Chapter 14 The Deal

 

“Ash are you okay,”

a familiar voice echoed in Ash’s ears,

“Is that you Fang, when did you get here,”

she helped him on his feet.

“I saw the lions emerge from the ground and came to lend my aid but all I found was you on the floor passed out, your familiar show me where you were.”

Vex rubbed his head against Ash’s body, “Thanks bud, you are the best partner anyone could have.”

Ash turned to Fang to ask her a question, his tone was depressed,

“Did we win the war?”

“Hell yeah we did,” Nicolas answered his question.

“We obliterated them, we turned them to dust in a matter of seconds.”

“Yeah, we left no survivors just like you said,” Fang added to Nicolas’s answer.

“I didn’t really say kill everyone but I didn’t say not to kill them all so good job, guys.”

Ash let a smile across his face for a moment then realized why he was there and the smile disappeared.

“Let go,”

Ash said coldly putting the two reapers on alert,

“Is something wrong Ash?”

“I SAID LET GO,”

Ash yelled at them walking away from the rubble that was the Iron Legion. Vex the black lion turned into a little lion cub and hopped on Ash’s shoulder while he walked back to camp,

“I wonder what happened that made him so angry,” Fang worried.

“We should hurry before things get hairy with the other reapers,” Nicolas rushed Fang.

Meanwhile,

“Hey, King it looks like Ash won,”

Creed shouted to King who was in the barracks resting. Astrid smiled and Sophia cheered,

“I knew he would win but how he would win is what I am worried about,”  Astrid couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Ash made it back to the bridge where all of the group were waiting for his arrival,

“Ash you did it, you won,”

Sophia hugged Ash but he didn’t hug back. Sophia looked up to see Ash’s eyes burning red, she let go of him and moved to the side. Ash walked straight to Creed and got in his face,

“You didn’t tell me he was alive,” Ash's eyes burned brightly filled with malefic.

“I-I-I,”

Ash cut him off, “I NOTHING, MY BROTHER WAS STILL ALIVE AND YOU DID NOTHING!”

Astrid and the others heard the commotion and went to go investigate it,

“What is going on here,” Astrid came into the conflict.

Ash tossed Creed at King and yelled out to everyone who could hear him,

“Stay the hell away from me, I am going to get Isabel and leave for good!”

King immediately objected, “What are you trying to say, you don’t want anything to do with us anymore,”

Ash got in his face, “I HAD TO KILL MY OWN BROTHER, WHILE IT COULD HAVE ENDED DIFFERENT IF YOU TOLD ME HE WAS ALIVE!”

Ash’s eyes switched to an icy cold blue, emotionless he turned around and opened a portal without using an incantation. He walked through before Astrid could stop him,

Jax put his hand on Astrid’s shoulder, “There was nothing we could do, his eyes stopped us from using our spells and he is fearless when it comes to close combat.”

“What do we do, King?” Sophia looked for answers from King.

“I don’t know Sophia.”

They all stood there speechless of what he told them,

“So he killed him, his own brother, Ash is going to lose it if he keeps going through heartache,” Jax breaks the silence.

Creed openly said, “He wants nothing to do with us now, after all, we did cause this, he might explore on his own with no friends and family so he wouldn’t feel the pain of any kind again.”

Creed pushed his voice into the open air. “You can have all the strength in the world but you will never be able to stop the pain.”

Filled with heartache King said sadly, “We can’t give up on him, he is suffering his whole life but he was always able to smile where it counts, he is the only one who can take all of this pain and keep pushing forward to keep all of us safe even if we don’t need it.”

Astrid put her heart in her words laying it all out, “If he won’t listen to any of you liars then maybe me and Sophia.”

King suggested, “The only one that gets him is his older sister Rose, she is his protector and best friend, she is the only one that can get through to him.”

Astrid asks, “Where is she exactly?”

Grim came off rude with his comment, “Well if any of us knew, Ash and she would be chatting right here and fixing this mess and not gone to make the deal alone.”

