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A small ray of light lighted the hall up and woke the sleeping warrior from his dream.

Kratos stood up from his throne and stretched his numbed limbs.

That's what you get for being polite to women, Kratos thought.

He had let his wife and her daughter to take the bedroom, while he slept all night on the throne.

Kratos looked carefully inside the bedroom and understood to let them continue sleeping.

Kratos stared at the door and wondered where the so called supervisor was.

Kratos sighed once more and walked to his throne. He sat on it and closed his eyes for a moment.

Then he heard three knocks from the outdoor. He opened his eyes to see what caused them.

At the other side of the hall, a man stood in the middle of the doorway. He was a much taller than Kratos. Green, pointy and long hair was almost to his kidneys. The strange looking man had a very sharp chin, and he was clearly younger than Kratos.

His glowing blue eyes cycling through the room. It's like he was measuring the room, and Kratos.

He had a dark vest, grey long pants and heavy steel boots on him.

He had clearly fought in many battles, because he had so many scars in his arms, and probably under his vest too.

He stood there, back straight, holding two swords that were almost two meters long.

Kratos saw that he was extremely powerful, but he was more concerned about the man's eyes than his strength.

While Kratos "inspected" the stranger, he started walking towards Kratos.

Kratos almost pulled his weapons out, seeing this over two meters long man coming towards him with his weapons drawn.

But the man saw what he was about to do, so he put his blades on his back and offered Kratos a handshake.

"Ghost of Sparta. I've wanted to meet you for a very long time."

Kratos rudely slapped his hands aside and asked him the obvious question.

"Are you supposed to be the supervisor that Hades sent here?"

This warrior gave the answer with a brief smile.

"Yes. If that is what he decided to call me, than yes, I'm your supervisor. But I'd rather be called by my real name. I remember that I was used to be called, Bley."

"That's a pretty old name you've got there. Hades mentioned something about you escaping from hell. When did warriors have people like you on their side?"

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your question. From where I come, you might sometimes forget the day, month or year."

Kratos didn't ask him, where he had been all this time.

"When are we leaving?"

"As soon as you're ready to say goodbye to your women."

Kratos had one last look at the closed bedroom door before he said to the man: "Let's go."

They stepped out of the door and into the fresh air of dawn.

"Where are we heading first?" Kratos asked from Bley.

Bley took a note of some kind and looked at the first sentence.

"To the Nemean Lion. Our ride should be here any moment now."

Bley whistled loudly and long. It could almost be heard to the nearest city.

Kratos glanced over the edge, but saw nothing else but a wall of clouds.

"Wait just for a moment longer."

Kratos kept looking at the clouds, until he thought he saw something under them.

A voice much like a bird's, echoed through Olympus, as a giant eagle flew towards them.

Its wings, head and even its tail was flaming a red fire in the rays of sun.

The fire must've been ironically reminding that it belonged to Hades.

"This is our ride."

Bley jumped on the giant eagles back and suggested Kratos to do the same.

Kratos mounted the bird and immediately got cold flows in him.

The birds back was frozen, as cold as ice, although its wings were burning so close to it.

"Don't care about it. You'll get used to it after our little trip."

Bley said that and tried not to sound so amused by this act. He said something to the bird in a strange language that Kratos didn't understand.

The eagle spreaded its wings and flew to the air with great speed, taking them further away from Olympus. Away from the two persons he had lost a long time ago.

Kratos could see them waking up and saying goodbye to him in his mind, again and again.

NO, this is not the time or the place to get emotional.

The wind whispered in Kratos's ears as the eagle flew under the wall of clouds.

They could see how forests and deserts disappeared from their sight

"Were almost there!" Bley yelled to Kratos assuming that he could hear it.

Soon a shady mountain appeared in front of them and the entrance to the Nemean Lion.

The bird landed to the cave entrance and lowered its back to let them down.

"Don't wait for everything to be like Heracles did it. The lion might have grown or something like that."

