Animal
Snowdrops
Sky Blue
Silent Showers
Festive
Carlyle
Tim
December 25th, 12:30 AM
Forest Outside Hope Springs, West Virginia.
Forest Outside Hope Springs, West Virginia.
Harris hadn’t been inhabiting his physical body for hours now, it remained seated simply in the lotus position, staring into the sky with blank eyes that every once and a while rolled in his skull, almost as if he had returned his consciousness to them, but soon they returned to their original position, staring off into the moon-light and watching the stars as if they held the secrets to immortality, to life itself.
In reality it was simply a human-shaped shell that slowly dried and browned as Harris spent more time across the very country from it. It was that simple really, though it took in the reflected sunlight from the moon’s surface, a human form is rather poor at actually sustaining a plant-based life-form, it took the power of The Green to keep it moving, even if sunlight proved an aid in that.
Harris’ return to the body was heralded by a slight cracking deep within the human form, the twitching of fingers, and the rolling of the eyes. The noises got louder as the echoed within the frame, the body twitching more violently with every passing millisecond, the eyes darting around the clearing, examining the place that had become quite alien when compared to every other forest in the area.
It took perhaps ten seconds for Harris’ body to turn to a healthy green and for the creaking and cracking to halt. The rolling of his eyes halted, and they focused on the great white orb dangling in the sky in front of them.
”That was an adventure,” Harris said plainly, placing his hands into his lap and leaning forwards as if exhausted. ”Well, ‘was’ is the wrong word, it still is.
He looked around himself thoughtfully.
”Josh, we need to go to Hell.”
Josh, the giant eight foot demonic looking teenager, could only stare at his mentor. In his hands was a happy bright blue watering can, yellow petals adorning the spout. Which likely explained the wet spots on and around Harris.
”...Uhm,” The teen began slowly, hem’ing and haw’ing as he tried to figure out how to phrase his next words. Finally he cleared his throat and began slowly, ”Er, Mr. Harris… when someone tells you to go to … to H-Hell it’s just a phrase…” He trailed off, raising a great burly hand to scratch at his onyx hair nestled against his horns.
Harris sighed and rested a hand across his forehead.
”No, like, The Green, he wants me to go to hell in order to rescue the Greek Queen of the dead and stop the dead from walking the Earth.”
Harris looked off to the side for a second as if coming to a realization before turning back with a slightly confused look on his face.
”Josh, is it just me or did the world become a heavy metal song all of a sudden?”
”My parents never let me listen to metal,” Was the immediate, slightly puzzled response. Finally Josh set his little watering can down, raising up to scratch at his cheek. ”Uhm, I don’t really understand, Mr. Harris, but wherever you go I’ll go! Even… Even Hell…” He trailed off, his dark navy skin seeming to pale just the slightest bit before he shook his head quickly. Squaring his shoulders he looked down at Harris.
”We - we have to save the world, after all!”
Harris shot to his feet and balled his fists out of excitement, smiling a hideous bug-like smile.
”Yeah! That’s the spirit save the world!” he yelled out gleefully. It was a false glee, he was honestly terrified like usual, but he had to put on a brave face for Josh, he was the superhero after all. Suddenly his smile shifted back to a serious look, brow furrowed, his beady green eyes peeking through his just-as-green eyelids. ”Of course, we need to be careful, this is the realm of the dead we’re going into, and I’m sure the guys in charge won’t appreciate me bringing life where there was once death,” he said poetically, the seriousness of the situation clear in his voice. Then he shrugged and the tension dissipated almost immediately when he returned to his awkward flat-footed lurching stance.
He scratched the back of his head as he tried to remember something. Realization came over his face, and then a moment later a sapling perkily sprouted from the ground, an amulet hanging precariously on the tip. He grabbed it in his hand and motioned for Josh to follow him as he began to walk.
”Apparently this is an amulet that, when placed in a… river I think it was, will open a portal to Hades. Or Hell if you wanna skip the semantics. I think it’s different from Christian Hell which totally exists and those flying Greek birds aren’t convincing me otherwise, so we’ll just go with Hades from now on. Apparently we’re going to summon a ferryman or something, and the guy who gave this to me made it really, really clear not to stiff him, so empty your pockets.”
Josh just nodded along, getting a bit lost in the conversation honestly - his mentor had a habit of rambling sometimes, but he didn’t mind! He was at least enthusiastic in his nodding however. Mr. Harris was smart and had already found a way to get into Hell - er, Hades - while he was gone!
Which was really worrying since his body started getting all brown while he was off, which is why Josh kept watering him. He didn’t think it really worked.
