by Maz Evans
‘Oh, sure,’ said the Daemon of Sleep, flittering up into the air, doing an airborne twirl and returning to the ground. ‘I just worry you’ll get a little bored if you wipe out the mortals. And who’s going to do all the jobs? With all of them gone, we’re going to have to learn to sweep streets, empty bins, clean toilets.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. What do you think all the Elementals are for?’
‘But . . . you said you were going to free them from their shackles.’
‘I did,’ smirked Thanatos. ‘I just never mentioned the new ones.’
Hypnos laughed.
‘You are a devil,’ he smiled.
Thanatos nodded his acceptance of the compliment.
They walked silently through the oppressive heat. The air trembled before their eyes as if it couldn’t bear the rising temperature.
‘Thanatos?’ said Hypnos slowly.
‘Yes,’ his brother replied impatiently.
‘What about the boy?’
‘What about him?’
‘It is still prophesized that he could master the stone and rule the Earth,’ whispered Hypnos. ‘You’ve gotta admit it. That’s kinda tempting for a thirteen-year-old kid.’
Thanatos stopped again. He held out his arm.
‘Can you not feel this?’ he said. ‘Even assuming the boy has changed his mind, somehow found his way down here past the Elementals, past the Daemon army, past our dearest mother, and is even now charging towards the Earth’s core – do you think he could withstand this heat? He’d melt like an ice cream on a barbecue the second he stepped into this place. I’ve done it. And nothing and no one can stop me.’
‘Certainly looks like it,’ smiled Hypnos.
‘Aha,’ cried the Daemon of Death, rounding a corner and nearly being blasted back by the wave of heat that met them. ‘We’re here!’
Hypnos had to shield his face against the ferocity of the hot air. Thanatos waited for his brother to fully take in the sight before them both.
Suspended in a vast sea of nothingness sat the Earth’s core, a huge ball of flame that rotated like a bubble in water. Long, flaming orange tendrils tethered the ball to the very centre of the Earth, streams of molten lava flowing along them and into the heart of the world.
‘Quite something, isn’t she?’ said Thanatos, flipping open the lid of Elliot’s pocket watch to add the light of the Chaos Stone to the incandescent glow of the Earth’s core.
‘Sure is,’ chanted Hypnos, mesmerized by the glowing fireball.
‘You can see how powerful she is on her own,’ said Thanatos, illuminating his face with the elemental gem. ‘So just imagine what she can do with this.’
‘Mind-blowing,’ said Hypnos, floating up to the ceiling, eyes still fixed on the fireball.
‘Well, then,’ said Thanatos, raising his arm. ‘Let’s do this.’
‘Sure,’ said Hypnos. ‘Let’s.’
Thanatos took a deep breath. This was it. He felt giddy with power. He could feel the stone trembling in his hand, waiting to unleash its chaos. Just like he was.
‘Chaos Stone!’ he roared. ‘I command you to . . .’
‘Look out!’ cried Hypnos, cannoning into Thanatos and bringing him crashing to the ground.
Thanatos, winded by his brother, took a moment to catch his breath. What had happened? But red-hot rage quickly followed. Then blind panic. The watch containing the Chaos Stone – the watch that only seconds before had been safe in his hand – had gone.
‘Where is it?’ he screamed, leaping to his feet and grabbing his brother by the scruff of his neck and yanking him off the floor.
‘R-relax,’ said Hypnos, choking in his brother’s grasp.
‘RELAX!’ Thanatos thundered. ‘WHERE IS IT?’
Hypnos smiled, his face red.
‘Here,’ he said, revealing the watch in the palm of his hand. ‘Chill out.’
Thanatos snatched the watch and dropped his brother on the ground. He clutched it to his heart.
‘What were you thinking, you fool?’ he hissed.
‘Oh, fine,’ said Hypnos, getting his breath back. ‘Next time I’ll just let you get hit by the falling rock.’
He pointed to a large, jagged rock sticking out of the ground in the exact spot where they had been standing moments ago.
‘I see,’ said Thanatos reluctantly.
‘You’re welcome,’ said Hypnos, taking a step backwards and bowing to his sibling. ‘The stage is all yours. Brother.’
