Chapter 30 – A Split of a soul

Mebuyan and Iblis returned to the Mebuyan's domain with dismay. The two noticed how Hades and Persephone are acting suspiciously. Mebuyan points out that Persephone is never this noisy and uncooperative. "If anything, she is acting more of a brat than a ruler." Mebuyan says as they sat upon her pool.

Iblis also states that when he and Hades visit the graves of the twos souls, Hades seems to investigate hastily. "He looked over the tombs, took a peek inside, and then he immediately concluded it was necromancy thru the bugs! Not even a hint of curiosity." Iblis shakes his head with disbelief at how Hades is painfully hiding something from him.

Iblis also shares one thing he notices back at that tomb. Distinct magic can be faintly smelled in the tomb, it's something demonic in nature yet ancient. He describes it as smelling musky and rotting like an old tree, familiar but he can't pinpoint what kind of magic was that used.

Their discussion about their suspicion on Hades and Persephone was halted when Mebuyan's pool began to bubble. Anubis' image comes to the pool with his golden armor and weapons on his side.

"Lady Mebuyan, I would like to thank you for warning us against the invasion. My warriors manage to put a good defense and despite their continuous assault, my tower of brass gives a good defense against them. My reason for calling you is I see something strange, I made sure the entrance to my realm is locked and tight but somehow they manage to split it wide open. Leading this charge is Kali himself, he sits atop his throne of bones and blood, and on his left hand is a scepter and a top of it is a skull that shines bright like he is holding all of the stars and the sun on it. "

Mebuyan looks over her land that was recently destroyed by the invasion of Kali. She knows how hard fighting the minions of Kali but she shudders the thought of Anubis' realm falling like Mara's. Kali will surely bolster his minions then it hits her.

"Anubis, hold your defense as long as you can. I will send my forces into a two-pronged attack, three of my men are now in Mara's domain. From there, they will push back the demons off from Mara's realm and since her realm is connected with Kali's, they will attack his domain directly. My men can close portals. Thus cutting off the portal that pours from Kali's to yours. While this is happening, I will move my forces towards your realm and will attack the rear of Kali's forces. I will ensure Kali is surrounded and distracted. All of this lies in the success of my men on Mara's domain."

"Your trust in these three warriors is something else." Anubis pause as a fireball flies over his palace of gold. "I will wait for your forces Mebuyan. I shall return to the field."

"And I shall give my aid. Have faith Anubis, we will be there" Mebuyan waves her hand over her pool and Anubis's visage disappears. Mebuyan stands up and rallies her troops and prepares her realm for war. Her warriors around her pool began to sprint and ran across all directions of her realm spreading the word of her instructions. The spirits of her realm began to move like a green wave of angry ghosts roaring for revenge.

"Are you coming Iblis?" She asked the demon.

"I must decline your humble invitation Mebuyan. What I should be doing is digging the dirt that magic I smelled in the tomb. It's buggering me since we returned." He bowed at Mebuyan and thanking her for trusting him not to be a spy. "And I am off. I will come for you once I have news regarding this or if I got info where your angels are"

Mebuyan nods and Iblis jump over his portal in the ground and vanish with smoke and fire behind him. And as soon as he vanishes, Mebuyan's warrior returned with dragging a hulking figure. It rages and tries to bite its captor. His eyes filled with rage and his body was full of wounds.

"Lady Mebuyan! We found this soul in our realm! This one isn't an Antrian! He smells with foreign blood!"

"DUST NOT HERE! MUST GET DUST!" the figure yells as it tried to escape yet again but Mebuyan's warriors hold him down. They grappled and subdue him before he can cause more harm.

Mebuyan opens her black book and finds the name of this figure "Mezentius, a Tymarian from long ago. The first son of Phrone and killed her, your mother, for not giving her throne to her children and you died due to old age. Tragic life but unsurprising for people like you: craving for power and attention while forgetting to live your life to the fullest." She flips her book and looked at his final destination. "You are an old foreign soul who stumbled his way out of Tartarus? It says here that Hades already has you captive in Tartarus."