Sophia smacked Grim in the back of the head, he turned around ready to get her back but she was gone. He turned around to see her behind King pointing her tongue out. The mood got a little brighter,

“I have had my tracking familiar looking for her over the past year or so but found nothing, she is a ghost and the fact is she doesn't want to be found is concerning on many levels,” Creed gave out his report.

“I might know where she is,” King remembered,

“She is probably laying low at Rich’s house in the far mountains near Astrid’s kingdom.”

Grim asked, “Where is Astrid's Kingdom located, I don’t think we've ever been there before.”

“My kingdom is located in the top left corner of the map past Lion’s Pride and on the right of my beloved kingdom is the spiritual water users who have a peace agreement with me but soon that is going to end because of my interactions with Ash the only person gods will order treason if aided.”

“Oh so that means Ravens Point is a neighboring kingdom to the south of your kingdom while Mount Olympus “was'” far southeast of Lion’s Pride and we are southwest of Mount Olympus over the Black Legion,” Creed replied to Astrid.

While Grim stood there absent-minded. A rumbling started then appeared a white light coming down from the sky landing in the middle of the group,

“Long time no see Grim, Creed, and you too King,” Hermes introduced himself.

“I am here to warn you guys of the reason the gods started this war.”

King scoffed at Hermes, “Yeah it was probably something petty like who gets what land.”

Hermes quickly answered King’s remark, “This is no such thing, the war was deciding the fate of Ash and he was fighting for the side that choose to put him to death, while Zeus tried to reach out to Ash but Hades heard Ash’s call and couldn't resist using him as a pawn for his own demise.”

King walked furiously to go pick up Hermes but Creed and Grim intervened,

“King it’s not his fault, he just sent the message he didn’t make the deal.”

King pushed the two off him then paced back and forth,

“Then why did Zeus want to keep Ash alive, was it just to use him, maybe he thought Ash would be grateful and be his lapdog, like hell he will.”

Hermes coughed to get their attention, “Zeus wants him to be the champion of the gods and the one to keep them in line. It’s the truth, Ash is the only one who can take on rebelling gods and all of you was going to be with him, but he has another plan for Ash now that he is to be killed.”

Astrid pushed the other out of the way, “What, what is his plan for him, Ash does not need anymore torment of being attacked every day or having to keep one eye open when he sleeps.”

Hermes steps two feet back to get distance from her, “Well really his only options are he dies, he kills all of the gods or he takes the mantle as the king of the underworld.”

“Fuck that,” King blurts out almost instantaneous,

“King shut up, but seriously what the fuck kind of an option is that imprisonment for as long as he lives,” Jax ridiculed the option.

Nicolas and the army stepped in, “Sorry to intervene in this important conversion but we pledged our souls to Ash and will gladly take his place when he wants to get out of the pits of the underworld, all of us will fill in for him."

Astrid feels off-put, "Why would you help him." 

"Because of his power and caring personality we made it with only one death. We all are in his debt and with thousands of soldiers who can use fire spells, I think we can keep things in order.”

“Huh, well Ash is somehow making friends in the craziest situations, that solves that problem but the last three problems are, is Ash going to go with this answer and need to find Rose to help ease things, lastly is his emotional problem which is a really dangerous problem. I actually want this problem to succeed,” King laid out the problems in a matter of a plan.

Hermes waved goodbye and flew off into the sky,

“So what is this emotional problem,” Sarah reminded everyone.

“Well this mental problem is what happens when he undergoes too much loss or pain to where his eyes fade to a dull grey, a flawless killer, Astrid you will mean nothing to him or you Sophia, if you are in his way you die, plain and simple.”

Everyone tense about the situation started packing up their things, while the army stayed behind and celebrated their victory at the town closest to them.

“Everyone ready,”

Jax shouted to everyone making sure they were ready to take off,

“Good, lift-off.”

Daygon, Jax’s dragon flew into the sky while Astrid sat as co-pilot directing them to her kingdom.

#

Ash arrived at Hades palace, depressed he walked up the steps of this molten, dark, ominous palace without a thought in his mind. His eyes stayed cold blue when reaching the palace, the lava around him cool down turning to rock. He pushed the door open to see Isabel’s body on the floor laid down and Hades on his throne looking down to Ash to see what his response was.

