Eternal

“Fine, a group attacked Venom which obviously you are aware of, and I was there when it happened. For some reason a fire nymph has decided to team up with a group of obvious renegades and it seems that they are going after anyone who is associated with Hades.

I got into a fight with two of them, I used my gift on one and just as I was about to finish him off a femal

e runs to his aid and begs me to let him die with his people.

I thought why the hell should I, I didn’t owe them anything until her hood fell down and I was met with the face of Lilianna. What a plot twist right, it turns she is very much alive and on the side of the group who seemed very eager to end my life.”

I fell back down onto my bed after I finished my rant and Kat slowly perched herself down on the edge, before pulling me to her and wrapping her arms around my neck.

“I can’t believe it; how could she have been alive for all this time and never come for you. You two were mindlessly in love with each other. It does not make any sense to me,” she stated as she slowly stroked my head, trying to offer me as much comfort as she could in that action.

“I keep thinking of all the time I have spent mourning her corpse and living with her ghost haunting my every action. All those times I could have possibly moved on and maybe found the happiness I felt I no longer deserved, all because I believed she had been killed because of me. Because I failed to save her, she has haunted my every waking and sleeping hour, yet she has been out there living her life and I have no idea why or how any of this even happened. Did she even spend a single minute thinking of me? Did she ever want to find me? And was I truly such a horrid partner that she could leave me existing without ever truly living?”

“You deserve to get the answers to your questions, I’m just not sure how you can. But I promise I will help you to try and get them, we will find her and make her answer you.” Kat was truly determined to fulfil her vow to me, but a part of me still wouldn’t allow any harm to come to Lilianna. I wasn’t deluded enough to believe there could still be a place for us, but she was still the greatest part of me and I wouldn’t throw that away for answers I probably wouldn’t want to hear anyway.

I realised in that moment I couldn’t put my life on hold any longer, and whether I would get the chance to ever move on from the memory of her or not, I could no longer shut Unya out. Knowing her birthday would soon be upon her and I would have to deliver her into Hades waiting grasp.

Z

I tried to call her, but either she didn’t have her phone or she was deliberately ignoring me, not that I could blame her, she was just returning the favour.

I decided to try and clear my head while I rode my bike in no particular direction, though I still wound up looking at the ruins of Venom. No one that had been inside that day had survived the inferno that occurred, but I did not feel the loss. Death rarely affected me, killing affected me even less, but I still wondered why they had targeted this location in the first place.

They only killed about three of four creatures that were loyal to Hades, no one important either, it just seemed pointless to me, there was no true gain in the venture, so why even bother.

I was pondering my thoughts when a shadow fell across me, I looked up into an unfamiliar face and wondered why they had approached me.

“I hear you have been asking after the Oracle, I need to know why,” said the mousy male, who couldn’t have stood any taller that five foot three, and was definitely no threat to me, being nothing more than a sin eater. Even if he tried to eat my sins, he would not have enough room within himself to even devour half of what I had committed.

“What’s it to you?” I asked, in no mood to play games.

“I may have the answers you are looking for, but I will not aid anyone who is looking to hurt the Oracle or return her to Hades,” He stated.

“Returning her to Hades would be a worse fate than what I could do to her, but no, I am not looking to do either of those, I just have some questions only she can answer.”

He handed me a slip of paper before disappearing before my very eyes, I unfolded it and read what had been scribbled across it.

The largest crypt within the Cemetery at Midnight. Do not be a single minute late If you are, you will miss the only opportunity you will ever be given.

The possibilities were streaming through my mind, this could be my one chance to decipher the true prophecy and to uncover whether or not it really was about Unya.

The inner voice inside myself kept telling me it was a pointless endeavour no matter the outcome. Hades made his stance crystal clear in regards to her, whether she was the one he was looking for or not, her fate was sealed to him and she would end up his slave no matter what.

It did not bare thinking about what he had planned for her if she was no different from the others where it truly mattered. Could I really just hand her over, lure her into a place where she would probably never escape from. I had killed many creatures in the name of Hades but they had never caused me any inner turmoil like this one was.

I still refused to admit to myself that she was more than just a target to me, but I couldn’t hide the fact I had missed her deeply the entire month I had shied away from her.

Maybe she had finally realised I was nothing more than a lost cause and she was better off without my assistance, and without the aid of Marcus I would have no way to uncover her location. This situation was already too messy to even contemplate bringing another into the fold.

I waited patiently, refusing to go back to my room until I had uncovered the secrets that were still haunting me and everyone else that had been made an accessory to my task. By the time midnight had drawn in I had already made my way to the largest crypt in attendance and watched the minute hand tick by as the sin eater failed to show.

I never considered the possibility that it may have been a trap orchestrated by Hades himself to test my loyalties and faith in him, the excitement had been too much for me to ever form that idea. Until that very moment where my self-preservation was starting to out-weigh my curiosity and I decided it was time for me to leave.

“So, the answers you seek are not important enough for you to wait a few extra minutes,” Shouted the sin eater, who was perched atop the crypt’s roof staring down at me.

“You told me not to be a minute late and I wasn’t, when you didn’t show I began to doubt you were ever able to put me into contact with the one I seek,” I replied much more calmly than I believed possible as my agitation with the weak little sin eater grew strong.

“I have been here the entire time, I saw when you arrived but I was told to see how long you would wait before giving up, so why did you give up? Answer truthfully because I will know if you try to deceive me.”