It was a prison of flesh she was forced to endure. Forced to watch as their plans grew closer and closer to fruition, knowing that Matthias’ plan was so much more than just simple revenge against her father and against his own. But then, as my mother’s existence came to light, Matthias knew it was only a matter of time. But first he needed to get an angelic soul into Hell, and there was only one way to do that.
My father.
So, they manipulated Layla, and used her obsession with Lucius, planting her with him to watch his movements throughout time. Then, when she was needed for more, they had her stab my mother in Afterlife, knowing she would be cast down into the dungeons. Once there, a summoning hex brought Dalene to be caught trying to break her out and she was put exactly where she was needed. Because I had been right about one thing, she had needed my father to kill her and send her soul into Hell, for she could not take Kala there freely.
This then turned her powers into something darker and gave Matthias the darkness he needed. But in his quest for revenge, Kala still tried to stop him. There were moments when she tried to keep me and Lucius apart, thinking this the way to prevent the future she was plagued with. Even when she tried to steal the box in that winter garden. Of course, her hatred for me was one of blame, for I was to be the cause of her father’s fall. I remember her shock at finding out I had already taken his blood. Something she knew would have the power to open the box and discover the map.
Matthias had been the one to send the Hellhounds, and their intention was to find Kala, but they found me instead. But then the answer came as to why even after I had opened the box, they still needed it back. Which was when I realised the box held so much more than just a means to get us into Hell.
It was a key.
A key he still needed.
“Ah, but finally, here is the last piece of the puzzle,” I heard Matthias say, and this time it forced my eyes open. This was when I saw a lone figure step from the shadows. Another soul he now controlled, and one that I knew was powerful enough to destroy everything!
And this was not because of what he carried with him, but because he was someone who knew how to get into Lucius’ vault, someone who was acting against his own free will.
The one with the power to rip Hell apart. All he needed was a single command from his soul’s keeper.
“Adam.” I felt my lips move but no sound came out as I watched my uncle hand over the box to Matthias.
“Well done. Now we will go to the Keystone and once there, my plan will be complete, as I finally get to meet my brother for the first time on the battlefield.”
I shuddered on the ground, knowing what this could mean as Adam handed the box over to his new master. But then I heard another voice, one I knew better than any other, for it was the first I’d ever heard.
My mother.
At first the relief hit me in my chest, thanking the Gods that she was still alive. But then, when she too was at the ready to do Matthias’ bidding, I knew that her soul was like that of Adam’s… it was lost.
Just like all the others.
Gods, what had I done!
I looked to the ground to see that the witch was still unconscious, and I wondered who she would be and which version of herself would I find when she awoke.
And as for me, well I could feel myself falling under, with my own soul soon to become lost to the control of another.
I also knew, thanks to these visions, what would happen the moment Matthias finally found the Keystone. For his ultimate goal was not just to get his powers back and to claim every soul that Lucius had once owned.
He wanted to kill his father and take over Hell.
He wanted to become…
A Titan God
32
Elysian fields
Lucius
It had begun.
I knew it the moment I fell to my knees, crashing to the floor as the crushing impact of having every soul leave my own, rendered me unconscious. It was like suddenly finding myself breathing for the first time