Chapter Twenty-One
Farren
I let go of his hand and reach into my pocket, “Hey, me too. Although I’ve got more in a Void pocket in case we need to blow up anything bigger.”
Khaos just stares at me with a smile playing around the edge of his lips, until Hades claps him on the shoulder and seems to bring him back from wherever it is that he was.
“I told you, brother,” Hades says.
“You did,” Khaos confirms.
“Alright you two, let's put the explosives away for the moment and come back to it later, when we’re not in an academy,” Storm suggests, his eyebrow raised slightly.
I sigh and reluctantly put the explosives away, Khaos doing the same.
“Maybe you two shouldn’t have that in your pocket while we’re sparring,” Reaper suggests, with a worried frown.
“Relax,” Khaos and I say together, sharing a grin.
“Well, I feel like this is going to become dangerous,” Loki smirks as we walk through the doors, “now we’ve got two of them that want to blow shit up.”
I smirk, “Don’t lie, you want to blow shit up as well.”
He chuckles, “You’re not wrong.”
We all start warming up, since none of us brought workout clothes, and actually, I’ve always thought that it’s better to spar in what you normally wear, so you can learn the restrictions of that item of clothing and not be caught off guard if you do get attacked.
Your attacker is hardly going to wait around if you say, ‘Sorry, I just need to go and put my stretchy trousers on, I won’t be able to kill you wearing what I’m wearing. ’
Of course, all of the outfits that I wear are flexible and ready to fight in, because I always seem to be getting attacked or attacking someone, and so I always make sure that my clothing is easy to fight in.
While we warm up, talk turns to Khaos, Hades, and the Underworld.
“How’s it going in the Underworld?” Storm asks. “Have you gone back yet?”
“We were heading there when Farren called,” Khaos says, his eyes on me as he watches me warm up.
“I’m surprised that you didn’t go back immediately,” Reaper says, as he stretches, and I try not to stare.
“We’re still trying to work out the best way to get the Dragons to talk, and when to talk to the princes' souls,” Hades replies.
“I think we should probably talk to the princes' souls as soon as we can, rather than give them time to cause shit after they get out of that holding place that you mentioned. We already know that they were somehow gaining support on the Soul Side of the Underworld. We don’t want someone to figure out how to get them out,” Killian replies thoughtfully with a frown.
“An excellent point. It’s not easy to leave the Underworld though, and if they somehow managed it, they wouldn’t be alive. They would be ghosts, and we all know what happens when a ghost is involved in a situation.”
“Apart from Rolo,” I mutter.
“He was a part of your dream though, and not an actual ghost,” Zev points out.
I shrug. I’m not sure about that, but I don’t know how else to explain him, so I’ll just agree until I have proof otherwise.
“I agree that we should talk to and deal with them as quickly as possible before they cause any more trouble, but I also think that we should talk to any Dragon Souls that have made it through from the Dragon Realm pretty quickly as well. We know that Crem and Remeus are there now, and they are unlikely to be there quietly,” Rival suggests.
“If we could work out why, or maybe just get a little bit more information, then at least we aren’t questioning the other princes with no information at all.
Knowledge is power. I’d rather not be in the dark. ”
“I like questioning people in the dark. It ramps up the terror because they never know where the next strike is going to come from,” Mayhem’s smile is sharp, and his eyes are lit with a deadly light. “It’s fun.”
“Fucking hell,” I mutter with a smile. When he glances at me with a worried expression, I add, “That was hot.”
Thankfully, his worried expression clears, and he smiles. I don’t know why I didn’t expect that from Mayhem. Probably because it's such a contrast to his laidback personality, he never seems to be bothered by much. I’m not going to lie, it makes him even hotter.
Khaos grins, “We’ll save that for you then, mate.”
“Thanks,” Mayhem replies, looking genuinely excited by the prospect.
“We’ll head over to the Soul Side after we leave here, and talk to the Dragon Souls,” Hades replies.
“Don’t question the princes without us,” Zev says, his eyes dark with anger.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Hades replies.
Storm claps his hands, “Okay, now that’s all sorted. I’m warmed up enough, let's spar.”
“What do you want to do first?” Kill asks me.
