Chapter 29: Choices

Here we were, five teenagers ready to fight a god. Lucio, Alex, Hectar, Luke and myself. We didn't need much time to prepare, what we needed we could carry. I had my glove and Shadow-edge in my pocket. Luke carried an arsenal in his bronze hand. Lucio had knives everywhere and had a bow and a few arrows in a quiver flung around his shoulder. and Alex and Hectar both carried a sword. We were in front of the greatest bank of the region, fused by no one other than Phthonos. Our destination, floor 14. I had expected this place to be more important than we first thought and even though I wasn't sure of it I believed that we had to be here. The building looked empty even though it was in the middle of the afternoon. Phthonos probably knew we were coming, which meant getting to the fourteenth floor wasn't going to be easy. I wondered what Phthonos had planned for us. He wouldn't just let us get to where he was. He would try to kill us on the way up, although he probably expected me to make it. He obviously still had plans for me. He had so many chances to let Max and Samael kill me but he never let them. Why was I still so important? Wasn't it clear that I wasn't going to be his little slave boy? Maybe Phthonos still thought Colt was around. I didn't know for sure. I wasn't even sure if this would lead us to where we needed to be. Maybe I was wrong completely. But the others (even Lucio) seemed to trust my judgement. We had driven here in the same white van we had before. The trip had been quiet, no one knew what to say before the fight we were going into. I got out of the car trying to stay focused. I knew I was going to have to fight Samael and possibly Max at some point. If we would run into Samael I would fight him alone, that was certain. I couldn't let the others get involved, it was too dangerous. Samael was the best fighter I had ever seen. I pretty much knew already that my dream fight with Colt wouldn't even compare to this fight.

"So guys...before we enter. You all know what you're getting into right?"I asked. "There's a chance that none of us are going to come back from this. We're up against a god and two very powerful demigods. Maybe other things we don't know about." I said. They all stood there self assured and confident. None of them showed a sign of fear. I doubted that they weren't scared (well maybe Alex and Hectar weren't...and they had most reason to be in my opinion.) but they didn't show fear. They were all brave guys.

"Look Angel, let's just do this all right. Send Phthonos to hell and get back home." Lucio said, of course doing that was easier said then done.

"Let's kick Fiffy's ass." Alex said.

"The Fifster stands no chance." Everyone looked at Hectar with a weird face. Fifster? What the hell was that?

"Poor effort bro." Alex said. On that we walked in. The door was unlocked, Phthonos really was expecting us. I tried to stay as focused as possible. If anything was nearing us I wanted to know about it. Of course I had no clue when it happened. We were ten steps into the building when drones filled the room. They came from everywhere or so it seemed.

"Are these people?" Lucio asked.

"Not exactly. They have no thoughts of their own, they are Phthonos' puppets." Luke said. It was true. We had fought them before. They weren't good fighters but they outnumbered us. All we had to do was get upstairs, we didn't need to fight them all. And with an army like this they couldn't attack us all at once. The top we ten against the five of us and with their low level of skill we could handle that much.

"Get towards the stairs. If they come close don't hesitant about cutting them down but don't attack first." I said to the others. I didn't really have to say it to Luke. He knew my way of thinking by now. We sidestepped towards the staircase towards the right trying to get as close before the drones reached us. They moved slowly and they had the same vacant meaningless expression they had last time I met them. They're first row got to us just before we reached the stairs. One tried to cut me down with an oversized war hammer. The things was giant and probably very heavy while the guy carrying it was slim, short and looked more like a geek than an exceptional fighter. Big round glasses that didn't fit his small mouse like face, buck teeth and a very other signs. Of course all of that was gone, he wasn't that person any more. Just an empty shell. At least that's what I kept in my head as I cut him down. In the corner of my eye I saw Luke fighting one with a spear, he seemed to have no trouble at all with these things. To Luke they were as much of a challenge as a wooden dummy. The drone tried to stab him with the spear but before the spear was near Luke the drone hit the ground. I had to focus on another opponent. This one carried a sword, he didn't seem very skilled, none of the drones did. He tried to stab me in the chest. I leaned to the left in order to dodge the attack. From my dodging position I could see the other three fighting. Alex and Hectar were mostly just playing around with these enemies. The drones were weak but these guys were being complete idiots. I started to doubt my decision of taking them with me. Lucio was cutting down drones one by one. He was an excellent fighter. Of course these things weren't very challenging. I cut down the swordsman in front of me as we pushed towards the stairs. I got attacked by quite a few drones trying to get there. They were all easily taken care of. We climbed up the stairs facing backwards to fend of our attackers. Very few of the drones were smart enough to understand there were other stairs too which could make them surround us. Alex and Hectar made easy work of the few that did.

