Invidia: The Goddex of Magic

Chapter 7: Sapphirus' Story

Night enveloped Khronoshia yet again. Stars returned, but were fading rapidly. In an instant, a chariot appeared above the canopy, just in view of the group. It sparkled with the sun and glowed like a sunrise. It was pulled by a team of eight phoenixes. A woman stood with reins in her hands, waving down below to the group. The two gods, two godlings, two spirits, and half-god stared up, mostly in shock and surprise. Sapphirus smiled upward at the chariot, at Eos. At the back of the chariot, daylight trailed. At the front, nighttime laid ahead. Eos pointed in front of her, and then the chariot shot another few hundred feet and went down below the treeline.
    Sapphirus motioned for the others to follow, and she raced to the west, towards the chariot. The others followed quickly with the exception of Iris and Jack, who appeared reluctant.
At various speeds, the group headed to where Eos' chariot landed. After a few moments, they were exposed to a blast of heat. Eos, her chariot, and her team of phoenixes sat in a clearing. All the snow and ice had melted from the surrounding trees and the air was steaming.
    "Hurry!" the goddess of dawn cried and the group of seven began to climb into the chariot. It was small, but seemed to expand as it carried more. Once the last of the group, Jack, had gotten on, Eos cried, "Tev!" and the phoenix team flew off, heading west. The chariot sped from the Frozen Forest to the Iceshadow coast, dawn trailing behind it.
    "We are going the wrong way, Lady Eos!" Prometheus screamed over the wind, "We were headed east! Towards the dwarven lands!"
    Eos simply smiled, "Sorry, dearie, once called upon, my chariot can only travel westward until the dawn is spread across Khronoshia. We must past the most western edge of the lands before we can change direction."
    "If we go to the most western edge," Eris' voice was wobbly, "Will we not fall off the edge of the world?" Eos emitted a high pitched ringing noise, laughter, and tried responding, but not before Sapphirus interjected.
    "The world is round, Eris." the dimidium divana stated.
    "Father always said-" Hecate started, but was cut off by Hopper.
    "Aeolus is spreading his fearful lies again." the dwarf ghost exclaimed, his form shaking and smoking from anger. Prometheus attempted to lay a hand on Hopper's shoulder, only for it to pass right through the ghost.
    "It is his way to keep his subjects in line, and is a threat to anyone who disobeys him. 'Step out of line, and I'll throw you into the abyss.'" Prometheus chirped in an awful imitation of the Sky King's voice.
    "We will be fine," Eos promised, and the group became silent for a few moments as the chariot flew.
    "We have a day at best to reach the dwarven lands." Prometheus estimated. "Demons cannot track by air and the winds will not be alerted to Eos being the trafficker for a few hours."
    "It will not take us a day." Eos said, insulted, "You shall see the dwarves in a few hours."
    "Thank you, Mother." Sapphirus beamed, her tail wagging happily.
ẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟẟ
    "I was cast into prison. It was far to the north, away from the settlement formed."
    "All because you told Hercules his father was no longer king?"
Sapphirus, at Eos and Prometheus' request, was telling Aeolus' three children of her unwanted sentence to Niflheim. She had begun, but was interrupted by Hecate.
    "Exactly. I told the so-called leader of the Lucifer colony his title as king was only because he appointed it to himself, and cast out Lucifer, the former king, in order to take the throne."
    "Lucifer is Khronos' son correct?" Hecate inquired, and Sapphirus nodded, then continued.
    "So Hercules banished me to the far north, in the prison that held others who stood against him, including Lucifer, Robin Hood son of Minerva, Gilgamesh son of Raphael, Hippolyta daughter of Ares, Icarus grandson of Minerva, and Achilles, great-grandson of Zeus. Which also reminds me how Zeus got evicted as king and your father put in place."
    "Air and Earth gods have no tolerance for dimidium divana." Hecate explained, "Or dio parziale."
    "Zeus' affinity for affairs got him in agitation with the other Air and Earth gods, and he was cast aside." Eris completed.
    "Exactly." Sapphirus agreed, then continued, "I was not about to sit still in death and let myself be beat by Hercules. There were rumors I heard while living in the Underlands of ways to escape from death."
    "Escape death?" Iris inquired, "That's ridiculous!" The nine year old smiled at her comment.
Sapphirus smirked, "Impossible? How am I here then?" Iris blushed and turned away.
    "There was a story," Sapphirus continued, ignoring the interruption, "In each afterlife, each death, there is an escape route."
    "Why?" Iris questioned, interrupting the half-god yet again.
    "In case an Underlands god gets trapped on the inside of an afterlife, they need an escape." Sapphirus' voice was bitter.
    "How would an Underland god get trapped in an afterlife?"
Sapphirus bared her fangs angrily. "Since Abaddon's death, the Underland gods have become more cruel to demons and dead souls."
Sapphirus paused for a moment. The chariot continued at high speeds. Wind roared around the chariot, and a phoenix came to sit on Prometheus' shoulder as he stood, overlooking the back of the chariot. Eos still stood at the front, commanding the phoenix team forward. Prometheus called to her from the back, "Lady Eos-"
    "That's Mom to you!" Eos yelled back. Prometheus looked shocked.
