The Reviver’s Passage: Chapter XIV
By: Prappies
A large, cold, misty arm was clamped over Hestia’s mouth, dragging her further and further away from the god. Its throat emanated a loud, shrill laugh. Her feet scratched against the rocky floor, feeling the jagged edges of the rock scrape the skin off. After a good long while, she could no longer hear the calls of the god behind her.
Eventually, the soul of greed stopped, skidding to a stop. Hestia managed to lower the soul’s arm from around her face to over her chest. Finally, being able to now breathe, she looked up to her kidnapper.
Much like the other souls she had seen, this soul was green and wispy. A large jaw, and just as large hands and arms. It wore a cloak of green mist, with eyes redder then that of her godly ally.
When the soul came to a full stop, it gently placed Hestia onto the ground. Hestia wobbled on her feet before standing upright. Before her mind could understand what was going on, her feet reacted first by jumping backwards away from the soul. Her sword pointing at the throat of being, pressing against its jugular.
To her chagrin, the soul did not look scared. It looked very calm despite there being a sword right at its throat.
“I come in peace, young girl…” said the soul. The soul spoke in an eerily calm voice. The voice was undoubtedly masculine in tone, reverberating back very low-pitched speech.
“You come in peace?! You kidnapped me!” She yelled back, her sword poked a little further into the soul’s throat. A small bead of black blood coated the tip of the blade. The soul let out no sound of discomfort. Waried by this, she pushed the sword harder.
“Answer my question damnit! Why did you kidnap me?” she repeated once again.
“I, I was curious.” said the soul, his voice as smooth as ever. He put his arms up, trying to signify his innocence.
“Curious?” said Hestia, with more confusion than hostility.
“Curious.” enunciated the soul. Hestia’s sword stopped pressing against the soul’s throat.
“About what?” She asked.
“About… well, humans,” said the soul, hands still in the air. “Can you please let me go now, I’m literally harmless. I mean you no harm.”
Hestia regarded him suspiciously for a few seconds, before lowering her sword.
“Alright, but try anything and you’ll regret it,” she threatened him.
“For sure,” said the soul. The soul then looked behind him and called out a series of odd sounds. Before she knew it, Hestia was surrounded by a horde of identical souls. She spun around,
absolutely horrified by her new situation. Every soul looked at her with the same curiosity as the first soul did. She heard intelligible murmuring coming from the small crowd of huge beings. A few souls reached out to touch her, but she swatted their hands away. Others leaned forward to get a better look at her.
One soul grabbed her arm and pulled it up.
“What kind of clothing is this?” it asked. It’s voice was that of a middle aged English woman. The soul circled around her, like a cloth drifting slowly in the wind. “I have never seen such… garments before.” She sounded slightly disgusted as she spoke this.
“It’s a sign of the times dearest. Styles change just as the seasons change. Although I must say young girl, you do look mighty dashing in your petticoat.” Hestia could have sworn she saw the eye lidless man-soul wink at her.
“Oh-uh thank you, but I am not sure that my outfit constitutes a petticoat,” replied Hestia shyly, as she looked down at her now very marred, ripped, and filthy traveling outfit.
“It looks good nevertheless,” piped up another soul, this one held a more Japanese accent.
The rest of the souls continuously squabble over her, speaking in multiple mother tongues, as well as the normal screeching of the souls of greed. After a while, sensing her heavy discomfort at being the center of attention, Hestia’s kidnapper spoke up.
“Oh alright, quit it now. Stop it! You’re scaring the poor girl!” His booming voice was enough to send a wave of silence through the crowd. He then turned back to Hestia, his dark red eyes glinting. From what exactly, Hestia was unsure.
“Forgive them for their excitement. For many of us, it has been quite a long while since we have last seen a living human. And you look very different from the women we are so used to seeing in our times.” He placed a hand on his chest sincerely.
“No it’s ok, I’m sure it’s not every day when a living person comes to the land of the dead.” Hestia smiled compassionately. Her soul kidnapper gave her a smile back, which Hestia couldn’t help but wince at. “Why did you kidnap me like that anyway?”
The souls looked at each other, Hestia was unable to get the mood of their expressions, as their faces did not work in the same way a human’s did. Their lips do not curl upwards to show happiness, amusement, or cuningness. Nor do their eyes widen in shock, surprise, or outrage. Their only defining characteristic that could show her their feelings were their voices. But a voice can be manipulated.
The sudden silence made Hestia even more uneasy. The god’s warnings were ringing through her head.
