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Kaleb
I don’t know much about my own power, but seeing others fight makes me want to learn.
“-fe.” Heather finishes as I step through the door.
That’s right. Audrey just left us. Interesting. I wonder how they were able to freeze time, and was it a long-range occurrence? I’m almost certain that it didn’t have anything to do with Janus’s powers. One of the interested parties maybe?
There are other things I’m wondering about too. Like why was Luke in Kassidy’s body? I felt a disturbance in Kassidy’s soul when she spoke. It must be part of my powers from being a son of Hades, I guess. Her hazel eyes also changed to blue for the smallest second. That means that the red orb wasn’t him.
We weren’t briefed about a fourth being in Luke, so only Kassidy, Luke, and now myself must be aware. Hmm... I guess there isn’t any use wondering about it now. She didn’t mention it, so I’ll just leave it.
“Kaleb? Are you thinking that hard about the mirror?” Katie asks me.
I blink my eyes and look around, “Uhh...no. I was actually away for a bit.”
Katie chuckles, “In your head? Yeah, what else is new.”
“No...I mean. Oh, this will take a little bit of time. We should get moving while we talk.” I say.
We start our ascent back up to the surface. I begin to tell them mostly everything that happened on our adventure into Janus’s dimension. I thought it was going to be harder to leave because of the giant hole where Heather’s tree used to be, but she forms a bridge of vines from seeds she carries.
“To think that even Janus would get involved in these affairs. Things sure are complicated with your group.” Heather says.
I sigh, “Tell me about it.”
“Anyways, I think it’s time I explain things from my side. I’m sorry. Between the fighting and my own self processing, I just needed some time.” Heather says.
“It’s really fine. We’re glad we ran into you when we did. I don’t think Kaleb and I could have held that demon off without you. You don’t have to tell us anything.” Katie says.
“No, it’s okay. I don’t mind. As we’ve slightly talked about, my team was on a mission to investigate this place. We had good reason to believe it had gone rogue under someone’s orders. I was actually doing this as a favor for Poseidon. Anyways, the room you found me in was filled with a toxic substance. The researchers were going to kill my whole squad and escape.” She begins to explain.
“It obviously didn’t work out for them. We found their bodies on the other side of the door.” I say.
“I have my guesses on that. First though, I couldn’t use my power on the door’s lock because it is made from true orichalcum. Metal that can cancel the power of the gods like those.” She points at the chains in the cells as we pass.
“So that’s why Audrey’s punch didn’t do anything to that door. It cancelled out her power completely.” I say.
Heather nods her head, “Right. Next, we found the key, but the toxins were overtaking the room by that point. I used my power that I call the world tree. I was supposed to encase my whole team in a state of suspension with me, but...it wasn’t perfected. It was the only time I actually attempted it in combat. It was a mistake that I will never truly live with. Those were people I deeply held dear there that day.”
“I’m sorry, Heather. I couldn’t imagine.” Katie says sadly.
“Yeah...I will most likely come back to bury them at a later date and...to grieve. Regardless, my tree form had the power to get rid of the toxins, but it is a slow process. I’m sure some of my branches looked dead in the room when you arrived. Those very same probably covered any ventilation systems that the researchers could have used to clear the room for themselves. Eventually, I became that large tree that you saw before.” She finishes.
“What will you do now that you’re back?” Katie asks as we walk through the secret entrance Audrey destroyed.
She takes a few seconds before she answers, “It’s hard to say. I have my report to give to Poseidon. After that, maybe I’ll register to have my rank reinstated. Our fight isn’t over yet after all.”
“Poseidon left Olympus a while back. I doubt it will be easy to get in touch with him.” Katie says.
“Katie...Poseidon is dead. We heard it when we were in Hell. Legion snuck into Atlantis and killed him there. He even brought back his trident apparently.” I tell them.
Katie is stunned, “W-what. I-I don’t remember that.”
“No...surely not. Dang it. Very well. That changes things. I will slay Legion. I will regain my rank, recreate my own platoon, and destroy him.” Heather says with a fire in her eyes.
We were just about to walk out into the sunlight when Katie holds out her arm, “Wait...he’s still out there. I can hear him from here.” A roar sounds in the distance.
“Who is?” Heather asks.
“Croatoan, he’s a demon that can transform into a dragon. We had a tough time getting away from him the first time. By the sound of it, I think he’s freed himself from my traps. We should wait until they fully retreat. They already said they were going to.” Katie says.
