"We don't know that!" Lazarus mocked.
"You are just bitter because you are older than me and I had a daughter that powerful way before you did!" She confronted him, and I'll give it to her, I'm liking her a lot. Her suggestion of draining the blood of the leaders of all the other races aside.
He hissed at her in the most serpentine manner. "I have a son."
"Still in the egg," she chuckled mockingly.
"And who has more chances of survival than Lilith!" He poked.
I swear, he's annoying as Rio, for fuck's sake. What's up with blue?
"Enough!" Grandma hissed in a warning. "Do not bring Lilith into this, Lazarus. Especially not her survival rate. She's my goddaughter, and I will not tolerate it!" Get his arse, grandma. Throw black water on him!
Pressing his lips together, he avoided looking at Melina, probably because she was with a smug of the size of the world on her face. "That's what you get for messing with me!" She provoked.
Grandma laughed and gave her a look, "Behave, Melina."
Melina bit her bottom lip, "Sorry. Couldn't contain myself."
"Look at the bright side, Lazarus," grandpa started and a grin began to slowly curl up his lips. "Melina didn't try draining your blood today."
She did not! Oh my Lady, she's my new heroine.
"Bloodthirsty bitch," he mumble annoyed.
"Shut up, fish boy. I can still bite you!" She grinned.
"I am older than you!" He gasped.
"And I am more powerful," she winked provokingly. "So," Melina turned her smug to my grandparents, "aren't you two going to tell your great-great-something granddaughter your age?"
Grandma rolled her eyes, "I knew that was why you started this."
"Of course," she winked. "So?"
Grinning with amusement, grandpa turned to me. "I am seventy-seven thousand and seven hundred and seventy-seven years old, darling. And out of all our ancestors, I'm the longest Miralanthor in power."
What the hell?
He lived for that long and still looks around twenty? Is there a fountain of youth in here? Him, grandma, and Melina are hot.
I mean, they all are. But these three and Mia are something else.
Grandma blushed, caressing her necklace, and only then I noticed that it was one identical to mine, minus the emerald dots, and that grandpa also was using one almost identical to her but larger. Lydia wasn't joking when she said I was using Royal jewels on me. "I am thirty-five thousand and five hundred and fifty-seven years old." Almost half, but that doesn't seem to matter when we live for so long.
Now my age difference with Oliver looks like nothing.
"We have a son, child," grandma added. "He's two hundred and twenty-five years old and his name is Everest Nicklaus Miralanthor. He's mated to a black dragon called Rosalind Diana Rowan-Miralanthor, and it's from their love that you will come to exist in the future."
Wait. Is that the reason why Mount Everest has that name? And did I inherit my middle name from her?
"You will need the army, sweet child, for the war that will fall in the new world," grandpa began, and that was it, everyone got dead serious and all the mischievousness and playfulness was gone. And I felt his words reverberate through my soul. "The army is frozen at the moment. To unfroze them and connect all the gargoyles and your allies with you, you will need the Crown."
"If the war goes wrong and the other races get their hands on the Crown of Chaos, they will do everything to hide it in a place where no one will be able to get. And if they get, they won't be able to leave to use it!" Grandma continued and as dreadful feeling began to settle into my very soul, heart, and spread cold sweat in my body.
"We hope that won't be the case," grandpa clenched his jaw. "But, in the worse case, if we lose and they get my Crown," he took it from the top of his curly silver fluffy hair and stared at it, and the only word I could find to describe the emotions on his midnight blue eyes was chaos. "You might need to go to hell."
I would have laughed if I could and if I didn't know he's serious. I feared that would be the case from the moment I learned that they had froze grandpa's body for punishment. Exactly what the Pit does to people…
"Tell her about it, Mel, please," grandma asked.
As I was turned to Melina, I saw her nodding and raising nine of her white slander fingers adorned with ruby rings and with sharp long nails polished in crimson red. "1st Circle is called Limbo. It's where those who are pagans in the eyes of the Triple Goddesses and the unbaptized by any Deity, wander the endless cave of Limbo, desperate for salvation."
It's also where Meredith sends those who wrong her lightly.
"2nd Circle is called Lust. In there, the souls of the lustful are blown and spiraling endlessly in the winds of a violent undying storm," she put down her second finger. "3rd Circle is called Gluttony. Because of their cold nature, the souls of the gluttons, suffer from the cold of a ceaseless icy rain."
As Meredith and the Ministry literally use Hell as if it was a prison they could use when they feel like it, those who committed heinous sexual crimes are sent to the 2nd Circle, and those who committed grave gluttony, are sent to the 3rd Circle. I mean, in theory it should be like that.
