NEPHTHYS

A human from Babel was rare to find. Especially if she was also a member of the council. Most of the warlocks and demons did not trust her but Nephthys ignored their comments.

The woman did everything in her power to see Akhet fall. But she also loved the small cafes in Aztlan. A sweet tooth that no one can match.

She loved the luxury and peace she had in the tower of Babel. However, the flavors of the sweets did not compete with the taste of Aztlan. Being forbidden to leave out of Babel meant no satisfaction. But as the curse broke, she wrote a note, leaving it in Hermes' office, that she would be back in a few days.

Honestly, she just wrote it for her entertainment to piss him off. Even if he had too much on his mind after Mordred's absence she did not mind giving him one more reason to make him angry.

As she was sitting in a small cafe, drinking her tea with a chocolate cake next to her cup, and Neptune next to her side, covered with a dark cloak, the woman could see everything that was happening around Aztlan. The snow did not stop the soldiers from emerging, hunting every warlock down, and getting them out of their houses. Even other mortals were praying outside the temple with the snow ready to cover every inch of them, making them plain white.

A newspaper boy walked into the shop shaking his head and giving her an article. Nephthys smiled and awaited Neptune to pay the boy up.

When they did, Nephthys started reading it. An attack on Elysium by warlocks. Flying machines becoming scrips by fire…A Ruler starts a war with the other side of the wall…

Nephthys held her laughter by covering her mouth with her hand. Her body shook from the giggles. This sort of event happened two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, a part of a curse broke and the Great Ruler of Akhet decided to bring this horrendous news to her kingdom a week later.

‘’Is everything alright, Miss?'' The waitress asked gently, moving to her side.

''Yes,'' Nephthys giggled gently at her. ‘’Now, be a dear and bring a red cake with red tea’’ She pointed at the white iron chair right in front of her.

The waitress nodded and moved back into the kitchen.

The doorbell rang and a tall figure walked to Nephthys and Neptune's side.

A white coat with the symbol of an ox close to his left shoulder. Dark hair tied up in a ponytail and lake blue eyes impressed by Nephthys' presence.

‘’You look happy'' the man said with a cold rasp.

‘’Well, Hermes is in trouble so why shouldn’t I?’’

Nephthys hummed and gave the paper to the man. A few seconds later, he laughed too. The world was probably ending and she couldn't help but laugh.

‘’Tell me what you saw'' Nephthys asked the man with a dazzling smile.

The man sighed and turned to the waitress with a flirty grin as she let down the white teacup with red liquid and a plate of red cake.

‘’I am sorry but I would also like two red muffins'' He said. Blinking and showing his long eyelashes.

The waitress blushed, facing the man’s charming appearance but Nepthys rolled her eyes.

After a few moments, the man took a sip of the tea.

‘’Three years,'' the man said. ‘’They will attack three years from now’’

‘’Why so long?’’ She asked him and took a bite of the cake.

‘’The Ruler needs...time to find new machines as the rest of them had been destroyed by by’’The man sighed dramatically. ‘’An accident'' He grinned deviously.

Nephthys scoffed and Neptune covered the windows with a rose curtain.

‘’And she has to keep her kingdom in peace from any other attacks’’ He took a bite from the fluffy red texture and smiled.

‘’He doesn't seem to be in the happiest condition’’

A satisfied hum escaped Nephthys' lips as she lifted her chin.

‘’How so?’’ She asked.

The man took from his coat a box of cigarettes.''Do you have any lighter?''He asked nervously. ''I lost mine.''

''It's time to let go of this bad habit.''She scolded the man.

He replied with a laugh.''So you have one.''

''Maybe for an exchange of interest?''She flattered her lashes at him. The man nodded with a smile again.

‘'It works, just like we predicted’’he changed the subject.

‘’I know'' Nephthys rolled her eyes. ‘’The iron doesn’t work. Also, the entire work started to shake...''

‘’No, it works’’ the man said again

The woman shook her head and drank her tea slowly.

‘’The curse broke yes’’She sighed with narrowed eyes, looking at the man.

‘’Nephthys'' the man said, trying to correct her. ‘’It works’’ He repeated himself.

Nephthys took a deep breath, moving her lips away from the cup, and let her brows frown.

She looked at Neptune who was agreeing with the man instantly.

‘’This tea is horrible’’ the man complained. ‘’And cake’’

‘’They have now placed iron dust even on Aztlan’’ She told him shakily.

The waitress returned with a flirty attitude, looking at the man as she gave him his muffins. She leaned lower to his side and whispered with a grin upon his ear. As she moved away, the man’s eyes were studying her from the top of her curly dark hair to the bottom of her white shoes, licking his lips with a small grin.

His gaze returned to Nephthys and he smiled, seeing her with a steady, empty look.

