“Wait, don’t do it!” Aaron yelled, but it was too late. When Thanatos was a few paces away from the stranger, he stopped and drew out his blade.
“Whoever you are, you messed with the wrong god. You might have caught me off guard last night. Attacked me when I was drunk and tired, but now it’s time you were taught a lesson. Turn and face me!”
Whoever it was, he was big. His size was only now clear that Thanatos was so close for a sense of scale. A sense of darkness overcame Aaron, like a great weight on him. Something wasn’t right, and he knew it. It felt like a trap, and it had felt like one from the moment Thanatos mentioned it.
“Thanatos, no, leave him!”
“Turn and face me!” Thanatos shouted.
Finally, the stranger got up, slowly and in a relaxed fashion, as if not threatened by Thanatos and the others at all. Not because ignorant of who they were, but because he did know, and didn’t care. That was a worrying for them all, and while Theo and Aaron looked horrified, Thanatos seemed to have no care in the world. Aaron dreaded what they were about to see, for he already had some sense of what was coming next.
The stranger was tall and broad, and as he turned around, he drew back his hood to confirm Aaron’s worst fears.
“Hades,” he gasped in fear.
It was the last thing he wanted to see in the world, and yet the thought of such a sight had hung over him like a shadow all the way there. Somehow, he knew this was going to happen, and he’d been trying to prepare himself mentally for it. But nothing could prepare anyone to face Hades. Before he could say a word, Thanatos’ blade flashed before their eyes as he let out a coarse battle cry, and ran at the enemy they feared most.
“Thanatos, no!” Theo screamed.
But it was too late. Thanatos had closed the distance in no time; as if entirely recovered from the beating he’d taken the night before, but clearly had not learned anything from. A blade slid out from Hades’ sleeve. It was slightly curved but short, and nothing like they’d seen him use before. He parried Thanatos’ opening strike with ease, took hold of him, and threw him across the room. Thanatos crashed into two tables and barreled to a halt, taking down several chairs, too.
Theo rushed in to support him as he fought to get back to his feet, and the others joined her, too. She cut down towards Hades’ head, but he met her blade with a quick parry. She struck again and again, doubling up her attacks. She thrust and cut, disengaged and feinted to create openings, but nothing could get through. Hades backed away and stopped everything she threw at him.
Finally, she left too large an opening between her strikes, and he exploited it with a powerful punch straight to her face. She was launched backward, her legs gave out, and she fell to the ground in a heap. Aaron was quick to rush to her side, forgetting for a moment who and what she was.
“Are you okay?”
He could tell she was not. There was a look of defeat in her eyes. Whatever chance they had of winning this fight, it had passed. But he wasn’t willing to give up just yet.
“We beat this asshole once, we can do it again. Come on!”
He pulled her to her feet and drew his own sword. Thanatos stepped up beside them, as did Arius and Aceso. Hades grabbed a bar stool and swept it across in a wide arc before him, knocking their blades aside and crashing into Aceso. She was thrown across the room and fell unconscious against a wall. Theo and Thanatos redoubled their efforts, going forward with everything they had. Theo thrust low, and Hades lifted his leg well clear, but Thanatos exploited the opening as he was balanced on one foot. He cut strongly with a horizontal far reaching cut. Hades ducked away, but it wasn’t fast enough. The cut slashed into his sleeve and went through the fabric with ease. Hades let out a visceral cry that was like nothing they’d ever heard from him. Higher pitched, and from a wound they’d have expected him to shrug off. But the Olympian blade must have cut deeper than they realized.
Thanatos saw his opening and chased his wounded opponent. But Hades took hold of a bottle from the counter of the bar and threw it at him. It smashed across his face and stopped him for just a moment. Hades’ boot connected with his stomach a second later. Thanatos keeled over forward, but a brutal ascending blow from Hades’ short blade struck his face and launched him off his feet. He smashed into the banister of the stairs and crumpled at the feet of the steps. Aaron reached Hades in time to help Theo as they went at their terrifying adversary together.
