Terese and Brendan were standing upon the corpse of a god, arguing about who would best be suited to slay the Gods.

       “What about Batman?” Terese asked, balancing upon a giant rib.

       “No. Crushed instantly.” Replied Brendan, who was settling down upon the Goddess’ vast cheek.

       “Goku?”

       “He’d fight them, become friends with them and then want to train them.”

       “Oh, yeah. He always does that. Pikachu?”

       “Uh, no.”

       “I know who’d beat them… Who was that guy in that crappy film? You know? Flew around on a flying horse with the Medusa's head and turned that big CGI thing into stone. What was his name? Poppinfresh? Arsiegone? Nerdicus?”

       “His name was Perseus.” Brendan sighed. “And he was he was first mentioned in the 7th Century… a little bit before crappy films. How can you possibly be my twin and know so little?”

       “How can you possibly be my twin and be such a freaking nerd…” Terese mumbled to herself.             “Okay, what about John Wick? Nobody can beat John Wick. He’d kill all the Gods for sure.”

       Brendan rubbed his eye with his thumb.

       “Maybe.” He finally replied. “But he’d need some awfully big guns.”

       Bia, the Goddess of Power, had fallen two years prior. After a brutal and bloody battle with Owuo, God of Death, the Goddess of Power had been killed with a terrible blow to the head and had fallen to the earth with such force that it shook the waters from the surrounding rivers. Owuo had disappeared, but Bia had remained, sprawled across 10 acres of farmland, her body calcified into salt. In what could only be seen as a final act of disdain toward the human race, with her last action, she fell across the only road that led in or out of Newfolk. The twins had lived there all their lives and when the Goddess’ body hit the ground, the whole town had been shaken and torn apart. Buildings which had stood generations, hand built by the farmers and fishermen who had settled there crumbled and many lives and souls of simple nature were lost.

       That had been a year ago now and although Owuo disappeared that day, Bia had remained, her body calcified and slowly crumbling. A military guard had briefly cordoned off the area but had quickly been called away as the Godwar spread.

       “What do you reckon she’d be doing now?” Brendan asked as he climbed across the length of Bia’s neck.

       “If she were alive?” Terese asked, climbing up onto her giant shoulder. “Don’t know. If she were still in the army, she’d be fighting some great, horned demon type I’d imagine. And if she were home…”

       “She’d be fighting with dad.” Brendan said.

       “Yeah.” Terese smiled. “Yeah, probably.”

       Danika, the twins mother had been one of the military guard, sent out to war and never seen again. The last they had heard, on the short wave radio Joseph ran in town was that she had been posted

       Now the only thing that kept the people of Newfolk from the giant body of the Greek Goddess was the whispered tales that if one were to spend too much time in her presence, they themselves would turn to salt and blow away upon the moor winds.

       Terese and Brendan had little time for such fairy tales and were the rare ones who liked to sneak along the main road and climb up her crumbling backside to get the best view of the surrounding area of Applestead. It was really quite breathtaking. Brendan’s favourite spot was if you walked along Bia’s neck and up onto her cheek, you could perch upon the corner of her mouth and let your legs dangle down in between her opened lips.

       “What about King Arthur?” Brendan said. “He’d be quite good at killing Gods, I’d imagine. He could save us.”

       “No, he couldn’t even find a cup!” Terese shouted back, balancing upon Bia’s ample hip.

       “It wasn’t a cup! It was the Holy Grail.” Brendan sighed.

       “A cup’s a cup. What good are you against a God if you can’t even find something to put your tea in?”

       Brendan shook his head rigorously, a common occurrence when agitated. It stopped though as he noticed a figure, a stranger walking the main road toward them. It was on the other side of Bia, out side of town and he was heading toward Newfolk, a strange sight in itself at that time. As he got closer he saw that the stranger was staggering, veering back and forth across the road and Brendan gestured to Terese.

       “What’s that all about then?” Terese asked, squinting through the afternoon sun at the figure.

       “Don’t know.” Brendan replied, tapping his heels against Bia’s Lower lip. “But he looks as drunk as a poet on pay day.”

       “A poet?” The stranger stopped in his tracks, his eyes raised and shouted up at the two, “Why… that’s the nicest thing I’ve heard all day.”

