Chapter 17 Choosing Sides

“Rose, we need to talk about Ash’s situation. If he doesn't take the mantle of king of the underworld then Earth as we know it will be destroyed,” Jax told Rose the problem.

Rich served Rose and Jax drinks, Rose was drinking wine while Jax had water. The vampire sat across from Jax with her legs crossed and her wine glass in her left metal hand. She takes a sip from her red wine and stirring the glass to see the liquid move around.

“Do you know why the gods said he would destroy the world? They say such things because it is the only way to keep him from killing the gods. They lie so that we will believe them, which makes Ash’s friends and family turn on each other making us fight Ash or convince him to be king of the underworld. All of those gods are snakes, getting every chance to bring each other down, keeping other weaker gods in line. Ash is their downfall, he is the one that is supposed to take down all of those gods who oppress the others. Do you not realize what Hades has been doing with all of his children? He wanted to make a god-killing demigod and use the experiments that worked on a single child. That is why me, Rich, Sin, and Ash are alive, his experiments worked.”

Jax was unease about her truth of Hade's experiments, “So you're telling me that if all of those tests had worked on one child, he would use the child to kill all the gods and the child wouldn’t be able to disobey because of the experiment that Rich has been put through would keep them in line.”

Rose downed her wine, holding her glass in the air. Rich came to fill it up, “Ash was his prototype, but that prototype would be the death of him.”

Rose took a sip then put her glass down on the glass table while Jax hadn't taken a drink from his water. His leg began to tap the ground impatiently, “Rose, we need to think of something.”

Rose immediately cut Jax off, “WE don’t need to do anything, I was just going to go see my little brother but you rejects showed up.”

Jax questions her, “And how do you know where he is.”

Rose snapped her fingers revealing her floating familiar hugging a crystal ball.

“This little darling is Hope, she is my little spy. Her power is to find people with this orb, I have been keeping an eye on him for a while, he seems to be riding Vex with two girls riding with him.”

Jax was confused, “So one must be Isabel but I have no clue who could be the other one. Well, I am just glad Isabel is safe with Ash.”

Sarah opened the door to the magic cabin, “What the, what magic is this?”

Sarah was in awe of the classy inside and the woodland outside.

“Uhh, Sophia told me to help you figure whatever this is out.”

She sits down beside Jax all relaxed with her feet on the table.

“Well do you have any info that can help us out,” Jax asks.

Sarah with a simple response, “Nope, just wanted to get out of Sophia’s warpath.”

Jax puts his hand on his face with an exhausted expression, “Sarah why don’t you check on Astrid so Rose and I can continue our conversation.”

Sarah looked at Jax’s expression, “Okay I get the hint, I am going.”

She gets up and steals a glass of wine from Rich, and heads upstairs.

“Sorry about her, she is very rowdy and doesn't enjoy talking, only fighting.”

Rich chuckled at his apology, “She sure is something.”

Rich brings steaks to the table also holding a rag to clean off the smudge Sarah made with her boots.

“Sorry about that, I hope we aren't that much of a nuisance,” Jax once again apologized for his group's actions.

Rich told him not to worry, “It is fine, it could be way worse like my sister's big house parties and her huge hangovers which leaves the surrounding area with burn marks.”

Jax chuckles at Rich’s chores while Rose gives Rich the stink eye, “Enough with that, both of you need to shut your traps.”

Rose relaxes her body after getting mad, she picks up her silver fork and golden knife to cut the steak into perfect shapes. She picks up one piece with her fork, it makes Jax feel uneasy just how she holds the knife, twirling it through her fingers and tasting the steak. She finishes chewing the juicy steak then swallows it with a smile.

“You always make the best steaks Rich, thanks.”

The mood suddenly switches, Rose gets up and walks away to a room but before entering she gives almost a commanding tone, “You will stay for two days to rest up then we leave to find Ash.”

Then she enters the room closing it behind her, Jax also gets up from his seat.

“Thank you Rich for the water, I am going to tell Sophia the news so excuse me.”

He puts down his cup still filled with water, he leaves the magical cabin, seeing only Sophia and the two light brothers, he shouts out while walking towards her, “Hey Sophia where did King go!”

Sophia quickly got herself together trying to hide her worries away with a smile, “I sent him to look for Ash, he wanted to make it up to me.”

Jax walked over to check on the brothers, “Rose gave me information that probably would have helped but oh well with King he would've wanted to do it all himself.”

He put his hand over Grim’s head, “High healing.”

Most of his injuries are healed but he is hesitant to heal Creed, “Why is it always these idiots that cause the problems, I might have to watch them closely or else they are going to start something else.”

Jax used a minor healing spell on Creed to make sure he was punished, “That should do it, oh and Sophia, Rose said we could stay here for two days or I guess commanded us to stay but after we rest we will look for Ash and Isabel. So relax because I can clearly see you stressing.”

She lets it all out having a mental breakdown, “Jax I am so tired, I am afraid the group is going to be picking sides and a whole battle is going to break out. I want to be the strongest so I can stop it.”

She sought solace in Jax, “I know your pain but becoming the strongest will not be an easy feat, if you want to learn power, talk to Rich he can show you power, and if you want to unlock all of your abilities learn from Rose, she might be prickly but she will warm up to you, all you have to do is show your commitment.”

The two looked around, seeing the pretty forest below and all of the land that reached the sun that was setting, “Is there something happening with Ash on the inside that we can’t see.”

