The Doomsday Book

Chapter 6

"You want me to what?" he asked with icy anger.

I cleared my throat. "Uh, we want you to try and destroy the book in any way you see fit."

"Is it really that hard to understand?" Delta questioned, raising a brow.

Hades bit back a remark. "The Fates, you said, created this book?" He lifted the worn book without touching it, invisible force flipping the pages inlaid with glowing gold ink.

"Bitch, you deaf?" Delta said to spite.

I stifled a chuckle under a cough. Hades was practically popping a vein in his forehead with the amount of control he was trying to maintain over his anger.

"Why should I help you?" he pushed, tone creeping with uncontainable venom.

"Because the world's gonna end, like tomorrow!" Delta answered impatiently.

I stepped in front of her. "Look, Your... Lordship?" I sighed. "God of the Underworld. I understand your... lack of care and interest to help us. But if the world ends, don't you think it'd cause more trouble for you? Sir?"

Hades's eyes gleamed while he dropped his unseen grip over the book. "Reaper."

Absentmindedly, I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Yes?"

"You want to save the world, to stop the end. Why? Why struggle for this? Why uphold this world?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Delta jumped in. "It's—"

The god held up a hand, silencing her at once with a cold gaze. "I didn't ask you." He turned back to me, waiting.

"I..." The answer got caught in my throat.

"Don't lie to me," he warned. "I will know. And don't answer me with what you've heard. Answer me with your own words and your own beliefs."

My mouth went dry as I searched for my answer. Blank. Nothing. I stood there, thoughtless. Hades smirked because that was my answer for him.

"Nothing," he said triumphantly. "You don't have a reason to save this world. You don't care."

Delta looked at me, stunned. Her brows knitted in confusion while her eyes darkened with disappointment. "So what? You don't care? You don't want to save the world? You're just gonna... let it die?"

"No! No, I never said that!" I defended, turning away. "It's true, I don't care. This world is a constant struggle, a constant cycle where the inhabitants only ever dream and speak but hardly ever act." My eyes met Delta's, watering. "I once told you that Reapers aren't born but created. At least, the Reapers nowadays. They come from Souls that refuse to die when it's their time but also reject becoming Wanderers. Their bodies would also perish."

"Where are you going with this?" Delta mumbled, shifting uncomfortably on her feet.

"Unlike so many others, I didn't die in a fire or get tossed into the ocean or shot by a mugger or however the hell they deemed an unfair way to die. I... I stared at the moon and jumped. I jumped off a cliff into water. At that height, the water might as well have been concrete. But I knew that, and I still did it."

Hades sat back in his throne-like seat, watching quietly as Delta's frown deepened. She was debating whether to speak or not. Her lips remained sealed.

"I died because I hated this world. Then I was brought before Hades, and you know what he said?" I turned and glared at the god, fury welling up in my chest. "'What a pathetic way to die'."

The Shadow stared blankly at me while Hades remained inexpressive.

"So yeah! I don't care what happens to this world because it doesn't care what happens to me. But I've come too damn far to suddenly let it die! I'll save it as proof of my struggle. So, God of the Underworld, destroy the book. I don't care if you have to shove it up your ass. Just destroy it."

He stood, towering over us, at least seven feet tall. For a moment, only the faint ticking of the mortal clock was heard. Then Hades let an intimidating grin spread on his face. He started chuckling, which turned to roaring laughter.

Delta looked at me in question, and I reciprocated her look with a shrug, anger defusing into confusion.

"You responded so emotionally! I'm almost sad to tell you that I can't destroy the book. Almost."

My jaw would've dropped had I not gotten my reactions beaten into cold impassiveness. Still, that didn't stop me from feeling indignant and slightly humiliated.

"You," Delta began, unable to keep an amused smile from her face. "You are a prick." She shook her head, chuckling.

"Wait, there's absolutely nothing you can do?!"

Hades only grinned wryly, eyes darkening into a color I couldn't describe.

"Oh shit," Delta cursed, looking at the mortal clock.

"The end will happen when the clock strikes midnight," Hades stated, tossing the book to me. "The Fates are always so predictable."

"That's less than half an hour. What do we do?" Delta cried, slightly panicked.

"The only certain thing you can do now is to find the Fates, take a lock of hair from one of them, and bind the book shut with it. So long as the hair holds, the Book cannot unleash what's written inside," Hades said.

"Do you realize that's information we could've used hours ago!" I growled, a little more than ticked off.

"Better get going then," he said, brushing my rhetorical question aside. "You should be able to make it on time."

Delta was about to speak when Hades snapped his fingers. In a blink, Delta and I were standing on a field under twinkling stars. Three teenagers were talking quietly to each other, a few yards off from us. It was clear who they were.

"Who's gonna steal the hair?" Delta whispered.

"Why don't you? You can't die from the Fates, and besides, you're a Shadow!"

"That's actually bad since they'd be able to sense my ancient power. Why don't you? You're not overwhelmingly radiating power."

"And risk getting smacked with magic beyond my comprehension? No thank you. You do it; you're strong enough."

"I can't die, but they can rewrite my life and that'll take too long to counteract," she argued.

My eyes darted to the Fates, hesitation strong in my nerves.

"Well fuck," my friend muttered under her breath.

'Well fuck' indeed, I thought in agreement.