In the Veil of Shadows

by Logan Keys

  Her gaze grows fierce. “What? Torture me? Leave me in a cell naked to die." Her fists are balled, and she looks ready to strike me. “What more can he do to me?”

  I gape at her again. The audacity of a human has never been this far. “Much more.” I laugh sharply. “Oh, now we see Gaea’s true vengeance and hostility. The rage has finally eaten its way to corrode you, and we now see the plot to its final. And final it will be. You will not like the retribution of those you challenge so willingly.”

  She comes closer to my face, crouching down like a tiger. "I will make you pay for what you’ve done, Thanatos. I will make you all pay. But first, Zeus is the name that I've cursed more than all of the rest and after I’ve killed the king of the gods, I will return here and make you wish you'd never helped him steal my brother's life. You took an unlawful taking.”

  "It was fate!" I shout.

  "Fate?" She looks crazed with anger. "Fate! Tell me that again.” She pinches the sides of my face painfully and I am chained down, so I cannot fight back. “Look me in the eye and promise me that Alastor was destined to fall under Zeus’ blade."

  “Yes,” I say but only to try to stifle her anger. To keep Hades from pulling the wings off her from this height, she has now dared to fly to.

  Gaea’s breath puffs heatedly on my cheek. “Do not lie to me, god of the dead. Speak truth. From a child I know a lie as easy as you know a fading soul. Do not curse me as such with your vile words of untruth. I know your brother's fury. I know I will be struck down as soon as Hades finds me loose. Should I go off with your lies in my ears—the last thing I shall hear?"

  Her expression is one of confusion when she releases my face. Guilt lances her furious countenance in half. It saddens me and brings me to self-loathing when her eyes sheen with desperate tears. I will not lie to her a third time because she has given me this vulnerability when I know not many have seen it. “No. It was not fate, Gaea. It was not your brother’s time. I took him as an unlawful death. You are right to seek justice.”

  The relief in her face is something I know I will remember for the rest of my never-ending life. Gaea takes the gift I give her with a single nod. “Then my torture here has begun anew.”

  I scoff. “This was not torture.”

  “It was tremendously painful and…” She motions to her nakedness. “Debasement from the gods has no bounds.”

  "That,” I say hiding my shame from her. “Is because in the lands of the underworld anything will harm you. Even so much as wearing our clothes would have been the true torture. Even if we made magic over them they'd harm you and food would only burn you from the inside out.”

  “Lies.”

  “You know they are not. One taste is all it takes,” I reply heatedly.

  Gaea leans down, mouth eagerly meeting my lips, and her tongue runs along my bottom one before she pulls away. “One taste?” she jeers.

  My voice is embarrassingly tight. “You stole life from me and power when we kissed.” I omit that perhaps I gave it to her without thinking.

  "You gave me power when you kissed me. I felt it. I can do whatever you can do here now."

  "Gaea,” I warn. “That’s not how it works. There is always a price for humans misusing an immortal’s powers. Always. Do you not think we would protect ourselves better than that?”

  But she is already fleeing the cell despite my shouts. My calls quickly turn into me begging for her to return. Despite my anger, I did not want to see Gaea truly tortured or banished to suffer in Tartarus for eternity.

  Once Hades finds me chained, there would be hell to pay. I fear for her life... for a second time.

  Gaea

  My mind has not grasped yet that I am free, but my feet are not as lazy or simple. They stumble along the hallways and find the stairs, and a never-ending hike upward begins. I climb for an eternity until I remember where the chamber was that Hades had banished me to my prison. To my doom.

  I race for the main room just beyond that chamber, hoping that what I’d seen before is still there, because I do not wish to be naked a moment longer. There had been a weapon too if I remember. One that no doubt can also kill a god.

  Aha! There it is. Next to the thrones, a black suit of armor and a sword.

  Hades’, no doubt. And the three-headed dog is nowhere in sight. If he’d been near, I surely would be already apprehended and thrown back into my cell.

