Memoirs of an Immortal (The Immortal Series) (43 page)

“I’ll be fine, just go.” I barked. Eva left and headed straight to Erysikhthon.

“Of course you’ll be fine, you’re with me. Come on Psykhe, do you think I would do anything to hurt you? Why do you think we are here now? If you hadn’t stayed away from me for so long, I would not have asked for us to come here and get you.” Leonidas was walking slowly towards me, as though he was trying not to scare me. “Why? Why have you not come back?” His voice was wounded. “Do you know how tortuous it was seeing you up there, not being able to reach you or touch you?” He reached for my arm, but I pulled back.

“I can’t do this, not now, I need to head back.” I bit out. I could see over his shoulder, the mountain was covered by Diavolis. The gods and my family were fighting so hard to end this. I needed to continue fighting.

Leonidas stepped in front of me, “I can’t let you go. Please Psykhe. I came back just for you.”

I lowered my head. I could hear how hard this battle was for us. My instincts to fight were too great. “Move, Leonidas, by Zeus I’m telling you nicely. Now move!”

He laughed. “You’re telling me nicely?” He scoffed. “Do you think I want this?” He extended his arms over the battlefield, then to himself. He stood still, watching me intently, absorbing my every expression. When he finally grabbed me and kissed me.

At first it was hard, his lips pressed against mine then it slowly took over me. His lips were soft and tender, warm and alive, my memories came flooding back. Every single one of them filled my mind and everything seemed so right. The tip of his tongue, teasing my lips, asking me to enter.

“I love you. I have always loved you.” He whispered.

I broke from his embrace. “You can’t love me, Leonidas?” My voice was shaky.

“Why can I not love you?” He grabbed my shoulders, when my attention was drawn to the foot of the mountain. Hephaistos was fighting hundreds of Diavolis on his own.

Leonidas followed my line of sight. “Is it because of him? I could look past that. I’m back, Psykhe, that’s all that matters.” He grunted. I now knew what I needed to do.

“Who do you love Leonidas? Who?” I asked sadly, knowing what I was about to do.

“The girl I met, the one who became my wife, you. I love you.” His eye filled with annoyance at what he must have thought was a stupid question. I raised my hands to meet his, slowly releasing his grip.

“But that’s just it. I’m not the Psykhe you knew, I’m different now. There’s no way I can be what you need me to be. I have grown and changed.” I said sadly. My tears were burning my eyes. I was feeling nauseous. He reached and cupped my face.

“No Psykhe, you are still you and if there is a change, I will love you just the same.” He began to kiss my eyes and face.

“You can’t.” My voice finally hardened. “You can’t, because the Leonidas I knew died and the Psykhe you knew died with you. The Leonidas I loved no longer exists and the man I love now is suffering.” Leonidas face became hard, his lips tight.

“You can’t deny me. I am your husband.” He bit out.

I shook my head. “You were. But now, we are enemies. I’m going to have to kill you Leonidas and put an end to this fake life you have. I’ll put everything back to the way it was. That’s all I could do, for you, for me and for us.” As I spoke, I stood in front of him. I knew that my time with him had ended, that my past life was just that, in the past and my future was in front of me, fighting.

I took two steps back and closed my eyes and pulled out my blades. I finally looked up at him, my eyes fully wrathed. “This is how I am now. I’m fighter, a commander, a powerful being, whose sole purpose is to fight what you lead.” I announced.

“I will not fight you Psykhe.” He said, as he stared at my transformation.

“Then you will die faster.” I said flatly.

The words burned and seared my mouth as I spoke. I knew logically he was no longer the man I loved, but physically, he looked just like him. I stood my ground trying to find some kind of resolve. But before I could do anything, a thin veil of darkness took over the land. ‘
I am here to contain the battle.’
I could hear Nyx voice in my mind. ‘
I have pushed whatever is left closer and will not allow any to leave, until you destroy them all.
’ Her voice was eerily sweet.

“What is this?” Leonidas looked around, confused.

“This is my world, a world I have to protect. A world that you want to destroy. Now take out your sword and fight me!” I snapped.

Leonidas’ eyes widened. “So your eyes are like theirs now.” He jerked his head to motion towards the gods.

“I didn’t decide this. This happened because the fates decreed it.” I answered.

