Fate of the Blessed
Chapter 20

Amara

Once we ascended the stairs, we pushed the doors open and walked into the main chamber. I noticed a heavy silence that was thick with apprehension filled the air, making it hard to breathe. Something didn’t wasn’t right, but we had no choice but to move on. The magnificent white marble continued from outside, but in here it was cold and clinical. Gone was the opulence and contrast the marble had against the aging tree.

“Aeron isn’t here.” Shanti said.

“I’ll check out the back, you guys wait here.”

Tae-Seong grabbed my arm, careful not to knock the gashes that adorned it.

“That is not a good idea.”

“Yeah, don’t you ever watch scary movies?” Shanti chimed in. Both Tae-Seong and I turned around in unison, mouths agape.

“You’re like 8, what are you doing watching horror movies.” I said, my voice hitching an octave higher in surprise.

“I’m 10, you guys are missing the point, when you split up bad things happen!”

The kid has a point.

I gave a slow circle of the room “Okay, we’ll check it out together” I relented, pointing to the doors at the far end of the hall were ajar. A slight sliver of light shining through like a beacon.

Tae-Seong drew his dagger, and we edged towards the door, taking careful steps. Each step seemed louder than the last. I held my breath, and I could sense the others do the same. I entered the room first, after pushing past Tae-Seong, much to his chagrin. When I entered I gasped, realising this was the room that I had woken up in. However, Aeron wasn’t here, nobody was so I waved the others in.

“He’s not here.” I said. Shanti made an audible sigh of relief. I couldn’t help but give a small smile at her.

“That’s good.”

Tae-Seong walked towards the back of the room with purposeful steps. He looked up, seeing the orbs that adorned the walls. I could only assume he was trying to look for his own. His eyes travelled down to the plinth in front of the wall, where atop sat a glowing green orb that was swirled with iridescent patterns. He went to touch it, but I shot out a warning, and he withdrew his hand.

“Don’t touch it!”

Confusion furrowed his brow, but he nodded anyway, stepping away from the plinth.

“Aeron said this one was mine, he called me thrice-blessed.” I reached out with a hesitant touch. It sparked in response. I dragged my hand back as if it had been burnt. The orb itself was the size of a tennis ball. I took a slow circle around it, inspecting the swirling, cloudy green mass in front of me. Still staring, I slowly reached over and pocketed it.

“Let’s get out of here.” Tae-Seong suggested. Shanti readily agreed.

I will not argue there.

Just as we were about to leave when the doors swung open. We all turned around in quick succession to replace Aeron standing in the doorway with a gold ornate sword sheathed by his side.

“Leaving the party soon, that’s a shame.” He mocked. We all stared wide-eyed, like we’d just been caught with our hands in the cookie jar.

Tae-Seong dived at Aeron with a roar, slashing his dagger. He easily parried and they fought. But Aeron was the better fighter. Tae-Seong slashed and parried with determined vigour.

“Amara, get Shanti out of here.” He said, out of breath.

“But-” I wanted to help, but I felt powerless to do anything. I wasn’t a trained fighter!

“Go!” he blocked a blow that was aiming for his head. I grabbed Shanti by the hand and pulled her towards the door. Aeron grabbed for us, but Tae-Seong jumped in front of his path, stopping him. We ran back into the main chamber but halted abruptly, letting out a gasp of surprise.

In front of us stood Nemesis, but next to her was the Mágissa. Shanti went to run to her, but I pulled her back. Something wasn’t right. A crash to the back of us made us spin round. Behind Aeron was dragging Tae-Seong’s unconscious body by the neck of his t-shirt. He flung him down to the ground; he hit it with a thud, groaning.

Oh, goody this just keeps getting better and better.

Aeron smiled at me, but then frowned when he saw Nemesis as he realised Nemesis wasn’t working for him after all.

The Mágissa held out her hand for Nemesis to help her down the steps and as she took each step her form changed. I stood there, slack jawed. Her wispy grey hair grew longer, changing colour to a glossy jet black. It stopped when it reached past her hips. Her drab skirt and blouse flowed into a beautiful strapless black silk gown adorned with a beautiful silver braided pattern. Finally, her wizened features changed smoothed and shimmered into a peach hue. Her lips were Hollywood starlet red and her eyes a slate grey.

“May I present to you Queen Persephone of the Underworld.” Nemesis said, bowing deeply.

Shanti and I could do nothing but stare. If we kept with our mouths open, we were going to be catching flies. We had been taken for fools. I felt so stupid.

“Viduus, you have done well.” She said as she gracefully strolled closer to me. I took a step back, out of reach from her outstretched. She pulled it back with a look of annoyance on her face.

“Milady, we can now free ourselves of our shackles, as promised.” He said.

“Viduus?” I said.

Persephone ignored Aeron and placed her hand on my cheek “So, beautiful it really is a shame it had to be you, thrice-blessed.”

“This is Midgard, Viduus’ domain. He is the soul collector and he aids them to choose between the afterlife, if it is their time, or sends them back to the realm of the living after they make there choice.”

Aeron is supposed to be a good guy!

“You’re supposed to help us, but you’ve been trapping us instead. How many people have been sent to the Acheron because of you?” I stated, looking at him incredulously. Aeron shrugged.

“I have been doing this for millennia, Persephone offered me a way out.” his tone was nonchalant.

From behind him I noticed Tae-Seong stirring on the ground, but stayed quiet. I was so stunned by what I discovered I was rooted to the spot. Persephone turned away from me.

