CHAPTER THREE (Brother)
Strong and cold winds, dancing waves on the vast open sea and sounds of seagulls following a lonely ship. The coffee only gave a small taste of bitterness while the bread reduces the sweetness on the tongue; he sat at a table near the open deck of the vessel. A young man with jet black hair that points in an upward fashion and he wears a black outfit with long sleeves hiding his arms. As his blue eyes scan the horizon a memory came back unexpectedly. A heavy downpour of the rain drenches the bloodied soil of a battlefield from where he kneeled down surrounded by the headless bodies of his three sisters, while on a mount of mangled corpses stood his twin brother with his reddish yellow eyes glowing in the darkness of the storm. Confused rather than enraged he could not comprehend what had happened.
“Why?! Why have you murdered your own?! Were you displeased by reality?! Answer me Thanatos!!”
The fearsome god held in his right hand a blade that took countless lives while he grabbed the head of a king in his left hand. The god who once never involves himself into the matters of the world now has unleashed a fragment of his power bringing death to both mortals and immortals. A feeling that he had feared to have now grips his heart as he saw the eyes of Hypnos.
“I do not have an answer that will convince you about the truth but I ask not for forgiveness but for understanding that there are things in this world which are far more important. In time you yourself will see why I must turn my back on everyone.”
“I can’t understand unless you tell me! Is it about Cassandra’s prophecy?! Or is it about your anger on Zeus?! Dear brother tell me. What made you turn into such a monster that devours even your own kin?”
“Never forget about his day Hypnos. We are not gods, we are just personifications created by the combined desire and weaknesses of the people that we now oppress. And tell Zeus that his tyranny will end soon.”
Hypnos watches as Thanatos vanishes into the mist never to be seen again. Thanatos’s treachery soon spread among the gods of Olympus and enraged the Father of all gods Zeus. Hypnos returned to his family in the river styx still baffled by his brothers words while their other remaining siblings mourn the deaths of the Keres Sisters.
Many centuries have passed and Thanatos’s words rang true, certain events almost wiped out the gods while those who survived blended in with the humans but Hypnos and the other gods who stayed together realized that Thanatos was the only god who believed the prophecy of Cassandra who they thought was nothing more than a crazy fool. Now they came together to prevent the prophecy and search for the one god who fought throughout time in order to keep the worlds existence.
The docks were filled with noises from various vendors selling their products to tourist but Hypnos is not here for a sightseeing trip. He gained valuable information that his brother can be found in a small town nearby. Walking through the crowds he ponders about what could have been if they have believed the crazed woman, perhaps his own wife and children could have been saved and enjoying a nice trip with him today but it is all in the past now and he could not afford to be kept chained down and doing nothing after all he himself have declared to fight against Zeus right before he stormed off from the golden gates of the crumbling Olympus.
The world was at war and hell itself laid waste upon the cities around Olympus. The people prayed for salvation but the gods did not respond for they themselves were at war among their fellow gods. Zeus and the other Olympian gods were being evicted by the other minor gods who believes that his tyranny brought destruction to the world.
“FOOLS!! I am Zeus the almighty god! You dare spit your nonsense on me?! Each and every one of you will be punished for your infidelity!”
Hypnos ran up the mountain with great speed, he leapt over the gate and landed with a great punch that shook Olympus and made the gods fall on their knees. The gods were at awe upon seeing his strength but his eyes had tears of agony from losing something important. Nevertheless, his act made Zeus angrier.
“Hypnos! You, brother of the traitor! Now you are showing your true colors. Are you going to follow Thanatos and go against me?! You should know better that I am the king of the gods.”
“My brother was not a traitor. He did what must be done and you branded him as a monster among all gods. I now know the truth Zeus, this war is meant to happen because you threw off the balance of power in this world! You poisoned the minds of my sisters and used them to start a war between the empires who defied you! But thanks to Apollo’s gift on Cassandra she was able to tell us about the impending doom even though only my brother was the one who listened to her.”
“She was nothing more than mindless human, her words means nothing!”
“Look around you Zeus! Hear the cries of your followers as they are being slaughtered by the crusaders! You are more concerned for your hold of power than to those who you should be saving! My brother was right, today is the day that you fall, Zeus.”
“You and your treachery will be the only ones to fall here!”
