[Author Note - Please do not forget to vote for me at the end of the chapter if you like my work!]
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But little did Damianos know that Morpheous and he were not the sole possessors of the ability to communicate through their mind. Nubeous equally possessed the power and he could hear each and every word that they spoke about but he couldn't understand why on earth anyone would like to face the bolt of death.
So looking at Morpheous with vengeful yet curious eyes, he stomped his foot harder on Damianos's chest and asked,
"So you people want to see the bolt of death? Is that your death wish?"
Damianos was surprised to know that Nubeous had the capacity to hear mind talk and so was Morpheous. But before he could reply, the souls started swirling around Morpheous, hissing around, whispering into his ears, instigating him for the age-old revenge that they had been wanting.
"Rise Morpheous!"
"Rise!"
"Take the revenge of your father!"
Nubeous had the power of the soul stone, yet he didn't have the power to hear what the souls had to say, because he had always yielded the power of the souls but not at their will. They obeyed him as he was the possessor of the soul stone, but they had a different master and that was Morpheous.
"What are you looking at?" yelled Nubeous as he saw Morpheous turning around as if someone next to him was communicating with him.
He wanted to leap towards Nubeous and use his physical strength as that was all that he could think of as of now. But before he could even take a step further, suddenly the broad daylight started getting all dim.
The souls who were swirling around Morpheous shrieked and vanished in an instant as the soul ring possessor had invoked them. The wind started howling in melancholy as it knew that it was time for someone to die. And in seconds the bolt of death perched up in the sky as if it was transcending heaven and the hell.
This time Nubeous had snapped his fingers pointing up to the sky, to cast an enormous bolt. The surge of this lightning was so powerful, that no one could even keep their eyes open. He slowly compressed the bolt as he moved his fingers and made a claw shape with his hands.
And then looking towards Morpheous he said,
"Reveal yourself of this man shall die! And yes that would obviously fulfill the desire of both your hearts - to see the bolt of death."
Gritting his teeth Morpheous replied, "I am a man of the soil. A peasant from Ambracia. A peasant whose house was burnt by you. A peasant whose livelihood was destroyed by your people. And yes I am the same peasant who killed your soldiers and I would not hesitate from doing so again."
"A mere peasant," grumbled Nubeous and then asked, "Then how can a humble peasant talk without speaking. And I don't think this man is an ordinary man either. So reveal yourself or chose to die. Give me whatever source of power that you possess" and saying that he morphed the bolt like a blazing comet, ready to be shot at Morpheous at any point in time.
"I have nothing to reveal. This is me. I do not possess any source of power," said Morpheous and lowered his voice a bit as he could see that slowly tears had started to drip from the eyes of Damianos. He had no weapon that he could conjure and no place to use the strength that he possessed. The souls had also departed and there was no one to guide him.
But Nubeous didn't believe him. There was no way that a common man could kill his men without any source of power. He was afraid that he might have found a piece of the guide somehow.
"Search him!", yelled Nubeous and immediately a batch of soldiers came ahead and started searching his body. A moment before they were scared of Morpheous but now seeing the might of their master, their confidence had a new high. They searched shamelessly without even sparing the gaps between his fingers but found nothing.
"There is nothing master!", replied the soldiers and bowed their head.
"Who sent you here then?" asked Nubeous to which Morpheous replied - "Your men. Your men dragged me here."
Unhappy with his answer Nubeous increased the pressure on Damianos's chest and,
'Crack'
Broke a bone of Damianos's rib cage. He didn't yell or say a word but the blood that came out from his mouth was enough to tell Morpheous that his old man was in acute pain and that was something that he couldn't bear any further.
His amber eyes burnt in anger. He knew he was powerless but he had to do something. So without a second thought, he bent down and pounded his hand on the ground, expecting a divide to disbalance Nubeous.
But unfortunately, nothing like that happened. Dejected, he pounded again, but alas! Nothing happened this time either.
Taking a deep breath he looked at Damianos who looked miserable beyond the limit and then he looked at Nubeous who chuckled so see him in despair. So he closed his eyes and tried to listen to souls to guide him, but there came no voice for they all had now been conjured by Nubeous. With no strength and no ability, he said a silent prayer,
"If I am really the one, if I am really the one upon whom this man had faith then Oh heavens! you shall show mercy," and saying that he pounded on the ground again.
"Hiyaaaaahhhhhhh"
This time he used every ounce of strength that he possessed and...
'Crack!'
A mild tremor spread through the palace ground. It was extremely mild but Morpheous could feel it and so did Nubeous and before he could react, Morpheous pounded his fist again.
'Crack!'
But this time Morpheous had pounded in such a way that the crack ran between both the legs of Nubeous.
Imbalanced, he turned to one side and Damianos lied on the other, and then without wasting a second, Morpheous leaped towards the other side of the stage to save Damianos.
But he was too late!
Too late becasue the bolt of death had been cast away by Nubeous.