10

Lord Thanatos was late.

A sudden heavy rain had started a few minutes ago and Eden had taken shelter under one of the umbrellas attached to the railings of the pier. Though it didn't help much because there was  wind as well and Eden's clothes were partially wet now.

Eden was tempted to just leave. He had actually planned to not show up at all but because the other party in question was a God, he decided against it. Eden was many things; murderer, crazy bitch, bastard, motherfucker, and just many other colorful names that his reaper 'peers' that depised him could come up with but he wasn't an idiot to piss off a God that's from another religion just because he doesn't want to go with him to a 'cafe'.

However, he did hope Lord Lucifer wouldn't allow him to go but that plan didn't work out now, did it?

He sighed in exasperation when his glasses started to fog for the fourth time. He took it off to wipe it before sliding it back on. Then he placed his hands on the railing as he leaned over, looking down into the waters, trying to spot any signs of the God. 

The reason Lord Thanatos told Eden to meet by the pier was because the sea is one of the doors to the other side, no matter what one is linked with; be it Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Celtic, and so on. Mirrors could also be used as a pathway and Eden much preferred using mirrors more.

He was about to move away from the railing after seeing there's still no sign of Lord Thanatos when he caught sight of his reflection. Even though he could hardly make out his reflection due to the waves currently being wild and fierce, it was obvious that in the absence of his wings, in his simple black shirt, black pants, and sneakers, he looked so ..human.

At this point he has no energy to react anymore. It's been a hundred years since the war ended. He learnt very early on that there's nothing else he could do but to accept his predicament and just carry out his punishment. 

There's a saying "Time heals all wounds." but that didn't work for Eden. Despite all those years, he continued to hold intense hatred deep within his heart but because of those archangels and the bindings on him, he couldn't do anything to unleash that resentment.

Eden lets out another sigh and decides it's not worth thinking about his inescapable fate again.

Suddenly a loud wailing pulled Eden's attention and he looked up towards the sea, searching for the source of the sound. It took him a minute before he spotted it and swiftly recognised it as a Cetus, a Greek monster.

The creature's head resembles a greyhound while its body resembles a whale. Normally, a cetus' tail would have had the same trait but for some reason, this particular Cetus' tail didn't. To be more precise, its tail looked like it's been severed as there's blood trailing after the creature and the injury still appeared to be in a raw state. 

He slightly tilted his head to the side.

The monster was heading towards the pier at a fast rate and Eden noticed it was behaving quite erratically. It keeps flailing about and diving into the sea before re-emerging once more. He hummed and thought it was nothing to concern himself with. 

Though he does want to vent because one particular God was late.

Making sure no human was around and holding out his hand, Eden willed his powers to arise.

A small chilled wind swirled around his hand before materializing into a spear on his palm.

Eden waited until it was just a few meters from him. Then he pulled back his arm and threw the weapon with all his might towards the creature. Eden expected to hear a howl but instead he heard a metallic sound colluding with his spear. 

"Hm?"

"OI!" shouted an angry voice.

Why didn't he see him before? 

There was a human on the back of the Cetus, holding onto the monster for dear life. He looked to be in his early twenties with disheveled white hair, probably because of all the thrashing done by the Cetus earlier and scarlet eyes that Eden finds unique. 

Eden was very confused to see this human.

The human continued to yell, "Are you trying to kill me?! And you made me drop my sword!"

Eden just stared at him as if he couldn't comprehend his words. The human noticed Eden's silence and just as the man was about to say something else, the Cetus brought him down into the sea again.

Eden assumed the man was already dead because it wasn't until a few minutes later that the Cetus resurfaced again and he could see the man was desperately gasping for air.

The white haired man yelled once more but sounded a little weaker this time. "Well aren't you going to help me?! It's the least you could after-" 

At this point, the monster was acting aggressively. It did everything it could to get the man to let go of him as it violently shook its body, diving in and out and flailing around. Eden felt like he was watching a show. He started to smile in amusement at the spectacle in front of him. 

"Just this once." Eden muttered softly. When the Cetus stopped moving due to having worn itself out, he produced another ice spear in his palm and pointed it towards them. The man squinted his eyes at Eden before it widened in panic. He started screaming out insults. 

"YOU CRAZY FUCK-"

"Jump into the sea." Eden told him.

"What?!"

Eden tossed the spear once more and despite claiming not to have heard him, the man quickly dived into the sea and this time his spear connected through the Cetus' flesh, leaving a small gaping hole. Eden clicked his tongue. He had wanted to aim at its heart but was behind a few inches but the death was still instantaneous; the creature's blood staining the waters as its dead body slowly submerged back into the sea.

However, the white haired man hadn't resurfaced even after some time. Eden just figured the human had died and erased him completely from memory. He does that occasionally to people who hold little significance to him, which was the reason why he's hated amongst his reaper peers.

The rain felt lighter than it was before and the dark clouds had begun to part. Eden continued to wait by the railing until Lord Thanatos finally showed up and they went ahead with their plans for that afternoon. 

Little did they know the white haired man was weakly following behind them.