The Reviver’s Passage: Chapter XIII
By: Prappies
The road was rough under their feet. The underworld’s dark red sky was a familiar sight, much like the rest of the terrain around Hestia and her godly companion. The god, having been living down there all his life (before he was kicked out of course), was most familiar with the land under the ground.
He guided Hestia through short-cuts, safer passages, and more until they reached the border river once again.
This time, she is a little less hesitant in crossing the gorge. The bridge still rattles and sways under her weight, but she gets across with only 8 heart attacks instead of the regular 15. She once more accepts the god’s outheld hand, and lets her be pulled back onto stationary land.
“Welcome my dear,” said the god, waving his arm towards the land, “To the Realm of Avaricious.”
“It’s nearly identical to Animus’s realm,” she pointed out. The god smiled at her observation.
“You will find out soon enough that that is not the case here. Come along, as we make our way to Avaricious’s castle, you will find that our journey will be faced with much different enemies than the violent souls of Animus’s realm. Don’t let your guard down.”
The god meandered forward, Hestia quickly followed behind him on her heels. She had to jog slightly to keep up with his long legs.
“What kind of souls will be here? How can they be so different from the souls that we fought in Animus’s realm?”
The god looked at her from the corner of his eye, and then straight back forward to where he was walking. Hestia noticed a small amused smile gracing his lips.
“What was Animus’s Realm?” Asked the god.
Hestia frowned. “Well, it was the Realm of Hate, was it not?”
“Ok, and what is this Realm? Didn’t I already tell you which realm we are in?” Asked the god curiously.
“You did. You said we are going to the Realm of Avaricious.”
“Give me a proper word. That’s not a proper answer my dear,” chuckled the god.
Hestia looked annoyed. “What word should I be using? You said it was Avaricious’s Realm?”
“You didn’t even know that ‘Avaricious’ was a word until I used it, as the name of my brother. Translate Avaricious in a word you know my dear.”
Hestia was offended, but decided to say nothing since she knew that he was right.
“Well, you did mention ‘Greed’ before. So that will be the word I am going with.”
“Good. Ok. I’m going to have you guess what kind of souls we will find here. What kinds of souls did we find in Animus’s Realm?”
“Wait, why can’t you just tell me?” Asked Hestia.
“Because that wouldn’t be too fun would it?”
Hestia huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. The god chuckled as they continued their hike. Eventually Hestia gave in to the man’s silly request.
“Greedy souls, is my guess.”
“Smart girl,” said the god sarcastically. “But you are basically correct. As we enter the realm of Greed. We will meet those long gone who saw their end because they fell victim to greed.”
“How can someone die from greed?”
“They could be in search of riches, hurting others in the process of getting those riches. They died during that search.”
“But how exactly did they die, is there a certain way they died?”
“They may have been killed by those they wronged. Or they may have simply fallen sick during their actions, focusing too much on the money to be made and neglecting their health. That is how they died of greed.”
Hestia winced at his explanation. “So how do these souls try to… ah… harm us?”
“They will try to seduce you,” said the god.
“I’m sorry, come again?!” spluttered Hestia.
“Seduce you with Greed. They will… why do you look so relieved?!” asked the god, spinning around just to see her exhale out.
“Don’t worry about it… continue on dear god,” she rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment.
“What did you think I was going to say?! What did you think I was going to say that the prospect of someone making you fall victim to greed is the better option for you?!” the god was stunned beyond comprehension.
“I said don’t worry about it. Continue whatever you were saying.”
“I am most definately very worried about…”
“Just continue,” said Hestia a bit more firmly. She stared into the god’s eyes, until he backed down from his barrage of questions.
“Ok fine,” the god rubbed his chin in defeat. “They will look into your soul, scouring for your greatest earthly desires, and will play with you using that. They will make fake promises, promise you everything you have ever dreamed of, until greed takes over your subconscious. They will make you trust them, and make you come to them. They will take advantage of your new yearnings and your new trust, and pull you to them. Then they will kill you, without you fighting them back.”
