![]() | ![]() |
––––––––
Everyone sits at the dinner table celebrating the victory over Thanos. Rum and wine flow freely as they munch on a variety of appetizers.
Derek asks, "So Brandon, let's talk about your little magic tricks you all of a sudden seem to know. What's going on?"
"I'm not sure." replies Brandon. "Ever since Thanos told me I used to be a Greek God, I've felt I could do just about anything."
"But that was in a dream, was it not?" questions Derek.
"Dreams are a vision not only of the past, but also of the future." answers Arianna. "Dreams tell us many things. If you don't listen to them, if you don't interpret them, then you lose what could be your edge in life."
"So", Brandon asks. "If I dream I'm going to win the lottery, you're saying I'm going to win?"
"I know not what this lottery is." says Arianna.
"It's like, you buy a ticket for a dollar hoping to win a million dollars." adds Lou.
"Did you dream you won this lottery Brandon?" asks Arianna.
"Actually, yes. I've dreamt it several times in the past and guess what? I won nothing. But I don't dream it anymore."
"Maybe you need to interpret your dream differently." Arianna says. "Do you now have your millions of dollars?"
"Well, yes, but that's not from the lottery."
"But the result is the same, is it not?"
"Yeah, I guess it is," muses Brandon.
"As I said before, learn to interpret your dreams."
"Point made." Brandon responds. "You're dead on as usual Arianna."
Finley, on the table in a huge padded clamshell, coos and giggles. Treena kisses him on the cheek and hands him a rib type bone with the meat cut off of it. Finley takes it and sucks on the end of the bone.
"Isn't that dangerous?" asks Jessa, "giving him a bone he can choke on?"
"Not at all." replies Treena, "it's way too big to hurt him and he finds great pleasure in it. Besides, it keeps him quiet." she leans down to Finley, "doesn't it my little one?"
Finley laughs as he sucks on the bone.
"So, you all ready to head out tomorrow?" asks Lou.
"I'm anxious to get back. I kind of miss the meals, my swimming pool and my home. Have you thought any more of coming with us mother?" asks Treena.
"Yes sister, I wish you would join us." adds Jessa. "There's so much more to do and see, you would love it back in Miami."
"My place is here, with the other women. I'm going to bring them back from Erato and we'll start over. I feel I have a responsibility to take care of them. Besides, you all know I love it here."
"You're going to get bored with us not around." says Brandon. "No more pirate fights, underwater fights, in fact no more fights at all."
"Somehow Brandon, I think I can learn to live without those things."
"You're coming, right Sean?" asks Brandon.
"As much as I want to, my place is here, with Tina. I've kind of grown accustomed to this lifestyle." answers Sean.
"That's like saying you've grown accustomed to prison. I'm not saying this is prison, it's not, but when you get out, you remember all the things you missed. I think maybe you've forgotten that." lectures Brandon.
"No, I haven't," answers Sean, "but after we lost our child, we were determined to try again." Sean puts his arm around Tina. "And now that Tina carries another child, we're staying."
Arianna's eyes pop open. "You are with child Tina?"
"Yes mother, I wanted to surprise you."
Treena jumps up, rushes over and hugs Tina. "That is so exciting. I'm so happy for you two."
Sean adds, "Maybe after our child is born, we'll think about coming back to Miami. But, until then, we're anchored here."
Brandon stands and holds out his rum mug. "A toast to the new family addition. Congratulations you two."
All hold out their drinks and chant "Congratulations."
Earlier
Brandon returns to the present. "Why didn't you kill me back then?"
Thanos replies, "Because you were a child...because I was weak. But because, most of all, I knew you were to become the father of Kreios."
Thanos shoots an empty stare at Brandon as his black eyes turn to grey. Slowly, he sinks into the deep waters and disappears under his trail of dark blood. He sinks and sinks into the deepest depths of the ocean as he fades in and out of consciousness. As he sinks and waits for death, he utters to himself, "May the God's forgive me for my failure in bringing Kreios to his destiny. I ask for your forgiveness...if only I had one more chance...may the God's forgive me."
Thanos hears a voice in his head. "And what would you do differently if you had one more chance Thanos?"
Thanos looks around. "Who is that? Who said that?" When there is no reply, Thanos dismisses it to his dying.
He lands and lays on the sandy bottom of the ocean. It's a bit dark but clear as he glances around at his surroundings. In the distance, he sees a large school of shark's swim toward him. As they reach him, they swim circles around his dying body.
"Thank you my brothers, for being with me while I pass to the next world. You are more comfort to me than you will ever know."
As Thanos' eyes flutter open and closed, the sharks line up on two sides, forming a path to Thanos.
Again, Thanos hears, "And what would you do differently if you had one more chance Thanos?"
Thanos, now delirious, mumbles, "I would protect Kreios from all those that try to interfere. I would..."
Thanos closes his eyes, his body convulses, then becomes still. He is dead.
His soul rises from his body, floats upward and stops. He stares down at his body until the ground shakes. Below his body, a giant crevice opens up and his body is sucked into it.
