Epilogue: όαση (Oasis)
Zoe lifted her bowed head. The shock wave had just ripped through New York, originated from above, where Nyx and Amelia fought. Zoe blinked. The shock had likely spread around the world. She shaded her eyes against the rising sun and coughed, almost in disbelief. Nyx would never let the sun rise. A quick glance told Zoe nothing. At least... nothing that she could believe. The Protogenoi were... gone... The Nesoi... the Ourea.
Shock hit Zoe's shoulders and she bent forward, fighting to catch her breath. The sun climbed higher in the sky.
"Zoe."
The voice was familiar, but calmer, older than Zoe had come to know from Amelia. Zoe coughed again. The dust of the battle seemed permanently lodged in her throat. "Amelia? Is it over?"
"It's over," Amelia murmured. "It's just us. Everyone else... the shock wave..." The little goddess shook. "Everyone... everyone not in the prophecy. You and me... We're..."
Zoe stiffened and looked away from the girl. She again surveyed the carnage of the city. The bodies of the demigods and monsters weren't there. Nothing. Nothing remained. Zoe quivered. "What happened?"
Amelia shook with grief. Guilt nagged at her conscience. "I washed away the Fifth Age. I washed it all away. With the Second Age. It was the only way. Only way." Her voice broke. "There's fourteen, only fourteen of us left to start again. With a clean slate."
Around them, the ruins of New York City started to fade into the ground. Zoe's world spun. It was too much to handle. Too much to take in. "You mean... we're the Sixth Age? That's what the prophecy was about? We were supposed to save the Fifth Age!" She couldn't comprehend it. Fifth. Gone. Artemis. Gone. Thalia. Percy. The rest of them. Gone.
"And we can!" Amelia whimpered, her shoulders slumped over. "We can do whatever we want."
Zoe recoiled, as if slapped. "No."
Amelia looked up, and the two made eye contact. "You don't... you don't want to be a god?"
"No." There was silence between the two of them. After a while, Zoe said, "Percy Jackson refused it. And he was the greatest hero to ever live. We will not set ourselves up as the next gods." The venom in her voice caused Amelia's shoulders to slump forward.
"I'm... sorry," she whispered. "I tried to save it. But I couldn't." Zoe's gaze softened a little, and she laid a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "What now?" Amelia asked.
"We find the others," Zoe said. "We find a place to live. We rebuild."
"The oasis," replied Amelia. "Sam's oasis. It's the perfect place to start."
And New York City had sunk entirely into the now barren, desert-like earth.
OoOoOoOoO
The community at Hope's Oasis started as just three little shacks, one for Amelia, one for Zoe, and a communal one. They had planned a whole city out, waiting. Waiting for the others to arrive.
Enna Jenkins came first. The unexpected, unexplained warrior. She brought with her a knowledge of the Sahara desert that surrounded them. The desert... they renamed it Demeter's Fields, as the oasis spread, and spread, and spread to the areas around them.
Pete Rodger arrived with a sack full of instruments and empty scrolls. Music became a nightly activity around a small campfire. He wrote down the stories and words of the others, a recorded history for the generations they new would come.
Malcolm Eastcott arrived just two days before Derek Ivanova. The two boys struggled to adjust to the new society, each restless. But they adapted. Well, Enna forced Derek to adapt.
It was Malcolm who suggested they go looking for the others. Malcolm, Derek and Zoe set off for Mount Tam, eager to fulfill a promise made not long ago. They sculpted the world to free Kayla. The sky touched the ground for the first time in eons. They had expected a catastrophe. They got a mild crunch.
Kayla accompanied them to Hope's Oasis, bent over, slumped. Worn down. Her hair had turned to a pure, crystalline white. She often just sat alone and stared at the starless sky. One night, Zoe joined her, and at the starless sky they stared.
Starless. Lonesome.
The littlest Hunter raised her hair and splayed pinpricks of light across the sky. For once, Zoe did not protest the manipulation of the world. The two ex-Hunters sat together night after night, painting sparkling constellations into the heavens.
Ian Wood arrived on his own, a haunted look in his eyes. At every noise, he jumped. At every joke, he screamed. Ivy Wood came next, delighted to see her brother, but wary. Cautious. Broken. They were a traumatized, wounded bunch of mere children; the founders of a new society.
