PART 2 - REBIRTH619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEB4LjpwhR4
Chapter 16
One-minute Fay was trekking through a forest, the sweltering heat leaving her drenched in sweat; the next, she rounded a corner and entered into the court yard of villa. In the middle sat a shallow pool with a statue of Athena in the middle, watching over the ruins with a tender gaze. One of her hands was outstretched, as though beckoning to her, promised wisdom. Fay looked beyond her to the ruined benches that lay in pieces, scraps of cloth draped carelessly over them. Beside them, the remnants of clay jars, their powdery contents dusting the tiles.
She walked over to them, pressed two fingers into the dust. It smelt of spices, whispering of meals never to be made, conversations unsaid. Unfinished things. Standing up, she looked about the room, wondering where to go next. She looked for a sign but the pull was confusing; it felt like she was being pulled in several directions at once, a thousand whispers drifting past her ear. Andromeda hadn’t come to her, hadn’t offered any guidance through the chaos, and she wondered if suddenly she was in way over her head. Perhaps she should’ve had Ben with her, if only for someone else. She dashed that thought. When her back was at the wall, she had to find a way to solve her own problems, rather than rely on others every time. She was entangled with Andromeda and only she was able to sort through the mess, to decide where she fell into the whole grand scheme.
Wherever it took her.
“What are you doing here?” Snarled a familiar voice.
Fay spun around. A few feet away, staring at her, Amon. Unlike in the Underworld he seemed sane, as real as she was, flesh and blood. Just like he’d been in her visions. Only, his eyes weren’t tender or burning with that intensity he shared with Andromeda.
“I’m looking for Andromeda – have you seen her?”
At the mention of his beloved’s name his expression fractured and he suddenly looked lost, confused by her presence. He looked around, frowning.
“This isn’t my home. This is…” His gaze caught the statue and he moved in front of it, ankle deep water. “You – I know you. You told me I was silly to love her, to love someone I met in my own mind. Then he told me that loving her would end the world.”
Fay reached for him and, sensing her, he turned, only to dissolve into smoke, vanishing before her eyes. As quickly as he had appeared, he was gone. She frowned. Had he been real, a spirit drifting about down here, or a conjured spectre? Lifting her gaze to the statue she wondered what his words meant. It was as though Athena herself had come to him and warned him, then another God had done so. It was the warning Fay wondered about. How would Amon loving Andromeda cause the end of the world? Whose world; the eternal one of the Gods or the mortal world?
She finally turned away from the statue and continued her exploration of the villa. Rooms full of broken furniture, shattered statues, forgotten things that lay on the ground. When she headed through the doorway back into the courtyard, she’d appeared into the world shifted again. The courtyard gave way to a garden edged with ancient trees, their twisted limbs interlocking like hands, a guard of trees. In the middle of it was a shallow pool, watery plants knitted along the edge. Sleeping by its edge, a man. It wasn’t Amon. He was taller, with thick limbs, a dark tan and long curly hair. Like a warrior of old. It matched what he wore; a well-cut black tunic, a silver belt set on his waist, which sheathed a sword. Fay didn’t get much further as her eyes locked on the insignia embroidered into the chest of his tunic.
The mark of Hades.
He opened his eyes and sat up sharply, looking around wildly. Unlike before, he didn’t see her; instead, his focus drifted onto the pool, and his brow furrowed deeply.
“Who is there? Reveal yourself to a hellhound of Hades!” He bellowed with a low, resonating voice.
Only silence answered the hound as he stared restlessly into the pool, expecting a reply. He lay back on the ground with a huff, staring up, as though the weight of the world was bearing down on him. It seemed to grow heavier and heavier until he vanished completely, devoured by it. She turned to leave but he appeared again, striding through the trees, bloodied and scratched, as though he’d been in a fight. He paced back and forth, agitated, a caged lion. After a few minutes he stalked over to the edge of the pool and sunk to his knees, splashing his face with the water, when he suddenly jumped back in alarm.
“What-“
“Hello.”
A female voice, one Fay knew well. Andromeda. Only, her eyes were different – the irises weren’t their usual green. No, they were darker, nearly black, like the night itself. They stared back at the hound with curiosity, child-like fascination, as if seeing something for the first time. It wasn’t at all like the Andromeda that Fay was familiar with. She’d been fierce, a storm in her eyes, and she seemed to age in the visions. The latest one that Fay had seen had Andromeda as someone in her mid-twenties, whereas the girl in the pond looked younger, late teens perhaps, and there was a vibrancy about her. Unburdened by a mission, by a prophecy.
“What matter of demon are you?”
She smiled. “I am no demon hellhound.”
“Then what are you?”
She considered the concept for a moment, pressing her lips together in a thin line. Concentration etched her thin brow. Then her face eased and she appeared to have come to a decision.
“I am not sure. There are none like us in your world,” she said honestly.
“And your name? Surely you have a name?”
The question caused confusion.
“A name?”
“Yes. Mine is Cerberus, First Hellhound and loyal servant to Lord Hades. Call me Cerberus though, the rest is my title.” He stared back at her. “Do you not have a name?”
She laughed at him. “I don’t have much of a need for one here.”
Cerberus. She’d heard of the mythology of Cerberus, a three-headed dog but had dismissed it as nothing more than a human tale. She never would’ve believed that he’d been flesh and blood, like her. At the back of her mind, where worry gathered in tight knots, she wondered if for the fact she was seeing him in Tartarus, he’d fallen out of grace with Hades. What was it about Andromeda that left death and destruction and betrayal in her wake? Abe had died, then resurrected immortal; Amon had likely died horribly, too, given he was in Tartarus; had Cerberus fallen victim to a similar fate?