Aaron was far more cautious than even Theo had been, ever conscious of his mortality. He could not heal like they could, nor take anything like the degree of punishment they were able to endure. He had to fight smart, and that’s the way he had been training all his life. He didn’t have strength or durability on his side here, and could only rely on skill. He’d known this moment would come, and he’d been training for it ever since their first encounter, but was all to aware how dangerous it was. He calmed his breathing and focused on every action. Every sound and every element of body language that could help him predict his opponent. He slowed everything down in his mind, with more focus that he’d ever put into anything in his life, knowing that everything came down to this moment.
He pushed a cut forward, but as Hades responded, he rotated the blade under the parry, bringing up a cut onto the arm on the other side. Hades responded in time to stop it, but barely. Aaron transitioned into another cut over the top to his head, and that too was parried. Before Hades could respond, Theo swung a mighty blow toward his neck. Hades held his sword firm against Aaron’s while reaching up to Theo’s sword hand, stopping it mid-air. He snapped her arm quickly, and she let out a cry as her arm broke, and her sword fell from her hands. Hades struck her with the back of his hand, and she went down. Arius rushed in to fill her place. Hades pushed hard with his blade against Aaron and threw him back several paces so he could turn his attention to the newcomer.
Arius came on strong, cutting powerfully and driving Hades back with what seemed like a powerful flurry of blows, but none of them got through. Hades was finally backed up against the bar. Bottles and glasses crashed down behind him as Arius closed in on his target, but Hades lifted his offhand up as a defensive measure. He drove his blade deep into Arius’ torso until the blade pierced out from his back. He went limp as Hades drew out the blade, and he slumped down at Hades’ feet. Arius had been a hard opponent for Aaron, but they’d come to get on well since they’d first met.
There was defeat and horror in Theo’s eyes as she cradled her arm. She made no effort to get up from the floor. Aaron could barely believe what he was seeing. He wasn’t sure he could do much better, but he was willing to give everything to try.
After all we’ve been through; this can’t be the end.
He couldn’t imagine a scenario where he could defeat someone as powerful as Hades, but he’d seen enough of him fighting to get a good reading now. He stormed forward as if charging in a bitter rage, but it was nothing more than a ruse. He was as angry as he let on, but it hadn’t got the better of him. He went forward, feigning a furious charge, but it was anything but. Hades lifted his blade to take the blow, but Aaron stopped short and cut under. His blade bit into Hades’ lead leg.
Hades’ leg buckled slightly, but Aaron didn’t slow up, cutting around his opponent’s guard. He slashed up into his arm, once again finding his target. He then followed it with a thrust over the blade and headed right for Hades’ chest, as if to finish him in one brutal plunging thrust. The blade got to within an inch when Hades’ hand grabbed the sharp blade and stopped it dead with a vise like grip. The two sharp edges cut into his hand, and blood seeped out over the blade, but it had been stopped dead. Aaron had never seen anything like it, a sharp blade stopped mid slice.
The wound clearly hurt Hades, and he grit his teeth, smiling as if pretending it meant nothing to him. That alone was terrifying for Aaron, as he knew he couldn’t fight through that sort of pain. He tried to pull the blade back, but Hades’ grip held firm, and with his other hand he brought
down the pommel of his sword vertically. Aaron tried to defend with his left hand, but the power of the blow drove it down, and the pommel smashed onto his head. The shock was massive. He managed to stay on his feet, but barely. The pain was excruciating, and he felt it through his neck and spine. He lost a few seconds of time before coming to, only to find he had lost grip of his sword. He stumbled back a few paces.
Aaron fumbled to draw the pistol on his side, but he was disorientated, and his motor functions were not responding the way he wanted them to. Hades strode forward aggressively. Again, he tried for the grip of the holstered pistol, but he couldn’t get a hold of it. Hades grabbed his collar and hauled him off his feet. His feet were dangling in mid-air, and he could barely breathe. He was still trying to reach for his weapon but struggled even more as the tip of Hades’ blade drew up to his stomach, and stopped. He was helpless and at his opponent’s mercy, and he knew it. Even if he could reach his firearm, what good would it do? He could feel his neck and chest were wet, and he looked down. Blood was flowing from Hades’ hand, and more from the cut against his arm. They’d hurt him, and that surprised Aaron, although there was no time to dwell on that now.
