B e y ond The M y t h
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Author's Note: Readers! How are y'all? This is the chapter you've all been waiting for. Well, not really. But it's a pretty important chapter nonetheless! It explains the whole myth of which this story is supposedly beyond! Haha! Geddit? Huh? Huh? GEDDIT?
Ahem.
Moving on.
Anyway, you might have to refer to chapter five,
because I'm not going to explain the family ties with as much
detail as I did then.
Ta-ta!
Disclaimer: Shaman King Not Mine. Shaman King also love, but that's a different story, now, isn't it?
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Demitri had his hands clasped against his ears. Akantha looked as if she were having a seizure; her eyes had rolled to the back of her head and she was thrashing around and screaming.
"Stop that infernal screeching!" he yelled, but with no avail. He grabbed a heavy tome on his desk, and was about to use it to knock her out when she suddenly fell silent. He dropped the book on the floor and sank down into his chair, running his fingers through his hair.
Melia suddenly appeared, furious. He looked at her and groaned.
"Ah, fu—"
"SHUT UP" she yelled, interrupting him. She tried to shoot an orb of energy at him but Iris materialized in front of him just in time to fire a protective shield. Melia suddenly found herself bound by the same ghostly chains as Akantha.
She struggled, but with no avail.
"Go to hell!" she spat at him.
"Now, now" said Demitri. "No need to be in such a foul mood. That's no attitude for the greatly honored Protector of Dryope to assume!
"I wonder" he continued, surveying her, "What would Atlas do of he found out about the state his poor daughter is in now?"
Melia suddenly whisked her head around and caught sight of the comatose Akantha, laying down on the bed, looking pale and lifeless.
"HOW DARE YOU!" she shrieked. A tendril of her forest-green hair shot out and wrapped itself around his neck, strangling him.
She pulled him forward, so that they were face to face. Melia's angry green eyes flashed with fury.
"Do you think that in all the centuries I have been protecting her" she hissed. "I can sit and watch you do this?"
"From the very first time", she went on, tightening the grip of her hair on Demitri's neck. "From the very first time the great titan Atlas asked me to watch over his and the sea-nymph Pleione's youngest daughter Dryope, I knew it was a duty to which I would have to oblige for all of eternity."
She looked away, tears spilling from her eyes.
"All of Atlas and Pleione's seven children" she said softly. "The Pleiades, they all had affairs with the gods. Even with the Olympian gods—Zeus, Ares, Poseidon—pursued them. Except for Dryope. Yes, she was courted by Orion. But her heart was with Sisyphus of Earth"
She looked at him again, with tear filled eyes.
"Atlas had noticed Dryope's frequent visits to earth, of course. As soon as he learned of her affairs with Sisyphus, she was faded from the heavens. The Seven Sisters of the night sky had become Six"
She made the mistake of relaxing the grip of her hair on his neck. As soon as she did so, the rope of hair was sliced in half, breaking the bind between her and Demitri. She looked up, only to see Iris grinning maliciously at her.
"That's a very touching story" said Demitri, rubbing his neck. "But as I remember, Atlas wasn't completely merciless. Yes, she was banished from Olympus. But she was still granted the ability to be reincarnated and the power to control the wandering souls who have not yet reached the underworld.
"You see", he said, turning to her. "She does not deserve this power. Who does not want to live forever? She knows not of this wonderful fate. She is not thankful. Like I will be, once her gift is mine"
Melia's eyes widened.
"You bastard!" she yelled. "You really think that you'd be able to get away with all this shit? I went for help. And they'll put a stop to this!"
Demitri laughed. "You stupid Nymph. I think your tree is growing diseased. I saw the shamans Dryope was with. They were weak"
"Weak" she said coldly.
"Yes. Good Nymph. You're beginning to understand. None of them would be able to help Dryope"
"Oh" she said, her voice devoid of emotion. She looked away. "Not even if one of them were an itako?"
Demitri's face paled.
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"Okay" said Lyserg. "I think this is it"
Horohoro looked up at the deluxe hotel before him.
"Oooh", he said. "Swanky"
The six had used the flowers Akantha had given to Anna and Yoh to help Lyserg. They had been tracking her down for roughly an hour.
And now here they were.
"Well" said Manta. "Shall we go in?"
