Kapitel 121: Chapter 121: To the (Un)Death

Hades POV

He might die here. He might be lost in this nightmare realm. But it was better than living as a slave. He understood that now.

At least he'd die as his own man. He concentrated, and regained his original appearance. Not the body he'd worn when he first recruited Cyran. Not Melisande's body. His own.

He looked like Landon Sinsworth, Cyran's and Garnet's father, except rougher. His eyes were topaz bright. He wore a toga-like loincloth, just like shifters sometimes did back then for comfort. The loincloth was easy to slip on and slip off, and good for formal occasions.

The Dark Goddess looked deceptive in her half-wolf guise, but he didn't care. It amused him, nothing more. He couldn't believe he allowed her to dominate him the way that she did.

She rotated, letting him see her magnificence. At one time, she would have intimidated him. Him, Absalom Sinsworth. But he couldn't claim that name anymore. It was Hades now.

"I'm ready," he snarled. "Come at me. Unless you want to play with your food before you eat it."

"Oh, Hades … in your next life, I'll forgive your impudence. Only after a lot of punishment, of course."

"There won't BE a next life. Count on it."

"Oh, you think not?"

She whipped up avatars in the sinister room. Hundreds of bodies, all waiting for Hades to inhabit them. Wolves, mainly, mostly men, a few women.

"You'll serve me in whatever body I choose. What will it be next time? An elf noble like Drannor Glynthyra? An orc? Maybe even a HUMAN, just to teach you a lesson? Either way, I'll resurrect you and keep on bringing you back until I decide to cast you into oblivion. Melisande's body won't last much longer, you know. My dark forces will make sure of that."

Ravyn offered encouragement. "She doesn't have that much strength, Hades. Even a demon runs out of dark power eventually as the balance corrects itself. Life finds a way. Death won't be cheated forever. Death will have his due. He's not your enemy. He comes for us all, the ultimate equalizer."

Jude added, "If my Emer was offered that kind of a deal, she'd spit in the Dark Goddess' face. She may have departed earlier than she should have, but she's with the Moon Goddess."

The ghostly, hollow, blood-stained image of Emer appeared in the darkness to taunt Jude. "How could you take another mate again?" she hissed.

Jude laughed scornfully. "Really? That's your best shot?"

Emer approached him, wailing. "Bram will be so disappointed. How could you replace me? Don't you love me anymore?"

"Emer, not even YOU would love you right now," Ravyn said bluntly.

Hades grinned. He'd underestimated both Jude and Ravyn. "And it was an idiotic move for me to meddle in your romance."

"Oh, I don't know. It made me more eager," Ravyn said with a quirky smile. "Sometimes, you need that little push to wake you up."

Hades chuckled. He never thought he'd be joking with Ravyn after all he had done to her family–her daughter in particular. Cyran caught his eye, and understanding passed between the two men.

Hades bared his teeth and shifted into his wolf form, or partly, at least. He grew red wolf ears, a throwback to his Crimsontail past, and a tail. He hurled silver energy bolts at the Dark Goddess. Her crackling red beam met his magic head on and a wizard duel began.

The beams pushed against each other, each trying to destroy the other and even reverse its effects so it rebounded on the caster. Hades had shielded himself preventively, but the blasts rocked his astral body. He never knew he could experience pain in the dream world.

They tore at each other energetically, no refinement, no dueling. The magic jets could rip them both apart. Yet the Goddess' form never changed. Beautiful and deadly.

Panting, Hades stumbled back as her energy beams pushed him.

Wait a minute… it's just my astral body. Matter is different here. The rules are different here.

He bent back as the blast narrowly missed him by inches. "I can use this realm just as well as you can."

He felt the darkness cover him like slime. His body trembled. He heard the agonized wailing of the souls in the fire. He tasted the staleness of the air.

"Hades … I grant you your death. But not yet. I'm going to play with your friends first."

Friends.

They weren't his friends. Garnet, Jiro, Cyran, Kelara, and Talon were family. And the others, he supposed, were family.

A shimmering red shield surrounded his family. He was particularly proud of creating it. "Stay back, all of you."

Cyran smelled edgy, sharp as the first frost. "Hades … you expect us to just let you be her target practice and her victim?"

Hades felt a surge of emotion. "You've had enough of that for a lifetime, haven't you?"

"D*MN IT, HADES! Don't try to be a hero."

The joy he felt could fill that gloomy, sinister place with light and joy, dwarfing the candle flames and the blue flames of eternal torment. "This is my first time. Let me enjoy it."

The Dark Goddess' hands danced in a lethal pattern, and Hades' friends screamed in agony as their shielded haven filled with the agonizing blue flames. Their cries and the smell of their pain made him spring into action. "LET THEM GO."

He felt his astral body weakening under the Dark Goddess' assault. One good hit could finish him.

Nevertheless, he couldn't just let the demon turn his family into empty husks…

Attacking her, he hit her with so much power that it knocked him backward… and her scorching blue and silver fire consumed him.

"Hello, death," he whispered. "Hello, old friend. I've been waiting for you."

And then, he knew sweet oblivion.

* * * * *

Cyran POV

NO.

As much suffering as Hades had caused him and his family, Cyran felt a deep sadness and rage.

"He's family," he yelled at the fiend, who stood tall and shadowy and unaffected. A stone pillar would show more reaction. "How dare you?"

"You're next, all of you." Her eyes were blood red. "Don't pretend you care for Hades."

He hated Hades. Didn't he?

Sagging against Ravyn, he drew comfort from her presence. Jiro and Garnet surrounded him, supportive and loving and holding him up. They seemed profoundly shocked.

He looked at Kelara. "Is he …"

Sadly, she shook her head, horrified by Hades' life being snuffed out, even after eons.

"NO," he howled, his cry of rage shaking the dream chamber.

Ravyn murmured, "It's alright. You can love him. It takes courage to love and be compassionate to those who aren't lovable, who have wronged us." Then, in a hardened tone, "And SHE is going to pay, I promise you. I'll make sure Hades doesn't spend eternity here ... that he finds the haven he's been looking for."

Cyran barely paid attention. Instead, he hit the Dark Goddess with crackling lances of red and silver. Everyone joined together, full of fury, shouting at the Dark Goddess. Cyran led the fight and hit her with every ounce of love, light, and joy he possessed.

Hades just couldn't be gone. Maybe he could free Hades from that blue fire prison of torment–but Hades wasn't among the pained faces trapped there.

"FOR HADES," he shouted, bombarding the fiend with light and love.

Then, he nearly shut down because it felt as if something was crushing him. He heard Jude's and Ravyn's yelps of pain. Jiro's, Garnet's, and William's made him nearly shrivel up. Jude shouted, "Out … out. We have to get out."

Cyran knew the truth in those words. Staring into the Dark Goddess' soulless eyes, he vowed. "This isn't over."

Holding hands with Jude and little William, he closed his eyes and jumped back into his body. Please, let him make it in time. Please let him not die here. Please, spare Ravyn and Jude and the others. Please, spare his family.