”...Eh?” Was the intelligent response to Harris’ demand, but at least the demon boy was obedient. He quickly emptied his pockets, including the torn apart wallet - it didn’t survive the sewers that well. ”Uhm, I have a dollar and seventy-three cents, a token to an amusement park in Hub City, and a - a condom.” Josh’s face burned, almost literally considering his blood was acidic - luckily it just made his navy skin darken.
”Th-that was from a friend back in school…”
Harris tilted his head at this last object, staring at the… birth control, for a moment before raising a finger and speaking as calmly as he could manage.
”I appreciate the obedience, but you should probably keep that one… wait, that probably won’t work if you ever… nevermind. I don’t know about that being enough to afford a ferry-trip, I’ll check the storage tree, be back in a sec.”
Harris disappeared into a nearby tree, encouraging Josh to keep walking as he did. He returned a minute later, popping out of the closest tree with a wallet in his hand.
”It’s not thievery if they drop it while running away from you,” he explained defensively. ”Right, I have a debit card and fifty dollars, that should be good.”
Josh visibly deflated a bit at the reminder of how weird he was, but once Harris returned he quickly stuffed the objects back into his soft cotton pants. Though he did brighten at the money, even if part of him churned nervously at the thought of using someone else’s wallet. Well, if they were a bad dude he guessed it was okay… And, really…
”Uh… so if there’s any change can I get a soda on the way back…?” The teen asked in a small voice, nervously tapping the tips of his black fingernails together. ”I-I mean if there’s time. It’s, uhm, it’s not that important in the face of - you know what, nevermind Mr. Harris.”
Harris chuckled slightly.
”We’ll see,” he said, stopping at the mouth of a small babbling brook. It was maybe ten feet across, carving a small hill on the far side and depositing a mass of sticks down the bend. Harris lifted up the amulet and held it up to what light was available, mostly a slight amount of moonlight bouncing off of the waters. He sighed and held it up over the water. ”You ready Josh?”
Taking a deep breath and shaking himself loose Josh finally stood straight backed, tall and proud as he gave a serious nod.
”R-Ready!” … Then he stuttered. Good job, Josh.
With one last deep breath, Harris released the amulet and watched it sink into the depths.
A minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
”Do we need deeper water or…”
In that moment the light drained from the world. The forest was gone, the animals within it silenced. The river where they had dropped the amulet, however, remained. If anything, it had grown substantially larger, the waters dark and churning with the bodies of thousands...perhaps hundreds of thousands of newly deceased souls. Hands, bloody, wounded, old and young alike reached up to grasp at the pair in vain.
It was a truly massive river that seemed to stretch into eternity, the wails of the waters’ occupants having now fully replaced the sounds of nature. Nothing beyond this morbid sight could be observed, for they were now in a world of shadows. A world of abyss.
Tartarus.
Harris stared into the widening depths, covering his mouth with a hand as he began to hear the screams of the dead, their roars of agony and wails of torment. This was death, the end of existence.
And Harris had never been more terrified.
”...Holy shit.”
Josh’s head jerked up the instant the wails started, his pointed navy ears seeming to twitch upwards. Glowing white eyes widened, his breathing becoming shallow as the teenager appeared to stare off into nothing despite the dark scenery that had appeared before them.
Yet when Harris spoke the giant of a man shook his head, looking bewildered for a moment before reaching out to grab onto one of the bug man’s green arms. Casting a glance around nervously Josh then slouched his shoulders and stepped closer, whispering in a low voice.
”I don’t like this place.”
Harris barely noticed Josh grasping onto him, he froze in place, his hand clasped tightly around his mouth as his breathing grew faster and harder. He looked down into the depths, and didn’t see his own reflection, but the reflection of a family, a mother, a father, a son, all lost to death, not even a year ago. When they faded he forgot their faces, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember.
When he was told he was to go to Hades, this was not what he had expected. Perhaps it was naive to expect the land of the dead to be all sunshine and rainbows, but the echoing screeches and horrifically mutilated faces that drifted by on the river like driftwood going out to sea. They were all forgotten within moments, no-one would know their names, their families, their hopes and dreams.
This was a place of evil. Horrible, terrible evil.
But Harris knew that couldn’t be the whole truth. He felt something deep within himself saying that this was a necessity, nothing more, nothing less. This did little to cheer him up.
He had to find that ferryman, as soon as possible. He couldn’t take much more of this.
The wailing of the souls as they were washed down the river continued, but a far more subtle sound had joined them. That of a row forcing its way through the dark waters. A boat, large enough to ferry perhaps eight people at a time was pushing past the legion of desperate hands that reached from the depths to scratch at it in futile desperation, the lantern lights hanging from either side illuminating its approach.