"Luke, have you got anything to keep this lot busy?" I asked. He was our gadget man. If he didn't have anything we'd have to get to the stairs like this which meant they would be right behind our asses until we reached Phthonos, maybe even once we did. If Luke had some kind of distraction it would be perfect.

"Sorry mate, got nothing." Luke said as he cut down another poorly skilled drone. We had to find some way to distract these things. Anything that would go boom would do.

"I've got something." Lucio said from behind me. He slashed a drone's throat with a knife before he sheathed it and got his bow. He got a special arrow out of his quiver. Most of it was normal except for the tip. It was made if glass and had some kind of liquid inside it. He aimed the arrow at the main group piling up just in front of the stairs. As the arrow his a drone in the head (this kid was a good shot) it exploded. I had no idea how Lucio got Greek fire arrows, but it worked.

"Get to the stairs." I said. I knew the elevator wouldn't work. Phthonos wouldn't allow it to. This wasn't the last obstacle Phthonos had for us. We ran towards the staircases, no drones followed us. Those that weren't trying to put out the flames that were dancing on top of them were running around in terror. The Greek fire had done exactly what it was supposed to. We ran up the stairs as fast as we could. With my long legs I could easily skip a step. Luke could if he wanted to but chose not to. We got the third floor before we were stopped by a metal gate. I tried pushing it or breaking it but it wouldn't budge. This was where Phthonos wanted us to be. Behind the door there was a maze of hallways. And as soon as we walked in, the others were gone. I stood there alone. "Guys?" I yelled. "Where are you?"

"ANGEL!" It was Alex. I knew it was him. I heard him scream. What was wrong? I walked straight on heading towards the sound. "Someone please!" Alex screamed again. What had he run into? Why was everyone gone so sudden. If I didn't remember shoving a sword through Colt's skull I would have thought he had taken over for a while. But that was impossible. I took a right, a left, another left but the screaming only seemed to be further away.

"Angel help!" Lucio screamed. His voice echoed through the hallways making it impossible to locate the sound. Where were they? I had to help them. I doubled back and made some random turns trying to find Lucio. I heard nothing but the screaming. I was afraid. My friends were being killed and I was here alone. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't find them! I was panting heavily while running through the hallways.

"Alex! No no no!" Hectar, had he found Alex? Was Alex dead? No that couldn't be. This couldn't be happening! "Please wake up Alex!" I heard Hectar scream again. What had happened to him? I had to find them. In the back of my head I knew Lucio was having trouble too but I worried about Alex too much. Mostly because I didn't hear Alex scream. I heard Lucio scream. But Alex was quiet. He was unconscious or...I didn't want to think about the alternative. It was never a secret that I didn't really like Alex or Hectar but either of them dying was never my wish. They had a lot of living to do.

"Angel, is that you?" I heard Luke. He seemed to be the only one out of trouble. I couldn't see him, just hear him. But he sounded just fine. I took a left. How many turns had I taken? How many lefts and rights? I didn't remember. The maze of identical hallways drove me mad. All the voices echoed through my head. What was going on?

"Luke. It's me, I'm all right where are the others?" I spoke hoping Luke would hear me. Maybe he had found one of the other two. Given by their continuing screams and cries for help I doubted it.

"I don't know. They're something wrong here Angel." That's when Lucio and Hectar stopped yelling and screaming. It was dead quiet. It seemed as if there was meant to be sound. Like watching a movie with the TV's sound muted. Why did they stop screaming? "I think we ought to...AAAAGHH"

"LUKE!" I started running through the hallways. Not Luke too, not all of them. Was this was Phthonos wanted? To drive me mad in these hallways and kill my friends one by one for me to hear. That raised another question. Was Samael or Max the one killing them. Were they torturing my friends to this point. No, that wasn't possible. Samael maybe but Max wasn't capable of doing this. I knew him too well for that. Or maybe I was wrong. Maybe the friendship we had was a lie. If that was true...my friends were really dead. I continued running and running until my lungs burned. "LUKE! Talk to me!" He just continued screaming, the TV had gone off mute. Luke's screaming echoed through the hallways. Hectar and Lucio were still quiet. As I ran I caught a glimpse of something. A cloven hoof. I after it, right left, right. It never allowed me more than a glimpse. I saw it's tail once. A long and slender tail, it's end was like a fox's tail only it split into three parts. I knew what monster I was chasing. It was the same monster I had fought in the subway. A Leukrokottas, a monster that could imitate voices. It had to be that thing. I wondered though. The monster I fought in the subway had claws, else it couldn't have cut up my face. This thing had hooves. I started to doubt if it was the same monster. But then what was this? I turned left one final time before finally seeing it. It was a true abomination. I didn't know what a Leukrokottas looked like but this couldn't be it. It had a skeleton like head, it had no nose and a sharp ridge of bone instead of teeth. It's head wasn't the weird thing though. It was the body. It kind of looked like that of a stag but it was monstrous. Pieces of it's spine were sticking out and from the side I could see the things ribs right underneath it's very thin skin. It's front legs were even weirder. They were thick and hairy and had claws at the end. The back legs were thin and had cloven hooves. The thing was scarred and seemed to have been put to pieces. It was the animal version of Frankenstein's monster. Most Greek monsters were but this thing was unheard of. It stared at me with hungry eyes. It growled like an animal now. It had been imitating the voices of my friends but now it was growling. I got Shadow-edge out of my pocket and as it lunged I cut it down. It evaporated into dust like any monster. This wasn't any monster though.

