Fear the Reaper

Chapter 20: Into Tartarus

Nine

"Why the hell did you do that?"

Nadatnan kong nanggagalaiti si Seven kay Neax.

"I was just teasing her," sagot ni Neax sa kanya.

"Kahit na! Inuuna mo naman iyang kayabangan mo, Neax. Why don't you follow our mistress' order? Paano kung napatay mo si Green? The order will break because of you. Hindi pa tayo handa sa Judgement especially that she is still in the process of waking up everyone,” sabi pa niya.

“What a bunch of losers”, sabi ni Azraela na hindi natiis ang usapan ng dalawa. “I don’t know what you lovebirds fighting for pero whatever, maybe you two needed some private room or something”, aniya pa.

“Heck no! What the hell are you doing here?” tanong ni Neax na iniharang niya ang sarili kay Seven.

“Like duh”, sabi ni Azraela na pinaikot ang kanyang eyeballs sa kausap. “I won’t gonna take her from you, you same s*x infatuated idiot. I still prefer the D thing over the V,” dagdag niya.

“F*ck you!” inis na sabi ni Neax.

“Like what I said, I still prefer the D thing. Keep yah V. I don’t like it,” aniya sabay amoy sa hangin. “Smells like a rotten dead fish,” pang-aasar pa niya sa babae.

“Look who’s talking. You stink you daughter of a cow”, ganti naman ni Neax.

Both of them bare their elongated and pointed teeth at each other. Ready to launch and aim at each others' neck.

Napatawa ako.

“Quit it you bitches,” sabi ko sa kanila na pumagitna na although alam ko namang hindi sila mag-aaway at magpapayabangan lang naman. Wala akong oras sa playfull quarrel nila. I still have four warriors to free. I need to get them ready before the Lord rings the bell.

“Mistress,” pagbibigay galang ni Neax at Seven sa akin.

“You girls are like a bunch of children. Wala bang oras na hindi kayo mag-aasaran?” tanong ko sa kanila.

"Kaya pala namamaho ang buong Axis mundi, mistress. Nagdala pa pala ng basura," pag-aasar ni Neax kay Azraela.

"Well, ikaw ba naman ang magbabad sa dugo ng mga napatay mong kalaban, what do you expect? It's a survival of the fittest, stupid," sagot naman ni Azraela.

"Stop it girls or do you want me to eat you?" tanong ko sa kanila which made them shut their mouths. "And also Seven," baling ko sa impostor na Nine. "You seem closer to Green now. Neax was just trying her strength and yet you got so angry. Why is that? The order is to eliminate unwanted Earth occupancy and the false gods. Did you forget that?" seryosong tanong ko kay Seven.

Nakita kong napalunok ito.

"Forgive me, Mistress. I was concerned about you," sagot niya.

"Remember Seven, once you try to betray me, you'll die before you know it. Think about who gave you life. If that's not enough, then you have to kill yourself now," sabi ko pa.

"Mistress."

"You're out of this Neax. I just want to remind Seven that there's no escaping my wrath when betraying me. I hope everything is clear. Do I make myself understandable?" tanong ko sa kanila.

"Yes, Mistress," sabay sabay na sagot nila.

I don't hate Seven being close to Green. What I don't want to happen is that she will betray me because of her cold friendship with her.

"Mistress, look I'm not siding with her. I was concerned about Neax. You know about her reputation. If the others know about her being here, they still rally and defeat her instantly," sabi sa akin ni Seven na pinuntahan pa ako sa aking silid.

"It's very obvious that your concern is towards Green, Seven. You cannot deny it. You know you can't hide anything from me,"sagot ko sa kanya in my snake form.

Bumuntong-hininga siya.

"Or are you toying with Neax feelings now? Are you in love with her, aren't you? Isipin mo na lang ang magiging reaksyon ni Neax. Don't that idea ever come to your mind? She will have the reason to kill her and you know what Neax capability is. If I wear you, I will forget the fruitless feelings because she will die anyway," sabi ko pa before I slither, exercising my huge snake body.

"I understand, mistress," sabi niya.

"Good. Because if you hinder the order Seven, you know what I will do to you," sabi ko pa.

"Yes, mistress," aniya na akmang aalis na sana.

"And Seven," tawag ko pa.

Lumingon siya sa akin.

"Yes, mistress?"

"Stop going back to her place. You'll stay here. I've seen enough about her. There's no need to come and go there anymore," sabi ko pa.

Tumango ito sa akin at saka umalis.

"Neax," tawag ko sa aninong nakatayo kanina pa ng hindi napapansin ni Seven.

"Mistress," sagot niya bago nagpakota sa akin.

"You heard everything, aren't you?" tanong ko.

"Yes, mistress," walang emosyong sabi niya.

"I trust that you already knew it when you arrived. You already knew that her heart doesn't belong with you anymore."

"I know that, Mistress. You don't have to remind me," sagot niya.

"Good. She already sprouted information to our enemy. If this will continue, there will be no surprise why they defeat us. And I presume you can do what you need to do, right?"

"Don't worry, mistress. I will do it," sagot niya before vanishing.

Some thorns needed to be cut off. Kahit iyong mga magiging tinik pa lang. There's no room for betrayal ang mistakes in my domain. And sadly, Seven is becoming the thorn that I don't want to cut off but she leaves me with no choice.

Neax might love her but I knew her loyalty fell. She is loyal to me. And I know she will never let me down.

"Mistress, the flow of deaths to humans are going smoothly," sabi sa akin ni Grim habang nasa pulong kami kasama ang mga ferrymen.