‘’Don’t you worry dear’’ He took a silver pocket watch from his coat and looked for the moment till he returned his mind to her.

‘’For ten minutes I am all yours’’He said with a musical tone, his fingers trying to reach her resting hand.

Nephthys sighed and forced her lips to make a sweet smile.

‘’If it works’’She let out a long sigh and looked around and then back at him. ‘’How can he let them free for three years?’’

‘’He won't'' the man replied.

‘’But you said’’ Nephthys tried to speak.

‘’I said’’The man interrupted her, taking a long piece of paper, wrapping it around a red knot, and giving it to Neptune instantly.

‘’We have three years until their attack. They do not.''

‘’Why didn’t you go with them? Protect them?'' Nephthys demanded an answer.

The man laughed and fixed his dark hair into a low bun.

‘’I feel that one of them would’’ He touched his wild yet soft goatee.

‘’Would take my head if they saw me again’’

Nephthys hummed, agreeing with him.

‘’So, leaving them alone wouldn’t make you lose your head? The plan has gone far from easy because...''

''Yes, Hestia found my files,’’ He tried to explain himself. ‘’My past and she probably found…’’

‘’She found a rat that you forgot to kill’’ Nephtys hissed.

That made the man slam his hand to the table.’’She is not…’’

‘’You are right’’ Nepthys clicked her tongue. ‘’She is a pest from your past.’’

‘’I swear, I saw her die.’’

‘’You saw something wrong’’ She reminded him. ‘’And now she can blow everything that we worked for to millions.’’

‘’Nephthys…’’ He curled his fingers to the table.

‘’You said that Hestia was loyal to Babel, you said that she would have been loyal to our plan and you hid from her.’’

‘’Nephthys.’’ His eyes shut.

‘’And she made a new plan to destroy the potion. To hide it so not even you would…’’She stopped for one moment to catch a breath. ‘’You lied to her, to me, to Babel. And now everything has gone…’’

‘’Enough’’ That was it for the man as his shout made the windows shake.

But Nephthys was not afraid of him.

‘’Come on now dear,’’Nephthys teased him. ‘’That is what happens you let…failures live.’’

And he did not know. He didn’t see it. Probably none saw it. Only Nephthys when the Hybrid walked inside the room and scanned every person inside the council. As if she was ready to draw a straw to see who she would kill first.

The man returned to her.

‘’Hestia knew what she had to do. Knew that Janus was a traitor, knew she would die. The girl knew nothing and still knows nothing’’He reminds her with an insane grin. ‘’She keeps playing in the dark dear. She won’t survive what is coming.’’

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‘’Is this the truth, or what you hope?’’ The woman arched her brow.

He did not answer as he laid back and shifted his gaze far from her. In the end, he changed the subject.

‘’Horus is following them. Keeping an eye’’The man made sure for the woman to have every answer to her curious questions.

''But'' He licked his lips. ‘’I must say.'' He looked back inside the kitchen of the cafe and then at her.

‘’The kid has been evolved.''

The woman grinned satisfied and moved her body to Neptune.

‘’I wonder why’’She rolled her eyes up and then down playfully.

‘’It seems he will be away from Hermes’s plan for a while'' The man forced himself to take a bite from the red muffins with white frosting.

‘’Will he now?’’ Nephthys asked rhetorically, keeping her satisfied smile in check as she was not afraid to tell the man her true emotions.

‘’You knew that the Phoenix holder would make him choose, didn’t you?'' The man asked her, holding his amusement.

Nephthys shook her head and blinked twice.

‘’How did you?''

‘’Tell me dear’’ The woman took the man’s muffins and ate them with a few nibbles.

‘’What can you do to set a puppet free?’’

The man did not speak.

‘’Cut the strings will not work’’ She said, looking at her sharp nails, admiring them. ‘’Destroy the puppet? Don't be ridiculous'' Her small finger made circles around the cup.

‘’Change a puppeteer. The clay will be the same, the painting, the puppet will be the exact one from before but the movements, even the way of existence will defer.’’

''So the fire child is the new puppeteer?'' He asked once more.

Nephthys smiled and drank her tea in peace. '' Who knows?''

The man laughed before he looked at his pocket watch once more. He stood up with a nervous smile and waved a farewell as he moved towards the kitchen, his eyes dazzling the waitress.

The woman took a heavy breath and took one more bite from her cake. She could have told the man about how Hermes returned with fear in his eyes telling them about Janus. About how he betrayed the cause.

And she was still impressed that Hestia was willing to betray Babel's cause. Making it vanish to the area of the forsaken would be easy. The only thing that mattered to her was the safety of the soldier and the Royal.

But fate had other plans for everyone. Hestia could be loyal but her love for people could make her change quickly. She pledged her loyalty to the foolish Royal with her guard, risking her life. And she let her trust to a thief, risking the world’s fate.