“One demon? I will handle it.” Heather begins to walk out, but Katie grabs her arm.
Katie says desperately, “Let’s let them leave. He can breathe fire. That isn’t exactly a good match-up for you.”
Heather gently removes Katie’s hand from her arm, “Do not be afraid. I will take care of this. I am much stronger in the sunlight. I was also still regaining my bearings against that other demon. Let me show you two what an admiral can do. Do not intervene.”
Heather pulls out seeds from one of the pouches in her army vest. She tosses them in front of her and runs. As she runs, trees grow under her feet and in the path in front of her. Limbs grow from the trees in odd and winding ways to keep Heather from falling while she continues her ascent into the sky.
Croatoan has noticed her by this point. He roars loudly into the sky. His wings don’t appear to be damaged, so he must have healed from Katie’s traps somehow. He blows fire straight for Heather. Heather raises one of her hands, and a branch stretches her into the sky. The trees below her are burning in an inferno.
Croatoan swings one of his claws for Heather. Heather holds up both of her hands between him and her. Before his claw connects, a sphere of wood surrounds Heather. The claw pounds into the wood, and the sphere crashes down into the earth close to us.
“Heather!” Katie yells.
The sphere of wood cracks open. Heather looks unharmed. It looks like branches were connecting her limbs to the wood to keep her suspended and stable in the sphere. Heather stares into the burning woods below us.
“I will handle this. Trust me, Katie.” Is all she says.
She begins her ascent into the sky again. Trees are growing under her just like before. Croatoan swoops down for her while breathing fire. Heather holds her hand out to the right. A tree shoots out of her hand and hits another tree. The force propels her to the left, and she dodges Croatoan. She holds out her left hand, and another tree grows quickly out of it. It propels her back in Croatoan’s direction.
Heather lands on Croatoan’s back. His red eyes are enraged with hatred. He spins in the air, but Heather shoots vines from her hands. The vines wrap around the section where Croatoan’s wings connect to his back. She ties the vines together and pulls tightly. With how massive Croatoan is, she isn’t able to restrict his wings much.
Heather waves her arm around his back. She must have been spreading seeds because massive trees sprout all over Croatoan’s back. Not even he can hold up that much weight in the air. He crashes into the ground. We run over to the direction of the crash.
Croatoan is motionless on the ground. The roots from the trees on top of him are stretching into the ground. He is becoming more imprisoned by the second. His tongue is lying outside of his mouth. It looks like there is some tattoo on it. It says TS2-Croatoan.
Surely that doesn’t stand for what I think it does. If my guess is right, it stands for test subject with a numerical designation... That would mean he is probably an artificially made demon of some sort. It would also mean there are others...
I’m hoping that the number represents the order of creation. If it stood for something else like ranking of strength, then there would be one even stronger than him. Calm down, Kaleb. You don’t even know if you are right. It could be nothing.
Heather jumps off of Croatoan’s body, “I told you I would handle it. Now we just need to find a way to finish him off for good. I think I saw two chinks in his scales. One in the front and the other in the back. It’s almost as if something shot straight through him.”
Croatoan’s eyes dart open. My body reacts instinctively. The ground rumbles as I push Heather to the ground. Croatoan pulled up one of his claws from the ground straight for Heather. I barely saved her in time. What a relief.
“No, Kaleb!” Katie screams. Why does her scream sound so scared?
I look down, and my body freezes with shock. One of Croatoan’s large nails...is stuck right into my abdomen. I...feel the life draining from me. I try to pull the claw from me in vain. My strength...is gone. I’m growing limp. To feel so cold even as the fires rage around me...it scares me. Croatoan’s hate-filled red eyes pierce into me as the light fades from my sight.
A well-mannered voice says from thin air, “Why Master Kaleb, I am pleased to finally make your acquaintance. I must admit, I was not expecting to see you this way so soon.”
Slowly, I feel myself able to move again. It’s an odd situation as I pull myself to a stand, but yet I am able to see my body still impaled by Croatoan’s claw. The scene around me is frozen in time. I look around for the voice that spoke.
“Ah, I’m right here, Master Kaleb.” The voice taps my right shoulder.
I turn and see a bespectacled man. He is dressed head to toe how a butler would be. I already looked in this direction, so I’m not sure how he appeared from nowhere. Behind him, there is a table and two chairs. The table has a tea set on it. He motions for me to sit, so I do.