She closes her book and pinned Mezentius to the ground with her hand. "I am not like Hades who is gentle and forgiving." She put more pressure and force on her palm as Mezentius screams in pain. "Answer me Mezentius, how did you get out of Tartarus and ended up here?"

"Dust! Dust! He made us chase it!" Mezentius screams for mercy but Mebuyan is not in a mood for games. Mebuyan had it with his childish antics. She puts her finger on the head of Mezentius to pear into his memory and found darkness and silence. Mebuyan pulls her finger away and throws Mezentius to the ground. "Take him to the cells and prepare me a lot of healing potion. We need to fix his mind if I am to make him sing."

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Back at the entrance of Tartarus, Hades presents his arm to his three-headed dog. "Bite as hard as you can okay? Don't worry I can take it."

Cerberus' tail points downward and whines. He whines and instead licks his master's face. Hades laughs and gives him his big belly rubs. "Come on big boy! We have been thru this many times over. I need to get hurt real bad to keep myself awake."

The big dog whines again but understands what he needs to do. He bites down on Hades' left arm with great force. It was so strong that Hades can hear his bone-cracking with one of the heads biting it. Hades pulls his arm and began to bleed. His dog licks his wound and tries to comfort him but Hades laughs it off while hiding the pain behind his hearty laughter.

"Thank you, my friend. I'll be back soon! Just keep your guarding this place and don't let anyone pass except for me okay? Plus I already brewed the potion back there so I will heal in no time." Hades assures Cerberus once more before he heads out to Tartarus.

Heat, a storm of fire, a gust of cold air, massive rocks, and magical lighting greets Hades upon entering his domain. He feels nostalgic. Ever since Nyx take hold of this domain, Hades was not needed to stay here as he can assure that every soul can never leave, until now.

After traveling a maze of trees of fire, he arrived on a clearing with ashes and cinders flying about. In the middle of it, a woman is sleeping without a care. But before he can approach it a powerful wave of sleeping magic emanates from the orange gem that acts as the sun in his realm. The magic immediately puts him into a daze and slowly made him lose his footing. But the pain from Cerberus' bite was enough to keep him awake.

Getting his bearing back, he approached the woman but made no effort to wake her before. Nyx's power is absolute in his realm. Neither spirit nor Titan was able to break her magic since.

Hades placed his right fingers on her forehead and dive into her memory. Hades expects to see a platform and flags of memory waving by the distance by nothing. All he sees is darkness. As if her soul is not there. Hades walked for what felt like a mile before he saw a woman crying in a fetal position.

"What kind of a monster have I become?! What are these things I am seeing? Was that a dream? It was real to me! All those innocent dead by my hands!" she says without skipping a breath. She looked up and recognized Hade's bident from afar. She crawls her way towards him.

"Lord Hades?" she asked as she clings on his robes. "My Lord! Please, there is something wrong! I can see myself doing heinous crimes. I know I am dead but I can see myself back in the world of the living. I know it shouldn't be possible as I lay here in your dark domain but it felt real to me."

Hades tried to calm her down. "You are Pali, the Brave! Queen of Phronesia. Calm down woman, I am here to help you answer your questions for I am here for that very same reason but first I would need you to calm yourself. Tell me what troubles you once you catch your breath." he says while maintaining his benevolent expression to help her ease her stress.

"Drowning in water. Coldwater. Ice and the dead take a hold of me and then silence. Lord Hades, I know my actions when I was alive were not desirable but what I am seeing in my dreams felt real. I believe a necromancer has my soul." She says with horror in her eyes. She is ventilating and uncontrollable.

"You are hardly the woman that described in the Book of the Damned. Where is the cold and calculating woman who brought Phronesia a new gold age thru blood and conquest? I expect a powerful woman but not this." Hades scratches his head.

Hades suspects that a necromancer resurrected her and when her reincarnated body died somewhere in Ginn Hus, her soul was dragged down to the nearest underworld in the territory of the Valkyrie but it doesn't explain how her soul is still here in Tartarus.