Zeus mustered all his power to create a thunder storm that will incinerate Hypnos. Dark clouds formed around Olympus as Zeus let loose a barrage of lightning strikes on Hypnos, each and every hit caused an explosion that terrified the gods who were watching. Gods maybe deathless but they can feel pain and the spectacle was nothing more than brutal, thunder roared throughout the skies and Zeus felt no remorse when he handed down punishment on Hypnos. But as the smoke clears the god of sleep Hypnos was still standing proud and strong with only his robes torn and his armor broken aside form that no real injuries can be seen. Zeus cannot believe his eyes, the power that he used can bring even all the titans down on their knees but right in front of him is a god who was only known as a trickster but now revealed that he can stand his ground.
“You! How are you able to withstand my attack?!”
“Have you forgotten? I am Hypnos God of Sleep but I am also a death god who draws power from those who dies in their sleep. Just how many people do you think dies in their sleep everyday Zeus? You call yourself Father of the gods but all you do is feed on everyone and you decimate those who threaten your rule. All those who worship you are now being killed, so where will you take your strength from?”
“I will eradicate you! I am the most powerful god and I should stand on top! It is my birth right!”
“You never had the right! You and your father are the monsters here and not my brother. He may have killed my sisters but you killed all of us Zeus. My wife and my children are now gone but I’ll never let this world die and just like my brother, I too will turn my back on all of you.”
“You treacherous bastard! I will lock you up in the deepest pits of the underworld!”
As Zeus prepares for another attack Hypnos closed into him and landed a powerful punch on his abdomen that sent Zeus flying but it did not end there. He pursued Zeus as he was being blasted away; punches after punches, kicks after kicks Hypnos let loose a continuous chain of attacks that shocked not only the Olympians but Zeus himself. With one last hit he hammered Zeus straight down to the ground imbedding him deep on top of Olympus. Zeus opened his swollen right eye and saw Hypnos standing on top of him.
“This is the end Zeus. Thanatos tried to tell me once that from the very beginning humans never needed gods for it is us who needs them. But we abandoned them and treated them like animals that we can kill in order to feed our desires. We owe them our lives and now a future that will eliminate both them and us is coming so it is our duty to save what is left. Thanatos is out there somewhere fighting to keep that future from ever happening. Now I ask of you Zeus, what will you do? What will you choose? Cause in the end if we fail it will only mean our demise.”
“I-I w-will never yield to you or to anyone. I will show you that deserve to rule everyone!”
“Foolish god. It does not matter now. You can keep your rule if you can but as for me, I will find my brother and help him.”
“You and your brother will be damned and I will make sure that your cries will fill the entire underworld!”
It was one of those moments that Hypnos hates. Remembering is one thing that he can’t stop but it keeps him from forgetting what must be done. He travelled the world in search for Thanatos and now he is sure to find him but what he fears is that his brother may have forgotten the bond that they once shared.
He heard a cry from a far; it was a young boy being chased into the alleys by two men. He followed them and after some left and right turn he managed to catch up. The boy is small and thin while the two men were bigger than Hypnos.
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“You got some guts kid! Why were you throwing bottles at us?!”
“I’m sorry! But you scared me and I panicked! Please forgive me!”
“Forgive you? Look at my friend’s forehead! He is bleeding.”
“I’m sorry!”
One of the men tried to hit the kid but was blocked by Hypnos. The two men were surprised by his sudden appearance but it did not stop them from questioning him.
“Who the hell are you? Are you related to this kid, punk?”
“Related? Sorry but I’m not it’s just that I can’t stop myself from saving those who are about to get killed.”
“Get killed?! Are you accusing us?! Sure we hate that boy but we are just going to beat him up good and for your own good you should go away asshole!”
“You know, what I hate is when people believe that they are better than someone else but what I despise is when men call me names.”
Before the two can react they were thrown out of the way. They stood up but were frozen in fear when Hypnos gazed upon them. They felt that if they even try to fight the only thing that they will get is a hefty hospital bill so they decided to forget about it and ran away. The young boy approached Hypnos who was looking at the fleeing men.
“Thank you so much for saving me.”
“What? Sorry but the ones I saved are those two so you can stop from pretending as an innocent child.”
“Well, that was disappointing.”
