A huge cloud of smoke filled the feast hall, causing the servants to hold their breath from the horrible smell. In the farthest part of the palace where all the smoke was coming from, in the center of the great crater where the golden flames were blazing, lay the charred body of Haemon. The Olympians stared at the body with relief, for everyone had to sweat to bring this sick freak down. Of course, several facts did not allow them to reveal all their cards, and to finish off the monster quickly, but still to fight simultaneously with the strongest Olympians of the second generation and at the same time dominate some of them, ha, not everyone is capable to do that. Hell, if you give that freak enough time to get a little stronger, he might even be able to compete with the big three. A similar thought crossed the minds of everyone present.
Quickly shaking his head, Apollo fired his bow a few times to make sure the enemy was dead. "Ah, he made us sweat! By the way Aphrodite why didn't you try to seduce him? You would have made a great couple! I can just see a title for the great poems of Beauty and the Beast" Turning to his sister, the archer smiled slyly. "I'm afraid the title would be different something like Freak and Strangler!" Tapping her brother on the shoulder, Artemis also decided to plunge a couple of her arrows into Haemon's body. "Will you stop mocking me like this, can you ever forgive me for my servants what inadvertently desecrating your temples?" Pouting her lips, Aphrodite angrily kicked the stone, turning it to ashes. Apollo and Artemis looked at each other and then simultaneously replied, "Never!"
"Ares maybe you should go back to guests?" Hephaestus suggested as he watched his brother heal his wounds. "I'm fine!" Abruptly the Spartan replied, growing back both arms. "Whatever you say," The smith nodded indifferently, heading toward his sister. "Athena are you all right?" Asked Ares noticing that she was staring at the crater like a zombie. She didn't answer only continued to stare silently, then unable to stand it Ares grabbed his sister by the arm and began to shake her asking his question again. "Yeah, eh sorry, I just still have a bad feeling about this. You know, when I pierced his heart with my spear, I felt like he was craving it. Asking me to spare his pain! He could have killed me at that moment, but he hesitated as if to show mercy. Damn it all happened because of one stupid desire of our father to have a musician as his servant!" Unable to endure, Athena released a piece of her aura, thereby creating many cracks in the ground.
"Such is our father sister, what was taken by force can only be returned by force! This monster was aware of this and died in the name of his ideals, a death worthy of a king" Ares hugged his sister and looked respectfully at the body of the barbarian. Everyone heard someone running behind them and turned around, it appeared to be Prince Zagreus. "Did you kill him?" The Olympian asked hopefully. "Ha-ha what did you come to adorn all our glory prince?" Ares joked as he approached him. "Yes, the son of your father's servant is dead! If you want you can see for yourself his corpse lies over there" The Spartan pointed his sword at the crater. "I think I'll pass," Zagreus smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "Typhon gave him so much power with one purpose, to kill those who hurt him. And condemned him to eternal torment. Truly he has an incredibly sad fate" Sadly, Athena sank to one knee and thrust her sword into the ground as a sign of respect to the fallen.
"I would like to take the boy's body and bury it," Hestia declared, appearing from a spark of flame. "Why would you want to do that? Wouldn't it be better to just leave him here, or bury him in the bowels of Tartarus somewhere?" Apollo inquired, brushing his hair. "I promised this child that I would cure him by taking him with me to the surface. So as an apology, I want to give him a proper burial" Hestia explained as she descended into the crater. Suddenly shadows engulfed the entire space, preventing anyone from even moving. A huge clawed hand grabbed Haemon and dragged them into darkness. No one understood what happened except three brothers.
World of Night
A clot of darkness spat out the burned body of Olympian onto the snow-white bed, allowing Haemon to feel something other than rocks and sand for the first time in a long time. Nyx immediately rushed into the room with her servants, panic on her face. "No, no, why!? Stupid child!" She healed her son's body with trembling hands while the servants applied ointments and bandages. "You hurt your brother once, and that wasn't enough? Decided to take revenge on all of Olympus by yourself!? What a silly son you are, you should have just left and never come back. You could have found your happiness up there with the mortals" Nyx hugged her son tightly without stopping crying. "Mistress the young master's life is not in danger, his wounds themselves are healing quite quickly. He is already slowly coming to his senses, shall we leave you to it?" Asked the servant as she finished dressing him. Nyx nodded, placing Haemon's head in her lap. And as soon as the servants left the room, Haemon's body began to convulse.
He coughed loudly, opening bloodshot eyes as if a wild beast cornered him as he tried to break free from his mother's grip. But she was stronger, so without success, he could only growl. "Haemon hush my boy calm down! Everything will be fine no one here will hurt you I promise" Nyx kissed her son on the forehead calming him thereby. Tears of hatred poured from Haemon's eyes and he wanted to tear her apart just to avoid seeing her. "Mom!?" He wheezed, trying to reach his clawed hand into her face. Nyx didn't even notice when his claws dug into her flesh, she only smiled softly at her son.
