Chapter 10

Greece

The fight was still on.

Hercules and Morrigan were now standing together against the strange being from another world, the bizarre warrior who had claimed that he, out of loyalty to Dahak, had destroyed his entire species.

Xena, Ares and Gabrielle were struggling against the female immortal named Varna and against the monster that seemed to be at least partly under her command.

At some distance from them, Michael and Hope were crossing blades and throwing fireballs at each other.

Iolaus was occupied fighting the remaining mortal followers of Dahak. In Ireland he had also learned Morrigan and Hercules' ability to move with super-human speed, so he was easily holding himself.

The wounded Aphrodite was standing at the side now trying at least morally to support the others. She was also trying to channel her now weakened powers against their enemies.

Still, despite being a powerful goddess, she wasn´t that much of a fighter to begin with, not like Ares for instance and now given her injuries, even less.

xxxxxxx

Xena, Gabrielle and Ares vs Varna and Destroyer Clone

Over the course of the fight they had somehow switched places for a few moments.

Right now it was Ares who was dueling the female immortal, while Xena and Gabrielle were battling the deadly creature that was bred from the Destroyer. They were keeping their distance however, trying to avoid the claws of the beast.

They suddenly got into trouble when Varna started to telekinetically throw another volley of blades at both them and at the War God. As they were dodging the rain of weapons heading their way, their opponent had the chance to break away from them and attack the others.

Iolaus was locked in a sword-fight with two of Dahak´s followers and he couldn't see the monster coming until it was nearly too late. Not that it would have helped him much since his he was fully occupied with his two adversaries. One of them was a man and the other a young woman who was using two blades, having a similar style as Gabrielle. Both were fighting as if they themselves were boosted by a invisible force. Iolaus was asking himself if Dahak was providing his minions with more strength.

None of them was able to react. The beast was fast, really fast. It only took a millisecond to anihilate any remaining distance between them.

The first attack was a vicious strike that hit one of Iolaus's opponents first. It looked as if it nearly took the man´s head off. Then it grabbed the woman, broke her bones and literally tore her apart….And those were its own allies…. But the creature didn´t care about that. It didn´t matter.

Next was Iolaus himself who actually stood frozen for a few moments when he saw what was happening. Then, he reacted. But he didn´t run like most people would have done.

He took his sword and rammed it into the monster´s chest, hoping for a positive outcome for him. The mortally injured creature let out a horrible scream, but despite the obvious pain, it stroke again, one last time. Its razor-sharp claws sliced across Iolaus body, causing a deep wound.

The others had been watching in shock what had happened, as their friend fell down. Now, both Xena and Gabrielle who had caught up to it were attacking the creature again, trying to get it away from Iolaus.

Seconds later, the monster fell down with another shout. Xena thrust her sword into it´s throat to make sure, but it was unnecessary. It was finally dead.

xxx

Gabrielle was now kneeling over the wounded Iolaus to check his wounds. She saw that he was okay so far. The cuts were deep but not life threatening.

But her worry about her friend turned out to be a huge mistake. She thought that Xena was still watching her back, but the Warrior Princess was at the moment concentrating on the dying monster instead.

None of the two realized that Varna, who had temporally lost Ares was now standing directly behind them. The immortal warrior had her sword raised, aiming at Gabrielle.

Before she could attack though, she was hit by a ball of energy that threw the weapon out of her hand. Gabrielle and Xena instantly turned around, looking for the source of the threat. They realized what had happened and they saw that it was Aphrodite the one who had stopped their enemy. The goddess gave them a quick smile.

Just a few yards away, someone else had also seen what had just happened.

Gabrielle and Xena watched now in surprise how the immortal was caught by telekinetic powers and thrown over twenty meters away from them. They now turned around in the direction the push came from.

"I have warned you," Hope whispered quietly, at the now injured Varna.

Michael, who had also seen what had happened, realized that his opponent had stopped fighting and so he hesitated as well. He saw that she was concentrating her powers on Varna and watched in amazement the technique she was using to take her out.

Xena and Gabrielle were starring into their direction as well.

The Archangel gave Hope a nod with his head, which she returned and he let her retreat peacefully, at least for the moment.

xxxxxxx

Hercules vs Xantr´el

The two half-gods had been able to gain the upper hand on the other immortal warrior a short while before. But now, Morrigan had been distracted by one of the few remaining mortal worshipers of Dahak. This left Hercules alone to duel the alien fighter. Both of them had just watched Iolaus being wounded. But there was nothing they could do right now.

