It's kind funny how excited you guys were even though I didn't even mention Drake by name last chapter. Sorry to disappoint, but we aren't returning to his POV yet. He'll have his time, though, trust me.
Enjoy!
It took longer than Simon wanted it too to explain what had happened to Drake.
"So you know this person?"
"Yes."
"But have no idea where he is, or when he'll be back?"
"Not a clue." Pythia looked extremely troubled by this, biting her lower lip.
"This is concerning," she said. "I had hoped we could locate him together."
"Well, we could," Erik said hopefully, "We just have to travel South and see if-"
"Erik," Simon's father cut off, "don't get your hopes up." Erik looked a little downcast by this, looking away from everyone else.
"You say her visions are always accurate," Richard offered after being quiet for a while. "Do these visions say Drake 'finds' this ring, or that he wields it?"
"I am unsure," Pythia replied. "I see him wielding the ring in my visions, but I cannot see it's origins or where it is now. I am unsure of it's location."
"Back up a minute," Meredy said, holding up her hands to stall the conversation. "Let's recap. What is this ring?"
"From the sounds of it," Simon's mother said, "it's a relic from the Gods."
A relic. Simon had only been introduced to this concept within the last hour, and yet here it was again. From what he recalled of Damien's explanation, relics were items from the Gods that contained untold power. The Infinity Clock his parents had fought over was one, and Damien was in possession of Anhkseram's staff. Since Aether was a God Damien had specifically named, it could be assumed that this ring was his relic he left behind. He relayed this quick assessment to the others.
"Relics," Hera noted to herself, "artifacts the Gods gave us, and proceeded to abuse. Sounds like humanity."
"It's not like relics are easy to find, either,' Sorano said. "The Infinity Clock is hidden under who knows how many enchantments, and the Creed and Staff of Anhkseram were hidden deep in Zentopia. Where could the ring be?"
"Moreover," His Dad said, "What can it do?"
"My visions did not reveal much," Pythia replied. "I saw this Drake person wielding it, but I didn't see it's capabilities...But from what I could see, it seemed to shape the world around it's will. The earth moved before him, and all spells failed to stop him."
"Aether is the God of Space and Magic," Erik reminded them. "It stands to reason the ring is an extension of his power, similar to the Clock."
"The Clock could control time," His Mom said, "Does that mean the ring can control magic?"
"It's possible," Hera said. "If Aether himself created it, then it could do just that." Silence fell on the group as they came to realise just how powerful this relic was. If it could change magic and space around the wielder, in theory that person was unstoppable. Simon imagined the possibilities. To control the very essence of magic? Warping space around him? He'd never lose. He could defeat anyone, even some crazy King of Bones.
"Does it even matter if we can't find it?" Erik asked, "Pythia didn't see that, so what can we really do? For all we know, Drake has it right now."
"We'd be throwing away a potential win condition," Macbeth reminded him. This just seemed to piss him off more.
"So what do we do then?" He demanded, no one answering him. Simon certainly didn't know. They had no idea where the ring was, and it seemed important. So important that this Pythia had seen it in a vision.
"Our best bet would be to scan our channels of information," Hera offered. "See if we can find anyone who knows anything about the ring, and go from there. Does anyone have an objection?" No one spoke. "Very well, I well tell Hephaestus to send out a bulletin to our allies. See what they know."
"It'll probably be nothing," Simon's Mom noted. "These relics seem to be held in the utmost secrecy. No one's just going to say 'Aether's ring? Yeah Norman down at the market has it.'"
"And you have a better idea?" Hera asked. His mother didn't speak. "I see. We will continue on with my idea then."
"Is this all you wanted to share with us?" His Dad asked curiously.
"Not yet," Hera replied. "Beyond revealing all of this to you, I also wanted to extend my hand to your guild. An offer of friendship, if you will, although perhaps calling it a peace offering would be more apropos. I believe, with our situation as dire as it is, we have no time for pointless quarrelling." Simon felt a vein bulging in his forehead.
"And you expect us to accept that?" Simon demanded, "after all you've done to us?"