"So you know who I am, ha-ha should have known, since that day your bloodlust was directed at me" The mother's voice was full of pain and sorrow, her tears falling like rain on her son's face. "You've probably found the source of secret desires, haven't you?" She asked with a smile as she stroked her son's cheek. Haemon only spat blood in response, he tried to turn away just to avoid seeing his mother's face, but she wouldn't even give him that opportunity. "Haemon I'm sorry I honestly didn't want this fate for you! I've done a lot for you!" As soon as she said those words, Haemon couldn't stand it and grabbed her by the throat with his trembling hand. Blood flowed from his distraught eyes, and his hoarse, ugly voice addressed her. "You've gone to a lot of trouble!? I was devoured alive while you nursed the son of bloody Hades! A father who abandoned us, and left me to fight alone against the hordes of the abyss. Do you know what it's like to be torn apart by a pack of hungry dogs? Do you know what it's like to be doused with poison? Do you know? Do you know? Answer me, you old witch! Answer me!"
"I don't know, son, I'm sorry! I felt pain every second without you honestly. The moment I saw you down there fighting, my heart bled! I wanted to get you out of there at the same hour," Nyx began to explain, gently removing her son's hands. "But you left me! You saw me get killed, but you chose Zagreus over me anyway! Didn't you hear me secretly crying out to you every damn night!? Asking you to save me from this nightmare, swearing that I would be your loyal son even if the whole world turned its back on you! But you don't care! You don't care, you bitch, you really don't care about your own son's pain. Ha-ha you know I so wanted to see your goddamn face the moment you saw what I turned your favorite boy into!" Haemon laughed hysterically as he broke free from his mother's embrace.
"Please don't say that, he's your brother. You can blame me or your father, but don't take your anger out on him! I promise to return Alekos to you, and if you want, I can send you somewhere where no one will bother you!?" Nyx touched her son's hair gently, and in response, he tried to bite her to inflict some pain, but could not, for the skin was too hard. "Die, die witch please just disappear!? Am I a toy to you? Every one of you does what you want with me, you didn't even feed me milk when I was a baby and then leave me in the care of that worthless musician. And what was your gift to me, Mother? A golden cow to keep me from starving to death? Or a goddamn stinking house inside a tree?" Haemon's words wounded Nyx's heart like poison.
"I did all of this for your own safety!?" Clutching her fingernails into her son's hands, Nyx looked at him painfully. "Don't lie to me!? You wanted to get rid of me just like everyone else! Not one of you has pleased the monster Haemon every one of you looks at me like I'm a scum!? You say I want that satyr back, ha-ha damn all of you really think I give a shit about that freak, don't you? He's a scum like the rest of you! Thinking only of yourselves and how to get rid of a monster like me. His eyes looked at me not with love but with fear, he didn't see me as a son. Only a freak what can kill him instantly. So don't you dare suggest that I bring that bastard back," the barbarian hissed, covering his face with hands. "Son, I just couldn't do anything else" Desperate, Nyx clutched her son to her again. "You could have given me the throne of the underworld!" Haemon shouted, looking directly into his mother's face.
"No I couldn't and you know it, you were destined to be your brother's slave with father. And maybe if I hadn't interfered then things would be different now. I simply had to bring you back to true father, but I could, for I feared you might then wish to ascend to Olympus as your father did. I will never be able to take away the pain that is in your heart, but perhaps there is still something I can do for you?" Lifting her son's chin, Nyx looked hopefully into his eyes. "Give back what you took!?" Haemon replied in a commanding tone. "What do you mean?" The mother was interrogated in surprise. "Give back what is rightfully mine! The blood fountain is mine and mine alone!" Gritting his teeth, he roared like a lion. "Son, I can't! You had better forget this power! Since it preferred Zagreus over you. World of Shadows and Night gave up on you right after you were born, while Zagreus was able to become part of it!? As painful as it may be to realize, you were rejected by both worlds, my son. Neither Tartarus nor my garden is your home" Nyx explained to a son with pain in voice why she cannot give him back what is his.
"Ha-ha damn it, you're just lying, aren't you!? Tell me it's not true!" Haemon stepped away from his mother and grabbed his head with both hands and began to cry hysterically. "Why me? Why do you all hate me so much? What have I done to you? It wasn't enough for my brother to take both my parents away from me, so he decided to take away my own powers. Fine so be it" Instantly Haemon stopped crying he smiled softly looking at his mother. "Just kill me already!" Haemon asked softly, pointing to his heart. "Haemon is that what you want?" Nyx asked gently, stroking her son's cheek. "You would kill me just to keep Zagreus, wouldn't you?" Grabbing his mother's hand, Haemon looked at her for the first time not with hatred but with sadness.
"Zagreus has become my son, equal to you, if not more. Forgive me, but he really is more worthy of it than you are. You should look at it more broadly son, those born to crawl should stay there while kings rule. Creation itself chose him over you, so who are we to oppose it?" Nyx replied honestly, turning away. "If you try to hurt him again, I fear your death will come from my hand," Haemon hugged his mother tightly and whispered with pain in his voice: "I only wanted your love, after all. Well if you say so your pain will probably do as well" He looked at mother one last time and then shouted loudly: "Uranus come on!" A multitude of golden chains emerged from a blue cleft in space. They immediately chained Nyx and dragged her away. "Grandson you can take your time, sister and I have much to discuss!" A thunderous voice echoed throughout the room after Nyx disappeared. "Ha-ha you say I'm not worthy, well now we're going to see" Haemon smiled broadly as he headed for the blood fountain.