Chapter Twenty-Seven
There was definitely something about Mialosk that made it more terrifying than Gehenna or Tartarus.
Lea was right. I hated admitting that, but it was the truth glaring me right in the face.
It was something other dimension, some other kind of world unlike any I'd ever seen. It breathed, it moaned, it ate. It was a living creature. Almost as if it was the very bowels of the Source itself. It was an eerie thought as we began to make our way through the pitch black tunnels that made up the realm.
Of course, Rowan and I had no problem seeing while the others relied on the orb Zetnos was carrying. It just made it creepier considering most of what I saw was tinted a light blue. I could see the walls around us filling with air, then exhaling slowly. I could hear it in the way things moaned and groaned. The screams and wails of inhuman creatures rang out on occasion. It reeked like sewage. It was a whole fucking nightmare that never seemed to end and I actually almost felt sorry for any souls that ended up in this fucked up afterlife.
"How can you sleep near this place?" I muttered under my breath.
"I don't," Zetnos admitted grimly, making me glance at him, "I sleep on the surface in Lea's home. This is merely my workplace."
"Needs a break room," I grunted. Zetnos inclined his head at that, before leading us down another tunnel. It felt like we were going around in circles, but Zetnos assured us that there was a reason for the turns and twists. The corridors were ever changing, ever contorting, and ever filled with dangers.
It ramped up my anxiety like nothing before. I'd only had one eerie vision upon entering, but I was ready for more to pop up at any time. Fuck, I was expecting things to come crawling out of the walls, especially after running into a few very fresh looking holes in the walls. It reminded me of a birth canal to be fucking honest and it creeped me the hell out.
"Yeah, I can see why the Shifter wouldn't want to return to this shit," I said, looking around.
"Except it was a place like this that birthed it," Rowan replied, making me frown as he studied the ceiling overhead where a hole seemed to breath rank gas down on us, "The Shifter is the accumulation of evil since the beginning of everything. This place would be like a spa to it."
"Makes sense," I admitted bitterly.
"Why would it want to destroy something like this then," Yiuwa asked, "Would it simply not wish to turn everything into this?" Rowan shook his head.
"The Shifter doesn't see things the way we do, doesn't see our logic. It cannot exist knowing there is hope." With that, he looked at me and I frowned.
"Viv is hope," I pointed out.
"Viv is hope incarnate," Rowan replied, "You are this universe's only hope." That made no fucking sense and it made me uncomfortable, so I pretended to be interested in the floor, only to realize it was fucking gross so I gave up on conversation and curiosity. I focused on Zetnos walking ahead of us, knowing he'd stumbled a couple times and would look back to look at us with this look that told me he'd definitely gotten sucked into a dark place in his head and had to make sure we were still here.
"Maybe we should hold hands," I snorted, making Rowan look at me dryly, "What? It'll be harder for this thing to pray on us if we're latched onto each other."
"Except it can still fuck with your head and make you think there's some kind of twisted ghost thing holding your hand and not the person you thought," he explained, making me sigh.
"Well, this place is a goddamn party. Why am I just now being invited here?" I asked sarcastically. Yiuwa went to open his mouth, but Rowan squeezed his hand to shut him up, much to my relief.
We rounded another corner and I could've sworn we'd just been down this tunnel before, but I made the fucking mistake of blinking, I guess, because one second, it was pulsing moving walls with weird vagina gapes. In the next, I was standing in a familiar throne room that was completely destroyed. Drapes were shredded and torn off the walls, glass was shattered and littered the floor, the throne itself was nothing more than a pile of rubble.
And standing in the middle of the throne room was Persephone.
She was nothing like Lea, or Viv, or any other female I knew. She was a combination of delicacy and raw fury. She looked soft and angelic with her strawberry-blonde hair falling in long gorgeous waves to her waist, her skin the softest shade of olive, her eyes storm clouds spilling rain that fell down her cheeks in a rush of tears. She wore a Greek chiton with gold laced seams and sandals that tied up to her knees, which was where she sat as she wailed.
"I don't want to be here! I hate you! I hate you, Hades!" Her screams echoed in the room and chilled me down to the marrow of my bones. Part of me was fucking confused still. We'd had the best moment of our lives together and all I did was fuck it up by giving her my name and suddenly, she'd gone from sweet delicate flower to a storm cloud tearing through my palace. She'd destroyed almost everything, save for the roof over our heads.
