Dread runs through Takashi's loved ones like a freight train. The energy levels fluctuate at a volatile rate. Greg sinks into his chair as there's nothing he could do to help. Hikari holds onto the table with white knuckles to prevent herself from falling.
"Hikari! Sit down."
Dr Hanson helps her sit down in a chair while a medical staff member is called over to them.
Meanwhile, Aiko feels her stomach churning while taking care of her granddaughter. The baby girl cries for her father. Aiko tries to comfort her despite that awful feeling inside of her.
Misha is speechless as she imagines her friend going through the absolute worst. She holds onto Penny, not only for her friend, but herself too.
Tears stream down Penny's face. "What's going on with Taki?"
Misha holds her tightly, crying as well.
Back on Gaia
Everyone from the guards to the civilians of Thebes are uncomfortable from hearing that ungodly screaming.
"W-What is that?"
"Is that scream even human?!"
The guards can hear it's coming from Heracles' hut and decide not to check it out of fear.
Takashi's fists pound the ground as the pain is eating him away akin to a sloth. The green grass near him is withering out. Only ten minutes have passed.
His throat is on fire from all the screaming. It stifles down, but the pain continues to hammer away. He turns to his side and clutches his knees to his chest for some physical relief. He looks up and still sees Artemis, Heracles, and Echo. And other people in the circle with him.
An unblinded Odysseus with his men raising their swords.
"How could you let this happen to us, Takashi?! You said you would protect us all!"
"You pathetic piece of shit!", Sander growls.
"My son never got to meet his true father because of you!", Damian shouts.
These words sting Takashi to his soul. Damian is right. They did die.
Golden crimson spills out from his chest, leaving marks from their exit. Echo's eyes well up as she covers her mouth in disgust. They cannot see what Takashi is facing, but it must be horrible.
"We need to stop this right now!", the nymph demands.
Artemis fights herself from crying. "We can't! He would lose his strength and he needs that to fight Poseidon! We can't do that to him!"
"We need to be his emotional support so he can make it. Cheer for him!", Heracles advises.
"Come on, uncle!"
Echo musters some courage. "You can do it! You will make it back home to them!"
Takashi couldn't hear their voices as the ghosts torment him.
"Anything to say for yourself, you fake?"
"I'm sorry", he speaks with a heavy breath.
Damian kicks him square in the ribs. His ribs rattling against its cage.
"Sorry isn't going to fix it. You need to die again!"
"I can help with that."
Taki jerks his head. A bloodied and battered Stavros towers over him.
"You must have felt like a true man when you killed me. How does it feel to be a killer again?"
His surroundings change to that stormy night with the Trojans around him.
YOU ARE READING
Kronos (Book One)
AdventureTakashi Watanabe taps his feet in anxiety as he awaits his firstborn child. The haunting trauma of his past makes him second guess his new role. Before he can see her, an Olympian deity rips him away from his loved ones and drops him in the world fi...