"So you killed both my creations." Phthonos said. He had appeared in front of me. "It was a beauty wasn't it?"

"It was an abomination." I said. I wanted to attack Phthonos but kept my anger under control. If I attacked him now all was lost.

"Exactly why it's so perfect. Just like you. I wanted a murderous maniac, and look what I got." Now I really wanted to attack him. He took their with an expression that spoke: Come on, attack. He probably wanted me to, or more likely expected me to. But I just stood there. I had to control myself. He just laughed. "See you on top."

As quickly as he came he was gone. So were the hallways. We stood on a completely empty floor. I could see my friends again. Luke, Alex, Hectar and Lucio were all fine. It had all been an illusion. In front of me lay a pile of dust, so that had been real. The truth was all of us had seen the hallways and heard each other screaming. All of us were faced with the same challenge. Although Lucio always claimed he never heard me scream.

"Everyone all right?" I asked. All of us were panting and were covered in sweat. All of us had been worn down by Phthonos illusion in combination with the abomination's use of each others voices.

"I presume we all heard the same things?" Lucio said. Everyone nodded. I started looking around. Taking the stairs wasn't an option. But there was an elevator here, would it work? I walked over it and pushed a button beside the doors. It started glowing bright red. The elevator was moving.

"Did the elevator work all this time!" Alex yelled. "We wouldn't have been here if we'd taken the elevator in the first place!" I ignored him, I was pretty sure he was wrong. If we had tried downstairs the elevator wouldn't have worked. Now that we survived this it did. I wouldn't be surprised if the elevator would stop at a certain point. Although now that Phthonos had shown himself maybe he would let us come to him from here on. The elevator doors opened. I didn't expect the inside to be so big. Usually elevator were tight fits for all the people that had to use them but this one was giant. From the roof a cord hang with a small bronze key at the end.

"Angel...what's that?" Lucio asked.

"It's the access key for the fifty-sixth floor." Maximus had told me about the access key when we were here last. And Phthonos just told me to meet him on top. I knew where to go. The thing was that Phthonos had told me where to go. It meant that we were nothing but puppets in his doll house. He knew where we were and where we would be going. No one questioned what I said. I knew what we were doing or at least that's what they thought. Without Colt, trusting me was a lot easier I suppose. I pushed the button for the fifty-sixth floor. The elevator starting moving upwards at incredible speed. We all just stood there trying to get ourselves back together.

"By the way Angel, I should tell you this before we go in there." Luke said. I wondered what Luke had to say. We were going into pretty much certain death, many things to say at this point.

"What?" I asked. I hoped a conversation about if I die wasn't required, I guessed this was it.

"I heard you scream down there...you sound like a bloody girl!" The others laughed, I couldn't help but do the same. Alex nearly collapsed from laughing. "Alex is worse though. If there is any masculinity in his voice, it's completely gone when he goes up two pitches." We all laughed but Alex stopped laughing.

"Hey!" He didn't really like it when the jokes were about him. That's when the elevator stopped. As the door started to open we had chosen to spend the seconds before out possible death laughing. We all left the elevator simultaneously (makes you understand how big this freaking elevator was.) In front of us stood at least fifty drones. They always looked the same. Different faces and name tags but the same work outfits and the same kinds of weaponry. I never looked at their name tags. If I knew their name cutting them down would be harder. They were all clustered up in front of us, a few of us could make it through without fighting but the others would be left behind. Lucio seemed to have noticed that two. With two daggers in hand he looked at me and nodded.

"Luke, see that gap in the right flank?" Luke nodded. "Let's go." I started sprinting with all every ounce of energy I had left in me. Luke was right behind me. Alex and Hectar were surprised about Luke and I running off but pretty soon they were too occupied by the drones. They were all pretty good fighters, they would make it. Luke and I had other problems. We got back into the staircases. We only needed to go one floor up, the top floor. Would Phthonos be there? Or was it just another challenge. Maybe it was a trap to finally kill us. It seemed like Phthonos to give us hope till the final moment before killing us. At the top of the stairs there were a locked door with '56' painted in black. I got the small bronze key out of my pocket. Before I stuck it in the lock, Luke stopped me.