And it was on a direct course for the pair who stood at the shore, its form becoming ever clearer as it drew close. It...was not a construct of wood, but rather of bone. Like a great collection of ribs tightly packed against one another, curving to end in the form of the Ferryman. His torso emerged from the bow of the ship, his spinal column merging into the keel and presumably stretching its way down across the bottom to act as the main support structure for the macabre vessel.
Drifting to a slow stop before the pair, the skeletal being turned the azure embers that burned within its eye sockets upon them. With the audible creak of bones grinding against themselves, it wordlessly extended a hand towards Harris.
Harris stared in awe as this… this… he didn’t even know what to call it, his jaw fell open and shook as he wordlessly watched the ferry approach. He took it back, it was better when the ferry wasn’t here.
He shivered silently as the ferryman closed, his eyes wide and breathing fast and shallow. He felt his body attempting to push him backwards when the rower held out a hand towards him, but he managed to force himself to remain. He reached for the money with shaking hands and gripped it tightly even as his fists shook in the deathly cold.
He held a hand out, the entirety of the wallet’s contents held within it, even the debit card. He gulped as he found himself compelled to speak.
”Ride for two? Please?” Harris asked, still shaking, the last word coming out as a shaky whisper.
The figure stared at the offering for but a moment before enclosing its fingers around it, the bones cracking as it withdrew. “I accept.”
Its mouth was unmoving when it spoke those words with a voice that echoed with the screams of a million lost souls, rasped and empty. “Board.”
Harris nodded silently in gratitude and took a single step towards the boat.
He did not want to do this, but it was necessary, right? Harris stood at the edge of the water, staring at the boat for quite some time before finally propping a leg in.
With a deep breath, he lifted the other, and stepped into the ferry.’
Josh couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Heck, he couldn’t believe what he was doing. He had mostly remained quiet, afraid of saying the wrong thing to this … this…
… abomination.
He whispered it in his mind, almost afraid that this thing could hear his thoughts. Though he had added the contents of his wallet to what was offered to the ferryman, the entrancing hum and moan of noise that had caught some feral part of Josh when he first arrived no longer seemed to welcoming. He hurried to follow after Mr. Harris when his mentor finally entered the boat, and almost shoved himself close to his side with a shiver running down his spine.
More than ever, Josh regretted that people called him a demon, if this was even part of what they envisioned when they did.
Without another word, the ferryman dipped his oar back into the abyss and they began to move. Hands - desperate, grasping hands - continued to reach over the side to claw at the two passengers and try to climb aboard, though none succeeded in the latter goal. As they drifted down the eternal river, they could see bodies that had been strung up on the shores, existing in various states of torment. Many pointlessly reached for them as they passed, their eyes pleading for salvation or aid of any kind.
“Long has it been since the Styx was so choked with the cries of the dead,” the Ferryman mused, its legion of anguished voices seeming to travel for miles into the distance. “So many new faces in these waters…”
Harris sat timidly in the large boat, watching over the edge nauseously as the souls of the long dead and the bodies of the recently dead clawed at the boat endlessly. The amount of care that the ferryman showed was almost nonexistent, and his calm demeanor, despite his horrific appearance, made Harris a little calmer. Not a large amount of course, but it was still calming to hear him try to make small-talk like he was a simple taxi-driver.
That fact gave Harris a thought, perhaps this man knew what was happening down here, it would be helpful to know, and he seemed friendly enough. Harris shifted in his seat, moving his way up to the man slowly. He was still terrifying to look at, but he meant them no harm, clearly… hopefully.
”Yeah, it’s a mess up there, people dying in the streets, chaos reigning, I dunno if it’s any better down here, but it’d be pretty hard not to be,” he chatted as calmly as he could be, fishing for information about the status of the underworld, and wondering about the whereabouts of Persephone and whoever else was down here in danger.
The Ferryman’s eyes seemed to flicker more brightly for just the briefest of moment at Harris’ words, before settling back into their more subdued simmer. “The realm of the dead is without direction and order. Hades no longer maintains the balance of life and death, and so the souls of the wicked and righteous alike are doomed to linger here without judgement.”
A hand drifted down towards the darkness below, to where the form of a wailing infant squirmed about in the remorseless waters.
Harris watched the ferryman in fear and awe, as the skeletal being spoke of the chaotic state of the underworld. This explained so much and yet the ferryman didn’t even know. Harris watched the man tenderly and yet forcefully pushed through the water, continuing to speak at the same time, like he had done this for years. Well, considering his skeletal appearance, he probably had.
”It’s that bad huh? Hades is out too? I heard Persephone was disabled for the moment, but Hades? Wow, I wonder who could have done that…” Harris wondered, continuing to fish for information from the skeletal paddler. He shook just a bit now, it was getting far easier to sit without feeling afraid, but he still had to remember that he was staring at a giant skeleton whose rib cage he was currently tickling.