He snickered. “When I win, you will be mine. You understand this Psykhe. I’m only doing this to patronize you.” Leonidas slowly reached for his blade and pointed it at me.

“Leonidas, that will not happen because I’ll kill you first.” With one thought I flung myself over him, my blades following close behind. He deflected them by swinging his sword on either side of him. I pulled the threads and grabbed my swords.

“You’ve become a better fighter, my love.” Leonidas smirked. He ran at me, as he got close, he threw his sword. I used my blades to repel it. When he reached me, he tackled me to the ground. He laughed as he sat on top of me. “You’re just not as good as me.”

With one quick thought the threads wrapped around him, lifting him off me, his looked startled.

“No, maybe not as good as you, but I am smarter.”

He was tried to break free, the more he struggled, the tighter my threads wrapped around him. I lowered him down and pulled on the clairvoyant thread. The blade flung itself into my hand and I held it to his throat. “Well do it, my love, kill me.” He offered his throat, waiting.

My emotions got the better of me, I looked at his face. Never had I thought I was going to do this, never. As my mind got distracted my threads became loose. He was able to break free and push me back. He rolled on the ground to reach for his sword, which he turned and held to my stomach.

“You are mine now!” He declared.

“No” I said softly as shook my head “I’m not.”

I walked forward inching closer to his sword. He held it firmly.

“Don’t come any closer Psykhe, I will stab you.” He threatened.

I moved forward. “No you won’t.” I said calmly. I continued until I reached the tip of his blade. It hit just above my navel.

“Stop!” He said firmly.

I grabbed his sword and held it tightly, my hands bleeding from the cuts of the blade.

“Let go Psykhe!” He hissed, his eyes widening.

I continued to hold the blade as it slowly pierced through me. He tried to pull back, but I grabbed his hand that held the hilt. I let the sword penetrate. I felt the agonizing pain as it thrust right through me. He stood there and watched in horror.

“I told you. I’m not the same anymore.” I murmured, as I called back my blades. They found their way to my hands, now both of them were at his throat.

“I guess you are determined, if you have gone this far.” He took my hands and held them, my blades slowly cutting his throat. Tears streamed down my face.

“Please forgive me.” I whispered.

With one more thought my blades slashed his throat. As he fell over, my blades followed him. I yanked his sword out of me and threw it aside.

I ran to him, blood gushed everywhere. I knelt down putting his head on my knees. I tried to stop the bleeding, but I couldn’t. I kept saying sorry, wiping my tears with my blood stained hands.

“Do not be sorry Psykhe, I am proud of you. You have changed. You have finally become what I always knew you could be.” He touched my face, his cold fingers barely tracing my cheek. “I will always love you. For me, you are the only one.” He smiled faintly.

I let my head fall back and with one final thought, I let my blades cut right through him. He lay limp in my hands, his body growing colder. I watched as he slowly disappeared before me, his body and soul going back to where it belonged. I let out a loud scream, my body convulsing in anger and self hate.

“So you’ve killed you husband. You are an interesting little girl.” It was a voice that was unnatural and cold. He walked in front of me and lowered himself. He crooked his head to one side. A wide smile was on his face. He then opened his mouth and bit his lower lip and began to chew the meat.

Erysikhthon stood in front of me, his body half eaten and his flesh slowly growing over his muscles. “I have tried everything to throw you off balance, yet here you are, ready to fight. What will it take to destroy you?” He waved his half eaten fingers in front of me. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t asking you, I was just wondering to myself. You have no idea how much it took to manipulate Apollon to bring back Leonidas.”

The mere sound of Leonidas name right now pierced me, but it coming out of his mouth, felt sacrilegious. I raised myself off the ground, my body weak from losing so much blood, my wrists aching from the fighting. It took everything in me to be able to call back my weapons.

“My sisters? Where are they?” I asked, my eyes never leaving him.

“Oh yes, I wasn’t in the mood to fight, so I simply kept them occupied.” He pointed at the other ridge, my eyes following him. I could see Eva and Eirene fighting numerous Diavolis. My heart sunk. “While you were busy killing your husband, everyone else was fighting.” His chewing had gotten louder, his voice full of sarcasm. With one move my blade slid right into him, he only began to laugh.

He looked down at my blade that was imbedded in his body.