I'd taken her to the underworld and I'd apologized... before feeding her food from the underworld, trapping her here with me. At that time, there was no time limit. She was trapped for eternity and her fury rang through Hades like a goddamn nuke.
"I want to go home! I want my mother! I want my father! I want to see the sunlight again! Let me out of here, you rotten evil monster! Let me out!" She turned on me then, like she was going to attack me. I waited, fully prepared to accept anything she threw at me, because I fucking deserved it for panicking and dragging her back here against her will.
Suddenly, I felt a lot like Kratos and Zeus and the thought made my skin crawl. Persephone had never come here of her own free will. I'd forced her. When she realized who I was, had called out to Zeus for help, I'd panicked. Zeus had expressly forbidden me to enter the mortal realm, and I stupidly had under the guise of Hector. Fear gripped me the moment she screamed for Zeus and I'd snatched her and dragged her to the underworld. She'd been briefly terrified, placated when I fed her and let her rest for a night, only for her to awaken with realization that I'd fed her food from the soil, tethering her to the underworld.
She'd gone into a fucking rampage afterwards, destroying my home and ending in a sobbing mess. I didn't dare try to comfort her. She'd probably rip my head off.
So I did something stupid.
I went to Olympus to confront Zeus. Of course, the stories were so simple; Zeus let me keep Persephone for half the year and her mother the other half of the year. Boom. No problem. Except when I'd arrived in Olympus, Demeter had turned on me real quick.
"You fucking monster! That's my daughter! Your niece! How dare you lay your filthy hands on her!" Her shouts were met with my blank stare and she in turn got angry enough to fucking punch me in the face, which Zeus healed... only to damage himself after Demeter had left.
"Fine," Zeus had sighed once he was finished and I was left bleeding on the floor of his bedroom, "Half the year. Should be enough time for you to realize Persephone's a bit bipolar, but she's your problem now."
Yup, she definitely became a problem after that.
Not because she had issues, but because she started poking around where I didn't want her poking around. She wanted to know why I had been threatened by Zeus, why I avoided reunions, why this and why that. It was none of her business and I didn't like talking about it, but Persephone had to know. She always had to know everything.
Still, I did love Persephone. I loved her more than anything, and in a way, I still loved her, but in a more sisterly way. She'd opened up new doors for me, new possibilities, and she was the softness that my sons desperately needed to make sure they stayed on the right path, even if I didn't see it that way. She was the yin to my yang, if you wanted to be fucking cheesy about it.
She did have her flaws, though.
For example, the incident with Malachi's mother. The female had threatened me and in turn, took what she wanted and got what she wanted, only for Malachi to be too powerful for her weak body. She perished and Persephone turned on me, saying it was something I had done. After all, she had believed the female's story about my raping her, which never fucking happened. Looking back on it, the bitch raped me, but the point was, Persephone took her side against me. Persephone almost always took someone else's side, if for nothing more than a different perspective. The only time it had ever really worked out was when she voted in favor of protecting Malachi's husband, Adrian.
Shit. That felt like a lifetime ago.
And just as quickly as the vision came, it was gone and I was left standing behind Zetnos, who was standing at a large rickety looking door. I blinked several times, looking over at Rowan and Yiuwa, who didn't even appear to notice the fact that I'd been sucked into my own head. Rowan met my eyes, though, the green there glowing brightly. I waited to feel him infiltrate my head like earlier, but he did nothing.
"This is it," Zetnos stated, "That happened with minimal incident... I'm suspicious. Stay close." We nodded. None of what I had seen was particularly shocking or terrifying. It was more like falling asleep, then waking up abruptly from a nightmare. Nothing major. Which meant something was totally off around here.
I kept that at the forefront of my mind as we entered what looked like an episode of hoarders. The room was more like the inside of a barn filled with various items that looked more like garbage. From a typewriter to wardrobes to chests, file folders, books, scrolls, jewelry. It was just a bunch of junk, like a thrift store that took on more than it could handle.
"Don't touch anything," Rowan said when I started to reach for a book on medieval philosophy and I shot him a scowl at the warning.
"He's right," Zetnos agreed grimly, "These items are all cursed or enchanted. They can and will ruin your life if you touch the wrong thing."
"Right. Look, don't touch. I can manage," I muttered, considering that was a majority of my life growing up. I followed Zetnos as we poked around and searched for the tablets. It didn't take long to come across them, surprisingly.