"I expect you to look beyond our past and see the danger ahead," Hera shot back, silencing him. "Do you really want to play the valiant knight in a time such as this? I will not apologise for our actions, I can only explain our intentions. Be that as it may, I do not expect a response now. After all, you must speak to your allies. You can reach me after a verdict has been decided."
Hera ran a hand through her hair.
"Otherwise, there is more to talk about. Namely, about Hades himself. I can guess you know very little about him, would that be accurate?"
"You could say that," Simon replied. "What did you want to tell us?"
"There is much to tell," Hera said. "Firstly, as you may have guessed, Hades is his code name. His real name is Cain." Simon swore he'd heard the name recently, but he couldn't place it. "Cain was the youngest of us, only a child when we made the move to Fiore to watch over your guild. When he was young, he was a sweet child. But eventually, something...changed. He changed. He became darker, more twisted. Many of us assumed it was him just growing up, but looking back it was clear he discovered something that changed him."
"Discovered something?" Simon's Dad asked, "what did he find?" Hera wrung her hands together at this.
"Many years ago, Pythia had a vision. She foresaw an ancient cave consumed by water on the Northern shores of Seven. She saw very little else, but told us it was related to our fight. Cain could not have been older than fourteen at the time, and volunteered to check it out. You must understand, even then he was powerful. Zeus was preoccupied at the time, and allowed him to go. And go he did. But when he returned, he said there was nothing to be found. That it was just some old wreckage. Looking back, this was obviously a lie. He changed after that expedition. Became darker...more akin to this King we see in Pythia's visions. I can only assume he found something there, and whatever it was has consumed the boy I once knew." Hera's eyes saddened at this, but she did not break composure. "Our mission has ruined so many lives. Not even ours were spared."
"What do you think he found?" Sorano asked.
"I have no idea," Hera said, "we had no idea what it was he could have found." Silence came over the room, no one saying a word, until a horrific realisation came over Simon.
"A relic," he said, everyone turning to him, "he must have found a relic. Zomrus' relic." The idea wormed it's way into everyone's head, making them realise how dire the situation now was.
"I believe you have information that begs sharing," Hera said. "What is this talk of Gods and relics?"
Simon didn't want to, but he did. With the help of the others, he launched into an explanation of everything Damien had told them, about Zomrus and the Gods. Hera grew more and more disturbed as they went on. Once they finished, the old woman slunk her in seat a little.
"Good Lord," she hissed, "this...this is our fault. We sent Cain there. If he really found a relic of Zomrus..."
"Don't think that way," Simon was surprised to hear Erik say this. "Zomrus has been planning this for thousands of years. It was only a matter of time until the conditions were met." This didn't seem to soothe Hera whatsoever, who looked a million miles away from them.
"If we assume all of this is true," Richard said, speaking up for the first time, "it would mean this Zomrus has been manipulating Cain all of this time. He's been instigating his own revival all along."
"Yes," Hera said as she rubbed her forehead, "and we were fools to trust him all this time. Blinded by our belief that we were the saviours, we helped him doom the world."
"And the King of Bones from my visions," Pythia said weakly, "is the God of Death."
It explained more and more as Simon thought about it. If Cain was working for Zomrus, it meant that his betrayal was all to raise the God of Death. He stole Nashi's power from Zeus for his own purposes, and he let them take her back to instigate a fight with the Demon Lords, which if what Damien said was true, could facilitate the end of the world if they won.
They'd been backed into a corner before they even knew it. Rats in a maze, not knowing there was no way out.
"It also explains what he did to us," Azzie said suddenly, everyone turning to her. "Hades- er, Cain, was in charge of Devil Advocate, right? He used and cursed us with Taisho's Demon Lord powers. He was trying to turn us into...something else."
"Soldiers," Hera said. "If what you say is true, then the Demon Lords are aspects of Zomrus."
"How do you know that?" Katsuchi asked Azzie, making her grimace.
"I erased my own memory wipe some time ago," she explained quietly. "I just kept it to myself..."
"Zomrus gave his power to humans in the last God War to turn them into soldiers," Simon's Mother said. "He was seeing if he could do it to humans with the Demon Lords powers instead."
Silence came over the room.
"Oh God," Tetsu croaked weakly, "we're his instruments, aren't we? He's using us too!"
