by Sue Allerton
“Is that really why you want to do this? For the people of Earth? Are you sure it’s not able greed of wanting to rule or getting revenge on your father?” he asked calmly but she could see the anger boiling in his eyes.
“I wouldn’t be the ruler; I am not wise enough for that. But yeah, in a way, I suppose I do want revenge. Axel, I wouldn’t do this if I thought it was going to harm you or anyone else” she pleaded with him and he closed his eyes before lying back down against the pillows.
“Nyx has been sweet talking you, hasn’t she?” he said without looking at her. Had she been Naïve? Had Nyx just told her what she wanted to hear? She knew Axel was right. She knew she couldn’t go through with siding with them. She sighed heavily and flopped back down onto the bed. Axel propped himself up on one elbow and leant over her, allowing his arm to rest on her waist.
“I know Nyx was there for you, but she doesn’t actually care about you, it might not be what you want to hear but it’s true. You can’t trust her” he urged, she could hear the desperation in his voice. A moment later, he began to snore. She smiled to herself. She knew what she had to do and she wasn’t going to let herself be sweet talked again.
She didn’t leave him. She couldn’t; if something were to happen to him while she was gone, she would never forgive herself. Axel’s phone buzzed, ‘Molly’ flashed up on the screen. Eris’ gut wrenched and she felt a pang of guilt stab at her chest. She wanted to take back what she did to those people. She sat on the bed and watched the TV as she wrote in her notebook. She wrote everything bad she had ever done and listed it against all the good things she had done. The bad outweighed the good tenfold. Her ‘good’ page was three sentences. Her ‘bad’ list was three books long. She walked out onto the deck of the ship. The night must have been bitter because the men wandering around the ship were blowing in their hands trying to warm them up. She didn’t feel the cold, she didn’t feel pain or the sun on her skin. She leant on the railing of the ship and looked down at the books in her hands. She kissed each one. They were a part of her once. It was who she was. She dropped them and they fell into the black ocean below. She felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulder; she knew it would never completely go away. She knew the pain of the people she had hurt would always be there.
Hades appeared from the darkness. His features illuminated by the lights on the ship.
“You seem down” he said
“Your powers of observation never fail to amaze me” she smirked and he punched her lightly in the arm, playfully. She looked up at the moon. She smiled to herself, she remembered playing with the three lunar Goddesses when she was just a child. They would dance around in the stars and laugh and tease the other Gods mercilessly. They wouldn’t even recognise her now.
“Whatever it is, you’ll figure it out” he grinned
“None of that ‘I’m always here’ stuff?” she asked with a small smile.
“Oh hell no, when I start getting all soppy I want you to lock me in the underworld and throw away the key!” he laughed loudly. She had forgotten how fun Hades was. She knew what she had to do.
***
She stared at the wall. The cream walls with ivory engravings. The wood was walnut and polished. Everything looked so expensive. She wanted to scream. She didn’t remember how she got there. The last thing she remembered was crying on the phone to Axel’s voicemail because her father had found out she had dropped out of university and he said she was a disappointment. She didn’t mean to upset him; she just didn’t want to be the lawyer he wanted her to be. She knew he just wanted her to be successful in life. But she could do that in something else, in another industry she actually cared about.
What had happened to her? She was so confused, her head felt heavy and foggy. She wanted to sleep but she was wide awake. The woman, with the red hair. She was sure she knew her from somewhere. She couldn’t remember anything since she was a child. She could only remember from waking up on the porch of her parents’ house. She felt dazed and confused and had no idea what had happened. She glanced down and moved her sleeve up her arm. A long pink scar ran down the length of her forearm. She gasped. Where had that come from? She got up and rushed to the mirror, another star shaped scar on her chest. She had a long pale scare along her stomach and down her legs. She stood in the room, naked. She had so many scars and not a clue where they had come from. What had happened to her that she couldn’t remember?
