The Spartan's Revenge Story

Chapter 3: I'm Dead?

It hit him like a stone. He was dead. But why was he dead? He had something to do, didn't he? The nagging feeling that he had told him that he had left something unfinished. 

"How did I die?", asked Raka

The Judges seemed surprised at the fact that he talked. Almost as if they didn't expect him to.

"Oh? So you can talk. That is interesting", Midas said.

"Of course, I can talk, why is it so much of a surprise?", Raka asked. How come he wasn't getting any answers.

"The Dead that come through here are often asleep, with no memories of their previous life, they only seek their Judgement.", the Judge on the right spoke, with a slow grating voice, as if they had all time in the world. If he was right, this Judge was called Aeacus.

" I have no memories of my previous life, nor of how I got here." Raka replied," All I remember is that there is something that I must do, but what, I know not."

The Judges all looked at each other, and this time, the Judge on the left spoke

"Death cannot hold one with purpose, however, if you have unfinished business, you must forsake it, for now We Attend Your Judgement.", said Radamanthys. The words were spoken with a tone of finality, the words of a King.

Before he could do anything, chains wrapped around him. As he looked up in anger, he saw a soft blue light being emitted from the Judges eyes, like they were in a trance.

"Arrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhh", he threw his head back and screamed, his eyes were burning. He wanted to pull them out, but the chains stopped him from doing so.

Soon, the pain subsided, and he saw a child running around, waving a small wooden sword. An elderly man came running over and picked the boy up. The boy started screaming," Help, I've been captured by the enemy". the onlookers chuckled softly, as if they were used to this scenario.

The scene changed, the young boy had grown into a young teen. He was listening intently to a older man, with respect visible in his eyes. 

"A spartan always protects his brothers"

His eyes widened in shock as he heard those words. They were the ones he had heard before, when someone in the crowd was talking to him earlier. 

"What is happening?", he asked. But this was a vision, his words and actions could not affect anything here. The old man was still speaking.

"A Spartan is never afraid to die in battle. It is through glorious death in the battlefield that we gain favour before Ares"  

These words brought a chill to his spine, he couldn't tell if it was from excitement or nervousness.. These words, he remembered them, he had heard them before, but where? The scene changed again. They were in the middle of a battle. he saw the young teen, now a young man, slashing and hacking at his enemies in front of him. His movements were a mix of chaos and rhythmic, two things that should not complement each other. Yet this young man managed to pull it off. His chaotic movements confused the enemy, making them unsure as to where he would strike next, while his rhythmic footing and arm work made short work of his opponent. Indeed, it seemed the young man relished war.  

"Death in battle, not a bad way to go", Raka said to himself., but the scene changed once more. The young man was on a horse , riding towards a city, beside him were his comrades, laughing as they would be able to finally relax. Suddenly, the young man seized, and fell of his horse. There was a wound on his shoulder, just missing his neck by an inch or so. His comrades stared at him, confused. There was a wound, but where was the weapon? Almost immediately, their training kicked in, they quickly , surrounded their fallen comrade, their swords drawn, ready to attack at a moment's notice. The scene changed again.

There was the young man, kneeling in front of a burnt body. He seemed to be crying. Perhaps, he had lost someone important to him. That happened all the time in war. People who kill must always be ready to be killed. The scene changed, this time the young man was standing with his sword drawn, facing two strange spheres of light. A tendril of light stretched towards him..... and stabbed him in the chest, and then proceeded to slice downwards. A brutal death, but death all the same. The man's eyes seemed to be filled with regret for a second, then with rage and then, finally, empty. The vision ended.

Raka looked around, he was standing in front of the Judges, as if he had never moved, but he had just seen that young man's life. What did that have to do with him?

"What was that?", he asked in a shaky voice.

"That, was your life, boy", Midas, replied, coldly.

Instantly, it all came crashing back to him, as if a switch had flipped and his memory was restored. He remembered everything, his success on the battlefield, his return home, his city burning down, his people dying, and most importantly, his mother's death. He remembered his failure as a Spartan, he hadn't protected his city, he hadn't protected his people . He had FAILED. He remembered swearing vengeance. He remembered The Temple of Ares. He remembered his fight, and he remembered his death, and his second failure. 

He didn't say anything, what could he say? The Judge Radamanthys, seemingly bored with everything that had happened, leaned forward. " You have been sentenced to the Asphodel Meadows , for you have achieved neither good nor bad in your life." Radamanthys said. 

Aeacus waved his hand and a path opened for him, a valley with rocky walls on either side, on the other end. the meadows of Asphodel awaited him. Blindly, he got up and walked to the meadow, he had failed in his life, now he would spend the rest of eternity doing nothing. How fitting, it would have been better if they had simply decided to kill him. Oh wait, he was already dead.

Unknown to Raka, two cat like creatures, were gorging themselves on the poor souls that had passed by earlier awaited the next visitor on the top of the valley. The souls couldn't put up a fight, they had nothing to fight for. 

The cat- creature smiled at her companion, " Sister, there is fresh meat headed this way.", she said.

The sister smiled, today seemed to be a banquet of souls.

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