“I think that we are just curious about… the land of the living,” said the kidnapper. “Most of us have been here for hundreds of years. So the living world is something we have forgotten entirely.”
“Well then why can’y you just ask a different soul? Why did you kidnap me? Of all the people who died today, I’m sure atleast one would’ve come here to this realm, you can ask hi-”
A sudden realization came to Hestia. Quicker than the kidnapper could’ve expected, the sword was back on his throat. The crowd of souls gave out a loud hiss.
“Little girl, what is this?” asked her kidnapper, with what Hestia presumed was mock shock and slight condescension.
“How have you and your friends been her for hundreds of years? Good souls get reincarnated… if you truly mean me no harm, how come you haven’t been reincarnated yet?”
“Oh put your sword down little girl,” said the kidnapper with a little more firmness. The kidnapper was closing his cool and his facade was quickly fading. “Reincarnation takes a long time. There’s a process to it. Most souls don’t get reincarnated so quickly. That’s why we are still here! We will get reincarnated soon, didn’t your god tell you that?”
Hestia didn’t know if what he was saying was the truth. She knew that souls got reincarnated, but how long it took… that was a fact she was still in the grey about. But one thing she did know, was the god’s warnings about the souls of greed.
Without moving her head, Hestia’s eyes scanned around her. The other souls were slowly coming forward, creating a closed off ring around Hestia and her kidnapper. She was quickly surrounded.
One enemy with my sword at his throat. A good 9 others surrounding me… nowhere to escape… the odds are not good. How do I get out of this situation?
“Please relax yourself,” said British lady soul. But she kept moving forward, her hand was reaching towards Hestia, claws outstretched.
Hestia decided to take a gamble.
She stepped away from her kidnapper with one swift step. She planted her feet on the ground, and pivoted around. Her clothes flew from the motion. As her body turned, her sword arm extended, until it was just grazing the edge of the woman’s neck.
The British lady didn’t even realize what was happened before it was too late. Hestia’s sword sliced through her neck like butter. The woman’s head for a good few seconds just stood there. Everyone was silent, thinking that somehow she had missed even when they saw the sword penetrate the neck.
Then, without warning. The head toppled. It was as if a gust of wind had come, and lightly pushed against the severed head. It fell to the ground. Bouncing once or twice, and then went still. Her knees buckled before they bent, lowering her body to the ground quite slowly.
A few more seconds passed until someone spoke up.
“HOW DARE YOU!” said the flirtatious soul from before. He picked up the head and cradled in his arms, screechign profanities while watching the head and the body of the British lady turn into dust. Before the lady was completely gone, the male soul lunged towards her.
Hestia spared no time. She rushed forward to meet him head on, which wasn’t that far. She raised her sword and brought it down on his hand first. His hand fell limp to the ground. With this, the other souls quickly backed up. Even her kidnapper took a step backwards.
She then shifted her weight to her front foot, and lifted her back foot up as she leaned forward and sliced the other’s soul’s head off as cleanly as she had the British woman’s. His head fell to the ground much quicker than her’s though. The rest of his body hit the ground with a loud thud. His body too began to disintegrate.
“Oh, now you’ve done it…” growled the kidnapper. “Well get her! What are you waiting for?”
Suddenly the rest of the 7 souls were on her. They each tried to claw at, bite her arm off, or stab her. She evaded them with quick feet while swinging her own seapon around. Within 2 minutes, 4 of her 7 attackers were dust. Leaving only 3 more, minus her kidnapper who stood to the side watching.
She stepped on one of decaying bodies and jumped. Propelling her into the air, she held the sword above and behind her. And in one downward strick, she left a huge gash in the Japanese soul. The Japanese souls creeched in pain. She adjusted her grip quickly and slashed at his neck. The soul death toll was now 5.
She was breathing hard, and stumbled a bit in her off balance. Taking his chance, one of the few remaining souls came and dug his claws into her back-lower half. She gritted her teeth and huffed, arching her back.
“God damn you!” She screamed as she stumbled forward and onto the ground. She stood on all fours, before lowering herself to the ground slowly as blood seeped from her back. The same soul lifted its claws up and prepared itself to stab her again.
Hestia, ready for this, parried the attack with her sword as it came down on her neck. The soul pressed his entire body weight to his claws, making Hestia struggle as the claws came closer and closer to piercing her throat.
Tilt the sword Hestia, tilt the sword. Remove his claw away from you.
She gently tilted her sword, until the soul’s large claw slipped off the blade and straight into the rock below her, right next to her neck. The soul screamed in rage as his claw pierced straight through the rock, getting stuck.