Jax consulted with himself before answering, “Listen, Ash is on a whole another level of pain, he is starting to lose himself but his pain is outdone by his anger. If he were to fully awaken, the outcome would be a mystery, it might be the end of the world or the greatest power to be seen by gods and mortals alike. The other path he might go down is his loss of emotion leading him to kill anyone in a matter of seconds.”

Sophia’s eyes reflect the brightly colored sun disappearing over the wide-reaching forest.

“Is he ever going to stop feeling pain, how can one person not lose his mind after suffering so much hardship only to face more.”

The night rises, making Jax pick up Creed over his shoulder, “We should get inside, it’s getting dark.”

In the forest, cracks start forming from the ground making lava flow out, creatures from below crawling out.

“Rich, take care of it for me please,” Rose shouts from her room.

“On it,”

Rich finishes cleaning his Warhammer, walks out the front door.

“What was that,” Sophia is shaken.

“It is the demons that escape the underworld and all dead alike,” Rich stretches as he is walking towards them.

“Could this be because there is nobody ruling the underworld,” Jax lost in a train of thought.

“Hey Rich, could you take Sophia with you, I think she wants to learn from you.”

Sophia got a little shy.

“Sure why not, but be careful they are unpredictable monsters who only want to cause harm.”

Rich and Sophia head into the forest to take care of things while Jax picks up the useless duo.

The two start a conversation while tearing through the forest, “Why do you want to learn from me? I can only teach restraint and discipline, if you can’t do either then sorry I can’t teach you.”

Sophia states her goals, “My goals are to be stronger if that means going through grueling training so be it. If I am your student now, what is my first lesson?”

They arrive, “Your first lesson takes hits from these three fire demons without blocking, feel all of the slashes and stabs, I will tell you when you can strike.”

Sophia immediately was against it, “WHAAAT, what happens if one strike is fatal.”

Rich reminded her, “Didn’t you say you wanted to learn, trust me.”

She sighed deeply, “Okay I can do this, I can do this,” she walks forward in a relaxed state towards the two roaring demons.

One fire demon charges with claws out, Sophia’s instinct kicked in blocking the blow with her arm guard.

“Sorry force of habit, come on you freaks do it again,” the demons sprint on all four.

One strikes Sophia’s glossy black armor leaving a scratch on it. The second demon had more girth, backhanding Sophia flinging her back.

“Uggh, ow,”

the first demon raced for her aiming its sharp claws right in between her eyes. Sophia didn’t flinch, the demon’s claws were inches away from her eyes, Rich caught the demon's hand.

“That is enough, you are worthy of my training.”

Rich snaps the demon's arm off, “For my next lesson, kill this demon with your bare hands.”

The demon screams in agony as his stump is spurting lava out.

“Is it alright if I use enhancing spells,” Sophia asks.

“No, only your fists, now watch this.”

Rich straps his Warhammer to his back, in his stance he charges a punch hitting the ground. The ground splitting it open wide, making the hefty demon fall back into the pits of lava, he made a ravine with one punch.

“This is the power you will receive from your fruits of training.”

Sophia saw the power and wanted it, now with the motivation she laid down her two-meter-long sword beside a tree, the weight of her sword showed having it slowly sink into the ground.

“Aright, let’s do this!”

The now pumped up seventeen-year-old walked with power in her step. The demon is agitated but still rushes her, it hops forward swiping at Sophia who bobbed back, the demon swings again aiming for her face but she weaved out of the way.

It made an opening letting her sweep the demon's legs, the demon tumbled to the ground. Sophia spins herself onto the demon, she pounded into the demon’s face, huffing, and puffing. She got angry with every punch.

“DIE you stupid monster!”

Her final punch caved in the skull of the demon, she slowed down her breathing, “You certainly skipped the humane option but good work nevertheless.”

He lends a hand to help her off the corpse, she looks at her work with a smile before kicking it into the ravine, “Are you ready to learn.”

She nods, “Yes, I am ready for anything.” 

#

Jax finishes laying Grim, and Creed in empty beds. After shutting the doors and heading downstairs he sits down in the living room next to a seven-foot-tall fireplace with wood crackling, “Finally I get to rest without being bothered.”

As soon as he said that the peace was crushed with a shout from the kitchen, “Hey Jax help me find Rose’s liquor, oh never mind I found it!”

Jax was worried about hearing a ruckus from in the kitchen, “How can you see in the dark.”

She walks into the living room. “I am not clumsy I just don’t care and yes I can see perfectly fine in the dark.”

She points at one of her eyes, making a reflection from the light almost making them look like they are glowing. She plops down on a rocking chair having it slowly rock back and forth. The whole house was dark, the only place that was being lit was the living room. Sarah took a drink from the wine bottle.

“I am so tired of being on the run, I don’t even care about killing the gods anymore I just want a place to call home.”

The bottle cling onto the table and slid towards Jax,

“Here,”

Jax caught it, he took a drink without hesitation.

“Yeah the feeling of home was a stranger to me, the only place that I can call home was The Step To Heaven but I didn’t have anyone I really cared about there.”

Jax passed the bottle back, “I know the gods are to blame for everything but would it be better to forget and build a legacy. I want revenge as much as Ash does but he already got his, he doesn't even have a goal now, he is without a purpose.”

Jax finally feels the exhaustion from being up all day, he yawns, “I am soooo tired all of a sudden.”

He gets up slowly trying not to fall over, “Good night Sarah, I hope you get a lot of rest because the adventure is going to be a nightmare.”

He walks into the room next to Astrid’s upstairs, which leaves Sarah by herself,

“What a life,”

she chugs the rest of the wine before laying down on the couch to go to sleep.