Morrigan won easily and struck the man who had attacked her down, but at about the same time, Hercules' opponent started to attack him with telekinesis. His sword was viciously ripped from his hand. He could physically feel how the demonic powers were lifting him off the ground, just to throw him down full force.

The alien´s eyes had now turned into a deep red. He lifted his sword.

"You have done well Hercules," he said, "but now it is over."

Morrigan however, who had witnessed all their confrontation, moved in super-human speed to stop him. It was her turn to receive a telekinetic shock. He froze her in place and stabbed his blade right through her body.

"You were good half-god," he congratulated her, "nearly as good as him."

"No!" Hercules shouted desperately.

The immortal wanted to turn back to him, but before he could he was cut off.

As he looked down at himself he saw that he had Xena´s chakram stuck in his chest.

xxx

The Warrior Princess had watched the alien warrior killing Morrigan.

Just seconds before, the other immortal had nearly murdered Gabrielle who was only saved through Aphrodite's and- out of all people- Hope´s interference.

As she now looked at Hercules, she saw the devastated look on her friends face; she was overcome with incredible anger. She took the chakram from her side and threw it with a force that she had never used before.

With some satisfaction she saw how the warrior sank down, thus confirming that the god-killing powers Dahak had supplied her with, were also working on his own. This was good to know…

As she looked around, she saw that both Hope and the female immortal were gone by now.

xxx

Hercules was holding Morrigan´s body in his arms. But he knew there was nothing left to do for her, it was far too late. She was dead.

First Deianira, then Serena and now Morrigan. And not only them. His three children, murdered by Hera. Iolaus, by Gilgamesh, Dahak. And all the others. It always ended like that for him. Tragedy…Each and every time, sooner or later. But still it never truly did end. It always continued.

And it broke him apart. Morrigan, he had nearly 30 years with her, longer as with any other woman he had loved. But in the end, the outcome proved to be as fatal as all the others had been. He should have never brought her along, he realized. Dahak had warned him.

He felt a loud scream leaving his throat. But otherwise, for the moment he felt nothing, not even the terrible pain from a few seconds ago. It was as if his mind was not completely there any longer, as if it didn´t want to accept reality.

"Hercules," he heard Xena´s voice. It was somehow bringing him back into there and then.

"Yes," he said in a harsh tone.

As he cast a glance her way, she felt a sting. His face had an expression that she had never seen before on him, unlimited desperation and endless rage. It was a feeling that she was also sharing all too much during that very moment.

"Caine," she reminded him. "He is here somewhere. We have to find him and destroy him and what is left of his men. We have to kill them all."

"Yes we will," Hercules replied grimly.

xxxxxxx

Inside the castle

They had left the deeply injured Iolaus outside, together with Aphrodite.

"I will watch over him, I promise," she had told them.

Meanwhile, the rest of them were moving quickly through the corridors of the fortress. It was after only a few minutes that they reached the throne-room.

"Caine," Hercules shouted as he pushed open the doors.

"Ah, Hercules!" the leader of Dahak´s immortals greeted him, "you are finally here!"

He was sitting on the throne, his eyes glowing in a bloody red. "I see you have grown since the last time we met," he commented, repeating the line he had said to him decades ago.

"I am here to stop you once and for all," the son of Zeus replied.

"Is that so?" Caine replied, "and you shall, if you are worthy."

He began to walk down to them.

Xena, Ares, Michael and Gabrielle had all assembled and were standing exactly behind Hercules. They saw that someone else had entered the room from the other side. It was Hope. She was standing at some distance, away from them.

"Pay her no mind," Caine told them. "She is just here to watch, just like all of you," he said on a bit quieter tone.

"You can not possibly think that you stand a chance against all of us," Ares declared.

"Against you? You are still thinking in such limited terms Ares. Have your meetings with the master thought you nothing? Don´t worry, you will learn really soon." He smiled and turned once again to the half-god.

"Hercules," he addressed him while drawing his sword.

The half-god accepted the challenge, gladly.

Michael was watching what was happening and he didn´t like at all what he was seeing. Darkness, Dahak´s own essence was flooding the entire place, slowly but steadily overwhelming the parts that the Light was occupying in the same room. It was all over the castle, in the air and inside their very hearts and souls.

In between, he could make out the remaining shreds of the Light that were still holding out.

