The Reviver’s Passage: Chapter XVI
By: Prappies
That night when Hestia awoke, she found herself in a small but finely decorated bedroom. Green was the color most vibrant in the room, mixed in with black, gold, and bits of purple here and there. Her bed was small enough for just one person, but not small enough to be restricting sleep.
The ends of her bed were covered in a clear, silk, jade green bed drape, (Hestia quickly presumed that green was Avaricious’s favorite color). While part of her vision was blurred from the green drape, she could make out a few pieces of furniture in the room. A dresser in one side of the room, a mirror in another, and a desk in the third edge of the room.
“Ah, it seems Sleeping Beauty has awoken from her slumber. Might I ask? How is the princess faring?” said a cocky voice.
Hestia opened her drapes and saw the god staring back at her.
“How long have you been here for?” She questioned, her eyebrows raised.
“Not long, literally just got in a few minutes ago.” He answered. He stood at the foot of her bed. Hestia could have sworn she did not hear him come in.
“You didn’t answer my question.” He deadpanned with a smile.
Hestia shook herself, shaking all feelings of drowsiness away from her before she answered.
“I’m doing alright. A little tired, but other than that, I’ll be fine.” She answered, rubbing her eyes.
“Aye, that’s good to hear love,” chortled the god. He reached over to her, and grabbed her arm, slightly pulling her towards him. Hestia gave him a confused side eye.
“Are you not able to get up?” he asked, frowning as she rejected his actions.
“I can… but… do you want me to go somewhere?” She asked.
“Downstairs. Our host, and a friend are waiting for you.” He said.
“A friend?” asked Hestia.
The god smiled. “Why don’t you come down and see?”
And downstairs they went. Hestia walked down the beautifully decorated staircase quickly, but softly. Take the time to admire the lines carved into the handrails, as well as the animals, and the circles, and so much more. She admired the slick, smooth, and dark wood under her feet. And admired the walls around here, filled with paintings of Avaricious himself, or of people falling for greed, moments before they damned themselves for eternity in his realm.
Behind her, the god was not admiring the intricacies in the architecture. He walked behind her, pounding on the stairs with such force that Hestia was sure at least one step was going to break underneath him.
When the reached the bottom of the staircase, only then did the god walk past her and led the way. He took her through multiple twists and turns of the palace, before walking into a dining hall room.
Like everything else in the palace, the dining room was elegant. Paintings on the walls, there was a large fireplace in the middle of the room. The fire was burning large and bright. It almost surprised Hestia to see that the fire was not orange and yellow in color, but instead it was green. Almost.
There was a long table, long and large enough to seat maybe 30-40 people. On it were many plates of food, ranging from meats to rice to vegetables. At the left end, were two men. One with a long green robe, sitting stiffly on his seat. The other, was a man decked in full armor. His black hair slicked back, and his position was much less polite than that of the robed man. He sat with one leg pulled up on the chair, and the other was stretched on the table. He leaned back against the back of his chair, forcing the chair to stand only on its two hind legs. His arms were crossed across his chest.
The two had been chatting amicably. Well, the armored man more so than the robed man. The robed man was staring at the armored man as he took all his food. The armored man had a pile of food on his plate, which the robed man clearly wasn’t happy about. The robed man kept a more passive face, when compared to the armored man’s cocky and flashy grin.
“Brothers, I hope you don’t mind if I join you two in conversation right?” Asked the god as he waltzed into the room. The two other men looked up from their conversation. The armored man looked up with a confused glance, which quickly broke out into a grin. The robed man on the other hand soured up even more.
“Brother!” said the armored man. “Ah, and there she is. Your little-ah… ‘partner in crime’. How was your nap Hestia?”
“My nap was very productive, Animus. Thank you for asking.” said Hestia, she gave a little curtsey, lifting the ends of her coat as if they were the ends of a dress. “Avaricious, how are you?”
Hestia turned her attention to the man next to Animus. The colder, paler looking man.
“Well I suppose I am doing alright.” he answered, as Hestia and her godly ally took a seat at the table. Hestia sat next to Animus, while the god took a seat beside Avaricious.
