Where The Dead Ones Go Book 4 -Union-

Chapter 15

So that's the answer I have been looking for all along.

"You have to give up..."

There's no hope after all.

Well, not for me.

This is all part of Vivet's plans. For me to gather all the remnants of our classmates, learn the truth of Typhon's weakness, and pave the way for his absolute defeat.

And for me to give up my life to start the spark of the revolution needed to wake up the mortals from their stupor of hopelessness.

As I walked the path towards my end, I have a chance to look upon my life.

I finally see with clarity that I was never alone back then. The moment I was born, fully clothed, taught, and prepared for the world, my father was there to cheer on me.

Morris, Vivet, my siblings.

My classmates, friends, comrade, and beloved.

I know that I did my very best at any given moment. I've done what was expected of me and more.

I know I shouldn't have to feel sad but my heart cries out for the ones I cherished the most.

Even though I am off to the great beyond, I am still scared.

Scared of not knowing if I will meet them all again.

Father, Mother, my siblings, friends, and Vaski.

Vaski, how can you accept your own demise so bravely, with a smile on your face.

You never showed any signs of weakness or pain even though you know full well that it is over for you.

But here I am, crying my heart out in confusion and despair.

Is this really the end?

After all that I have been through in this dying world, it will all just amount to this?

I shook my head and try to dry my tears away as I saw the cliff where it wall end.

As I look upon my life, I see you. Your smile, your lips your words of support and love.

No, that's enough g*****a.

The time has come to fulfill your duty until the very end and you will do it right.

I pulled out the comb that my closest friend has given to me and I smiled a little when I remembered how she helps me fix my hair with it.

Even though that very same girl is the one sending me to my death, I am still grateful.

Grateful to meet you and be a part of something greater than myself.

For the last time, I used it to try and fix my long and thick silver hair once more before pinning the comb on my head.

Well, I am going to die anyway.

Might as well look good while doing so.

And with that, I threw myself off the cliff...

-0-

"You have on the job and you failed to do it. Laughable if you're going to ask me."

I heard a rather cold and sneering voice of a boy through the darkness that is now engulfing me.

"You can open your eyes, you know?"

But I'm dead already.

I jumped from the cliff.

Yes, that was my last job.

And he is saying that I failed?

With great effort, I slowly opened my eyes to see the familiar scarlet skies and bloody ocean before me.

I am now on the dirty beach leaning on huge driftwood behind me.

Sitting on it is a rather striking boy around my age. He is tall, frail thin, and very pale complexion of the dead itself.

Wearing black shades that hide his eyes and a beautiful red torn scarf on his neck that flies with the winds blowing uncharacteristically strong our way.

"Can you feel it?" he asked as he opens wide his arms to feel the soft breeze, "The wind of change is here."

I cried out loud in humiliation as it finally dawned upon me that I indeed failed with my task.

So with great difficulty, I stood up and ran towards the ocean only to be thrown back to the shore by the very waters I am planning to use to kill myself.

"I'll stop if I were you," my unwelcomed companion said matter-of-factly as I was washed away to where I came from by the waves, "When you flung yourself from the cliff, the sea itself rushed in to save you."

I just sobbed out loud at the waters which returned calmly to the shores.

"But why?! I have to die! I have to give up! Why are you doing this Vaski?! Don't you want me to become useful for once?!"

Only the soft sound of the waves crashing on the shore peacefully answered my pleas.

"Ok, hold on for a second. While I am all for people dying, can you tell me what's the connection between giving up with death?"

I looked at the boy who is now standing beside me and looking down patronizingly as if he finds me miserably interesting.

"Narcine said I have to give up! It can only mean one thing! I have to die to fulfill my purpose in this damned decaying world of ours!" I screamed which made him raise an eyebrow.

"Now, calm down for just a second here. I know she can be an airhead sometimes. s***h that, oftentimes, ignorant and blissfully naive but I doubt she will just say that you have to die. Not to her comrade, at least. Typhon, that's another matter. But yeah, don't go around flinging your body at random cliffs and blaming it on Narcine."

The way he spoke is very unique.

Low, sneering, and cold voice.

Unforgiving, harsh but true.

And then I just noticed his dangerous aura emanating from his very body right now that made me step back several steps away from him.

"Who "are" you?"

He laughed out loud and removed his shades to reveal a handsome but very pale face as harsh as his voice.

