Mystic Center
Chapter 4
The Graveyard
Avoid any sort of trouble – that was a silent oath he took the very first day after appearing in ancient Greece. Just find his way back home, avoid people and troubles, and everything will be just fine.
And yet, it would seem that the universe had other plans for him. Missing demigoddess, artifacts of forbidden nights, and the fallen ones slowly awakening from their slumber. He knew that sooner or later, the gods of this land will take notice of him. And they will not be pleased.
His mind was full of many questions. He wanted to know how those three things were connected. His fallen brothers and sisters weren't aware of anything about this land. Thus, they should not be aware of the people of forbidden nights and their artifacts. And on top of that – how Demeter's daughter – a spawn of a goddess that disliked his kind – could be connected to any of it.
He took out the artifact from Mycenae and concentrated for a moment on it. Aside from the familiar whispers of the past, he could not feel anything. There was no call, just sadness, and echoes of the past fury.
He then looked at the sky, while hiding the artifact back. How he wished to receive an answer. But the stars were silent. All the constellations had nothing to say to him. For a while, the world was still. No, not silent.
The world was calm. As it always should be.
That is until he heard dozens of whispers coming from the nearest forest. Countless dryads were now whispering about someone running in their forest. Their voices were mixed with curiosity and confusion, as they whispered about a terrified young man running through their home, and waking up their sisters.
Soon, the whispers turned into a song. A wild and chaotic song of wild and free nature, caged by powerful beings. This song quickly turned into a cacophony of screams, pain, and dread, as if every wild animal decided to let out its last roar before its death. It was as if suddenly the entire forest was facing its oblivion.
The lonely one quickly understood. It was the sign he was waiting for. And he knew he had no time to waste – fate demanded him to act quickly. The message was easy to understand – intercept the boy or something terrible will happen.
And thus he entered the forest – covering his own presence as much as he could. The last thing he wanted was to find himself around gossiping nymphs whispering in terror about an abomination that dared to enter their sacred home. The gods would be on his trail sooner than he would be able to curse the dryads.
He could feel it. He asked and the universe provided. His presence became impossible to notice to anyone untrained in the sacred arts. His steps and breath became impossibly silent even while he was running faster than mortally possible. Just to find the boy before any of those forest nymphs become too curious.
After a minute of running faster than any child of Hermes could dream of, he found the boy – scared, covered in sweat, with barely any clothing covering him. He was most likely in his early teenage years as he still had some childish appearance. He was running as fast as his mortal body was capable of. The lonely one knew what would force his body to use its entire strength to run like this – it was fear for his life.
"Boy!" Before the boy could accidentally bump into the lonely one, he called to him with a voice that carried winds through the forest. At that moment, not only the boy but every living thing, be it physical or spiritual, be it animal or a nymph turned towards his voice.
As the young boy finally took a notice of the person standing in his way, calling to him, he slowed down and stopped with hesitation. Even with barely any strength left, he fell onto his knees to bow before the mysterious person before him.
For a second the lonely one could hear the most outer thoughts of the boy. In a mere moment, he learned that the boy was a slave, bought by some Athenian priest. His master and a few of his associates decided to find a "mystical place" and thus bought the boy.
The lonely one found himself in a problematic position. He knew that he should not interact with any priests at all – after all, some of them were under the protection of their deities. Another thing was his own relationship with slavery. He knew how it felt like to be one, how he despised anything related to it. But on the other hand, he knew he should not interfere with anything related to the politics of those lands. His task was to simply observe and find any possible traces of the fallen ones.
"Boy." He addressed the young one before him, with the usual tone. He could already feel that he wouldn't be able to move away or avoid another trouble. Fate was calling, and its call was strong. "Stand up. And tell me what happened."
The young boy rose up on his shaken legs while trying to avoid looking up at whoever stopped him.
"My master… He took some of his colleagues and decided to march towards the forbidden graveyard, the one far west of Megara. He said that he received a prophecy from the gods and that they have sent him here with a mission of utter importance."
The lonely one grunted. He already had some bad feelings about this call, but he was less than pleased that he will be forced to work with Athenian priests, especially the ones who were on a quest from their patrons. It would seem he would have to walk a very thin line between the shadows to stay hidden.
"But why would they purchase you? I see no reason to buy one slave for a quest such as this."
"They bought me because I used to live here. I know all places around Megara. Including the forbidden graveyard."
The forbidden graveyard. The lonely one heard many rumors about that place. But within the mortal and the spirit realm, both were whispered tales about the cursed things sealed away from the world by gods and their half-mortal children. Some nymphs even used the word "abomination" whenever mentioning the name.
It was easy to deduce that the forbidden place was somehow connected to his people. Or at least, people recognized by the cursed mark. And the lonely one knew that under no circumstances anyone should go there. Anything related to people like him was nothing more than a curse for most mortals. And usually, those places were cursed by the gods themselves to make sure no one was able to venture there and… find something they were not supposed to.
Going to a place like this was like standing in the temple and screaming from the top of anyone's lungs: I am one of the cursed ones!
And it would seem that today the lonely might become a blip on the godly radar.
The lonely one looked at the boy once again, gazing at him from behind the cover of his hood, uttering just three words:
"Take me there."
As he and the boy started to run through the forest, the lonely one concentrated on the world around him. He could feel the shifting interest of the forest guardians. He did everything he could to make sure that not a single nymph living in this forest would be able to notice them. Now his task was a bit harder since he had to cover himself and the boy all the while running. A bit harder – but still not that difficult.
A few minutes passed and they both found themselves at the end of the forest. The nymphs were still gossiping around themselves, actively trying to find the one who disturbed their nightly activities. The lonely one only chuckle knowing that it will take a while for them to realize that the boy was no longer in their forest. Knowing nymphs, they will soon just forget about the whole thing and will return to what they were previously doing, as if completely nothing happened.
After a few moments, they reached the end of the forest. As the lonely one looked around, he noticed how everything here looks… different. Even sadder. It was almost as if in this particular place, nature decided not to do something chaotically. The forest ended in a straight line, almost like a border. And just outside of it, there was an entire area of nothing but grassland, covering everything between the forest and what was ahead of him.
Just after dozen steps ahead, the grass started to decay, turning from healthy shades of green into decaying grey. And even further in, grey grass would start to leave larger and larger barren places in the ground. It was almost as if the entire grassland was a barrier, cutting out any possible connection between the forest and the cemetery.
The lonely one gazed ahead for a few seconds. He could feel a small tug in the back of his head. He was now more than sure that he reached the right place. Even from the edge of the forest, he knew, that the cemetery was indeed connected to his kin.
He then shifted his gaze to the boy. The young slave was waiting in anticipation as if waiting for the order. The lonely one once again felt conflicted. He knew he should not do anything. He should be indifferent to anything here. To avoid detection, and to avoid connections or bonds. He knew, and yet deep inside he was just a human. A human that was already stripped away to nothing more than an object.
The lonely one let out a heavy sigh. He was messing with things he should just leave alone. And yet, no matter how much compassion he would tear out from his heart, it would appear back in moments like those.
He reached out to his pocket and took out three coins. On one side of each coin, there was an engraved image of Goddess Athena. And on the other side, there was an image of an owl, Athena's sacred animal, with letters similar to letters from the alphabet: AOE; Alpha, Theta Epsilon. Letters meaning "Of the Athenians". Then, he whispered a few words to those coins, before giving them to the boy.