“You had your chance, and you lost. I didn’t need an army to defeat any of you. This fight is over.”
He let Aaron down and pushed him back. Aaron was coughing and trying to get air in, but he was shaking his head, surprised to still be alive.
“You are finished,” declared Hades confidently.
Aaron looked around the room that had been smashed to pieces. His comrades lay beaten down, wounded or dead. Hades was right, as much as it hurt to accept it. He was glad for it to be over and still be alive, but that perplexed him. Hades appeared to show no intention to end them, and that made him suspicious. It didn’t add up.
“This world is mine, but I will allow you all to go on living in it. Stay out of my way, and you may go on living. You will not get a second chance.”
Aaron couldn’t believe it.
“That’s it? You’re offering a truce?”
“Not a truce. I am merely letting you live, so that you may be reminded of your defeat and your weakness, for as long as you may live,” he replied with a smile.
Aaron’s suspicion turned to disgust as it made sense to him. It was a bitter blow to take. He turned back to Thanatos, who was just about conscious, and could see how much worse it would be for him and the other immortals. They would have to live with this for an eternity. Everything Thanatos had worked for was for nothing. The look of despair on his face was mortifying. He seemed to take it even worse than Theo.
“That’s it? You’ll leave us be?” Aaron asked wearily.
“If you stay out of my way, yes.”
“Why? Why would you let us live?” Theo asked in astonishment.
“He wants us to suffer in defeat, forever.” Aaron appeared to be the only one really listening to what he’d said.
Hades went to the stairs, passing Thanatos with no regard at all. He didn’t attempt anything, though. Thanatos had the look of a beaten man about him. He’d given up. Hades reached the top of the stairs and at the balcony edge addressed them once more.
“The world is mine, and you may live in it, like all other humans. You know what I am capable of. Do not make me come here again.”
He left without another word as the badly bloodied group looked to one another in despair and also surprise. Aceso was coming around, and she stumbled over to Arius to try and help him.
“He’s….dead,” she gasped.
The others looked wiped out by the experience. They stared at her blankly as if too horrified by all they had seen to be able to respond.
“Where is Hades?” Aceso demanded as she reached for Arius’ blade that lay beside his body. She was ready to go on fighting.
“Theo?”
She reached for her own weapon despite the pain, yet her heart was not in it.
“It’s over,” declared Thanatos.
“What? How can you say that? We are still able to fight. We cannot give up.”
“Look around you. We’re finished. We lost,” said Thanatos.
“How can you say that?” Aceso pleaded.
“Because we just got our asses kicked. We gave it our all, and Hades didn’t even need a single soldier on his side to beat us all,” replied Aaron.
“But we cannot give up. We cannot let Hades win. We must protect the crown.”
“He…he didn’t even mention it,” replied Theo in surprise.
Aaron couldn’t believe he’d not thought of that. It had been at the center of the war.
“He must know I still have a shard? Or at least suspect?” Theo asked.
Aaron said nothing about that. None of them knew of the piece in his possession, and he intended to keep it that way.
“Why would Hades not care about the crown? Not care that we are still alive?”
“Because he doesn’t need to rule Olympus, when he can rule here.”
“What do you mean?” Theo asked.
“Zeus had us live under the illusion we lived in paradise, but let’s face it, we just lived under his shadow. There’s so much more to life here. Hades doesn’t need to get back the power of Zeus. He can rule these lands all on his own,” replied Thanatos.
“So that’s it? You’re going to let this stand?” Aaron asked.
Thanatos slowly got to his feet. He had the look of a defeated warrior. A weary one that had accepted it was the end of all they’d fought for.
“Thanatos? You said you would fight this till the very end?”
