Ch 123: Bonus Chapter — Hermes’ Sacrifice
I reached the door where two huge golem guards stood checking the invites before letting anyone in. Lord Hades had not said a thing to me since the encounter with Hades, though it did bother me a bit, I would sacrifice my life if it meant it would give him a moment of peace. As a sense of obligation and something more.
Hades was different from the other gods in the sense that he had sacrificed a lot to keep his empire running. He barely neglected his realm for any reason causing him to lose family time and even time for himself. I barely even got him to go out with me more. As of late he had been obsessed with a secret work he had been doing in the shadows till now.
I had asked myself what I saw in Hades? What I felt for him was it admiration or something more? It’s a thing of humour, this thing called immortality.
What does it mean to exist for eternity? One would think it would give all the time to do whatever he wanted but no. Even with all the time I had had I never once came to the conclusion of what I felt to him, I never once asked him if he felt the same. Even with all the time he had in the world he rarely contacted his family.
The more time we had, the more time it felt we were losing. That’s why I envy mortals, we can postpone important events knowing we have enough time. Even birthdays are celebrated every 1000 years. Mortals have very limited time before their bodies decay and their souls extinguish and even with that they don’t panic, they live their life to the fullest with no regrets.
Could I live like that too? If I knew I would die the next day would I live out all my dreams and fantasies?
A short while later we were inside what was perhaps the biggest and grandest hall in all of Olympus. Gods of extinguished caliber were all there, even the mighty centaurs. Chiron, the wisest of all Centaurs and a great fighter I idolized. I knew him to be a solitary figure but why was he here now?
I felt something was off, as I accompanied lord Hades down the crowd my eyes continued to scan for a particular figure, Hermes. I had placed a soul mark on him and since I would not sense that it must have meant that he had yet to come. Maybe he still had trouble stomaching my words or he was afraid of my threat.
“Woohoo big brother Hades you made it here at last!” Ares appeared before us and addressed my lord. As usual he was always trying to get on Lord Hades’ good side.
My magic pulled on my palms and I sensed the appearance of my soul seal nearby. That was my cue to leave.
Hades did not seem to need my attention at the moment so I went to tend to the more crucial task, which was the assassination of Hermes.
My feet tapped on the ground as I navigated through the bustling crowd. Killing him here would be foolish, if I wanted it done right I had to do it somewhere more secure.
I reached Hermes who stood before a table with assorted drinks and foods. He wasn’t taking anything just staring at the table, I tapped on his back and spoke into his ears. “Can I see you outside for a bit? It’s personal.”
Hermes must have known I had something doing but he said nothing started to walk to the back of the exit that led to the back of the building. It made me wonder what other agenda he had in mind.
“So you wanted to meet me?” Hermes stood in the dim lit alleyway and tilted his eyes to me. “I really meant what I said about telling Hades the truth.”
I raised my hand where purple mist started to rise of from it. “Like I care.”
Hermes turned and faced me, his face broken. “Sorcery? You wish to fight me, I already said I want to atone for my sin. Why all this unnecessary exaggeration?”
I glared at him more intensely watching his soul fluctuate within his body. “Then atone for it with death!” I summoned a sould dagger and closed in on him in two quick strides and rammed it into his neck.
Hermes evades and side stepped, as expected he was quick but his battle iq was inferior to mine. “Aramente.” I asked my spell and sent a gust of purple smoke engulfing him and covering us in a dome of people mist.
Hermes stumbled backwards and muttered. “A domain? You must really be serious about this but I don’t want to fight you Hecate.”
“You think I can’t win?” I blustered. “In my domain my soul powers are greatly amplified, even you will not be able to counter them.”
I charged again even faster this time and slashed my daggers for him, Hermes evaded me with even quicker gestures. My eyes were cold as night and steeled with the resolve to kill him.
“Aramente.” I muttered and a swipe of purple smoke phased through his body causing him to almost lose his balance giving me an opening to ram the blade into his heart.
“Ack!” He screamed as he pushed me away, his breath heavy and uneven. “What was that?” He held his chest but there was no blood there. I could see the swat forming on his bidhy, he was totally out of sync.
I brushed back a few strands of hair from my face and said. “I hate to see blood, it’s dirty. My attacks work on the soul rather than the body. I prefer to torture the souls of my enemies and watch them suffer.”
I could see it now the mass of his soul dwindling in his body. My attack was not deep enough to shatter his soul core, no! It’s wasn’t strong enough. “You betrayed lord Hades’ trust!”
“Please, let me explain!” Hermes said dropping his guard.
“I don’t want to hear your paltry tricks!” I hissed back in rage as I made to close the gap and swipe at his head but he hit me square on the face and sent me skidding back.
Hermes looked even more broken now. “That’s because you don’t want to hear me out, just listen please.”
“Why you!” I straightened my back and looked up at him. “So then what? I listen to your story and then develop a sense of pity for you? I understand your ambitions and why you did it for a more just cause or a grander scheme? That’s all bullshit! Do you think I dont know you had a reason for it and perhaps a more justifiable reason!”
Hermes watched me vent my words out in rage clearly hitting a mark on him.
“We all have reasons why we do what we do, doing bad things for a good cause it’s a reason to draw pity from other. That’s all bullshit! If we all live like that then there will be no sense of justice in the world. If you did a bad thing that warranted death then own up to it and stop pushing down your own ideals on others.”
I was right. “I can not begin to mention all the things I have done to protect my lord, it was my job. It doesn’t make me a good person, it also doesn’t make things right. Thats why I hate scums that can’t bear the weight of their responsibility.”
WHAM!
“Eh?” I gasped in shock as Hermes knocked me down and broke my domain with an incredulous amount of force. My back met the ground and he pressed me down with his hand to my chest. “Are you going to kill me now?” I asked unmoving also in a physical sense because my body was already paralyzed.
His eyes were on me, tears dropping down on my face. “You’re right, I must shoulder this responsibility no matter what. That is also why I must tell him now. I can apologize for what I did a million times over but it won’t change a thing.”
I tried to mutter a spell but he covered my mouth with his other hand and smiled. His smile beamed something within me. “I guess this is really goodbye then.”
I gasped just as I saw a stand black ink coming out from his mouth. “It seems you attack really did shatter my soul, now the poison is taking hold of me.”
Did I just do something bad? My attack is killing Hermes but why did I still feel unfulfilled?
“Here give this to Hades, it contains everything I have done. It’s for his eyes only.” Hermes removed his hands from my face and chest leaving a flash drive on my chest. “I am really sorry I messed up Hecate, I really like you too.”
I was starting to feel really bad at the pit of my stomach. “Now what are you going to do?”
He rose to his feet and wiped the black ink from his face. “I don’t have much time left anymore. I am going to meet Hades even in my final moments and thank him for everything hes done for me. I will tell him how much of a father he was to me and ….”
“What if I repair your soul?” I asked in a cold tone?
Hermes chuckled and walked back into the building leaving a few words. “Take care of boss man for me and don’t grief for me.”
“I guess this is goodbye then?” He added as he entered the building and shut the door before me.
Tears stared to form in my eyes as I regained control over my body and started to climb to my feet. “Come back you idiot!”
A figure crept from the shadows and halted me. “This won’t do, why did Hermes have to mess things up like this. He won’t last long anyway so why bother? But you infact need to be dealt with here.”
I looked at the figure that appeared to be a man in red and said. “Who are you?”
If I revive a magic castle I will mass release 10 chapters
