Chapter 260 - Nathan Evenhart and General Icarus
Nathan Evenhart:
I walked through the castle’s underground tunnels, a vast and ancient labyrinth, almost as if there were a second hidden castle beneath the main one. The rough stone walls, shaped with almost supernatural precision, displayed the unmistakable signature of the Wolves family. Masters at manipulating earth for construction, they had turned the place into a monument to their skills, an impenetrable labyrinth for those who didn’t know its secrets.
I knew no one would interrupt or help me. Before descending into the depths of the dungeon, I used every ounce of effort I had and activated my special eyes, leaving a guard golem at the entrance to ensure I wasn’t followed. I was prepared for whatever came next.
Each step felt like a battle against my own body. My head throbbed incessantly, as though dozens of needles were piercing my skull. The vision in my right eye was completely gone, a terrifying emptiness that left me vulnerable. The rest of my powers were also weakened, and only thunder and wind, magics directly tied to my own gem, still responded, but even they were unstable. My Special Eyes had been pushed to the limit, especially in the days prior, when I cultivated the black storm dome. The price of that effort now fell upon me, and I feared the damage to my eye might be permanent.
“I think I’m going to… pass out,” I murmured, my voice echoing through the damp walls of the tunnel.
The air in the underground was heavy, almost suffocating, and every breath came with an acute pain radiating through my body. Moving felt like an act of torture; my broken bones protested with every step, piercing me like invisible blades. My body screamed for rest, but the strength of hatred, an insatiable flame fueled by memories of the battle and the losses I had suffered, kept me going. I couldn’t stop. Not here, not now.
My mana was completely exhausted, drained to the last drop. I had used the little I had left to use the Aspect of Time to escape the mud trap and surprise the demi-human, and then to summon the golem, who was guarding the dungeon door. Even so, something primal and desperate urged me on. It was more than hatred; it was the will to survive, to take revenge, to fight against the fate that seemed determined to destroy me.
As I moved through the dimly lit corridors, my mind wavered between reality and exhaustion. The shadows on the walls seemed to take threatening forms, as if the castle itself were alive, testing my resolve. With every second that passed, the darkness seemed to swallow me more, but still, I pressed on, one step at a time, refusing to fall.
I sighed, but the throbbing pain in my head quickly brought me back to reality, cutting off any thoughts that threatened to distract me.
Something was wrong, terribly wrong. The atmosphere of the place was suffocating, as if the tunnels themselves were alive, watching every step I took. The air was dense, charged with an oppressive energy that made my skin crawl. It was a presence, or perhaps a combination of all the shadows that seemed to grow as I moved forward.
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to relieve the pressure on my mind while my body, almost automatically, kept walking. When I opened them again, I realized I had been unconscious for a few minutes. I didn’t know how long had passed, but somehow, my feet kept carrying me forward, even in the complete absence of consciousness.
“I’m a fool…” I murmured to myself, feeling the futility of continuing in this condition. No mana, with my body on the verge of collapse, heading straight toward the enemy. When I took the next step, my knee gave way, and I fell, bracing myself against the wall with effort. My hand left a red stain. I looked at my own body and confirmed the obvious: the blood was mine. My injuries were horrendous, more severe than I had admitted.
“Going like this? In such a deplorable state?” Athena’s sharp voice echoed beside me, filled with disdain. When I looked, there she was. “You’re pathetic! Weak!”
I ignored her. I kept walking, or trying to, but my steps faltered. The darkness tried to pull me away, into a mental abyss where my consciousness would no longer resist. I stopped, feeling my eyes begin to close. No… this was limbo. The extreme mana exhaustion was pulling me into it like a magnet. A state where the mana gem forced the mage into a coma until it replenished.
“No!” I screamed to myself, a roar of the last flash of strength. My voice echoed through the tunnel, sounding as desperate as I felt. With a colossal effort, I forced my body to stay conscious.
I fell to my knees, feeling my muscles and bones scream in protest. My body was shutting down, slowly, and I knew the line between passing out and dying was becoming too thin. The healing potion I took from the fire mage had healed some superficial wounds, but the blood I had already lost could be a death sentence. Even with this in mind, I fought.
“Stay awake... Stay awake!” I told myself, trying to keep my blurry vision focused on anything. Anything that would stop me from giving in. I put strength in my arms, a strength I didn’t have, but still, I tried. Each movement seemed to pierce me with needles of pain, but I forced myself to rise. A simple act, but it seemed like an impossible task.