"Little one." Before the boy could even react, the lonely one reached out to him and gave him three coins. "Take those three coins. Take them and leave one for yourself, and these two give to whoever you wish. To those who will hold those coins, fate will look with a kind eye. It will help you achieve whatever you wish, as long as you don't lose it and as long as you keep working for your dreams. Now go, go back to your home."
The boy only looked at the unknown warrior with stars in his eyes. Before he could utter even a single word of gratitude, the lonely one spoke to him one more time.
"And don't tell anyone else about me, this place, or those coins. Now, go!"
For a while, the lonely one observed how the boy ran. Between the forest and the barren grassland, towards the hills and further, towards Athens. On the other hand, the lonely warrior turned around and faced the dead lands again. The ground ahead of him had been cursed by powerful magic. It was as if several different beings – immortals and mortal magicians – have simultaneously cursed the area for many years.
And now he was forced to enter this land.
As soon as he took his first step into the cursed land, his mind and spirit were flooded with the emotions of both those who cursed this land and those who were cursed here as well. He could feel the fear and terror of the people in the past, the terror and dread of those who were cursed here, and the power of the enraged celestials, throwing their tantrums upon this small piece of land. He was in the right place.
After a few steps within the cursed lands, he found a small bridge, full of wooden sigils of protection from evil, as well as writings in old Greek. He even felt a powerful – or at least, as powerful as it can be – protection spell from the woodland magic, so commonly used by satyrs and nymphs. And right on the other side of the bridge, he could feel several beasts of Tartarus – hellhounds.
Before moving any further, he gazed upon the writings. Many of them were simple curses of the long-dead people, warning signs for all those stupid enough to enter this land. Words, such as cursed, abominations, and even kin of the dark king were written all over the bridge.
Then he switched his gaze to the river, flowing near the border of the dead land. He could not feel any water spirit living inside, nor even fishes or small plants. The river was barren of any life. As if nature itself preferred to find itself as far away from this place as possible.
As the lonely one crossed the bridge, his body tensed for a second. The land around him reminded him about a very special, and yet dangerous place. Where nature, similarly to this place, preferred to avoid the entire area. The lonely one only smiled underneath his mask, while his body and spirit were almost overjoyed – this place was much like the Rift and the Abyss of Ruh.
'Home sweet home…'
As the lonely one continued to move further into the barren lands, he felt a few beasts slowly coming closer to him. It would seem that he had finally gained the attention of the guarding hellhounds. But the lonely one didn't feel obligated to stop. He had already felt the call. He was supposed to find himself in this place right at this time.
Hellhounds finally came out of the shadow, encircling him, and growling more viciously than any other beast of Greece. He could already feel the imprint of their master's will within the beasts' mind. They were here to make sure that nothing would leave this place.
One of the hellhounds wandered off from his pack while smelling the ground. After a second, it growled even louder, as if announcing that it has already found its prey. And the lonely one knew who the prey was.
Before the hellhound could even leap into the shadow, the lonely one grabbed as much as he could of the hellhound's neck. The beast roared and set its fiery gaze upon the one who dared to even touch it. But to the hellhound's surprise, its gaze found a worthy opponent, one who would not back away from a challenge.
And just a second later, the same hellhound turned into two piles of dust – one for its body, and the other for its severed head.
The other hellhounds struck as soon as their companion turned into dust. But their opponent wasn't a young and unprepared demigod. Their opponent was a veteran of countless battles and wars on a scale those beasts – or maybe even gods – could not comprehend. And a small fight like this would not be even worth calling a skirmish for their opponent.
But the beasts jumped nevertheless.
The lonely one turned away, with a sword in his right hand. Then, faster than any mortal known in those lands – he leaped to the left, all the while changing the grip on his sword to reverse grip. And when the left hellhound was near him, he stabbed it in the neck, creating another cloud of dust. But the lonely one kept his momentum. With dead hellhound's dust on his clothes, he charged at the second beast, once again surprising his opponents with pure ferocity.
The lonely one changed his grip again, from a reverse grip to a two-hand grip. His sword was way above his head, leaving his entire torso open for an attack. And the hellhounds used this advantage. They both jumped right at him, with their claws and razor-sharp teeth aiming at his chest and torso. They were only met with an equally sharp sword, splitting one of the hellhound's heads into two perfect pieces.
There was just one hellhound left. The beast looked as if after jumping at the lonely warrior suddenly lost all of its energy. The hellhound managed to slowly turn away, to give its last look at the warrior who managed to defeat its entire pack – or at least it tried, as it was hard to gaze at someone with half of the skull missing. And then, it dissolved into dust.
It was faster than normal mortals were able to perform. During his swing from above his head, while he was cutting one of the hellhound's heads perfectly in two, he once again quickly changed the grip on his sword, using the sword's momentum to strike the last beast. To perform such an attack, a warrior must have years of training and battles. In his youth, he would not be able to do it. But now, he was a veteran. And performing such attacks were no longer difficult for him.
The dust was all that remained from the monsters. Golden particles, now flying free in the wind, like the sands of time. As always, in situations like this, the lonely one wondered if he finally gained the unwanted attention of the celestials. He could only hope that lord Hades was as busy as ever to bother to check as to why four hellhounds that were supposed to guard the forbidden place were now back in his realm.
The lonely one turned away from the hellhounds' remains and moved forward onto the forbidden land. As he walked, the grey sand beneath his shoes almost didn't make any sound. It was another reminder of his past, one of many that he would find on this land.
Soon, the lonely warrior reached a split in the path. The road to the left would take him to a small camp, most likely made by the same people who dared to enter this land. On the other hand, the one ahead of him led straight into the underground heart of this land. The lonely one decided to check the camp first, led by morbid-like curiosity as to why would anyone try to get into a cursed place like this.
As he walked through the camp, he noticed that most of the tents were empty. No personal belongings, no weapons, or spare parts for the armor. It felt surreal to him. Athenians, just like citizens of many other polises would always take spare elements of warfare. It was almost suspicious to see an empty camp.
And as he visited the last tent, the one on the farthest edge, the lonely one almost cursed. All the spare weapons, armor, shields, personal belongings, and even documents –were left near a small wooden statue of the goddess Athena.
The lonely one once again swallowed a curse. Out of all goddesses, he had to encounter Athena.
Or maybe, everything was not lost yet? He concentrated on the world around him. Within a moment, the world became brighter. Way too bright for many to handle. Every element of sacrifice was illuminating the entire world, as if ready to release the entire sacrificial energy to the goddess. But the statue of Athena was silent.
It was almost as if the goddess was barely even aware of this place. The lonely one could feel that the goddess of wisdom was aware that someone – somewhere – had sacrificed something for her, but she wasn't capable of receiving it. And that – surprisingly – was good news for the lonely one. It meant that he still had time before the goddess would realize that someone dared to enter a land forbidden by the gods.
And then, the lonely one realized that something was wrong. He noticed how all of the elements of sacrifice were also absorbing the curse placed upon the land.
No, not only the sacrifice. As the lonely one gazed furtherly into the flow of power, he noticed that soon the curse will reach the statue of Athena herself. All the energy from the sacrifice and the trace of the godly energy from the statue – everything around was slowly being touched by the corruption. The lonely one wasn't sure how it would affect Lady Athena, but he was not willing to find it out a hard way.
And then, he realized. The purpose of everything. The sacrifice would absorb the curse and create cursed weapons and armor, capable of releasing powerful dark energy and cursing anyone who would be unlucky to get hurt by it. The statue would become a small, but potent sickness within the goddess. It would plant a seed of corruption in her, slowly – but surely – setting her on the path to insanity.