"Angel..." His voice was much more sincere right now. More so than in the elevator. This was that talk. "If anything happens to me." He got a white envelop out of his pocket. It was empty on both sides, nothing very remarkable about it other than it's content. "Give this to Maria." He passed me he envelop. It had been folded twice to fit into Luke's pockets. "I've been writing it while we were on the road. Many papers got lost but this is the one..." I nodded. I put it in my pocket.

"She'll never have to read this one Luke. I'll keep my promise." I figured he would remember the promise I made him in Pittsburgh. If not, I did. I promised I would see him home even if it cost me my life. Luke was not dying today.

Behind the door was a giant area. An area as in the Colosseum. The floor was sand and there were seats all around it. There were hundreds of seats but no one was in them. There were screams and yells, but there were no people to make them. It was like an 80's sitcom which claimed to be filmed in front of a live audience. Other than the seats and sand there were cages, one to the left and to the right. I didn't know what was in there or if anything was there at all. Then there were the two demigods on the other side of the arena. Samael and Maximus. Samael wore black Greek battle armour and held Chaos-Eater, his giant sword in his right hand. Maximus on the other hand wore simple jeans and a t-shirt. He held a sword in his left hand and had half of a thick metal chain wrapped around his right arm, the other half rested on the ground beside his feet.. I didn't know how he intended to fight with that but Maximus would have found a way if he was carrying it into battle. I had drawn my weapon, and Luke turned his watch to the right and it turned into his sword. I hadn't seen this sword before. The sword he usually used was formed out of the pinky of his bronze hand. This sword was obviously not one of his own creations. It was meant for a king. It was the most masterful sword I had ever seen. It was celestial bronze which glowed with power. It's hilt was decorated beautifully and had a burning hammer engraved where the blade connected with the hilt. This sword had to be a gift from Luke's father. Only Hephaestus could have made a weapon like this. Samael and Maximus came closer. That's when I saw Luke's expression change. This was the first time he saw Samael without being passed out because of the car crash or having to take care of his nearly amputated leg.

"Dean?" Luke said. Dean? Did he just call Sameal Dean! Dean as in Darius...as in Darius Nikolas. No, that couldn't be. There was no way!

"So you know my real name." Samael said. It couldn't be. "Well first nickname I should say. I haven't been called Dean in so many years."

"You...you're dead. You died fighting..." Luke was cut off. He looked as shocked as I was. How could this monster be one of Jake's best friends? I remembered when I first met Jake they looked like anything but friends. How could this be the truth?

"fighting Hyperion yes yes that's the legend. The truth is I survived, but no one cared to check. I lay there broken beat and scarred for three days. Until my father finally claimed me." I couldn't believe it. This was Dean. One of the four most known heroes of our time. How could he be Samael! "Now enough with the chatter." Samael charged at me while Maximus launched his chain towards Luke. The chain connected with itself at Max's shoulder keeping it wrapped around his arm but making it possible for him to attack with the bottom half. Luke intercepted the chain with his sword while I dodged Samael's Chaos-Eater. He was able to attack me before I could do anything to him because of the giant reach of his sword. Blocking wasn't an option as his strength would crash through my defence easily. I had to find a way to get close to him. The sword was made to keep me at a distance but close quarters it would be pretty useless. Sadly I couldn't find a way through. His speed was as incredible as his strength. Just after I dodged the first attack he would strike at me with a second attack. I was quick enough each time, every time but once. I ducked underneath his blade when he struck at me again. I had no where to go. I Could dodge anyway. I had to block. I held Shadow-edge in front of me ready intercept Samael's blade. As our blades connected I felt every muscle in my body tense up. I needed everything I had to hold Samael's blade where it was and attacking barely cost him any strength. I would never survives like this. I was almost blown away by that first attack. A second one would do me in for sure. He attacked again this time he slashed his sword downwards. If it hit me I would be cut into two pieces. Luckily I was quick enough to dodge. I started running away from Samael. I needed a breather, if this continued I wouldn't last very long. Luke and Maximus were also fighting. Neither of them seemed to be hurt. Maximus was actually pretty good with the chain. It seemed as if he had been fighting with it his entire life. He swung the chain towards Luke and when that failed he followed up with his sword. Luke seemed to have no problem defending against Maximus. It was obvious that neither of them was fighting at their full capacity. Samael certainly wasn't. Samael followed me slowly, he was in no hurry to end this fight. Both of us had been waiting for this, although for me a lot changed. Samael was a person now. Something I had been trying to avoid. If I saw Samael as some kind of monster striking him down without mercy was easy now though I had a problem with that. Because the truth was I hadn't been giving it all I had. I could have used my glove but chose not to. Now here I was climbing the stands. Samael followed with the same calm expression as before. Nothing about this fight seemed to cause him any trouble at all. I was still climbing the seat trying to get as far away from Samael as I could. I was running out of seats. I was nearly at the top row. Samael walked holding his sword with ease. How did he wield that giant thing? The sword was nearly as tall as he was. From the top row I could see Luke and Maximus fighting on. Maximus attacked Luke with the chain and Luke blocked. The chain wrapped it self around the blade and Maximus tried to sweep Luke's legs. With his sword occupied getting out of this one seemed tough but Luke still had his bronze hand. He intercepted Maximus' sword with his bronze hand, it didn't even seem to be damaged. I couldn't waste more time watching them fight. Samael stood in front of me again. He slashed at me with his sword. I tried to dodge again. As I evaded his blade I started making my way down again. That was usually how I dodged his attacks. Just jump to the row of seats below. Samaels sword cut apart the marble seats like it was nothing. On our way back down he had destroyed at least a dozen seats. The pieces of marble flew around and both our hands and faces were showing traces of white dust. We were at the fourth row when He caught me again. I had to block his attack and this time I wasn't strong enough to keep standing. The force launched me backwards and I fell down the rows of chair. I bounced of the marble like a tennis ball until I landed in the sand. My entire body was bruised. I tried to get up but it was no use. I didn't have the strength any more. I tried to crawl away like a coward. I had to create distance between me and Samael. He started making his way down the stairs in the same manner as he had gone up. He knew I didn't have the strength to fight any more. It was over. I could see Luke and Maximus fighting. Luke had gotten the bronze sword out of his bronze pinky and was most playing it defensive, their fight was far more even than mine. That's when I heard something. Something snapped. Wood or something like that. It had been one of the cages. Out of the cage on the left came a giant scorpion. And I mean proper giant, elephant size. It was more amazing who were riding the thing. On the monsters back sat Alex and Hectar holding the reigns. I wondered if they knew how to drive a scorpion. They steered it straight at Samael making cowboy like noises (jokers till the end.) Samael didn't seem very worried. I stood in the sand ready for this thing to attack him as if it was any other monster.