"Now wait a minute," Azzie said, looking panicked as well, "Those experiments failed. We aren't exactly what they wanted from us."
"And what did they actually want?" Katsuchi asked. "The experiments may have failed The Olympians objective, but Cain had a different set of objectives..." Tetsu made a face at this.
"I-" he started, "I remember something, though it feels more like a dream. It was when we fought The Olympians at the ruins of Magnolia. Katsuchi and I were fighting Hephaestus, and Kat got really hurt, and I..." Tetsu's face scrunched up. "I did something. Something that felt right, but wrong." Hera hummed at this.
"Perhaps Hephaestus can tell us," she said, placing two fingers on her temple. "Hephaestus?...Yes, it's me. I need you at the main chamber...Yes, it's about the meeting. Come quickly."
"It's happened to me too," Azzie said, raising her hand weakly. "I-It happened when Maya came to find us." Simon vaguely remembered the girl in question. She had been a member of Devil Advocate. "She put everyone in town in danger, especially Katsuchi and Tetsu. And I-" Azzie gulped. "I did something, but I barely remember it. Like it was a dream." Before anyone could say anything else, another hissed open. Simon watched as what looked like a metal man walked into the room. It had similarities with Kronos' look at the GMG, being half body and half machine. It's head had a long, grey beard and grey hair atop it. Tetsu looked even more disturbed.
"I-I thought I saw you die in my dream," he said.
"I haven't had a truly psychical body in many years, boy," Hephaestus replied. "It was nothing to transfer my consciousness through my neural network before you killed me. Though I must admit, it was a mighty power I saw."
"That was what we wanted to talk about," Hera said. "Hephaestus, what did the boy do when he fought you?" The metal grandpa huffed at this, crossing his arms, one metal and one flesh.
"It looked to me that Hades was a liar," Hephaestus said. "He told us the Devil experiments failed, but they sure as hell didn't. The boy took on a demonic form and beat the snot out of me. I didn't stand a chance."
"Azzie," Simon said, "you said you remembered the experiments on accident. What did they do?" The purple-haired girl looked uncomfortable with all eyes on her, but she cleared her throat.
"They extracted Demon Lord magic from Taisho and gave it to us," she said quietly. "They wanted to turn us into soldiers, like Hera said. Only, Kronos said once that it failed. We weren't what they wanted."
"What did they want?" Macbeth asked.
"Mages as strong as Demon Lords," Azzie said, "they didn't get that. We aren't that strong."
"But you are demonic," Hera said, hand on her chin. "You do not match up to the Demon Lords in strength, but the power given to you has given you those powers." Azzie nodded quietly.
"They come out when we're under extreme emotion duress," she said. "So when I did it, I thought Maya had killed Katsuchi and Tetsu. Tetsu did it when he thought Katsuchi was dead. We can't use it at will."
"Have you tried?" Simon's Dad asked.
"Don't ask that of us," Azzie said weakly, "please." Silence came over the table once again, everyone in deep thought.
"I have learned more from this meeting than I anticipated," Hera said as she scratched her chin. "It was worth it to contact you."
"Can I ask a question now?" A new voice asked. Simon turned to see Jason had stood from his seat, fists balled up.
"I'm sorry," Hera said, "you are?" Jason gritted his teeth.
"My name is Jason," he said, "though you might now me better as Dolos, one of your damn Children of Nyx." Simon saw Hera's eyes widen in recognition.
"Ah," she said, "the young Dolos. Hades told me you'd died. Seems he lied about that as well."
"Yeah, he has a habit about lying." Jason spat back. "Now I want some answers, and you seem like a good place to start."
"Ask away," she said, "I have nothing to hide from you."
"Good, makes this easier." Jason took a deep breath before continuing, "what were the Children of Nyx? I know were were elite agents, but you've spent this entire meeting regaling us of your actions to stop this Zomrus from rising. Did we have anything to do with that?" Hera frowned at this, tapping her fingers against the tables as Hephaestus took a seat.