“I’m not human anymore. I’ve given my soul to the Diavolis. There is nothing you can do to me that will kill me.” I flung my other blade in him, and he still laughed. “Do you honestly believe the Diavolis are the only things that can plague the gods and the humans? Do you not understand they were created from the very gods you sought help from?” My expression must have intrigued him. “Oh, they didn’t tell you, did they?” He smiled his lips curling.

“Oh yes, the Protogenos. It was Ouranos and Gaia who created the world you see, but with everything good must come an evil. It completes the circle, my sweet girl. Whatever was left from all that they created came out the Diavolis. It’s a way to bring balance.” He reached to touch me with his hand, but I backed away. My thoughts were scrambled to see whether this was true or not.

“Do not worry yourself young one, what he says is true.” Her voice was clear and uninhibited. Gaea had sprung from the earth and slowly made her way to me. She gently reached for my hair and moved it off my face. “He does not lie. It is the unfortunate truth of what we have done. To be exact what my brother has done. Tartaros was jealous and upset that Ouranos and I created such beauty that he thought he should create his own world. A place where the Diavoli and various wicked creatures thrive. It is an underworld beyond Haides. There he created these creatures to help destroy what we had created. It is a world that even some Titians and gods are afraid of. But we were naive in the notion, that our children and our grandchildren were capable to protect what we have spent our lives creating. They simply did not care. So self-centered in the fact that they would actually have to fight and work to achieve peace, which they all gave up, which has led to this.” She raised her hands in the air and gestured to the war around us.

“You could have mentioned this to me when we met.” I said in disbelief.

“What for young one? I knew you capable enough the bring fire back to my grandchildren. You are exactly what I had hoped for. Look, how they fight now?”

Erysikhthon eyes went hungry and made a quick move towards Gaea, but she moved her hands and the earth around him ensnarled him, creating a make shift prison. With one more yank of her hand the earth swallowed him whole.

“I have brought him back to Tartaros. This will help you, for now. You must quickly end this battle Psykhe.” She cupped my face in her hands “It is in you, I have faith.” She then disappeared back into the earth.

With both Leonidas and Erysikhthon gone, the Diavolis had no true direction. They fought, but were more scattered then before.

As I was about to leave the ridge, a hand grabbed my shoulder.

“We’ll go together.” Prometheus spoke. He was as tall as ever with his eagle on his shoulder. His bird was just as large as he was. She was the one eating his liver until Herakles freed him, but for some reason they never parted. She flapped her wings and let out a powerful cry, her talons digging into his skin.

“Aetos is ready to fight and so am I.” He reached for his blade, but instead of metal there was only fire. He gave one last look at his eagle and patted her head. She flew off into the battle, attacking and ripping flesh with her talons and beak.

“She is beautiful and very precious to me.” He turned and smiled at me. “Ah! Psykhe it has been so long since we have had a battle like this.” He saw my face and touched it. I cried as his hand reached me.

“I missed you.” I whispered.

“I know.” He said. He nudged and winked at me and ran down the hill at top speed.

I followed him down the ridge. I spotted a large group of Diavolis to my right me. I ran and gained speed. I threw myself into the air and whirled my blades. I fell into the center, opening up a circle around me. I could hear their gurgled voices speaking to each other.

“The masters…. The masters… we must win… we must win… for the master needs…the land.” The hissing became more frantic. “She is here…” They continued.

I was completely surrounded and I didn’t care. Fear was no longer an emotion I felt. I stood my ground and I smirked.

“Yes, yes, I am here.” With a quick jerk, my blades landed back into my hands.

“Come!” I beckoned. They stood there watching, waiting.

I held out my blades, using them to see how many were behind me. I took one final breath and charged, attacking those in front. I bent over backwards to allow my blades to fly over me and attack those behind. With one swift move I recovered them both. I grabbed onto my threads and used them to manipulate my blades in the air. I was able to extend them further and faster.

Two by two, four by four, I was over taking them. The more I killed, the more came at me. I could feel my wrists burning, aching for relief. I swallowed my pain and continued, when for a moment everything stopped. There were more than before. Before I knew it I was entirely engulfed by these creatures. I fought hard, but they were climbing over each other to get at me. They were quickly closing the circle around me, until I was completely covered by them. I could feel their teeth sinking in my flesh. The pain was agonizing, the burning bile slowing filling my veins. Just when I felt there was no hope left, their hissing became pained and labored. “No…we must….no… it cannot end….”