Wings and Tails

Chapter Four

Thanatos had been researching a lot about the sea. Lately there had been a rise in the number of shipwrecks, but that wasn't the only reason he was researching the sea. He was educating himself on what he should and shouldn't say around merfolk.

He wanted to know what he said wrong that offended Tri. He had the suspicion that it was Thanatos calling him a siren, but Thanatos didn't understand. He had heard from countless mortals that all merfolk were without mercy. However he was starting to think more about the souls that he had previously thought were insane.

The ones that spoke about being saved by the mermaids and mermen. Perhaps they were right and everything Thanatos had believed was wrong. Maybe they were the most sane ones out of them all.

Through his research and constant questions to Hades, Thanatos had found out that the sea had been on the verge of war for a long long time.

Poseidon and Hades had talked many times about waging war upon Zeus. Hades would rather wait until there was a tipping point. Poseidon said that his subjects were getting annoyed with the hate that they got everyday and wanted to strike back. Apparently they were very convincing.

Thanatos was starting to believe that the sea had went past the tipping point, the rise in shipwrecks was concerning. Also the mermaids and mermen that caused the shipwrecks were hanging around a lot more. Not hiding when Thanatos showed up, grinning at him, showing off their spiked teeth.

They were terrifying.

Skin of various different colours. Hair ranging through colours that Thanatos hadn't even known existed. Rows of thin, razor sharp teeth. Webbed fingers with extremely sharp nails. Their eyes were the scariest parts though. Various colours, a perfect match to their tails. However they reminded him of Tri, everytime he looked at one of them.

That was the scariest part, being reminded of the one he offended when he had actually thought they might be friends. That thought had scared him, the only ones that he might be able to consider friends are Hades, Persephone and Eros. He had tried to make friends with some other gods through his lifetime. They would get along alright until the other god or goddess found out that Thanatos was the god of death. Then they always pushed him away. So eventually Thanatos stopped trying to get close to anyone else, instead choosing to push them away so he wouldn't get hurt.

It had become his instinct over the years, push everyone away before they could do the same to him.

Now he wanted to apologise to Tri. It wasn't fair on the merman for Thanatos to start accusing him of wanting to kill him. It wasn't fair for Thanatos to call him a siren, even if he didn't know what it meant. It wasn't fair to say that they killed all the mortals.

Like Tri said, the merfolk just sang and the mortals killed themselves. It was wrong to pin the blame on them when it was really the mortals fault.

Thanatos had found out from Hades that the main reason that Poseidon wished to go to war was because of what was thrown in the oceans. He was right of course, but Thanatos hadn't known that before.

Thanatos got a quick mental image of a shipwreck, out by the same cluster of rocks tgat he had met Tri on.

So as Thanatos did as he was expected to do as the god of death: he followed death.

Death is not all what mortals think. Mortals think that death is the end, that they will simply just fade into nothing. Nothing more than a mere memory that fades with time. While that may be true, their soul lives on. Either in ther fields of apostle, the Elysian Fields or the fields of punishment. In punishment they are fully aware of everything, not given a chance to wither away, at least not until Hades deems that they have been punished enough for their sins. In the Elysian fields, they are also aware of everything, but to less of an extent. They are aware that they are being rewarded, but afterlife can get dull after a few centuries. So they go for rebirth, only those in Elysium can go for rebirth. The fields of Apostle are the worst. When they first get there they are aware of the other spirits wandering around amost them. Over time their will to keep searching for lost family fades, getting lost in memory, replaying the same memories over and over, until they have changed completely. They lose consciousness, hope, everything. Some try hold out longer than others, but they all succumb to the same fate eventually. A spirit in Apostle will regain a moment of consciousness whrn they are mentioned among the living, but it is short, they fall back into their memories. Not able to escape the past.