He bows and pours from a teapot into a cup in front of me, “I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Charon. I am the ferryman of the dead so to speak, servant of Master Hades, and by extension, yourself.”
I’m almost at a loss for words, “Good to meet you...”
He smiles politely, “Same to you, of course. I cannot blame you for not knowing what to say especially given the circumstances. There are a few things to explain to you, so I will move quickly if you’ll allow. Also, please enjoy the tea. It is usually very pleasing for the master.”
He pauses. I think he was seriously asking for my permission. I just nod my head. I drink from the cup which is surprisingly good.
“Very good, sir. You must be wondering of the world that is seemingly at a standstill around you. This is a moment the humans call, “Your life flashing before your eyes”. We are using the power of this event to converse. Afterwards, a person would be sent to Heaven or Hell depending on their salvation status, of course.” Charon explains.
“So, I am dead then?” I ask him.
“Well, given the giant claw in your abdomen, you would think so. However, your death truly depends on you.” Charon’s eyes twinkle mysteriously.
“How would that depend on me?” I ask him.
“I could indeed take you to your eternity on the other side if you so choose. As a son of Master Hades, you do have another option available to you. I’m sure you were already becoming aware, but you have limited control over the aspect of death. Among other things, you have the ability to regenerate from death once every so often if it so pleases you.” Charon pushes up his glasses.
I’m honestly startled, “I-I can really do that?”
He sits across the table from me and pours himself a cup of tea, “Yes, although your power certainly has limitations, considering it has only begun to bloom. One such limitation is you must not be in a deadly situation that you cannot remove yourself from quickly. For instance, if a building fell on top of you, your regeneration would be wasteful as you could not escape to properly heal. This is not one of those situations.”
“That makes sense. Every so often is a little vague though.” I say to him.
He drinks from his cup, “It is, isn’t it? Hmm...Master Hades instructed me to give this to you on your sixteenth birthday. Given the circumstances, I imagine he wouldn’t mind it being a little early. If you can wield it, that is.”
Charon snaps his fingers. A black sword with a bright red strip in the middle of the blade rises from the ground. The tip stays dug into the dirt.
“Pull this sword from the ground, and you will become the rightful heir of England.” Charon chuckles, “I only jest. The center strip holds your thread of life from the Sisters of Fate. When it glows brightly, you will know that your power of regeneration can be used. Also, while it can be used to parry other weapons like normal, it doesn’t hurt a person’s physical body. You will slice directly to their soul.”
“Wait...that doesn’t kill them immediately, does it?” I ask almost horrified.
“With enough slashes, it could potentially, but you could sever just enough life to render a person unconscious. That ability is only for humans or demigods, mind you. Demons and other spiritual beings will be harmed as normal. This is an incredibly special blade crafted by your father, Master Kaleb. Do treat the Soul Slicer with care. Before that, I have only one more thing to ask you.” Charon sips from his cup.
“What would that be?” I inquire.
He says in a somber tone, “Do you have the courage to keep fighting in this cruel life? I could whisk you away from here. The power of regeneration will surely have its effects on you as you must still endure the pain of death. No one would blame you to have it end now. The choice is yours. If you pull that sword from the ground, I will take that as your answer, and your power will be completed.”
With this power, I could help my friends in ways that I never thought possible. I hop up from the table without hesitation. I wrap my hands around the sword’s handle and pull with all my strength. I can feel the blade’s power radiating through me.
Charon smiles, “Very good, sir. I hope to meet you again. Under different circumstances, of course.”
My spirit is beginning to be pulled back towards my body, “Thanks for everything, Charon! I hope we meet again soon!”
He smiles, “Anytime. Also, I would pull away from the claw as soon as possible. The regenerative process is about to begin.”
I spring to life. Charon didn’t mention that regenerating itself would be so painful. I dig the tip of my blade into Croatoan’s nail and push myself away. Katie catches me. She looks at me with horror. Heather throws more seeds at Croatoan to hold him down even more.
Tears are streaming down Katie’s eyes, “Kaleb, I’m so sorry that we couldn’t do anything...just hold on...wait. Your stomach... It’s better?”
I struggle to stand, “Ye-yeah. I’ll explain later. Help Heather.”
A gross sounding voice echoes loudly throughout the woods, “Croatoan! You are the last one to still be out in the field. If you do not return soon, I will move this gate and leave you behind. I have other business to attend to!”
Heather says with determination, “I will not let this one get away. Katie, can you make something long that I can use to stab through his weak point? I don’t think my wooden swords would do the trick here.”
