Ariadne and the Flaming Torch : The Quest
Chapter 8
Book 1 : The Quest
Chapter 8
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I stared at him. Hyas, he called me the daughter of Persephone. That was all I would ever be to them - to the gods. The daughter of Persephone and Hades - feared and loathed by all because of my heritage - is all I was ever meant to be. I was a hybrid of life and death. A hate child - I might as well be a bastard child - who was abandoned as soon as her existence was discovered. I was rejected; I was never even given a chance.
For years I suffered, for years my family suffered; my mother was accused of foul play by my father because of my looks - I didn't look anything like them, Mom had blond hair and golden eyes while Dad had red hair and green eyes; Solis inherited their looks with his strawberry blond hair and impossibly light green eyes with flecks of gold in them - like it was bleached by the sun.
I was the complete opposite. At birth, my hair was as black as a raven's feather - my parents even contemplated the possibility of naming me Raven, a name I completely despised because of it's implications; I was not a crow and would never be. My eyes were the features that completely set me apart - they were tri-colored. Red sandwiched between silver encircled between rings of black with a sea of black around the edge.
Because of my eyes, I was always neglected by my Grandmother - she was part gypsy and hated me from first sight. I had red eyes - the supposed devil's mark; of course she would never consider the possibility that it could also mean action, courage, confidence, vitality; of course she would look for only the negatives. But it was shrouded by silver; a color that was not of this realm - which meant belonging to the spirit world. The violet was a sign of royalty, magic and mystery - she feared magic even though magic flowed deeply within her veins and the mystery just made her that much more opposed to me. But what frightened her most was the black. Black in a sorts of lore's meant only one thing : death.
I had death marked on my forehead. And sure enough death followed me everywhere. All of the people I associated with, all of the lovers to whom I had never been able give myself completely, my family, my friends, even all of the pets I had - they all lay in a cemetery, rotting away as they mixed with the element they were made from. My grandma had died in another one of the attacks. She had had the most terrible death, in my opinion. Perhaps it was because of the fact that I hated my Grandma the most out of all of my family - she burned to death by the flames of a Hydra and I was sure she was now rotting in Hell waiting for vengeance.
Everyone I ever associated with and got close to became food for the myths; it's like I was cursed. And all of this misery, all of this sorrow, all of the guilt that weighed down on my shoulders was because of them. My supposed parents! Parents, my ass! They didn't deserve the right to conceive or give birth. She abandoned me. She banished me from her very womb. For seven years I had suffered. For seven years, I had battled with the unknown; I had wondered at my affinity with fire but had come to hate it when I saw the reactions of fear and hatred that had radiated from my loved ones.
But I would take ignorance any day over knowledge, for once I had the knowledge, I had become the cursed and broken person I now am. It had all started with their naive decision of sending someone of the ethereal, someone of the mystics, a god, into the world of the mortals. It was all their fault but it was and would always be identified by their names. My identity was not my own, it was theirs. It was all theirs and I wanted none of it.
I wanted nothing to do with them. I didn't want to be linked to them through every phase of my life. I didn't want to know them even! I was myself; Ariadne Novis. I was not the daughter of Persephone, neither was I the dreaded off spring of Hades. I was me. Period.
So as I watched Hyas question my identity, I felt my anger rise. My life, my family, my friends, my lovers, everything was snatched away from me. My identity was the only thing left. I didn't want that snatched away as well.
My hand easily broke through his wall of protective aqua and reached his neck. I applied the tiniest bit of force and he went flying back until, with a resounding crash that rand in my head and brought a shower of glass to come flying towards me, he slammed into a mirror. How the mirror appeared, I had no idea. And it wasn't the focal point of my attention; the pieces of glass racing toward me were coming at an alarming rate and unlike Hyas, who was an immortal, it would actually do serious damage to me if the glass came in contact with me. I hadn't ascended yet and neither did I want to. My ascension was when I was eighteen but I had refused to drink of Epona's chalice and kill a creature of the dark so I that I could finally become a god. I hadn't wanted to and if given the choice, I would choose death over the fate of a god.
I snapped my hand forward, my wrist moving in an awkward circle, causing a blazing flame of white hot temperament to be released and melt the measly pieces of glass. It devoured everything, fueled my by frequent and deadly anger and searched for a new target. The fire seemed alive as it danced across the gloom and doom, bringing with it a sense of warmth that only I could feel.
Hyas took one look at the approaching fire and scrambled up, shaking his head and muttering under his breath about how much I was like him and how I needed to control my temper. He brushed off the debris from his robe and faced the charging fire with a determined casualty. The fire colored him in a golden light and his childish features looked adorable in the sweet light. I felt my anger falter for a moment, causing my fire to falter before I finally regained my grasp onto the situation.
He raised one eyebrow before flicking his wrist. Immediately a torrent of water appeared out of nowhere and came flooding towards me. It extinguished like a measly lighter flame and the water drenched me to my very core, bringing with it a sensation which burned me to my very core. I screamed out in pain and thrashed about. It was too much. It felt like the very water was seeping through my bones and torturing my soul. My core burned and my eyes stung as I dropped like a rag doll to the cold, hard, stone floor. My breathing came out in gasps as I tried to orient myself. It burned, goddamn it! It hurt more than the flames of either a Hydra or a Fury. It was more pain than the hurt I had felt when that Minotaur had bashed me with his horns and torn my skin and broken my bones. I wanted to cry out but it felt like my mouth was sealed shut.
So silently, I endured this torture and begged to my Momma for help. But I knew she would never come back; she would never pat me on the head or kiss me on the cheek; I would never hear her bell like laugh and I would never see my father smile; I would never be that girl - the girl who lives in a warm home with loving parents and a blissful life. And it was all because of them! I swear on the ruins of Tartarus that when I see them, I’ll either kill them or kill myself.
I felt my anger rise again and the pain increased. I screamed out; make it stop! Please dear lord, make the pain stop! The fire licked its way to my soul once again and seemed to grasp it in a cold embrace. My world started going numb and all of the pain and hurt that I had ever felt was brought to the focal point of my mind. Tear leaked through my eyes and saturated my cheeks as the poison of forgotten memories threatened to choke me and lulled me to an eternal sleep.
“That’s it child, just go to sleep. Come on, my sweet, you’re coming home.”, the voice that whispered those words was one of eternal joy and sorrow. There was joy in her usually broken voice. I wonder what had happened to bring her such eternal sadness. And what had happened to change that sorrow into joy? As the questions swam around in my head, I felt myself slip into unconsciousness.