He shifted and sat down comfortably by the pool. “Where are you?”
She brought two fingers to her lips, silencing him and as her hand fell away, she smiled coyly. “A dark place but don’t worry, I’m not alone. I should go. The others might be jealous.”
As she faded away from the pool so did he. Hushed voices resounded behind her and as she turned the scene shifted. Suddenly, she stood in a room overlooking rolling hills. Cerberus stood there in all his finery, with arms crossed across his broad chest, staring grimly out across the sprawling landscape. Beside him, a woman sat in the chair, watching him with curious eyes, as though expecting him to lash out at any moment. She went to speak but a door behind them swung open, drawing her attention. A tall, long-limbed man strode into the room, similarly dressed to Cerberus. He glanced between the woman and Cerberus, whom finally turned around, then sighed.
“It is as you feared there are rumours Zeus plans to overthrow his father,” declared the man. “He seeks ways to do it.”
“I’d ask how the odious God plans to do it, given he has quite a disadvantage but Zeus is cunning. I should hope we’re not caught in it when it inevitably falls apart. I like this new world and I like living, even if everyone squabbles like children!”
Cerberus glances at them both cautiously. “I have spoken to him.”
The pair looked at him like he was mad but it was the woman whom spoke first, leaning forward in her chair.
“You can’t be serious – why?”
“At Hades request. It is why I asked you both here. Hades has decided to join his brothers in this venture. From my master he has ordered me to request your aid – the Syrens from you, Calypso, and your wolves, Lupus.”
Lupus spun away, angry and started to pace the room. With each step he grew angrier and angrier, whilst Calypso seemed to consider the request carefully. As Fay watched the scene play out between the three, she knew the scenes had occurred prior to Zeus claiming the heavens, before everything. It was an ancient battle that even the world knew, from a distant perspective anyway. She was confused why she was seeing it, if it had any real importance to her or if it was merely chance, she was seeing the story unfold at all. Perhaps that’s all that Tartarus was, a place of memory. Moments in time captured in snapshots, arranged messily about. It was little wonder one might become lost in it, leaving her wondering how the hell she was meant to find Andromeda, rather than just wandering aimlessly about.
“Fine,” said Lupus reluctantly. “Hell knows I’ll probably regret either decision. What of you, Calypso? Dare to risk your infant ranks?”
“The Gods see me as a threat with my titan father. If I might improve myself in their eyes then so be it, loathe as I am to risk my children,” she declared softly. “What other choice do we have given that Zeus is determined to rip this world apart in his war?”
To that, they were all silent.
Fay didn’t want to become completely soaked in the story so she strode to the nearest door and swung it open. As she passed through, she closed her eyes and tried to reach out for Andromeda, screaming as loud as she might into her mind, willing it across Tartarus. With a deep breath she opened her eyes and she was standing in the middle of a dirt road, a sheer drop to one side, a cliff rising up on the other. She looked out beyond the drop to the mountainous region, with jagged peaks that looked like sharp teeth, all arranged in an ugly smile. It was as though Tartarus was mocking her.
Well, she wasn’t about to let herself be the mocked one as she set off on foot. With each step the rising heat bore down on her like a smothering blanket, sweat saturating her clothes within minutes. She wiped her brow and pushed on along the road as it snaked around the cliff, remaining fairly flat for some time before it slowly sloped downwards. There she slowed her pace. The ground underfoot was fine and she slipped a little going down. At the bottom she stopped and rested on a mound of rocks, drinking a few tentative sips from her flask. She didn’t dare to drink more, unsure of when the next chance might be to refill her water, if there was even a chance at all.
She had to find Andromeda before she ran out. If she died in the Underworld, she knew she’d spin back up but what if that happened in Tartarus? Did she return to the Underworld or might she find herself in another dark place in Tartarus, just as weak and alone as before?
Dismissing the thought, she set off again, along the road that ran into a sparse forest, trees dotted sporadically on either side. As she walked along, she started to become aware that somewhere someone was watching her. From where precisely she didn’t know, only that their eyes tracked her every move. She tried to reach out, sense if they were a demon but a cold shiver snaked down her spine instead. Not a demon, which left numerous Gods and Goddesses, Hellhounds and other immortals that had been banished. None for very good reasons. At least with demons she had a chance to control them.
The road came to a fork and she headed right, not for any real reason, just that one had to be made. It snaked left and right but stayed even, the trees on either side growing closer. Their long limbs stretched out and touched overhead, stifling the sun that tried to push through. In spots, golden bands pierced through, defiant. Yet even in the lack of sunlight, the air full of shadow, the air was warm and humid.
She drew in a deep breath, tasted smoke and rotting undergrowth, then expelled a long breath. It was more meant to clear her mind, to focus on pinpointing where her watcher was. Only, it failed, so she walked on. As the road started an ascent, she heard something – feint but there, soft footsteps. One on a leaf that hadn’t yet rotted soft and crunched audibly underfoot. In a flash she spun around and hurled a bolt. It flew through the trees with a sharp whistle, slamming into something hard a second later, a dull thump reverberating. A groan stumbled through the trees.
In a flash she was off, running straight for it, through the trees until she saw the first glimpse. A leg on the ground. She drew closer, saw the rest and froze.
“Motep?”
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