“Good job, I didn’t think you had it in you. You could be a worthy son after all, so what do you say, will you join me?”

Ash walks coldly to Isabel’s body, completely ignoring Hades' offer.

“So that's how it’s going to be, then DIE,”

Hades tries to blast Ash with his fire only to realize nothing formed at the palm of his hand.

“What did you do, you stupid little bastard,”

Hades shook the ground with his voice. Ash still ignored the now fuming Hades and continued to lift Isabel’s head and open her mouth. He then snapped the bottle carrying her soul and poured it into her mouth, breathing life into her,

“HAH, where, what,”

Isabel woke up in a panic state but calmed down to see Ash with his arms open.

She hugged him with a tight grip, “I was so scared Ash, I didn’t know what was going on,” She stuttered out her words.

“DON’T YOU DARE IGNORE ME,”

Hades got off his throne and pulled out his sword showing its black sword with a sapphire-colored line going down the blade. He points the edge of the blade down to Ash’s head,

“Die you mutt,”

Hades raised his sword over his head then swiftly swung it down connecting with Ash’s shoulder.

“So you would try to kill your own son,”

Ash let go of Isabel who yelped to Ash. He got up still with the blade lodged in his shoulder, he lifted it up, unlodging the blade, and turned around. Hades took another swing but clanking with two daggers,

“Is this how you treat your son, you are the worst of the worst,” Isabel scolded him.

“They are just pawns, nothing more, just like how you were to Athena just a sacrificial piece.”

Isabel growled but Ash put his hands on her blades, pushing her daggers down, he dropped his sword to the ground before full force punching Hades in the face making him stumble back a few feet. Ash switches from kicks to punches making him unpredictable, Ash sweeps the legs then right after uses one hand to push himself off the ground to land with a bone-breaking elbow to the stomach. He then rolls to the right and hops back on his feet, his eyes revert to a yellow normal state.

“Do you give up, I can do this all day,”

Ash taunts Hades who is now really pissed off, he punches the ground lifting himself up and grabbing his blade from the floor.

“Hell flame level five,”

he shoots a barrage of blue hell flame at Ash who uses his magic,

“Water spears level five,”

seven dark blue water spears appear in front of him and shoot out hitting the flame head-on, canceling both spells.

“Ha, you got skills for being a complete failure,”

Hades grunted while holding one hand to his stomach and holding his sword in the other.

“I don’t need praise from a dead man.”

Hades charges with power while Ash waits for him to attack, Isabel just sits silently and watches this battle unravel. Hades holds a hell flame ready to burn it into Ash’s skull while Ash sits and waits. Hades does a downward strike with the blue flame covering the sword, Ash kicks Hade's knee and dodges two steps to the right with a grip to the back of Hade's head he slams him, face-first into the ground.

“Not so kingly of you to attack without a backup plan,”

Ash rubs his face in the ground with force and cracks the marble floor.

“Ash, do you think he had enough,”  Isabel tried to bring Ash back to his senses.

“Look Isabel you missed a lot and it might be hard for you to understand but he has to die,”

Ash tries to explain but Hades picks up his blade and cuts Ash’s neck with a reckless slash. Ash pushes off Hades with short ugly gasps, trying to breathe but only drinking blood.

“ASH,”

Isabel shouted out,

“You should have just killed me when you had the chance, now you are scurrying away choking on your own blood,”

Hades walks towards the bleeding Ash after getting back on his feet.

“What a stupid child you are, when you get the upper hand you let yourself get caught off guard. What a joke,”

Hade's boots Ash in the chest knocking him to the floor.

“Leave him, ALONE,”

Isabel huffs angrily holding her two daggers with the blades producing potent poison. She jumped high in the air with her daggers pointing down, the blades just missing Hades but buying Ash enough time to conjure a spell. He puts both hands on his throat and thinks of the spell dragon healing in his mind which starts to work closing the open wound. The slash to his throat seals up making him able to breathe again with one big gasp for air. Hades catches Isabel in the air and throws her to the side,

“Don’t you lay another finger on her you monster,” Ash hissed at Hades.