The man had a mission too. Getting to Elysium finding the files about the machines and making sure the one who made them doesn't see the light again.

The woman looked around, noticing a couple laughing together as well as the next table there was an old man, drinking his tea shakily.

‘’Neptune?’’ The woman asked. They shook their head silently and stood up, lifting their hand close to their chest.

The woman kept eating, even pecking at the man’s sweets and drinking his tea while the rest of the people were screaming, and shouting for help. The scent of iron blood found her nose, making her stomach curl. But the scent of chocolate and flowers was stronger. After that, she took the man's cigarettes and from her belongings, she took out her iron lighter. Maybe inhaling the smoke could make her mind clear. Making the path more visible. And the scent was far better than the image of chaos.

‘’Am I late?’’ The man walked right out of the kitchen with blood on his white clothes and mouth. The angle of woman's eyes spotted everyone inside the kitchen had their stomach wide open with their organs missing, spreading apart to the kitchen stuff and pots. Some of them even were hanging to the curtains like knots.

Neptune sat next to Nephthys and wiped and cleansed their hands which were painted red with a white handkerchief.

‘’You sure have an appetite’’Nephthys complained, eyes looking back at him. His expression became broodier, darker as for his eyes red like blood. Claws for hands ready to devour everything the man could touch. And a tattoo of three round circle wheels making a tattoo hiding in his clean beard, right down on his chin.

Horns upon his head like two sharp dark swords.

‘’Taking your true form here?’’ She asked him, hiding her shock.

‘’Not quite.'' He snapped his fingers with a mist conquering his body, making the white and red colors of his coat dark like night and the fabric longer. A gold dark purple neck and a golden necklace, the upper half a circle with a bright ruby, the lower part a half cross. Pants tight, dark leathered, and boots high enough to be taller than Nephthys with sharp heels.

‘’How about now, my dear?’’The man asked Nephthys with a gentle smile. She replied with a jerking to the left, showing the waitress that she left bleeding from her left arm.

‘’You missed one’’She answered this question and took another sip from her tea, ignoring every dead gaze of the people Neptune killed with a simple wave of their hand.

The man laughed and jumped to the waitress, dragging her to the woman’s side, and forcing the girl to look at her blue eyes.

‘’You are acting like a child, Leader’’Nephthys said mockingly. ‘’Playing with your food like that’’

The man laughed and moved his long claws upon the girl’s throat.

‘’Please’’The girl lifted her head shakily, her eyes darted, crying with fat tears upon her face. ‘’Don’t kill me please’’

‘’How much time’’The woman changed the subject, ignoring the waitress' cries.‘’Till we are ready?’’

‘’Two years ’’ Neptune replied, looking at the file.

Nephthys hummed and shrugged slowly with boredom.

''So'' the man said. ‘’Two years till they find the key’’

‘’If the key still exists..'' Nephtys corrected him. ‘’Then what? You think that they will join?’’

‘’We have Horus to convince them or not’’

‘’Do you think she will let that happen?’’ Nephthys asked him again. ''After everything? She might also tell them what he did.’’

The man sighed and tilted the girl’s head back to his side, forcing her to look at him. Nephtys' eyes opened as she saw the man's fingers circle all over her neck.

‘’It’s funny, I always thought’’Nepthys took one more slice of her cake, holding her laugh. ‘’Hybrids were the once drinking blood.’’

The man let out a scoff, pushing the waitress against the wall.

‘’History looks at the fall of the spirits, looking at when the demons lost their minds and started eating humans. ‘’He explained.’’This was portrayed as a weakness. Hybrids are a weakness to my kind, so it was only natural to add both of those together, making a false rumor.''

Nephtys shook her head and caressed her collar, holding her interest behind her pressed lips.

‘’But it is also funny. They heard about creatures that were in the blink of death. They had to do what it takes to survive. To break the rules of nature is salvation after all. The survival instinct.’’

‘’So you are closer to the perfect freedom by eating bare flesh’' Her hand slipped on her collar, caressing it softly.

The man laughed and returned his gaze to the trembling waitress.

‘’Freedom is death. Free from the rules of nature. But to be free and alive, the rules must break.’’The man explained.

‘’You said that you wanted me to.'' The man laughed. ‘’To taste something else?’’Sharp teeth glanced with the soft winter light.

‘’What are you?’’ She cried fat tears.

The man laughed, surprised by the question of the woman.

‘’Let’s just say,’’He clicked his tongue. ‘’I am a performer.’’

‘’You are a monster’’ The woman screamed with almost a hiss and her eyes looked at Nepthys who was drinking her tea.

‘’please help me’’She cried.

