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MASTER OF YOUR OWN FATE

T he King of Greed led us from his office back into the throne room but not beyond, making me frown at Ryker in question. Although from the looks of things, he too had no idea what was about to happen. Even less so when Mammon’s booming voice rang out, echoing all around us when he suddenly ordered,

“EVERYONE OUT!” To which all his servants and guards left the throne room at once.

Only once the last one had closed the doors behind them, did Mammon walk over to one of the display cases. There was nothing special about what was inside, and he waved his hand making the glass reveal glowing symbols in gold. This was before the glass disappeared completely, making me realize that everything in this room had a spell cast on it preventing anyone from stealing.

Everyone but his fated thief.

Inside the case was a simple gold tear-shaped vase with a lid but once the top was removed, it revealed a glowing blue orb.

“Is that… a portal key?” Ryker asked in awe, telling me of how rare they must be. The nature of Greed within him lit up his eyes to an unnatural glow, and his fathers did the same.

“One gifted to me by Hades, with instructions to give it to the one who seeks him with only a noble cause… I have been told of why you seek the King of the Underworld, Cerberus,” he said, giving me cause to jerk in disbelief.

“What do you mean?”

“Like most Kings of Hell, my spies work not only within my own Kingdom but the other realms also.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“So, you know why I am here,” I assumed in a dark tone, knowing of the time wasted.

“I do.”

“But if so, then why not…”

“Help you the moment I saw you, because I am Greedy in nature and always require a bargain to be made. One that proved to be most useful,” he replied after first cutting me off, giving me cause to sigh in frustration before asking,

“Then you know of what Garmr plans to do?”

“I do, as does Hades.”

Again, the revelations just kept coming.

“Then why doesn’t he do something, why doesn’t he stop him?!” I shouted in outrage.

“That, you will have to ask him for yourself,” he said, lifting the portal key from its hiding place and handing it to me. The power of the thing pulsated in my hand as if I was carrying some kind of energy bomb about to explode.

“I will ensure my son returns and makes it to your realm with some of my legions to aid you in this battle.”

Naturally I was surprised by this and enough to ask, “But why?”

“Because if you fail to win this war, then all the kingdoms will fall.”

He then bowed his head to me and took a step back with his son. Leaving me with nothing more to do than throw the portal key, knowing it would open a gateway wherever it landed. Which meant that seconds later, and I was now staring at swirls of light shimmering like gold dust in water.

So, knowing this was the only reason I was here, I didn’t hesitate to step inside, momentarily swallowed up by the sensation of falling. Just like what happened with most portal travel, it was disorientating at first. This meant that by the time I made it through, I had to shake myself free of the dizziness that gripped me.

After blinking through it and the bright light I could now see, I found myself in a garden. One that I imagined was a mirror image of what was now destroyed back at his own ruined castle.

The walled garden was teeming with life. Marble arches half covered with vines and ivy, each that held plinths holding statues of half-naked Goddesses. Flower beds created walkways, framing the pale stone slabs with every color imaginable. Flowering trees and manicured shrubs created a pattern and flow to the large space, but there in the center of it all…

Was Hades.

He was standing with his back to me, looking up at the large white tree. The poplar tree was void of any bark and was so smooth, it almost didn’t look real. Its branches created a canopy of delicate white leaves that almost looked woven with silver thread. And as a total contrast, there was the King, dressed entirely in black. Making him the only thing here that was void of any color.

His long black cloak showcased his wide frame, and was made bigger thanks to the spiked armor pads that looked as if horns rose up from his shoulders. His midnight black hair curled at his neck just under the high fold of his robe. Upon his head was a crown I had never seen before, as it had replaced the last one he used to wear. This one was made from the twisted white tree branches from the tree he looked at now.

“She was the most beautiful creature I ever beheld,” he said in his deep, unsettling voice, and still with his back to me.

This comment made me sigh when I realized he was talking about Ella’s dead mother. I walked closer, only stopping when I stood next to him. I was used to seeing his face, despite this being the first time doing so as the man I now was.

For my HellBeast, however, the memory of him was engraved on our soul. His light grey skin, one that rippled with an unnatural amount of muscle as his bare torso showed. The lengths of black material hung from his waist, hiding his legs from view. And as for the face I knew, a man that looked to be in his late forties held a wealth of knowledge in his dark, perceptive eyes. His black beard tapered down into a point, very much like my own, which was cut shorter at the sides of our jawline.

“You finally returned to the Underworld,” he stated, moving on from speaking about his lost love.

“I did and you know why,” I said, getting right to the point, something I knew he would appreciate.

“I do,” he said without looking at me, his gaze still fixed on the tree.

“Then you also know why I am here,” I stated, having no choice but to look up at him, as he was easily a foot taller than me.

“Yes, for it is time, Fate has decided and appointed you as the one to hold the dial.”

