Cursed

❀Chapter Thirty-Three❀

Aphrodite

When Zeus told me of his plan to merge our bodies, I had many doubts. Hades hasn't always been strong like Zeus but he has the gift of a cunning mind. There's a reason Zeus would never take him on in battle alone. But seeing the fear in Hades' eyes right now makes all of my apprehensions go away. He's scared and he should be. For too long has he terrorized whomever he chooses. He must be put down and banished to the Underworld forever. With Zeus's magic, I will tether his body to the Underworld so that he may no longer wander between worlds like the other gods. The poor souls inhabiting his realm shall be his only company.

"If that's how you and my brother see fit to destroy me then so be it. Come kill me, Aphrodite, you know it will only bring me great pleasure to be executed by your delicate hands."

I shift Zeus's lightning bolt sword out from behind my back while lifting the invisible veil that's keeping Hades from gaining entrance to the house. A battle cry escapes my lips and I know that it's coming from Zeus. Hades charges forward to meet me with a look of hatred in his eyes. Our bodies collide in midair with an explosion of pink and green sparks. I manage to plunge the tip of my sword into Hade's abdomen. Green liquid spews from the hole where my sword enters him. He staggers back, in shock from the force of the blow. This is my chance to finish him off!

While I prepare the magic I need to banish Hades to the Underworld forever, I see him gesture wildly at the field nearby. Out pops three, then six, then eighteen of his undead army. Hades looks at the surprised expression on my face and smiles, exposing rows of sharp pointy teeth. He scurries off to heal himself, while the decaying flesh of his army throws their carcasses at me one by one. Using Zeus's sword I cut them down with one hand while shooting pink flames with the other, causing the dead to burn until they're nothing but piles of ash.

Exhaustion starts to creep into my limbs with each slice of the sword through the corpse bodies. The body continually surges forward in battle, all the while Hades remains in the background reanimating the dead. With his magic, he's giving them new limbs from the other dismembered ones that I chopped apart. They keep coming back, charging with their mismatched body parts flailing behind them. Only the ones that I use magic on won't return, but even my magic is starting to dim as Hades forces more undead to rise and attack. Soon he will run out of dead bodies and it will just be him and I. Then I hear Zeus's voice speaking in my head.

"Make him think you are weak. Allow him to have a glimmer of hope that he might win."

Even though the thought brings me great fear, I have to listen. Our bodies are one and I have to trust that Zeus has a plan to protect us. Holding the sword up in both hands I draw out the remaining power from its metal and throw it to the side. It's no longer going to aid me anyway.

With this new power running through my veins I release a scream that causes even Hades to stop what he's doing. He looks on in horror as I turn my rage on the rest of the dead, enveloping them in a fiery blaze. All that's left is Hades and I, surrounded by piles of ash from the burned bodies. The ash picks up in the wind and blows around Hades as he rushes towards me. He roars, catapulting his body at lightning speed.

"You bitch!"

Grabbing me by the neck he lifts me off the ground. I can't fight him even if I wanted to. The power that was necessary to destroy his army has left me virtually useless.

"I'll give you one more chance to be with me forever and I will allow you to remain alive. Answer me now Aphrodite, or perish!"

"Never!"

I spit in his face which only provokes him more. He opens his razor-sharp jaws until all I can see is the black cavern of his mouth and I know he's going to swallow me whole. Just then I see two blue hands creep out from around Hade's monstrous shoulders. His fingernails digging into the green flesh cause Hades to scream and let go of his grip on my neck. I fall back gasping for air. I watch as Zeus grapples with the empathy in his heart for what he knows he has to do. The god bends down and whispers to Hades.

"I'm sorry it has to be like this, brother."

The sky turns to midnight as clouds fill with rain and lightning hovers over us. Channeling its power into his magic, Zeus sends electric blue bolts into Hade's body, rendering him barely conscious. He looks up at Zeus begging for his life.

"No Zeus. Don't do this to me, brother!"

"You've done it to yourself! Look at all the pain you've caused, little brother. It's time to lock you up where you belong."

"Please don't kill me, I beg of you. I'll do anything."

"See that's the difference between you and I, brother. I would never kill you, I couldn't live with the burden of your death. But I will banish you to live forever in a place where you can't cause any more harm."

Zeus links with me again to perform the spell that will exile Hades from all worlds except the Underworld. We join hands, creating a circle around Hades' lifeless body. I feel reinvigorated as our hand's touch and I know that Zeus is sending power through himself to heal me. Our energies mix in a hurricane of pinks and blues between us. A purple glow covers Hade's body as we chant the words to tether him to the Underworld forever.

Breaking over me

A thousand miles in the deep

I call upon the land

I call upon the sea

Take Hades and deliver unto me

Let him soe what he shall reap

Tethering him by my hand

To the world of death and sleep

His life forever linked

To the undead that he will keep

After chanting the final words, I open my eyes to see that Hades is gone. All of the ashes from the undead have disappeared and it's just Zeus and I standing in front of the empty farmhouse. Zeus closes the space between us, wrapping me up in his embrace.

"We did it, my love. He's gone."

"Now we can return to our home."

"I want nothing more than to spend the rest of eternity by your side in Mt. Olympus."

"How I've missed my endless fields of roses. Zeus, take me home."