She stood, she couldn’t cry. She felt like she had cried out her last tear. Her whole body ached. Her muscles felt like they were turning to jelly and she longed for the pain to stop. Everything was hurting and she just wanted it to stop. She wondered what it would take. She knew she was on a ship. She could jump. She pulled her clothes back on and lunged for the door. It was locked. So was the window. She was trapped. She felt as if she was running out of air. She knew this feeling. She had felt trapped before. But where? When did she feel those things? She banged on the door, pleading with someone to let her out. Nobody answered, she was alone.
She found a notebook in one of the draws and began to write. She wrote down everything. What she felt, what she remembered of her life, the scars she found and no idea where they came from. She wrote about Axel and how he seemed to be the only one who didn’t pity her. She remembered they spoke about Greek mythology a lot. But that was all she remembered of their conversations. She remembered they argued, but she didn’t know what about. She didn’t even know what they were, friends? In a relationship? Ex’s? She didn’t know. Her head throbbed as she tried to remember something, anything that would tell her about where she was and who she was with.
She threw herself back onto the bed and screamed into the dozens of fluffy pillows scattered on the bed. She lay there and stared at the ceiling.
The door opened. She looked up to see a tall woman with long red hair the colour of fire and black eyes with silver rings. The woman looked at her, frightened. Why was she scared? Molly was the one who was trapped in a room with no idea where she was.
She walked to the other side of the room and looked out the window before turning back to Molly.
“Do you know who I am?” she asked her, why would she? She didn’t know anything. She shook her head, that’s all she could manage. The woman sat down in one of the chairs and looked at her with sympathy.
“I did a terrible thing to you” she started in a quiet, gently voice. It was strangely soothing. She woman stared at her with large, round eyes. There was an energy around her that didn’t sit right. Everything around her screamed trouble and it put Molly on edge. The woman waved her hand and suddenly her memory flashed like a kaleidoscope of colours. She remembered the room, being trapped with twenty other people, being forced to fight. She remembered the pain, the cuts, bruises and broken bones. She remembered having to kill people to survive. She remembered arguing with Axel about who it was who kidnapped her. The woman with the red hair. In her memories she had black hair, but that may have been because of how dark it was. Her chest felt constricted. She gasped for air and tried to get away from her. She pounded her fists against the door and screamed for help. Nobody heard her.
“You have every right to act that way” the woman said in a calm voice. She was standing now and making her way over to the scared girl cowering in the corner of the room.
“I know I hurt you. I’ve done terrible things. I wanted to make it up to you” she said with a small smile.
“I don’t want anything from you! Please, just let me go” Molly pleaded as tears sprang to her eyes. She remembered everything and she wanted it to stop.
“At the moment all the memories are coming back to you, I can make it all go away, you only have to ask” she whispered as the memories flashed up of her straddling a person and beating them until they had their final breath. She saw the life drain from them and she threw up.
“Make it stop, please” she whimpered as she heaved over and over.
“As you wish” the woman said, the wav
ed her hand once more and the pain stopped. She no longer ached. The memories vanished. She stopped crying because she didn’t know what she was crying about. The woman stood in front of her looked worriedly at her with wide eyes. She wondered why she was lo0king at her with such concern. She looked to her side at the vomit and stood up, wiping her mouth.
“Sorry you had to see that” Molly muttered feeling completely embarrassed.
“Don’t be silly, are you okay?” the woman asked and Molly nodded.
“Come on, let’s get you in a new room” she smiled and walked out the room, Molly followed eagerly. She was so nice. Axel was walking up the corridor and she ran to hug him. He froze and tensed up.
“You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost” she asked as she pulled away. He watched her carefully before smiling.
“I’m fine, are you okay?” he asked sounding concerned, why was everyone asking her that as if she was some fragile little thing?
“Yup” she beamed and continued following the woman down the corridor into another room which was much bigger than the last.
“What’s your name?” she asked the red haired woman. She smiled at her as she sat down on the bed.
