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MISTAKES MADE

“L et her go.” Lerna’s words made me jerk back as if I had been struck.

“What the fuck?” I hissed in disbelief, making her look pained, telling me that she believed in what she said.

“It is too late for her to remain in the mortal realm,” Koro claimed, and I snapped a finger in his direction without bothering to look at him, quickly warning,

“You shut the fuck up. And as for you, you’re crazy if you think I am letting her go.” I added this last part aimed down at the new bane of my existence. Although, in truth, she had been that from the very first day I met her, I just hadn’t known it until now.

“She became a Summoner, Jared… the Summoner Queen was always fated to be a daughter of Hades. And it wasn’t Persephone’s own daughter, Melino?, like the Queen hoped it would be.”

“Melino??” my brother asked, clearly keeping up with this fucked up conversation.

“She is our half-sister, although not that I readily claim her as such. She is the Goddess of nightmares and madness and believed that, by right, Hades’ summoning power should have gone to her,” Lerna told us, adding more fucked up players to the board for us to contend with. Just fucking peachy!

“Yeah, not sure she understands the way genetics work, as you can’t just demand to inherit daddy’s power unless born with it,” Marcus added sardonically.

“Gods’ bollocks, but just how many enemies are we dealing with here?” my brother complained, and I was glad he and my friend were here to ask the questions I couldn’t. Because I was still stuck on the ridiculous notion Lerna had that I would ever let Ella go.

“They have both been our enemy since knowledge of our birth was discovered, but even more so when they realized who Ella had become. The one who holds the Summoner crown has the power to rule all, hence why it is all they have ever wanted,” Lerna told us, shaking her head and no doubt wishing for simpler times when it was just her and her sister locked away in a temple.

“So, the bitch has to live being disappointed, so what?” Marcus said with a shrug.

“You don’t understand, she had reason enough for wanting us dead just for existing, but now that Ella has the one thing she wanted for herself or her kin, it is no longer possible. Even if she took it, that wouldn’t mean she could possess it, not unless Ella was dead. Which means that is just all the more reason why we must hide once more, as Persephone and her daughter will stop at nothing to get what they want. Just as Garmr will do the same,” Lerna argued in a pleading tone, and her desperation was easy to see.

“Okay, so we take out the queen and her nightmare daughter, what next?” I stated firmly, making her scoff a humorless laugh.

“Even if you could, it still doesn’t solve the problem of my uncle, and now with the power of the Summoner King he has somehow managed to take possession of, I fear the fight is lost before it has even begun,” she argued, shaking her head in defeat.

“What do you mean?” I asked, making me think back to what Clay had said, for surely, Garmr had merged himself with the wrong King. But if this was true, then how then did he gain his power? Had Clay transferred it over to his replacement in some way and if so, did that mean Clay could claim it back as the rightful ruler of Fraud?

This ended up becoming a mute question when Lerna replied,

“Garmr bound Ella’s soul to his, meaning that he may not have the true power a Summoner does, but he does have the power to command them… to command her. For no one has the same power as my father or…”

“His daughter,” I finished off for her, wondering what would have happened had she not gone back in time and touched that damn book, making me ask, “And what if she had never taken possession of the Book of Souls?”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. Garmr would have just forced her to become one with her true self by touching any Book of Souls. He now has many Summoners under his command since taking Geryon’s kingdom, with one called Niniane being his most powerful,” Koro told us.

“Yeah, well he killed that bitch,” Orth said, making Marcus chuckle sinisterly at the memory.

“You did?!” Lerna asked in shock.

“What can I say, she lost her head over me,” I replied in a dry tone.

“Good, for I hated that bitch,” Koro replied, obviously pleased about this fact.

“With all that being said, our goal remains the same. We are to find Ella and keep her from that fuck Garmr, so he can’t use her for this fucked up end of the world shit he wants her to achieve… and just so as we are clear, she is not fucking leaving my side, so you can get any idea of her going back to your fucking temple out of your head now!” I stated harshly, making her flinch before astonishing us all.

“Well first we would need to find our father, Hades, as without her power and with her now being bound to this realm, she is…”

My hand snapped up to stop her, and again I was faced with new fucking information that had me feeling as if I was a step behind once more.

“Whoa, back up a second, what do you mean she is without her power and what is this bound to the realm shit you’re talking about?”

Her eyes grew wide before realization kicked in.

“Oh of course, you don’t know.”

“Don’t know what, Lerna?” Koro said, as clearly even he wasn’t in the know either.

“It’s just that with everything that happened and being taken, and we were running after it, then it just happened…” she said in a rush of words, making me take a step closer.

“What happened, Lerna?” I asked, forcing myself not to bark at her this time, despite having the urge to shake the information out of her by this point.

“She was attacked by a…”

“Attacked!? For fuck sake, is she alright, was she hurt…? Fuck! Lerna, why didn’t you say that before?!” I snapped the second I heard the word, my whole body tensing as panic and fear swept through me.