Darkness was slowly conquering the place. Caine had been the greatest vocal point so far. Then, there was Hope and Xena, who had a strong connection, especially since her latest revival. But now, he could feel those powers concentrating themselves around Hercules.

He could hear Dahak´s voice. Right now however it was only a whisper, something that only an angel, a demon or a prophet could hear.

"Come to me," it said.

At the same time, the two opponents were exchanging blows in the middle of the room. Hercules was growing angrier and angrier with every strike, while Caine was only laughing.

The others were standing around them in a half-circle, ready to assist Hercules if needed.

Suddenly however, flames ignited at all sides of the room, completely surrounding them all. Dahak´s power had now started to manifest itself through the elements.

"As far as I can see…." Caine said- doing right afterwards something nobody had expected, he let his sword drop to the ground-

The flames around them were lighting up even higher.

"…..you are ready Hercules," he announced. "And so am I….."

The half-god raised his weapon.

"Don´t think that I will underestimate you again Caine," he said, barely restraining his rage. "I won´t make the same mistake twice."

He was ready to strike his opponent down if he even moved a limb. In fact he would have liked nothing more than that.

"Hercules, do you know who I am, who I truly am?" Caine gave him a false but friendly smile. "I was the first, the first disciple the Master has reached out to in this world. I was his first High-Priest, back in the old world. I stood at his side as he challenged the Titans in ancient times. I was there when he shook this world from its foundations and drowned it in flames.

" Look," he said and made a gesture into the empty room.

In the air before them appeared a portal, a link that showed them events, events that had actually taken place more than 10.000 years in the past.

What they saw shocked even them, even after everything they had seen before.

xxx

It was a landscape somewhere on Earth. There were mountains, forests, seas, but above all that, the sky itself was burning in flames….. the very same fire that was surrounding them that very moment..

They saw large beings, Titans and other ancient gods, struggling and fighting against the flames.

And they saw Caine, looking nearly as he did now, channeling a part of the fire through his body and directing it.

The flames leashed out and caught two of the Titans. They could see how Dahak´s fire burned through the bodies of the two ancient gods within seconds, and how they were turned to ash moments later.

It was scorching the ground, burning the land and wiping out entire towns.

xxx

"This battle nearly wiped the life from the face of the Earth," Caine told him in the present.

"The continent Atlantis sank into the ocean. The lands that would later become Greece and the Roman Empire were cleansed by fire. The flawed humanity was nearly exterminated and the unworthy destroyed. The Titans were brought to their knees and the way prepared for a new generation of gods to rebuild Earth and the human race. You know the story Hercules. The world you live in was build on the ruins of the old. It had to be destroyed to make room for the new, that sadly in the end didn´t turn out much better," he said, glancing at Ares.

"I myself however have passed many challenges. I gained immortality and I became the first of the master´s new group of elite warriors. I brought his judgment upon the universe, I spread darkness, war and destruction. A few times I even brought the end to entire worlds."

The portal was changing and showing a different scene. It was one that Xena easily recognized. Dahak had shown it to her before.

xxx

Caine was sitting cross-legged in an open field, the dead bodies of hundreds of men lying all around him.

He was being surrounded by a circle of flames.

"Ahriman, my master," he declared. "Hear my prayer. Lord of Darkness. God of eternal destruction. Your eyes are upon me. Your voice speaks through me. Your spirit lives inside me. With this, I sacrifice to you this world."

The sky behind him started to burn. Lightning was coming down from the heavens. The Earth itself was burning and falling apart.

xxx

"This was the world that Xena used to rule as a cruel tyrant, until we brought an end to her and everything else on it," Caine told him. "I know you want to kill me, I can read your feelings. There is nothing you wish to do more."

"Yes," Hercules replied. Xena had killed the one who had taken Morrigan from him before he had the chance to do it himself. But here was the one who was in charge of that being, the one who had started all that, who was ultimately responsible.

"And you shall," he said. "Master hear me. With this I give up on my immortality. I give up all the powers I have achieved and earned over the time."

All of them followed the exchange, mostly confused. Ares didn´t seem to know what to make out of all that show.

Hope had been watching everything, looking intensely to Caine and Hercules and for a time to Gabrielle. But she remained silent.

They all saw the energy, for a moment resembling a black cloud, leaving Caine´s body and seemingly dissolving.

But Michael realized that wasn't true. It was merely switching places.