  The weapon’s too large for me, I can tell, and as for the obsidian armor, I only put on the breast plate and it covers what I need, hanging low over my waist and bottom. I take the sword from its sheath, carrying it as I could not in my human life. But, I’ve stolen some of Thanatos’ power, and it enables me to lift the sword of Hades.

  I have one aim in this flight, and that is not to escape, but to find Zeus and finish him once and for all.

  The suit of armor is heavy, and my feet drag. A strange tingling begins in my body where the armor touches, and it’s cold as ice, but I manage to keep my fingers wrapped around the hilt of the sword. I did not add the helmet.

  There is a sound in the room attached to this of gods and goddesses, many of them, in revelry. I hope that Zeus is there.

  Before I get to the dining hall, I find a small table with food and drink waiting to be served. My stomach lurches to my throat and my mouth fills with water. I’m beyond starved and thirstier than I’ve ever been in my life. I grab grapes and things I do not recognize and force them into my mouth hungrily before I lift the golden goblet and guzzle the contents down without tasting. The wine froths from my mouth as I try to swallow too quickly, and it hits my stomach with a sizzle, zapping a fuzziness into my head.

  Finished, I turn towards the dining room, where the voices of my enemies drift out.

  I lift my sword.

  I take my booted heel and kick the door open.

  They all quiet when they see me there. My voice rings with authority. “Zeus, you son of a dog! Come and face me!”

  Hades is at the opposite end of a long table. He gapes at me in shock and the small pretty woman next to him rises to her feet, also surprised. They stare at my sword and armor as if I have done quite the trick.

  “He’s not here,” Hades says. “Where is my brother?” he demands, fear clouding his dark eyes.

  I say nothing, letting him think I’ve cut his brother down. “How does it feel?” I ask him and Hades swallows, his brow crashing down with anger.

  He looks at who must be his wife, for his hand is at the small of her back, and there are three children near them, though they are not quite children, more young adults—the spitting image of both him and her.

  “He’s in my cell,” I say with a sneer, because it is not I that is the cruel one here.

  The table is full of gods and goddesses, who watch the procession with expectation as if it is entertainment.

  The woman rushes off toward the cells, and I point my blade at Hades. “Where is Zeus?”

  “I am here.”

  I whirl around to see empty air where Zeus slowly appears. “I’ve just arrived,” he says. “Though. I don’t remember an invitation.” He shoots a dark look at Hades.

  Without hesitation, I lift my blade. Zeus stares into my eyes as he presses a hand on my breast, freezing me in place. He shoves me with this god-power and sends me flying backwards to slide across the entire table, taking all of the goods and decorations with me, amidst screams and peals of laughter.

  Hades stops me, catching me in his arms, lifting me to my feet.

  I bristle and shrug him off, shouting at Zeus. “Face me with even strength and without your powers!” But, I’m feeling woozy. My legs become weak and I wobble on my feet, sword tipping. “Whuh…what have you done to me?”

  “What have you done to her?” Hades demands, and I’m confused at the fact that he seems to be siding with me.

  The sword clatters to the ground and I clutch my head. “Get it off!” I scream as the armor begins to constrict around me as tightly as a snake.


  I fall face first into the table, scratching at my chest, but Hades catches me before my head can strike. He lifts me, turning me in his arms, and I gaze up at him with hatred. The underworld sways around him, but brown eyes with a light ring around them meet mine, and they keep me steady enough to speak one last time. “You’ll pay. I promise you will all pay.”

  I think it’s a smile that pulls slightly at the ruler of the Underworld’s mouth, but it matters not, for blackness overtakes me.

  Thanatos

  Gaea!” I shout rushing into the dining room, knowing she’s not dead, because I wasn’t here to take her.

  Persephone had found me locked in my chains in the cell and freed me. But I’m too late.

  “What happened? Did you strike her down?” I demand of Zeus but he merely lifts his hands.

  “A love tap, at most!”

  “What is it?” I ask Hades.

  My brother hands Gaea to me, and I long to strip off the armor because I know it must be corroding her soul from the outside. Before I can, Hades replaces the armor with clothing. “It can’t hurt her now,” he says sadly, touching her forehead with regret.