A low growl rose from the depths of the Ferryman, the blue embers within his skull erupting into a mighty inferno that engulfed his skull. Seeming to echo out across time itself in rage, its hatred was encapsulated in but one singular word, ”Ares!”
Harris wasn’t exactly a scholar on Greek myth. Hell, he had no clue who he was talking to, but like most everyone else, he knew the big guys, and Ares was one of the biggest of the biggest, the God of War.
He really wished he had let Karen and Ted handle this themselves now.
”Ares? As in, capital A Ares? God of War? Holy crap…” he stated in exhaustion. Well, he supposed now was the best time to explain what he was here to do, maybe it would calm the giant skull man down. ”Well… you know Gaia? I think that’s her name, I’m kinda an aspect of her… him… they, and I’ve come here to free Persephone because she’s kinda important to plant life, so I’ve got to fight the big guy and free Hades now too,” Harris stated with a sigh.
”Unless Ares isn’t here, please tell me he isn’t.”
At this the Ferryman paused, the fire quickly subsiding back into his eye sockets. For a long moment he merely stared at the strange creature that had boarded him this day, clearly having never ferried one such as he before. “...Ares has departed, a would-be king made into a mere pawn. In his place remains his son, Enyalius. He now guards, but he does not rule. Perhaps this state of misery and chaos is his desire.”
The ferryman once more cast his gaze out to the countless souls desperately reaching for them within the river. Their sorrow had never quietened for even a moment, a perpetual ambiance for the darkness of the underworld.
Harris did feel encouraged upon knowing that he had left, and that he was the pawn of someone else, considering the God of War was probably the world’s best fighter, it was good that there was someone with a leash, but hearing that his son was in his place did not make him feel better, sure he was an independent person but this was the gods, blood relation was important, it gave them their strength.
He began to dread the fact that the ship was moving, that he was currently being ferried to fight this literal god, and he began to hate The Green for ever thinking this was a good idea.
He sat in silence for quite some time, listening to the cries of the dead, and the light pattering of them beating against the boat. It was a horrible sight, the land of the dead, but he wouldn’t be here long if all went well.
Things “going well” did involve him punching out a god so, it felt less like an inevitability and more like a pipe dream.
”...So this Enyalius, he’s the one keeping Hades and Persephone from ruling, and leaving this place an awful mess? For what reason could he be doing that?”
The Ferryman released yet another low growl that carried far past the little boat they drifted down the river of souls on. “There is no reason in the hearts of her spawn. They only seek to perpetuate suffering and discord. To see all the realms be engulfed by flames and drowned in blood. It is their nature.”
The scenery had began to change. A bridge could be seen in the distance now, and it appeared that they were heading towards it. Furthermore, in the far distance, past dark and grey crags and mountains, sat an immense palace. Lining the path to it were the bodies of countless dead, each condemned to an existence of suffering for unknown crimes.
Harris understood now, this wasn’t some evil, horrible place, this was a peaceful place where people paid their dues and went free, this whole realm was tainted by Ares and… “her”, whoever this “her” was, she sounded like a piece of work. This realm was ruined by their presence, and this was what would become of the Earth too if they got their way.
He didn’t like it one bit, but he knew that he had to stop this, now. He was more determined than ever, despite the macabre sight of strewn bodies, many carrying horrible wounds, some of torture, some fatal and lain by the blade, and some others being the uniform and small wounds that characterized a shooting.
He breathed deeply through his nose and scowled at the approaching land. He would handle this himself, it was too dangerous for Josh to come. Noting that Josh had failed to use his money, Harris discreetly grew a vine from the nearby shore, which came out crooked and warped, crow-like and starved of moisture. He stole the boy’s money without him noticing, and placed it in his own hand. Closing further with the skeletal boatman, he held the money out, hiding it with his own body positioning.
”I know this isn’t very much, but could you boat the kid around a little so that he doesn’t get involved? I’d rather he not get hurt.”
If the Ferryman was surprised by his intention to confront Enyalius, then he neither expressed it verbally or physically. Shifting his head towards the blue creature, the torso nodded once. “Very well. We arrive at your destination now, Harris Herzog.”
The boat slowly drifted to the edge of the Styx, some distance away from the bridge. It would appear that Harris would need to make the remainder of the journey on foot from here. Anything that awaited him on this path he would face alone, since he was leaving Demon behind.
Harris nodded at the ferryman and hopped out of the boat. He took two steps away from the river before realizing a scary truth, he never told the man his name. He turned back to look at the boat, but only managed to watch the man row away into the dark.