And the soon-to-be corrupted energy from the sacrifice would act like a needle, piercing through the goddess, creating a small and painful opening in her spirit to plant a seed from the corrupted statue.
In other words – everything inside the tent was a ticking spiritual bomb, aimed at Athena herself.
The lonely one knew that someone was trying to hurt the gods. Someone capable. Someone who was wise and powerful. Someone who, just like him was aware of the mystic power. In other words, it was the work of his fallen brothers and sisters. The only question was if it was the work of his kin from this land… or from somewhere else.
Either way, the lonely one knew he had no time to waste. Soon, the goddess would force a small essence of her into the statue and the spiritual bomb will do its job. And thus, he quickly returned to the crossroad and turned his way toward the center of the cursed land.
After a few minutes of walking, the lonely one found what he was searching for – the heart of the cursed land. Before him, there was a path with claw-like monuments. It looked as if a dragon hand was trying to grab the path with its claws. And at the very end of the road, there was a statue of a giant human skull, sculpted into the rock.
The uneasy feeling was rising. The lonely one could feel how the dark energy was emitting from the skull, or rather… from what was hiding inside.
As he moved closer to the skull, the lonely one could feel the dark energy, moving all around him, whispering to him. But he didn't let the dark energy corrupt him. He was already far too experienced with the mystic center to let such energy corrupt him.
And as he continued walking, he found the first dead body. It was a male, in his early twenties. It was hard to recognize what he was wearing, or how did he look like, due to the countless wounds on his body. It would seem that he was the hellhounds' previous toy. He was literally shredded to pieces and mostly eaten.
Then, the lonely one noticed the entrance, right at the bottom of the skull of rock. All around it, there were countless parts of fallen sigils and amulets of the woodland magic, created for one purpose – to seal whatever was inside. And now all of them were on the ground. With their powers drained by the corrupted energy of the land, and with the seal entrance wide open.
As he continued to gaze, the lonely warrior realized, that he had to descend into the darkness. Someone opened a very dangerous seal. And it was his job to make sure that whatever was hidden inside would stay inside.
Thus, the lonely one moved towards the entrance. With every step, the corrupted energy became heavier, denser, and darker, with whispers of his long-dead and forgotten brothers and sisters dancing all around him.
Soon, the darkness welcomed him.
The screams of the dead were overwhelming at first. He could feel their sorrows and pain, carried through the whispers and darkness. This place could turn many people insane. It was almost as if someone had created a small version of the Tartarus pit on Earth.
But the lonely one carried on. He was too experienced, and too powerful to become corrupted by the whispers. The old tricks of his dead brothers and sisters no longer worked on him. He knew how to fight against them.
He slowly moved towards the underground tunnel, listening to the echoes bouncing around the walls around him. Soon, the echoes became more spacious. The lonely one knew that he entered an enormous underground room. But the warrior noticed that something was wrong. He was not alone. Something else was in the room.
And that something was nothing even close to a human.
The lonely one slowly grabbed his sword from behind his back. As soon as he reached out, the sword started to glow with delicate silver and pale blue light. The entire room became illuminated by the glow of the sword. And at that moment, the lonely one noticed, that someone was standing dangerously close to him.
It was a moment. The monster attacked him, most likely hoping for a quick kill and glorious victory. But the lonely warrior only swung his sword, quickly decapitating his monstrous opponent. The monster's body fell to the ground, while its head rolled down, diving deeper into the underground complex.
And soon roars of the monsters unknown to humanity were heard everywhere. Demanding the blood of the one who dared to kill their kin.
It was a moment. With a speed unknown to mortals, another monster attacked. It charged with a mindless fury, ready to draw first blood on whoever was unlucky enough to stand on its path. And yet, his opponent just waited. He let the monster come closer as if inviting him for a first strike. The beast felt overwhelming joy. And then, suddenly pain and… nothing.
The beast had fallen just like the previous one. Its head rolled down for a few seconds, as its body fell to the ground with a large echo.
For a brief moment, the lonely one took a closer look at the dead monsters. Something in them looks familiar. And then he understood. Before the corruption, they were satyrs. But whatever – or whoever – corrupted them, twisted their souls, minds, and bodies completely. Their goat legs were now much more muscular and their hooves were made from some kind of metal.
Overall, those creatures were far too large and too muscular for satyrs. They were larger even than most heavily muscular men. It would seem that their transformation added extra strength.
And then, he noticed their heads. A grotesque combination of human and goat head, as if to spit at Pan. Two giant, blade-like antlers, made from the same metals as hooves. The bloodshot eyes of a goat, but instead of yellow, their iris was scarlet. And the mouth… while it was still as long as a goat's face, it was also as wide as the mouth of any human. With razor-sharp teeth, capable of tearing even metal to shreds.
Did his fallen brothers and sisters really create such abominations? Such twisted caricatures of the satyrs' favorite god?
But who he was to judge them? The lonely one knew, that he also had many sins tainting his soul. His kind, be it here or in any other place in the universe always pushed the borders of morality in others to see how far their power can take them. And he was no different.
His blade was a good example of that.
In his youth, he experimented with his blade. He would tell himself many times that he would not create a profane weapon. He wanted to see how much he could force his will onto the blade. Even when he found himself far away from home, even when he had to start again, his will always wanted to create a tool capable of hurting even immortals.
And when the followers of the mystic center had found him, all the paths were suddenly open for him.
Right now, his blade, the very same one that he kept since his youth, was with him as well. Changed heavily, both physically and spiritually. His sword was now much more. It became a conduit to his power, fully synchronized with him, a useful tool most mortals could not even dream about. And a masterfully created beauty nevertheless.
His sword had a double handle, for whenever he wanted to switch from one-handed swordsmanship to double-handed one. The lower handle was darker, made from a material that imitated dark leather. The upper one, on the other hand, looked as if it was made from a stained bandage. With a metal ring between the handles.
The blade itself was unusual as well. The entire center of the blade was covered in runic-like letters, written in a language known by only a few. The cloth from the upper handle was reaching and binding up to a third of the blade, just up to the part where the blade was thinner. The entire blade was wider near the handle, only to get thinner after the third part of its length.
Whenever the lonely warrior would touch the handle, the blade would start to glow softly. The runic letter would glow with soft pale-blue light, while the blade would imitate a delicate, barely noticeable silver glow. His weapon was a piece of art and a deadly weapon at the same time. And that glow would softly illuminate the entire underground room where the lonely one had found himself in.
Within the underground walls, he noticed window-like openings. Some of them were open, others were closed with metal bars. And in the openings, contained at least one body.
The bodies in the window-like structures that were not closed were mummified, in similar ways to those mummies from ancient (well, now rather modern) Egypt. They were all mummified in the same period, a few hundred years ago at best. As the lonely one concentrated on those bodies, he could barely feel any emotions left. Resentment, decay, and lost hope.
Those people died in a hopeless situation.
The lonely one continued to look around. Many underground openings contained sigils and amulets the ones he could recognize as belonging to his brothers and sisters from the times before the fall of the Bronze Age.
And then, in the last opening, he spotted one window, with metal bars, and a skeleton sitting behind the bars. The skeleton was holding a piece of paper, ripped in half. Right next to him was a sword made from celestial bronze. The skeleton's cage was enchanted with godly power. It was all created to make sure that whoever was locked inside would stay inside until death.
The lonely one concentrated. The godly enchantment was still as strong as on the day it was created. It could stop many of his brothers and sisters, especially those who were just starting to learn about their power.