"Right where we left them," Rowan murmured, to which Yiuwa nodded as he slid his hands down the first tablet to begin reading it. I took notes as he muttered readings under his breath. They were such vivid graphic descriptions, from blood soaked soil turned to muddy black to the sun glistening like a white gemstone as it tinted pale skin rosy pink and darkened dark skin to rich caramel.
"So this is supposed to stop the shifter?" Zetnos asked. Rowan nodded.
"The Source communicates via colors. If we can transform the colors into sounds, it should be able to put a cap on the Shifter. After all, it cannot communicate with the Source. The Source abandons those that do not heed its will," he explained, making Zetnos nod.
"Much like Atlan," he murmured. Rowan averted his eyes, but didn't answer, clearly feeling the same way. I glanced at them, then looked down and frowned as an odd feeling spread through me. It was almost like a weight was shifting into my skin. I shifted uncomfortably as I continued to write down Yiuwa's descriptions as best I could without the tablet trying too hard to make me stop. Perhaps the weight came from the tablet not liking how close I was getting to the right wording?
"Something's not right," I said at last, "Hurry this up." Yiuwa nodded and moved onto the next tablet. I followed as quick as I could, but I still felt the same pressure, the same eerie weight, almost like someone was settling into my skin with me, except not quite. It was more like a surface sensation...
"Fuck me," I growled, stepping away from Yiuwa, who appeared startled.
"What--"
"Get the fuck off me, you slimy bastard," I snarled, stomping my foot and sending a blast of power that sent everything around me flying back and outwards. Rowan, Zetnos, and Yiuwa managed to hold their grounds with Yiuwa protecting the tablets as something black shot across the room and slammed into a wardrobe, smashing it into pieces. Zetnos made a noise of distress and I gave him a droll stare before turning back to see the smoke clearing from the ruined wardrobe as Kratos rose up from the rubble, dusting himself off before looking up to give me a cocky smirk.
"You used to like my hugs," he commented.
"I definitely didn't miss you violating my personal space," I deadpanned, making him frown before rolling his eyes.
"Who is that?" Zetnos demanded, offended by the male's presence.
"Everyone, Kratos. Kratos, everyone," I introduced, waving everyone together and Kratos gave the gang a little wave while the gang just glared at him, clearly not enjoying his interruption, "Oh, and in case it wasn't clear, the Shifter sent this prick after us."
"So he's fair game then," Yiuwa stated and threw his hand up to send a blast at him, but Kratos caught it and sent it flying back at him. This time, Rowan put his palm up and caught it, snuffing it out immediately and making Kratos narrow his eyes.
"Try again," Rowan offered, "No, really. I'd love an excuse to rip your intestines out."
"Charming," Kratos said flatly, "But I'm not here to play games. Let me take Hades without incident and you don't have anything to worry about."
"Yeah," Rowan said, "How about no?"
"We're not stupid," Yiuwa added dryly.
"Could've fooled me," Kratos responded with a shrug, then shook his head at us, "I still cannot wrap my head around why the fuck any of you would still want the universe to continue to exist after how much it's fucked you over, especially you, Hades." I snorted at that.
"The universe didn't do shit to me. It was other really shitty people who did shit to me," I said, then gestured to him, "Exhibit A." Kratos narrowed his eyes on me.
"I told you to shut up," he said heatedly, "I told you repeatedly to shut up. To let things be, and you ignored me. You kept pushing me and I kept warning you and you didn't listen to me."
"What's he talking about?" Yiuwa asked, looking at me. I ignored him and focused on Kratos, really not in the mood to air my dirty laundry up in this shit. For some reason, especially in front of Rowan; though, fuck knew the guy probably already knew enough. I was unsure why that bothered me. The whole daddy thing was really starting to aggravate me.
"And I told you that the same shit over and over again was going to happen," I replied simply, "You live in shit, you expect shit. You complained constantly about the state of everything, but didn't do shit about it, except take it out on other people. That is not how you change things. So allow me to demonstrate what happens when you actually get off your ass to take care of shit." I threw my palm out and sent a blast that Kratos deflected into the ceiling, which in turn caused a massive crack to form in the ceiling.
Zetnos cursed.
"Enough! This room is full of cursed objects! If we begin a battle here, we could trigger some of it," he hissed. I shrugged, glancing at the ceiling, then at Kratos, who frowned and paused to glance around the room. He reached out and picked up an orb from a pedestal, making me roll my eyes.