His eyes, deep-set, shadowy black, and his jaw well-defined.

"Finally, after two suicidal attempts and screaming, we reached the introduction phase," he said sarcastically before bowing lowly, "Your Highness, I am Nox Finis. An Olympian Prince, though my father said that an Underworld Prince is a more accurate description of my title. Step-brother of Narcine and demigod of the King of the Underworld, His Damned Majesty, it's his inside joke, Hades."

I just look at him from head to foot in surprise and as much as I don't want to believe it, he really is what he says.

I met him once during the Elemental Cup because oddly enough, he is assigned to the medic team that looked after me.

"Oh, how low has the much-lauded "Best Fighter" of the Hellenic Citadel has fallen?" he asked in a goading voice as if trying to rile me up, "Giving up the fight before the battle has even started. The school should demand a refund when they learned about this disgrace."

I tried to calm myself down and not fall to his taunt, "Why are you here?"

"Or better yet, why are you here?" he threw the question right back at me quickly, "Shouldn't you be gathering allies and saving the world and such? Are we so f****d up now, even the much-heralded "heroine" is committing suicide?"

I know I should be angry right now by what he is saying to me but I can't.

For what he really says is the truth.

"Heroine? I never fashioned myself as such. Don't get any ideas," I whispered as I hug myself in sadness.

I must find another way to die.

"Athena: Pallas Spear!"

The gift of my mother appeared on my hands to help me deliver to my end.

"Hades: Shaded Phantom!"

A shadowy construct appeared beside me and grabbed the spear before I can plunge it into my heart.

"I may be the son of the god of the dead but please, no dying in front of me. I haven't eaten my dinner yet."

I wiped away forcefully the shade he summoned and walked straight to the annoying boy in front of me.

"Why the heck are you stopping me from fulfilling my purpose?!"

A harsh slap answered me as my eyes watered from the pain I felt.

"Did my Narcine just died for this ungrateful b***h?! I should have interfered and let Typhon destroy you all instead!"

I looked at his fuming face looking down on me mercilessly.

"But I have to give up..."

"And I am asking you if dying is the only option once you gave up?! Is my step-sister asking you to die? Will she ever ask that upon you?! Heck, even Vivet asked you all if you are prepared to face death and imploring other soldiers to save their own lives as she covers for them with her very own body!"

"I..."

He then grabbed my shoulders and repeatedly shake them, "Answer me! Will Narcine and Vivet ever want you to die?!"

"Then what am I going to do?!" I wailed as he shook his head, "What am I supposed to do?!"

"You are the daughter of the goddess of wisdom right? Said to be the most intelligent deity. You think it through, not walk readily towards your own death when you have so much more worth when living."

I looked up at the son of Hades again and this time I saw his face soften as he heaves a great sigh of relief.

"What will I ever do if you died in front of me?" he asked more to himself, "It's not just Narcine's wrath that I have to contend with but also Rebie's and Taurei's. Gods, I am supposed to be a demigod of the god of the dead! Why am I saving lives?"

I saw the shades clipped on his shirt and the red scarf he is wearing.

"Those are..."

"Yep. Part of the Imperial Regalia. Taurei and Rebie entrusted these to me for safekeeping before the battle with Typhon started in earnest. Narcine's memento, I left with the High Priest. I can't look for you while bringing that big box of films, eh?"

I blinked at what he said in shock, "You're looking for me?"

"Yes. When you ran off, Syden stumbled upon the shack I am living in. Pretty talkative and odd, if I will be honest. Asked me if I see a girl with long, thick silver hair walking around. I offered my services to him and he accepted quickly without a second thought without even asking who or what am I. Is he stupid? Wait, don't answer that."

I didn't get the chance to answer when we heard Asher howling loudly behind us.

He is followed by Zenith and Syden completely out of their breaths.

"Gala! Goodness, I thought we lost you!" Zenith said as he pulled me into a tight hug, "How dare you to run off like that?!"

"Yeah! What if you died and we have to follow Short Fuse here?! Might as well dig our own graves! Ouch!"

The son of Koalemos received a painful smack on the head from the High Priest.

"Silence, Syden!" he shouted at him before offering his right hand to Nox, "I owe you one, man. We would never have found her without you."

"Oh, it's rather easy to find her. All I have to do is look for the highest elevation around and presto, there she is."

Asher barked at the son of Hades who seemed to understand what he is saying and just shrugged his shoulders thankfully.