And things didn't go as planned. Derek and Enna fought, almost as much as they flirted. Malcolm and Zoe clashed on authority matters, and Amelia always needed to step in and keep them from killing each other. The Wood twins simply struggled.
It got worse when Nico and Kristen showed up. Kristen carried more baggage than the twins. She stuck to herself, talking with only Nico and Zoe. She was pained. She wanted to die. She wanted it all to go away. And Nico... Nico loved her and could do nothing but stay by her side. He hurt, watching her in pain.
They had reached eleven, and Hope's Oasis flourished under their care.
Kayla was wandering by herself when the other three showed up. She spotted them in the distance, specks on the horizon and forgot about them. It wasn't until they neared her that Kayla admitted their existence. She meandered towards them. One, a boy about her own age. Second, a tall, slim girl with flaming read hair. Third, a little girl who clutched the older girl's hand like her life depended on it. "Hi," Kayla said, when they came within speaking distance. "Welcome to the Oasis."
"Thanks," said the boy. He stepped forward. "We would have been here sooner, but the munchkin got us lost." The little girl giggled and ducked behind the older girl's leg. "I'm Bobby, and this is R-"
Kayla hugged Bobby, knocking the air out of him. "We're glad you're here. We've been waiting for you."
Recollection clicked in Bobby's mind. "Kayla?"
She grinned.
The two of them grabbed hands and raced for Hope's Oasis. The two girls followed more sedately.
"Zoe!" Kayla screeched, as they raced into the growing village. "Zoe! We're at fourteen!"
Heads popped out from all over the village. The eleven of them flooded into the little town square. They greeted the new comers with a bubbly energy. Malcolm and Nico recognized the older of the two girls, and Zoe and Kristen showed signs of recognition at the name of Rachel. The littlest girl, smaller than even Ivy or Amelia, seemed to slip into the background until Amelia drew her out into the conversation.
"I'm Hope," said the little girl, her eyes sparkling.
Bobby grinned. "Rachel can't talk, so I talk for us." He turned to Kayla. "I found Hope, Kayla. Rachel and I found Hope!"
The fourteen children looked at each other in confusion. Zoe swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. "The Hope?"
The girl nodded, her face clouding a little into a nervous expression. Zoe grinned. Hope smiled and detached herself from Rachel's leg. The fourteen celebrated long into the night.
OoOoOoOoO
It was set in the sands of time that the founders of Hope's Oasis would prosper. They encountered snags. Kristen birthed the last child of the gods and struggled with herself and with her unwanted child. But they were a family. They pulled Kristen, Nico, and infant Percy, through those difficult times. Those times brought Malcolm and Rachel together and firmly cemented Enna and Derek as a couple. In time, after years and years at the Oasis, Kayla and Bobby would join and little Hope and Ian would as well.
Under their tutelage, the Sixth Age flourished and spread. Little Percy, as a young man, left the Oasis and explored the surrounding fields. He returned with glowing descriptions of the world beyond. Sam's sacrifice had terraformed the whole Sahara desert, much of Africa, and even up into Europe. The land was good. And people prospered.
But people would be people, and nothing good lasts for ever. Years passed. Pete died first and they mourned him, a company of nearly seventy-three. Ivy passed away not long after. Hope and Amelia watched as their immediate family slowly left. But they left behind a legacy. When Kayla, last of the mortal founders died, their numbers had spread to nearly two hundred. They spread beyond the Oasis, grew old, farmed, founded cities, and city states. They fought wars, and they died, for nothing could change human nature.
But in the myths and the legends of the Sixth Age, the Fourteen stood as symbols for peace and prosperity. Something to strive for. And those legends say that Hope and Safety remained alive, the last of the Fourteen. The immortal ones. Those legends say that Hope, a deity of peace, and Safety, a deity of fire, would watch over the human race for days unending. They also said that Hope was never out of reach, and could always be grasped by a searching, lonely soul.
Hope had sprung from the bottom of the box, and no one would push her away, not until the Sixth Age fell and another world rose up in it's place.
Hope.
The legends say that if one remained faithful, Hope would never leave them.
No legend is without truth.