"We've been discussing the flow of life and death of humans for months and the feedback to me is great. This should be maintained no matter what.

"I see. That's great. We will still do our duties even when the Judgement has come," sabi ko pa.

Marami pa kaming pinag-usapan until Azrael returned from her expedition. I told her to locate the old Titan King Cronus. As my intel told me, right before Hera reigned as the Chief Goddess of Deities, she dethroned her father using the nephilims. Titans are giants destructive ruled by Cronus. According to what I have heard, the story goes like this:

..and when Hera, the youngest titan was born, she was immediately hated by her parents. Not only was she born like a human, but she wasn't a titan at all. Following her birth, titans started to give birth to deities just like Hera and the age of giants stopped. This made Cronus, her father, to hate her and the new generations of titan's offspring. He then began to kill them. But the younge Hera, as powerful as her father, fought him and the titans. It was said that the war made the Earth shakes and disasters spread all over. As Cherubim gifted Hera, his second creation, an ability to control nephilims, she then unleashed them and helped her war. And when Cronus was defeated, his own daughter and all the titans were imprisoned in a place called tartarus, a bottomless pitch of darkness that was full of misery. Since Titan are immortal, their torture is forever.

"I'm sure the amount of anger thay Cronus feels today must be like tartarus, bottomless for his daughter," sabi ni Azrael sa akin.

"Must be. Take me as an example. Do you know how much I wanted to slice Cherubim now?" tanong ko sa kanya.

Azrael lifted her hands as a sign of 'I know it' thing. Dahil kung hindi ako galit, she's probably not here. Many flows of the order have been changed and the Lord doesn't like it. As his loyal servant, I must fulfil it.

"Show me where is this tartarus location," sabi ko sa kanya.

"Uhm about that mistress we need to ride one of Charon's ferry boats. The location forbidden teleporting. We will go there by foot after the boat," aniya pa.

"As expected from a chief of deities," impressed na sagot ko sa kanya. "Let's go."

One of Charon's ferry men took us to the location. It took us three days and three nights before the boat stopped.

The location is under Cythonic, lower than Sin's domain. The place was so cold that even I, as I am the death felt cold.

"This is the place I can go far, Mistress. Here, you need to walk. Torches will lead you to the exact location of Tartarus. I will be waiting for you two here," magalang na sabi sa akin ng ferryman.

"Thank you," sabi ko pagkatapos akong tumalon palabas ng ferry.

Bukod sa sobrang lamig, the place is stinks.

"Ugh! What the hell kind of creatures this Titans are?" tanong ni Azrael sabay takip ng kanyang ilong. "It's awfully stench!"

"Just keep walking," sagot ko sa kanya.

"Ugh this will kill me!" aniya pa exaggerating.

"This simple stench won't kill you, idiot. Isn't the prison you were in before stenched as well?"

"Yeah it was stinky, stenched with blood every freaking hour of billions of aeons but this place mistress freaking hurt my nose," sagot niya.

As the first torch lit up, a sea of fogs started to flood in making the torch's light barely seen. Naririnig na rin namin mula sa kinaroroonan namin ang iba't-ibang tunog na nagmumula marahil sa loob ng tartarus.

Moans of pain, curses of pain, painful screams, these whispers of pain echoing in my ears. I couldn't stand it. I want to get the job done and bring forth thy titans with me.

Nasa kalagitnaan na kami patungo sa b****a mg tartarus ng masilabasan ang mga banshees. I have heard that soul of humans who died from murder, killing and wrong accusations are those vengeful spirit full of halterd thus they become banshees. Their scream of justice that will never happen becomes their ear piercing scream now.

And I understand every scream they shouted at me.

"Justice! We want justice! You are the death aren't you? Why did you disappear! Help us! Help us! Claim justice for us!"

Their screams united and kept on telling me those words.

All of them started to surround me.

"Mistress!" sigaw ni Azrael.

"I'll be fine, Az. Don't interrupt us," sabi ko sa kanya.

These poor souls have been deduced to being banshees. Banshees don't belong in Elysium nor Cythonic. They are bound to roam every nook of the planet scaring the sheet out of people that will meet them. But I have one option for them.

Turn them into reapers. But that's all up to them.

"Would like to become my reapers?" tanong ko sa kanila.

The banshees stop screaming and look at me and then to each other.

"Tell me if you want to be my reaper. I cannot give the justice you want for I was gone too long. Your killers, abusers have died and mageb ended up being devoured by Satan and his demons. I can only give you a lifetime contract and chance to be my reaper since neither of you will be able to enter Elysium and Cythonic. I can offer you a place to live and a work that will be yours forever," sabi ko.

"But what about our justice?"

"Forget it. Your justice has been long passed. I can't never ever help you. Forgive my absence. I was locked up for billions of years right before you were created. My apologies for not being able to help you cross the place you were destined to. I am currently putting everything in order right now. But if you choose to be under me, you will never wander again and everything about you will be healed. What say you? Be my reapers or remain a vengeful banshees?"

Nagkatinginan sila at tila nag-iisip.

"Make us your reapers," sabay sabay nilang sigaw. .

"So be it."

As soon as I waved my hands, Quala appeared.

"Mistress? You summoned me?" tanong nito.

"Yes. Bring these banshees to Abyss. Cerberus knows what to do," sagot ko sa kanya.

Yumukod ito sa akin bago hinarap ang mga banshees.

"Follow me please," aniya sa mga ito.

I watch them vanish into thin air.

"Now, shall we continue, Azrael?" tanong ko sa nakangangang babae.

"Uhm yes, let's go mistress."