Elysium's Love Triangle (27 page)

I come to the conclusion that she must be an Arachne.  It is strange though, I’ve never met one with wings before.  She seems more like an Angel.

“Hi sweetie,” I say, bending down.  “What’s your name?”

“Death,” she replies.  “I’ve come for you.”

It takes a few moments for this to sink in.  I stagger back in astonishment.

I know she is telling the truth, you can just sense it in the air.

“I don’t. . . I don’t want to die,” I blurt. 

I’m only sixteen.  I can’t just leave everyone.

“You used the Black Widow Mist, Katy,” she explains.  “You knew of the possible consequences.”

I feel like screaming.

Instead my voice comes out soft, “It’s not fair.”

She sighs, “I’ll give you five minutes, run as fast as possible.  I’ll give you thirty seconds to get to the edge of the encampment.  If you make it there, in that time, you live.  If you don’t, you come with me.  This is your fifty-fifty chance.  It starts now.”

I run extremely fast.  I think of Daniel and Mom.

I need to get to the edge of this encampment. 

It seems so far away.  I’ll never make it.

I pick up the pace even more.  I’m running faster than I’ve ever run in my whole life.

That’s when I bang into someone coming the opposite way.

We both end up on the ground.

I need to get back up, quickly.  I find that this is easier said than done.

Everything seems a little bit blurry and out of focus.  It’s quite hard to stand up.

I’ve hurt my leg.  It’s impossible to stand on it.

I realise I’ve blown my chance.

I won’t make it now.

Death appears beside me, “Your time is up.”

A panic I’ve never known before fills me.

The girl who bumped into me sits up now, holding her head.  It’s Angelica.

“Katy?”  She says, “Is that you?”

I nod, trying to hold back tears.

I am glad that it is her.

I try to hide my inner turmoil, “What are you doing here?”

“I killed Rejon,” she answers, completely unaware of my impending death.  “I finally did it.”

Her voice cracks with emotion.  The kind of emotion you get at the end of a quest such as hers.

I can barely believe it, “You got him?”

She nods.

I take in this knowledge quietly.  My father has been avenged.

Death moves closer to me suddenly.  I crawl backwards.

“Katy, what’s wrong?”  Angelica asks.

I tell her that I am going to die.

This alarms her, “Katy, there’s no one there.  Relax.”

She can’t see Death.  Death isn’t here for her.

Death moves closer to me, again.

I cough, blood comes from my mouth.  I look at it, spattered across my hand, all red and shiny.

That’s my blood.  I am going to die.

Death moves closer, she is within inches now.

The pain in my lower abdomen begins.  I grab at it and moan.

“Katy, what’s wrong?”  Angelica is panicking now.  “What’s happening to you?”

Death comes half an inch closer.

I find that I am lying on the ground now.  Leaves of brown and yellow are all around me, along with the trees of the forest.

Angelica is holding me.  She is screaming for help I think.

It is too late.  I can’t hear her that well now.

Some words filter through, “Katy, stay with me, okay.  Someone’s coming.  Things are going to be fine.”

She is crying.  Some of her tears land on me.

I am so grateful that she is here.  I tell her that.

She cries more, with deeper anguish now, and tells me not to talk ‘like I’m dying’.  Help is coming.

I look at the sky.  It is beautiful.

I think of where I am.  This is the place where my uncle built his empire.

I think of my uncle now
.  His very heart is made up of a hundred percent evil and he repulses me.  I don’t want to be like that, my screams die down as the tears come tumbling from my eyes.

I didn’t even realise that I was screaming.

I close my eyes tightly and clench my fist.  It takes everything n
ot to scream but I don’t want to make this worse on Angelica
. 
Her
voice is already breaking with every word.  I am silent except for the occasional groan that I can’t help.

My life is going now.  Ethereal
is screaming at me to fight Death
and has given me her powers. They are strong and
I could easily use them to ward Death off
now.

I don’t make use of them.

Ethereal
is not coming out now, I won’t let her.  I’m staying here and taking this pain
.
I don’t care if it
means that we both die in the process
.  She would be gone too.  The people of the world don’t deserve her.  I have to do this for them.

I concentrate on Angelica’s voice.  It is
comforting. 

I think of Daniel’s voice
.  I love it. 

People like him are why I need to die now.  She will not get near the people of this beautiful world, she will not get them.

I hope he will understand.

The world is getting further and further away and the pain begins dulling.   

My lif
e is slipping away from me.  With one last breath
I let it go.

I wake up knowing
that I am quite dead. 

I open my eyes to
a
brilliant light. 

I’m in
a wonderful tunnel
made up of blue, purple, gold and red lights.  There is
nothing else. 
It is unbelievably peaceful. 
I find myself giggling and not knowing why.  I am wearing a flowing blue dress made of delicate
material.  I don’t know who designed
this one.

I stand up, wondering which way to go
.  There is no way to know.  I could go backwards, forwards, down or
up.  The tunnel extends whichever way you wish to go
.  Somehow I just know this; perhaps I’ve been here before.  If I have I don’t remember clearly. 