”H-Hey, wait!” The boat suddenly lurched as the eight foot tall demon moved to the side of the boat closer to the shore. For most of the drifting ride he had been distracted, staring down at the faces and souls going by them with unease. It was only as they pushed off once more that he moved, almost looking to jump into the river. At least he realized quickly that was a stupid idea and remained, quivering, in the boat. ”Mr. Haaaarriiiiis!”
”Thank you, ferryman,” Harris whispered to himself as he watched the ferry float away, carrying Josh away to the surprising safety of the river of the dead. It was ironic in a way, sorta, he thought death was the exact opposite of safety, so that was irony… right?
He sighed as he turned and looked back towards the bridge. A sudden gout of dusty-smelling wind blew across his face, leaving him with the taste of dead skin in his mouth, and the aftertaste of old blood. It was horrible, but it was kinda refreshing, especially after the constant screaming of the dead. It felt quieter the further he stepped from the Styx, but the air still echoed with their screams of torment.
He took his first steps onto the dusty cobblestone of the bridge, and the wind really began to pick up, he’d find it annoying if he weren’t so horribly nervous. He took another deep breath, and walked across the bridge, the massive citadel closing on the horizon.
He closed sooner than he felt than he should have, the citadel within tens of feet of him. The wind howled in his ears. He closed with the massive doors, “decorated” with bones and screaming faces, alongside pleased and peaceful masks of porcelain. The citadel walls rose hundreds of feet into the air, definitely the largest structure in the underworld.
The doors were obviously locked. So he did what everyone else would do. Lifting his foot, with a growl and a sudden squall of air, smelling of blood, he slammed it into the gate.
Harris easily accomplished the impressive feat of breaking his foot with his heroic kick. Judging by the handles on the exterior, it was a pull door. To his credit, his fearsome blow caused a truly mighty clang that rang out through the entire realm of Tartarus. Everyone felt he was extremely powerful after this.
It only took a brief moment for the doors to begin rumbling, however, as something from the other side began to push them outwards. From within the palace came an inhuman chittering, as many sets of oversized eyes glowed red at the embodiment of nature standing before them. Insectoid in appearance, but bipedal in structure...they were, in a word, Ant-Men.
The hum of energy was next heard as what appeared to be some sort of rifles clutched within their claws surged to life with an orchid gleam. Aiming them at the stranger without hesitation, they opened fire. Streams of pure arcane energy flowed from their weapons towards Harris in that moment.
Reacting as fast as possible, Harris raised his left arm, a shield of hard bark growing from it and managing to hold off one or two of the arcane streams for a moment or two before shattering, allowing one of the arcane blasts to shatter the armor on his chest. Growling in pain, he punched the ground, and a number of black vines grew from the ground, grabbing as many ant-men as they could and embedding them into the ground with a series of powerful tosses.
Harris hissed as the arcane burn on his chest refused to heal. Forming a dagger on his fist, he dug into his own chest to remove the burned flesh and toss it to the ground, his chest regenerating as normal afterwards.
As several fell, more seemed to come charging down the hall to replace them. It seemed that Ares had not left his son without soldiers to command. A new set of streams came flying down the hall at Harris from these newly arrived warriors, their aim and precision impressive - possibly even superhuman.
However many of these creatures were at Enyalius’ disposal was unclear, but there seemed to be at least several dozen of them standing between the avatar of the Green and his objective right now.
Harris growled as another beam struck him in the shoulder, his armor again proving rather ineffective. He held it tight with a hand as he ducked behind a section of the ground, pushed up by a rather quickly growing root-system.
Again digging the burn out of his flesh, Harris decided that he was done screwing around here. Thickening his armor as much as he could, it became rather hard to move, but that was a price he was more than willing to pay. Clamoring up the newly created cover, he slowly walked towards the ant-creatures, taking blast after blast without flinching. One or two did manage to shatter his armor, but it recovered far too quickly for the fire to pose any threat.
Finally closing with them, Harris produced a tentacle from his upper back and spun in a circle, slamming it into the faces of every ant-creature around him. Most of them should have stayed down, but he didn’t care if they didn’t. Harris continued forwards, slowly closing with his objective.
”ENOUGH!” A voice rang out through the halls of the palace, the ant-men immediately ceasing their attack. Without offering Harris so much as a second glance, they began withdrawing from his sight. The path forward appeared to be clear at this point, though given the scope of the fortress that didn’t mean that he was close to his goal.
The hallway towered more than a hundred feet into the sky, and continued on for what would easily feel like ten minutes or more. Even with nothing to oppose him, the fact that he was going to confront one who helped to conquer such a formidable castle alone spoke to the severity of the opponent who awaited.
Harris gulped as the restrictive armor flaked off of his body. This was gonna suck, that was just a fact of life. He was going to fight a god singlehandedly. Even if he was lucky enough to survive this, he had like no chance of winning.