"Not a soul can be in two places at once. Even twins have their own individual souls." He comments as he tries to put all the information he got. Hades knows the ways of the necromancy as he is also well verse in this power. To revive a person from death they will need a piece of their original body, their soul, and an object to tether them back to the world of the living.

But Pali having a soul here on Tartarus too? That's impossible. "Unless the soul Pali has been tampered with." Hades said to himself as he scans his book for answers but found that even the resurrected once from necromancy, those who are haunting the world of the living, and even those who summoned in a ritual are recorded in his book.

"Impossible! Our books from Bathala are absolute as this is made by himself! None can escape from his magic!" In frustration, Hades' consciousness returns to his body. He grabs Pali's soul in his pocket and brings it close to the sleeping Pali and proceeds to experiment on it to see if anything comes up. Just like a fish that wriggles out of a fisherman's friend, the soul on his hand struggled and escaped his grip and jumps back on Pali's sleeping body in Tartarus.

Pali's body gave a sigh of relief and a smile can be seen on her face.

"What a curious turn of event. I guess I need to dive back in her memories". Hades returns to her consciousness and this time there's a platform for him to land and with flags of memories waving as if it's inviting him to look. As he lands on the platform, a Pali stands proudly in front of him.

"Hail! Lord of Tartarus, Hades. Welcome to my mind. How can I be of service milord?" She says while bowing to his presence.

"That is not necessary Pali." Hades smiles as he is amazed by this discovery. Her soul was split! That's why his visit early yields no memories as she isn't herself. Her mind is not whole thus her memories are missing. She was wild and in a panic but this Pali is more of what she is based on in the book.

He smiled and approached and asked Pali to guide him on her last memories when she was alive.

"Ah, of course, but that was a shameful one. I died without conquering Tymar and replacing the royal family. No offense, milord." She says as she leads Hades towards a flag wavering on the corner.

"None taken. Plus, Zeus and my other siblings are always a headache. So having a conqueror like you to challenge them is quite entertaining." Hades replies as he stands before Pali's last memories when she was alive.

As the two enter her memory, Hades sees himself as a servant of Pali as he standing beside her. Pali is an old and frail woman here. She is still wearing her armor and weapons as she sits on her throne. She is surrounded by her counsel and is planning their next move.

"The Alliance has their borders fortified and our spies tell us that Ares will be leading the charge if it comes to worst, our army will sure be decimated. As for the Delphites, they have broken off and we are currently repairing the border wall. As for the royal family, they still lay silent and won't interfere with us. Should we give chase to the Delphites while they are on the run?" An advisor said as they look towards her for answers.

Pali shakes and points at the map in front of them. "All of your blabbing is worthless! You're missing the picture here. Mount Olympus, the home of the royal family, is our answer."

One of the council spoke "But Queen Pali! Mount Olympus sits defended for thousands of cycles! We cannot launch an attack on them, not if you want to receive vengeance from Zeus and Hera!"

"Fool! You will not need to attack them! We dig underneath and around it. Then our armies can pass underground and attack the Alliance and Delphites right underneath their noses!" Pali shouted as she is offended by their dull replies to her.

"A two-prong attack! Brilliant! Creating tunnels underneath Olympus and creating simultaneous attacks will surely catch them off guard!" one of the council claps his hands in support of Pali's suggestion. Surely, all of them clapped and gave her praise.

At this point in Pali's life, she is used to the pleasantries that she turns deaf every time she is being addressed in that manner. She ignores their applause and fixates on Mount Olympus across her throne. Phronesia is located in the east of Tymar and from here point of view, Mount Olympus is small as a toy. She reaches for it and tries to grasp for the mountain; imagining herself as a Titan and carrying Tymar in her palms. She grips her hand as hard as she can and swears that she will lead Phronesia to their glory.

And then Pali felt a cold arrow passes her chest, so cold that her body dropped to the throne. Her body gives up as age catches up to her. It was her time to go and Hades knows it well.

Her council gathered around her as they tried to save her life but no manner of magic can save her. In her last moments, Pali curses herself. Her last thought was a regret of being unable to find this heirloom from Phronesia founder. Things might be different if she had managed to find it.