But not him.
His iron will clashed against the godly enchantment and shred it to pieces. As the godly curse broke, he recognized from whom the energy came. Apollo. The energy came from the now-god of sun and poetry Apollo.
As the bars lifted up, the lonely one came closer to the skeleton. And as he was about to reach for the torn piece of paper, he felt the last moments of the now-dead person. He was now seeing the world, through the eyes of the dead one.
He watched in desperation, in his cell, between the metal bars, as his godly father Apollo was finishing the enchantment. He could feel the utter desperation within him as if the wounded animal beginning him to be released.
"Father, please! Those people have opposed the dark king! They had nothing to do with his madness! They were running away from him. We were all running away! You can't just close us all in here!"
For a few seconds, it would seem that Apollo was unfazed even a bit by the desperate cry of his son, as he continued his work on the enchantment. Almost as if closing his own son in a cell for the rest of his life was nothing to the Olympian god.
Almost.
"It matters not. Lord Zeus has commanded that all bearers of the mark of beastling must be cleansed from the world. You were deemed too dangerous to walk on Earth. And in here, the last bearers of the mark will draw their last breath."
"At least take my son! He is but a small boy! Please, save him! He will not survive down here!"
The despair of Lord Apollo's son reached the god's heart, but his will remained unfazed. Zeus would not tolerate any disobedience in that matter. And Apollo would not risk Zeus' paranoia attack. It was safer to sacrifice a child or two than to risk Zeus' rage.
"Words of Lord Zeus are absolute. Your son has a mark. He will never walk on under the sky, he will never see the light of the day. Those tombs will be the only thing he will see, till the end of time."
Anger. The son of Apollo could only feel anger. And then rage and fury. He never did anything to the gods, he warned them about the madness of their king, and he even helped to protect those who were in danger of his kin. And this is how the gods repay him? Closing him and his son – the legacy of Apollo – here, with the monsters created by the madness of the dark king?
Meanwhile, Apollo turned away and used his godly powers to vanish.
His son could only fall to his knees and cry. From sadness and fury.
"Curse you, Apollo. And curse all your Olympian gods. I pray that one day the world will be free of you and your hypocrisy! I hope that one day you will vanish, unable to save what is most precious to you. Hear me you bastard and know that this is what foretell you!
Then, only tears were left….
The lonely one returned to his own mind and time. Witnessing the vision was always a traumatic experience for him, but seeing and feeling someone's past was a whole different thing. He could still feel how the utter desperation of Apollo's son turned into rage and then desperation again. He wanted to curse the gods of Olympus, he wanted to see them vanish, he wishes for them to-
No.
The lonely one knew that those emotions were not his. They were but an echo of Apollo's son's last moments. The vision has left its heavy toll on lonely one's mind, but he knew he would push on. He would not let those emotions control him. And sooner or later those feelings would vanish, just like the life the person cursed to die behind those bars.
But it was no time for any reflections. It was time to venture deeper into the cursed cave.
The lonely one took a quick look at the dead son of Apollo for the last time. He knew he didn't deserve his fate, but the gods of this land can be cruel and petty. But in another act of pettiness, they have accidentally given even more reasons for the lonely one to push on, and learn the fate of the pilgrimage from Athens.
The lonely warrior pushed on, entering another underground room. Far more spacious than the previous one, but also very empty. Besides four columns, proudly standing in the center of the room and reaching up to the roof, and – a small entrance to yet another room – the entire place was… raw. Almost as if whoever designed this place had no time to finish it.
And then, three abominations, similar to the one he met earlier, appeared from the shadows. All three with bloodlust in their eyes, with one significant difference – those were now armed, with giant and crude swords. And as soon as they noticed that someone was standing in their path, they rushed at their new prey with berserk-like fury.
The lonely warrior once again reached out for his sword. The silvery-blue gleam produced by the sword blinded the three creatures for a moment. And that was the perfect moment to strike.
The lonely one accelerated and jumped. With just one swing, he decapitated the first abomination. But as he was about to attack another monster, his instinct warned him about incoming danger. And just as the lonely one was turning back, he noticed a massive crude sword, impending towards his head. He had no choice: he had to switch to a more defensive position.
He moved his sword and positioned it in the path to intercept the incoming strike. He used his left hand to grab his sword and counter-balance the strength of the attack.
The lonely one felt the force of the attack. All the remaining energy from the strike traveled through his hands and arms right into his spine, just to turn into his legs and feet and then circle through all of his bones a few times. But there was no time to feel the pain – the lonely warrior used the remaining energy from the strike and then completely threw his opponent off the balance. The beast took a small step back as its sword was pushed back.
And that was the perfect moment to strike. Just like his master taught him – give your opponent no moment of safety, always strike to kill as soon as you can. And thus, the edge of his blade thrust through the beast's chest, piercing through its beating heart.
The third beast did not give any moment to celebrate victory – it attacked as soon as the lonely warrior took out his sword from his dead opponent. He had to act fast, for the third beast was already preparing to strike.
The lonely one quickly turned away and started running towards the nearest column. The beast was already charging at him, in furious attack and demanding blood. But as soon as the lonely one reached the column, he used his momentum to perform the wall flip. One, two, or three steps that seem to defy the laws of gravity and jumped – barely above the monster.
While still in the air, the lonely one pushed the beast's head into the wall. As soon as he landed, he watched how the beast headbutted the column. And as the beast was still roaring in pain and confusion, the lonely one used it as another opportunity – he moved its sword and pierced the beast's heart.
The fight was finished. But the lonely one still had a job to do.
Aside from the exit, in the room with columns, there was another small entry. And thus, the lonely one slowly continued its walk toward the heart of the underground complex.
Another body was lying on the ground. Stark naked, with muscles partially torn apart from bones, in the center of the corridor with three different entries. The overwhelming darkness was coming from the left. And as the lonely one was about venture deeper, he heard screams coming from the right entry.
The lonely one quickly entered the right entry, without wasting any moment. He ran as fast as he could, to reach out to the only person left alive. Soon after, he saw another underground hall, with an Athenian priest being attacked by two satyr-like abominations.
A priest, who was about to die.
Without hesitation, the lonely warrior reached out for his sword and then threw it at the monster that was just about to backstab the priest. The sword reached its target and pierced the monster's skull. Then, as if by miracle, the sword returned to the warrior's hand, ready to taste the blood of another opponent. And its wielder did not disappoint. As soon as the sword found its way back to his hand, he jumped right at the abomination and delivered a quick slash at the monster's neck.
Another head rolled on the ground.
The entire hall became quiet. The Athenian priest looked at the lonely warrior as if he was an Olympian God, coming to the rescue of the faithful servant. It took the priest a while to return from the initial shock and near-death experience and soon he was back on his feet.
"Merciful gods be thankful! I would have died here, if not for you, oh great hero!" The priest quickly changed his attitude from shock to an almost too pleasant person. Something was not right, but the lonely one still was not sure what exactly. "Our prayers have been heard and great Athena has sent us a great hero to aid our mission!"
As the priest was busy praising the Greek goddess, the lonely one sheathed his sword and looked around. The hall itself was empty, besides another, smaller cave behind metal bars. The lonely one wasn't exactly sure what the Athenian priest was trying to find in this place, besides his certain death.
