eyes at the god, daring him to keep talking. They both knew he wasn't going to just sit aside. He just needed to find a clear path forward beyond “hit things with his sword until they stop moving.” "That said, your initial reaction to not come out right and show your abilities isn't wrong, but it's not right, either."

"I'm aware. I need to be able to move around freely, but I also don't need my words to be taken as gospel. If I’m seen as too strong, they’ll try to restrict me, fear me, control me. I could solve it, but that’s not a problem I’d be willing to solve through violence. Too weak, they won’t let me go anywhere and do anything." he groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Fine. Fine! But just so you know, I will be going to Athens and finding some old temple to you and desecrate it or something. I don’t remember if that’s your city, but I will find one."

"I'm sure you will. Now go. Shoo, child. You can come find us again if you need, but maybe next time try making a spot where you can meditate and connect to the energy of heaven. Your connection is already fading. I hear Stonehenge was once like that," he said. Lucas opened his mouth once again, but felt a little jar in his soul before he could.

With a snap like a cord being cut, his astral projection was yanked backward, body jerking as his soul was launched back into his body. His eyes snapped open, beholding the blue sky with a single cloud moving overhead, the meadow stretching out before him. A rattlesnake had curled up in his lap, enjoying the warmth and light he exuded.

"Off," he said softly. The snake flicked out its tongue, looked up at him, rattled its tail once, then slid off into the grass. Lucas sighed. Looked at the sky. And cursed the heavens.

A lightning bolt from the blue sky was his answer, cracking down upon him and blackening the ground. His magic flared ever so slightly, deflecting het worst of the damage, though it still set his limbs to shaking a little and clothes to smoking.

Lucas flopped onto his back, closing his eyes. He had a lot of work to do.

Ah, well. At least they were right about one thing. This was better than fighting in the war, or helping bind reality back together in places. Maybe this would be an ok vacation. He needed a project to keep his hands and mind busy anyways.

***

Zeus smiled as he peered through reality at Lucas Ward, lighting still crackling from his fingertips from the lightning bolt he'd thrown at the man. It hadn't been his full power, of course, there was no need to crack the planet. That was more of a love tap than anything.

"Father, I do not understand," his daughter, Athena, said, appearing beside him in a flash of silver light. The goddess stood perhaps up to his shoulder as he sat in his throne, her spear held loosely in one hand, eyes shining with the wisdom she was known across reality for. "Why do you care so much about that one? Why do many heavens? He is a warrior, sure, and a veteran, and that should be respected. But for you to put personal investment in him? Even if Heracles has grown fond of the boy, he is not remarkable enough in my eyes to warrant such interest yet. Maybe in a few thousand or tens of thousands of years..."

She trailed off, and Zeus nodded knowingly. It was a question he had asked himself a few times over the years, and honestly, the answer was not a simple one. Or it hadn't been, until the final battle. The one that had seen gods clashing against the bulk of the Unspoken One's forces, breaking their advance and forcing them back to the other side. The battle that signed the peace treaty in blood.

"Because of his spirit." he said softly, shaking his head. "You're right that, compared to beings like us, he has a way to go. But he is a rare sort of soul. The perfect attack dog."

"Attack dog?" Athea asked, understandably confused. Zeus laughed, nodding emphatically.

"Yes! He has earned my respect because, despite his size, no matter what you put him up against, if it is ‘bad’ his first instinct is to attack. He stood before the Unspoken Ones directly and dared them to try. It didn't matter that they could wipe him from existence - someone needed to stand in their way, and he was there, so he did. Foolish or no, anyone with that kind of strength of character has earned my respect. Besides," he trailed off a little, gaze growing distant. "We need agents in all sorts of places, now. Some of the other pantheons are worried the Unspoken Ones are not as gone as we believed, and at least we can trust him to defend Earth as needed."

"I see," Athena said, understanding. "So a fool, but a courageous one. A heroic one. You always were a sucker for the heroic type," Zeus laid a hand on her shoulder and sat back in his chair, taking these few seconds to actually rest.

Then, it was back to work. The more powerful one was, the more on your plate. Now more than ever.