Hades shrugs it off and exits her memory and soon Pali follows.

"My shameful defeat; I might able to conquer and expand Phronesia's land but never to reach my dreams. In the twilight of my life, I consider myself a failure." Pali says as she stands before Hades as a strong woman in her 30s.

Hades scratches his head again. "It doesn't make sense. Where were you at Ginn Hus? How did you get to the Valkyries domain and who summoned you back from the dead?"

"Summoned? I was never summoned back to the living milord. Thou I would love to return and see if my council or my descendants followed my suggestion." Pali smiled at the thought of it.

"Are you sure Pali? I got half of your soul from Gin Huss. Did you cast a spell or made a ritual where you were alive?" Hades asked calmly as he looked around at the other flags waving in the distance.

"Never! Splitting the soul will reduce who I am. My prowess and wits will surely be affected once I split my soul. Rendering my half of what I am unable to think rationally. I would never do such a thing if I am to conquer Tymar." She answers with such conviction that Hades nods in agreement.

"No, she is right. If she did split her soul when she was alive, she would never have that memory in the first place and her wits will fail her in her war against my family." Hades thinks to himself as he returns to the center of Pali's platform. He grabs his pocket and sees one more soul.

"I believe I am done here Pali. I do hope you enjoy your time sleeping in my domain." Hades says as he prepares to return to his body.

"Pleasure is all mine. After all, I can relive my memories at all of the battlefields I fought on over and over again." She bows for the last time before Hades disappears from her mind.

As Hades walks across the chaotic realm of Tartarus, Hades grabs the soul of Thelgo and dives into the other half of Thelgo's soul to see if anything comes up differently but just like before Hades is met with darkness. But to his surprise, he is met with a composed and well manner Thelgo instead of the crying and panicking one like Pali.

"Ah, Lord Hades. Welcome to my, splintered self." Thelgo says as he bows.

"You seem to know what's happening to you Thelgo. Are you aware of the split of your soul?" Hades asked.

"Yes I am aware of it Lord Hades but I am afraid I cannot assist you," Thelgo says as he approached Hades smiling. Hades sense something wrong as Thelgo approached. He stopped walking and grabs his bident to the side.

"Thelgo? I am not your enemy. I am here for answers." Hades points his bident to Thelgo to warn him to back off but Thelgo won't stop.

Thelgo waves his hands and the world of darkness swirls into a world of water and ice. They are surrounded by huge waves and crashes between them. Hades was thrown by huge waves and struggles to stay afloat in a freezing climate. And Thelgo walks above the water.

"You better get out of my head or I will make you!" Thelgo flies over the blue skies and hurls a huge chunk of icebergs to Hades. Thelgo laughs as huge tidal waves came crashing on Hades.

Hades raises his bident, the earth heads to his command as it splits wide open to swallow the sea and ice. As the world is devoid of the sea, Hades manages to find his footing on a barren wasteland. "Thelgo, calm down. I just need to talk."

Thelgo snaps his finger and the earth boiled. It turned the land into a scorching heat until the ground melt and turned to lava. "Talk? You're like the rest of my men! Wanting to know the secrets of my mind and plotting behind my back!"

Thelgo lands on the ground and touches the earth. He moved the lava in such a way as to burn Hades alive but Hades seems composed. He lifts his bident and lava instantly cools turned it into hard diamonds. Hades knocks on the diamonds and shatters them into millions of pieces. He points his bident to Thelgo and the diamonds fly towards him. No matter how far Thelgo flies, the diamonds hit him and lands serious cuts across his body.

"It's no use talking to a mad soul. Don't worry Thelgo, I will get you back to your other half so we can have a meaningful conversation." Hades clasps his hand and began to chant a spell. Thelgo tries to intervene but the diamonds come crashing flying towards him. Hades finishes his spell and slams the end of his bident to the ground. The world around them crumbles and returns to its empty void.

Thelgo falls to the ground and crawls away from the approaching Hades.

Hades laughs "That was fun. It's been a while since I used my magic but your illusions need work."

