Chapter 34: Elysian Fields

“Dad?" I whispered as I paused in my tracks.

It took the others a moment to realize that I had stopped moving and a moment longer for what I'd said to sink in. And by the time everyone had stopped the tailor realized that people were staring at him. He looked at the assortment of gorgeous women around me and immediately put on his best salesman's smile as he showed off the dress he was working on. But then he noticed my expression and blinked.

“What did you call me?" he asked.

I had to swallow again before I could say: “Dad, it's me, Felix.”

For a moment I was terrified that he'd forgotten about us, that he'd drowned his memories in Lethe water, but then his eyes went wide and the dress slipped out of his hands to land on the table in front of him. He rushed over and grabbed me by the shoulders.

“Felix?" he asked. “I can't believe it, it's you. You've grown so tall. And you've become a Hero, congratulations. I had hoped it would be a while until I got to see you again, though.”

I blinked before his words sank in. I supposed it made sense. Almost nobody came to the Elysian Fields except dead Heroes and so he'd assumed that I had died and been sent here. “Dad, I'm not dead yet. I just traveled here.”

“You're not...” He paused and his eyes focused on me in a slightly different way. “Oh gods above, you're still alive.” He wrapped his arms around me and caught me in a crushing hug. Or rather, his hugs used to be crushing but I was so much taller and stronger now that I barely felt it. He caught me by the shoulders again and looked me over once more. “But if you're not dead, what are you doing here?”

“I should ask you that," I said. “It's only Heroes who...”

I trailed off as my mind flashed back to that terrible day when mom and I returned to find Athena's Grove a burnt-out ruin, corpses strewn all around. We'd picked over the wreckage to try and find survivors and we'd found a pair of terrified little girls cowering underneath an upturned bathtub. And when we'd reached our tailor's workshop we found it ransacked, dad's body on the ground. He'd had a dozen tiny little goblins spears stuck into his flesh but even in death he hadn't let go of the distaff he'd apparently wielded against the raiders, judging by the blood covering the makeshift weapon.

“You died a Hero," I whispered. “You were the one who hid those little girls, weren't you?”

His eyes went blurry and his expression softened. “So they did survive," he said. “Thank the goddess...”

I had been holding him by the shoulders as well but at those words I felt my hands clench into fists and I only stopped myself when I saw him wincing. My relationship with Athena may have changed a lot over the course of the last few weeks but hearing him thank her still made bile rise in my throat.

“So, who are all these lovely ladies with you?" he asked.

“Right," I said, composing myself. I stepped away and then indicated each of my women in turn. “Dad, these are Alisha, Selene, Yume and Anna, my lovers. Ladies, this is my father Eric Tailor.”

He blinked, then blinked again. “Your...”

Before he could properly come to terms with it the girls rushed forward and began introducing themselves. It took several minutes for things to calm back down far enough that dad could say: “Well, I... this is certainly unexpected. But congratulations. I'm impressed.”

I smiled.

“So, who are the other two?" he asked.

“Right..." I said, then indicated the other two. “Dad, this is Melinoe, firstborn daughter of Hades and Persephone.”

Dad gave her a deep polite bow.

“And this..." I continued, “is Athena.”

Dad's eyes widened and he immediately flung himself to the ground. “My goddess, I apologize for my impudence.”

I glared at Athena as I mentally counted the seconds it took her to tell him to get up. I only managed to get to three before she said:

“Please rise, Hero Eric. I do not deserve the worship of those who died in your village.”

He frowned. “Why wouldn't you, goddess? To me it seems like you made my son a Chosen One and let him avenge our village.”

She looked away, ashamed.

“No, she didn't," I said. “She sent two Chosen Ones, both of whom died, while ignoring me completely. I then took matters into my own hands.”

“I... see," he said, clearly not sure how to take this. “Of course, that leaves the question of why you're accompanying her now.”

“I... asked him and his partners for help," Athena admitted. “And that help has led us here.”

“What could you possibly want down here?" he asked.

“We want to recruit the Heroes to fight with us," I said.

His face fell. “Then I fear you've made the journey in vain. They don't listen to the gods. You'd need to be a Great Hero to be worth their time.”

“Then it's a good thing Felix is a Great Hero, isn't it?" Alisha said, wrapping her arms around one of mine.

Dad blinked again. “Really?”

“A dozen Dark Lords slain by his hand, over a dozen more that he helped dispatch," Athena said. “Him and his partners saved the capital and are fighting an Outsider cult. Your son is the closest thing to a Great Hero we've had for generations. The only thing he doesn't have is faith in the gods.”

“Can't really blame him for that, given how the gods have treated him," Selene said.

Athena flinched again at those words.

“Despite everything he just said about you, you still respect him, goddess?" dad asked.

“Yes," Athena said. “He didn't reach his status thanks to us, he reached it despite us.”