  “What do you mean?”

  “She’s eaten food from our table. She must have tasted wine meant for us and eaten ambrosia. Nothing else makes sense. She’s not dying. Far from it. Feel her. Warm.”

  Gaea is a flame in my hands, hot to the touch, feverish.

  Her eyes flutter open. “What happened?” she asks.

  “You ate of the underworld. You are poisoned.” I feel myself becoming emotional over it and have to put myself in check. I want to scream at her, and lash out at her, demanding that she undo what has been done.

  I can barely understand myself in this moment. What will happen now… there is nothing I can do for her.

  “Not exactly poisoned,” Hades says. “Can’t you sense it?”

  “What?” I can’t sense anything but fear. I don’t want her to die cursed. There is no reason other than chivalry, but it’s not that. I admire this woman. I feel for her more than a number on my list.

  “The immortal tongue,” Zeus says answering for my brother, popping a grape into his mouth. “She’s had some powers, small, maybe. She stole from Thanatos without being struck down, it seems. Perhaps her blessing from Artemis protected her. I can’t be sure.”

  “A demi-god?” I ask.

  “No. Partially and without regeneration. It’s a whole other problem.” Hades’ glance is one of regret still.

  “Why is it…” But I trail off. Gaea is touching my chest, drawing patterns, and then she starts to laugh. It’s not a normal laugh. It’s a raving giggle as if she’s lost her senses.

  “What’s wrong with her?” I ask Hades. Gaea’s in my arms, cuddling to me like a child, cooing like she’s losing her mind.

  Hades answers, “Being part immortal neither full nor demi can make a person mad, Thanatos. She has gone about it all the wrong ways, mixing different powers from gods as she went, the bow, it has ruined her mind. Take her and be done with it. It should already have happened.”

  Panic grips me. As she is now, she will be in the lands of the dead. She will remain mad like this in the underworld. Forever. “I cannot heal her mind before she is taken. She will stay like this.” The horror in my voice and anger rings through the halls. I set Gaea to her feet and I see Zeus’ smiling face. I feel a rage I’ve never felt before.

  “Zeus, if you don’t fix this, I swear to all of the lands, I will not take another soul for you or anyone else. Everyone in the human realm will be immortal and never leave their lands. It will pile up until you have nothing but immortal men and women who have no need to worship as they will be immortals themselves.”

  Persephone has returned, and she touches my shoulder trying to calm me. She must sense how I feel. “Zeus, heed his words. Make a trade and save the girl. You owe him this. You owe everyone this.”

  Zeus looks momentarily afraid. I had not offered to battle him, but to do the opposite. To do nothing. Until he is forced to make it right. And he sees that everyone in the hall is with me. They see Gaea, knowing she was once a Warrior Princess of great strength and beauty, withered before them by Zeus’ undoing. Cursed by him to spend all eternity mad and lost.

  “What would you have me do?” Zeus asks. “I can’t fix this without…”

  Persephone finishes for him, “Without making her immortal. Do it. I demand that you do.”

  Hades looks at his wife then back at me and then at Zeus. “I stand with these two. We will start the war I fear to have started, but it is enough for me to be on the right side of this. She will not go through judgement as a mad woman because of your error. She will not pay for all of her next life because of your pride.”

  Zeus carefully watches us, looking for weakness. When he finds none, he nods.

  Pulling from his robes, he reveals Ares’ bow. “This is what she wanted so badly. I will give it to her.” He walks to Gaea carefully. I am between him. “Stand aside,” he says rolling his eyes.

  I move an inch, and he pulls her out from behind me roughly. I growl, thinking of my chains, wishing I had them to wrap Zeus inside, and bring him to justice. His eyes widen as if he knows what I’d love to do. Gaea has no idea what’s going on, she dances with him, a child in her mind, and I feel my guts turn at the sight of the warrior without her wits. She has been brought so low by the evil of this day.

  Zeus takes the bow and puts it on her chest. He presses, and the bow enters her skin pushing into the middle of her as the skin heals around it. He is using the bows power to make her immortal, placing it inside of her.