Harris sighed and resolved to try anyway, even a one percent chance is still a chance.
”Harris Herzog, prepare yourself,” The Green added unhelpfully. ”This is a threat the kind you have never faced, this is one of the most important events in our world’s history, are you certain you’re ready?”
Harris closed his eyes and nodded.
”For you, and for everyone else on the planet, I have to do this.”
”Even now you continue to speak of humanity, how have you not forsaken it? We do not understand!”
”I have been ostracized, treated like a monster, thrown into the mud. It’s hard sometimes to keep moving... but... then I remember all of those who care about me, who treat me like a person, and it’s all okay, I think about Shawn, about Karen, about Josh, about all of them. They are what matters to me. I’m willing to lose everything if it means that they get a fighting chance.”
”How?! How are you so certain?!”
”You’ll never understand, and I don’t expect you to.”
Harris reached the end of the hallway slowly, watching as a window swung on its hinges and a torn flag billowed in the breeze. The last door stood in front of him, the only thing keeping him from what was probably his death.
With a sigh, he decided that life was overrated anyway, and pushed his way into the throne room.
Like the rest of the palace, the surface of the throne room was made of the same black marble. Great pillars lined the four walls, with ornate drapery falling between them, and covering the center of the great chamber was an ornate carpet that stretched across its length until it met its end at the steps of the throne itself. This short flight of stairs was draped in soft fabrics, worthy to host the seat of the Lord of Death...for it was unto chairs as Gods were unto men.
There was great power that radiated from it, a dim glow emitted from it that would send shivers of fright through mortal men who approached it. But perhaps more striking than the seat of death itself was the one who occupied it. Adorned in golden armor, he sat slouched on the throne, face rested against his knuckles. At the right arm rested a helmet.
To either side of him was a cage containing a beast of truly immense size. While its features were hidden by the low lighting of the room, it was clear that this was a formidable creature indeed. To its opposite on a far pillar was a pale man with a mane of long and dark hair, silver lances driven through each of his limbs, with a final one emerging from his chest. His head was slumped, face hidden by his flowing locks.
“Nnn, there you are,” the man on the throne muttered, leaning forward slightly upon sighting Harris. “Hera’s leaking tit, you look even more unimpressive in person.”
Harris tilted his head at the impressive looking man, it was an intimidating look to be sure, but he was past being intimidated at this point, he felt more numb than anything. The man’s words only served to make him less intimidating, the kind of childish banter that he’d imagine a child wouldn’t find clever.
”I’m sure you know a lot about your grandma’s tits,” he japed as he scanned the room. He noticed the massive beast, best to avoid that, and the impaled man in the corner. That was probably Hades, judging by the fact that he was still breathing despite being impaled repeatedly. Probably not the best idea to just walk over to him, he needed to keep watch on the brat in the fancy armor.
”That’s also no way to address your great-great-grandfather, what would dad think?... Don’t answer that actually, I realized it as I said it, kind of a stupid thing to say,” he admitted while scratching the back of his neck and offering a bored look to the man in the throne. ”That’s a big dog!... I think it’s a dog at least, I don’t think it’s yours though.”
Enyalius didn’t seem to care to respond to most of Harris’ return banter, only seeming to acknowledge his comment about the beast in the cage at the end. Smiling subtly, his eyes shifted over to the animal as a light chuckle rumbled up from his throat. “Oh, Cerberus? I’ve been starving him for over two months now. I bet he’s hungry…”
His eyes shifted back to the avatar in that moment, but he just as quickly scoffed. Pushing himself up from the throne, he placed his helmet onto his head. “But as entertaining as it would be to watch him tear you to pieces, I would rather end this swiftly so I could return indulging myself with Persephone. A pity she’s so…unresponsive these days, eh Hades?”
The Lord of the Underworld stirred slightly at this, his body weakly struggling against the lances that held him tightly in place.
“You struggled with my little Myrmidon toys, so I suspect this will be over with but one blow. Feel free to surprise me, however,” Enyalius remarked, before dashing forward in an impossible burst of speed. Slamming his fist into the torso of the plant man, he was confident that it would be sufficient to reduce him to green paste.
The blow hurt.
It hurt a lot
In fact it was probably the most painful thing he’d ever felt. Harris didn’t even have to look down to realize that a massive hole had just appeared in his lower abdomen. If he was anyone else, he’d have been dead right then.
So why not pretend he was.
Harris let out a gurgle, then collapsed forwards, his head ending up resting on the man’s shoulder as the rest of his body sat limply on the floor.
A flash in his green eyes was all the warning he gave as he took his opportunity and lodged a suddenly grown set of massive teeth directly into the god’s neck.