He screams, "Nooooooo!"
He shoots into the crevice as it closes above him. As he spirals downward into the depths of the Earth, flames shoot out and burn his body. He tries to move away from them but he's in a tunnel and cannot escape. As he plunges downward, he passes creatures that snap at his body. He passes Centaurs, Gorgon's, the Lernean Hydra, the Chimera and Harpies, all snapping at him.
He grunts and screams as he drops deeper. The flames are intense, but he now seems impervious to them. He passes round jail cells imbedded in the sides of the tunnel where devil like creatures reach out for him, snarling and snapping their teeth.
As he drops, he transforms back into Thanos, the blond-haired human, but he doesn't notice the change. He sees dirt ground fast approaching him from underneath. His feet slam into the ground, his body falls flat. He stares at his surroundings, wondering where he is. After a few minutes, he finally sits up.
He spots a disheveled, homeless looking man standing next to a river. Thanos squints because it is nearly dark, like just after the sun sets and the sky darkens. He stands, lumbers over to the man.
"Where am I?" Thanos asks.
"You are at the entrance to the underworld, the final resting place for those who failed to see the signs of change in their world." the man responds. He points, "You see, across the river, those gates?
"Yes, I see them."
"Once you cross this river, you will enter those gates where Hades will determine your future."
"Is Hades not the brother of Zeus and Poseidon, the ruler of the underworld?"
The man turns and stares at Thanos. "Yes, that is he."
"Are you not Charon, the one who will take me across the river?"
"Yes, I am." Charon is disgustingly dirty, his skin is mostly covered with dirt but light spots where his skin is not as dirt crusted. His eyes look like jets of fire are shooting out from them, his un-kept beard hangs bushy and ragged.
"Do you have something for me?" asks Charon.
"I, I don't know. What is it..." asks Thanos as he starts to move his mouth but instead swallows and almost chokes. He opens his mouth, juts his jaws out, grimaces, then reaches into his mouth. From under his tongue, he pulls out a coin.
He stares at it, then hands it to Charon, who inspects it. "Is this what you were looking for?"
"Yes, your cost to have me take you across this river to your destiny."
As Charon stares at the coin, it starts to turn red. It gets hotter and hotter until Charon screams out and throws the coin into the river.
"What is it...what happened?" ask Thanos.
"You cannot cross now." Charon turns back and faces the river. "Until you have a proper burial, you cannot enter the underworld. You must return from where you came."
"But I..." Thanos protests as he disappears.
From a distance, a figure slowly swims toward Thanos. The sharks back up a bit more as the figure nears his body and stops next to an unconscious Thanos, who has transformed back into a merman, and stares at him. He places his fingers on Thanos' chest and closes his eyes. Small electrical charges pop between his fingers and Thanos' chest. Thanos' body jerks. A large electrical current, resembling a lightning bolt, shoots into Thanos' chest. Thanos' body jerks again and convulses until his eyes pop open. He stares at the figure over him. His vision is blurred but as he stares, his vision clears.
"Glaukos?" he shouts out. "How can this be?" Thanos sits up. "I was dead...I don't understand."
"You must experience death before you can be reborn. The God's let you die so you will know your fate should you fail again to bring Kreios to power. You are being given a second chance, one that the God's never bestow upon their servants. But if you fail, you will serve eternity in the fiery hell of the kingdom of Hades."
"I will not fail this time my lord. I know all the God's are depending on me. We will once again rule this Earth. We shall control all of the world's animal's and be served by the humans. By then..."
"Quiet!" Glaukos bellows out. "I have heard enough of your chatter from the past, I need not hear it again."
"My lord, how is it you have returned as Glaukos? The human fisherman, Peter was you, but now that he's human again, how is it you are again The great God of Glaukos?"
"The God's have chosen another human to take the fisherman's place, a man who will not cause any suspicion upon being missed. I, and I alone, now control who Glaukos is...and what he does. The human is trapped in here, controlled by me. He will not be released because I will never die. Are you ready to begin your quest?"
"Yes, my lord, I am ready."
"Then let us talk about the father of Kreios."
"Yes, he became a problem I did not expect."
"That is because his powers grow. He gains his strength because he was the former God, Asclepius. He is aware of his former self but still does not believe he possesses these powers. You must act before he becomes aware of this. You must act before he becomes aware of the powers he possesses. The only way this can be achieved is by you taking over the body of someone he trusts. This way, he will suspect nothing and allow you to become close to him. When he least expects it, you will snatch Kreios from him and disappear into our world."
"But who am I to become? How do I take over their body, their senses?"
"This you must decide on your own. Once you decide, you must tell no one, only the God's will know."
"But if..."
"Enough!" barks Glaukos, "begin your journey now. Use your senses, use your experience." he expresses as he stares deep into Thanos' black eyes. "Bring Kreios back to us."
Thanos watches as Glaukos turns and swims away, where he disappears into the dark waters.