“In that case they might actually listen to you," dad said, then remembered something. “How is Lily doing?”

I looked away.

“Did something happen to her?" he asked, concerned.

“No," I said. “But... she found someone.”

I hadn't wanted to tell him. I was sure it would hurt, to know his wife now had another man. But instead of being upset he breathed out a sigh of relief.

“That's good," he said. “I was worried she wouldn't be able to get over it.”

“You're fine with it?" I asked.

“Of course," he said. “I'm dead and she isn't. I don't want her to waste her whole live mourning me. Is she happy? Who did she find?”

I smiled. “His name is Martin and he is a merchant. We moved to Aphrodite's Orchard after... you know. And there she met Martin. He practically owns that town now. And mom is very happy with him... and his other two wives.”

Dad raised an eyebrow. “Well, I always knew she appreciated pretty women but I never expected that. But I'm glad she's happy and loved.”

“What about you, dad?" I asked.

“I found someone, too," he said. “Her name is Priscilla. She was a baker and died much the same way I did, protecting a few children from a goblin raid with her bread knife.”

“I see," I said. “Then I'm glad you're happy as well. You are happy, right?”

“Yeah," he said. “Well, it would be nice if Priscilla and I could have kids but alas, you need to be alive to procreate.”

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Melinoe wanting to speak up and say something but Athena gave her a tiny shake of her head and she settled down again. I decided to ask what that had been about later.

Either way, Dad didn't notice the exchange. Instead he gazed off into the distance a moment longer and then brightened back up. “So how about you come inside for a cup of tea? It would seem Felix has quite a few stories to tell.” He said the last as he let his eyes roam over my women, his expression both shocked and impressed.

When Athena spoke up I expected her to decline the invitation but instead she surprised me by saying: “We thank you for the invitation, Hero Eric.”

**

It took us hours to share all of our most exciting stories with my father. He almost dropped his mug of tea when he found out that Anna was a princess and he seemed particularly shocked to see a southerner with us, but I was glad to see that everyone got along with him. He hadn't changed at all from what I remembered. He was still tall and handsome and it made sense. He had died a decade ago and the dead no longer aged.

I wondered if that meant that Heroes like Albrecht, who died of old age, would be forever old but when I asked the question aloud Melinoe informed me that everyone in the Elysian Fields reverted back to the prime of their life.

Either way, it was a little weird to see dad barely older than me but at least he hadn't lost what had made him such a spectacular person. I would have said he was full of life but given that he was a dead spirit sustained by the Elysian Fields that didn't seem quite accurate. Though it begged the question: Did the dead have Qi, or rather Quintessence? Gods had it and Athena had said that the Heroes of the Elysian Fields had more in common with gods than with mortals. Maybe Quintessence and their spirit was all they had? Would that make their bodies nothing more than a manifestation of their spirit?

I shook the thought off and decided to just enjoy my time with my dad. I hadn't expected to ever see him again, after all.

A while later a gorgeous blonde entered the cottage and dad introduced her as his new lover Priscilla. She seemed like a great person and her and dad clearly cared for each other, to the point that she cried tears of joy when dad introduced me as his son. And on top of that she was fun, being a lot more irreverent towards Athena than dad was, almost as much as I was, really.

“So if you hated him so much why did you approach him in the first place?" she asked the goddess.

“Him and his partners were the only ones I knew wouldn't be part of this cult and they were the most capable people I could have chosen," Athena admitted.

“So, despite everything you were still capable of seeing that they were the best for the job?" Priscilla asked. “I can respect that.”

Athena blinked. I could see in her face that she didn't know how to reply to it. Beings like her weren't usually in a position where they had to get people to respect them, they just expected that respect.

I just smiled at Priscilla's words, causing Athena to scowl at me when she noticed it.

**

Eventually the hour grew late and we had to leave and so I asked: “Should I... give mom a message from you?”

That gave dad pause. He considered it for a good minute and then said: “I don't really want to open old wounds, but... tell her I still love her and that I'm glad that she's happy.” He paused, then told me: “And if you'd like, come visit again some time.”

“I will," I said, and gave him a crushing hug.

**

As we left my father to his cozy little afterlife I felt a deep sense of optimistic melancholy. It was sad to see him in the afterlife but I was also glad that him being dead didn't mean that he was gone. He was still the same man he'd always been, kind and shrewd and funny, except confined to a place he'd earned with his heroic deeds. It also gave me hope for our own future, showing us that we would go on even in death.

But at the same time the pain his death had caused, not forgotten but quelled, had come lurching back again. That faint shimmer around him that spoke to him no longer being among the living really drove it home.

I was glad nobody tried talking to me as we made our way to the massive coliseum and I was equally glad to feel Alisha's small, soft hand slipping into mine and giving it a reassuring squeeze. Alisha was a cleric, a minor saint. Helping people deal with the loss of a loved one was one of her duties. Her gesture showed me that she would be willing to listen if I was willing to talk but also told me that she wasn't going to push me to do it.