Before Hades can make a remark Ash bursts to Hades grappling his leg and swinging him to the ground to where Ash summons an ice blade and slash's off Hade's leg with one swing. Hades roars in pain and tries to get loose but Ash summons his black flame and burns his back,

“Do you feel that, that is me overpowering you, sucks don't it? To have one of your experiments break free and kill you.”

Hades mocks Ash even in pain, “At least I got to experiment on your brothers and sisters.”

“Let me tell you something, I killed Ash, he is the one who died in that war, I am Sin and you will be the last person to know that secret,” Ash whispered in his ear.

“Wait wha-,”

before Hades could comprehend what he said, Ash turned Hades' head into a pile of ash. Making Hades' head crumble away into dust, he sat there, catching his breath,

“I did it, brothers and sisters, I got our revenge for all you, now be free in the sky and enjoy your paradise,”

Ash felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The smile never left his face, happy but not fulfilled he got up from the floor and finished the job with one black flame that spread throughout Hade's body turning the rest into dust and blowing away.

“What do we do now,”

the small smiling Isabel walked up to Ash with a joyful hop.

Ash’s mind was all over the place, “This is sadistic, you shouldn’t be happy after what you saw.”

She put her head down hiding her face, “Why shouldn’t I be happy, you killed him and smiled right after, if it makes you happy then it makes me happy too.”

Ash was put off by her words but still patted her head, “I just want you and Sophia to live a life without fighting, to not be used as a soldier.”

Ash stopped patting her head but a sudden rumbling came from outside the palace. Ash ran to the huge black metal doors with iron bolts going over the door like an ark. With a push, the doors opened to unveil an army of magma golems lined up in rows at the back fifty rows. The next thirty rows have lava hounds all sitting with lava dripping from their mouths. The last row in front only had two demigods with lances pointing up towards Ash who was standing at the top of the stairs.

“What have you done with Hades,” the male demigod commanded.

“He is dead, Ash killed him,”

Isabel walked in front of Ash putting her hand against Ash’s chest telling him to step back. All of the armies went in an uproar,

“Who is going to lead us,”

the question went up in the air all throughout the army until the small male demigod child on the right turned around then projected his voice,

“QUIT YOUR WHINING OR ELSE!!!!”

The army settled down after a couple of seconds,

“Okay how should we deal with this, someone needs to take Hades place or the world will fall into chaos,”

Hades’ cockiness made sense to Ash,

“Shit, that is why he was so full of himself because he thought I wouldn’t kill him because the world will turn shit if I did,” Ash under his breath.

“Since you are one of his offspring, you will be the perfect candidate to take his place. No other child of Hades has the power to keep the underworld under control,”

the small child who looked like he was seven years old urged Ash.

“What should we do,” Isabel worried.

“I refuse your request, I am not taking on that old bastard's burden just because I am his child. Find someone else,”

Ash quickly grabbed Isabel by the hand then held his right hand in the air teleporting him to a random location he explored. The two open their eyes to a small familiar town,

“Where are we,” Isabel a little dizzy from the spell.

“We are at the town of Meso, the town where I found my mom,”

Ash signed in a way like he knew he would come back here.

“I would love to meet your mother, I want to see who made this caring person,” Isabel gave a smirk to Ash.

“Alright but you will not bombard her with questions, got it?”

“Got it,”

the two walked into town looking for a tavern, they found the tavern King and Ash stayed in.

“Glad to see you again, oh and who is this little cutie,”

the nice lady barkeep welcomed them with her daughter beside her,

“Hello, Ash was it, where is your friend.”

“He and I got separated but I am sure he is fine. I actually came here looking for someone, she is a fairly old lady but looks like she is in her early forties, I carried her here last time I was here.”

The mother informed Ash, “Yeah she lives on the outskirts of town, she comes in to get a drink from time to time. The funny thing is your mother can take care of herself, I mean she was able to flip two guys on their back with barely any effort, it was almost like she was inhuman.”