"4th Circle of Hell is Greed. There, the souls of the greed are all consumed in a pit of melting gold, as they claw their way to escape, only to be swept back into the pit," another finger down. "The 5th Circle is called Anger. That's where an endless battle of wailing souls take place in a murky swamp." Fifth goes down. "6th Circle is called Heresy. The souls there are entrapped in a flaming pit, guarded by soul-eating monsters for those who attempt to escape."
Soul-eating fuckers. No shit the 6th Circle is one of the most feared.
Melina kept going gracefully, "The most exciting circle for me is the 7th Circle, which is called Violence, where those who possess a thirst for violence are condemned to drown in a lake of boiling blood!" No wonder she enjoys it. "Then comes the 8th Circle, called Fraud, where those who go there are thrown into a pit of darkness, endlessly beaten and torture by creatures that feed on anger, despair, fear, and hopelessness." Hah, doesn't that sound quite familiar?
Seems like I've live for twenty centuries in Fraud and didn't know.
"Then," she gulped, "the 9th Circle of Hell. The Pit of Treachery. Commonly called the Pit. Its indestructible walls are made of medea stone, the same stone which gargoyles are made off, and it's said to be impossible to get out off. The people who are there have their body frozen and their minds are locked in a state of insanity, torture, and disgrace, forced to live again all the worse moments of their lives, their mistakes, crimes, and all they lost by being there. Not even the strongest races would survive through that kind of punishment," she said, haunted, fear swarming in her ruby eyes.
They all tensed up, uncomfortable, and right to feel so.
"Despite the primordial reasoning for the creation of hell," grandpa broke the silence. "It is not solely habituated by dead souls anymore. Many send their criminals to suffer eternal punishment in there. Whoever goes in, shall lose all hope of getting out, because there's no way out of hell, dear," but when I thought he would frown, he grinned. "That is," he licked his fangs mischievously, "if you aren't a black winged serpent with the Crown of Chaos."
What? Does the Crown helps us getting out of freaking hell?
"The power of the Crown of Chaos are the strongest in a chaotic place, sweet child," he shared a grin with grandma. "What place can be more chaotic than hell itself?"
I mean, he has a point. But would it work?
"No one would ever dare to go to hell willingly. Even less to go to the Pit, the 9th Circle," he put the Crown on his head again. "That's why, if everything ends badly in the war that is nearing in the horizon, and they get their filthy hands on my Crown, they might hid it in there. Because some people have the power to go in and out of hell, as long as they have direct contact with the death being that rules over in there." Which happens to be the case with Meredith and the Ministry. "So, you should keep it in mind."
"But do not fear, my granddaughter," grandma spoke. "Analyze everything before you take any action. You will be the Queen in the future and a Queen needs to be reasonable and think through her actions. We have a great power, great like no other, bestowed only to us by the Goddesses themselves, and it requires great responsibilities to wield great powers." Sounds like something Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker, in Spider-Man, but backwards.
"Only goes there if you are sure that the Crown of Chaos in is hell, child," grandpa exclaimed, serious again. "Do not risk your life in such a suicidal mission, if you do not have a way out of hell. Nevertheless, if the Crown of Chaos is in there, find a way to get inside and search for it. No matter who you are with, when you find the Crown, you will be able to leave."
Melina clicked her tongue, "The Crown will awaken the real power of the blacks that lies inside you. The power of chaos, nothingness. Which is the deadliest of all the abilities from our race. But only by using the Crown of Chaos, will you bring out your full potential."
Grandpa tilted his head, moving his weight from centered to the left side of his body as he leaned on the side of his emerald throne. "Worry not, the second you wear it, it'll fit to your measurements, and the design of the obsidian in the Crown, will change to suit something that looks better in you. The Crown of Chaos is the most indestructible artifact in the world, also crafted directly by the power of the Triple Goddesses together. Even if someone steal it, it'll never be able to used by anyone but you. By anyone but a black winged serpent from the Royal bloodline. And that is you."
"You will need all royal artifacts," grandma added. "The Crown given by the Triple Goddesses, the ring and the necklace given by the Crone, the aether sword and daggers given by the Maden, the earrings made of the drop of the Mother's tears given by herself, and the emerald mirror of the soul given by the Triple Goddesses together also. Only then you will be able to bring out all of your power as a black, child. Good luck. We are all counting on you. Find the Phoenix Sunna." The aether WHAT?
Everything went black.