"I know. Before we enter to this lair, I want to hear more about why I'm here to complete these tasks."

Bley sighed and said to him: "I just had the feeling we're not going to move until I lighten you up."

They sat on the only stones in there and Bley started explaining.

"When Heracles completed the twelve labours, he was given the name of a god. Hades wasn't happy about it, and so he made a copy of these labours and tried to have a human complete them. Heracles couldn't have been made a god if even a human could do what you're here to do."

He kept a little break to gather his breath and continued.

"But it didn't matter how many warriors he sent, no one was able to clear even one of the twelve labours. I myself understood it, that Hades just wants someone to do them for him. And you were very promising after the weakness of men. So, can we go now and I'll explain more to you later?"

"Alright, but I want more when I've killed your little cat.

They stepped into the dark cave.

The cave was really sultry and the stench gave in that they weren't the first ones to enter here.

The hallway had many human bones in its path, and many of them were still fresh.

Soon after a little walk, the light coming from the end of the tunnel was too small for them to use it and they had to walk with their hands on the wall.

"Wait I've got an idea." Bley grabbed something from the ground and spoke again with the language that Kratos would never understand.

A red flash blinded Kratos and he turned his eyes away from it until he got use to it.

Bley had grabbed a human tibia from the ground and bursted it into flames.

"How did you do that?" Kratos asked sounding confused.

"I'll tell you when we get out of here. Look."

They haven't noticed that they had reached the end of the tunnel and it expanded into a large rocky room.

The walls were bloody and the floor didn't look so nice either.

There was no other exit, than the one they came from.

Kratos didn't see anything else than plies of rubble everywhere.

"Wasn't the lion supposed to be in this very cave?"

"Huh? Oh, you don't see very well in the dark. Bley laughed to Kratos. You'd be dead by now if the lion was awake."

After Bley's mocking sentence, Kratos saw movement near the wall behind Bley.

The lion had been almost invisible when it was sleeping, but after it got into its full length, it was bigger than a normal house.

The lion opened its eyes and looked at the two intruders with anger.

It looked at Bley with caution. It was like it had respect for him.

But then it turned its eyes to Kratos and prepared to jump on him.

It didn't want to play at all. It was very hungry after a good, long day sleep.

Bley stepped aside and the beast attacked.

Quickly Kratos evaded the charge and cut a small wound on its right paw.

It didn't work that well, and the lion hit Kratos with its tail.

But Kratos grabbed from it and didn't let go.

Kratos had to avoid the beast's claws and teeth when it got even angrier.

Kratos had no choice but to let go and jump onto its back.

He raised his swords and struck them into the monsters flesh.

It roared and roared when Kratos went running towards its head, still holding his swords inside its back and spilling blood all over the cave.

Before Kratos reached its head, the lion rolled over on its back.

Kratos jumped to the ceiling and grabbed hold of a sharp stalactite that was almost loose.

The beast took a little break and collapsed on its muzzle to the floor.

Kratos looked at the lion and the stalactite and realized he would have act right now if he wanted to finish this now.

Kratos swung his hand and cut the stalactite from its base.

The head of the rock, smaller than fingertip, pierced the lion's brain and splattered them all over the cavern.

Kratos dropped himself and cut the lion's right paw off and gave it to Bley.

"Hades wanted proof that I would really complete these tasks. Here's first out of twelve."

"Good. Now stand aside while I take care of the remaining two."

Kratos turned around wondering what the other was talking about.

And yes. There were two lions still standing there and making bad glares at Kratos.

"Lioness and the kid." Bley explained shortly.

Hades's minion drew his swords out and pointed them to the two lions.

Both of them jumped at him with great anger.

Kratos couldn't see what happened. He only saw how two huge heads fell on to the floor.

"Ironic isn't it Kratos? Two males fighting to save their wife and child. But I didn't really care which one would win."

Kratos saw Bley differently now. He was the most powerful human he had ever seen in his life.