“Well, that was certainly anti-climactic, wasn’t it-nnn,” Enyalius flinched in surprise when the teeth bit down into his neck. They failed to pierce his godly flesh, but they certainly did surprise him. Chuckling at this display of trickery, he drew back a fist and swung at the creature’s bug-like skull. “Very clever!”
Harris’ ruined body was sent cartwheeling through the air by the godly strike, his lower jaw flying off in an arc as a large amount of plant matter began to fly through the air in a similar fashion.
This was going just as expected, and that was not very good.
Harris crashed into the wall in a heap, his lower body nursing itself back together in an instant, just before he grew a new jaw altogether. He was tiring already, regeneration at that scale took a lot of energy, and he wasn’t exactly in direct sunlight at the moment.
Well, armor wasn’t going to help, so it was time to go for speed. Harris shed all of the armored plates on his body, turning from decidedly buglike to what appeared to be a creature from an early 30s monster movie.
Another poor idea would be direct attacks. So instead, Harris placed a fist on the ground, a large bladed-plant appearing not far in front of him, swinging a massive appendage, ordained with a series of razor sharp blades. With every frenzied swing, it fired more smaller needles at the god, before drawing back and entering into one final massive swing. At the same time, Harris made a dash for Hades, maybe freeing him could even the odds.
Enyalius allowed the blades to break against his armor, none of the attacks coming even close to harming him. Raising a hand to cover a yawn that forced its way from his mouth, he nearly missed the plant man making a mad dash for the Lord of the Underworld. His eyes narrowing in that moment, he flashed to his location in a burst of speed before kicking him with enough force to once more disintegrate him through sheer kinetic power.
“You know, I wouldn’t mind a bit of a challenge,” the young God admitted. “But you’re more than annoying type of enemy that’s weak, but just won’t die.”
Exhaling slightly a bored sigh, Enyalius raised a hand and offered the remains of Harris a smile. “Would you like to know something interesting? The ability to control the weather and wield lightning is something that skips a generation in my family.”
“Old Uranus had it, but great-grandfather Cronus didn’t. Grandpa Zeus did, but father didn’t…” Enyalius raised his hand, and in that moment electricity sparked between his fingers. A dark grin slithered across his face as his eyes began to shimmer with that same light. “I’m sure you’ve figured out where this pattern leads us.”
With a flick of his his wrist, he sent a powerful blast of lightning arcing into the battered avatar of the Green. “It means you are dust!”
Harris was left a head, a few sinews, and what remained of his right arm, which he used to pull himself into a sitting position as he managed to regrow his torso before collapsing out of pain and exhaustion, he could only watch as the god boasted, and prepared to fire an attack that would end him forever.
Silently, Harris closed his eyes, entering The Green. Out there, it would be an instant, in here, it’d be an hour.
”Well… that’s it. It’s been a good run, I hope Karen did well enough.”
The Green’s dimension warped and bent as each voice let out a roar of rage.
But it wasn’t rage at Harris, for once.
”You… you gave it all up, your life, your body, your hopes your dreams! And for what!?”
”I told you before, you’d never understand.”
The Green was silent for a long time.
Harris looked off into the void, recalling the eventful past year or so, he would know not to go into the Everglades in the next life, that was a plus.
”Harris Herzog…” each voice of The Green said, one after another, some mournful, some furious, some uncaring. Then they all spoke as one once more. ”We give our lives every day, so that our children may grow to live lives just as eventful as ours, we breathe, we die, we protect. That is all we ever wanted from an Avatar, and you did that acceptably.”
Harris chuckled but found himself interrupted before he could speak again.
”We were the oldest, the longest-lived, and the most widespread life-form on the planet. We never thought we’d ever require the help of any of our lessers. What we didn’t see then was the power you possess over us. Time and time again we believed you humans were out for us, that we were on the precipice of extinction, but you, you proved us wrong at every turn. You saved our lives, yet you protected the lives of your own kind as well. We thought your duality a weakness, but we understand now what strength you bring us.”
The Green’s voice was thoughtful and solemn as it spoke of how Harris had changed them, but Harris felt it more a eulogy than anything else.
”Right, save the speeches for my funeral, I just want to say goodbye to you, not with formal language or as some ancient defender, I just want to see you as a friend, one last time.”
”Harris… we won’t allow that.”
”Well, time’s almost up.”
”No, Harris, we need you, they need you, this world needs you.”
Harris was taken aback.
”What?”
”We fight as friends, Harris, now, and forever.”
In the real world, Harris’ body was instantly vaporized by the blast, leaving nothing but a smear, but little did the god know just how powerful a foe he had made.