The lonely warrior took a closer look at the cave behind metal bars. In the darkness, another skeleton was lying on the ground, with something that looked similar to… a papyrus? That sparked a flame of curiosity in the warrior – why there was a papyrus? What knowledge did it contain? And as the lonely one was about to focus on the metal bars…
"It would seem that Athena has sent someone curious! Or perhaps she told you about our mission? Indeed, the scroll behind those bars is what we have come for. Our goddess wishes to reclaim the lost knowledge! This entire mission is her blessing!"
The lonely one was slowly getting enough of the Athenian priest. He was not sure if the priest was an overzealous fanatic or just a moron, but no goddess – no matter how insane – would send any of her followers into cursed land such as this. Something far sinister was happening, and the lonely one didn't like it.
The warrior quickly gazed upon his new companion, with his physical and spiritual eyes. The Athenian priest was wearing very expensive (at least for his times) robes, with white, red, black, and ochre colors intertwined into the material. Despite being a priest – or at least claiming to be one – he had an old Xiphos and an officer's dagger, safely sheeted on his belt. Such clothes and weapons were not something any ordinary priest would get. It was most likely that he was a child of a very wealthy Athenian family.
The priest also was not old. He was at the end of his twenties, maybe in his early thirties. His handsome face could be attractive to many, but the lonely one noticed something weird in his eyes. Something that – at least in his opinion – was ruining the priest's image.
His eyes. Deep inside the brown Athenian eyes, there was a seed of hunger for power. Or maybe not even just hunger, perhaps lust for it as well.
Meanwhile, the priest continued, not noticing the analytic gaze of his savior.
"There should be a few mechanisms hidden somewhere in this room. I have found some of them but the gate seems to be still stuck…"
"I will look around…"
The lonely warrior lied to the priest, fully knowing that pressing any mechanisms would not work. All the prison caves were enchanted to hold any of his kin forever – or at least for as long as possible. No one could predict that someone like him would willingly enter such a cursed place.
And yet here he was.
The lonely one slowly moved to the prison cave. Just like the previous one, this one was as well enchanted by a god. But this time, not just by one. He could feel a combination of a few Olympian powers, binding the cave in its magic. And as he concentrated, he could feel every weak point in the enchantment.
"Pathetic."
As he spoke, the lonely one grabbed the metal bars and ripped every metal bar away. Now, nothing was standing on his path to another skeleton and his secrets.
The lonely one slowly walked up to the skeleton and took the papyrus. The paper itself was ripped in half, with its lower part missing. The lonely warrior instantly recognized the language used in the piece of paper. A language that only someone like him would recognize. A language of his kin.
I am the last one to remember.
I am the keeper of the memories, and tales of old of our brothers and sisters. I am what remain of our old traditions, before the madness of the dark king, before the plague of dread that cursed us into servitude.
Our king, the gods – they are all the same. Madness and lust for power are blinding them in endless stupidity. As our fate was known to us – for the entire kin was forced to pay the price of the madness of the dark king, as the gods' fury was raging, we were close here by the order of the furious ones. Our names were ripped apart from history.
And thus, in the hopelessness, I cast my gaze into the future.
In my last attempt to see beyond, I saw things I could not comprehend. I saw heaven indulged in a hellish war. Burning skies and stars bathed in blood. I saw monstrosities beyond the imagination of a human mind. I saw lands beyond Gaia, stars beyond the Ouranos, and the sun beyond Helios. And then I saw you.
I cannot even begin to understand who you are. You, who walked the lands of Gaia and beyond, who gazed at both stars of Ouranos' court and beyond, who basked in both Helios and beyond – This message is for the-
The lonely one just continued to read the scroll over and over. He was unable to tell who the author was or what was his intention. He wanted to know how the author could know. Seeing the future was not something unusual for his kin, but the dead oracle could gaze upon… him. Could it be that the universe let the oracle see him? And if yes, then for what purpose? Why, in his last moments, did the universe let him gaze upon somewhere so far away?
The lonely one could not tell. His thoughts were running rampant, trying to understand what was exactly going on. He needed the time to let his thoughts flow and connect. And that was almost impossible with the Athenian priest lurking everywhere.
"I see that the mechanisms worked! And you have found something. Could you pass me that? Perhaps I will be able to read it."
The lonely one gazed at the priest for a while. Did that priest just assume he was stupid? Unable to read? A spark of rage appeared within the warrior, waiting to ignite an even bigger flame. But the lonely one quickly suffocated it. It was not the time for anger. Not when the gods might watch his every move.
The warrior let the priest take the scroll. The insides were written In the language shared only between his kin anyway. Athenians won't be able to understand anything.
"This… This looks weird but I might have an idea as to what it is. It could be some kind of ancient spell used by the abominations. But I won't be able to tell more without the second part of the scroll. Let's keep looking. Perhaps in other underground rooms, we will find more. We cannot fail here, this knowledge is our right by the great goddess Athena!"
The lonely one had to choke down his laughter. Ancient spell… It was obvious that the priest of the Goddess of wisdom wasn't too wise himself.
Nevertheless, both warrior and the priest continued their adventure through the underground complex. They both turned back to the hall with three entries and ventured into the center one.
The underground room behind the center entry was a bit smaller than the one from the right entry. It did not contain any abominable beasts. The only things left in that cave were three massive stone columns and a small hole in the ground.
At first, the lonely one took a quick gaze at the hole. Through it, he was able to see the cave from the right entry – it seemed as if this cave was just above the previous one. Then the warrior's gaze shifted to the third column, more precisely, to the skeleton with a sword rammed through its sternum.
The skeleton was holding in its skeleton hand what seemed to be the missing piece of scroll. But the lonely one was far more interested in something else. The skeleton was a bit smaller than the other ones he had encountered in this place. The lonely one knew whose corpse he had found. And his vision only proved him to be correct.
"-father! Father help!" The agonizing scream of a young boy was heard throughout the entire underground complex. He was being taken somewhere by the abominations.
"Heron! Leave my son alone, you monsters! Let him go! HERON!" Another cry, this time from a hopeless father who cannot save his only son. He falls down to his knees, weeping and cursing his powerlessness. He knows what will happen. "Heron… I am so sorry… I am so sorry…"
The beasts cared not for the helpless pleads of the father, nor the terrified screams of the son. They took the little boy through the darkness, deeper into the underground, oblivious to the pain they were causing their victim. And as their reached their destination, they chained the boy to the pillar and pushed a ragged sword into his heart.
The lonely one almost jumped back when he returned to reality. Tears were flooding his eyes, and his heart stung painfully. Even after those many decades, after those centuries, the last emotions of the boy who died here were still powerful. So powerful, that the lonely one felt them as if they were his own.
Despair. Pain. Fear. And finally, death. Alone. In the darkness.
The lonely one slowly composed himself. It was not the time for tears. He will reflect on those emotions, but not now. He had a mission. He picked up the torn scroll and started to read.
-one called by the spirits "Something in the way". Whoever you are, know this – you were not brought here by an accident. Evil still lingers in the lands of Hellas. Evil, if not stopped, will force the foolish gods into a total annihilation of not just our kin, but mankind itself. The beings you have fought against took their gaze on our world. Their dark servants are already spreading chaos and will use everything they can to turn our entire world into disarray.
I may not know who you are, and I may not understand your origin or what you came through, or what you truly are, but I can see you, alone in the storm, holding the ever-raging war between the dark and the light.
You are now the brightest of our kin who walked not only on Hellas but Gaia herself. You are the beacon of what our kin can become, the possible future we could achieve. You are the wolf and you are the raven, alone against the empress of the stars.
I name you Planetes, I name you Therion, I name you Kinigos. I name you the son of Aster.
I name you Je'daii.