"Scorpio express at the ready!" Alex screamed. The monster attack Samael with it's tail. I was wondering if Alex and Hectar had some way of making it do that or if it just wanted to attack the son of Phthonos. Samael wasn't even challenged by this thing. The tail moved so quick but Samael just dodged it's attack until he got bored. With Chaos-Eater he cut of the scorpions tail. The thing screamed and staggered nearly throwing Alex and Hectar of it's back. Now the thing was extremely pissed. It tried to attack with it's pincers but Samael just knocked them away as if they weren't able to crush his body like a can. After knocking another pincer away Samael stretched out his arms as far as they would go and slashed towards the monsters head. As it connected the monster disintegrated into dust leaving big piles in the sand. Alex and Hectar had nothing against Samael now. They should have ran as far as they could. I lay there broken, they might lie there dead. But they didn't run, they didn't cower away like I did. They fought. Both of them attacked Samael. They weren't great fighters but they kept him busy for a while. They didn't block his attacks or did any better in getting an attack against Samael but they tried and kept trying. I didn't understand how they could have survived for this long. Samael could have killed them in an instant. But they kept going. Were they better than I thought? No, they weren't. The reason they were still alive was because they wanted to be. They kept going until the end. I used to be like that. But this fight I hadn't been giving that intensity. I hadn't been willing to lay down my life to beat Samael. But they had, but even with that invincible state of mind they weren't capable of beating Samael, I was. With all my might I got to my feet. I was in so much pain, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was beating Samael. That was all that was important. I had to defeat him, I would defeat him. I stood there with my knee's shaking for a while but pretty soon I stabilized myself. Alex and Hectar had taken a step back from Samael now. They were breathing heavily, they really had been giving it their all. Samael stood there as if he hadn't been fighting at all. He hadn't broken a sweat.

"Alex, Hectar. Get out of here. This is my fight." I said. I held Shadow-edge tightly in my hand. With new found strength I put myself between Samael and Alex and Hectar.

"You've been doing a smash up job on your own so far!" Alex yelled. He obviously didn't want to be pulled away from this fight but even he realized that he wasn't going to be a factor in this fight.

"Is Lucio all right?" I asked ignoring what Alex had yelled. Samael stood there with his sword lowered. He wanted to fight me, Alex and Hectar had just been play things.

"Yeah, he's fighting the last few drones downstairs." Hectar replied.

"Good, go help him out." Alex didn't want to at first but Hectar got him to leave I got a look back to see where they went. In my glimpse I also saw Luke and Maximus fighting. Luke attacked Maximus with both sword, Maximus blocked with ease. With his chain he swiped Luke's legs who fell to the ground. Sound clouded around him. Maximus brought down his sword towards Luke but he blocked by crossing his swords. With a rolling manoeuvre he got himself to his feet and pulled Maximus' sword away from him. Maximus immediately attacked with the chain and as soon as I saw Luke defending himself I turned away. I still heard the clashes of steel behind me but I had to focus on Samael.

