Chapter 6: Death row inmate?

“My-my father?” I stuttered.

“Indeed,” said Odin, “Your father took this quest before you.”

I nearly fainted on the spot, “What happened to him?” I asked eagerly.

Odin shook his head, “Unfortunately, we know nothing of him, he was doing well until-”

Ra cut him off, “I think that’s enough.” He said sharply, he and Odin looked at each other, and a silent agreement went between them.

“You can go to your room now, we’ll call you here in a while,” Ra said, gesturing to the guard to escort me. The guard took me by the arm, but I freed my arm from his grip and ran to the middle of the room.

“Tell me what happened to him, I’m not agreeing to this quest until you do!” I shouted at them.

“I’m afraid we can’t tell you anything until you agree to the quest.” Said Ra.

“I agree, I agree to the quest to retrieve the lost souls.” I said quickly. Nobody said anything for a solid ten seconds.

“I-I suppose it’s settled then,” Ra said, “Horus will take you to the arsenal and answer your questions about your father, he knew him pretty well.” I looked at Horus, he was busy flirting with some goddess, vines kept twirling around her hair. He looked up at the mention of his name.

“What?” he asked.

Ra looked like he wanted to strangle him, “You’ll escort Cole to the arsenal, and tell him whatever he wants to know about Jacob.” The way Ra said my father’s name gave away the fact that they were good friends.

“I will?” Horus looked confused, then seemed to regain his bearings. “Oh yeah, I will.” Ra gave him a murderous look.

He stood up and said something to the goddess beside him, but she just threw a twig at him. As soon as the twig touched Horus, it withered and fell to the ground, Horus quickly picked it up without anyone noticing, I didn’t think much of it, he walked towards me, mumbling something under his breath. He walked to the door and I followed. Soon we were alone in the hallway again. I didn’t give much thought to the quest I just accepted, which could change my life forever.

I decided to start the conversation, “So,” I said, “You knew my father?”

“Knew him? He was my best friend.” He replied. One word lingered in the air like thick mist; was.

“Do you know what happened to him?” I said, we took an escalator and stepped to a highly fortified floor.”

“We lost his signal when he entered the Final Standing.”

“Signal?” I inquired, “Final Standing?”

“Powerful beings like dragons, orcs, and large sea monsters have a strong signal. Humans, however, have a very weak one, but your father,” His voice cracked, and I realized he was crying, my father really did mean a lot to him. “Your father had the signal of an African dragon, that’s one of the biggest dragon species on Earth if you’re wondering, your father was strong Cole, not only physically, emotionally too, he won't stop talking about you.”

That caught my attention, “Talking about me? He never saw me in my whole life.” I pointed out.

“He said the only thing he regrets about his life, was leaving you and your mother, but he always watched on you, you know.”

“Wow,” I whispered, “How about the Final Standing?”

Horus Clenched his fist, “That’s where monsters go to regenerate or reform. It has that name, because millennia ago, a group of four heroes went on a quest, their goal was to destroy it.”

“What happened to them?” I asked, now starting to reconsider my decision about accepting this quest.

“They were outrun by monsters and were devoured. That was their final standing.” He said coldly.

“So, my dad is dead.” I said sadly.

“I didn’t say dead, more like missing in action, he could be alive for all we know.”

I decided to stick with this sliver of hope for the meantime.

I forgot that we were heading to the arsenal, we stopped at a metal door with two guards on either side, Horus gestured for them to open the door and they obliged. Horus went in and I followed.

“Wow,” I said, and the room echoed. “This place is huge!” I shouted.

“That’s only the first floor.”

“So, what are we doing here?” I asked

“Getting you a weapon of course.” He replied like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Whoa, a weapon? I can’t use a weapon; I’m not trained.”

“Don’t worry you have plenty of time tot rain before your quest starts.”

I looked around the room, it was nearly as high as the Great Room, lined from top to bottom with weapons of all types and sizes. From bows to war hammers, to swords, to axes. “Why would I need a weapon anyway?” I interrupted.

Horus sighed, “They never pay attention until it’s too late.” He mumbled. “Cole you agreed to a quest, it can’t be undone, you will venture out to find the four lords of the underworld and retrieve a soul from each one,” He continued, “And trust me when I tell you that it won’t be easy, you’ll face monsters, demons, and you’ll have a lot of close encounters with death.” He paused for the words to settle in my mind, “So, you need to be trained, today, the War Gods will decide your weapon, which you’ll be trained to use.”

I remained silent for a while, really considering my quest for the first time, Horus looked me in the eye, “The universe itself is in your hands Cole.”

I remembered to breathe, “You said that this ship has enough firepower to destroy the solar system, why don’t you use this power to defeat him?”

To my surprise, Horus laughed, “Destroy him? Using this humble ship? The guy eats planets for breakfast.” He shouted. Do you even know what does ‘Asmodeus’ mean? It means wrath demon, he’ll unleash his wrath on the whole universe, we will never survive, the Lost Souls are our only chance, you, are our only chance.”

I felt a sudden surge of courage in my veins, “I’ll do it, what do I have to do first?”

Horus smiled, “Now, Now, you still got a long way before you’re ready, first we’ll have to stand before the War Gods, for them to decide your weapon and tell you the whole story.”

“So why did you bring me here then?” I asked.

“To give you an idea about what you could be using. If you’re lucky you could get a decent weapon.” He replied.