“You must be hungry.” said Animus when his brother and Hestia were properly situated in their seats. He then turned to Avaricious who remained silent in his seat. “Brother, give the girl some food.”
Avaricious scowled at Animus. Animus, either not noticing the glare or simply not caring, put his feet down and leaned towards the table. He grabbed an entire plate, on it seemed to be a bird of some kind. He dropped it right in front of Hestia, who looked stunned at the bird which was larger than her head.
“Eat up now Hestia. Can’t continue your journey all hungry and malnourished now can we.” prodded Animus.
“Ok, she doesn’t need that much food,” protested Avaricious lightly.
“But you offered her lunch before she passed out, brother. Now, follow through with your words and let the girl eat.” said the god. He waved his fingers at Hestia, telling her to just eat the food.
Hestia didn’t waste a second and tucked in. She tore the bird up using her hands, and eat multiple parts of its flesh; breast, wings, and legs. When she bit into the meat, she could feel the juices seep out of it and fall onto her tongue. She couldn’t help but to feel it was the best meat she had ever eaten, whether it was from eating rice non-stop for days, or because it was truly good… Hestia couldn’t tell.
“Oh wow!” cried out Animus in glee. He was laughing out loud. “You must be famished. Avaricious, I never knew that you had the generosity to feed the famished! What character development for you brother!”
“I guess so,” said Avaricious. He pressed his back against the chair, trying to sink into his seat. Clearly uninterested in this conversation anymore.
“Well, he let you eat at his table. That’s Avaricious for ‘I like you’” smiled the god. “Typically he would run guests out of his house after he got what he wanted.”
“I’m not that rude.” grumbled Avaricious.
“Yes you are,” both brothers said at once.
“Well, if you have to give something to someone, you outright refuse. It’s more of a mix of greed and rudeness.” shrugged the god. He grabbed an empty plate from the middle of the table, and put it in front of himself. He put rice and vegetables on it, and ate using his hands.
“I wonder why that is…” said Avaricious with a dry, mocking tone.
“Yes I truly do wonder,” said Animus. He turned to Hestia, who had already finished half the bird. His eyes went wide at the scene in front of him.
“Well, I definitely wasn’t wrong when I said you were famished.” he took a sip of water. “Say Hestia, what’s your plan after this?”
Hestia looked up from her meal, still chewing through a leg. She finished what she was eating, swallowing the food already in her mouth before answering.
“Well, this guy here,” she said pointing to the god, who stopped mid-chew to look at her. His mouth filled with rice, “said there were 4 of you guys. So I still have one brother left to defeat. I guess we would have to travel to his realm to defeat him.”
“Ah, so your next destination is to the Realm of Sin then.” said Animus, putting his feet back on the table and taking a large bite out of a leg.
Hestia looked up. “Realm of Sin?”
“Yes. Animus, Avaricious, Sin and D-” began Animus.
“And me,” finished the god, cutting Animus off mid-sentence. Hestia frowned at him, and he gave her an innocent look. Smiling as if he didn’t do anything wrong.
“Yes, and him,” said Animus, a slight smirk growing on his face as he looked over to his brother. “Us four… the four sons of the Lord of the underworld.”
“Sin,” said Hestia, her eyes having a far away gaze. “The last brother I have to defeat until I can get my friend back.”
Just one more. Just one more victory until she herself can plead her case to the King of the Dead himself. ⅔ gods have been fought and brought to their knees, not exactly in defeat, but in admiration of her. If three of his sons think she has some merit, then she should be able to win over the King. She could make the 3 sons into 4 sons, that would better her chances even more.
Hestia knew she could see the light at the end of the hallway. She was so close. So, very close. Her determination was at a new height, she was ready for the last fight… well the last physical fight. The very last fight would be a battle of words. An argument to set it all right. That’s all that there is lef…”
“Oh you won’t be fighting Sin,” interjected the formerly uninterested Avaricious.
“Huh?” said Hestia, she turned around to face him quickly. Not having expected him to speak.
“What do you mean brother?” said her ally god, still eating his rice and vegetables. He looked as surprised as her when he heard this information.