"So here we are Michael, finally decided to give it your all?" So he had noticed. But he was right, I was ready to fight with all I had. I couldn't hold back in this fight. Samael was too powerful for me to do that.

"I guess so." I didn't want to waste time chatting. Better to get this over with.

"In my way of thinking I beat you once and you beat me once. This is the big final Mikey."

"Then let's get it started!" I charged at him. I couldn't be defensive all the time. He blocked my attack, so I launched another strike. Our weapons collided again and again. He hadn't attack yet. He was smiling, this was no challenge to him. Eventually I pushed him to the marble barricade in front of the first row of seats. When he was pushed in the corner he started to attack. I dodged and dodged. When he tried to cut me in half I leaped over the barricade. The sword left a deep cut in the marble, to think that could have been me. Samael attacked me even when I was behind the barricade. He slashed vertically and cut straight through the barricade as if it butter. His strength still amazed me. I got over the barricade again kicking Samael in the face while I was at it. I brought myself upwards with my hands on the barricade and pushed my left heel into his face. It seemed to have hurt him slightly but nothing major. By the time I stood ready to attack Samael had gotten his sword out of the barricade and blocked my attack. He pushed me back, now he needed a breather. Was he finally showing a sign of fatigue? As I stood there I wanted to look how Luke was doing but I couldn't risk it. If I lost focus for a second Samael would exploit it.

"What happened to you Samael? You were a hero now look at you." I said.

"Shit happens Michael. I was left on a cliff for three days by your precious Jake. I acted like hero and that's how I ended up. Acknowledging my father was far easier than that. Don't you remember it Michael? No rules to follow or no one to care about? Wasn't that the better life?"

"We lost our humanity Dean!" I didn't know why I called him by his real name now. Maybe because I finally realized that this really was the person Jake had talked about so proudly. They had been through a lot together and this was how Dean had ended up. "How could you call that better! What we were...are. It's not good, it's not what we are meant to be. It's just the easy path we choose so we don't have to look at ourselves in the mirror. But you know what? You had a choice back them. When your father saved you, you didn't have to become this. You could have gone to Jake or Chiron. Instead this is the path you chose." He attacked me now. I blocked his attack. It didn't seem so heavy now. Maybe I could just counter before his next strike. Maybe I was still faster. I tried to cut his torso as quickly as I could and I got him. He stepped back, blood flowed from his wound. It wasn't very deep but it had to hurt pretty bad.

"We don't have to finish this Samael." I went back to calling him what I knew him as. "Help us defeat him. You can still turn back."

"There is no turning back Michael. Once you choose a path you can't change direction or double back. You just have to keep going. And right now in order to keep going one of us has to die here." Again he attacked. He tried to cut my legs but I blocked and slid my sword across his shins. Both of them were bleeding now. He started to weaken, I could feel it. I hadn't won yet, I couldn't lose focus.

"If you had made the right choice...then maybe Jake would still be alive. Without you Phthonos wouldn't have killed him. Or at least you could have been there as a friend." I said. Samael's face changed. He didn't know Phthonos killed Jake. He knew Jake died...but he didn't know how. Now he attacked again. He stabbed towards me but he had lost his original strength and speed. I stepped aside and as he passed me I cut open his back. He fell to the ground and dropped his sword. "That's 2 against 1 Samael. Game over." I kicked away Chaos-Eater as far as I could. If he wanted his weapon he was going to have to crawl for it. The wounds weren't fatal, not immediately anyway. But I had to stop Phthonos now, then I would take him back to camp and decide what to do with him there. Chiron had a better sense for those things than I did. Samael was in pain. But I had other things to deal with. "I'm sorry it had to end this way Samael." I said as I walked away. Luke and Maximus were still fighting. Both seemed pretty much unharmed other than a few scratches. I had to get to Phthonos, I had to face the god of Malice, ill will and jealousy.

I walked through the gate where Maximus and Samael had emerged from. I was pretty much teleported to a mountain top. It was the place where Jake, Sophie, Ashlyn and Dean had fought Hyperion. Right underneath my feet he lay dormant, and Phthonos was here to give someone that power. It was raining and thunder struck every minute. At the other end of the natural plateau we were standing on stood Phthonos. The same smile and destructive eyes. He wore a suit like he had when I saw him in my dream. The rain didn't effect him as it did me. He was completely dry. The sky was dark, but it wasn't night. Phthonos was doing this. I didn't know why he would want me in my favourite state but it didn't matter.

"So Michael, here we are. The place I've been trying to get you for ten years now." Phthonos said. The sound of thunder filled the air. Phthonos' voice was loud and clear even over the natural violence.