I closed my eyes and let the world come down to a blank and as the pain fled, I became thankful and wished for sleep. My wish was granted.
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Music; that was what I heard from the moment I woke up. A charged, passionate music that made my mouth go dry and my heart ache with desire. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes, commanding for the remnants of sleep to vanish. They retreated to the land of nothingness and I extracted the rheum from my eyes. I stretched while I let my senses explore. There was the sound of water coming from near by. I let my affinity for life, something I didn’t use often - it simply wasn’t of any help, so there wasn’t any point in using it - spread out. Instantly my world was changed from one of blank nothingness - my eyes were still closed - to a world of colorful happiness.
The land was painted in green. The moving objects in it, which I assumed were people, were also showered in the color of life. Green, in the spirit world - which was where I assumed I was - meant the same as it did in the world of the living. Green meant life and prosperity and the promise of a renewed hope. So I wasn’t very threatened now that I had observed the essence of the land but what I was threatened by were the shapes now coming towards me.
One was painted in the brightened green of life that was obscuring the land but the other, however, couldn’t have been more different. The bloodiest of reds drenched him from head to toe and I begged my eyes to open - what had they done to my eyes! I felt panic shroud my better judgment and I struggled to maintain my calm facade.
The color red, in the spirit world, was a complex jumble of emotions. It carried a complex, conflicting symbolism. It stood for passion, but it also represented hatred. It foretold birth as well as death. And I simply could not trust such conflict so I was very much desperate to open my eyes. I whimpered slightly when they didn’t before my battle training kicked in.
I was whimpering in fear? Really, how could I let such a blasphemy occur? I was a warrior trained by the finest fighter there was available on the planet of life. I was an expert in thirteen forms of fighting and I knew how to kill a man with my pinkie. So, how dare I whimper! Uncle would have my ass if he heard of this. That thought alone was terrifying enough to set me into motion. A warm tingling sensation began to charge my hand and I kept the flame at hand. I was at a disadvantage but I could make the best of the situation. The flame was readily stored, just burning to bounce free when needed.
I discreetly changed my stance to one of defense - with my legs slightly spread and my hands still stretched, giving the illusion that I was still unaware of the situation and was still stretching to relieve the tension of my muscles after sleep. But I knew that at the exact moment the man bathed in red would approach me, I would slam my hand down.
Truth be told, the stance wasn’t very defensive. It was more of the offensive variety. The only defense it offered was the stability that the spreading of the legs would provide. Even then, the chances of me winning if he were to go on charge were scarce. If he somehow decided to charge at me now, I would probably be able to change my stance into that of a defensive one but any hopes of going on the offensive would be destroyed then. From what I could see of his essence, he radiated the deepest of red which also signified that he had strength and confidence. Confidence like that was earned and I was sure he had done something to walk with a gait so smug and my theory was proven when I Felt the town’s people around me bow with respect. By the Gods, his essence was identical to mine!
I was dumbfounded for a moment before I shook it off and concentrated on the task at hand. I’d file through it later. Speaking of that, wasn’t I supposed to be at home eating some ice-cream and processing the onslaught of information that Soman so conveniently dumped on me? Damn it! How come nothing goes according to my plans? And I had a strange feeling that my brain was about to become more filled with pointless - in my opinion, it is pointless - information. I groaned internally and forced my mind to focus on the task at hand.
I once again sought him out and was surprised to find that he was charging at me at full speed. Damn this, I don’t care about this whore shit anymore! I summoned the flame to my hands and slammed my fist into his face but he dodged at the last second and brought his leg up into a swift uppercut. I leaned back into until I was almost parallel to the ground before setting my hands on the ground and launching my body into black flip. My feet kicked through the air and met his retreating leg in a clash.
I heard his hiss of surprise as I righted myself again and I was once again on the offensive. I fashioned my fire into the form of a sword and flipped through the air. I felt his eyes on me and just before I reached the ground, I slammed the sword down into the ground and let the fire race across the ground towards him. He just stood there before he flicked his wrist and the fire came rushing back to me.
Okay, that’s a new one. But no way am I letting a two bit, train pulling, fag get the best of me. I bent my knees and stretched out my hands to better absorb the impact. The fire came at me, a small burning at first until it reached temperatures that I had never been able to summon. How could he make a better fire than me? I was the controller of fire, the best in my domain. There was only one person who was better than me and he was -- No! It couldn’t be!
“Hades”, I hissed out through clenched teeth and I Felt his attention swivel to me. “Are you Hades?”, I asked the question with difficulty, my mind barely coherent through the anger that gripped me. The bastard had knocked my whore of a mother up and then abandoned me. I’ll kill him.
My only answer was the sound of running feet and the twirling if a blade through air. I’ll take that as a yes. White hot rage burned me and I fought to maintain my calm. When that didn’t work, I forced myself into the meditative state that Soman always made me work on because of my “raging temper”, as he put it. I knew that if I didn’t remain calm, I would do something rash and rashness is not affordable, not in this battle. I was here to kill him, and kill him I shall. No mistakes. This is my first and possibly only chance.
I pulled my sword out of the ground in a swift motion and blocked each of this amateur and mediocre attacks - a jab at the ribs, one at my face, a cut at my legs and a slash at arms, I dodged each one. It was like he had suddenly turned into an amateur, a trainee. Either that or he was trying not to kill me which is funny as hell to me since he started sending the myths after me to kill me since I was a child. I mean, really shitface? You’re trying to keep me alive now of all times? I sighed and rolled my closed eyes.
Speaking of that, why the fuck are my eyes closed? That’s just weird, dude. I mean, really. Are you really such a big coward that you’re afraid to face me at my full capacity? Big pussy. I scoffed.
His attacks were getting clumsier with time and they shook with each dodge or block I made. Where was the warrior I had first seen who had walked with a confidence so smug that it had unarmed even me? Where was the man who had easily looked through my attack and sent the ball of fire right back at me? Just to test him, I sent a massive amount of fire hurtling in his direction.
He ran. He ran away, screaming while I watched. What the bloody fuck was that? He fucking ran? Okay, has the world turned upside down or something? Since when does Hades run? That’s just wrong. I watched his essence run away in disbelief. Somewhere far away, the sound of laughter chimed. But I wasn’t paying attention to that - it was probably just some villager laughing at some trivial joke some other villager had made. I just stood there for a few more seconds before I ran like a bat out of hell after him. The laughter intensified. What the fuck is it with this laughter! I’m going mad. I’ve finally lost it. I’m hearing laughter at one of the most crucial points of my life. I shook it off and began chasing the coward.
