Cassius sat beside Gunza, their hands interlaced. The eye of the tornado was a Garden of Eden scene. Bright green grass, trees and flowers in full bloom, bursting with fruit. A dark sky littered with stars and a massive pink moon cast shadows. The two deities sat under a weeping cherry tree, Gunza staring at the night sky and Cassius relaxed with his eyes closed.
"You never told me what you think." Gunza broke the silence.
"About?" Cassius lazily opened an eye.
"The old ways." She turned to face him. "My plan? You said it sounded interesting."
"I did…" Cassius slowly sat forward and turned his head to look at her. "It is an interesting plan. But it goes against natural order."
"What natural order?" Gunza tugged at his arm. "Come on, Cassius. Ever since there's been an Anubis the whole idea of natural order has been tossed from the window! I mean, look at this place! No new souls, no punishments. Only those with eternal sentences remain, it's practically empty here! And Elysium?" She squeezed his hand. "I know that you haven't been sleeping. I know that it's overcrowded and you have eons worth of souls lined up behind your door!"
"Times change, Gunza." Cassius breathed. "Morals change. Things considered good and evil also change. The entire world is changing constantly. And the course of the afterlife changes with it."
"So much so that the decision of a soul's afterlife rests in the hands of a deity? With personal opinions and bias."
"Edri doesn't have control over where the souls end up, Gunza."
"What are you talking about?"
"He may lean towards good," Cassius explained. "But everyone is biased, and Edri understood that so he created a system for it."
"Edri created that system with a bias for the good! Because he can't stand the idea of punishment, much less the idea that evil really does exist! If we were to go back to the way it was before then, things would even out! If you really believe that he has no intentions to bend the outcome towards forgiveness then you are just as blind as he is."
"Blind? I may have been holed up for the past few decades, but even I know that it isn't as simple as someone saying yes or no, because my realm was always filled with souls, biased or otherwise. I understand why it would bother you that your realm lacks souls. But we aren't rulers, we are leaders. We have major responsibilities that go beyond sitting in a castle."
The two were standing now. Their talk was evolving into a screaming match and suddenly Cassius was reminded why they had decided to end their previous relationship.
"Well one of my responsibilities just so happens to be sitting in a castle. One of my responsibilities is being a ruler over sinners. Because that's what I am, a warden."
"And that justifies killing one of your own?"
Gunza stopped, her face frozen with unpleasant surprise. Cassius looked at her with the eyes of a brewing storm.
"I know you two fought. And if I'm correct it's because of the same reason we're arguing now. Thana, who had nothing to do with this, is gone. I won't let you kill Edri or anyone else for this."
Gunza stared at Cassius, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Her arms were crossed and her normally flowing white hair hung still past the small of her back. Cassius could see her jaw clenching and unclenching. He knew this could have gone in two directions. But the rising aura of danger around showed him just where it would turn. And it wasn't good.
"You know," she began to speak. She took slow steps, pacing around the garden. "It seemed odd to me. That intruders, of which include two Guardians, invade my realm to try and stop me. And not even two hours later, who shows up but the king of Elysium who also happens to be my ex boyfriend."
Cassius said nothing. He stood still, wary of her movements. Gunza stopped, looking over her shoulder at the king.
"You're on their side. Jack Frost brought you here… didn't he? And now you're going to convince me to let this silly dream of mine drop. Aren't you?"
Cassius shook his head.
"Jack Frost did bring me here. But it wasn't to talk you out of this. It was to stop you from being able to at all."
Gunza's eyes went wide as a massive pair of hands pinned her arms to her sides. Another pair grabbed her under the knees. Jack and Tooth stood at the ready, watching Gunza squirm and try to break free. The shadows that made up her dress flailed like tentacles, grabbing and slapping at the hands that held her. Bunny and Idyss flinched, keeping their grips tight.
Jack felt himself turn to stare at Cassius, when his blood ran cold. The king of the dead now stood almost 8 feet tall. Black blood dripped down his face from two massive ram's horns that now protruded from the sides of his head. His face and eyes had taken the eerie appearance and likeness of a goat's. His skin had turned deep grey and his tattoos glowed, each one outlined in red, neon fluorescent lights. To top off the nightmare, he now wielded a massive, black claymore, the sides of the blade split by a long vial of glass.