“It will take me a little bit of time to make an offensive weapon of war. Give me a minute.” She says.
“Okay, I’ll hold hi- What? What is he doing here?” Heather’s voice is shaken.
It’s Serath. He must have been wandering around the woods. He looks uninjured from any of the surrounding flames.
“De-de-mon?” Serath points at Croatoan being held by the plants.
The ground underneath him seems to be decaying. I don’t think he’s aggressive to us anyways. I’m going to try something.
I say weakly, “Yes, Serath. It’s a demon. It’s a bad demon.”
He tilts his head to the side. His eyes are wide with fear but also...understanding? The large ghostly figure with the roulette wheel appears behind him. The figure looks like a skeleton. The roulette wheel begins to spin. The spinner stops on death.
Serath screams wildly, “RUN! RUN AWAY!”
We take his word for it. I’m still exhausted from reviving, but I force myself to move. The decay below Serath is spreading rapidly. It seems to destroy everything it touches. The trees, the fire, Croatoan... Croatoan is flailing relentlessly to destroy his bindings. The mighty dragon roars with fury one final time before he turns to dust along with his tree bindings.
The loud voice from before says, “What!? I don’t feel his presence anymore. Those demigods were able to kill him!? I don’t even sense a fragment of his body to salvage. Mistress Lilith will not be pleased. Still...I have other places to be. If you demigods can hear this, know this isn’t over! In fact, it is only the beginning.” He laughs as the sound of his voice fades.
The decay is still spreading rapidly. It’s all we can do to keep a good pace away from it. To think that Serath has so much power at his disposal. To kill Croatoan like it was nothing.
It finally stops spreading. Katie and I fall to the ground in exhaustion. Heather just stares back at it in awe.
Heather clenches her fists, “If only all of my strength would have returned to me, to feel so weak again...”
“You basically took him out. You shouldn’t beat yourself up.” Katie says.
All she says is, “Next time I will be ready.”
I throw a stick on the decayed ground, but nothing happens. It seems to be safe now. Before we return to Olympus, we search for Serath, but we couldn’t find any trace of him. His power didn’t kill him too, did it?
Heather tosses the remainder of her seeds around as we walk. She tries to regrow as much of the lost forest as she can. Apparently, she was already out of most of her plant types before she turned into a tree, so there was a lot she couldn’t do.
She has the power to grow things even without seeds. She can also turn pieces of her body into wood or other types of vegetation as we’ve seen, but it expends a large amount of her energy. That’s why her uniform is made with so many pouches to carry her seeds. It doesn’t take nearly as much of her energy to grow things from seeds.
Dan, the guy who carried us to the village by carriage, was waiting for us at the village. To thank us for freeing the town, he offers a ride back to our train for free. The reinforcements that Olympus sent to the village deemed that it was safe for the townspeople to return as well. They will leave a few men stationed here for a couple of days though. Just to be sure.
It certainly was an experience though. To think Luke and the rest fought so many demons to rescue me. The ones we faced could have killed us so easily. I have a lot to learn. That’s for sure. I hope Audrey is doing okay. She said we would see her again, but she didn’t say how long it would be.
The carriage rolls over another bump. Katie’s head falls onto my shoulder as she snores extremely loud. I don’t blame her for falling asleep, but I can’t believe she could on this shaky ride.
Heather chuckles softly, “Poor girl. She’s all tuckered out.”
I smile, “Yeah. Aren’t we all though? She did really well. Especially to have had me to watch out for.”
Heather shakes her head, “Kaleb, you saved my life. You watched out for us just as well. For a newly found demigod, I was truly impressed. Have more confidence in yourself. It took me many years of war to be where I am now.”
I glance at my new blade leaning against the carriage chair. Only time will tell or will it? Maybe we will have a chance to go back to some sort of normal once Luke wakes. I’m not sure what I want. Rest sounds good, but there are people hurting out there. If I can use my intelligence to help them, shouldn’t I? I’ll wait to see what path Luke follows.
After a few hours, we board our train to take us as near to Olympus as possible. I sleep the entire train ride back. My body is wrecked. I don’t know when I’ll feel back to one hundred percent. Still, we end up being the first group back to Olympus.
The court is pretty intimidating, but I give them my report. I also tell them my observations and hypotheses. They were especially interested on my thoughts of Croatoan being an artificial demon. Heather being back certainly was a shock to them all. She received her rank back immediately with no trouble.