He jumped up and caught the outcropping ledge of a building and hoisted himself up. He scaled the side of the building and jumped onto the roof before running along it. I followed his example and almost caught him when he jumped and landed on the next roof. I couldn’t make the jump, not without my eyes. It was impossible. So I resorted to my last option.
I clenched my eyes and grit my teeth, expecting the pain. The fire burst out of me in an anguishing torrent which turned into a relieved calm as I felt my burden lighten. Wings made of pure fire, raging and dancing with a bright amber light burst from my back and I felt the underlying tension of always keeping such a massive amount of raw energy trapped within, lift.
I fluttered my wings and they felt like the lightest of substances - fire was incorporated with wind and so my wings felt like they weren’t even there. I sighed in pleasure as I felt the wind massage my aching and sore back and buzzed awake the nerve endings in my wings.
I spread my wings to their full extent and heard the startled exclamations of the villagers. Really, a man just scales a building and they don’t notice that. But when I do something, they have to notice. Albeit having wings made of pure fire seemingly burst out of your back would traumatize anyone and I didn’t exactly try to be discreet about it. But still, they had to notice me didn’t they? I ran across and once again thanked the wind for its soothing massage. I felt eyes on me and heard his surprised gasp. Seriously, Hades? I mean, come on! You face tortured souls every day but you see a girl with wings and you’re shocked. What kind of a ruler are you?
I felt a sense of freedom as I insulted him and I felt like laughing but that would ruin my concentration so...I ran into a jump and lunched myself into the air. The freedom I felt was inexplicable, incomprehensible. I loved it, I loved every single moment of. My fire danced brilliantly as I flew through the sapphire sky and burst though the clouds with the texture of cotton candy. I smiled as I saw him fall. That was a great distance right there and someone as cowardly as him couldn’t, no wouldn’t, be able to make the jump. Besides the ratio of his weight to his height was simply too much to make him airborne long enough to be able to make the jump. I smirked as I saw him scramble up and look towards the sky. Surely, he was searching for me, searching for the person who would bring him towards his end.
I stopped for a second, my wings flapping but my body remaining in the same stance, as I assessed his situation. He was running, helpless and lost and I was going to catch him. I was sure of that. I knew I would not be able to get this chance again. So I reoriented myself and swooped down towards him at a mind blowing speed. I shot like a bullet through the air and I heard his scream. Right before I ran the sword through him, I thought about how easy this was. I had never expected it to be so easy. I had always thought that we would be equally matched and that I would be hard pressed to beat him. I had always thought I would return bruised and bloodied and barely alive. I had always thought that I would die. But this, I had never anticipated. This was easy. In fact it was far too easy!
Suspicion began to settle within me as I watched him now close quivering form. But it couldn’t be could it? No, it couldn’t be. But just to make sure. I had to make sure. I let my senses free and let my affinity for life come free in larger dozes. Instantly, everything changed.
The world turned into a mass of violet and the town’s people became variations of violet and green and as I looked down at the man, I saw his once green aura turn into the purest of blacks. I wrenched my body to a stop and dismissed my sword just as I was inches from the man quivering and keening in fear. I felt an overwhelming sense of relief as I saw his very much alive form. I sighed as I landed on the stone roof and I let my wings retract. I once again felt the pain of restraining the fire press down on me and I winced. I felt the backlash of energy that also followed a successful retraction and I hissed in pain.
The loss of energy made me woozy and my head started to spin. I had no true wings, not really. I just had a massive amount of fire stored in my mind which I could use in whichever I wanted. I fashioned the fire into swift and lean wings and let the fire explode from my back. Contrary to popular belief, summoning flames did actually hurt the demon or sorcerer or myth that summoned it and that was why myths rarely used fire. Water was the easiest element to summon and fashion and so most stuck to it. Only one born of fire or an entity of fire, like a Hydra, or one with a heritage of fire deep within their bloods could summon the fire and fashion it to their will with minimum amount of pain or stress.
Even then it was difficult and took a lot out of said being. It was an exhausting process and I wasn’t even pureblood! Had Hades mated with a demoness or a succubus then, maybe, it wouldn’t hurt me so much. But he hadn’t. He had chosen the woman or goddess most opposite to him to mate with and now the off-spring - moi - was a freak. I was born of life and death. I had the destructive power of Hade’s fire but I also had the gentle touch of Persephone’s water and air. And considering the fact that I had an affinity for life, I could manipulate any being or object with life, be it human or not. Now considering the fact that I had fire’s greatest enemy, water, within me, it hurt me a lot more than it would hurt a normal hybrid to produce and fashion flame.
Hence the reason my body was sore and aching and back burned like a freaking hippy had speed rubbed her polyester clad pants against it. Ouch!
I rubbed my back and tried to open my eyes again because of the change in scenery. My world seemed to go black again as I stood there, my head bowed and curses flowing freely from my mouth. The scenery shifted and was once again painted in a bright violet which signaled that magic had been used here. I felt the weightless sensation of solid body turning into an incorporeal mass. I sighed tiredly and just waited for my feet to land on solid ground.
Had it been any other day, or any other hour, I would have responded to “blinking”, as the gods called it, extremely negatively. I would have thrashed around and screamed. I would have chanted all the protective spells I know, I would have even blurted out the spells that J.K. Rowling had invented if it meant freedom. But not now, not today! I was mentally and physically exhausted.
I had just traveled to another spectrum, had an out of body experience, listened to a very long and very confusing lecture from Soman, tried to go home only to fall unconscious and get transported to the Middleworld where I had to deal with a temperamental ten year old and witness her rape and murder, then meet Hyas, get even more confused than I originally was, get into a fight with him and then get transported here so that I could fight with my “father” only to realize that the man I was chasing wasn’t my father at all! And now, as I was being transported to a different, once again against wishes, I didn’t have the fight left in me. I felt and was sure looked like shit. Oh and not to forget that I couldn’t open my godforsaken eyes! Yeah, today sucked hardcore. It sucked more than my buttfuck cousin’s girlfriend did when she was giving him a blow job, that too a blow job I walked into. It sucked more than it did when she asked me what flavor condom tasted the best and it sucked more than it did when they started dry humping in front of me. And that day sucked, not to mention that train pulling hoe, sucked a lot.