“Eris” she woman answered with a cool grin. She handed her a large, black leather bag. Molly unzipped it to find a pile of fresh clothes and a pad and pencils and paints. She knew she loved to paint and she thanked the woman. Eris, she knew she name. She was a Greek Goddess. She remembered reading about her, not that the woman in front of her could actually be the Goddess of discord.
“I’m Molly” she replied as she pulled the paint pots open to look at the colours.
“Nice to meet you” she answered before leaving the room, she left the door open slightly and Molly began to draw.
***
Chapter 17
Axel woke to Eris curled up next to him; her head resting on his chest. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing softly. She was asleep. He had never seen her sleep before; he wasn’t even sure Gods did sleep. He stroked her hair and kissed her cheek. He watched her sleep for a while. She looked so content. He didn’t know what was going to happen with the upcoming events. If he was being completely honest with himself, he was scared. Wars between Gods just didn’t happen, they weren’t supposed to happen. The boat rocked to one side quickly. Eris woke and jumped to her feet.
“They’ve started early” the two of them pulled on a pair of shoes and sprinted from the room and onto the top deck. The ocean was wild around them; waves came up and crashed down onto the ship. The wind was strong and howling. Hades and Nyx stood on the deck at the front of the ship; the boat surged forward and Axel stumbled back. He held onto the railing for balance.
“What’s going on?” he shouted over the wind and crashing waves. Hades turned his head slightly, his eyes were dark and his hair flapped in the wind.
“It’s time” was all he said, in a low voice. He turned back and kept his eyes fixed straight forward. Nyx was already in her God form, her dress faded into smoke at the bottom. Eris shot him a worried look; she didn’t have time to send him away. She turned into her darker form; she turned to Axel and kissed him lightly on the lips. He held her for a moment before she broke free and went to stand at the front of the ship with Nyx and Hades. He stared after them, not knowing what to do. Hades turned to him and walked toward him.
“Here” he muttered as he placed a single blade in his hand, it had a dragon head hilt with red jewels for eyes. Axel said nothing, he just held onto the blade. He wondered what it was for? He couldn’t use it against a God, a simple blade wouldn’t be able to kill one of them. He sighed, defeated. It wasn’t his place. There was nothing he could do.
***
Eris kept her eyes facing forward. She knew what she had to do and she was willing to do whatever it took to keep Axel and everyone else safe. Regardless of the differences between her and Zeus, she didn’t want to see the world plunged into darkness and chaos.
She saw the mountain emerge in the distance and knew it was time. Hades shouted something into a microphone and the men started bringing the guns from the bow of the ship up onto the deck. Rain began to fell and the clouds were dark and flickering with electricity.
“Eris, open the portal” Hades ordered in an alpha tone. Her wings flapped and she soared up into the air, battling against the wind and rain. She held her hands out to her sides, black electricity swirled around her fingertips. The ocean beneath her churned unnaturally; creating a cyclone to the bottom of the ocean. The wind got stronger and stronger, making it difficult for her to keep her balance. Her eyes blazed and when her path to the ocean floor was clear; she drove straight down. She disappeared into the abyss and when she hit the ocean floor, a bright beam of white light shot up into the sky and tore apart the clouds. A shockwave pulsed from the centre point of light and the ship was forced back in the other direction. Everything went silent. The ocean settled and the rain turned to drizzle around them. She was scared. She had never raised her army on Earth before. A loud, shrieking roar echoed through the air. She hovered in the portal between the two realms. Her army swarmed to meet her and burst through the portal and into the land of the living. They were hideous beings, huge black monsters that looked like tar dripped from them. Their eyes blazed with fire. Sea monsters, giant flying bugs with huge claws and fangs, strange dog and cat looking creatures with screwed up faces. Her army was huge, it stretched for miles and miles; beyond the eye could see. She took her place between Nyx and Hades and waited. She turned to look back over her shoulder; Axel was staring at the army surrounding the ship, if he was scared, he didn’t show it.
“Where is my army?” Hades asked quietly, her wings tucked into her sides. Hades turned to her abruptly.