Without another word, the newly formed Hades thrust the massive sword into her chest. A brilliant flash of gold light erupted from where it struck, forcing Jack and the others to squeeze their eyes shut. He could hear Gunza's maniacal laughter and with it, the sudden roar of angry winds. He cracked his eyes open against the light.
Gunza's skin, where the sword's point rested, had formed a web of glowing cracks like glass prepared to shatter. Cassius pushed harder on the hilt, creating more. The empty vial in the blade began to fill with wisps of gold. The more cracks that formed on her skin, the more gold filled the vial. Jack was suddenly reminded of his first encounter with Thana at the hospital. The wispy silver glow of the souls she had guided. Was it possible that that was what the gold was? Gunza's soul being pulled from her body?
Jack was so enriched by the scene before him that he didn't notice something hurling at him from the left until it hit him. A large tree branch littered with cherry blossoms had smashed into Jack, sending him to the ground. He pushed himself to his knees, blinking away the wave of dizziness that followed. He rubbed his eyes and gasped. Bunny, Tooth, and Idyss were all in a trance, watching Cassius' sword, but around them the scene was different.
The swirling of storm clouds Jack had seen outside touched the castle roof. The increasing force of the tornado was tearing the garden to shreds. Strips of the castle roof appeared and disappeared as the storm shifted, when Jack realized that the garden sat in the eye of the storm.
'If Gunza controls this realm and the storm is getting stronger then-' His eyes jumped up towards Gunza just in time to see the black tendrils from her dress grab the sword. Jack's eyes went wide.
"CASSIUS!" He dove for his crook when a burst of wind threw him back. The tornado exploded, nearly throwing everyone over the side of the tower. Dazed, Jack groggily pushed himself up, reaching towards his crook. A painful buzz shot up his fingertips and suddenly he was pinned to the ground by a massive vulture. He watched as they attacked the other three, bringing them down one by one.
A sinister smile broke across Gunza's face, showing off a full set of double fangs and she began to laugh. Her voice was layered in many different pitches, as if multiple people were speaking at once. It sent a chill down Jack's spine.
Gunza stepped towards Cassius, back in his original form and struggling to his feet.
"It really pains me," she said, hundreds of voices layering her own. "Knowing that in order to succeed, I have to bring down everyone else around me. Including you, Hades." Her whip snapped out from her wrist, the barb steaming. "But I realized long ago that I was on my own. That I would need to do things myself."
"Gunza you are drunk with power and you only want more! This has nothing to do with your realm anymore!" Cassius screamed.
"Perhaps!" She laughed back at him. "But it certainly makes the reward taste that much sweeter! At the end of the day, I'm the Warden of Helheim. The manifestation of Hela, goddess of the underworld for the damned. Evil is in my nature."
Cassius lunged for her, an angry scream erupting from Gunza when he did. Her whip snapped as she threw lash after lash at him. Cassius moved around the barb expertly. His sword had been cast aside into the storm. All he could do was dodge and evade. He was being forced to back up and eventually physically throw himself aside to avoid the whip.
"GUNZA!" he screamed after it narrowly missed his face. "Is this really what you want?!"
"Haven't I made myself clear enough?!" She threw a lash, successfully wrapping around his ankle. The barb dug into his leg and Gunza pulled, bringing him to the ground. "It's hard to be a dictator with no one to dictate." Gunza stepped closer to him. "I have to admit I am jealous of your position. And at first I wanted to be considerate of you as well. But now I have a new motive. I don't care about you anymore. I want what you have, and once I kill you, I'll take your realm and then the rest of the world." Gunza flexed her other hand and a bone dagger extended from her sleeve.
Jack felt a surge of anger fill his body with newfound adrenaline. He wiggled his arm free and snatched the vulture's ankle. With a surprised screech, the vulture toppled over long enough for Jack to grab his staff and freeze it. He whirled around in time to see Gunza raise the dagger to strike and time slowed. Jack heard a scream ring from his throat. He felt his legs start to move, carrying him closer to Cassius. The dagger was moving too fast, he wouldn't make it. He helplessly stretched out his fingers. Cassius couldn't move. The poison from the barb had done its work. All he could do was close his eyes and smile.