I let a dry laugh escape my lips when I remembered my suicidal cousin’s face. Ah, Noah, only you could cheer me up when I was stuck in a situation like this, that too unknowingly. The asshole actually jumped of a bridge just because Stephanie called him a fag! At least there was water underneath so he survived with only a broken arm and a concussion he got when he bashed his head into a rock. I was the one who saved him. Having three all state first place medals in swimming helped a lot. I got the lucky bastard out before he could hurt himself more though I can’t exactly say he didn’t get more injuries than a concussion and a broken arm. Grandma Ellie and Aunt Cindy broke his right leg and Cain, his brother - their parents were complete bible thumpers and so named their sons after two characters in it - beat the living shit out of him. It was fun to watch, actually.
I laughed again as I remembered what he’d looked like after his “talk’ with the family. Hilarious, just plain old hilarious! I sighed as I felt my self go into transaction mode. I wished I wasn’t so exhausted or else I’d be going into uber pissed off bitch bode. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
The uncomfortable process of the transformation of the incorporeal body to one of corporeal mass began. It felt like every cell in your body was being electrocuted, like every single cell was growing again - it felt like being born. I felt the suffocating sense of abandonment settle on me and steal my breath away and stuff me into an uncomfortable cocoon. This was the other way of traveling spectrum though every one else preferred the surrogates system. This just hurt like a bitch on a mission.
I tried taking a breath but there was no oxygen. I was suffocating. The panic began to settle in and I tried with all my might to shake it off. Finally after a long time, I felt myself loosening. My tightly wound muscles relaxed from the proverbial cocoon I was in and I felt my breathing return. I sucked in a huge, sharp breath and felt my lungs screaming in relief. I started shaking my hands, hoping to get the small pricks of electricity out of them and to loosen their stiff position.
The blackness around me started to lift and I breathed a sigh of relief. I could open my eyes and see again. A plethora of color blinded my now sensitive eyes and I instinctively closed my eyes to stop the light from blinding me. My eyes slowly adjusted and I sucked in a sharp breath. By the Gods, where was I?
The palace I was currently standing in was beautiful. Long, pointed arches with beautiful engravings carved into it and crown molding depicting a smirking woman breast feeding in public - strangely erotic, yet slightly morbid and disturbing; no doubt the occupant of this palace was a pervert. The carvings told of each of the gods medieval lives. I could see Persephone as she was abducted by Hades. I could see the destruction of Tartarus. I could see the battle of the Giant and Artemis. I could see all the events depicted and carved beautifully in intricate patterns of ethereal power into the stone sea of white marble.
The scene was rather lovely. It seemed I was in the great hall. The roof was enchanted and showed pictures of the Goddess Incarnate Terpsichore dancing around in the night of a full moon as a tribute to her Goddess Epona while all the other muses sat around and played hypnotizing melodies which made you feel as if magic was present in the air. The floors were polished black marble which reflected the scene above perfectly yet distorted it, giving it a darker meaning. A beautiful tapestry hung on the southern wall, depicting water nymphs playing around in the water. Faeries and pixies hung around the water and seemed to double the joy of the water nymphs. Smack dab in the middle if the room stood a grand oak table with high back ornate silver chairs with thin metal vines going around the legs and winding up higher and higher until it came to rest at the top of a chair where a rose of platinum and gold rested with vivid sapphires in laid within. There was a full feast spread out on the table. Its polished state perfectly reflected the scene above and with the food on top it was like watching a movie while eating on the sofa at home; the chairs definitely did look comfortable enough for that.
Seated at the very first chair was a man with a thick, full head of blonde hair. His shoulders looked strong and broad and from what I could see through the thin material of his white shirt, he had a well-muscled back. I instinctively licked my lips and then mentally kicked myself for it. What the fuck was I thinking? This could possibly be the man who had set this entire thing up. And I was thinking about sleeping with him. I hadn’t even seen his face, for Gods sake! I blew out a ragged breath through my nose when I saw the person sitting across from him. Hyas! That bastard!
He got me into this mess and then abandoned me; okay what is it with people abandoning me? I think I’m a lovable person. Sure, I get mad a lot and tend to destroy things in my raging, hissy fits, but everyone’s got their faults, right? Right! I deal with my problems with anger. At least I’m not a walking STD booth who opens her legs for any stranger that wants some with a freaky sour dough smell coming from between my legs. So that’s a good thing and at least I don’t discuss my sexual conquests with other people and which flavor condom I used; but seriously, they taste like latex so what’s the fucking point! That bag of hoe that my buttfuck suicidal cousin calls a girlfriend, has really messed up my thinking process. I shook my head to get that disgusting image out of my head. I really didn’t want to see the vividly graphic picture of buttfuck getting his knob slobbered over by that bitch in my head. Ew.
I mentally gagged and the man in front of me howled with laughter. What was so funny? Did I say something? Did Hyas say something? I doubt that cock block could say anything funny. Okay, I’m in my shit-fuck-this-world potty mouth mood, and it really isn’t healthy for me to be around kids at this time. Really not healthy at all! Poor little Marie, I messed up her brain completely. The man laughed again and I felt that twinge of annoyance and curiosity again. What the fuck was so funny! Did I have something on my face? Was I walking around in my underwear singing the Spice Girls, or something? I mean what! The dude really needs a therapist, he really does. Or maybe it’s me who needs the therapist. Yeah, it’s probably me.
I saw Hyas crack a smile and I was shocked. That dude can smile? Huh, who knew! I sure as hell didn’t. And his face returned to the I’m-gonna-cut-you-bitch-so-don’t-mess-with-me-even-though-I’m-a-five-feet-two-tall-squirt expression that is permanently stuck on his face . Yeah, I got all of that from a single expression. I have a genius level IQ, so reading between the lines isn’t something new for me. I saw his expression sour even further and curiosity got the best of me.
“Why the fuck do you always have that “who farted” face look going on? I mean it’s seriously a total cock block and buzz kill even though it’s funny as hell, but seriously, who died, dude?”
The man started cracking up again and I turned to face him. “And you! Dude, what the fucking hell is your problem. You’re laughing at nothing and it that doesn’t speak mentally retarded and I-have-a-negative-IQ, then I don’t know what does. So what are you laughing at, bubba?”
And he started laughing even more. “Thank you for that Ariadne. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to fool a God, so thanks.”
What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Fool me. So this is the asshole who tricked me!
“Yes, Ari, I am the asshole who tricked you.”
I started and raised an eyebrow. Is he a mind reader or some shit? I swear, if he starts sparkling in the sun, then I quit. He smirked and said, “No, I don’t sparkle. Yes, I’m the asshole. No, I don’t read minds. And you are in my palace.”
Okay, how’d he know I was going to ask him that? Moreover, who the fuck is he?