Thelgo struggles to crawl away from Hades but Hades jammed his bident between Thelgo's neck. Hades leans in began to smell Thelgo and scratches his head. "You are no illusion but something is amiss. I can smell that old musky rotting smell." Hades then lets go of the Thelgo and returns to his consciousness.

He grabs the soul and returned it to his pocket. Hades is impressed by Thelgo's soul. Such mental fortitude was so strong that even in death it will fight any invaders to his thoughts.

After a few more walks, Hades finds Thelgo sleeping by a tree surrounded by a swamp of acid and decay. Hades grabs half of Thelgo's soul and placed it back to his Tartaus' counterpart. Just like Pali, Thelgo seems to exhibit signs of relaxation once the souls are merges back to two. Hades opens his book and double-checks Thelgo's last moment.

"Thelgo the Wise died at the age of 75. He was resting on his bed and drank too much wine. He never woke up. He drank himself to death after realizing he will never found Phronesia's heirloom, which he believes to grant him immense knowledge. He was succeeded by his son." Hades laments the idea that this man wasted his life after not finding this heirloom.

Hades dives into Thelgo's memory just to find Thelgo thinking in the middle of this platform as he taps his foot. Hades seems his platform see to be clean and no flags by the distance. He imagines this is another Thelgo's illusion.

"I hope I am not interrupting, Thelgo." Hades says as he lands behind him. As Thelgo turns around, he identifies the bident immediately and bows.

"Not at all Lord Hades, please have a sit." Thelgo cast illusions as he summoned a chair and table for them to seat on. "Is the ruler of Tartarus here for my memories? Please do say the world and I will assist you." Then Thelgo summons few flags near them. Each flag shows how Thelgo prepares mixtures of Phronesia's famous healing potion.

"Ah, I am not interested in that Thelgo, thanks for asking. I am here to ask you if you are aware of your soul being split into two. I half of your soul was found by the Valkyries and half of here on my domain." Hades asked.

"My goodness, my soul reached Ginn Huss underworld? Looks like even in death, they want my steal potion's formula." Thelgo seems to be proud of it but Hades pressed on.

"Pali the Brave was also found alongside with you. I never asked the Valkyrie how you ended up there but I manage to secure the info from asking Pali: before I put your souls back together, you're completely a different person. Pali was crying and you are overprotective of your memories, you went as far as to attack me. Then once I put Pali together, she is back to her normal self. I dwell into her memory but none are found to show your time when you are split."

Thelgo rubs his chin and is surprised about this revelation. "Lord Hades, when I was alive I dwell most of my efforts to give Phronesia a better future. I tried to make amend the war that my ancestor, Pali, did. Thus, I manage to concoct a potion so potent that it can heal the most severe wounds in few minutes. But never in necromancy, as that magic has no place when trying to restore a kingdom to its glory thru commerce and education."

"So you have no knowledge of your soul being split? I believe you." Hades scratches his head in frustration. What is he missing? Is there something did he need to do? Maybe a piece of their soul was lost?

Hades shrugs it off and decided to not dwell on it. "Well, looks like I am in a dead-end. I resign investigating this useless case."

"I do apologize if I cannot much be much help. But I am sure whoever split our soul into two wants us to forget our actions with them. If anything, this might be a new spell a spell that even breaks the rule of our magic." Thelgo says.

"Breaks the rule?" Hades contemplates these words. He recalled that Kali is wielding a powerful artifact and is waging war with other underworld rulers. Bathala never intended for any one of them to wage war with each other else face the wrath from the angels of Paradise but as Mebuyan's word, no angel came to her aid. Hades felt a cold chill in his spine as he realized that the soul-splitting mystery of Pali and Thelgo might be related Kali's ability to invade without consequences.

"What were you wondering before I got here Thelgo? You seem distracted." Hades tries to probe Thelgo for more questions.

"Well, before you came here and before we met, I have this strange sensation of cold and ice. As if I am was drowning in darkness then a horde of the dead takes a hold of me. It's a strange sensation since I died in my bed and was never drowned and my last thought was regret for not finding our heirloom."