“He’s not in his palace right now,” continued Avaricious, his eyes straightened to only Hestia, who shrunk under his empty gaze. . “He is right now at father’s palace. You will have to skip over his realm and just head over to the palace.”
“That’s probably the most words I’ve heard him speak in a long time,” teased Animus, as he leaned in and whispered in her ear. His words weren’t quiet enough, judging by the way Avaricious scowled and the god smiled into his arm.
“I didn’t know that,” said the god, wiping his hands on a cloth. “I thought we had to fight Sin brother first. Thank you for your forewarning brother,” said the god. He wiped his mouth clean of any dirt, using his cloth.
“Sure,” said Avaricious. Bending over to take a bit of his own plate.
The table fell silent as everyone no longer had anything to say, but much to eat. The only sound permeating throughout the dining hall was the clatter of spoons scooping food to be put on a personal plate, or the occasional scuffle of a chair being moved to the occupier’s content.
Hestia looked around and observed the three brothers. Animus was eating his food quickly, creating a bigger mess. He had his feet on the table still, and leaning against the chair. He only reached forward when he wanted something off his plate. He dropped it in his mouth and chewed, his eyes closed in bliss as he savored the spices. Occasionally, a bit of juice dripped down his chin. Instead of grabbing a tissue and wiping the juice off, he used his shirt sleeve. Leading to a large stain forming on his right sleeve, just below where his armor begins.
Avaricious on the other hand, ate much more regally. He sat straight up on his chair, his feet on the ground. He bent over to put the food in his mouth, and then went back to sitting straight up as he chewed. He cleaned his mouth with a cloth after every bite, even if there is no food residue on his face. He made sure to roll up his sleeves to ensure it did not touch the food.
And finally there was her god. Hestia watched as he ate, and while she found many differences between the brash, loud and unorganized Animus and neat, quiet and cold Avaricious… to the point where she could not see how the two were brothers. It was in her god where she found her answer.
Animus and Avaricious could not be more different personality wise, but her god was a mix of those two brothers. He ate nearly enough. But he had one leg folded on his chair, his right ankle resting on his left thigh. His hands were much more messy as he ate, unlike Avaricious who tried to touch as less of the food as humanly possible. All five of his fingers were stained with curry and sauces, not in a way that was disgusting exactly though. Hestia herself ate with her hands and was accustomed to the messiness that often came with it. The silence continued for a while, until Animus spoke up.
“So,” said Animus, “You must really like your friend.”
He sounded a little awkward, thought Hestia, but she answered him anyway. Any reason to talk about Wally was always welcome in her eyes. Even if it was to a man like Animus, who may have tried to kill her once upon a time ago… her thoughts of him were simply muffled and ambivalent.
“Well,” she began. “He is a sweet man. Kind, absolutely kind.
“They all say that,” said Avaricious, wiping his mouth clean with a handkerchief. Hestia gave him a dirty look.
“Oh don’t listen to him. He wouldn’t know what a friendship was like if it hit him in the face,” said Animus mid-chews.
“Well,” said Hestia. “He taught me swordplay. He told me how can a blacksmith can make a good sword if they do not know how to wield one. They make a sword for a sword fighter, and no one knows better how a blade should feel than a sword fighter. So he taught me for that reason, and self-defense of course.”
“How sweet,” said Avaricious, he took a sip of his water. His tone implied anything but.
“What was his name?” Asked Animus. He put his elbow on the table, leaning his face on his hand. A smirk on his face. “You never did tell us that.”
“Eh nothing important,” said the god. He scratched the back of his neck. He was looking anywhere but Hestia.
“Why would that be? I think everyone’s name is important,” said Hestia suspiciously. She shot him a glance, his own eyes were now looking at his empty plate with a lot of interest. “To answer your question, his name is Wally. A lovely name don’t you think?” she sighed as she said that last sentence. A wistful smiling gracing her face. Her eyes closed as she thought of the man she held so near and dear in the past few years.
She only opened her eyes when she realized all three of the brothers were quiet. So quiet that she could hear the fire crackling behind them.
Animus looked very taken aback. He was grimacing hard, his eyebrow scrunched, and his head hovering over the hand his head had been resting on originally.