  Once it is finished, the transformation turns painful. Gaea screams, crumbling to the ground.

  I catch her, but the screaming is unbearable to me, as tears and spittle comes out of her mouth and eyes. “Make it stop,” she begs of me.

  I cannot, but I shout for my brother. “Hades!”

  “Hades!” Persephone is at our side, holding Gaea’s other arm.

  The shrieking stops, and Gaea’s head droops. I lift her into my arms again.

  “She’s asleep,” Hades says. “I’m not sure how long I can keep her in a slumber but hopefully for the days it will take to change. It might take longer since she was already dying, brother.”

  But I don’t sense merely an immortal in my arms. The subtle beating of power is not the same, and the steadiness of the bow’s power, bothers me. “What have you made her into?” I ask knowing Zeus would not cease his games and tricks.

  He shrugs. “She wanted to be a god killer. I made her a god-weapon.”

  My mouth twists to the side. It is as I guessed. “She’s like the bow itself in human form then,” I tell Hades and Persephone who glare at Zeus.

  Persephone points at Zeus, tears forming in her eyes from the realization of what he has done. “Get out. Get out of my house! It is no blessing—it is a curse that this woman be a god-weapon. There have been many wars for Ares’ bow, and there will be immortals searching for her from all of the lands and corners of every world. Get out! You are forbidden to enter the underworld ever again.”

  Zeus looks to Hades who nods without hesitation. Hades adds, “Come again and I will set my night army upon you.”

  “You know what this means,” Zeus says.

  “Indeed.”

  Zeus disappears.

  Hades takes in his guest’s sudden curiosity. They all have greedy eyes for Gaea already, knowing now that her power will be like that of the bow. She can now kill the strongest of foes. The room changes as tension rises and whispered voices hiss from ear to ear.

  “Brother,” Hades murmurs, stepping in front of us. “Take her to the lands between. Hide her. Until we know what can be done.”

  Before I can speak my agreement, he sends me away.

  I am here, at my manor, with a girl I barely know in my arms.

  Gaea

  The bed is warm, the room is dimly lit, and Thanatos hovers o
ver me causing my heart to beat fast in my chest. Is this death? Have I arrived?

  “Am I dead?” I ask through cracked lips and a throat tight with blisters.

  He gives a small smile, his eyes moving across me with guilt. “No. But I think you will wish you were once you try to rise. Easy. Rest.” I try to sit up but he puts a hand on my shoulder. I hiss in pain from even the lightest touch. “Not yet,” he says. “Lay back and listen to what I have to say.”

  He paces then, hands behind his back, dark head subdued as he takes long minutes to explain and re-explain what has happened to me. I don’t ask questions, or demand proof. I remember the hall, my bursting into the dining room full of gods and goddesses. I remember knowing I would be punished and nothing more.

  Once he’s through, we sit in silence. I absorb every word slowly. The image of myself in Thanatos’ arms, him demanding Zeus fix me. Him demanding that I not go into eternity as a mad woman. Him. Him. Him. But why?

  Shouldn’t he have been glad to banish me, half-crazed, to the underworld? Isn’t he a greedy god like the rest?

  “You understand why I did it?” he asks. “Why we let him change you?”

  “Am I so different?” I hate the fear in my voice. On the battlefield there is hardly anyone braver, but here, with gods and magic and god-weapons… I am at a loss. A child almost.

  He sighs. “Come see for yourself.”

  Thanatos lets me up this time, and I lean onto him, all of my strength gone as if I am a withered old woman. He walks with me step by step, it takes ages, toward a mirror the size of a palace wall. It goes up and up stories to the rafters—unending. I finally meet my own gaze and the woman I find there is a stranger. She is but a shadow of myself—a gleaming, perfected, amplified version is what looks back, but darker for it, like polished onyx. Even my eyes glimmer with power.

  “How… what… why?” I touch my face… my face? But it seems another to the pads of my fingers. I turn to Thanatos after I cannot bear another look at what I’ve become. “Where are we?”