And I was grateful for that because I truly didn't know how to feel about it. I had come to terms with dad being dead years ago. Seeing him here didn't make it any worse. If anything it made it better, since I now knew I could visit him whenever I wanted, even if it was an incredible trek to do so.

I didn't realize how deep I had been in thought until I saw the coliseum looming over us and could hear the clashing of weapons coming from inside it.

“Tourists, eh?" a voice boomed from beside me and I looked over to see a mountain of a man standing there and my heart almost skipped a beat.

I had never met the man but I had seen him dozens of times. Drawings in books, portraits in shrines, statues all over the kingdom. The strong chin and the full beard. The boisterous smile. The intense eyes. The impressive muscles. The giant sword strapped to his back. The iconic necklace of the fist-shaped meteor.

“Starfall Albrecht," I breathed.

This was the Great Hero whose final resting place we'd visited back when it had just been Alisha, Selene and me. If Sheila had been telling the truth then this man was also Alisha's ancestor.

In response he snorted. “Been a while since someone last called me that. Are they truly still telling stories about me?”

“Hard not to hear stories about you when traveling with one of your descendants," I said.

“Oh?" he asked, suddenly curious. “I assume that after all these centuries I have quite a few descendants out there, so which one is it?”

I winced at that. I had killed one of his descendants who had become a worshiper of Shub-Niggurath. But instead of saying that I gestured towards Alisha.

“Alisha Silvermoon, firstborn daughter of the Silvermoon clan," she said as she curtsied.

He gave her a gentle smile. “The Silvermoon clan? Oh, that brings back memories.” He turned to the side and called out: “Hey Enya, come over here for a moment.”

“If you want something you can damn well come over here you big oaf," called a clear female voice with a lilting accent I knew all too well.

“One of our line came to visit," he called back.

Immediately there was a blur and a figure landed in front of us. The figure got up and brushed herself off, revealing a beautiful elven woman who reminded me strongly of Alisha's mother, though with even paler skin, clad in a cloak that looked like it was made of leaves, with two daggers sheathed at her hips.

The elf gave Alisha a once-over and smiled. “A powerful cleric, young and talented," she said. “I'm glad. Nice to meet you. I'm honestly not sure how many generations there are between us, but I am glad to see our clan is thriving. What's your name?”

“I'm Alisha," our cleric said. “And if your name is Enya then that would make you my great-great-grandmother.”

“Hold on just a moment," I said. “You're a worshiper of the Tuatha Dé Danann, aren't you? How are you in the Elysian Fields?”

Albrecht's massive hand smashed into my back and the impact jarred me so hard it took me a moment to realize he'd only clapped my back in good humor. “See these portals over there?" he asked, pointing at two portals very similar to the ones we'd entered the Elysian Fields from. “They lead to Valhalla and Tír na nÓg respectively.”

“And why are those here?" I asked.

“Courtesy," Melinoe said. “Parties of Heroes are often made up of members of different faiths, just like yours. It would be cruel to separate them in the afterlife, so we sat down with the Tuatha and the Aesir to design these portals so that such parties could find each other again.”

I swallowed. That meant that even if we all died we would still be able to see each other. Despite adhering to different faiths Alisha and Selene would both be just a hop and a skip away. And while there was no portal here to whatever afterlife Yume's faith had, Yume would never be dying of old age. She would turn immortal when she turned four hundred and fifty. Between this revelation and seeing my father well if not alive our future looked a lot more hopeful now. No matter what happened on Olympus, we would not lose each other.

“Lady Melinoe," Enya said. “It is rare to see you here.”

Melinoe nodded. “Much has happened and I need to see where the pieces will fall.”

“That sounds ominous," Albrecht said. “So I assume you aren't here for sight-seeing.” He looked us over and said: “Oh hey Athena, long time no see.”

Athena had her arms crossed and rolled her eyes but she was smiling as she did. “All these centuries and you're still a fool.”

“Always and forever," Enya said.

Albrecht cleared his throat. “So, what brings you all here?”

“I think it would be best if we discussed this somewhere more official," Athena said.

“We don't answer to you, Olympian," Enya told her.

“I'm aware," Athena replied. “And I am not the one who will be asking anything of you.”

“Very well," Enya said. “We will call the other Great Heroes together. But I'm not promising you anything more.”

“That will be enough," I said. “Thank you.”

**

Half an hour later we found ourselves in an amphitheater, with a showcase of the greatest Heroes our kingdom had ever seen surrounding us. The two figures I recognized most immediately were Albrecht, of course, and also Atalanta.