"An item from Phronesia's founder. May I ask what do you expect when you find the heirloom? Pali was looking for it too before she died." Hades asked as he ponders what kind of item is this.

"Phrone, the first ruler of our kingdom, almost lived forever as she never ages, immune to any sickness and believed to grant her immense knowledge as under her rule turned small farmland into Tymar's first city and eventually stand as its kingdom. But it was lost as soon as Phrone's firstborn son, Mezentius ruled."

"How was it lost? Did Mezentius break it?"

"Nay, it was believed that Mezentius was given a fake heirloom. The moment Phrone steps down from her position, the heirloom's power and presence vanish. Thus they believed that Phrone might hide the true heirloom from her Mezentius and gave it to one of her other four children. Thus there was a civil war within the kingdom of Phronesia. After that civil war, it took many kings and queens to forget fighting and just concentrate on improving Phronesia. But we never stop looking. I believe this is why Pali waged war as she is still looking for it. As for me, I spent most of our monies on securing spies to scour Tymar but none came close with proving any information of our heirloom"

Hades smiled and replies "Thank you Thelgo. But I must return to Tartarus. It was fun chatting with you but rest assured I will return to hear more of your stories."

Hades' consciousness returns to his body and starts to walk away from the swamp and looks up to the orange gem in the sky. He knows an item that expands once life, immunity to disease, and grants knowledge is not a strange thing to him. As a matter of fact, all Tymarian royal family eats Ambrosia - a fruit that heals your wounds and prolongs eating of the fruit grants him long life.

But his hunger to solve this mystery is greater. The more unravels it, the more questions appear than answers. From the back of his mind, the name Mezentius does ring a bell as he does recall that Pali and Thelgo are descendants from his blood.

Hades opens his book and searches about Mezentius as he was curious truth of what Thelgo said to him. There he found the truth where Mezentius never inherit the throne due to his mother's agelessness; he killed his mother to secure the throne and the power of the heirloom. But what he got was a replica of the heirloom. To prevent any further struggle against his throne, Mezentius told a lie to cover up his patricide and to justify killing his siblings. In the end, Phronesia believed the lie that Mezentius told. In his last days, he regrets killing his mother. Not of love but he regrets not knowing the true location of the heirloom from his mother.

As Hades was about to close his book, he manage to read a passage about Mezentius where he develop the city further with plans. Plans where it was written by his mother and a woman named Nyx."What did you do Nyx?" Hades turns himself into a cloud of black smoke and flies across the Tartarus maze into the orange gem. Hades lands inside the gem; inside is a massive library of books of magic, dried canvas, and crumpled stretches are scattered across the place. It was quiet but Hades runs hastily toward the center of the library and there a huge altar is situated in the middle. On top of the altar is a woman sleeping. She is huge as Mebuyan, she got curly brown hair, freckles on the lower part of her eyes and across her nose, and a very sharp nose.

Hades immediately checked every corner of her body for an item and found none. Near her Altar, he found a huge pile of rolled papers lying about. He opens all of them and sees these are plans for the design of Phronesia's city. Multiple designs and there are notes underneath them and it read 'Nyx and Phrone design for a city.'

Hades without a second thought Hades placed his hand on Nyx's head and dives into her consciousness. As he dives into her mind Hades sees a golden cloud of sand obscuring his vision but he is seeing a huge crystal in the middle on Nyx's platform. As he lands, he is greeted by a girl that similarly looks like Nyx clad in black robes and a girl with a strange yet familiar white book.

Before Hades can reply and greet her old friend, she immediately attacks her with her golden sand and yells to her the other girl, "Chronicler! Stay back! He might be the nightmare that plagues Tymar!"

"The Chronicler?! Wait, Nyx! It's me!" Hades tries to calm Nyx down but she down listens. Hades was immediately surrounded by the golden sand and immobilized his movement.

"No! We will take him down together!" Jasmine yells as she runs towards Hades, dagger in hand. An at this moment, Hades is much more confused than ever, and now his life might be in danger.