I end up going forward as it seems the most natural route.  I don’t see any light at the end of this tunnel yet, the bright colours just seem to
go
on and on.  They seem to
promise only good things. 
I find
much peace and enjoyment in the lights
without understand
ing
why.

I suddenly sense that the lights are helping me.  They are taking away the pain and anguish that I should be feeling.  They wish to make me happy.

An orange butterfly lands on my shoulder.  Everything here seems so natural.

A gold path appears beneath my feet.  It seems to be guiding me.  I follow it until a white door appears in front of me.

I open the door.  Somehow I know that this is the right thing to do.  I step through the door, into a blinding white light.

I am on a beach.  The water is calm, only making small waves.  The sun is shining brightly.  I hear a few seagulls in the distance.

I recognise this beach.  It’s a replica of the one I used to go to when I was young.  An incredible sense of calm runs through me.

I feel someone’s hand on my shoulder now.

I turn to see a face I haven’t seen in twelve years.

My Dad.

He still looks nineteen, with short blonde hair and deep brown eyes.  His skin is more immaculate than I remember.

He embraces me quickly, “I am so proud of you, Katy.”

Now I begin to cry, emotion overtaking me, “I had to die . . . I had to keep her away from them.”

“I know,” he says softly.  “Zeus is impressed with your decision.  It was completely selfless.”

There are so many things I want to ask him now.

I don’t ask any of them.

Instead I say, “Mom cries almost every night.  It’s because she misses you.”

There is a pause before he answers, “I know.  I’ve been by her side a lot.  I’ve also watched over you.  I was never really gone, not even for a moment.”

Tears are running steadily down my face now, “I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too,” he smiles as he breaks our embrace.  “I think you should sit down. I’ve a lot to tell you.”

I sit down, as does he.

He suddenly gasps, as if getting a newsflash, “My brother . . . he’s dead.”

I remember Angelica telling me that she’d killed him, “Who told you?”

He seems to still be getting over the shock, “Oh, the knowledge just comes to me sometimes.  Zeus gifted me with ‘knowledge’ to make up for my horrible death.  I know pretty much everything. . . I could tell you the meaning of life if you want!”

I laugh.  He seems so like his old self, so youthful and full of enthusiasm.

“Nah,” I say.  “That sounds a bit too philosophical for me.”

I’d rather stick to light topics for now.

My Dad looks momentarily disappointed.  Then he smiles again.

I ask him where we are. 

He replies that this is a place between earth and paradise.

I don’t get much time to take this in.

Dad
has decided
to tell me the meaning of
my
life. 

A lon
g, long time ago I lived in Elysium, our paradise, as a goddess
.  I was h
appy for a while.

Then one day I decided that living in Elysium wasn’t enough. 

I wanted to rule earth too.

Zeus
saw this
desire for power
in my heart and the treachery it bore in me.  My evil was sprea
ding across the demigods of Elysium
like a plague and he needed to stop it somehow.

The gods
decided
that
it would be best to deal with this in a quick manner
.  They just
threw me into the flames
with Hades
.  It was a bit rash
but it solved the problem.  Zeus decided that he wouldn’t leave me with Hades
for etern
ity, like some of the other gods
suggested. 

Zeus would only leave me in the flames for a thousand years
.  He reckoned that
this
was long enough for even me to learn a lesson.

I don’t like the word flames and I shift uncomfortably.  Neither do I like references to my t
housand year damnation. 

Dad’s presence here works to calm me.

Then after
the thousand years, my dad
co
ntinues, I was allowed out.  Zeus
had a chat with me and discove
red that my torment had divided my soul
.  One
side
was as wicked and evil as ever, just with added anger tow
ards him, and the other was virtuous
to the point of being a perfec
t goddess
.

He decided to do a test
with me.  It would involve going to live on Earth, as an ordinary mortal. 

This would prove that I did not consider myself above humans.

I would have to live on earth without ever trying to rule, or otherwise subjugate, the humans there.

This would prove that I had changed my ways. 

That was not all.  There would be a further test.  He would send two boys.  One boy would try to bring out the evil in me and another would love me truly.  If I could finally pick love
over
evil
then, and only then, wo
uld he allow me back into Elysium
.

Dad finishes here.

“I never picked anyone,” I say.

Dad looks as me lovingly, “You sacrificed yourself for humanity, Katy.  This proved to Zeus that you have changed . . . You do still have to choose a boy though.  Zeus needs to see that you can pick love over dominance and evil.”

This confuses me, “I’m dead.  It’s too late.  I can’t pick either of them now.”

A bit of a twinkle returns to my Dad’s eye, “Yes, you can.”

He knows something I don’t. 

“How?”  I ask.

He doesn’t answer.

I notice now that he is staring down the beach at something.  I follow his gaze.

It’s Riley.

“I have to go talk to my brother for a while, now,” he says to me, sounding like someone with a lot of unfinished business.  “Katy, you’ll figure everything out, don’t worry.”