The lonely one could not stop himself from re-reading the entire scrolls a few times. It was almost impossible. Someone from the times before the Dark Age of Greece knew about him. Prophesized him. But it should not be possible. No one from his kin knew about him yet, no one from the kin of Hellas could know about him or what he had to go through.
No.
The lonely one calmed his breath. He recalled the teachings passed to him by his master, long ago, when he was just a young student. Nothing is impossible. Not when the cosmos wills it.
Everything became clear for the lonely warrior. Why he did not find himself back in his home, in his time. It was the will of the cosmos. He was meant to be here. Fate had given him a task, one he could not ignore. It was his call, and the call shall not be ignored.
The lonely one quickly moved from the body and returned to the priest, who seemed to be interested more in gazing at him. The warrior was not exactly sure what the priest was thinking about. He could of course just probe his mind and read his thoughts, but there was no call to do that. He would have to learn like every mortal.
"I see that you have found the second part of the scroll." The priest did not waste his time and came closer to the warrior. His right hand moved towards the scroll as if it was the priest's rightful belonging. But the lonely one did not resist. He already knew that the priest had no idea how to understand the content of the scroll.
Nor how to even read it.
And yet, as the lonely one took a closer look, he noticed that the priest's eyes became more… joyful? Excited perhaps? It was as if whatever the priest was searching for was just before his very eyes. And the lonely one was right – a minute later, the priest carefully put two scrolls into his bag, and with almost fanatical-like joy, he yelled from the top of his lungs.
"Athena be praised! I know what that is! That is an ancient teleportation spell! Now, we only have to find a place where it can be used!"
It took every bit of the lonely one's will to not just burst out in laughter. Now he was more than just sure. The priest had completely no idea about anything. He did not understand the language at all, it was all but a pretend!
Meanwhile, the priest continued.
"I do wonder where we will find ourselves once we activate it. Now, let's go to the last chamber. Perhaps there we will find the place we are looking for."
For once, the lonely one truly agreed with the priest. There was one chamber left. The one with the heart of the corruption sealed inside.
The last chamber – the one with the entry on the left – was, by far, the most spacious one. It contained many pillars and entries, as well as a second floor. The chamber was so spacious, that it could easily contain at least one house.
There was just one small obstacle for both the warrior and the pries to roam free through the chamber – at least six abominations, four on the first floor, and two on the second one. They were all patrolling, almost as if they feared that someone or something terrible could appear from the walls at any minute.
"Wait here."
Those were the only words said by the warrior to the priest, as he charged into the chamber, with his sword ready to taste another victim. And without a warning, the lonely one pushed his sword into the back of the first monster, not giving it any chance to even turn away.
The first body did not even fully fall down on the floor, as the warrior draw his sword from his victim, and moved to another, on the other side of the chamber. He charged into the opposite wall with a speed almost impossible for most mortals to achieve. And once he reached the wall, he used his own momentum to bounce back and jump.
His opponent saw him only for less than a second. The eyes of the warrior and abomination linked for a small moment, before they severed as the lonely warrior pushed his sword into the monster's larynx. Another monster was down. And yet the warrior again did not stop his momentum. He was already charging at the monster ahead of him.
The third monster turned away, just as the body of the second one fell on the ground. And a second later, it had a sword of a lonely warrior piercing its heart.
"Hey!"
The lonely warrior yelled, to get the attention of the last monster on the first floor. And just as he expected, the fourth monster turned around and immediately charged at the lonely intruder. It was the perfect moment the warrior waited for. He charged at the monster as well, while throwing his sword right into the abomination's heart.
As the sword flew through the chamber, piercing the abomination's heart, its wielder ran after it, just to grab the sword at the moment of the abomination's fall. While the beast was on its knees, the warrior took out his sword and used the monster's body to jump to the second floor.
There, on the upper level, only two enemies have waited. Both of them were already alarmed and pretty eager to fight and shred the intruder to pieces. And thus the warrior waited for his enemies to come to him. And as soon as they came closer, the lonely one ducked under one monster and gazed at how two abominations collided with each other.
The lonely one quickly killed the monster near him, and as he was prepared to make another strike, he noticed that his last opponent was already dead – slashed larynx by a metal horn from the first monster.
The place was secured and safe from any unwanted guests. The lonely one sheathed his sword and jumped through the balustrade, to quickly return to the ground floor.
"Priest! You can enter the chamber. It's already… safe here."
As the lonely one yelled, another feeling came into his mind. While the enemies in this chamber were dead, something was not right. The heart of the dark corruptive energy was supposed to be somewhere in that place, and yet, as of now, all he could register from that place was mostly… sadness.
As the Athenian priest started to look around the chamber, the lonely one decided to take another quick look as well. Something was definitely wrong in this place. And then the realization came.
Every room in this chamber had a giant stone inside. And while the lonely one was fighting with the abominations it did not exactly bother him, now he realized something in horror. All of those rooms were tombs, in which the great ones of his kin were buried. Were – because now each tomb was desecrated. The dead's peace was disturbed by whoever dared to enter this place before.
The gods and their servants, the nature spirits and the followers of Pan, demigods and their legacies, and those who follow the religion… They all came here to desecrate a cemetery of those blessed by the cosmos. The lonely one realized that the place around him was not corrupted, but tormented – by all the spirits who were denied peace after death.
The lonely one could not understand why anyone would commit such atrocity. Even by the rules of the Olympian mythos, desecrating graves and denying peace for the souls of the dead was a major offense. And yet, it would seem that even god bent their rules and allow such hypocrisy to occur.
"I think I have found it!"
The voice of the Athenian priest brought back the lonely warrior from the melancholic state. He was now standing on the far right end of the chamber, looking at the only place without a destroyed tomb. It was covered by many sigils and incantations from the woodland and even god magic. Whatever was inside, those who desecrated this place wanted it to stay sealed on the other side.
It was it. On the other side, the heart of corruption was awaiting.
The lonely one reached out his hand to the priest, silently asking him to give him the scroll. For the warrior, it was useless, because he knew that the scroll was anything but magical. But it was necessary to keep the priest in the dark, to let him believe in his crazy theory.
"You know how to use the spell?"
The Athenian priest wasn't too convinced. He most likely assumed that the lonely one was just another warrior, too oblivious to anything spiritual.
"My… aunt was a high priestess of goddess Hecate. I… have learned a bit from her."
The priest did not look too pleased with his answer. It would seem that like most of his Athenian colleagues, he wasn't too kind to hear about their female counterparts. Nor they liked to hear about females in high positions. Which was weird, considering he was praying to a Goddess.
Athenians were weird. The lonely one preferred to deal with Laconians, hell, he preferred even Amazonian warriors to Athenians.
The lonely one was someone the Athenian priest just could not like. Someone who just openly admitted that he was not Athenian, and who had a member of a family in the sisterhood of Hecate, a minor goddess.
The lonely warrior ignored the fake and sarcastic smile of the priest and took the scroll, and without hesitation closed his eyes and concentrated. What he was about to do was one of the most stupid and most dangerous things in the universe.
His thoughts circled around the wall before him. He could feel that there was something else behind that wall. His answer, and his destination. He could feel the stone keeping him away, the magical seals trying to repel him, and the godly barrier trying to push him away.
'A stone wall… up to two decimeters. With the magical and godly seals, they create a barrier worthy of lead sulfide… Which gives a result of over seventy-five thousand kilometers per second…'
The lonely one concentrated harder. Even if he already was more than experienced in performing "jumps", he was also fully aware of the dangers. One does not mess with one of the major rules of the universe without danger.