    "Sapphy and I are not married yet-" Prometheus called back, but was interrupted again.
    "As long as you still plan to, you will address me as 'mom' or 'mother'" Eos said sternly.
Prometheus tried not to smile, "Mother, are we not too far north?"
    "What makes you think that?"
    "We are just south of the Chaos Range. We are over Oblivion Haven."
Eos looked down at the Chaos Mountain Range, then looked up, furious.
    "Sorry dears, I was paying more attention to my daughter. I have not seen her for twenty-five years you know."
    "Neither have I." Prometheus countered.
While the two fire gods quarreled over Sapphirus, the three children and the two ghosts turned their attention back to the story.
    "I planned to find the exit. To escape Niflheim." Sapphirus explained and Jack scoffed. "You planned to escape from your rightful death? And succeeded?"
    "It was not a rightful death. I was murdered in war!"
Jack rolled her turquoise eyes. "It is still a death. You should have stayed gone."
Sapphirus growled angrily, bared her fangs, and stood, ready to pounce on Jacqueline. Eris stopped her.
    "She is made of nothing, Sapphirus." the raven-haired godling reasoned, "You will fall of the back of the chariot." Sapphirus straightened up, and turned away. She took a breath before continuing the story.
    "The story told by Lucifer, who had tried to escape before, but could not bring himself to leave the others to the mercilessness of Hercules, is that far far to the west in Niflheim,  across an ocean and continents there is a door. No house, no palace, no foundations or buildings, just a door. We all knew this much to be true, as we could see its glowing light from our prison. It lay to the east of us. One night, I just left.
    "How did you escape prison?" Iris asked.
    "It was not difficult, there are no guards. Hercules believes he can rule by fear and that the exiled dimidium divana will not come back. I began to go east, towards the door."
    "Lucifer said the door lay to the west though." Hecate interjected, following Iris' style of talking.
    "I could see the door though, it was faint but I could see it. I thought that meant I could reach it faster. It took a few days to cross the prison lands and all the way the door never appeared any closer. Finally, I reached an ocean. I believed this must be what Lucifer meant, he just did not realize he went the opposite direction of what he said."
The three children were intrigued now; they had to know what happened. "Did you cross the ocean and reach the door?" Hecate asked.
"Once I reached the ocean, I found it was frozen over." Sapphirus explained. "I began to cross it. Then, as if instantaneously, I was back at camp."
"With the others who were exiled?" Prometheus asked, turning his attention from Eos. Sapphirus shook her head.
"Back at the colony," she clarified, "Back to the village." Everyone stared at the half-god. Tears welled in her honey-golden eyes.
"They found me almost immediately." Sapphirus whispered. "The scouts found me, and before I could regain my wits, every half-god in Niflheim was closing in around me. I was tortured, abused, beaten, and then thrown back to the prison country."
The chariot became silent except for the sounds of  wind rushing around the chariot. Prometheus took a step towards Sapphirus and wrapped his arms around her. Eris turned away and Hecate followed suit. Iris and the spirits stood in the same position. Eos turned frequently to check on her child, but could not leave her post of driving. After a few minutes, Sapphirus spoke again.
"I asked Lucifer what it meant. Going east and being teleported right back." Sapphirus choked, "He said he had already told me. Going west was the only way. So the next day, I headed west."
"Towards the Lucifer colony?" Hecate questioned.
"Yes," Sapphirus said slowly, "However, this time, I snuck past them. It took what seemed like weeks to reach the ocean from this direction, and then weeks to cross it. Finally, two more weeks on land, and I reached the door for real." The half-god paused, took a deep breath, then continued.
"I tried opening the door, but it simply swung on its hinges. It did not lead to the Underlands."
The group looked at Sapphirus with puzzled looks, even Eos.
    "Why did the door not open?" Prometheus questioned. Everyone looked at Eos, presumably because she was the eldest god. Eos simply stood, tight-lipped and unblinking.
    "My only guess," the Goddess of Dawn concluded, "is that the door can only be opened by a full god, not half-god or any other race."
    "If that is true," Eris speculated, "then how did you escape, Sapphirus?"
    "After a few days- and remember I had travelled for months from prison and the colony and twenty five years of torture from Niflheim before that, so these few days were an agonizing wait- the door opened."
    "It opened?" all three of the children exclaimed, and Sapphirus nodded.
    "The door swung open and out popped a head. Thanatos' head."
    "Thanatos?" Prometheus wondered, "Why?"
The dimidium divana shook her head, "I have no idea. As soon as he appeared, though, he was gone. He left the door open, and I followed." Sapphirus' voice trailed off.
    "We are over Black Crystal City," Eos called to the others, "we shall be arriving soon."
    "Thank you, mother." Sapphirus said shyly.
    "Just try not to kill your brother, dear." Eos replied.
    "Brother?" Iris looked at her siblings in confusion, then at Sapphirus and Eos.
Sapphirus gave a small smirk, "Did you not know? Zin, the dwarven king, is my brother."