With a muffled scream, I managed to stand, only to stumble again. I fell once more, my body crushed by the weight of exhaustion and pain. Now, lying on the cold floor, I felt my mind fading, while the line between life and death seemed more uncertain than ever.
“So this is how General Icarus’s life will end?” her voice sounded, cold and full of contempt. Athena crouched, staring at me with that mocking smile. “What a disappointment… all the effort I put into you for nothing, dying from mere wounds inflicted by mortals.”
“Shut up!” I screamed, trying to punch her as I stood up. But she easily dodged, stepping back with elegance, as if she were playing with me.
With effort, I rose, leaning against the wall to keep my balance. Every muscle screamed in protest, but I kept walking, ignoring her, passing right by her.
“Keep that attitude, Icarus. It was your stubbornness that made you lose what you loved most in your past life…” Athena said, her voice echoing, before disappearing again.
The corridor ahead seemed to stretch endlessly, a path of torture where each step brought a new pain. I dragged myself along the wall, my arm already unable to support my weight. Now, my whole body depended on that cold surface to not collapse.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Icarus…” her voice came back, but it wasn’t Athena. It was my own mind tormenting me with a conversation I had with the Goddess in another life, bringing buried memories. “If you had served me as I wanted and accepted my offer, your fiancée would still be alive. Helen was killed, and the blame is yours… she took the burden that was supposed to be yours. She accepted the position of General to protect you.”
The words pierced my mind like sharp blades. I knew it wasn’t real, but the weight of the guilt I carried made it impossible to ignore. Each room I passed revealed fragments of my life. Distorted images of moments I would rather forget.
I laughed, a bitter sound that echoed through the corridor. “Illusions…” I muttered, trying to ignore them. “Nothing but illusions.” But deep down, I knew they were more than that. They were truths I didn’t want to face.
With every turn I made, the memories became more vivid, more real. Until the corridor was no longer just a dark tunnel; it was my own story, forcing me to confront it.
“Icarus…” Charon’s voice came, hoarse and heavy. I saw myself, young, holding Helen’s lifeless body, tears streaming down my face. “There is nothing there for you to bring back… there is no soul for me to retrieve… don’t try to do this, don’t make a pact with a god…” Charon said, his dark and inevitable presence. The memory faded like smoke before me, but its weight remained.
I kept walking, dragging my body with difficulty, trying to push the images away. But they kept coming, each one more cruel than the last.
“To bring Helen back to life is quite simple…” Athena’s voice echoed again, and I saw the scene I knew so well. Me, kneeling before her, pleading desperately. “Go and kill a god for me,” she said.
The pain, the exhaustion, and the weight of the memories accumulated within me like a storm. I was nearing the limit, my body on the brink of collapse. But still, I kept moving. I couldn’t give in. I couldn’t stop. No matter how many memories haunted me, I had to keep going.
“If you serve me completely and worship me, I’ll make you the greatest warrior who ever existed. Greater than Achilles, greater than Hercules, greater than Perseus,” Athena’s voice echoed with a seductive, compelling tone, like the song of a siren promising what I desired most. “You just need to serve me, fight for me in my war against Olympus as my champion. If you kill Hades… you can bring Helen back to life. That is my price, Icarus. Fight my wars, expand my empire across the world. As my influence in this world grows, so will my power, and then… I’ll have the power to resurrect Helen.”
Every step I took through the tunnels seemed to bring forth vivid memories, more intense with each passing moment. Images of bloody battles formed around me, like a cruel theater of my own life. I saw myself facing armies of enemies on blazing battlefields, fighting the colossal Kraken of Poseidon, turning it to stone with the power of Medusa’s head. Every fallen monster at my feet, every sacred weapon claimed... it all became part of my journey to become the greatest warrior in history, Athena’s general.
“You’re walking a dangerous path, my friend,” Caron’s grave voice cut through the memories. I saw myself, General Icarus, surrounded by corpses on the battlefield, bloodied and solitary.
“Getting involved with gods… is asking to be used and discarded,” he warned, his tone heavy.
“Helen’s soul is in the underworld… I’ll save her and bring her back to life, no matter the cost, no matter the price. I’ll fight as many wars as it takes for Athena.” I heard the young Icarus’s voice responding with blind determination.
I kept walking, ignoring the scenes unfolding like a nightmare around me. Each memory seemed more cruel than the last, but I knew that stopping meant giving in. Giving in meant losing.