Nepthys put the cup down and faced the woman. Her hair, her darting eyes, her pitty trembling lips. All despair or tears and pleading but no fighting. A rabbit.’’May I taste her blood after?’’

The door opened and the soldiers turned to Nepthys and the man, now dressed up with a dark short coat and white shirt with not any monstrous sight around him, eating his red cake. Nephthys could even smell the scent of strawberries from her seat. She could even say that she would take another bite from it.

The room is clean and people laughing and chatting. Nephthys turned her head and smiled gently at them before they left once more.

Nephtys let out a shaking breath and returned to the man whose plate had the head of the waitress. Surprisingly she was not afraid seeing her frightened expression while the man started cutting the upper flesh of her jaw with a silver knife and then pinching it with a fork to take his dinner.His eyes rolled up as he tasted her flesh and moved back on her expression. The last one that she would ever make.

‘’She has pretty hair'' Nephthys complimented her on it with her fingers caressing the waitress' stained face. ''Had'' She corrected herself with a chuckle and she kissed her stained thumb with her lips, letting herself taste the salty iron blood. And yet she could feel, taste how sweet it was. The man's brow arched curious as his companion seemed interested in his tastes in food.

He shrugged and pinched another part of the waitress which Nepthys could not see if it was her thigh or stomach or even her arm. This time though, the man gave it to her.

For a moment she hesitated. Not because he was eating a mortal but how he would react if she said that she hated the taste. She could have been me. Well, it is not me.

She traced her remaining locks behind her ear as she leaned to the side of the fork and with one big gulp she took it. At first, she was chewing hard as it almost felt her own flesh trying to escape. Nephthys forced herself to not to laugh but a snort escaped her mouth. The man laughed too from enjoyment as he kept eating slowly at his plate. Sweet. And yet sour from the fear.

‘’She was tasteful too.’’

''Never mind this'' the man gasped. ‘’We are bargaining two for the rest of the world’’His long nails found the man’s brown eyes and pulled each one out. He let out his long tongue and licked on the two eyes before he swallowed them all at once.

‘’We have to be ready for everything. From an attack on Akhet’’He looked around. ‘’Attack of any other traitor is inside Babel.''

‘’Attack from them?’’Nephthys interrupted him, lifting her head.

‘’When they learn the truth. The real truth.''She frowned. ‘’Do you think the kid will not want to kill, not only Hermes but any other of us..’’

She stood up and flopped her raven hair behind her back.

‘’Or that the others won’t join him and fight against us?’’

The man wiped the blood from his mouth with a white handkerchief and stood up.

‘’A bargain that you’’He moved to her slowly with the sound of his heels making a loud arrogant echo.

‘’Me, Lancelot, even Sedna herself had to take’’

Neppthys let out another deep breath touched both of the slides of her dress and bowed with elegance, looking at the floor.

‘’And what about…’’ She took a deep breath. ‘’the girl?’’ Nephthys lifted her chin up.

The man raised his shoulders and let out a giggle like a little kid.

‘’Do not worry about her love.’’He reassured Nephthys.

‘’You said that the first time you told your plan’’She rolled her eyes.

‘’Well, now I am telling you that she won’t return alive from Camelot.’’He fixed his sleeves, eyes on the woman ‘’ It’s the Demon area after all.’’

Her eyes opened wide and nodded slightly.

‘’You swore an oath to protect me and Babel’’Said the curious man with his fingers pressing his lips.

‘’Now that the curse is lifted…has anything changed in your mind?’’

Nephthys looks around the stained blood and then a the girl's corpse. How easily died by his hands. How fast the life got collected by Lord Death. How beautiful the scenery was of the eyes of desperation.

‘’You know it has not’’Nephtys said drily, eyes now dazzling at the man’s true form. Dark, terrified. Beautiful. She stood up on her own two feet and now followed the man who had a black crystal. Her hand slipped on his cold fingers and they were inside the council room of Babel.

Everyone was standing still, facing the man now walking to their side. And then, everyone, even Hermes and Nephthys fell on their knees.

He studied the room, the council’s faces, and appearance.

‘’Fewer than the last time’’He said, counting only four remaining council members.

‘’There is a war coming,’’ He announced. ‘’Five kids ran away under your nose while you were making sides.’’

Nepthys found Hermes narrowing his gaze down. She tried to hide her grin.

‘’The only way to win is balance and trust. ‘’The man lied beneath his teeth. ‘’To trust that there won’t be any other goal than balance. Is that clear?’’

And then, everyone agreed with a salute, a vow between lies and truth.

Yes, Lord Seth.

FIVE WENT TO A NEW WORLD WITH MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS. ONE KNOWS MORE. A BIRD IS WATCHING OVER THEM.

FOUR WILL RETURN ALIVE.

END OF BOOK ONE