Thanatos gathered himself together. He raised his arm and held the watch up again, preparing to bring the stone to his command once more.
‘Chaos Stone!’ he roared. ‘I command you to unleash your power on the Earth! Rain fire down from the skies! Destroy cities with your earthquakes! Blast the world with tornadoes and hurricanes! And wash away the mortal filth with your floods! Cleanse the Earth of the vermin that have destroyed you for so long! And let me rule the world as its rightful king! This is my will! Now . . . GO!’
He held the watch above his head, his body tingling with the power that was going to be his. His moment had finally come. Nothing could stop him. Nothing could overthrow him. Nothing . . .
Nothing was happening.
The Daemon of Death slowly lowered the watch, trying to quell the rising panic in his heart. Was he not the true master of the Chaos Stone? Did it not obey him? After everything, was he not actually able to wield its power?
Thanatos opened the watch in dread. But the answer stared him plainly in the face.
The Chaos Stone had gone.
And so too had his brother.
20. Mother of All Battles
Virgo had never understood the mortal expression ‘my heart is in my mouth’. The heart was a major organ with a fixed position in the human torso. To move it would mean certain death, not to mention the need to thoroughly clean one’s teeth.
But as she and Elliot watched Hermes and Nyx battle in Tartarus, it suddenly made sense.
‘What can we do?’ Elliot cried, the sounds of battle ringing all around them as the Heroes battled the Daemons.
‘I’m assessing our situation,’ Virgo replied. ‘We are unarmed, unprepared and underage. I’d say our chances of survival are worse than the chicken crossing the road. Even without the bubblegum attached to its foot.’
‘This is epically sub-optimal,’ Elliot muttered, frantically looking around for anything that could help. Even in this perilous situation, Virgo couldn’t help but smile. Finally, she had taught him something.
Hermes and Nyx were trading blows, sometimes on the ground, sometimes in mid-air. With ear-splitting shrieks, Nyx released bolt after bolt of red lightning from her talons. The Messenger God ducked and dived through the air, deflecting the lightning with his shield, taking refuge behind the rock formations beneath his feet or above his head, protecting himself from the shards of rock that flew with every attack. In the rare moments of respite, Hermes would retaliate with blasts from his iGod, forcing the Goddess of the Night to shroud herself with her wings, which were merely singed at the edges.
‘This could take for ever,’ Virgo gasped as the two immortals attacked one another, neither able to penetrate the other’s defences.
‘We don’t have for ever!’ shouted Elliot over the din. ‘We have to get to Thanatos before he attacks the Earth’s core!’
‘Which one is it?’ cried Virgo, pointing at the assorted tunnels winding out of the cavern. ‘Which one leads to the heart of the Earth?’
‘I can’t remember,’ groaned Elliot. ‘I was kinda . . . distracted. Wait . . .’
He delved into his bag and retrieved Ariadne’s string.
‘Earth’s core,’ he shouted at it.
‘Take the third tunnel on the left and then the first turning on the right,’ the twine announced. ‘Beware planned engineering works and ungrateful pig-faced suitors.’
The ball unwound and rolled towards the tunnel that would take them to Thanatos. But between them and it w
as a battlefield of Heroes and Daemons.
‘Take that!’ roared Theseus, slicing with his meat cleaver, covering himself in multi-coloured Daemon goo. ‘Anyone for seconds?!’
‘This is one event I didn’t want to miss!’ cried Hercules gleefully, smashing two Daemons together with his mighty arms. ‘It’s even better than my over-eighties skydiving club!’
‘So much senseless death and destruction,’ droned Jason, wiping three Daemons off his sword like kebab meat. ‘There’s at least, like, two albums’ worth of material here.’
‘This is hopeless,’ said Virgo, ducking as one of Nyx’s blasts came dangerously close to their hiding place. ‘How do you end a battle when neither side can kill the other?’
Virgo had enjoyed watching many mortal cartoons since she came to the Earth – they were highly amusing. So she now recognized that a light bulb had suddenly illuminated over Elliot’s head.
‘The Hydra bow!’ he cried, tugging the Messenger God’s satchel from his shoulder. He rummaged through the bag and yanked out a pair of rhinoceros slippers, three garlic presses, a four-year-old return train ticket to Peterborough, and boundless other detritus. ‘Got it! This is the answer . . . Now, how do we get it to Hermes?’