“I, my dear Ariadne, am Loki, the God of Mischief.”
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Chapter 8
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I stared at him. Hyas, he called me the daughter of Persephone. That was all I would ever be to them - to the gods. The daughter of Persephone and Hades - feared and loathed by all because of my heritage - is all I was ever meant to be. I was a hybrid of life and death. A hate child - I might as well be a bastard child - who was abandoned as soon as her existence was discovered. I was rejected; I was never even given a chance.
For years I suffered, for years my family suffered; my mother was accused of foul play by my father because of my looks - I didn't look anything like them, Mom had blond hair and golden eyes while Dad had red hair and green eyes; Solis inherited their looks with his strawberry blond hair and impossibly light green eyes with flecks of gold in them - like it was bleached by the sun.
I was the complete opposite. At birth, my hair was as black as a raven's feather - my parents even contemplated the possibility of naming me Raven, a name I completely despised because of it's implications; I was not a crow and would never be. My eyes were the features that completely set me apart - they were tri-colored. Red sandwiched between silver encircled between rings of black with a sea of black around the edge.
Because of my eyes, I was always neglected by my Grandmother - she was part gypsy and hated me from first sight. I had red eyes - the supposed devil's mark; of course she would never consider the possibility that it could also mean action, courage, confidence, vitality; of course she would look for only the negatives. But it was shrouded by silver; a color that was not of this realm - which meant belonging to the spirit world. The violet was a sign of royalty, magic and mystery - she feared magic even though magic flowed deeply within her veins and the mystery just made her that much more opposed to me. But what frightened her most was the black. Black in a sorts of lore's meant only one thing : death.
I had death marked on my forehead. And sure enough death followed me everywhere. All of the people I associated with, all of the lovers to whom I had never been able give myself completely, my family, my friends, even all of the pets I had - they all lay in a cemetery, rotting away as they mixed with the element they were made from. My grandma had died in another one of the attacks. She had had the most terrible death, in my opinion. Perhaps it was because of the fact that I hated my Grandma the most out of all of my family - she burned to death by the flames of a Hydra and I was sure she was now rotting in Hell waiting for vengeance.
Everyone I ever associated with and got close to became food for the myths; it's like I was cursed. And all of this misery, all of this sorrow, all of the guilt that weighed down on my shoulders was because of them. My supposed parents! Parents, my ass! They didn't deserve the right to conceive or give birth. She abandoned me. She banished me from her very womb. For seven years I had suffered. For seven years, I had battled with the unknown; I had wondered at my affinity with fire but had come to hate it when I saw the reactions of fear and hatred that had radiated from my loved ones.
But I would take ignorance any day over knowledge, for once I had the knowledge, I had become the cursed and broken person I now am. It had all started with their naive decision of sending someone of the ethereal, someone of the mystics, a god, into the world of the mortals. It was all their fault but it was and would always be identified by their names. My identity was not my own, it was theirs. It was all theirs and I wanted none of it.
I wanted nothing to do with them. I didn't want to be linked to them through every phase of my life. I didn't want to know them even! I was myself; Ariadne Novis. I was not the daughter of Persephone, neither was I the dreaded off spring of Hades. I was me. Period.
So as I watched Hyas question my identity, I felt my anger rise. My life, my family, my friends, my lovers, everything was snatched away from me. My identity was the only thing left. I didn't want that snatched away as well.
My hand easily broke through his wall of protective aqua and reached his neck. I applied the tiniest bit of force and he went flying back until, with a resounding crash that rand in my head and brought a shower of glass to come flying towards me, he slammed into a mirror. How the mirror appeared, I had no idea. And it wasn't the focal point of my attention; the pieces of glass racing toward me were coming at an alarming rate and unlike Hyas, who was an immortal, it would actually do serious damage to me if the glass came in contact with me. I hadn't ascended yet and neither did I want to. My ascension was when I was eighteen but I had refused to drink of Epona's chalice and kill a creature of the dark so I that I could finally become a god. I hadn't wanted to and if given the choice, I would choose death over the fate of a god.
I snapped my hand forward, my wrist moving in an awkward circle, causing a blazing flame of white hot temperament to be released and melt the measly pieces of glass. It devoured everything, fueled my by frequent and deadly anger and searched for a new target. The fire seemed alive as it danced across the gloom and doom, bringing with it a sense of warmth that only I could feel.
Hyas took one look at the approaching fire and scrambled up, shaking his head and muttering under his breath about how much I was like him and how I needed to control my temper. He brushed off the debris from his robe and faced the charging fire with a determined casualty. The fire colored him in a golden light and his childish features looked adorable in the sweet light. I felt my anger falter for a moment, causing my fire to falter before I finally regained my grasp onto the situation.
He raised one eyebrow before flicking his wrist. Immediately a torrent of water appeared out of nowhere and came flooding towards me. It extinguished like a measly lighter flame and the water drenched me to my very core, bringing with it a sensation which burned me to my very core. I screamed out in pain and thrashed about. It was too much. It felt like the very water was seeping through my bones and torturing my soul. My core burned and my eyes stung as I dropped like a rag doll to the cold, hard, stone floor. My breathing came out in gasps as I tried to orient myself. It burned, goddamn it! It hurt more than the flames of either a Hydra or a Fury. It was more pain than the hurt I had felt when that Minotaur had bashed me with his horns and torn my skin and broken my bones. I wanted to cry out but it felt like my mouth was sealed shut.
So silently, I endured this torture and begged to my Momma for help. But I knew she would never come back; she would never pat me on the head or kiss me on the cheek; I would never hear her bell like laugh and I would never see my father smile; I would never be that girl - the girl who lives in a warm home with loving parents and a blissful life. And it was all because of them! I swear on the ruins of Tartarus that when I see them, I’ll either kill them or kill myself.
I felt my anger rise again and the pain increased. I screamed out; make it stop! Please dear lord, make the pain stop! The fire licked its way to my soul once again and seemed to grasp it in a cold embrace. My world started going numb and all of the pain and hurt that I had ever felt was brought to the focal point of my mind. Tear leaked through my eyes and saturated my cheeks as the poison of forgotten memories threatened to choke me and lulled me to an eternal sleep.
“That’s it child, just go to sleep. Come on, my sweet, you’re coming home.”, the voice that whispered those words was one of eternal joy and sorrow. There was joy in her usually broken voice. I wonder what had happened to bring her such eternal sadness. And what had happened to change that sorrow into joy? As the questions swam around in my head, I felt myself slip into unconsciousness.