“Ok, so they are more brains than brawn, especially when compared to the souls in Animus’s Realm,” acknowledged Hestia.
“Correct,” the god finger gunned Hestia, who grinned and finger gunned him back.
“So be careful. Be really careful. These souls, they are much smarter than the souls we have already come across before,” warned the god, he tilted his head, and poked her shoulder.
“Yes, yes I know,” she waved him off, pushing his hand off of his shoulder.
“Alright. Just stick to my side, I don’t want to risk losing you, especially here.” The god grabbed her forearm and pulled her behind him.
“Oh, so you do care for me?” teased Hestia. She grinned at him as he scowled playfully.
“Well I am in dire need of your assistance so I can complete a task given to me, by me myself.”
“So you only want me for what I can offer you?” She replied back, she raised an eyebrow, but a smile was still visible on her face.
“Exactly”
They continued on in silence. Hestia could hear her shoes clack against the rocky floor, while the god walked with a little more silence. His steps were a lot more softer, whether it be because he wandered these grounds for millennia before he was kicked out, or perhaps his slippers were simply softer.
In the background, Hestia could hear the wails of something, she stopped for a good second to get a better listen. They sounded mellow, but harsh. They started off calmly, but then slowly rose in pitch. Until they were no longer soft, but high shrills.
“That…” the god pointed to his left. Hestia followed his finger and saw a marrish being. “Is the exact thing I have been warning you about. Those are the souls of Avaricious.”
“The souls of greed? They look pretty different from the souls we already came across…very different from the souls of Animus,” Hestia squinted her eyes to get the finer details of the new souls.
The souls were a dark green in color. They, like the other souls, were see through. It was as if they were made of multiple blankets made out of watery mist. The soul moved roughly, and stopped at a fullstop. The misty blanket that was its body swayed in the direction it moved, very slowly. It hardly ever came to a stop, before the soul began moving again.
It’s hand was dark grey, and crooked. It had 5 fingers, each with very pointy claws.
It had maroon red eyes, its mouth exgending the entire half its face. In its mouth, was a long black tongue extending a good half meter.
“Its ugly,” remarked Hestia, as she striaghtened her back after she finished judging the dead soul.
“It’s ugly, just like how greed is an ugly emotion,” nodded the god slowly.
“Why do the souls all look different in different realms anyway?” The two resumed their walk.
“Because they died of different… well ‘sins’ wouldn’t be the best word because sin is a different group of its own.”
Still confused, Hestia was about to ask another question, when their surroundings began to disappear.
“Woah,” said Hestia looking stunned, she picked up her sword which had been on her hip, and held it in front of her.
“Oh dear,” said the god calmly. He pivoted himself, so that his was back to Hestia’s back. He held out his right arm in front of him, his left hand was still resting at his side. His facial expression was blank, but his eyes darted around, looking for the possible threat.
When Hestia’s eyes had finally gotten used to the sudden color change from the red, orange, and yellow that dominate the underworld, to complete light gray, she was able to slightly comprehend what she was seeing.
Is this fog? Why is there fog suddenly? What is going on?
Quicker than her mind was able to process…
Something grabbed her.
She realized this at the very last second, she tried to turn around, to no avail, the hand had a much too tight grip on her.
“God!” She yelled out in distress. The god, at her back whipped around to face her. He reached his hand out quickly, attempting to grab her shirt, but just before he accomplished that, the hand pulled Hestia away. Straight into the dense fog. The god tripped on his feet and landed on his front, his hands empty without the young woman.
“Hestia!” He yelled, as he quickly got back up on his feet.
No reply.
Slowly, the fog began to dissipate. The god looked around him, in anguish, looking for his partner. But when the fog finally cleared.
Hestia was nowhere to be found.
<–The Reviver’s Passage: Chapter XII The Reviver’s Passage: Chapter XIV–>
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