The others looked at him, surprised.
"What?" he asked, nervously.
"Well," said Yoh gently. "Um. These people might be dangerous—"
"Oh come on!" said Manta crossly. "I've been to the Shaman Fights, and I was there when you defeated Hao, and don't forget, I was practically dissected by Faust, you know, back when he was all bad and stuff, and here I am, still fit as a fiddle, and—"
"All right, shortstop, you can come. Just shut up, will you?"
Manta clamped his mouth shut and nodded furiously, quickly hurrying after the others as they entered the huge hotel complex.
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Demitri was busy making preparations.
He didn't care about any goddamned itako. It didn't matter, as long as he was ready.
"You know" he said to Melia. "It was very hard choosing which god I should ask for the transfer in powers".
All he got in reply were muffled sounds. He had made Iris wrap Melia's hair around her own face so that her mouth was covered. The occasional muffled scream or two were a welcome change to the non-stop screaming he had been enduring for the past ten minutes.
"At first, I thought of Zeus. But he would never go through with it, he was too good. He was the one who put the Pleiades in the sky in the first place.
"Then I thought, Hades? But I was sure he would try to create some kind of loophole that would forever bind me to the Underworld. Dionysus was too drunk to undergo something so major; Artemis was the greatest companion of the Pleiades…
"And then it hit me," he said. "Poseidon. Definitely powerful, he sank Atlantis, you know. And Atlas was king of Atlantis. He must have some kind of grudge against Atlas…"
Melia began thrashing in her chains, her muffled yells still loud enough to be heard. Without turning around, he lazily raised a hand and jerked it in her direction. A blast of light hit Melia square in the chest, causing her head to drop and her body to grow limp.
He delicately set up a miniature statue of Poseidon, holding his trident defiantly. It shone in the light from the halogen lamp in the corner of the suite.
"Platinum, with core of gold" he said quietly. "Cost me a fortune. But what better gift to give a god?"
He turned to face Melia. "I'm going to have to move you aside," he said softly. He flicked his hand lazily so that she floated towards the corner and hovered there.
The bed on which Akantha was lying was now facing the small shrine Demitri had set up.
The door was suddenly blasted open.
"AKANTHA!" a short blond boy gasped, and shot towards the bed, followed by a taller, blue haired boy.
Ren leapt up in the air, somersaulted, and landed neatly in front of Demitri, the blade of his Kwan-Dao flashing as he held it to his neck.
"Come on, Greek boy" he hissed menacingly. "Let's see what you can do!"
Demitri threw a punch at Ren's face, who dodged it and swung his Kwan-Dao at his feet, causing him to fall to the floor.
Demitri raised a hand.
"IRIS!" he called, but instead was met by a crystal pendant slashing at his face. A pink, winged spirit similar in build to Iris waved cheerily at him from inside the crystal, as the wire it was attached to retracted to wrap around a trapped Iris.
Anna had managed to free Akantha and Melia, and Manta and Horohoro were frantically trying to rouse Akantha.
"Guys" said Manta. "Guys! She won't wake up!"
"Of course she won't wake up, you stupid midget!" growled Demitri. "Can't you see she's comatose?"
"Comatose?" said Yoh, dumbfounded, frowning deeply.
"Of course" said Demitri. "Her mortal body is rejecting her. Now move!" he said, elbowing Ren in the ribs, catching him unawares and flinging him across the room.
He rushed towards his shrine.
"POSEIDON!" he called. "I CALL UPON YOU, TO HELP IN PUNISHING THIS UNGRATEFUL CHILD OF ATLAS! TRANSFER HER IMMORTALITY, OH GREAT ONE. SHE DESERVES IT'S LOSS, AFTER USING HER GODLY GIFTS FOR CONSORTING AND FORMING MARITAL TIES WITH MORTALS!"
Ren suddenly flew at him, pinning him to the wall and interrupting his summoning.
There was a collective gasp from the people at the other end of the suite. Akantha had begun rising into the air.
And she was glowing.
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Author's Note: Wheeeee. I wish I could glow. I hope that this chapter made you want to re-skim through the story and marvel at your sudden understanding of everything. 'Cause, you know. That was my intention. This chapter was fun to write. But, sadly, this story is almost finished. –stifledsob-
Review!
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