Chapter Eighteen

Farren

I t seems like those words trigger something because the world goes black, and I find myself slumping into Hades' throne; my last thought before I pass out entirely is that I seriously hope it's not cursed and only his delicious ass can sit here, or I'll die a horrible death.

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For a brief moment, I hope that I'm back in my dream world, and H is about to appear but those hopes are dashed as I realise that I'm in the throne room except it's not scattered with bodies. I realise that I must be witnessing what happened to all of the people here. I'm suddenly thrown up into the air, and I watch from above as the scene unfolds.

For the moment, all of the Helliers are standing silently, waiting for the door to open; I'm assuming that they've been tipped off or something, and my eyes travel the room, searching for Hades. They quickly find the throne, and I'm kind of surprised to see that it's empty. Instead, I spot a hulking supe with giant magnificent wings standing right at the front, right in front of the doors and I have no idea how I missed him in the first place. He looks like Grey, but more, if that's possible; his features are sharper, what I can see of his eyes are brighter, the sparks in them literal flames, and he's huge, not just because of his wingspan but because of his height and mass too.

He's fucking magnificent and even hotter than when he's in glamour. I actually didn't think that it was possible. The power that he's kicking off is truly immense, it's so vast that I'm actually struggling to comprehend just how powerful he is and it's confusing me even more, but I guess that's why I've been pulled into this vision, to understand how Hades was subdued and taken by the princes.

Refocusing back on the scene beneath me, I smile; of course, he's in the front; he would never allow people to put themselves in danger for him, and I bet he hates that there are people in here and in harm's way as it is.

"The doors are warded, but stay alert; there is still a chance that they could get through," Hades warns them all.

The Helliers stay silent as the whole place seems to hold their breath and wait. Suddenly, there's a giant explosion that rocks the room. Somehow all of the Helliers and Hades manage to stay upright as the doors that were shut moments before shatter into thousands of tiny pieces. Hundreds of Helliers led by the princes charge straight through the doors, and the battle commences below.

Somehow, over the sounds of the battle I manage to hear Hades mutter, "That's impossible, they shouldn't have been able to take my wards down that easily."

I'm assuming that I can hear it because it's something that I need to hear, or at least whoever is giving me this vision wants me to know it. The battle is fierce and bloody, and I can see the betrayal on Hades' Helliers faces as they fight those who followed the princes in, those who they have no doubt fought beside before they switched to the princes side. This is the past, and I've seen how the future turned out for those who followed the princes; only a few of them still survive today, and if the staff member is to be believed, then the commanders of the armies are now keeping the Helliers far away from the princes. It makes me wonder if any of those commanders initially followed the Princes and how quickly they realised that they made a mistake.

As I continue to watch, I start to get twitchy. I don't want to be floating up here simply watching; I want to be down there, helping them fight, even though logically, I know that even if I could do something now, it wouldn't make any difference to the outcome that is set in stone. The battle lasts for a long time as Hades' Helliers protect him fiercely, and the princes slowly push forward edging toward him.

Watching Hades fight is amazing; he's deadly and precise, never loses focus, and doesn't even seem to be running out of steam as he mercilessly kills his attackers, helping out his own men at the same time. He worries not only about himself but also about the people fighting for him, and I have to admit that it's nice to see that Grey has always been this way.

The battle is raging around him still but he suddenly stops, freezing in place, I wait for him to move as the princes surround him from all sides and I realise that he's stuck. They've somehow managed to freeze him. Now, I know enough about the princes and their levels of power that I know that they aren't capable of doing that, not when Hades' power is so obviously immense, it fills this room, and yet the princes who are like a blip on my radar in comparison, are able to keep him frozen?

It doesn't make sense.

I watch in horror as the princes power all attacks Hades at once, violently and viciously, and I suddenly understand that they're weakening him, which means there's a second part of the spell. They shouldn't have any power left; hell, they shouldn't have the power that they currently have. They have to be getting help from someone, but the only people strong enough to help the princes take down a god is another god, and that's a terrifying concept.

Especially since whoever the god may be wants to keep his identity hidden and is using other people to attack Hades. I hate enemies that come at you from behind other people. They make you think that you've defeated your enemy, and then boom along comes another one that's like, ha, it was me all along. It's fucking frustrating.