Albrecht was surrounded by four beautiful women. There was Enya, the elven rogue we'd already seen, but there was also a blonde cleric with a gods-damned battleaxe strapped to her back and tribal markings of the Aesir's faith tattooed over her arms, a cat-kin archer with long black hair and gorgeous slitted green eyes and a witch who wore very little other than a short skirt and a corset that made her breasts all but pop out the top.

Atalanta, meanwhile, was a walking, talking shrine to hedonism. She was surrounded by beautiful women and handsome men tending to her every need. They weren't mindless servants, either. Each wore at least one weapon or casting tool and the very fact that they were here proved that each of them was a Hero in their own right. And yet, despite the pampering, Atalanta was still an incredibly attractive woman. Hard muscle tempered by raw feminine curves, a gorgeous face and the most beautiful flowing blond hair.

Farther in the back I could see Odysseus. His handsome bearded face wasn't as prominent around the kingdom as those of Albrecht and Atalanta but from what I'd gathered he had been the first Great Hero of the Olympian faith. Well, except Hercules but he had since been elevated to godhood so he didn't really count. That being said, given all the many and varied ways the Olympians had tried to fuck with Odysseus I had to assume he had even less love left for them than I did.

“Now then," Albrecht's voice boomed out. He no longer sounded as whimsical as before. He sounded like a competent leader and orator. “These adventurers came down here requesting audience with the Great Heroes of Elysium. They were escorted here by Lady Melinoe and one of them is a descendant of mine. As far as I'm concerned that's reason enough to hear them out. Unless someone here has an issue with that?” His voice rose into an interrogative at the end and he waited a moment. When he was almost ready to continue Odysseus interjected:

“We may have cause to hear these adventurers out, but Athena is with him. What guarantee do we have that they're not just regurgitating her request? We don't answer to the gods, not down here. We've served them in life and we will not do so in death.”

That caused some murmurs to break out. I couldn't fault him for his line of thinking even if it was highly inconvenient for us right now.

So in response I snorted, causing everyone to look at me. “Athena couldn't make me do anything if she wanted to," I told the crowd. “She requested our assistance, true. But we didn't agree to her request just because she asked. We agreed for our own reasons. Not only do our goals happen to align, she also promised us an obscene amount of magic items in exchange.”

Odysseus gave me a crooked smile. Yeah, I was speaking his language now. “You say you've agreed to help her for your own reasons. And what would those be?”

“To destroy a cult of Outsider worshipers we've been chasing for months," I said. “We are going to find them, put them to the sword, pull their roots out and then salt the gods-damned earth to make sure they don't grow back.”

That made Atalanta sit up. “Consider me interested.”

“Very well," Odysseus said. “Then state your request so we have something concrete to go on.”

This was it. If they refused we were fucked. I sought Athena's gaze and she gave me a determined nod. I took a deep breath, pulled Helios Edge out of its sheath and stabbed it into the sandy ground before my feet. I stood tall and boomed:

“I, Great Hero Felix, the Godsforsaken, request the aid of the Heroes of Elysium to liberate Mount Olympus from the followers of the Black Goat!”

Murmurs broke out.

“Olympus has fallen?”

“The Outsiders have grown that strong?”

“A Great Hero?”

Odysseus let the murmurs die down before he asked: “You call yourself a Great Hero, but what deeds have you performed?”

“I slew a dozen Dark Lords," I said. “I helped slay over a dozen more. Me and my companions stopped the capital from being overrun with the Black Goat's vile spawn. And most recently we slew a spawn of Scylla someone had placed into the Styx.”

“And who sponsored you?" he asked. “What god chose you?”

“None of them!" I bellowed. “All of them shunned me. And then they came crawling back to ask for my help!”

His mouth opened in a little 'o' of surprise but his stern expression held. “And what of your companions? Who are they?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “They can speak for themselves," I said, then nodded at my girls.

“I am Alisha Silvermoon, descendant of Great Hero Albrecht, Minor Saint of Brigid of the Tuatha Dé Danann!" Alisha called out.

“I am Selene, former Chosen One of Freya, now her paladin!" Selene boomed out.

“I am Yume of the southern lands and I've been slaying followers of the Outer Gods longer than some of you were alive!" Yume called out.

“I am Princess Annabella Zafira Trismegistus," Anna called out. “Herbalist, ranger and bearer of our bloodline's power!”

“Quite the gathering of Heroes," Odysseus said. “I respect your deeds and your fervor. And yet, we cannot be sure if you're worthy of receiving our aid.”

“And how can we make you sure?" I asked.

“He wants you to show off in the coliseum," Albrecht said.

Odysseus seemed a little disappointed that someone had stolen his thunder but he just shrugged, then nodded.

“And who would we be facing?" I asked.

“Not 'we'," Albrecht said. “Just you, Felix. And if nobody else calls dibs, you'll be facing me.”

And to nobody's surprise, nobody else interjected.