He didn’t even reply, and Aaron closed the distance. He grabbed his coat and hauled him in close.
“Tell me you’re not going to give up. You promised…”
Thanatos pushed him away as he cut him off.
“I know what I promised! I know it!”
They all fell silent, waiting for him to go on, hoping he would have some answers or solutions for where to go next.
“This fight is over. We all have a choice, death or life. I choose life.”
“You would let Hades win. You would let him rule?”
“Aceso, we don’t have a choice, and you know it.” He picked up a stool and propped it beside the bar. He reached for a bottle that was still intact, shook shards of glass from an unbroken glass, and poured himself a drink.
“No I don’t! What do you mean we don’t have a choice? We’re still here, aren’t we?”
Aceso went to help Theo. She cried out in pain as Aceso snapped her joint back into place, before looking to her for leadership. Yet she could see she was as drained as Thanatos.
“This is it? You’re all going to give up? You’re going to let Hades win?”
“We didn’t let him win,” she snapped back furiously, “We did what we could, what else do you want from us?”
“We are Olympians. We do not bow to Hades.”
“He didn’t ask you to,” replied Aaron.
“He might as well have. He intends to rule us, doesn’t he?”
“It seems to me he just doesn’t want any more trouble. This is a big world. We can live in it together,” replied Thanatos.
“How can you say that?” Aceso asked in disbelief.
“Because he doesn’t have a choice,” replied Aaron.
“I refuse to accept that.”
“So do I, but now is not the time. This is not over, but we have to go along with it for now. Gather our strength.”
“It is over!” Thanatos continued to drink and grabbed another bottle.
“It doesn’t have to be.”
“Yes it does, Theo. I don’t want any part of this anymore.”
“What? You said you would help us in this? You said you would stop Hades.”
“And I did. I told you I would help you stop the crown being reforged, and I did that. But this is it. We are done. What are we even fighting for anymore? You tell me that!”
“Because Hades is evil, evil to the core, an
d it is our duty to fight him!”
“Evil? Come on, Aceso, you’re just repeating the words of the Allfather.”
“Because he was right?”
“And if he wasn’t?”
“But look at what Hades has tried to do!”
“Exactly what Zeus did!” He sipped his drink.
“So this is it?”
“For me it is, Theo. I won’t fight anymore.”
“What will you do?” Theo asked in a sorrowful tone, as if accepting it was the end for their group.
“Fix this place up, and get on with living.”
“That’s it? Run a club and drink?”
“You got a better idea, Aceso?”
“Yes, fight for what is right.”
Thanatos laughed and carried on drinking.
“You are a coward!”
“Aceso!” Theo snapped.
“What? He is. We’re fighting the greatest war of our lives. The greatest war we have ever known, and he’s going to sit it out.”
Thanatos held up his glass to salute her. It was clear he no longer cared.
“So this is it? This is the end?”
There was sadness on all their faces at the realization that what they had was finished. That together they were not strong enough, and divided they stood no chance at all.
Chapter 6
Aaron opened his front door and staggered in. He was exhausted, more mentally than physically. He drew his holstered pistol and lay it down on the counter, followed by his sword.
I wonder, is this really the end? Are my fighting days over? I hope so, but I fear it, too.
He went to his closet and opened a small safe. He reached in and pulled out what at first looked like nothing more than a leaf. Yet as he touched it, the object glowed vibrantly as if his touch had powered it. The shard of the crown he had kept without anyone’s knowledge. He went back to his counter and sat down, contemplating the object. It bothered him that Hades had seemingly made no attempt to get it back. He laid it down in front of him as he delved deeper into his memories.
He failed to find any answers. The truth was he didn’t understand the gods. Not their history or their motivations, and he was suspicious of anyone who said they did. He took a deep breath as he got up and went to grab a bottle of whiskey. It had been a terrible day, and yet there was relief in it, too. They had all been waiting for Hades’ return and had suspected a battle to the end. Death or victory, but the reality was very different.
Fallen Gods II Page 7