"The dead tells no tales, Asher. The dead tells, no tales. My father, wherever he is, always says that."

-0-

"I have been living, if that can still be called living, solely on wild berries. I have never eaten any cooked meal since the Second Fall. So please, don't mind if I do, Chef Dog."

Asher barked happily as Nox dug in his plate with so much gusto, he quickly finished eating his plate in less than a minute before asking courteously for seconds.

"Have you been here with Narcine all along?"

He shook his head sadly, "No. Narcine was already gone by the time I found her. If I am not mistaken, she passed away after the first year of the Second Fall. By then, I was just awakened from my own suspended animation."

"Suspended animation?"

Zenith nodded at Syden as he eyed Nox carefully, "King Hades' children have this unique ability that allows them to put their body into deep sleep akin to death. Thus conserving energy, healing wounds, and preventing the flow of time to affect them."

"Wow! That's a very useful ability!"

The son of the god of the dead nodded, "I can't deny that it is the only reason how I managed to survive the upheaval. Though I entered the suspended animation mortally wounded, I managed to heal quite nicely but woke up too late to save Narcine. When I found her, she is already at her death bed and thanking me for being there when she needed me the most."

The High Priest looked at the precious box Vivet gave Narcine and has been her greatest personal treasure.

"After entrusting me hers and her friends' memento to me. She died but not before using an ability of her mother that I never know."

I remembered how she appeared from under the ground, deathly pale and cold, bearing the entire power her heritage can afford her against Typhon, "The same ability that allowed her to save us, right?"

"Yes, g*****a. By surrendering her entire self to the underworld persona of Queen Persephone, she managed to wield some of the most powerful underworld powers used only by my father, and to some extension, his Queen."

"The power to rise back from the dead..."

We all looked at Syden who is contemplating seriously as Nox nodded at him in agreement.

"Indeed, Syden. As per the ancient pact, every winter, Queen Persephone has to return to the underworld," he then smiled a little as if remembering something fondly, "Her Majesty was very kind to me and like Queen Amphitrite, she is fine with her husband's stepchildren as long as they follow her rules when visiting. During one such visit, she suddenly said to me that out of all the Olympian Queens, she the most understands the humans the most. You know why, right, g*****a?"

I nodded and remembered one of the musings of my mother while wandering the gardens of the Hellenic Citidel during the Immortal Parents Day, "Yes. For like mortals, she has to "die" in order to enter the underworld and be accepted as its Queen every single year."

"Correct. Though it's her persona as the Goddess of Flowers that have to "die" and she feels the pain of dying every single time so she sympathizes with the souls of mortals, especially the children and elderly who suffered the most."

"I heard your father and mine's conversation once that King Hades oftentimes turn a blind eye whenever his Queen uses the power he bestowed upon her to help the souls of mortal children be reborn faster so that they may have another chance at life."

Nox nodded at Zenith before smiling sadly, "Father is not as "evil" or "despicable" as most mortals and even immortals think he is. He is cold, unforgiving, and inflexible as expected from someone governing the realm of the dead but not unmerciful."

"I get it now! Narcine died but with the power of her mother, she was reborn, albeit for a short while so as to help us from being trampled by Typhon, right?"

The son of the Underworld King just closed his eyes and massaged his temples, "You know, there are times that you act stupidly but a lot of times, you are actually knowledgeable, Syden. Just what my step-sister has told me."

"The reason why you can act as if we have known and cordial with each other is because of Narcine, right?" I asked him to which he nodded quickly.

"Yes. Whenever we meet, she will tell me all that happened during her time with the Auxiliary Class. Her stories are very, very detailed. Reminds me of how Queen Persephone regales me with stories of old whenever we have to spend our time in the underworld during winter. So vivid, full of actions, and animatedly, it is as if I am one of you."

"I know for a fact that you are supposed to be in our class, not Narcine."

"Yes, Zenith. Though I bet my stepsister already told you the reason why I was removed at the last minute, right?"

The son of Zeus nodded and sighed, "Yeah. Because the Auxiliary Class is already full of volatile students as is. The school would rather have the children of the Olympian Queens together rather than the children of the Olympian Kings."

We all just chuckled when he said that as we raised our wooden cups above our heads.

"A toast to the trio of wacky, noisy, and sometimes weird demiurges of the better-halves of the Kings!"

"Cheers!"