“Thank you ladies and this little darling here is Isabel, a demigod just like me and I guess, my apprentice,”

he looked down with a smile while her eyes and her already big smile grew even more.

“Do you really mean that,”

she couldn’t stop smiling when he nodded to her.

“Thank you for your time, we will be going now,” Ash excused himself and went out the front door.

“Thank you for the help,”

Isabel rushed out the door trying to keep up with Ash’s pace. The two girls could only chuckle to themselves, Ash and Isabel reached a little house that has a lovely scent. The blindfolded man knocks on the door with a rhythm then stops after a few seconds,

“Who is there,”

a genteel voice came from inside the house.

“It’s me Ash, your son,”

she opened the door to see her son and a very eccentric little girl.

“Come here you,”

she gives Ash a big hug, after letting him go she turns to the hyper Isabel,

“And who is this little bandit.”

Isabel was polite and full of energy, “HI, I am Isabel, I am Ash’s apprentice and bestie.”

Isabel bumped Ash’s shoulder,

“Nice to meet you Isabel, I am Ash’s mother, come inside so we can talk some more,”

the three walked inside and sat at a table.

“So how did you find me,”

“Well you do have a very unique aura but I just wanted to check in with the barkeep and her daughter to see if they were okay.”

Isabel butted in, “I thought you went there just to see if they knew anything,”

“No, I already knew where my mom was because of her aura that was leaking out for a few moments.”

Ash’s mother felt Ash’s eyes looking at her,

“So you notice my aura eh, then I probably know your next question, is it “who are you really” is something you are going to say right.”

Ash nodded, “That is one of my questions, another is, does that connect to why I can’t stay dead forever even if I tried to take my own life.”

Isabel woke from her happy state with a shocked look at Ash,

“Look Ash, you want to know why I didn’t stop you from getting justice for your brothers and sister, it is because I am a god which makes you a full god who can’t fully die.”

“W-what, what the hell did you say,”

the news was hard to break down for Ash,

“I, I am a god. Then who are you really,” Ash rubbed his eyes in stress trying to process all of this information.

“I am Nemesis, the god of retribution,”

“That makes sense on many different levels,” Isabel once again added herself into the conversion.

“You get your taste for revenge from me and your determination from your father, which means he is dead because nothing could stop you.”

“Then why hide your true identity,”

Nemesis put her hands together ready to reveal her intentions, “Well at first it was just to see if humans are redeemable or not but I felt an aura that resemble your father and I couldn’t just ignore it so I went to investigate and I saw you and King walking into town, as soon as I saw you, I knew you were his son, my son. I love you son and that is why I let you kill Hades but your evil deeds outweigh the good you did.”

Ash, trying to keep his head above water, “Well if you were there for us then maybe my “Deeds” wouldn’t be so bad.”

Isabel defends Ash, “I know Ash can do bad things but he is a great guy, he gave me and Sophia a second chance and taught me things so I could survive.”

Nemesis persists, “I know but his past actions need consequences and the only punishment that fits him is to take over the underworld and control it.”

Ash slowly loses his temper, “Then what about you huh, you brought me into this nightmare and you take no blame for letting me go through that pain and suffering just because Hades is one of the strongest gods. What is wrong with everyone,”

Nemesis tried to get back into the conversation, “I know I wasn't there to help you but you have to remember gods and goddesses grow weak when staying on earth but you are immune to the effects and can’t be weaken so any god or goddess trying to pick a fight with you on earth is sure to lose. What I want to say is, if I were to go there I would immediately be defeated.”

Ash sighed heavily trying to keep his emotions in check,

“How did you know I was your son,”

she answered with no hesitation, “That is easy, you have my aura too but it is a small mix between your own aura which is unique is only yours, and the aura of mine and your father’s that is mixed into your aura.”

Isabel asks with excitement, “Oh oh oh, can you guess who my dad is,”

Nemesis smiles kindly, “That's easy your dad is Hermes which explains your very energetic nature.”

Isabel glows up,

“Well Mom you seem to have eyes all over the place, can you tell me where a town is where we can sign up as adventures.”