“Where is my army?” he yelled at her, she smirked; her wings sprang outward and knocked both of them back against the edges of the ship. The railings bent and they both were shunt into the blackening ocean. Her monsters descended on them. The ocean churned as goo oozed into the water, making it thick and tricky for Nyx and Hades to move around in. The monsters attacked again and again, getting battered back. When they died, good spurted from their bodies, temporarily blinding the two Gods. She had trained them well; they were quick and agile, dodging attacks and blocking when they needed to, learning as they kept going.
A shriek pierced the air and Hades leapt back onto the deck of the ship. He was covered in tar; only his pale eyes shone through as they glowered at Eris. He came at her; his sword in one hand, his pitchfork in the other. She threw spikes of dark lightning at him again and again as monsters jumped on board to protect her. Nyx was in the water, trying to fight them off.
“Hades! Help me!” she screamed as one of the monsters stuck their claw through her chest. He glanced down, saw her being torn at and simply rolled his eyes before continuing his attacks at Eris.
She blocked every attack and fired back at him. He realised he wasn’t getting anywhere and stopped. She called her monsters to halt and the only sound was the wind rushing through the air.
“Why did you do this? We would have ruled, together. All of us” he snapped
“You left Nyx to die! You don’t care about the two of us, you just want to rule on your own, you were using us” she hissed and he narrowed his eyes. He circled around her and she positioned herself in front of Axel, protecting him. She spread her wings, blocking him from view. Hades eyes danced wickedly. She didn’t want to hurt him; she knew she would if it came to choosing between him and Axel.
“It’s Nyx’ own fault for getting in that position in the first place. I couldn’t save her and neither could you. I have to say, I am impressed. This is a marvellous army. Looking at them, we wouldn’t even need my army of undead” he said coolly as he glanced around at the monsters snarling at him; readying themselves to pounce at any moment.
“I wouldn’t give you your own army, let alone mine” she growled and he laughed.
“Fine, if you want to be like tha
t” he smirked and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Eris turned and launched herself back toward Axel. Everything seemed to slow down. She reached out for him but Hades appeared behind him. Axel had the blade in his hand but he was too slow. His mortal reactions couldn’t save him. Hades held his sword to Axel’s throat. He froze, he didn’t dare move. Hades pressed the sword to his skin harder, Axel winced as the blade cut his flesh slightly. Eris stopped and stared in despair. She couldn’t do anything. If she moved, he would kill him.
“Fine! I’ll give you your army! But if you harm him you will never see Earth again” she hissed through gritted teeth. She couldn’t take her eyes off Axel. He looked at her and smiled.
“Raise it” was all he said, he pressed the sword again and Axel’s air rushed through his teeth.
“Let him go first” she demanded, Hades rolled his eyes and took his sword away from Axel’s throat; he pushed him forward into Eris’ arms. She heard a wet sound and Axel grunted as he stumbled forward to his knees. A blade stuck out of his back. His body racked with pain as he lay down on the soaked deck. Blood mixed with the water. She knelt down next to him and pulled his head into her lap. He looked up at her and smiled; tears sprang to her eyes and slipped down her cheeks, wetting his face. He said nothing, he was in too much pain. He simply stroked her cheek and kissed her hand before he closed his eyes and slipped away. She didn’t move; what was she supposed to do? She felt numb. All she could feel was her black heart breaking. She felt as if she had been stripped bare and torn apart. She didn’t have the power to bring him back; she was not that kind of God. Hades would never save him. He was gone; there was nothing she could do. She felt the life drain from his body as she held him. The once so happy man she knew was gone, she fought against Hades and Nyx to save him. But she ended up getting him killed.
“I don’t know why you bothered. He’s a human, they die every day, why is this one so much worse?” he sneered, his words cut through her like a blade. Her heart pounded in her chest and her breathing quickened. Her eyes set alight brighter than ever before. She loved him. He was gone and she was in pain. Hades had killed him. She lowered Axel’s body down onto the deck, she rose to her feet and launched herself at the smug Hades.