“I am trapped in the Underworld and I long to be free, but I do not have the power to overthrow my partner, Hades. I needed the power of the thrice-blessed which will help me succeed. That’s when I found you on my yearly visit to the living realm.”

“You put me here?”

Persephone smiled then laughed “It wasn’t hard to put in place the mechanics that lead to your accident. All about the little things foolish mortal.” She chuckled. No, scratch that, it was more like a cackle.

“Now, enough talking, Nemesis. Viduus is no longer needed.” She waved her hand in dismissal.

Aeron’s shock on his face told me he’d just realised been double-crossed, and Persephone had no intention of freeing anybody from their bonds other than herself. Nemesis notched an arrow into Medea and aimed it at Aeron.

Everything at that moment moved in slow motion. Cerberus burst through the doors, tackling Nemesis to the ground, her arrow shot wide. Charon ran in afterwards, hitting Persephone with his oar, which caused her to fly into the pillar. Tae-Seong jumped up from the floor, tussling with Aeron. I could do nothing but watch in horror as it unfolded. I have never been so useless in all my life.

A sudden lightbulb moment hit me when I went through my pocket and remembered the orb in there. If I was thrice-blessed, could this do something? I pushed Shanti behind the pillar and told her to stay there before darting back as I took the orb from my pocket and held it in my hand. A warmth spread through my fingers that sent a serene calm through my body as I touched it.

Everything stopped in that moment as everybody turned to glance at me.

“No!” Aeron shouted as I looked him straight in the eye and threw my orb to the ground. It shattered on impact and a huge green light burst out of it, engulfing the room knocking everyone from their feet. Charon and Cerberus hid behind a pillar out the way of its gleam. Nemesis was already dead after Cerberus ripped her throat out.

I heard groans of pain all around, but my vision blackened around the edges. I saw Tae-Seong looking at me; I gave him a small sad smile, then I felt my legs give way beneath me.

Tae-Seong

I lifted my head from the floor where I had dived to shield my eyes from the light. My entire body screamed in protest as I dragged myself onto my feet.

I’ve got muscles hurting I didn’t even know I had.

My eyes frantically searched for Amara; she was standing in the middle with the shards of her broken orb around her. She gave a sad smile to me before collapsing to the ground. A look of horror fell onto my face and I ran over to her, dropping to my knees I cradled her. Charon held Shanti back, and she hugged his side tight.

“No, no, Amara, come on, you can’t do this.” He rambled on as he held her in his arms.

Shanti cried, so Charon held her tighter. Amara lifted her hand to cup my cheek. It was cold. Tears formed, but I desperately tried to hold them back. She closed her eyes, her arm dropping to the floor with a thud.

“Amara, come on, don’t leave us now. Do something, Aeron!” he screamed.

Aeron was still lying unconscious on the floor. There was, however, nothing that could be done. The soul had escaped the orb. I held Amara when she faded and disappeared as I looked at my outstretched hands, that were now empty. A sob escaped my lips.

I got up with anger in my heart and stalked towards Aeron. Charon put a gigantic hand on his shoulder.

“She wouldn’t want you to do anything stupid.”

I had lost her, but I couldn’t disappoint her as well. I sunk to the ground with finality. What were we supposed to do now? Shanti flung her arms around me, and I welcomed the comfort. We cried together.

We stopped when a swirl of blue cloud appeared to out right and out stepped a person with long blue hair shaved at the sides, a white shirt hung over their shoulders and the leather pants they wore looked as if they’d raided a rock bands wardrobe. However, their androgynous beauty was captivating.

“Viduus, you disappoint me.” The mystery person said, dragging out his name.

“My liege, please.”

“Enough, I didn’t think you would be so easily swayed from your duties.”

Charon bowed to the stranger, but I looked him straight in the eye. I didn’t know who he was The mystery person gave a sly grin in response.

“I like you, boy, I am Hades, the Ruler of the underworld.” They said I didn’t answer for fear of saying something I would regret.

Where were they when we needed help?

“My apologies for the upset my wife has caused. You both shall make your decision and these will be dealt with accordingly.”

“Please, my lov-” Persephone offered.

He waved his hand; the ground opened underneath Persephone, chains wrapped around her, dragging her into the fire below. She didn’t even have time to scream.

“Can you bring Amara back?” I asked. Hades shook his head.

“I’m afraid not, her soul has escaped, I cannot bring it back.”

“What does that mean?” I said.

“It means she is lost.”

I shook my head in disbelief; she had come so far for it all to be cruelly taken away. I balled my fists by my side in anger. I really wanted to hit something.

“You can do no more here, you cannot stay any longer. You must move on.”

“How can I do that, she sacrificed herself for us?”

“Then don’t let it be in vain.” They placed a hand on my shoulder. I couldn’t speak, so I just nodded.

Charon came up to us and embraced us both, but said nothing for fear of breaking his cool demeanour. I wanted to ask about payment but as if sensing what I was thinking he waved his hand in a motion that said forget it.

Inside, my heart was hurting for what happened to her. I had no choice, but the guilt overwhelmed me. I took hold of Shanti’s hand and nodded to Hades, who responded with a nod of his own.

“What is your choice?” Aeron asked.

Shanti and I looked at each other before saying in unison “home”.

Aeron nodded and held up his hand as two glowing white orbs appeared in front of him. With a flick of his wrist, they shot into our chests.

Then everything went dark.