I closed my eyes and let the world come down to a blank and as the pain fled, I became thankful and wished for sleep. My wish was granted.
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Music; that was what I heard from the moment I woke up. A charged, passionate music that made my mouth go dry and my heart ache with desire. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes, commanding for the remnants of sleep to vanish. They retreated to the land of nothingness and I extracted the rheum from my eyes. I stretched while I let my senses explore. There was the sound of water coming from near by. I let my affinity for life, something I didn’t use often - it simply wasn’t of any help, so there wasn’t any point in using it - spread out. Instantly my world was changed from one of blank nothingness - my eyes were still closed - to a world of colorful happiness.
The land was painted in green. The moving objects in it, which I assumed were people, were also showered in the color of life. Green, in the spirit world - which was where I assumed I was - meant the same as it did in the world of the living. Green meant life and prosperity and the promise of a renewed hope. So I wasn’t very threatened now that I had observed the essence of the land but what I was threatened by were the shapes now coming towards me.
One was painted in the brightened green of life that was obscuring the land but the other, however, couldn’t have been more different. The bloodiest of reds drenched him from head to toe and I begged my eyes to open - what had they done to my eyes! I felt panic shroud my better judgment and I struggled to maintain my calm facade.
The color red, in the spirit world, was a complex jumble of emotions. It carried a complex, conflicting symbolism. It stood for passion, but it also represented hatred. It foretold birth as well as death. And I simply could not trust such conflict so I was very much desperate to open my eyes. I whimpered slightly when they didn’t before my battle training kicked in.
I was whimpering in fear? Really, how could I let such a blasphemy occur? I was a warrior trained by the finest fighter there was available on the planet of life. I was an expert in thirteen forms of fighting and I knew how to kill a man with my pinkie. So, how dare I whimper! Uncle would have my ass if he heard of this. That thought alone was terrifying enough to set me into motion. A warm tingling sensation began to charge my hand and I kept the flame at hand. I was at a disadvantage but I could make the best of the situation. The flame was readily stored, just burning to bounce free when needed.
I discreetly changed my stance to one of defense - with my legs slightly spread and my hands still stretched, giving the illusion that I was still unaware of the situation and was still stretching to relieve the tension of my muscles after sleep. But I knew that at the exact moment the man bathed in red would approach me, I would slam my hand down.
Truth be told, the stance wasn’t very defensive. It was more of the offensive variety. The only defense it offered was the stability that the spreading of the legs would provide. Even then, the chances of me winning if he were to go on charge were scarce. If he somehow decided to charge at me now, I would probably be able to change my stance into that of a defensive one but any hopes of going on the offensive would be destroyed then. From what I could see of his essence, he radiated the deepest of red which also signified that he had strength and confidence. Confidence like that was earned and I was sure he had done something to walk with a gait so smug and my theory was proven when I Felt the town’s people around me bow with respect. By the Gods, his essence was identical to mine!
I was dumbfounded for a moment before I shook it off and concentrated on the task at hand. I’d file through it later. Speaking of that, wasn’t I supposed to be at home eating some ice-cream and processing the onslaught of information that Soman so conveniently dumped on me? Damn it! How come nothing goes according to my plans? And I had a strange feeling that my brain was about to become more filled with pointless - in my opinion, it is pointless - information. I groaned internally and forced my mind to focus on the task at hand.
I once again sought him out and was surprised to find that he was charging at me at full speed. Damn this, I don’t care about this whore shit anymore! I summoned the flame to my hands and slammed my fist into his face but he dodged at the last second and brought his leg up into a swift uppercut. I leaned back into until I was almost parallel to the ground before setting my hands on the ground and launching my body into black flip. My feet kicked through the air and met his retreating leg in a clash.
I heard his hiss of surprise as I righted myself again and I was once again on the offensive. I fashioned my fire into the form of a sword and flipped through the air. I felt his eyes on me and just before I reached the ground, I slammed the sword down into the ground and let the fire race across the ground towards him. He just stood there before he flicked his wrist and the fire came rushing back to me.
Okay, that’s a new one. But no way am I letting a two bit, train pulling, fag get the best of me. I bent my knees and stretched out my hands to better absorb the impact. The fire came at me, a small burning at first until it reached temperatures that I had never been able to summon. How could he make a better fire than me? I was the controller of fire, the best in my domain. There was only one person who was better than me and he was -- No! It couldn’t be!
“Hades”, I hissed out through clenched teeth and I Felt his attention swivel to me. “Are you Hades?”, I asked the question with difficulty, my mind barely coherent through the anger that gripped me. The bastard had knocked my whore of a mother up and then abandoned me. I’ll kill him.
My only answer was the sound of running feet and the twirling if a blade through air. I’ll take that as a yes. White hot rage burned me and I fought to maintain my calm. When that didn’t work, I forced myself into the meditative state that Soman always made me work on because of my “raging temper”, as he put it. I knew that if I didn’t remain calm, I would do something rash and rashness is not affordable, not in this battle. I was here to kill him, and kill him I shall. No mistakes. This is my first and possibly only chance.
I pulled my sword out of the ground in a swift motion and blocked each of this amateur and mediocre attacks - a jab at the ribs, one at my face, a cut at my legs and a slash at arms, I dodged each one. It was like he had suddenly turned into an amateur, a trainee. Either that or he was trying not to kill me which is funny as hell to me since he started sending the myths after me to kill me since I was a child. I mean, really shitface? You’re trying to keep me alive now of all times? I sighed and rolled my closed eyes.
Speaking of that, why the fuck are my eyes closed? That’s just weird, dude. I mean, really. Are you really such a big coward that you’re afraid to face me at my full capacity? Big pussy. I scoffed.
His attacks were getting clumsier with time and they shook with each dodge or block I made. Where was the warrior I had first seen who had walked with a confidence so smug that it had unarmed even me? Where was the man who had easily looked through my attack and sent the ball of fire right back at me? Just to test him, I sent a massive amount of fire hurtling in his direction.
He ran. He ran away, screaming while I watched. What the bloody fuck was that? He fucking ran? Okay, has the world turned upside down or something? Since when does Hades run? That’s just wrong. I watched his essence run away in disbelief. Somewhere far away, the sound of laughter chimed. But I wasn’t paying attention to that - it was probably just some villager laughing at some trivial joke some other villager had made. I just stood there for a few more seconds before I ran like a bat out of hell after him. The laughter intensified. What the fuck is it with this laughter! I’m going mad. I’ve finally lost it. I’m hearing laughter at one of the most crucial points of my life. I shook it off and began chasing the coward.