I saw Hades on the ground, covered in blood, his eyes glowing with incomprehensible madness as he laughed hysterically. “You made a pact with something worse than me, the king of hell,” he said, each word interwoven with insane laughter as I kept punching him. Each of my blows seemed to feed his insanity even more.
“Gods don’t like competition… they just want there to be one at the top… remember that,” he laughed again, until his voice was replaced by the deafening sound of thunder.
I advanced with difficulty, each step heavier than the last. The storm around me grew, lightning tearing through the sky, illuminating Athena’s figure in front of me in the rain. I was kneeling before her, defeated, wounded, desolated. The weight of the truth crushed my spirit. I had confronted her, demanded answers, but her words cut deeper than any blade.
“Helen’s soul is not in the underworld, Icarus,” her voice sounded almost like a triumphant whisper. “She was killed by a god’s blade. Her soul ceased to exist.”
My world collapsed around me. All my sacrifice, all my pain, all the lives I took in her name… all to discover that the promise was a lie, a cruel deception. The cold rain mixed with my tears as I faced the reality… Helen wouldn’t come back to life, I had lost her forever.
But even in the face of all this bitter remembrance, I kept walking. Because stopping was never an option for me.
“And you believed that?” Athena’s voice echoed, cruel and triumphant. She laughed, stepping on me while I was lying on the ground, vomiting blood. Each laugh of hers was like a knife stabbing me, each strike of her spear was a reminder of how I had been manipulated.
The young Icarus tried to react, but she grabbed him by the neck with overwhelming force, throwing him back to the ground. Her boot brutally pressed his face into the damp earth.
“I’ll tell you something, General Icarus…” she whispered in my ear, her voice dripping with contempt and malice. “It wasn’t Hades who killed Helen... it was me.”
My vision darkened for a moment, not from physical pain, but from the hatred growing within me. She laughed as she stepped away for a moment, only to return, her voice full of venom.
“You should’ve seen how she screamed, how Helen suffered. But don’t worry,” she continued, each word more cruel than the last, “before I killed her, I made her feel… loved. I tied her up and had many men enjoy her. She screamed your name all night.”
The sound of her laughter echoed as my body trembled with rage and despair. I tried to fight, tried to get up, but she slammed my head into the ground again with a devastating blow.
“You only killed Hades because I made you do it,” she laughed. “I guided you. I told you his weakness. I gave you the tools, I prepared the weapon. You’re just a pawn in my game, Icarus. Don’t forget that. Don’t forget your pathetic place, mortal.”
Athena kept hitting me, landing punches and insults. “Oh, Icarus... oh, my love...” she mocked, grotesquely imitating Helen’s voice. “Maybe she even liked what my men did to her. Maybe she became a real woman, delighting in pleasure.”
“ENOUGH!” I screamed with all my strength, and the memories shattered like broken glass. The echo of my own voice filled the void around me. Rage burned through my veins.
“I’ll kill every last one of you!” I said to myself, repeating the words of General Icarus’s promise. “I’ll kill every last god! Even if I have to destroy the world, even if I have to annihilate entire civilizations, even if I become the greatest tyrant who ever existed!” My voice grew louder, fueled by the same hatred from my past life.
“Oh, you will?” Athena laughed in the memory, looking at the fallen Icarus. “Come... I’m waiting at the top.”
As I walked, I didn’t feel the pain from my injuries, the weight of exhaustion, or the absence of mana. On the contrary, it felt like I had never been wounded. A strange vigor coursed through my body. My slow steps began to quicken, and before I realized it, I was already running down the hallway, driven by something much deeper than rage: a hatred that burned like an immortal flame.
Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced my mind, like lightning tearing through the sky. I tried to understand what was happening and felt the mana channels pulse with an unknown force. I mentally searched for the source of that power, and to my surprise, it didn’t come from my mana gem. No... it was beyond me. The flow emanated from the dragon-serpent’s mana gem that slept within my soul, that being I barely understood.
My body faltered for a moment, but I kept moving forward, now feeling an intense heat in my eyes. My vision, which had once seemed blurry and limited, cleared with every step until everything around me looked unnervingly sharp. I stopped before a puddle of water, my heavy breathing echoing in the emptiness.
Then, I saw my reflection.
My eyes.
They were no longer the same. An orange, almost red glow radiated from them, intense, primal. And in their shape, there was something unmistakable: they were the eyes of a serpent.