Avaricious’s gaze softens, a look that almost mirrored pity. Perhaps it was pity.
And the god himself was playing with his already ingested food.
“That’s a wacky name,” said Animus. His grimace turned into a grin. And he laughs. He laughed slowly at first, but then he picked up speed. Soon he was laughing loud and brash. The god smiled alongside his brother. And Avaricious shook his head in disappointment.
Hestia was speechless as she watched the three men trash on her friend’s name. Namely Animus who she thought had been an odd goofball of sorts. She expected no less from her god though, although she did know him far better than she did the other two brothers. She couldn’t blame or hate on Avaricious, who was just shamelessly nodding along with his two brothers. That, she could also expect of him, from the very little information she knew of him.
The men continued their laughter. From rambunctious howling to shy smiles. Hestia gave them all a look of dismay. She waited for them to settle down.
“Well a funny man he must be.” Said Animus, once his giggles ceased.
“Not really,” Hestia deadpanned. Wally was a calmer man, humor was more for the loud and outgoing. Something Wally was anything but.
“Ah don’t fret too much my dear Hestia.” Said her god, downing his last drink of water. “Say, why don’t you go to bed and rest up. Go to bed, it is night time in your part of the human world. It will be a long walk from here to our father’s castle, Especially if we go around Sin brother’s domain.”
“But I’ve already been sleeping for the last long while. I think I’ll be just fine.,” argued Hestia.
“If you want to stay awake for the next 9 hours, by all means please do so. But I’d highly recommend you take a rest, even if it is just you rolling around in bed for a few hours.”
Hestia linked eyes with him, protest on her face, neither wanting to back down to the other. But eventually she stepped down, even if it did take a good 2 minutes of awkward staring.
“Well alright, I have eaten my fill anyway. I’ll get going,” said Hestia quickly. She looked over to Animus, and then to Avaricious. She gave a small bow.
“Thank you for this meal,” she said. She quickly exited the room and pulled the door behind her, not closing it entirely, but leaving a small opening between the door and the door frame.
The gods stared at each other, listening to her footsteps soften in volume as she left for her room. When her footsteps were no longer anywhere to be heard, Avaricious and Animus turned to the god.
“Well…” began Animus. He grinned as he stared the god down. “It seems brother, you have laid all your eggs in one basket.”
“So it seems,” said the god awkwardly. He sighed, suddenly pushing his back against the back of the chair he sat in. He stretched his legs out in front of him, and sunk into his seat. He folded his hands neatly on his lab, which was hanging over the edge of the chair.
“Explain it,” commanded Avaricious. His voice seemed slightly upset.
“Well if I told her the truth, why would she come? One, she would not believe me, and two she would not have agreed to help me with my mission. Why would she? So I kind of lied my way through it.” the god said.
“Ah, the good old route of manipulation. Not a bad one.” remarked Animus, finger gunning his brother.
“Manipulation is a big word.” scowled the god.
“Yet it is the right word for this situation. You bent your words to fit her narrative.” said Avaricious.
“Well, I didn’t exactly bend my words…” argued the god softly. He sunk further into his chair. His eyes pierced the table cloth, as he grabbed a bunch in his hand and squeezed it. The eyes of his brothers, though, bore into him. And suddenly, it seemed he was having a hard time defending himself.
“What exactly did you tell her? What was the goal you said you had?” asked Animus. He put his hand on the god’s shoulder. Giving him a rough shake when he didn’t immediately answer. The god groaned internally before answering.
“I told her that I am doing this,” he started, waving his hand ambiguously as he said the word ‘this’. “So that I can come back home. Come back here to the underworld, as a god. Beside you all again.”
“So you do like us?!” he exclaimed mockingly. “I knew you loved us enough.”
“Working beside you two wasn’t a major factor in me coming back here,” teased the god.
“I highly doubt you even thought of us when you were deciding to do your little mission,” said Avaricious.
The god smiled. “That is correct.”
Animus laughed, not as loud as he had laughed before their conversation. His laugh was more awkward, and held back, his body was a little more rigid than normal. Avaricious gave him a side eye as he drank his water. Throwing his head back, as the water dipped into his mouth. The god, on the other hand, stared at the door where Hestia had walked through. He tapped his feet impatiently as he awaited whatever his brothers had to say next.