He jumped up and caught the outcropping ledge of a building and hoisted himself up. He scaled the side of the building and jumped onto the roof before running along it. I followed his example and almost caught him when he jumped and landed on the next roof. I couldn’t make the jump, not without my eyes. It was impossible. So I resorted to my last option.
I clenched my eyes and grit my teeth, expecting the pain. The fire burst out of me in an anguishing torrent which turned into a relieved calm as I felt my burden lighten. Wings made of pure fire, raging and dancing with a bright amber light burst from my back and I felt the underlying tension of always keeping such a massive amount of raw energy trapped within, lift.
I fluttered my wings and they felt like the lightest of substances - fire was incorporated with wind and so my wings felt like they weren’t even there. I sighed in pleasure as I felt the wind massage my aching and sore back and buzzed awake the nerve endings in my wings.
I spread my wings to their full extent and heard the startled exclamations of the villagers. Really, a man just scales a building and they don’t notice that. But when I do something, they have to notice. Albeit having wings made of pure fire seemingly burst out of your back would traumatize anyone and I didn’t exactly try to be discreet about it. But still, they had to notice me didn’t they? I ran across and once again thanked the wind for its soothing massage. I felt eyes on me and heard his surprised gasp. Seriously, Hades? I mean, come on! You face tortured souls every day but you see a girl with wings and you’re shocked. What kind of a ruler are you?
I felt a sense of freedom as I insulted him and I felt like laughing but that would ruin my concentration so...I ran into a jump and lunched myself into the air. The freedom I felt was inexplicable, incomprehensible. I loved it, I loved every single moment of. My fire danced brilliantly as I flew through the sapphire sky and burst though the clouds with the texture of cotton candy. I smiled as I saw him fall. That was a great distance right there and someone as cowardly as him couldn’t, no wouldn’t, be able to make the jump. Besides the ratio of his weight to his height was simply too much to make him airborne long enough to be able to make the jump. I smirked as I saw him scramble up and look towards the sky. Surely, he was searching for me, searching for the person who would bring him towards his end.
I stopped for a second, my wings flapping but my body remaining in the same stance, as I assessed his situation. He was running, helpless and lost and I was going to catch him. I was sure of that. I knew I would not be able to get this chance again. So I reoriented myself and swooped down towards him at a mind blowing speed. I shot like a bullet through the air and I heard his scream. Right before I ran the sword through him, I thought about how easy this was. I had never expected it to be so easy. I had always thought that we would be equally matched and that I would be hard pressed to beat him. I had always thought I would return bruised and bloodied and barely alive. I had always thought that I would die. But this, I had never anticipated. This was easy. In fact it was far too easy!
Suspicion began to settle within me as I watched him now close quivering form. But it couldn’t be could it? No, it couldn’t be. But just to make sure. I had to make sure. I let my senses free and let my affinity for life come free in larger dozes. Instantly, everything changed.
The world turned into a mass of violet and the town’s people became variations of violet and green and as I looked down at the man, I saw his once green aura turn into the purest of blacks. I wrenched my body to a stop and dismissed my sword just as I was inches from the man quivering and keening in fear. I felt an overwhelming sense of relief as I saw his very much alive form. I sighed as I landed on the stone roof and I let my wings retract. I once again felt the pain of restraining the fire press down on me and I winced. I felt the backlash of energy that also followed a successful retraction and I hissed in pain.
The loss of energy made me woozy and my head started to spin. I had no true wings, not really. I just had a massive amount of fire stored in my mind which I could use in whichever I wanted. I fashioned the fire into swift and lean wings and let the fire explode from my back. Contrary to popular belief, summoning flames did actually hurt the demon or sorcerer or myth that summoned it and that was why myths rarely used fire. Water was the easiest element to summon and fashion and so most stuck to it. Only one born of fire or an entity of fire, like a Hydra, or one with a heritage of fire deep within their bloods could summon the fire and fashion it to their will with minimum amount of pain or stress.
Even then it was difficult and took a lot out of said being. It was an exhausting process and I wasn’t even pureblood! Had Hades mated with a demoness or a succubus then, maybe, it wouldn’t hurt me so much. But he hadn’t. He had chosen the woman or goddess most opposite to him to mate with and now the off-spring - moi - was a freak. I was born of life and death. I had the destructive power of Hade’s fire but I also had the gentle touch of Persephone’s water and air. And considering the fact that I had an affinity for life, I could manipulate any being or object with life, be it human or not. Now considering the fact that I had fire’s greatest enemy, water, within me, it hurt me a lot more than it would hurt a normal hybrid to produce and fashion flame.
Hence the reason my body was sore and aching and back burned like a freaking hippy had speed rubbed her polyester clad pants against it. Ouch!
I rubbed my back and tried to open my eyes again because of the change in scenery. My world seemed to go black again as I stood there, my head bowed and curses flowing freely from my mouth. The scenery shifted and was once again painted in a bright violet which signaled that magic had been used here. I felt the weightless sensation of solid body turning into an incorporeal mass. I sighed tiredly and just waited for my feet to land on solid ground.
Had it been any other day, or any other hour, I would have responded to “blinking”, as the gods called it, extremely negatively. I would have thrashed around and screamed. I would have chanted all the protective spells I know, I would have even blurted out the spells that J.K. Rowling had invented if it meant freedom. But not now, not today! I was mentally and physically exhausted.
I had just traveled to another spectrum, had an out of body experience, listened to a very long and very confusing lecture from Soman, tried to go home only to fall unconscious and get transported to the Middleworld where I had to deal with a temperamental ten year old and witness her rape and murder, then meet Hyas, get even more confused than I originally was, get into a fight with him and then get transported here so that I could fight with my “father” only to realize that the man I was chasing wasn’t my father at all! And now, as I was being transported to a different, once again against wishes, I didn’t have the fight left in me. I felt and was sure looked like shit. Oh and not to forget that I couldn’t open my godforsaken eyes! Yeah, today sucked hardcore. It sucked more than my buttfuck cousin’s girlfriend did when she was giving him a blow job, that too a blow job I walked into. It sucked more than it did when she asked me what flavor condom tasted the best and it sucked more than it did when they started dry humping in front of me. And that day sucked, not to mention that train pulling hoe, sucked a lot.