"The Children of Nyx were, as you said, an elite solider program we concocted," she said. "I see no point in lying to you, so I will be upfront; you were put together to be our first unit of Demon-enhanced soldiers. Had the experiments with Devil Advocate succeeded, you and your group would have been given those powers as well. But as our friend Azzie already put it, those powers can't be used on a whim. What's more, they can't be controlled either, which is something I'm sure they will also attest to. There is no use in a soldier who cannot obey orders, so this was scrapped. That's when Hades took you under his wing."
"Great," Simon said, "that ended well."
"Indeed," Hera replied. "Beyond this, I know little. Until very recently I was not well involved with the guilds activity. Anything beyond this that happened, I can explain very little of." Jason looked annoyed at this.
"So the Children betrayed you as well?" His mother asked, "They didn't fight us last time."
"Yes, they were conveniently absent when our last scrap took place," Hera replied. "No doubt Hades has plans for them, but what I cannot guess." Jason growled at this.
"Do you remember my sister?" He demanded, " do you remember Sarah?"
"Sarah...Sarah...What was her code name, darling?" Jason narrowed his eyes at the term.
"Apate," he spat, as if the word itself was poison. Hera made a face as she thought.
"Apate...Oh, yes. I remember her. She came to Zeus one day, swearing up and down she'd seen what he planned to do to your Nashi Dragneel. Said she's discovered it while snooping, for Lord knows what reason. Your sister flew into a rage despite Zeus swearing she had it all wrong, and attacked him. Zeus was forced to subdue her, and once he did..." Hera frowned.
"What?" Takara asked, also pissed off.
"Once she'd been subdued Hades appeared, with some girl in tow," she said. "He said he'd handle her and took her away. Didn't hear much more about it after that. This was after Hades had taken over the Children program. We trusted him. Foolishly, I might add."
"Philotis," Jason snarled, "that girl with him, was she a redhead?"
"I believe you," she replied.
"Bitch," Jason grumbled, "Spirit of Friendship, my ass. All you ever did was cause trouble."
"Why did you act like it wasn't possible for her to find anything?" Simon asked, making Hera look at him. "You talked about it like Apa-Sarah made it all up."
"Well there was no way for her to find it," Hera said, "Zeus didn't just keep a case file of our plan somewhere so easily accessible that she could have found it. So I don't have the faintest idea what she was rambling about."
"Sure he did," Jason replied, "it was back at Mt. Olympus! He had an Archive terminal in his office and-"
"Zeus never had an archive terminal in his office," Hera fired back immediately, "he had Hephaestus and Athena log all our plans and ideas separately and store them. There was no way she saw anything in his office."
"It's true," Hephaestus said. "I kept it all safeguarded off-island...Well, I mean I stored it here, Mt. Othrys. Ain't no way Sarah ever saw anything there."
"But I saw it too!" Jason shouted, "how is it possible that-?!"
"Isn't it obvious?" Erik demanded. "Hades tricked her, and he tricked you." Jason looked stunned at this.
"And why did he do that?" Jason asked, "we were his soldiers at the time!"
"If this guy is planning as ahead as he was, he probably sensed indecision in you both," Erik replied. "Your sister was getting too nosy, so he made her disappear. Then you did too, and off you went to prison. Guy has no use for people he can't use. Trust me, I know how guys like this think." Jason slumped back down in his seat at this, looking surprised.
"But he's still using her," he said weakly, "she was at Tartarus, A Broken...She's barely even herself anymore."
"Like I said," Erik said. "People he can't use. She broke, you didn't. That's why you're here and she's with him." Jason might have been offended if he wasn't so stunned. Simon knew the feeling. Like your world was being turned upside down. It wasn't a good feeling.
There was another grating silence in the room, no one saying a word. Finally, his father sighed.
"Did we learn anything we can use here?" He asked, "I can't think of much we can do with this information accept go riding off for a ring."
"Well, we can only get so much," His mother said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Not like we can talk to anyone close to Hades." Another silence.
Simon's head sparked an idea.
"Actually," he said, "there is someone we can talk to."
"Who?" Sorano asked, "where?" Simon smiled.
"Crocus," he said, "an old friend of ours is imprisoned there."
Oh, who are we talking about?! I'm sure you guys can figure it out, you're smart. I hope you all enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!