The world around the lonely one changed. The priest's movements stopped, as the world started to shift its colors. Then, everything turned into deep blue color and the wall ahead of the warrior started to move away, curving itself around one point. Then, the colors and shapes moved infinitely away from the lonely one, escaping into one, everlastingly bright singular point in space, with nothing more than pitch void around it.
One second of eternity passed away in the darkness. Start/Over.
Suddenly, at the same moment, the bright point exploded, unraveling the entire world and colors.
The lonely one was alone, standing in the pitch-black chamber. He concentrated again, trying to find out any clues as to the place where he found himself in. Ahead of him, were three monsters, similar to the ones he found in the underground complex. He could also feel the heart of the corruption, as well as the Athenian priest, on the other side of the stone wall.
The lonely one was successful. But it was no time for the celebration, for his mission was yet to be finished.
He drew out his sword, illuminating the chamber and its inhabitants, who most likely have not seen any light in centuries. Three painful roars reached his ears, as he moved through the darkness. The first monster died, as it was still trying to adjust its eyes to the sudden light. The second one died soon after, as it tried to crawl back into the shadows.
The last monster was nervously turning its head from one corner to the other, desperately trying to notice the intruder, only to find a bright sword, already piercing through its skull.
The last room was clear. All the monsters were killed. It was time to open the doors.
Thanks to the bright glow of his sword, the lonely one noticed an old turnstile. And as he moved it, the wall moved as well.
A few seconds later, the lonely warrior was welcomed by a shocked priest. As the lonely one suspected, the Athenian did not believe he would have been able to find a way to open the door, nor even to appear on the other side of them. It was always nice to break a bit of that Athenian superiority.
"But… How did you do that?"
The lonely one did not answer. Instead, he simply moved to the corner, and with an open hand, he welcomed the priest to explore the last underground corridor.
As they walked through, the lonely one noticed that the priest was carefully looking into every chamber – or at least he tried. His torch was not giving too much light, and every chamber so far was destroyed in a similar way as the one in the previous room. The lonely one slowly started to suspect that the only things here left were desecrated tombs.
And then, they reached the last chamber.
It was the only chamber standing. With just one grave. It seemed as if this grave was the most important one. And yet, as the lonely one looked closer, he noticed that someone had tried to scratch away all the writings and sigils on the grave. But the most shocking sight was a skeleton lying on the stone coffin, with a sword pierced through its bones onto the grave.
This was it. The lonely one reached his destination. This was the heart of the corruption.
The lonely one slowly and delicately touched the grave. In an instant, a sudden wave of emotions and images flood his mind. He saw a couple – a boy and a girl. A son of goddess Demeter and a dryad gifted with the blessing. Both of them intertwined in love, full of hopes and dreams. The lonely one slowly drifted through those peaceful emotions, until he was disturbed by the sudden betrayal.
The warrior caught the emotion and concentrated on it. And the emotion revealed the truth to him.
A young adult, standing in the same spot as the lonely warrior, looking at the tomb with tears in his eyes. Inside, what remains of the love of his life was resting peacefully. She died doing what she believed in, saving as many innocent lives from the madness of war and its current players. The bravest dryad this world has ever seen. His wife, Eumelia.
He used to joke that her name really suits her. Nature always seemed to hum and sing and even dance around her. Like nature's melody. And now she was here, buried in silence. All the years to come, all the dreams to fulfill – it was all buried in silence and darkness.
He still could not believe it. Eumelia was so powerful – more powerful than any other dryad, than most demigods. When he first met her, he believed he met a goddess. And yet somehow she was killed. Died in glory, killed by her own sister, while protecting all those fleeing to asylum. Or… at least they thought it was the asylum.
It was a trap. The Council of Cloven Elders had betrayed them. This place was supposed to be just a small stop. Now, they all intended to bury those with the gift.
They attacked as soon as the first wave reached this place. They forced all of the gifted into those chambers to move like cattle. He fought to protect the weak for as long as he could. Even if that meant standing against his half-blood brothers and sisters. He was never the strongest, nor the bravest, but it was his moment.
And yet, it was not enough. Not with all the nature spirits united, not with all the half-bloods assembled, and not against the gods' support – against all those forces, he was powerless.
Now, standing near the tomb of his wife, with blood leaking from his wounds and tears in his eyes, he prayed for the last time in his life.
"Zoticus."
He turned around just to notice an old satyr – the very same one that once took him to a place where many demigods like him could gather and train. And now, his old friend and mentor, standing near him with a sword in his hands.
"Even you… Philon?"
"Don't speak my name so casually, traitor. I have warned you that anyone who fraternizes with abominations will pay the price as well. And now, through the official decree of Olympus, all abominations and those who sympathize with them must be obliterated. Take him."
Four hands emerged from the shadows and grabbed him. Zoticus tried to fight, but the wounds from the previous battle, as well as the curse of the woodland magic, were still draining all of his strength. Soon, he was placed on the top of his wife's grave, with the satyr Philon standing on top of him, and a sword aimed at his heart.
"By the grace of the great Pan, and the will of Olympus, your soul will be locked down here, left for torment. It will seal everyone else here, both abominations and traitors! Now die!"
The lonely one returned to his body, with a massive pain in his heart. His body and mind were now a mixture of contradictions. He could feel the sword piercing and killing him, and yet he was alive. His heart was filled with the overwhelming feeling of betrayal and despair.
But those emotions were not his. That was the price of using the power to read the past.
The lonely one realized. This place was not corrupted, just tormented. All the souls of his kin were sealed by the unwilling sacrifice of an innocent soul. It was the foulest trick anyone could do, be it a user of the woodland magic or any Olympian. It was the place where they let out their hypocrisy, where they have broken all of their rules, just to finish off his kin. Just to get revenge on the already dead dark ones.
And now, the lonely warrior could feel their torment. Their cries for freedom, their pains, and their fears. And it was his duty to set them free.
"No! It cannot be! There's nothing here… just… Just dust and old bones…"
A sudden cry of the Athenian priest took the attention of the lonely one. His companion was no longer prideful or confident. His face expressed worry, disappointment, despair, and disbelief. He fell onto his knees and he continued to weep furtherly.
"No! That cannot be true! NO! Oh great Athena, show yourself to your humble servant! Give me a sign!"
The priest continued to weep, calling his goddess a thousand times, only to be welcomed by the silence of the crypt. In his last attempt, he let out a desperate yell.
"NO!"
The lonely one could only watch, as the priest began to sink in his own sorrow. His goddess never answers the call, leaving him in the crypt with nothing but dust. And yet the lonely one could feel a change within the priest. The sorrow was turning very quickly into madness.
'Great. He went completely nuts.'
That was the only thing that came into the lonely warrior's mind, as he closely started to observe the priest's every move. He knew what madness could do to a person and what one was capable of doing while under its influence. And every bit of the lonely one's instinct was screaming that the priest was about to do something stupid.
On point, the Athenian priest rose from his knees and turned his now hateful look at the lonely one. There was not an ounce of gratitude for saving his life or leading him so far in his eyes. There was just madness and fanaticism.
"YOU! It's all your fault! Your blasphemous presence has angered the great goddess Athena! Now I will have to pay the price for bringing your sinful and heretic self onto the sacred quest from her! I… I will have to make a sacrifice to appease my goddess… A sacrifice from a man!"
The lonely one already knew. No matter what would happen next, or how much the consequences would come back to torment him, he knew, that he will have to kill the priest. Unbeknownst to what the warrior was already planning, the priest continued his lunatic outburst.