I can't watch what they're doing to Hades; it's making rage burn brightly through my veins, and the fact I can't help and know that he's okay in the present isn't actually making me feel any better, so instead, I start to study the room, hoping that I can find someone who is acting differently from the others I figure if there's someone who's not fighting, or fighting in a really repetitive way or something like that, it means that they could be helping the princes. Of course, the god helping the princes could not be here at all and helping them from afar instead, and then all I'm achieving by searching the room is not witnessing the princes torturing Hades. To be honest, I don't mind that.

I have to have been pulled into this for more than just seeing that I'm right and they did have help; surely I've been pulled in to see exactly who helped them so that I can warn Hades because gods don't just die, and if he wanted Hades destroyed before then he's going to want that still. He's still a threat, and I don't like that.

The trouble is that I can't see anything close up. I can just see the room as a whole. Still, I try to do my best and thoroughly scour the room looking for anything out of place. I must make ten passes over the room before something catches my eye. I've looked past it several times and missed it, and to be honest, I could just be hoping to see something now, but off to the side, at the edge of the room near one of the ornate pillars, is a darker swarth of shadows, as I said it could be nothing but if I could just get a closer look then I'd know for sure.

I'm suddenly catapulted across the room and find myself staring into the thickened shadows. Sure enough, there's a hooded figure there, but unfortunately, I can't see anything else apart from his lips, and it is a male; no female has lips like that. It's enough to see that he's muttering a spell as he's looking in Hades and the Princes' direction. I can't make out the words well enough to know what he's saying but I'm pretty sure that I can guess.

The power around the god and in the room grows, reaching a new height, and I watch in morbid fascination as he lifts his arms, his robe falling back from his hands and exposing bronzed skin and a two-inch scar on his left hand by his thumb. I file that information away for later and continue watching, adamant that I won't miss anything important. The god claps his hands, a crackle of power rushing out of him and straight toward a weak Hades; as soon as the power connects, Hades drops to the floor, and Yeal rushes forward, clipping a set of engraved manacles onto him as they all then move forward and lift him up dragging him from the room. The shadowed figure moves within the shadows after them, keeping himself cloaked. As those few Helliers that are still alive try to follow the princes out to save Hades, I watch the shadowed figure stop at the door leading out of the room and clap, sealing the room and slowly removing the air from it, the smile on his face is sharp, and it's clear that he is genuinely finding joy in watching these Helliers from both sides slowly die.

Fucking sick bastard.

I need to see where they're taking Hades; I know that there's more to this, and I want to see who the shadowed god is. I want to be able to give Grey a name so he knows exactly who he needs to go after.

Thankfully whoever is in control of this vision must want me to see more to because within a blink of an eye, I find myself in an office of sorts. All of the princes are present, including Azreal, so he's not innocent in all of this, although his expression is not one of triumph like the others; it's indifference. Standing in front of all of them is the god who is still shrouded in shadows, and at this point, I don't know whether it's because that's how it happened or whether I'm not allowed to identify him, which would be really annoying.

I watch as he produces five bracelets, each one with a glowing deep blue stone speckled with gold and red sparkles; he hands one to each of the princes.

"You need to wear these at all times." He says, and it surprises me that each of them puts the bracelets on their right wrist with no protest or argument. The god then continues to explain, "The gems are linked to Hades; they will keep his power drained enough to keep him controllable, and they will funnel his magic to all of you. Now, before any of you get greedy, your bracelets are tuned to you specifically, so any thoughts of stealing your brothers and getting an even bigger boost of power will do you no good. You'd simply be giving power back to Hades."

"If we take them off, then that means that he will get his magic back? Or at least a part of it," Hiromu asks.

"Yes. It's not the only thing, though. The stones are pretty unbreakable, but on the off chance that they do break, the bond that's funnelling magic from Hades to the five of you will be broken, and Hades will get his magic back. However, all of them need to be broken in order for Hades to get all of his magic back. All five of the stones will need to be broken, and it's hard to break them. There is a small chance that Hades could break the connection, and if that happens, the stones will shatter."