Taking her chance she rolled away from underneath him and rose to one foot, and one knee. She slashed at the soul’s eyes, leaving a very deep gash. The soul screamed once more, one hand going to cover the eyes while the other was still stuck in the rock.
Just like that Hestia, weaken him down a little bit before going in for the kill.
She slashed at his stuck arm, disconnecting it from the rest of the body. A second soul rushed forward to try and help his losing comrade, but he had come forward very sloppily.
Fool. He’s charging in without a plan, leaving himself open to attack.
She turned her attention to the in-rushing soul, leaving her original opponent wallowing over his dismembered arm. As the second soul came forward, and stabbed it in the abdomen. She twisted her blade while it was inside the soul’s body, and pushed the blade parallel to its hip. When her sword was through, half the upper body was attached to half the lower body. The soul began to whimper as he too disintegrated into nothing.
She turned back to face her first opponent, who had gotten over the shock of losing its arm and was trudging at her. The soul was in too much pain to do anything more. All that was left for Hestia to do, was walk forward and decapitate her opponent, much like so many of her other opponents.
With one flick of her wrist, this opponent too became dust.
Covered in soul dust, she looked around her, before her eyes landed on her kidnapper’s final little henchman. But instead of charging at her, the final henchman turned and drifted away quickly. Choosing to escape her, instead of fighting her.
Smart little man. Thought Hestia with a triumphant smile.
Her kidnapper, having stood out of the fight the entire, stood alone. His eyes never once drifted from Hestia as she killed everyone he worked with.
“You are not a bad fighter, little girl,” he said, standing ever so, very, still. Whether it was from shock, or that was how he just stood, Hestia didn’t know. And didn’t intend to let him live long enough for her to find out.
“I learned from the best,” she said, giving her limbs a short stretch, and shook them loose, before walking towards her final opponent.
“And who is this ‘the best’,” asked the soul, as he slowly backed up and away from Hestia.
“My best friend,” she said, picking up her pace a little bit.
“Oh… your best friend… huh… tell me more about him, little girl,” stuttered the soul, speeding up as well.
“And why would I do that?” asked Hestia coldly.
“Because I can help you get him back!” yelled the kidnapper’s soul. Hestia paused, her eyebrow lifted in confusion.
“How do you know all that?”
“Well, you defeated Animus didn’t you? We souls might be meaningless and small and trivial, in the grand scheme of things, but even we keep up with the news of the underworld. There isn’t much that goes on down here, so when there is something that happens, especially when it comes to the gods, it garners our interest.” He said.
“You already know I am here for my friend. Why would I need your help on top of that?” asked Hestia.
“Why little girl, I am one of the souls of greed. I know greed. I am greed. I can help you in ways that your god cannot.”
“And how would that be?” The god had warned her about these souls, how they would try to lure her in with false promises. Try to take advantage of something she held so near and dear, use her ‘greed’ against her. And right in front of her, was evidence of his truthfulness.
She continued to give him a cold shoulder as she took one step in front of the other. The wooden bottom of her boots tapped against the rocks beneath her. The soul in front of her growled slightly. The underworld was otherwise silent to Hestia, her eyes and mind on the soul in front of her alone. Her focus on the task at hand, and so the rest of the world fell silent to her ears.
Hestia could see the cogs move in her opponent’s head, she could not tell much from his expression, but she could tell his mind was whirling and playing with different arguments that he could present to her. Arguments he could use to avoid tasting the edge of her blade. She didn’t expect him to come up with a good argument, especially when she saw him raise his hands in front of his body. Readying himself for a fight, or so that was what Hestia had assumed.
Of course, like in all stories great and long, she was wrong.
“Because I can do it quicker and easier!” He yelled out loud. His voice boomed through the land. Hestia felt her focus waver, and suddenly she could hear the screams and screeching of the dead a long ways away from the two of them.
“And I ask the same question once more. How would that be?” Asked Hestia.
“Because I am a soul of Greed,” the soul tried again. But this time, he did not stop there. “I am the soul of a god who is accepted and loved by the highest power in the underworld. I am an underling of a god who is still loved by his father.”
Hestia took in this new information. “And what good does that do me?”
“Because, my boss is the son of the king of the underworld. I’m sure you already know this. Come with me and meet him, I am sure he will allow you, and help you to get your friend back. He will talk to his father. All you have to do is follow me. Come closer to me, but lay your sword on the ground. I will help you, and him, get back home.”