"I came here because I wanted to, it was my choice." Phthonos chuckled.

"If that's what you want to believe." Phthonos said. I knew I was wrong. I had been led here one way or another. I wasn't sure if it was the plan Jake had talked about or if it had been Phthonos all along, but I hadn't come here because it was what I wanted. "I'll give you a choice though. It's one to think about." Out of his pocket he got a small pendant in the shape of an owl. Messor, the real one. He threw it to me. "I give you a chance to become the most powerful mortal being in this world. All you have to do is accept." I was shocked. I caught the pendant and held it in my hand. I could see the lock in the floor. A small gap between the rocks. All that power. With that I could easily defeat Phthonos. I could do anything. No one could threaten camp ever again. I would be able to do Jake proud, do my dad proud. I could finally redeem myself for my mistakes. I made my way to the lock. I had to make the right choice here. I knew that Phthonos was tricking me...but could I really let this power slip away? I could do so much good, all I had to do was stick the knife into the lock. I pushed the pendant turning it into a shinning silver dagger. That's when Maximus appeared on the mountain. The chain still wrapped around his arm and his sword in hand. The sword was bloody...could it be true? Had Maximus killed Luke? No, that wasn't possible. Sane thoughts started to enter my head again. I couldn't take this power. It would control me, Phthonos would control me. Luke had died fighting to defeat Phthonos. I wouldn't stain his memory by falling for Phthonos' tricks.

"You're wrong Phthonos. You believe I'm nothing more than your puppet. But I make my own choices. Not you, not Jake." I threw the dagger at Phthonos. Maximus intercepted it with his chain, it was the second time he saved me by saving his master. That's when he did something unexpected. He changed the chains direction and wrapped it around Phthonos' neck. With all his might he started choking the god. Phthonos seemed to be effected in a way although I didn't think god's actually breathed.

"Angel, get him. Take him to Hades." I hesitated for a second. I didn't understand what Maximus was doing. Was he finally fighting his master? Was this what the line meant? That's when my hesitation exceeded it's time limit. Phthonos had broken free. Not just that, he could use every bit of his power against Maximus. His servant had attacked him, a big mistake. Phthonos raised his hand and Maximus' chain started glowing red. It was burning at extreme temperature. It was so hot it burned itself into his skin. Maximus collapsed and grabbed his arm. The chain was making his way deeper and deeper into his arm until the wound started to close. His arm was merging with the chain. Maximus was losing control. His arm was shaking uncontrollably and his face showed no expression. He wasn't dead, the excruciating pain had driven him into shock. At that moment I didn't know if he would ever be fine.

"Since you served me well for almost ten years I'll leave it at that for now Maxi." Phthonos said with a sadistic smile on his face. That's when another person appeared. It was Luke. He had a small cut on his arm, and leg, was that the blood on Maximus' sword? He seemed fine other than that. He held only one sword now, the one I figured was given to him by Hephaestus. Luke ran towards Phthonos and cut open his back. Phthonos seemed staggered for a while and just as he wanted to destroy Luke an arrow flew at his head. Lucio had joined the scene. Phthonos caught the arrow in mid air, his reflexes were pretty damn good. The tip of the arrow had made a small cut in Phthonos hand. Golden Ichor flew from his hand as well as his back. "Did you just attack me son of Hypnos?" Phthonos raised his hand towards Lucio. All the daggers he carried in his coat, belt, jeans levitated around Lucio until Phthonos closed his palm. The daggers all flew straight towards Lucio. He got impaled by at least ten daggers. He had a vague expression on his face for a second until he fell to the ground. The pain was like the sting of a bee, after that he was dead quickly. He was bleeding badly. Blood flew out of his wounds creating a blood bath around the young boy's body.

"Lucio!" I screamed. "You!" I lunged at Phthonos. He stepped to the side but my sword cut his face. I was doomed just like the others.

"You know..." Phthonos looked at the arrow he still had in his hand. "I could throw this at you with ease. But I don't think that would hurt you as much as this would." Phthonos threw the arrow at Luke. It was aimed right at his heart. As fast as I could I sprinted and leaped. I promised him he would return home, this was how I kept my promise. The arrow pierced my chest instead of Luke's. I had trouble breathing. The pain was horrible. Blood flew from my wound. I knew I was done for. But I had kept my promise to Luke. Sadly it wouldn't mean much. We weren't going to defeat Phthonos. Luke would still die here. All of this was for nothing. Lucio was dead. I was dying and everyone else who touched Phthonos would be destroyed. He was too powerful. "Such loyalty Michael. You were always too loyal. Your only real flaw. You were willing to die for those weak mortals that you called your friends. And now you die for a son of Hephaestus." Phthonos mocked me till the end. If I didn't try to breathe with all my might I would have said something. But choking on my own blood and talking didn't really go together. Luke stood there stunned. He could try to attack Phthonos but that wouldn't make a difference any more. It was all over. That's when a celestial bronze crooked sword pierced Phthonos from behind.