I frowned, asking,

“The dial?”

He finally turned to face me, taking my hand and lifting it up so as he could place a piece of the tree branch into it, one no bigger than the length of my forearm. Then he told me,

“For her to decide which way it will point in your hand.”

I frowned.

“I am master of my own Fate,” I told him firmly, making him ask,

“Yes, but is she?”

“You speak of Ella,” I confirmed, making him smile, the sight transforming his face into something a little less Hellish.

“My daughter, yes, for that is her new name, is it not?”

“It is,” I affirmed, the knowledge that my girl was born from the ruler of my world still a hard fact to process.

“And you wish to bring her back to her true self, the part of her that loves you?” he asked, making me grip onto the branch tighter as I answered his with firm resolve.

“I do and I will.”

“Ah, but there is naught more selfish than that of love,” he replied, now turning back to face the tree. But I couldn’t stop myself from asking,

“Why do you say that?”

“I have been in love twice in my life, and each did not end well, young King,” he told me, making me grit my teeth.

“I made a bargain for Persephone, to claim her as my own, but her heart was not mine to take, for her nature became dark and cruel. Her soul not meant to survive my world, for it was not as pure as I had hoped for. The light I brought into the Underworld simmered until it became the darkest thing there,” he said, telling me something I already knew as the Queen had been bitter, cruel, and twisted for a long time, with jealously fueling her evil doings.

“And the second, what of Leuce?” I couldn’t help but ask.

He breathed in deep after I said her name, shuddering at the sound.

“She was the only one who truly loved me in return, willingly joining me, her soul so pure not even the darkest parts of my world could tame it. Nothing could snuff it out… nothing but the jealous nature of others,” he said, once more referring to his first wife.

“So, you hid them to try and save them?”

“I tried to give them up. But like I said, love makes you selfish and my only temptation was her,” he said, reaching out his hand, one as black as the talons that tipped each finger. Yet even with this dangerous hand, he still managed to caress a leaf delicate enough that it did not tear.

“But in the end, her love for me was what killed her,” he said, lowering his head before dropping to one knee at the base of the tree. Again, I gripped on to the branch in my hand like it was my last lifeline, as I could see now where he had broken a piece off. A fresh snap in the wood that would no doubt heal itself over time.

“This tree is the last piece of her I own. Her soul encased within its core, but one day it will leave me and I am yet to discover where it will go. For I fear it will be a place that I cannot follow,” he told me, now producing a flower in his hand, one called an Asphodelus, with ghostly grey petals that he laid down at the roots.

“You think she will be reincarnated?” I dared to ask.

“Yes, which means only death will bring her back to me.”

“That’s why you don’t help us defeat Garmr now, isn’t it…? Love makes you selfish.”

He rose back to his full height, turning to me once more.

“You always were the smartest of my creations. Yes, for if I aid you the way you wish, then my opportunity to have her once more is gone.”

I gritted my teeth.

“The Fates told you this?” I assumed, making him nod.

“The Fates told me only of when I am to intervene, not before and not after, but precisely the right moment, for if I do not heed these words, I will lose the last pieces of her left in my world.”

I jerked my head back, understanding dawning on me.

“You mean your daughters?”

“If I intervene in your war, Cerberus, then my daughter no longer stays tied to this realm, one in which she needs to be.” Finally, I understood why he remained in hiding, as his very presence in this war could make all the difference and not for the right reasons.

“Remember, my loyal HellBeast, love may make you selfish, but there is nothing to say that good cannot come from a selfish love. As long as that love is given back to you in return,” he said, now speaking in riddles as it sounded a lot like he was talking more about sacrifice. And well, I guessed he was right, as I was selfish enough to know that I could never give Ella up.

I would have to be dead first for that to happen.

Which was why I looked down at the branch in my hand and asked,

“Will this work?”

He shrugged his large shoulder and said,

“I cannot say, for I hear that her sister managed it before, but time is a curious thing, is it not?”

“In what way?” I asked, frowning in question.

“You are who you are today thanks to your greatest enemy, but it has taken you until now to fully understand that the Fate of others can impact us all. Time is the only true test we all must face, but it is what you do with that time given that truly matters.”

“Then I better not waste it,” I told him, knowing what he said was true, if it hadn’t been for Garmr taking Ella in the first place, I would not have become the HellBeast King I am today. Jared Weller would have died hundreds of years ago, as a simple blacksmith.

“No, you must not,” he said, now creating another portal behind me,

“This will lead you back to where you must go,” he told me, holding out a hand towards what I gathered was to be my Fate, whether I was master of it, or not. So, I walked away but before I could step through, he cryptically told me,

“Remember this, Jared Weller, even a well of souls sometimes sparks life.”

I frowned in question but before I could ask what it meant, the portal swallowed me up without me taking a single step.

The question was…

Whose Fate would it lead me to next?