“Oh, it’s time, come on, were meeting the War Gods now.” He said enthusiastically. He headed out and again, I followed. We entered the Great Room again, accept now, it was darker, and the Councilor’s table was gone, a big pot with a boiling liquid was placed on the fire in the middle of the room.

Four gods stood on the other side of the pot, “Who are they, and what is that boiling pot doing here?” I asked Horus.

“The Gods of War, Montu, Odin, Ares, and Mars, these people would definitely savor a good fight. And that’s the Blood of War, from the Holy waterfalls of Asgard.”

I looked at it, the liquid was changing colors, from red to blue to yellow, I was going to ask Horus about it but it Montu spoke, “Step forward.” He said, he had the body of a human and the head of a falcon.

Horus nudged me to go forward, I looked at him and gave him the best puppy eyes I could manage, he just nudged me harder. I awkwardly walked forward, my knees nearly buckled under me.

“Take a drink,” Montu commanded.

I was shocked, “But…but it’s boiling.”

“Take. A. Drink.” Montu said slowly, pointing to a cup, placed on the floor, he didn’t seem like somebody you’d want to make angry.

I stepped closer to the pot, I lifted the cup placed on the ground, it looked like it was made of quartz, I gently scooped some of the liquid, as soon as I lifted the cup away from the pot, it stopped changing colors and stayed fixed on red, murmuring erupted through the room.

I looked around and saw the gods staring at me with a strange look in their eyes, almost like they were… frightened, even Horus, who was now standing a few feet further from when I remember.

Montu looked at me curiously, “drink.” He repeated.

I took one last look at the contents of the cup, I could see my reflection in the red liquid, here goes nothing, I thought, and with that, I took a generous swig.

At first, it was cold, but when something is extremely hot it always feels cold at first contact. I fell to my knees choking, I wrapped my hands around my throat and started coughing, it was just too hot, after that everything went black.

I woke up fresh for the first time in a good while, I stood up and grabbed the bed for support, I was still sleepy, I thought, just then the door opened, I thought it’d be Horus, but instead, Montu came in. “About time you woke up,” he said, he seemed to be in a better mood today. “The council is going to reveal your class.” He said. “What?” I asked, then all the previous day’s incidents hit me like a wave of icy water.

“Your weapon, remember?” He replied.

I groaned, “How long have I been asleep?"

“A week and a half, maybe two, can’t remember really.”

I stared at him in shock,” Two weeks!”

“Yep, the stuff you drank, the Blood of War, it does that to you. Get dressed, I’ll be waiting outside.”

I looked at my clothes, and yelped, I was wearing none except for my boxers. I quickly changed into jeans and a shirt. I walked into the hallway, still recovering from the shock Montu gave me inside and saw Montu talking with Horus, they stopped talking when I approached them, “Hi” I said, Horus nodded.

“I’ll leave you now with Horus, he’ll lead you to the Great Room.” Montu said, hurrying away in the other direction. We headed to the Great Room.

“What were you two talking about?” I asked nosily.

He sighed, “I won't lie to you kiddo, the stuff you drank-”

“The Blood of War.” I interrupted.

“Yeah,” he continued, “The Blood of War, remember when it was changing colors?” I nodded. “The colors represent the level of power the drinker has, with more power, come stronger weapons, the blue is the lowest level, followed by the yellow then the red, you drank the red, which is not your choice, the Blood of War determines what power you have, you chose the highest, or rather, you have been chosen for the highest.”

“What does it do anyway?” I asked.

“It basically determines what weapon is best for you, by… um, burning a mark on your right arm.” He winced at the last part.

“Burn? what do you mean burn.”

“I mean your weapon will appear on your right shoulder today in the great room, you drank the red, if you’re lucky you might get the bow and arrow, or the war hammer, lower marks get weapons like an ax or a club. Every hero has to go through the process.”

But Horus looked uneasy, “What is it?” I asked him.

“You were chosen to wield one of the strongest weapons,” he said.

“Wait, but isn’t that good?” I interrupted.

He looked at his feet, “Unfortunately, most heroes who ended up with the red mark have turned against the Council buy joining the evil side, they have such immense power, that they think they could challenge us, it usually ends with the council victorious, but with heavy casualties. Which means that they could end up… voting to kill you.”

I stood dead in my tracks, “K-kill me? Why? Am I not their only way to defeat Asmodeus?” I asked, terrified.

“The Council is willing to take its chances with Asmodeus than to face one of its own kin again.” He said.

“Great, just great, so now they want to kill me too.”

“They might let you go by the way, don’t jinx it.” He recommended.

We entered the Great Room, the room was gloomy and cold, everybody was dead silent, we walked to the middle of the room, “Cole Archer,” Said Odin, “You will be pronounced your weapon now.” He said, his voice echoed through the room. Almost as if on queue, I felt a burning sensation on my right arm, I clutched my arm, but it quickly went back to normal. A guard came and ripped my whole right sleeve off, “Hey!” I protested, but he just stood there in shock and started backing away. As soon as the Council’s leaders saw the mark, they stood up and backed away too, shouting spread like wildfire across the room. Odin pointed his finger at me and shouted, “DECAPITAI!” I looked at my arm, and gasped in shock, tattooed to my arm, were none of the weapons Horus mentioned, instead, there were two, crisscrossing, fiery, sword-like, curved blades.