‘We need to draw Nyx’s fire,’ said Virgo. ‘We need something, a distraction, a—’
‘NYX! OVER HERE!’ Elliot yelled, jumping out from their hiding place and running into the open. ‘COME AND GET ME!’
At last, Virgo could be entirely sure of one thing: the boy was totally sub-optimal.
‘Well, well, well,’ cried Nyx gleefully. ‘Look who’s come to play!’
‘E! Mate! What you doing?’ cried Hermes, swooping down to protect his friend.
‘Hermes! Look out!’ cried Virgo as she saw an evil grin spread over the Goddess’s face.
‘Elliot!’ shouted Hermes. ‘You gotta—’
With a mighty explosion, Nyx unleashed a blast of red lightning at the Messenger God, who had turned his back for a crucial second.
SMACK!
The bolt hit Hermes square on the shoulder, sending him spinning to the ground like a paper aeroplane hit by a lit match, landing right at Elliot’s feet.
‘Hermes!’ Virgo ran out to join Elliot as the Messenger God writhed in pain on the floor.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Elliot gasped, while Nyx turned victory loops in the sky with a terrifying screech. ‘I was just trying to give you this.’
He held out the bow and a single arrow. Hermes stopped writhing and a slow smile spread across his face.
‘Mate,’ he whispered.
‘There’s only one arrow,’ said Virgo.
‘Babe. That’s all I need,’ Hermes winked. He struggled painfully to sit up.
‘Oh, children!’ cooed Nyx, coming to a halt above their heads and summoning an almighty bolt of red lightning between her talons. ‘It’s time for naughty children to have their punishment. Get ready to learn your lesson—’
‘LEARN THIS, YOU FEATHERY OLD FART!’ Hermes cried, suddenly springing to his feet and taking aim at the Goddess of the Night. ‘BABE. IT’S TOTES TIME FOR YOU TO EPICALLY DO ONE!’
And with a strong and true arm, Hermes drew the bow back . . . and loosed the arrow.
Another mortal expression Virgo had never understood was ‘time stood still’. Time was an abstract concept and could neither stand nor sit, nor do cartwheels. But again, in that moment, she understood.
The arrow sliced through the air, its venomous tip hurtling towards its target. The lightning between Nyx’s fingers fizzled out as she realized what Hermes had unleashed. But the realization came a fraction of a second too late.
The arrow found its mark. Straight into her heart.
For a moment nothing happened. The Goddess of the Night merely floated in mid-air, staring at the arrow protruding from her chest. Then she raised her head, a look of hateful, confused helplessness in her eyes.
‘Curse you,’ she gasped as she fell to the ground, clutching her chest. ‘But you’re too late. You’ve still lost.’
Hermes casually strolled over to her. Virgo flinched as he yanked the arrow from her body.
‘Babe, I’ve learnt two things lately,’ he whispered, slotting the arrow back in the bow. ‘One, never, ever wear your dodgy novelty pants, just in case you end up in a coma and they are on show for everyone to see. And two . . .’
He pulled back the string and aimed it at Nyx once more.
‘It ain’t never too late. See ya. Babe.’
Virgo looked away, but heard the arrow land in Nyx’s body for a second time. What she didn’t hear, however, was anything more from the Goddess of the Night.
No one ever would.
Elliot walked over to the body of Nyx. He kicked it. Hard.
‘That’s for my mum,’ he whispered, before closing his eyes and expelling a deep breath of Virgo knew not what. But he certainly looked better for getting it out of his system.
‘Oh, bum . . .’ Hermes groaned, crumpling to the ground.
‘Hermes?’ Virgo panted, dropping down beside the Messenger God. ‘Are you—’
‘I’m fine – but you kids need to get outta here,’ he gasped. ‘I’ll be along in a minute – I don’t want to slow you down.’
‘We can’t leave you here,’ Elliot said.
‘Mate. You totally can,’ Hermes grinned. ‘I’ll be fine. Hercules!’
The Hero paused, poised to punch a particularly large Daemon.
‘What can I do for you?’ he said amiably.