Avaricious was the first to speak. He dabbed at his lips with a piece of cloth, wiping away at the wet spots, before sitting back up straight, and speaking.
“And you have a plan right? Lying without a plan is a way to fall quickly. Especially if your lie is as risky as this.”
The god nodded. “I’ve got it all taken care of. As long as I can keep this up I will be fine. This…” again, the god made an ambiguous motion. But instead of just waving his hand, he pushed the chair backwards as he leaned forward on his lap. His arms waved in a large circle, as he looked straight at Avaricious. “… will be alright.”
Animus and Avaricious gave each other a skeptical look. Animus tapped his finger against the table, and turned back to their third brother.
“Well, if you think you are in control of the situation brother, then who are we to argue?” ceded Animus. He then turned his head to look at Avaricious. “Isn’t that right?”
Avaricious hummed for a second, before letting his thoughts be known. “Yes, who are we to argue,” he repeated back softly. He stared into space for a few moments before turning back to the god.
Animus stood up, pushing his chair back as he did so. He wiped his hands clean with a towel, and pushed his sleeves down. “Well, if you are in need of any assistance, me and Avaricious are right here.” He then gave his greedy brother a knowing look.
“Huh?” said Avaricious, annoyed. Animus continued to stare, and Avaricious sighed.
“Yeah, what he said I guess.”
The god’s eyes lightened, in joy and surprise.
“Thank you,” he slightly stuttered as he said this. His voice was meek, and shy for the very first time. “I will be sure to come to either of you if trouble arises.” he said with a little more conviction.
Animus placed his hand and the god’s shoulder and squeezed it, he then released his grip and clapped his hands together. Scaring Avaricious, who nearly jumped out of seat.
“Ok, now that we have had this conversation, let’s clean the table of all this food,” Animus said.
The cluttering of plates and glasses could be heard from outside the door to the dining room. Leaning against the door frame, breath sucked in, and figure stiff to ensure no one heard her presence, stood Hestia herself.
Her ear pressed to open space between the door and the doorframe, which she had purposely kept open just slightly in order to hear the ongoing conversation inside the room.
She heard laughter from inside, she assumed it was Animus trying to light the mood after the conversation the brothers just had.
Hestia herself was shaking. She had always known that the god had been hiding some information, she knew from the very second he first spoke to her.
And knowing that, she still accepted. Wally was worth it, the supposed “secrets” between her and her ally.
But after listening to the brothers’ banter, she couldn’t help but think that her god’s secrets were a little more than minor. From the way the introverted Avaricious pressed him to the way the thunderous Animus found his voice faltering as he questioned the god. She always knew that there was something hidden behind the big smiles, happy composition, and consistent teases of the god. And now she knows it wasn’t something insignificant.
She just didn’t know what it was.
Her mind began to throw random possibilities around. But none made sense. From what she knew of the god, which was very little to be fair. But she thought she knew enough, she couldn’t convince herself of each of the possibilities.
She was broken from her train of thought when she heard Animus tell Avaricious a farewell. She heard his footsteps come toward the door. Her eyes widened as she quickly pushed herself off the doorframe. She stood in place for a few seconds, confused on what to do next. For those first few moments, she stood rigid, listening to the thumps of Animus’s feet get closer and louder.
Then, she took off running towards her bedroom. She ran with envied agility, hoping that they didn’t hear her even if she was trying to run softly. Just as she turned the corner away from the door, the door opened and Animus walked out.
Right behind him, was the god himself. He shadowed his brother, staying firmly behind him.
To her immense relief, the duo turned and walked in the opposite direction she had gone. She could hear them talking about something, but their distance from her was too much. She watched the backs of their heads walk further and further away.
And when she deemed them to be a satisfying distance away from her, she turned around and ascended back up the immaculate staircase. A hundred new questions on her mind, for the man she considered her greatest ally on her journey.
And absolutely no answers for even one.
<–The Reviver’s Passage: Chapter XV The Reviver’s Passage: Chapter XVII–>
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