We handed Paean the encrypted data I transferred from the computers. His head tech will help him decode it whenever she gets back. Hopefully, we’ll find out who it was on Olympus that commissioned that horrible place in the mountains. There are still so many unanswered questions after all.
After our briefing with the court, mostly everyone clears out. Hades calls for me to stay and asks to speak with me privately, so both Katie and Heather go ahead and leave. His wife, Persephone, stays though. I would think she would give me some kind of angry look because well...I exist, but she just smiles.
“Omg, he does totes look just like you. He’s def of the Iscariot bloodline too.” Persephone says bubbly. Her throne is made of pomegranate trees. A hand shaped branch comes down to me, “It is so great to meet you! Just think of me like totally as your stepmother.”
I shake hands with the branch, “Uhh...I’ll try. Shouldn’t you be angrier since umm...you know.”
Persephone chuckles and waves her hand like she’s blowing what I said away. She suddenly jumps up from her throne. She was giant but shrinks to my height by the time she reaches the ground.
She grabs my hands, “Uh, no! Don’t give it another thought. None of that business is your fault! Like totes your father and I had gone through a rough patch a couple of years back. We’re not proud of it, but when you live as long as we do and have such conflicting personalities, it happens.” Then she whispers in my ear, “We also don’t hold grudges like Hera and her man, Zeus.”
Hades’s deep voice rumbles, “Try not to overwhelm him, dear.” His throne is made out of various types of bones. He has a brooding expression on his face.
“Awe, fine. We’ll talk later, kay?” She jumps back to her throne but stays in her small size. She lies down on a branch.
“It was fine really. I didn’t mind, father.” I say to him.
He looks me in the eyes, “I heard Charon had to give you your birthday present early.”
I look down and say quietly, “Yes, he did. Thank you for it. Truly, it helped us.”
“Your power will only grow from here on out, but you must be careful. The power of death is not to be trifled with. Not even for us. I don’t think I have to tell you this but take your power seriously.” He says sternly.
I raise my head, “I will. I’ll only use it to fight for my friends. Not for my own sake.”
He smiles slightly, “Good. Your friend, Luke, is an interesting boy. He stood up to most of the gods here for you. I could sense his fear, but he still fought on. You’ve made good friends.”
I say happily, “I know. I owe them so much. I won’t let their fight be in vain.”
Hades’s voice turns grim, “There was one more thing. A warning. There are very few that can counter our power over death, but there are some. You should flee immediately if you ever run into this particular one. His name is Thanatos. He used to be one of my most powerful servants like Charon, but he defected to Hell years ago. He is the very personification of death. Do not fight him, my boy.”
Persephone, still in her little form, begins to carry leaves from her tree to Hades’s head and stacks them on top of each other. The leaves are almost as large as her body. It’s humorous watching father try to keep his composure. Now isn’t a laughing time though.
“I will try not to. Why did he defect?” I ask.
“Because he revels in death. He would love nothing more than to carry the entire court to our afterlife. He has made that his ultimate goal to see how many of us he can slay. I wouldn’t necessarily call him evil. It is just his nature.” Hades says extremely somber with his new hat of leaves.
Persephone skips with another leaf in her arm. She reaches high to stack another, but the leaves fall all over father’s head. I can’t hold it any longer and burst out in laughter.
Hades shakes his head, “Really, dear? I’m trying to have a serious conversation with my child.”
She jumps to his shoulder, puffs out her chest and huffs, “Oh boo. Enough with the serious talk. Let’s spend some time with him! I know! Let’s take him to the Hephaestus café. It’ll be great!”
Hades pauses, “Very well. First, let me tell Charon to-”
Charon appears out of thin air on father’s other shoulder and bows, “I will take care of all your affairs while you are away, Master Hades. Enjoy your evening.” He gives me a slight wave before disappearing again.
“I guess that settles it.” Hades rises from his throne and shrinks to my and Persephone’s height. He catches Persephone as she falls and gracefully helps her stand.
They are about as odd as my friend family with Luke and the others, but...it feels right. My own mother died when I was young, so I was passed around to all sorts of family members. Some were better than others. None of them felt like home though. This...is beginning to.
We went to the Hephaestus café. The descendants of Hephaestus there are really good cooks. I had long and deep conversations with both Hades and Persephone. Persephone isn’t as shallow as she would lead people to believe. Overall, my time with them made both my journeys of being a prisoner in Hell and my more current one feel like a distant memory. It was needed.