The surrounding changed from an old alley into a wide open space. There were no walls around but the floor was made from white marble but in Hypnos mind it is without a doubt an open dimension created by something nonhuman. The boy shifted his step and behind sprouted a faceless monster whose body can be compared to a puppet.
“It’s a surprise to see someone who didn’t even got surprised by all this.”
“Well back in the day I often see this kind of things. But before you get broken into pieces tell me, what are you and where did you come from?”
“Ah.. curious are we? Very well, I’ll tell you before I eat you. I am created as soul gatherer but I am not alone, there are others out there but for some reason our numbers dwindled but it does not matter cause our creator will send more.”
“Creator? Are you going to tell me who this Creator is?”
“I might so breathe you last!”
The monster’s attack was quick and fluidly balance, Hypnos jumps out of the way to evade the attacks but rather than being shaken by the monster he closely analyzes and even paying attention to the bladed arms of the beast.
“Stop jumping around! and let me eat!”
“Oh. Sorry about that but I can’t help but wonder. Are you derived from human souls?”
“What?! I’m not!”
“Well, if that’s that case.”
Hypnos stopped on his tracks and faced the monster. With both hands he punched the floor which created a violent wave that made a line of exploding earth. The Monster blocked the incoming chunks of marbles with its arms but after the largest piece of the marble floor hit him, it exploded and behind it was Hypnos delivering another punch that shattered its arms. The monster tried to fled but realized that Hypnos was in front of it already, now without any arms to block the incoming attack it knew in that instance that what it fought was not a human but one of those beings who once ruled the earth. Hypnos’s roundhouse kick crashed through the monster’s body shattering it like a brittle clay doll while the broken pieces got blown away by a strong gust of wind that accumulated behind his attack.
Its body is now in pieces but yet head still move but not for long. Hypnos walked to it and asked something.
“Before you die, tell me who created you.”
“Hehehe. So it was not only them huh.? I thought that my creator and his kind only remains in that small realm.”
“What do you mean?”
“Y-you, you are like them are you? You are a god! But how are you able to stay in this world without any worshippers?!”
“Tell me who your creator is!”
“My C-creat-or is Ze-us.”
With its last words Hypnos felt the rage that he was keeping for a long time. The name that he had never heard throughout the years was uttered to him and not by a human but by a monster.
“Zeus. Just how low did you fall? Was this the choice that you’ve made? In that case, we will stop you.”
Hypnos broke the dimension with his fist and he was returned to the old alley where he was in. He returned into the crowds, blending in and slowly follows the clues that will tell him the whereabouts of his brother.
Saturday morning usually was the time when Mayumi does her laundries but today she was showing a new tenant into her apartment room. The woman was tall and beautiful almost like a goddess but she has a strange aura around her. Mayumi knows that the woman is foreign given that her appearance is different but her beauty makes Mayumi wonder if she is some sort of celebrity who went into hiding.
“Well this is just about everything that you need to know mam but if there is something that you need just ask me and I’ll help if I can.”
“Thank you but you have helped me more than enough.”
“Ok then. My name is Mayumi and you are?”
“Call me Cassandra.”
“It’s nice to meet you Miss Cassandra. By the way I wanted to ask you this but it might sound rude.”
“What is it? You can ask me as long as it is not about my past.”
“ok. But are you wearing contact lenses because you Golden red eyes are stunning and your blue hair makes me jealous.”
“Is that all? You’re so silly. But no, I’m not wearing contact lenses, I was born with these eyes and don’t be jealous of my hair cause I find your long black hair very gorgeous Miss Mayumi.”
“Your just flattering me.. I’ll leave you for now then so my room is just on the third floor to the left in case you need something.”
“I’ll remember that and thank you.”
Mayumi left the room and the tall woman waltz into her bed room. She stared outside and watched Mayumi as she hangs her clothes. The mirror was big and it would show the entire body of anyone who stands in front of it so this mysterious woman looked at her own image.
“I never thought that ‘I’d be using your name Cassandra.”
Black smoke covered her entire body and her image changed from a beautiful young woman into a tall young man. Thanatos has gained the knowledge to manipulate his image by the use of those souls that he had collected.
“So innocent but perhaps that is how you should be. Only a few knows about your pain.”
Thanatos peeked out of the window but he found that there was a little creature sitting next to Mayumi. It was a small puppy but he knows that it is the Chimera who for some reason is protecting the girl.