“Well, there was so much to tell you and I… I…” she stumbled on her words, the emotions rising up within her.

“It’s alright, my love, just say it now… and before the HellBeast loses his head completely,” Koro said after my outburst, now trying to shield his wife from my wrath.

“She wasn’t hurt, but the creature, it’s one known as Epiales, master of Melas Oneiros. He works for the queen.”

Finding out that Ella wasn’t hurt made that stabbing ache in my chest ease enough to ask,

“And exactly what did this soon-to-be-dead thing do to her?” My intent to maim this thing was evident, even though I had never heard of it before. But then that wasn’t unusual, as fucking clearly, I still had a lot of supernatural shit to learn.

“He stole her powers and bound her to this realm, we had been trying to make our way back to our temple by getting on a boat from the river Arceron but as we rested, it took hold of her dreams.”

My fists clenched, vowing that this thing was going to die… and slowly… by my hands.

“He made her eat a pomegranate,” Marcus surmised, clearly knowing more than me. Although I did know what this meant, as it was how Hades bound people to his realm through temptation.

“Yes, and therefore, unknowingly giving up her will over not only where her soul remains but also the souls she controls. All of which will only be restored to her when meeting our father, for only he has the power to grant it back.”

“Hold up… so you’re telling me that our biggest worry was that Garmr would kidnap Ella so as to use her powers, but now you’re saying that she has none… am I the only one seeing this as a good thing?” Orth said and well, he had a bloody good point there.

Lerna’s eyes widened as she thought about it.

“I suppose it is, although that still doesn’t solve the problem of her being bound to the Underworld.”

“Nor the fact that her fucked up uncle is still after her.” I pointed out with gritted teeth.

“No, but at the very least it gives us time to plan and fighting him in battle will be easier if he doesn’t have his greatest weapon by his side,” Koro said, making me sneer at the way he called Ella a weapon.

Which is why I was quick to inform them of my only reason for being here.

“Let’s get this straight, I have only two goals here, find my woman and ensure she is safe, then I am going to kill that son of a bitch, Garmr, and this time, I am going to rip his fucking head off!” I said, before turning around to look at the mountain.

I had never been so determined to kill something before in my entire life. Then I looked back to Lerna and Koro, as well as his sorcerous, who had remained silent during this whole exchange. After this I told them,

“Now you are either with me or not, but I promise you one thing… nothing is going to take Ella from me, do you understand?”

“But…” Lerna started to say, but she was quickly interrupted.

“We understand, HellBeast, I more than most,” Koro said whilst looking down at the woman he loved. Something that instead of creating bitterness inside of me, it gave me hope. Because I knew now what he too had to gain from Garmr’s demise…

Freedom to fully claim his own Fated.

“Now where were you headed?” I asked her, assured for now that they understood.

“Before the royal guard hunted us and took me, we had been on our way to the Gate of Hermes.”

“The gate of Hermes?” Orth asked, wanting to know why, as we both knew of the Gods messenger and Ambassador for the Deities.

“We were trying to get a message to you, asking for your aid,” she said, only this wasn’t directed at me, but at her husband. Koro reached out to run the backs of his fingers down her cheek, his bindings also reaching out and caressing her as if his curse was soothed by the feel of her.

“But you said soldiers came?” I asked, needing to know more, and keeping the focus solely on my girl.

“Yes, but knowing we wouldn’t outrun them, I led them away, so they focused on me, not Ella.”

“That was very courageous of you, my love,” Koro praised, his hand tightening around her waist where he held her to him.

“I would do anything for her, you know that, besides, she saved me at the gates of Hades,” she replied, looking to him and then to me. Her account of which I was eager to hear. And thankfully I didn’t have to wait long, for her story continued.

She went on to tell us how it all began, including how Ella ended up jumping through that portal to begin with. How they had the same spell cast on her blood that Garmr had. How if a single drop of blood were to fall, that her sister would give her a way out before Garmr could get her.

Because the one thing Garmr couldn’t do himself was to cross over to the mortal realm.But what he could do was send his minions. HellHounds, like the one I had fought, had fed from her powers, making them stronger. HellHounds that would have kept coming and at a greater rate than her souls would have been able to fight back. The only thing to close the portal was if she had left the realm. Meaning if she had stayed to fight, it would have ended up welcoming Hell on Earth… literally.

Knowing this, Lerna told us that she and Koro had a backup plan in place when learning of Garmr’s next move once the Summoning Games had not gone to plan. They had a witch that was loyal to Koro cast a double spell. A spell that mirrored another so as it wouldn’t be recognized by Garmr. So that not one portal but two would arise with the spilling of her blood. A portal whose energy fed from that of a Summoner, and therefore would stay active until Ella entered one.

Which meant that she had no choice that night and she knew it. Something she must have felt at the time. However, this meant that she was now out there somewhere, navigating her way through the unknown and this time…

She was…

Unprotected.