Of Assassins and Gods 1: Rebirth

Chapter 8: Tartarus

Nergal, the demon that moves, but doesn’t walk. He looks, but cannot see. He is the undead warden of the underworld prison himself. He cackled again, he moves through the shadows in silence. His skin, as rotten and white as if dead for twenty years. I only managed to see him through the lanterns light on the walls that lit the walls. He appeared behind me, a rusted axe in his hands. He swung blindly. I dodged it easily. I pulled an arrow from my quiver and jabbed it into his eye. He screamed.

“That wasn’t nice. Never, ever sneak up on an assassin,” I said laughing.

“You seek him, do you not?” he asked. A raspy voice replaced his old one. I remember him differently.

“Nergal, you sound different, drinking too many rats?” I asked jokingly.

“If you want him, you have to find him,” he said.

I grabbed the golden sword from the statue on my right as he grabbed the golden sword on the opposite statue. We clashed for what felt like hours.

He swung it with great speed and power. He often punched my gut in the middle. I fell for his punches every time. I grabbed the sword in the other hand of the statue and so did he. We clashed swords. I flurried left and right. I cut his right arm. He slashed my leg. I limped away. He chased me through the shadows. I was scared, very scared indeed. I ran from him. I threw the sword in the direction in his cackling. I turned back around to start running again. He was standing in front of me. Well, he wasn’t even standing, he was running. He swung his sword at my midsection. I knelt back, while still moving. I stood and turned. We re-entered battle.

We fought through the halls of Tartarus. I back flipped as he plunged his sword towards me. I dropped the sword and drew my bow and arrow. I released the arrow and the arrow plunged through his forehead, forcing it to split in the middle. Blood splattered across the hallways. I plunged my sai into his brain, well, what is left of it. I pulled it out and licked the blade. My eyes burned.

“Your memories are mine now,” I said. I stood and grabbed my arrow from the wall and the sai from the ground and wiped the blood from my bottom lip.

I walked through the halls, past the cells of many in-mates of Tartarus. I saw the largest cell in this complex. It held a name above the door. I looked through the hole in the metal door, it contained a man. A long grey beard and long grey hair sat on his face and head. His beard fell over his stomach to the floor. He had blood on his mouth and in his beard. He wore a mangy orange toga. It was orange with watered down blood. The plaque read: Chronus, The Father of the Gods.

I shook my head.

“Come here boy,” he whispered.

I began to walk away and he grabbed me through the door. I twisted and held my gun to his forehead.

“The prophecy will come true. Listen to me. You had no father. The man you called father is not dead. He lives, on Olympus. You were created in fire and water, in the air and on earth. You have no soul. You have no emotion. You can never live, if you have never died. You will meet the gods. And they will destroy you,” he whispered in my face.

I shot his hand and ran. I ran with tears in my eyes. I walked up to the door I was looking for. I read the plaque. BEWARE THOSE THAT ENTER. PAIN LIVES HERE.

I entered the room. “Hello pain,” I said.

“You, you dare enter my cell. You assassin,” he snarled.

“Let’s cut to the chase, Pain. I need some information. You were the first assassin right. So, why did you enter the Fraternity?”  I asked sternly.

“I entered the Fraternity because of this tattoo,” he said coldly, “also, because my father was Zeus,” he continued.

I gasped, “What?”

“You are probably related to a God as well,” he said.

“Chronus just said that I have no father, that I was created. What does that mean?” I asked curious to what Chronus said previously.

“So, the prophecy is true,” He gasped. “You are the redeemer of the Fraternity. You must save us. Most of these cells are filled with previous Fraternity members. They are here for ignoring the gods. You must redeem them and set them free,” he said.

“Why are you in here?” I asked.

“I was the beginning of the end. I was the first to stray from my destiny, and to only become an assassin for the money. That is why I am here,” he said.

“Goodbye pain,” I said.

I left his cell. I left him there to rot for eternity.

I walked back to the gateway that I entered through. I stood on the underworld seal. I screamed, “To Budapest!” I raised my arms. An orange energy formed around them and engulfed my body. It shot through the sky into the Earth and across the clouds.

I said to myself, “So things I learnt from this trip: My true destiny.”