"So basically, broken stones mean bad," Azreal says.

"Yes, in layman's terms," the god replies, not sounding very amused at all. His voice is stern, and yet, for some reason, I feel like it's being distorted and isn't actually his voice. He continues to explain, "Since he is now weak, his power funnelling to you, it has allowed me to put a glamour on him, which means that he won't be able to be recognised by anyone else, and since all of those that were witnesses today are now dead, that means that no one will know that you were instrumental in bringing them down, it's up to you to decide how to play that. The glamour will stay on him for as long as the stones last."

That's the last thing that he says, and then he just disappears. There's no other words said, no more explanations, nothing of the sort; he's just gone, and I still don't know who the fuck he is. It seems that's all that I need to witness, though, because I can feel myself being pulled, or at least that's what I thought was happening, but instead, I'm pulled into another vision.

Fucking hell, exactly how much do I need to see.

This one is just a quick vision; I watch as Azreal stares at the bracelet on his wrist as he speaks to an elderly gentleman dressed like one of the staff and obviously, someone that Azreal trusts and is fond of.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this, Hades wasn't supposed to be tortured, I never wanted that. They didn't tell me that's what they were planning, and then it was too late. I've had no choice but to go along with it."

"I know, Az," the elderly staff man replies kindly.

"Well, no amount of reasoning is convincing them to change what they're doing. Nothing I do or say is showing them the damage that they are doing to the Underworld. They're destroying it. All that was once beautiful is now being destroyed, and all they want to do is release the souls that should never leave; they want to wage a war that will destroy realm after realm; they want to rule all the realms and, in the process, they'll destroy everything that is good and beautiful. The realms need balance, all of them. The Underworld provides the ultimate balance; what the princes have done to this realm has had a knock-on effect that has affected all of the realms, even if they aren't aware that it happened. It's been decades. There's only one thing that I can do that may be able to help just the tiniest amount; there's only one person who has hope of restoring the balance, and he's down in the cells. I tried to help his loneliness and put him near Farren like I was instructed to do. I don't think it's enough; he's so weak."

Surprise shoots through me when I hear my name.

"What are you going to do?" the old man asks.

"This."

I watch in awe as he takes the bracelet off severing the connection to Hades, he lays it on the stone hearth of the fireplace and then blasts all of his power at it. I realise that he's trying to break it, he's trying to give Hades a fighting chance. His magic doesn't crack it though. He needs help; under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be able to do anything, but for some reason, my instincts compel me to move behind him.

Following pure instinct, I place my hand on his shoulder and lean in closer so I can say into his ear, "Try again."

He tenses under my hand, but when he glances over his shoulder at me, he doesn't look shocked or even acknowledge that I'm there.

"Do as she says," the old man tells him, his eyes on me and smiling, "she can help."

I want to question everything, but there is no time; I can feel a sense of urgency, and I can't ask those questions.

Azreal nods, and without any questions, which means he's far less curious than I am, he faces the bracelet again. I let my magic flow through him as soon as he starts to unleash his on the gemstone.

"Wow," I hear him mutter as the power of the magic rushes through him.

Our combined magic only touches the stone for a few seconds before it turns to dust, completely destroyed. As soon as it breaks, I pull my hand away from his shoulder, severing the connection. The door to the room smashes open as the other princes rush in, they kill the old man within seconds causing Azreal bellow in pain as he sees his friend fall to the floor.

They surround Azreal.

"What have you done?" Dagon screams.

"What was right!" Azreal screams back, his shoulders back and his voice filled with conviction.

"You betrayed us," Hiromu replies.

There are no more words as they all close in around Azreal; they attack him. I can tell it's personal because they don't start by using their magic; instead, they use their fists, brutally attacking their own brother. Azreal manages to hold his own for a short amount of time before he is quickly overwhelmed. They are merciless, and I am sure that they are going to kill him. I wish I could help him, but it seems like my interference in this vision was limited to a one-time deal, and nothing that I do now is making any difference to the reality.

Before I see what happens, although I'm pretty sure that I know the outcome, I am pulled out of my vision and back to the present. Although I learned a lot, I still don't know officially what happened to Azreal.