Dreams, it had been the least that Marcus had expected to happen when he would die. He heard voices, faint and far away. People calling and pulling him closer in the darkness but something kept him afloat in the sea of black. He saw his life flashing in front of his eyes like he was reliving every second of it and when he finally arrived at his last moment it did not seem to end. Marcus saw more, though faint, he could see his life continuing. Was this not over? Had fate more in store for him?
Dreams floated by and Marcus felt strength returning. His life force grew stronger and he could think clearly again, at one point he saw himself floating in the middle of a black void, with emptiness all around him. 'I'm in a comma,' he said, 'Pretty much logical if I lost most of my blood after the fight, it would have seemed as if only the god of death could have brought me back there.' Then he again returned to a peaceful slumber.
'Marcus,' Marcus awoke to find himself in his house, it was his mother calling him. He stood up and walked across and opened the door. He walked across the hallway and stopped at the entrance to the living room to find three ladies knitting socks, abnormally large socks as no normal human being could have ever fit them. Marcus entered the room and sat down in his favourite chair. Silence followed, neither him nor the three ladies wanted start a conversation.
Marcus took the time to study the ladies more carefully. They had a ancient aura around them, one took a thread, the other measured it, the last one cut it. Marcus found this routine to be excruciating, each time a line was cut he could feel something major happening, something slipping away. 'Stop,' Marcus said, 'whatever you are doing, it is horrifying.' The ladies looked up while still continuing their work, they answered in union: 'You cannot stop the circle of life, son of Lycaon, nor can we, it is never ending, people will be born and they will die, such is the life of a mortal.'
Marcus realised who were sitting in front of him, the three fates who controlled life and death. 'Your father has been allowed to walk this earth for the last few decades, as he was cursed by Zeus to do so, but he was first given a mortal life by us. We have done nothing to change this path, but since your father choose the side of Gaia and lost he and his pack have become more and more ruthless. Marcus wasn't shocked. 'That seems to fit my father perfectly, his ability to deal with stuff is not that good, especially when it comes to losing.' The fates did not smile, it seemed they rarely did.
'Zeus has seen the error of his ways, which is something he rarely does and even now he was reluctant to admit it. He is allowing us to finally cut the string that is the life of your father. Alas, for us to do this he has to be cut from his main power source. You must do this son of Lycaon. This is your quest and you cannot decline, go now and finish what should have been finished long ago.' The scene faded and Marcus felt the dark void again grasp him.
It seemed as if his slumber continued for centuries, after the last one Marcus had no more dreams. His fate had been laid out before him by fate itself and in a moment of self awareness he noticed that this was quite ironic. His slumber continued and continued and all the while Marcus felt himself become stronger and then he opened his eyes.