HADES (Death Is A Man)

Gone To The Mortal World

AZRAEL

The portal way back to the underworld whirled open in the abyss sending flickers of its light around. I could hear the whispering sounds of the hoverers' damned souls as they echoed around me in the dimmed darkness that was filled with the souls of the hoverers gnashing their teeth in demolition.

I took back my animalistic form, it was painful doing so but I had done it a lot of times over the past and had gotten accustomed to the pain.

I fell to the ground as my tail grew out and my fangs and claws became elongated, my eyes became red as flames. I threw back my head and roared in a voice that sent the hoverers scampering. They had witnessed this fate a lot of times and couldn't wait to be a victim of it.

A wave of energy radiated away from my body, and every soul within the reach of the waves fell to the ground as skulls and dark fragments.

I sat poised above the ground and whistled for my unicorn that soon came flying out of its abode, it sparkled in the darkness and was a spot of white beauty in an artwork painted in the colors of ruins and destruction.

I could feel the warm breath of my unicorn on my neck as I caressed the soft hair on its body, something seemed weird however Black's unicorn was also hovering over them. The connection Black had with his unicorn was so strong that it hardly left his side for anything, if the unicorn was there it meant two things Black had been there or he was most probably lurking in the dark somewhere

I stayed very quiet and stared around, conscious of the fact that my brother might be lurking in the dark and most probably up to doing one of his mischievous tricks.

Seeing that the coast was clear of him I brought out the souls of the men I had collected while on my travel and listened as the hoverers hissed and whispered all around me trying to grab the jar of souls away from my grasp.

"You all never stay quiet," I said, shaking my head and using my tail as a whip to chase the hoverers off while I walked.

Unhindered by hoverers that were scared of my tail as they didn't want to become an absolute anything in the underworld no matter how ironic it sounded.

I rode my white unicorn over the dry Hill and dale. These days, my unicorn was a lot tamer as he held onto the rein at the back of its neck as height was not one of my favorite things, prince of the darkness or not.

I could still hear them whispering, those cussed doomed hoverers, when I become King I wouldn't have any mercy for them as Father had done.

I had the plan of sending all hoverers to the wilderness of nothing, there they could make whatever noise in whichever they wanted and I won't care.

I could see damage from the last war they had, it was damage that got to my focus as it was utterly irreparable.

Beyond the threshold of ruins was Father's palace, rising like a pinnacle or thorns out of the dry ground. My unicorn hovered the palace before dropping to the ground. I walked through the dry dead leaves and fig trees — dry to indicate the state of the underworld.

Around my midsection was my apparel, a deep black coat made from fragments. I walked in to find father with the souls I had claimed locked in a jar. They needed no ferryman as I was their ferryman.

I opened the jar and watched as the souls flew out, they tried to find a way to escape the hallway with most of the souls hitting me across my face and some hitting the walls, this was where the real task was getting to souls to stay calm while I chained them down and took them to father.

With the help of the guards, I was able to calm the souls and chained them down as I led them to father.

CRONUS

I was in deep thought as I heard the jingling sound Azrael's cloak made and was certain he had arrived. I wasn't exactly angry at him but was dissatisfied with the fact that Azrael had taken my warning lightly and now I had gotten the words from one of the guards that Black was nowhere to be found among the immortals.

They had found his unicorn hovering over the ruins of the westside but there were no signs of him.

I had warned Azrael of Black mischief severally and had the fear that Azrael's ignorance and underestimation of his brother would bring a lot of problems to both worlds.

I realized that I had been right and Black was in the world of the mortals and it made me wonder what atrocities he might have performed over that short while.

AZRAEL

I walked toward father and bowed to my knees, the claimed souls were all chained in a straight line as they looked lost.

"Father, I am back from the realm of the immortals." I rose to my feet. " I returned the body to balance the circle of the universe and also claimed a lot of souls that were due to die."

I could see that father paid little or no attention to what I was saying and it disturbed me a lot, "Did father know about the other life he returned in the lands of the mortals?" I thought to myself.

"Father is anything the matter, you look worried?." l asked.

"I have never seen you look this way,?" I continued.

"Your brother is gone, Azrael," Father whispered.

"Gone, I don't understand, " I looked at him confused.

"Your brother is in the world of the mortals,"

"How can that be ?" I asked. "We both know the ferryman wouldn't take him across the sea of souls."

"The gold coins are also missing ." Father tried to explain. "It is either he paid his way with the gold coins or he followed you either way. You have to get him back and return him to the underworld." Father said and looked away.

"I will do that immediately, father," I said firmly.

"Please, make haste with it." Father grimaced. "We don't know what he could be up to ."

"You are the right father and I am sure it wouldn't be anything good," I said before walking back out.