Enyalius dusted his hands lightly, releasing a gentle breath. Wandering back over to his throne, he slouched down and removed his helmet. “They never learn, do they, Hades? By the time morning reaches the city of Washington D.C., the Earth with be a smouldering wreck...and billions of souls will belong to me, courtesy of mother.”
Hades didn’t make a sound this time, simply continuing to hang there in defeat.
“Ah, that’s right. I was going to give Persephone a visit. I should get on with that,” Enyalius noted, taking his helmet in hand and rising once more.
A single vine slithered from a crack in the floor, suddenly shooting forth and wrapping itself around the god’s leg. Unlike all other constructions, this one was more than capable of holding the god still.
The building began to shake, letting out a rumbling noise that got louder with every passing second, rocks began to fall from the ceiling, smashing against the ground like glass. A grumbling roar echoed through the citadel.
”You’re gonna have to try a bit harder than that!”
The floor smashed into thousands of pieces as Harris shot up from underneath, his upper body dwarfing Cerberus in his cage, his legs still remaining under the rock, and his mouth letting out a savage roar.
From the cracks within the newly ruined floor, a human-sized clone of Harris pushed its way out, and then another, and then another.
This continued until the entire room was surrounded by a perimeter of Harris clones. A number even stood atop the original’s shoulders, and a not-insignificant number hung from the ceiling, staring down at the helpless god.
”Welcome to the last five minutes of your life.”
The original, massive beast of a plant, smashed the ground with two fists, driving the god into the shattered stone beneath.
Enyalius had barely had any time to don his helmet for the second time that day before he was unceremoniously smashed into the floor of his now thoroughly trashed throne room. For several moments he lay there, only to finally push himself up with a snarl of his own. Blood fell from his nostrils, and his eyes had gone bloodshot.
“Insolent creature!” He extended his hand, and in a flight of lightning a forked spear appeared within his grasp. Using it to slash the vine grasping his leg, he began to increase the size of his form to match that of Harris. “Do you think you frighten me?! I am the son of Eris! I am chaos and strife personified!”
Driving his - similarly enlarged - spear at the creature’s chest, he augmented it further with his lightning.
As the god grew to a comparable size, Harris simply directed his clones mentally. A tide of little green men grabbed onto the war god, covering him in vines, and holding his arm back before the spear could reach his chest.
Harris tapped his chin with a finger as he watched the god’s assault slow to a grinding halt. He smirked and watched as a pair of his clones removed the spears from the body of Hades, gently catching him as he fell, no longer supported.
Harris looked back up at the spoiled brat of a god.
”Do you know what you are?! You are nothing!” Harris roared, punctuating each word with a pound on the ground around him. ”Nature always wins, it’s time you learned that!”
Freeing his legs from the rubble of the ruined floor, Harris pulled back his fist, and smashed it, with all of his might, directly into the “god’s” chin.
Let’s see how godly he is after this.
When the plant’s massive fist collided with Enyalius’ chin, the God’s head snapped back in an instant as his helmet departed him. Slamming into the roof of the immense palace, the son of Ares and Eris smashed his way through the hardened material against his will. Bursting from the top, his momentum remained unbroken as he impacted one of the dark, grey mountains in the distance.
An avalanche of ashen stone echoed the impact, and for what seemed like a solid minute, nothing else was heard. It was only after this that that the young God came wearily stumbling from the collapsed mountain. Blood streamed from his broken nose and busted lip, his movements uneven and confused.
“You...can’t...I’m…” He muttered, stumbling forward for several more steps. Collapsing onto his knees, he stared at the partially wrecked palace in disbelief at what had just happened.
Harris approached at a brisk walk, he massaged his chin as he looked over the near-unconscious god.
”You’re really tough, you know that?... I’m also being told that you’re unkillable, which makes it so much harder to not want to just keep hitting you until I get bored, but I think I have the perfect punishment.”
The Harris clones all coalesced in two positions, at the right and left of Harris’ position. They locked together slowly, the pile growing to the size of the original until finally there were three equally sized Harrises standing shoulder-to-shoulder.
With a boot to the head, the Harrises watched as the god fell spread-eagle
Each one drew a strangely ornate sword from their forearms, two moving to the god’s shoulders, and the original standing over his abdomen.
”Welcome to the next eternity.”
Each lifted their blades, then drove them down, impaling the god to the ground. Each giant then locked in place, completely unmoving.
Harris grew from the ground not far from this spectacle, looking over his fine work.
He looked over at Hades, still recovering from his wounds, and smiled, pointing at the now completely-immobilized god.
”Karma, she’s a bitch right?” Harris chuckled, tapping the god of the dead on his shoulder as he walked by. ”Let’s go find Persephone.”
Harris strutted away, whistling a cheery tune, as the three statues stood watch over the fallen god.