The World Above

Chapter 27 : Coffee and Weekday Mornings

I can't bear it. Even if I close my eyes for a few seconds I am revisited by that horrifying dream.

These nightmares were not just frightful spectacles; they felt like omens, sinister whispers of a fate foretold.

I didn't want to sleep, especially not back at my home where no one would understand my sudden insomnia. I couldn't risk closing my closing my eyes for hours at end and relive that chilling scene.

Angelica once radiant and powerful, now lying cold and lifeless. My wedding dress, drenched in the blood she spurted as I cradled her.

"Haven?..... Haven!" I heard someone calling my name. I look up, dazed. It was Erebus, the god of the Underworld. "Umm... yes?" I ask, confused.

"I just wanted to know if you could tell me what happened." He repeats himself. "I... I don't know. One minute I was in the Fields and the other... I was...." As I begin to explain my weird dream, a sharp pain shoots in my head and I scrunch my eyes trying to deal with the discomfort.

"Don't tell them! They Can't know!"

"You okay?" Felix looks at me, worried. "Yeah, I have a headache, a bad one. Do you have some medicine? I could really use some right now." I look at Felix who goes down to check his medicine cabinets, probably.

While he's gone, I have a feeling I shouldn't be alone with a man who is the god of death. "So, would you mind completing what you were saying?" He suddenly breaks the silence.

"Well, as I was saying. One minute, I was in the Fields and the other...." I racked my brain to get a good answer, " I was in the home of the pixies. I think they wanted to show me their home!" I smile, painfully.

It seems that Erebus doesn't believe me for he narrows his ruby eyes. But he doesn't say anything and instead busies himself in a scroll.

Ruby eyes!

I quickly glance back at him. He's still immersed in that scroll, giving me enough time to fully analyze him.

His ruby red eyes are alluring, having the reflection of a roaring fire. The same fire I saw in Valor's eyes when he saved me from the lunatic humanoid.

His hair is as dark as the feather's of a raven, similar to those of Valor's. No way! He can't be!

"Are you done analyzing me?" His voice warm yet it still sent shivers down my spine. "No!.. I mean Yes!... I mean..." I stutter, embarrassed at being caught in the act.

"So what do you think? Am I like what you humans imagined me as? Am I mysterious and manipulating as Hades? Or do I seem fearsome like Yama?" He looks at me.

"Um... Both?" I pose it more as a question rather than an answer. That was not at all what I was thinking about. I don't even know who Yama is!

A spark ignites in his eyes just then, "You figured it out." He says softly. "Figured what out?" I feign ignorance. "That I'm Valor's father." He replies calmly.

"You're What!!!" Felix is standing at the doorway, shock clearly expressed on his face. Erebus's lips twitch in amusement. "The Emperor as well as the god of Underworld, I also have another responsibility of being Valor's father and the husband of Angelica."

"Wait ! So you're saying that the god of Death married the goddess of Creation?" Felix puts down the medicine on the bed.

"Why is it that hard for you to believe?" The god asks, furrowed his dark bushy eyebrows. "Well I'm just amazed at how two people, being totally polar opposites fell in love." Felix tries to explain himself.

"Well, to explain it to you, let's just say that whatever one works for , he gets it." Erebus takes a seat in front of us and motions Felix to sit beside me.