“And why would you ever need to be adventures, what will that do for you.”

Ash almost mockingly, “Oh, and here I thought you know my intentions. I am just joking, the reason I want to be an adventurer is that I am broke. I can sell some things but it will be better to use them to build greater weapons and armor,” Ash lifted his coin sack which look like it puffed out dust.

“There is a vibrant city that has a guild to take on a quest for money but they will treat you poorly at first for being a newbie, just show them how fast you can do the missions and they will give you the missions that pay big coin. Here,”

she plops a huge map from her wall onto the table,

“This is where we are.”

She points to the spot that has a tiny town in between two large cities.

“The city on the left is Cresta, the city of adventures, from the right of us, is the Trinity Confederation, a city with two kings and a spirit. One king is the father who handles the political issues while the son who is also king takes care of the army and the people. Lastly is the spirit which actually is a fairy who brings good fortunes to the kingdom and advises the two kings.”

Isabel was surprised, “Wow the Trinity Confederation seems really stable.”

Ash was curious about Cresta, “What about Cresta who rules there,”

Nemesis fills in, “That kingdom is ruled by the greatest adventurer lady Rin.”

“Who is that,” asked Isabel,

“She is the strongest human alive, she saved this very town from two green dragons and only accepted our gratitude for payment. She might as well be the only human left who can use the wind element.”

Ash, impressed, “Wow, she must be a very adept fighter then, but I know you could have easily taken on those dragons and only come out with a few scratches but your cover would be blown.”

“Yup, and I am glad I did not intervene so I can see such a good person prove herself and gain fame and fortune for her good deed.”

“Blah blah blah, look I know you are set in stone with your whole job but I need to know what she is like, what happens if a wanted person comes into her kingdom looking to be an adventurer.”

“Well if you put it that way, she will watch you closely also there might be jobs on turning you in but she will never intervene unless you start something.”

Ash sighs, “Why must everything be in my way,”

Nemesis added, “Well did you forget the gods are against you now and I am the person who passes judgment on people.”

Ash tried to persuade Nemesis, “Can't you do something, you are my mother after all. Come on, are you really going to send your son into danger."

Isabel giggles while Nemesis gives a look that says “really” she walks to Isabel,

“This is all the protection you need,” patting Isabel’s head.

“Yes she is a great protector, fine but I want you to meet new people so you can get more of a bearing on human emotions.”

“Okay I will and son, you need to let people into your life more, and one more thing I need to talk to you alone.”

Ash got the hint and ushered Isabel out, “Hey Isabel could you wait outside for a little bit,”

“Okay Ash,” Isabel hopped up from the chair and joyfully hopped outside.

Ash asked, “What is it you wanted to talk about,”

Nemesis with seriousness, “I know what happened with the real Ash and you did the right thing to put him to rest.”

Ash’s temper was on a short fuse already, he was sensitive about his brother, “How do you know that was the right thing to do, he was my brother for fucks sake, he and I were supposed to go on adventures and enjoy life not kill each other.”

Ash was pacing back and forth in the room, “I don’t want to hear it, you can hate me for killing your son but it had to be done, or else I couldn’t get Isabel back.”

Nemesis caught Ash from pacing, “You don’t have to explain, just let it out.”

The yellow in his eyes faded into a light blue, Ash hugged her tightly not wanting to let go of his mother,

“I am sorry, so sorry mom, I am so lost.”

Nemesis hushed Ash, “It’s okay, you did the right thing, you will be okay.”

He sniffled, “What do I do, I need help,”

Ash finally lets go of her then drying his tears. Nemesis puts her hand on his shoulder and looks him in his eyes, through the blindfold,

“That is for you to decide but your friends are there to help you so let them in or else you will make the worse choices.”

Ash sniffs, “I understand, thank you for that.”

He walks to the door and opens it,

“I will visit again.”

He walks out and closes the door behind him,

“Where are we going now Ash,” she hops up from the ground.

“We are going to Crestia to register as adventures, Ash and Isabel against the world,” Ash looked up with a great smile.