"Of course he ignores the no touching rule. Classic," I added, making Kratos twitch. He glared at me, looked at the orb in his palm, then threw it at me. The thing went hurling for my head and I went to catch it, but Zetnos barked at me to not touch it. The thing smashed into the floor and broke open, releasing a spray of nasty smelling smoke. Immediately we scrambled back and I nearly went head over heels on a desk, landing on the floor as I ducked low while the smoke infiltrated the room.
"What the fuck is that?" I demanded, coughing and looking over at Zetnos, who was covering his face.
"It's a scrambling spell," Zetnos muttered, making me scowl, "It's going to... It's going to do something. I can't remember." He looked in confusion down at his hand, then at me and I stared back at him, briefly confused when I realized what he'd been trying to say.
Scrambling. Memory scrambling. As in, whoops, a sudden onset of fucking Alzhiemer's.
And it was spreading quickly. I ducked my head and tried to keep my face covered, quickly conjuring a mask and pulled it on over my face. It helped, but for a split second, I almost forgot what I was doing. I almost forgot where I was. I almost forgot who I was.
I conjured another mask and shoved it at Zetnos, who scowled at it, then at me.
"Who are you?"
"Your guardian angel. Listen to me and put that mask on. Hopefully this shit is the same shit Atlan used on me once upon a time," I muttered. Zetnos just nodded, grabbing the mask, then looking at it with confusion, clearly forgetting right after I spoke what he was doing and what was happening. I grabbed the mask and shoved it onto his face, buckling it at the back of his head and giving him a rough pat on the shoulder. No sooner had I done it did a strong grip wrap around my throat and haul me to my feet, swinging me around and slamming me into another wardrobe, but this one actually opened its doors and went to slam it shut on me. I immediately threw my arms up, struggling against the fucking cursed living wardrobe like something out of a horrorized version of Beauty and the Beast.
"Ah, ah," Kratos's voice said, making me narrow my eyes and look through the smoke to see Kratos wearing a mask, "Man, this room is full of useful shit. I can just toss you in there and carry the wardrobe."
"Fuck you," I snarled just before the doors slammed shut on me, sealing me inside like it was a fucking coffin. I cursed and slammed my fists at the door, but it didn't help. Meanwhile, the wardrobe suddenly started to get wet and sticky on the inside. You know, sort of like a really hungry dog mouth getting ready to chew up its food and swallow it.
"Oh, for fuck's sake! Zetnos, burn the damn room when we're done!" I shouted, then closed my eyes and sent a blast of power through the wardrobe. It rumbled and growled around me, but didn't give way. It sounded like something was going on outside the wardrobe too, the sounds of struggling and smashing and crashing followed by Zetnos's demand to stop touching things.
I rolled my eyes and tried again, this time, using a blast of flames that singed my skin, but went a long way in fucking destroying the wardrobe around me. It broke apart and fell into pieces as I slammed into the ground, only to pop back up and barely avoid Kratos going for my head.
"You never were good at holding still," Kratos growled, swinging at me. I ducked and dodged, spinning out of the way. He went for me again, but this time, I grabbed a nearby set of handcuffs and slammed one end onto his wrist, connecting him to a nearby writing desk, that appeared to have a mind of its own because there was a pen just scribbling away on the wood. Kratos cursed, yanking at it, but to no avail. He narrowed his eyes, then swung the writing desk up in the air and at my head.
I ducked and rolled as the desk smashed into pieces on the floor. I got back to my feet and ran at Kratos, slamming into him and this time, we went flying out of the room and out into the tunnel.
The moment we landed on the spongy floor, I was transported from that moment to one in the past.
I found myself sitting on Kratos's desk, recognizing the familiar cold chill going down my spine as Kratos knelt in front of me, staring up at me with agonized bluish green eyes.
"Why must you always do this? I do not want to hurt you, Hades," he seethed, grabbing my hands and standing my fingers up so he could lace them together with his, "I just want you to understand that things are the way they are for a reason. We can't change this." I stared at him, watching those eyes search with hope for some kind of understanding.
The vision faded and I found myself in a familiar position with my face smashed into the pillow on Kratos's bed, his huge body pinning me down. The image flashed away and was replaced with one of Kratos trembling as he backed away from me, like he'd seen a ghost, his hands shaking as he shook his head hard and almost tripped over his feet. He dropped to the floor, grabbed his clothing, and ran for the door like the devil was chasing him out. Meanwhile, my broken body ached at the very thought of breathing as I watched him flee out the door and never come back.
The next vision was of Charon standing in front of me as I sat on the sofa, feeling numbed from Kratos's abandonment.