'By his finest soldier in the end opposed'

Samael had pierced his father from the back. Golden Ichor flowed and Phthonos looked in serious pain. He was as surprised as I was. His own son had betrayed him. The sword he had given him had defeated him. His own blood dripped on the ground.

"Get him Michael!" Samael screamed. I didn't hesitate. Even with the pain in my chest I got up and sprinted towards Phthonos. But he was faster than I was. A sword appeared in his hands and he slashed backwards. I couldn't see if Samael was al lright. I had to worry about Phthonos now. He looked at me with a look I would never expect form him, terror. I tackled him and disappeared into the darkness.

I appeared in Hades' throne room breathing heavily. My lung had collapsed and I breathed with a high squealing breathe. I was choking slowly. I was going to die, but I had defeated Phthonos. I saw Hades with an evil smile on his face. Phthonos said there in the middle of the room on his knees. His divine blood dripped on the floor of Hades' palace. Chaos-Eater was still inside him. Half of the sword was sticking out of the front, Samael had fully pierced Phthonos. Phthonos seemed so powerless now. Of course I was dying but I was never really powerful.

"So you completed your task son of Erebus." Hades said. Phthonos looked up at the lord of the underworld with a vague expression. He knew that Hades would torture him for a very long time. And Phthonos didn't seem like the kind of guy that handled pain very well. I was still trying to breathe. My blood was also flowing on the floor. "You having some trouble over there Michael? Let me help you with that." The pain in my chest got worse tenfold for a second, then it was gone. My lung had healed, the arrow was gone, and I had stopped bleeding. I could breathe again. The first few breathes were heavy and rapid but after a few breathes I controlled myself again. "So Phthonos...you and I have some things to discuss." Hades waved his hand and Phthonos erupted in flames. "Transporting someone to Tartarus is so much fun." Hades said. He looked at me now. "You did well Michael. But now you're not welcome here any more. I'll give you ten seconds before I'll bring Cerberus in here." I smiled. This was obviously his way of a thank you.

"You're welcome Hades."

"I'm the one that did you a favour son of Erebus. Now you have three seconds!" And like that...I was gone.

I reappeared on the mountain. Lucio's corpse still lay there. The second child of Hypnos I was responsible for. Or at least that's how I felt it was. Lucio had died fighting Phthonos. He was a true hero. He didn't deserve this kind of death. His body was deformed by all the knives sticking into him. It was a horrible sight. Maximus lay on the ground unconscious. The chain had fully merged with his arm. It led from his collar bone till his wrist where the bottom part which wasn't wrapped around his arm began. He definitely needed to go to the infirmary when we were back. Luke was standing over Samael's body. He was still breathing although he was heavily wounded. His blood was flowing and being washed over the rocks by the rain. He was dying, there was nothing we could do about it.

"Michael? Is that you?" He asked as I neared him.

"It's me." I said slowly. I didn't know what to say to him. He had tried to kill me so many times. He had turned me into a monster and here he was dying. He died to defeat Phthonos. He died a hero.

"I'm so sorry Michael. For everything I did to you." Samael said. He had tried to kill me multiple times. He did some horrible things but seeing him like that I remembered why I followed him at one point in my life. We were alike. Max, Dean and I, we were the same. Phthonos made us that way. It was what made us the people we had become. The people we regretted to be. And now one of us was dying.

"It's all right. We both turned out fine in the end." Samael laughed shortly, in the end it turned into a series of heavy breathes. He didn't have long left.

"I guess we did. Jake was right to take you in. You've become a good person Angel." It was the first time he called me by my new name. He knew me as Michael and even though I wasn't that person any more habits die hard. "I wish I had a chance to become like you."

"You are Dean. You have nothing to feel ashamed of. You fought until the end." He nodded. His breathing started to calm down. His painful expression turned calm. He breathed his final breathe right there. I turned away from his body. It was hard to see. He had been a friend for a short time. I hated him for so long but seeing him like this, it hurt. I walked to the edge of the plateau. The clouds above us started to open. The sun came through. It was still raining pretty badly but I could see the light. "We did it Luke. We actually did it." Luke nodded behind me. It had cost us all much. Lucio was dead, Samael was dead, Maximus had a chain burned in his arm. But we did it. I was feeling so tired now. I had no energy left. I dropped myself backwards. Falling on solid rock hurt but I was already half asleep. I needed a well deserved nap now. I didn't care if it was on rock. I lay there with a smile on my face. The last thing I saw before dozing off was Alex and Hectar appearing on the mountain. They had finally found their way. And I had found mine. I closed my eyes and entered the world of dreams. And for the first time in a while, it wasn't a nightmare.