"Then, I will be back in the grace of the goddess Athena, and she will make me her servant again. She might even still give me the promised award and make me her demigod. Just as she promised!"
The priest then locked his gaze with the lonely one – a gaze full of uncontrolled rage, lunatic, and blind devotion. Then he unsheathed from one of his pockets a ceremonial dagger.
"Die, you unfaithful dog!"
The priest yelled from the top of his lungs, and charged at the warrior, holding his dagger tightly with two hands above his hands. The lonely one could not exactly tell where the priest was trying to aim at – his head, heart, throat? It mattered not. The lonely one reached out for his sword and with one quick draw, he cut the priest's throat.
The priest was falling slowly, most likely while trying to comprehend why his voice suddenly died, and why he could feel the blood in his mouth. And as he finally fell, with his life bleeding out, the lonely one took a last gaze upon the Athenian. Not to honor the deceased one that is – but to search for any clues as to why the priest came here.
"You? Becoming a demigod? A child of Athena?"
It took him a moment, but the lonely one found what he was looking for – on one of the pieces of jewelry the priest left for himself, there was one massive crystal embroidered into the strap on the priest's left hand. The lonely one instantly recognized the crystal – it had the same aura as the one he found in Mycenae.
With one significant difference – this one was modified and renewed.
The lonely one reached for the crystal, snatching it away from the strap. As he suspected, the crystal was no longer active. But it was a mystery for later – now, the lonely one had a mission to finish.
The warrior moved away from the body and walked up slowly to the grave. Then, he grabbed the impaled sword and took it out. A sudden breath of the wind flew past the warrior, whistling like an army of tormented ghosts in Erebus. And as the silence returned, the lonely one sat down near the grave, with the cursed sword on his lap. He closed his eyes, and concentrated, leaving the physical world for the mystic one.
The lonely one felt the sudden explosion of emotions, of all the people trapped here for centuries. It was like standing against the wave of a tsunami, like trying to stop an atomic reaction with bare hands. The lonely one's body immediately started to shake, as if violently undergoing an epileptic attack.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
The lonely one's body stopped shaking completely. He was now again sitting down, without any movement. The overwhelming emotions were powerful, but now the lonely one had a grasp on them. On all the pain, fear, terror, and suffering.
There is no fear, there is power.
His body started to illuminate, in both light blue and silver light. He let inside all the emotions around him. The mumbling whispers soon turned into a cacophony of cries, goodbyes, curses, and testaments of lasts wills. But the connection worked in two ways. Just like the whispers entered him, he entered the whispers.
I am the heart of the Force.
Where the darkness spreads, the lights must spread as well. He let the tormented whispers touch his very soul; he allowed them to use his very life force to clean themselves. He was now the trustee of their secrets, their lives, and their pain. Their darkness, for his light.
I am the revealing fire of light.
For the first time, he could see their faces. No longer hiding behind the whispers of pain, now he could see them, looking at him with awe and astonishment, as he continued in letting the darkness into him. All the while, his body radiated more light, spreading it first to the cursed sword and the nearest grave, then to every chamber of the underground complex.
I am the mystery of darkness.
With the darkness, he took the curses of the wild and Olympus, breaking them with the power of his will. No more the spirits of this place will torment way for eternity to come. His will spread into every corner. There was one thing left to do.
In balance with chaos and harmony.
The last curse, the one that tied them here. The only curse constantly empowered by one being. The great Pan, god of the wild. He felt him, trying to empower the barrier once more, trying to desperately repel his new opponent. But the will of the satyr's god was pathetically weak. And the lonely one's will remained superior.
Immortal in the Force.
With his will, the lonely one destroyed Pan's curse, severing any mystic chain from the ghosts. And with that, he sent a powerful pulse of power, striking Pan with the warrior's might.
He won. The curse was no more.
As the lonely one opened his eyes, he noticed that he was no longer in the chamber. He found himself in a deep forest, long after sunset. And before him, there was a dryad. Much different from her brethren. She was matured, looking similar to a human woman entering her thirties. Her violet eyes radiated with power, but the lonely one could see an ocean of kindness in them. Her long and thick green hair was almost touching her feet, and her head was adorned with a helmet-like crown, made from thick palm leaves.
In other, much simpler words, she was otherworldly beautiful.
"Come here, bearer of many names."
Her voice was as smooth as silk, and yet held a power that rival many in Hellas. The lonely one could feel, that in her prime, she could be easily considered to be on par with a minor god. Perhaps even more.
"I cannot repay you in any way that would suit what you did to us. And I do not have the time needed to repay you as you should be repaid. But I can give you the answers you seek. Or at least, as many answers as I can comprehend."
The lonely one only silently nodded.
"You were brought here for a reason. You didn't make any mistakes, the fate needed you to be here and now. My brothers and sisters, the ones that followed the dark king are rising. But there are much more sinister forces behind them. Those like you who traversed through the void outside of the palace of Ouranos and Gaia herself. People whose string of fate is anything but straight. People of cataclysm."
As she spoke, the lonely one could not help but recall his past. For many days he cursed his fate, the one that separated him from his loved ones, the one that forced him into exile. The one that laughed at him when he tried to return home. But the dryad's words were true. And he knew it as well – that destiny brought him here for a reason, that was the will of the cosmos.
"You must stop them from waking up the dark royalty and their servants. You were chosen by fate as the last hope of our people. To represent everything we can become."
The lonely one silently nodded again. It would seem that his road home was still a long one.
"Will I ever return home?"
He asked silently, praying that the dryad will see his future.
"Your fate, just like your past is nigh impossible for me to comprehend. In your life, I see things I cannot understand, beauty I cannot imagine, and horrors beyond dread. But you will find your answer once you will face what fate prepared for you here. And Diantha is the key to your answers. Find her, and you will find your answers."
As she finished, her body, as well as everything around her started to vanish. And soon, the lonely one was back in the chamber.
The whispers were gone. The corruption was cleansed. Now, it was just another underground temple in Greece. And thus, the lonely one rose up from his knees, and ventured back to the surface, taking from the temple only the now deactivated crystal, and formerly cursed sword.
It was night outside. The stars were brightly shining down on earth, displaying every constellation known to man. The lonely one turned around and faced the entrance to the cemetery for the last time. He then raised his left hand, and concentrated his will once again. Suddenly, the entrance and the entire mountain collapsed, burying and destroying the entire underground complex.
As the lonely turned around again to continue his journey, he saw dozens of spirits, waiting for him, with smiles on their faces. He noticed the dryad – the same he talked to before, Eumelia – now holding her lover Zoticus in a tight embrace. As well as the son and grandson of Apollo, and the prophet who foresaw his coming.
And then, they all bowed to the lonely one. And the lonely one bowed back.
Then, happy ghosts turned into dust, slowly flying away toward the stars, to welcome their afterlife.
And the lonely one, cleansed from any hesitation, moved forward, toward Athens. To find the girl holding the key to his destiny.
I hope you liked this chapter!
Now, it is time for your comments!
BreadHead10 - Thank you very much for you kind word!
HyperUnity - I am glad that you like the idea of this story. As for the second part... While I enjoy 40k (and now that I know much more about it than when I joined this site), and while I joked about it with some of my fellow readers... I don't think I would have time to make another story. As much as I would love to - I just can't, and I apologize for that.
Go and visit my discord sever if you want to know the current status of all my projects: discord . gg/ pghekDe
See ya next time!