‘Bruv – clear the path. These kids have got a job to do.’
‘No problem,’ boomed Hercules, looking over the considerably depleted Daemon guard. ‘Stand back!’
With his mighty hands, Hercules rolled the Daemon in his arms into a ball of gooey body parts and drew back his arm.
‘I’ve been banned from bowling alleys more times than you’ve had fashion faux pas,’ he roared happily. ‘People get a bit funny when I smash their skittles. And their lanes. And their walls. High time I took it up again.’
And poking his tongue out in concentration, Hercules hurled the Daemon along the ground. The wailing Daemon rolled end over end, scattering Daemons left and right as he bowled through them, before landing with an explosive splat on the wall next to the entrance to the tunnel.
‘Strike!’ yelled Hercules, punching two approaching Daemons up into the ceiling in celebration.
Virgo looked at the goo-spattered alleyway cleared by Hercules and illuminated by Ariadne’s twine.
‘Elliot, come on!’ she urged, pulling her friend behind her.
‘I’ll be right behind you, mate,’ said Hermes. ‘Just give us a sec.’
Reluctantly, Elliot pulled away from him and followed Virgo down the tunnel.
‘And kids?’ Hermes called after them. ‘Kick some Daemon butt for me.’
21. The End of the World
Hypnos rarely surprised himself. One of his great comforts in life was knowing with absolute certainty what he would do in any given moment. Because at every given moment until recently, he had always done whatever was best for him.
Now, fleeing from his brother along the winding tunnels below Tartarus, clutching the Chaos Stone in his hand, he found he had no idea what he was doing.
The last time Hypnos betrayed Thanatos, it was for his own gain – Zeus had offered him endless lives of freedom if he stole the Chaos Stones from his brother. So that was just common sense. It wasn’t that he especially cared about the mortals, he knew that. They were good for a laugh and he enjoyed playing with them – his years as the Sheriff of Nottingham had been a riot. But they weren’t reason enough to put himself in harm’s way. So why had he done it?
He had no idea. All Hypnos knew was that when he saw his brother standing before the burning orb of the Earth’s core, with the power to destroy mortalkind at his fingertips, he had had to stop him. Loosening the boulder and slipping the stone from the pocket watch had been the easy part. What
he did now? That was going to be much harder.
But he had two advantages: a head start, and he was fast. Thanatos was quick, but he couldn’t fly. Hypnos summoned all the strength in his winged head and flew as fast as he could. If he could just get to the Gods, they could protect him. If he could just—
SMACK!
Hypnos fell to the floor, dazed. He had flown into an immovable object: had he hit the wall? Surely not – his eyesight was superb; as Daemon of Sleep he had excellent night vision. No, this had come out of nowhere. And it was moving towards him. He felt for the Chaos Stone. It was no longer in his hand.
‘One of the many problems with you,’ drawled the familiar voice, ‘is that you never plan far enough ahead.’
Thanatos stepped out of the darkness into a sliver of light from a crack in the tunnel. Clutching the Chaos Stone in his fist, he towered over his brother. Hypnos tried to get to his feet. But a heavy foot on his chest soon stopped him.
‘You see, figuring out how to steal from me – twice now – is one thing,’ Thanatos said, pressing his foot down harder. ‘But take a piece of advice from your older brother.’
Hypnos tried to make a smart remark. But his breath was being squeezed out of his chest by his brother’s Daemon strength.
Thanatos leant over him.
‘Next time,’ he whispered. ‘Work out your escape route first.’
He reached for Hypnos’s throat and snatched the kardia from around his neck. Hypnos immediately felt his immortal strength ebb from his body. And his life-breath wasn’t far behind.
‘Your oath,’ he gasped. ‘You swore on the Styx—’
‘Not to kill you if you killed the child. You failed. Like you fail at everything. Since the day we were born, you have been a cockroach,’ Thanatos said, his foot pressing every last breath out of his brother. ‘And there’s only one thing to do with cockroaches . . .’
If Thanatos had anything more to say, Hypnos didn’t hear it. The final breath left his body. And with it, went the hope that he might just have saved the world.
‘Why did you do that?’ Virgo panted as she and Elliot raced through the scorching tunnels.