I let a dry laugh escape my lips when I remembered my suicidal cousin’s face. Ah, Noah, only you could cheer me up when I was stuck in a situation like this, that too unknowingly. The asshole actually jumped of a bridge just because Stephanie called him a fag! At least there was water underneath so he survived with only a broken arm and a concussion he got when he bashed his head into a rock. I was the one who saved him. Having three all state first place medals in swimming helped a lot. I got the lucky bastard out before he could hurt himself more though I can’t exactly say he didn’t get more injuries than a concussion and a broken arm. Grandma Ellie and Aunt Cindy broke his right leg and Cain, his brother - their parents were complete bible thumpers and so named their sons after two characters in it - beat the living shit out of him. It was fun to watch, actually.
I laughed again as I remembered what he’d looked like after his “talk’ with the family. Hilarious, just plain old hilarious! I sighed as I felt my self go into transaction mode. I wished I wasn’t so exhausted or else I’d be going into uber pissed off bitch bode. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
The uncomfortable process of the transformation of the incorporeal body to one of corporeal mass began. It felt like every cell in your body was being electrocuted, like every single cell was growing again - it felt like being born. I felt the suffocating sense of abandonment settle on me and steal my breath away and stuff me into an uncomfortable cocoon. This was the other way of traveling spectrum though every one else preferred the surrogates system. This just hurt like a bitch on a mission.
I tried taking a breath but there was no oxygen. I was suffocating. The panic began to settle in and I tried with all my might to shake it off. Finally after a long time, I felt myself loosening. My tightly wound muscles relaxed from the proverbial cocoon I was in and I felt my breathing return. I sucked in a huge, sharp breath and felt my lungs screaming in relief. I started shaking my hands, hoping to get the small pricks of electricity out of them and to loosen their stiff position.
The blackness around me started to lift and I breathed a sigh of relief. I could open my eyes and see again. A plethora of color blinded my now sensitive eyes and I instinctively closed my eyes to stop the light from blinding me. My eyes slowly adjusted and I sucked in a sharp breath. By the Gods, where was I?
The palace I was currently standing in was beautiful. Long, pointed arches with beautiful engravings carved into it and crown molding depicting a smirking woman breast feeding in public - strangely erotic, yet slightly morbid and disturbing; no doubt the occupant of this palace was a pervert. The carvings told of each of the gods medieval lives. I could see Persephone as she was abducted by Hades. I could see the destruction of Tartarus. I could see the battle of the Giant and Artemis. I could see all the events depicted and carved beautifully in intricate patterns of ethereal power into the stone sea of white marble.
The scene was rather lovely. It seemed I was in the great hall. The roof was enchanted and showed pictures of the Goddess Incarnate Terpsichore dancing around in the night of a full moon as a tribute to her Goddess Epona while all the other muses sat around and played hypnotizing melodies which made you feel as if magic was present in the air. The floors were polished black marble which reflected the scene above perfectly yet distorted it, giving it a darker meaning. A beautiful tapestry hung on the southern wall, depicting water nymphs playing around in the water. Faeries and pixies hung around the water and seemed to double the joy of the water nymphs. Smack dab in the middle if the room stood a grand oak table with high back ornate silver chairs with thin metal vines going around the legs and winding up higher and higher until it came to rest at the top of a chair where a rose of platinum and gold rested with vivid sapphires in laid within. There was a full feast spread out on the table. Its polished state perfectly reflected the scene above and with the food on top it was like watching a movie while eating on the sofa at home; the chairs definitely did look comfortable enough for that.
Seated at the very first chair was a man with a thick, full head of blonde hair. His shoulders looked strong and broad and from what I could see through the thin material of his white shirt, he had a well-muscled back. I instinctively licked my lips and then mentally kicked myself for it. What the fuck was I thinking? This could possibly be the man who had set this entire thing up. And I was thinking about sleeping with him. I hadn’t even seen his face, for Gods sake! I blew out a ragged breath through my nose when I saw the person sitting across from him. Hyas! That bastard!
He got me into this mess and then abandoned me; okay what is it with people abandoning me? I think I’m a lovable person. Sure, I get mad a lot and tend to destroy things in my raging, hissy fits, but everyone’s got their faults, right? Right! I deal with my problems with anger. At least I’m not a walking STD booth who opens her legs for any stranger that wants some with a freaky sour dough smell coming from between my legs. So that’s a good thing and at least I don’t discuss my sexual conquests with other people and which flavor condom I used; but seriously, they taste like latex so what’s the fucking point! That bag of hoe that my buttfuck suicidal cousin calls a girlfriend, has really messed up my thinking process. I shook my head to get that disgusting image out of my head. I really didn’t want to see the vividly graphic picture of buttfuck getting his knob slobbered over by that bitch in my head. Ew.
I mentally gagged and the man in front of me howled with laughter. What was so funny? Did I say something? Did Hyas say something? I doubt that cock block could say anything funny. Okay, I’m in my shit-fuck-this-world potty mouth mood, and it really isn’t healthy for me to be around kids at this time. Really not healthy at all! Poor little Marie, I messed up her brain completely. The man laughed again and I felt that twinge of annoyance and curiosity again. What the fuck was so funny! Did I have something on my face? Was I walking around in my underwear singing the Spice Girls, or something? I mean what! The dude really needs a therapist, he really does. Or maybe it’s me who needs the therapist. Yeah, it’s probably me.
I saw Hyas crack a smile and I was shocked. That dude can smile? Huh, who knew! I sure as hell didn’t. And his face returned to the I’m-gonna-cut-you-bitch-so-don’t-mess-with-me-even-though-I’m-a-five-feet-two-tall-squirt expression that is permanently stuck on his face . Yeah, I got all of that from a single expression. I have a genius level IQ, so reading between the lines isn’t something new for me. I saw his expression sour even further and curiosity got the best of me.
“Why the fuck do you always have that “who farted” face look going on? I mean it’s seriously a total cock block and buzz kill even though it’s funny as hell, but seriously, who died, dude?”
The man started cracking up again and I turned to face him. “And you! Dude, what the fucking hell is your problem. You’re laughing at nothing and it that doesn’t speak mentally retarded and I-have-a-negative-IQ, then I don’t know what does. So what are you laughing at, bubba?”
And he started laughing even more. “Thank you for that Ariadne. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to fool a God, so thanks.”
What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Fool me. So this is the asshole who tricked me!
“Yes, Ari, I am the asshole who tricked you.”
I started and raised an eyebrow. Is he a mind reader or some shit? I swear, if he starts sparkling in the sun, then I quit. He smirked and said, “No, I don’t sparkle. Yes, I’m the asshole. No, I don’t read minds. And you are in my palace.”
Okay, how’d he know I was going to ask him that? Moreover, who the fuck is he?
“I, my dear Ariadne, am Loki, the God of Mischief.”
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