HBH IV: Forges Of Hellfire

VII: You're Telling Me, Death Isn't Optional?

Supposedly rivers trickle out into sea, this river however came to a full stop at a large lake. The lake itself was boiling but not as hot as the river. A cool breeze blew over every so often. The heat rose but was quickly blown away by the breeze. I stirred slowly and saw up. I looked around and saw Claudia at the banks curled up into a ball. There were three scrolls of blueprints beside her. "You used the Scrying Mirror and saw me and Gray's conversation, right?" I nodded while I crawled back to shore. We were definitely bruised and burned but were alive. "Is it really my fault?"

"Huh?"

"Am I the reason Cynthia died?"

"No."

"Then who?"

"Normally I'd say 'It was no one's fault' but I think you're traumatized enough to know, someone is to blame."
"Yeah. Thanks for stating the obvious."

"It's Cynthia's."

"No, it's not. It was Macha's or Gray's...." Her voice trailed off.

"That's the thing, isn't it?"

"What."

"You're immediately blaming the bad guys, you never thought someone could be their own reason for their demise."

"I guess that's true."

"I know It's true, I was so mad at those Fomorians for killing Croix, but hearing your conversation it comes full circle. She killed herself, out of her own choice. She could've pulled the cord from the outside- she didn't."

"Kendra?"

"Can you blame her? Her life was miserable." I held back tears. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Everything. Throwing you into the ditch, shouting at you- oh gods, and Mark. I said I hated him. He was right about Gray. Look where that got us. Cynthia is gone, Croix is gone and Mark lacks one of his limbs."

"That's not your fault."

"Then why do I take the blame for this?"

"We can't focus on this, now we need to work on getting out."

"Can we rest?"

"Of course." I sat down beside her.

She fell asleep on my lap. I looked around at the dark cave. Remembering Croix was hard. It was terrible how she died. A sacrifice that proved useless. We still lost Cynthia. We'd lost so many people. Now Brigid wasn't allowing anymore campers to go on quests. Unclaimed and lost half-bloods were all over the globe, probably dying at that point. I closed my eyes and suddenly heard a silent voice. You can always leave them. Why work when you can just rest. The voice spoke. You must be so tired, I can't imagine having to work like that. Luckily, I've never worked a day in my life. At first I thought it was the dead soul of some spoiled someone but I turned around and saw a spirit trapped in a cage. Hello little girl. I am Acedia. Would you be so kind as to open my cage? I stepped back. A lot of Catholic was stuff was occasionally woven into the Celtic mythology when Saint Patrick came. It suddenly came snapping back. My very first quest to rescue my mom. I came across a spirit called Ira, it meant something.

Wrath.

"You're sloth, Acedia? Your sister is Ira." The spirit nodded lazily. All your friends will die anyway, why even bother trying. Anyways you've taken up 5 years for the rest of my eons of imprisonment here. I turned to my watch, sure it was broken and battered but it still had a proper time on it. "It's only been 5 minutes." That long already? She turned to me. Darling you must be tired, take a rest. Your friends won't need you anyways. I scoffed and began to walk away. Wait! Little girl, I'll give you anything. A peaceful life, where you won't be on all these stupid quests. You'll live forever with the love of your life. I turned around. You stray so far from home, I can bring him here. He'll be with you forever, I just need your little soul to corrupt. I walked towards her cage. I could see images of a life I could have had, a life without quests. Everything was finally going how I wanted it. But I stopped, tears filled the back of my throat. I saw Mark with both of his arms. I don't know why, I don't know how but that snapped me back into reality. I fell to my knees sobbing. "It's not real, is it?" The images faded. "My life has done nothing but go haywire, I never asked to be a half-blood, I never wanted to be a hero, I never wanted to be the cause of someone's death. But that happened so screw it, I have great moments in life because of those crazy twists and turns. I made real friends and I wouldn't give anything up for that." I turned around and raced back to Claudia.

I found her huddled over a fire. "Hey, you okay?" She looked up at me with a small smile. "You're right, these experiences brought me to where I am now. I am the strongest person that I could ever be."

"Oh, so you like- heard me?"

"Yeah, you were pretty loud. You shouted that last part."

"Oh, okay. Kinda embarrassing."

"Yeah, it sounded straight out of some children's show."

"Yeah, don't remind me."

"Cool speech though, might plagiarize it as my own." She teased. I sat down and closed my eyes. We weren't supposed to be sleeping but I was tired.

A sweet music filled my ear. I opened my eyes and saw a woman in white, she was radiant within an aura of peace. She had a white harp in hand. "Um, hello?" She smiled kindly. "Who are you?"

"I am Cana Cludhmor.

"You're a woman with the whale bone and tendon harp."

"Yes."

"So you made the Irish harp."

"Yes."

"You're here because..."

"You need help."

"Woah, didn't know that." I replied sarcastically. "Be more respectful." She stepped down from her rock with angel-like grace. She sat on a rock beside Claudia and sprinkled sleepy dust or whatever on her. "You're stuck here."

"So are you."

"I'm not, I'm an apparition."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I think you should know that."

"Thank you."

"I didn't." She turned around. "Look for the harp insignia, follow it." She gently wisped away. "Well, not even a pointing in the direction? Just a figure it out thing?" There was no reply. "Okay." I shook Claudia awake. Her hair stuck to her face. "Good morning." I facepalmed. "I don't even know what time it is."