The soul’s voice was soft and calming all of a sudden. He had calmed himself down, before speaking his proposal to her. He put his hands behind his back and his eyes were still wide, and if one were to look close enough they would see that his hands were still slightly shaking. But even he knew, from Hestia’s pause in her walk, he had thrown her a curveball that she had to consider. No matter how suspicious it was, and how much the god had warned Do not trust the souls of Greed, she paused and forgot everything she was told. Even if only for a moment, she let her greed get the best of her.
For all she was worth, she could see the light in his argument. Going around with a forsaken god, going against the family that hates him enough to dispel him out of his own home, and stealing their dead, something they would probably not take too lightly… was bound to cause trouble.
But if she were to, gain the favor of a favorite son. A son of whom the king of the underworld valued… then maybe she could have a chance of winning.
But then her eyes fell on a small thing protruding from the soul’s backside. Her eyes widened as she quickly closed the distance between them, and slashed her sword through his neck.
The soul, at the same time of realizing what she was about to do, attempted to pull his arms out from behind him, but he was too slow and too late. Hestia’s sword cut through the front half of his neck.
And he grabbed his neck with his two hands, with claws extended to an unreasonable length. Claws that he had been discreetly growing up behind his back, in hopes of her coming towards him unarmed and unsuspecting, to which he would have sliced her own throat open.
Hestia realized with a start, as she watched the soul choke on his own blood, desperately trying to stem the flow of the bleeding, if he had grown the nails any shorter, she would have been fooled. And if she had been fooled, she would be dead.
The soul, having fallen to his knees, tilted sideways and crashed into the floor. His body slowly turned to dust, much like how the bodies of his friends had when she had killed them. He gave her one last look of fury and betrayal, before his head disappeared into dust as well.
Exhausted beyond measure, Hestia fell to her knees, before toppling backwards and sitting on her hind legs. She put her hand to her head, groaning as her entire body shook under the pressure of exhaustion.
She moved herself so that she was sitting straight on the ground, and pulled a little black sword sharpener from inside her clothes pocket. It was like a small black plastic sandwich, with two black rectangles pressed together. The only thing separating the two black blocks was a small opening where the sword was injected. That part was more metal.
She grabbed her sword, which had fallen to the ground as she fell. She held it up in front of her, and slid the very tip of her blade into the sword sharpener. She held it firm and tight, and waited for her arms to stop shaking before moving forward with her task.
When her arms stopped failing her, she slid her sword through and out of the sharpener with one very quick stroke. She then repeated the steps, tip of the sword to tip of the sharpener, and then pulled the sword out towards her and downward in quick, steady succession.
She continued this onward for about 3 minutes. When she thought the sword was sharp enough, she flipped the sword and began sharpening the other side. She only stopped her process when she heard footsteps behind her.
She dropped the sharpener, which hit the ground with a clang. She turned around as she pushed herself up from a sitting position using her legs. Her hair flew behind her like a swinging black curtain. It landed back against her back as she pushed herself against the man in front of her, tip of the sword pressed against his throat.
And from above her, she heard a chuckle. A low, familiar, condescending, chuckle. She looked up, and found herself gazing into the warm but sparkling eyes of her godly ally.
“Oh,” she said flabbergasted. She dropped the sword to her, and took a long step backwards. The smile on the god’s face did not relinquish, instead, his hand reached up and rubbed his neck. Where the sword had been pointed to just moments before.
“It seems I needn’t have come in such a hurry,” he admonished lightly.
“You’re late.” stated Hestia, giving him a dark look. “Or was this on purpose? Another one of your tests?”
“Actually, for once, it was not,” said the god. “Everything that happened was very unexpected. Took quite the turn, as you can tell. I actually tried to come to you as quickly as I could. It seems that you,” he motioned around him, to the empty area. “Have taken care of everything already. Seems you didn’t cave into Avaricious’s promises. Good work.”
Hestia pursed her lips, unsure of whether to trust him or not. But she figured that it wouldn’t do her any good. So she let it go.
“So what now?” She asked. She threw her sword onto her shoulder, so that the flat side of the blade was resting against her and pointing up to the air and behind her.
“We keep going onwards. We still have to defeat Avaricious after all. We aren’t even halfway through our adventure yet.” the god smiled and put his hand on Hestia’s head. He rubbed her head, messing up her hair. Forcing small strands of hair out of the neat braid Hestia had put her hair in. She pushed her hand off her head, sending him a hard glare. She then patted her hair down.
“Quit that,” she huffed. “Let’s just keep going. Which way?”
Hestia pushed past the god, and continued in the direction his finger pointed towards. The god laughed as he followed behind.
<–The Reviver’s Passage: Chapter XIII The Reviver’s Passage: Chapter XV–>
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