"Hercules, no, don´t listen to him," he shouted, before the flames spread out to him, forcing him backwards.

"No Angel, you won´t get involved," he heard Dahak´s voice saying.

A few moments later Caine was still standing before Hercules, as if nothing had changed. But he felt that everything was different.

"Now Hercules your time has come. I have given up my powers. Here I stand now, only a mortal man. Do it, kill me. I won´t defend myself. Murder me in cold blood and become my successor. You alone are worthy. End my reign here. Think about all the innocent beings you can save by simply taking my place. Think about Morrigan."

It was now, he thought. After 10.000 years, his life would end. It was not as if he regretted it. Not as long as he had a worthy successor in place.

The sword in Hercules' hand was shaking. He was trying to think clearly in his rage, but he could not.

But Michael was not the only one who was able to see. During her resurrection, Xena had developed some affinity for Dahak´s presence. She also knew what was going on. Caine was giving up his powers, only for them to merge with Hercules'.

She was an idiot, she thought. Xena remembered her words to Hercules earlier. We kill them all. Damn it.

Dahak was trying to corrupt Hercules, that was what he was after, and not only had she been walking blindly into it, but she had actually helping him achieve his goal. Like so often she had let her anger dictate her words and actions.

She should have realized how unstable, how vulnerable the half-god had been. And what had she said? the very thing that had driven him even more into his anger. Dahak had done right to resurrect her, she thought bitterly, as always he could count on her to do exactly that what served his purposes.

"Hercules, don´t."

She jumped before him doing her best to stop him. "Don´t you see what he is doing? Dahak is possessing you. His power is taking you over. Please stop it as long as you still can."

"Ah, the word of Xena," Caine retorted. "The woman for whom you murdered your own father, only for her to bring a monster into this world, Livia, murderer of thousands of innocents. Do you really think her word is worth anything?"

"Don´t listen to her," he heard the voice of Dahak speaking to him. "The last of the scrolls you are looking for is within these walls. With it, you can destroy Assur and save the world. With its power you can bring Morrigan back to life and Deianira and your children. Don´t let Xena ruin everything for you again."

Hercules' gaze turned towards the Warrior Princess and she actually drew back from the hatred she saw.

"Xena," he said angrily, "get out of my way."

His voice had a strange, sinister sound, nearly as if two beings were speaking at once.

"No, you are doing exactly what he wants."

Before she could say anything else though, Hercules' sword was colliding with hers. The anger which he attacked her with, surprised all of them. Eve, she thought. He had killed his father over her and she had turned into a murderer. It must have hurt him more than she had ever realized it. Of course, she had not seen Hercules in a long time and so she had never given it much thought.

Gabrielle came to help her, but she was brutally shoved back by a telekinetic push that came from...Hercules. Xena realized that his eyes had taken the same blood red color as Caine´s. It was nearly too late. Then he turned around and used the same powers against her. She heard Caine laughing in the background.

Moments later, as he disarmed her and threw her to the ground, Xena finally fully realized the true reasons for which Dahak had brought her back.

Hercules, or maybe rather the being that had once been her old friend, raised his sword, preparing to kill her.

The son of Zeus could barely think, barely see. All around him and inside him had turned to darkness, only hatred, rage and endless pain. His true self was being buried. He could not see through the hate. All he knew was that one of the ones responsible for it was lying before him, his old friend Xena, the woman who had cost him far too much.

"Yes Hercules, do it," Caine said. "She has betrayed you. Kill her and then kill me, take all the power, mine and the scrolls, and bring a new order to this messed up world. "

For a moment, Hercules hesitated. He was aware, at some level of what was happening to him, he was just not longer able to care. The Darkness was everywhere, consuming his very being.

For a moment, he thought about the past and then it happened. I looked like a ray of light that was breaking through the darkness.

And then, right before him, he was seeing three figures, Morrigan, Deianira and Serena. They were all looking at him, friendly, happy to see him.

"Hercules," Morrigan said, "don´t do it...don´t let him win."

He realized what he was seeing, he realized what he was doing.

Hercules felt the sword slip out of his hand.

Caine had seen it all as well. He was starring in absolute shock. "No," he whispered. But he knew this was not completely lost yet. Dahak´s hold on Hercules had not completely vanished and if he tried...

Moments later however he realized that a dagger had been flying through the air and buried itself into his chest. He saw who had thrown it and he could not quite belief it.

"Hope," he brought out, before he sank to the ground.