HADES

I did not know where I was. All I was aware of was my consciousness, as an existing energy.

“You are here, again.” I heard a voice speak to me.

“Who are you?” I asked back.

“That is the question you should have asked yourself. If you knew who you truly are, you would never be poor, or weak, or allow ordinary men to shoot you like that.”

It all came then. Debbie's betrayal, my father in-law, Mancini, and the man who shot at me and sent me into the darkness.

“I am dead, right?”

“You would also not be here if you were alive. I must welcome you to the abode of the dead. You have come to the Underworld, and I will have your soul.”

“No,” I refused, realising that I was in the place where people came at the end of their lives. It couldn't end now. There were still a few scores for me to settle on earth. Debbie and her father had used me, which was why we never had sex even after marriage, and Mancini killed me. I wanted revenge.

“Why?”

“I want revenge. I want to have my vengeance upon the people who killed me. My wife betrayed me. Her lover disgraced me and took her with him, and his man killed me when he gave the order. Is it fair?”

“They gave you the chance to rest in peace.”

“I will not rest in peace until they are all dead, sent here before me.”

All of a sudden, it came before me, the face of an old man, but with dark hair and a dark beard.“I am Hades, Lord of the Underworld, and your soul is mine to do with as I wish.”

“And I am Alex.”

He laughed, a deep, sinister sneer on his face. “I already know you, Alexander. Descendant of Alexandros, the Great King of Macedon. I can hear him plead for me to give you back your life.”

I did not know who he spoke of, or why they should plead for me, and he must have known of my confusion.

“Alexandros, the Great King of Macedonia who conquered the world and died before he could enjoy it. His men shared his kingdoms between them and killed his sons and his wives, except one son who escaped them. He grew up, had his son, and died, and their generation has passed from firstborn to firstborn before coming down to you, the heir of that unbroken line. The last of them.” the voice answered.

This settled within me unsteadily. That I was the last of some dying line…

“Your entire line is descended from Zeus, and even he in his divinity, also says I must give you a second chance… a third, actually,” He continued. “We waited years to reincarnate you, and gave you a second life which you have now come to the end of.”

“Please… my life,” I began.

“Two hundred years before the present, you were born. Then they killed you. Alexandros, your ancestor, asked Zeus for your soul, saying you were the last survivor of his line, and we brought you to this age. But again, you have been careless with your life, and you will have to fight to gain it back.”

“What do I have to do?” I asked, terrified.

For the first time, the rest of his body appeared, and it burned like fire in the darkness. I could see the ripped muscles that the rest of him bore, and the dark sceptre he held in his hand.

“I will return your soul, but you will not be fully human. To find yourself, you will have to find your way to the Seal and even fight in wars across several worlds, and a guide shall be given to you to show you the way you must go.”

“So I will be a warrior?”

“A warrior, a general, what does it matter? What matters is that you find your way to the Seal.”

I said nothing, terrified of him.

“Remember that when you find the beginning, you will find the end, and when you break the Seal, you will find yourself. Your humanity will return, and only then shall you have your life back. Do you accept it?”

“Yes.” I answered without thinking.

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed me. “Now go. Remember, you will not be human.”

I felt myself being sucked from the darkness and into… light.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying in a bed, with my body covered from the neck down and bright, white lights hanging above me.

“You are awake.” A man says.

I turned to look at him, and he seemed like a doctor to me with his white coat and pair of wide rimmed eyeglasses. My eyes went about the rest of the room, and in a corner stood what looked like a robotic human frame to me, with shiny metal.

“Am I alive?” I ask.

“Barely.” He answered. “I'm Doctor King.”

I look at him, confused. “Why am I here?”

“You have been here for the past ten days, preserved as part of an experiment of mine.”

“Preserved? I don't understand.”

He smiled, pulling off of his glasses. “Whoever shot at you killed you and burned your house down. The flames… they burned you, and everyone thought you were dead. Somehow, you are still alive, and I have taken great measures to keep you for myself.”

“I don't understand.” I repeated, emphasis on my confusion.

“Brace yourself, young man.” He said, his shoes clicking on the floor as he moved to an end of the room.

Slowly, and with effort, he brought over what seemed like a table to me at first, until he hoisted it up and I realised that it was a mirror. “Are you ready?” He asks.

“For what?”

He raised the mirror, and I could instantly see that the man looking at the reflection was not me. The skin of my face, my beautiful hair, my green eyes and even my lips, were only now bits of pink flesh, all burned from half of my face.

“No.” I cried out in horror, refusing and denying the man in the reflection. I would not believe that I was the one if the other unburned side did not look like me.

“That is not all.” He said, shaking his head and coming to my side. With one swift motion, he pulled away the cover so that I would see over my body. The only thing was… there wasn’t a body there.

At once, I regretted asking Hades for my life back.