"He was cruel and he was inconsiderate and what he did was abusive," he managed, his voice shaking, because he clearly wasn't used to being angry or hurt or scared, "His absence is a blessing for you, Hades. What he did was... he hurt you. I know he did. You won't tell me and I understand, but--"
"Nobody asked you," I snapped abruptly, rising to my feet and making Charon take a couple steps back, "You opinion is invalid. What I do in my spare time is none of your damn business. You're a nosy little brat and should learn to keep your mouth and your ears shut." Charon swallowed thickly at that. He opened his mouth, then closed it before looking down at his feet. I felt a rush of pain at having snapped at him, but I felt so raw, so angry, so... fuck, it hurt.
Kratos had been an abusive fuck, but there were moments he was actually a person. Moments when I swore he could erase everything Zeus had ever done to me. Moments I swore were genuine. He'd take my hands, lace our fingers together. He'd kiss my knuckles or whisper these insanely sweet things. I'd almost fallen for it. Almost.
Because in the end, he still punched me. He still hit me. He still raped me. He still abandoned me.
And it wasn't fair.
It wasn't fucking fair.
I felt heat rising from the pit of my stomach, spreading through my veins and I actually squirmed at the discomfort of it. It was almost like something was... wait, almost like something was actually wrapping itself around me, limb from limb.
The image of Charon standing in front of me vanished abruptly and I found myself laying on the spongy intestinal floor of the realm of Mialosk. I blinked rapidly, looking around to try and ground myself, watching the red pulsing wall ooze with all sorts of foul fluids, the gaping holes clenching shut, then coming open to reveal a sliver of darkness. The rancid stench of feces and urine and death quickly drew me back to the presence and I found a pair of tentacles swirling around my arm and leg, almost like it was trying to suck me into the ground.
I cursed and yanked hard, but the moment I did, the tentacle seemed to screech and yanked back harder, pinning me down to the ground. I sent a blast at it, but it only tightened its grip on me. My skin immediately bruised up, pressure making my bones creak. I went to use my other hand to rip it off, only for something to come out of nowhere, slashing at the tentacle and slicing it in half.
I jerked my head up to see Kratos slashing at the thing, then kicking it aside. He slashed at another tentacle that shot out of the wall to grab the sword from him. He cut the thing right off at the base, then swung around to glare down at me.
"What fucking hellhole are we in now?" He demanded.
"Mialosk," I seethed, not really in the mood to sass him as I swung around and blasted the tentacle off my ankle. I shot to my feet and blasted another tentacle, whirling around and realizing... the door was gone. Rowan, Yiuwa, and Zetnos were all gone. No more smoke or cursed objects, just the two of us trapped in this literal fucking colon.
"Son of a goddamn bitch," I growled, whirling on Kratos, who swung around after slicing off a tentacle. He twirled his sword and went to slash my legs, but I stumbled back and bounced off the wall, ducking another slash with his sword.
"Stop trying to cut me for once," I snarled, making him snort and take aim again, "Fuckin' A, Kratos, will you listen to me for once in your pathetically long miserable life?" Kratos narrowed his eyes, pausing his next sword stroke.
"If you think you can talk me out of this..." He started, but I scoffed.
"If I thought you could actually take me out of here, I'd latch onto your fucking back and let you piggy back me out of here," I said, making him scowl, "Except now we're trapped in a realm that can only be navigated with the owner of said realm. Now we're both trapped. You fucking moron." Kratos scowled at that. I glared.
"Did you even bother to listen when you hitched a ride on my ass down here?" I demanded. Kratos frowned, then averted his eyes. I rolled my eyes to glare up at the ceiling, making a why the fuck gesture with my hands. You know, in case the Source was actually paying attention to what went on in its twisted fucked up body. I glared at Kratos now.
"Great. Nice going. Now we're lost."
"There has to be a way out," Kratos said after a moment.
"Oh there is, except I don't know it, and neither do you, and the one guy who did is somewhere else in this labyrinth of intestine," I snapped. Kratos dropped his sword to throw his hands up, clearly fed up with me and I did the same thing back, which made him take a threatening step forward. This time, I met it with one of my own. This time, I was the one invading his personal space and making him hesitate, clearly not used to it.
The moment was interrupted, though, when a horrifying spine-chilling roar echoed down the corridor and we both looked up. Kratos stiffened at the sound.
"What the fuck was that?" He demanded. I glared at him.
"Xios. And they're coming for us."