       And he collapsed onto the road beneath him, face first and with little ceremony.

       “How the bloody hell did he hear that?” Brendan wheezed, staring at the collapsed shape in the road. “We must be well out of earshot up here.”

       “Is he alright?” Terese asked. “Is he dead?”

       “Well if he is, we’d best not disturb him.” Brendan replied, standing upon Bia’s cheek and nervously scurrying across her neck. “We’d best be getting home anyway.”

       “You despicable coward, Brendan Truman!” Terese said, her eyes still on the stranger. “We can’t just leave a man there like that!”

       “And how do you know it’s a man?” Brendan replied, already at Bia’s buttock. “I heard Billy McAllister say that some folk in the big city helped what they thought was a little old lady who had fallen over and she turned out to be a terrible, god related thing with tentacles and twenty sets of teeth and she took to eating everybody in the vicinity including babies!”

       “But that’s no little old lady down there! And besides, Billy McAllister also says that donkeys are horses that have been left out in the sun too long. Come on, Brendan!”

       “But Terese…”

       “It’s what mum would have done.” Terese said bluntly.

       “That’s low.” Brendan replied, halting his decent down Bia’s backside. “Low… but effective. Come on then.”

       Climbing down the opposite side, across Bia’s belly they felt their feet touch the grass of the field beneath and they made a dash for the stone wall which ran alongside the road.

       “You look.” Brendan whispered. “You see any tentacles, we make a run for it.”

       “Oh, shut up.” Terese said and she put her nose over the top of the wall.

       “Well?” Brendan asked.

       “He’s got a hood on… a backpack…” Terese replied. “And I think he’s peed his pants.”

       “How can you tell?”

       “He’s got all stains down his trousers and…”

       “It’th blood. It’th not urine. I haven’t peed on anyfing.”

       The strangers voice was muffled due to his face being face down and half buried in the gravel road beneath.

       “Then why have you got blood all over you?” Brendan whispered loudly.

       “You know, it’th incredibly pointleth to whithper if you’re going to do it loudly.” The stranger said. “But to answer your question, it’th my blood. I would never be tho indithcreet ath to lie, face down in the middle of a road with thomeone else's blood all over me.”

       Terese squatted back down next to Brendan.

       “I think we should help him.” She said.

       “What!” Brendan bleated. “Are you insane!? The man is clearly a drunken nutbag!”

       “I can hear you, you know?” The stranger said.

       “Look,” Terese grabbed Brendan by his shirt collar. “The whole world has gone to hell and we, you and me, we have a chance to do something right, something decent just once in this whole crappy existence we’ve found ourselves in. This is destiny!”

       “Destiny wouldn’t have peed their pants.”

       “It’th blood!” The stranger chimed in.

       “Oh, all right.” Brendan replied huffily to Terese. “But you’re going to have to explain it to dad when we get home.”
       Terese’s face flashed with excitement and she leapt over the stone wall. Brendan followed, somewhat more sluggishly. She knelt down next to the stranger and turned him over gently. The man groaned as she did so and she saw his face, too was scratched and spattered with blood.

        “Oh, thank you so much, dear.” He said, the injuries doing little to hide the golden skin beneath. “If there were still an Olympus, your place there would be most assured.”

        “Uh, thanks.” Terese replied. “Brendan, grab his other arm and let’s get him up, see if he can walk.”

       The twins grunted in unison as they took his weight upon them but, strangely, the man was as light as a feather. Brendan opened his mouth to question the stranger on this, when he saw that beneath his hood, his expression had changed to a much darker hue.

       “So, what happened to leave you in such a state?” Terese asked, oblivious.

       “That.” The stranger answered, nodding his head up the road. “That is what happened to me.”

       From the shadows of the forest ahead, through which the main road ran into Newfolk, a creature appeared. It resembled a dog; its body all white, its ears pointed and red. Beneath, its eyes glinted like two pure black marbles and it wavered where it stood, as tall as horse. It too was scarred and bloodied and it showed its teeth in a low snarl as it began to move towards them.

       “Terese?” Brendan said. “I hate you.”

       “Totally understand.” Terese replied. “I hate myself right now too.”