I think about it for a moment, “Where are my axes? They definitely aren’t on my back, and I don’t remember putting them down or taking them off. So where are they?”
“That’s a good point, I haven’t noticed them lying around anywhere, and I definitely would have, they aren’t exactly subtle,” Reaper replies.
Hades watches me closely as if he wants to say something, but isn’t quite sure whether he should.
“What?” I ask him.
“Are we still avoiding the ‘G’ word when it comes to you?” He asks me.
I shrug, “There’s not really much point, is there. My parents are gods and a goddess, and I have now been told several times that I am a g . . . one of them. So I may as well get used to it.”
“Alright,” Hades replies. “In that case, your axes are weapons that are made specifically for gods, not just any gods either.
A god or goddess's weapon can only be touched and wielded by them. No other god or goddess can touch them. They are attuned to you. This means that when you need them, you will most likely find that they are already there on your back waiting to be grasped, or they will simply appear in your hands.”
I nod and think of my axes, willing them to appear in my hands.
Grinning, I look up to see a surprised Hades watching me closely, “Awesome. I definitely want to practice with these. Daggers and swords are my usual go-to weapons. So I haven’t had much experience with axes, and I could do with practising with them.
” I twirl them around in my hands, “They feel good though, like they were made for me, but then I guess if a god or goddess only ever receives one set, then they were made for me.”
“Wait,” Rival says. He looks at Hades, “No other god or goddess can touch Farren’s weapons apart from her?”
Hades nods, “Yes.”
“Then how did she pick up that giant sword of yours? I’m assuming from your reaction when you saw it that it was your god weapon.
So if no one can touch them apart from the god that they belong to, then how could Farren?
” Rival asks. “And why couldn’t you call on it before then?
Why did you look so surprised to see it? ”
“That’s a really good point, actually,” Storm adds, looking questioningly at Hades.
“Well the second part of that is easy to answer,” Hades starts, “I had thought that it had been destroyed.”
“And the first part?” I ask.
Hades stays silent for a moment as he watches my expression, and it suddenly hits me that whatever is about to come out of his mouth next is most likely going to be another one of those great big revelation things, and since I’m already dealing with a pretty monumental one, I hold up my hand.
“Would it be okay if we don’t do any more big reveals today? I’m not sure how much more I can handle right now,” I say before Hades can say anything else.
His expression softens, “Yes, of course.” Smiling, he changes the subject, “Alright, let's practice with your axes then.”
I twirl them in my hands. Honestly, they already feel like they’re an extension of me, and I don’t think that it’s going to take me very long to figure out how to use them.
“I’ll spar with you,” Reaper offers with a smile, his eyes briefly flashing to Ryu’s.
I have noticed that Ryu isn’t making as many appearances as he was, and I think that it may be because he’s more content. He knows that Reaper’s not going to keep him on lockdown again so he’s quite happy to just sit back and observe.
At least that’s my theory.
I nod, and smile, “Sounds good to me.”
“I wouldn’t advise that, mate,” Khaos says to Reaper. “God weapons are insanely strong, and will break through any of the weapons that they have here.”
Reaper frowns, “I assume that there is a material that can withstand the strength of a god's weapon long enough to put up a good enough fight against a god?”
Khaos nods, “Yes, there is, but it’s of course quite difficult to get hold of.”
“It’s not in the Dragon Realm, is it?” Mayhem smirks. When Hades and Khaos share a look, he adds, “No fucking way, it’s seriously in the Dragon Realm?”
Hades grimaces and nods, “Yes, it is. It’s a special kind of metal that only Dragons can forge with their fire, and the materials they need to do so are only found in the Dragon Realm.”
“Awesome,” Zev mutters. “So it’s very clear that despite the fact that we’ve been delayed in going to the Dragon Realm, most likely because of this other realm, we still need to go for a myriad of reasons.”
“Seems like it,” Mayhem replies. “I think we can all agree that it would be a wise idea for us to have weapons that can go up against a god weapon. I mean, not only is it likely that we’re going to face one when we go to the Dragon Realm, I’m assuming that the princes have weapons even though they’re only Demi Gods, but also because eventually the God who wants Hades’ realm is going to come for him, and will most likely not be alone. ”
“Agreed,” Storm says. “We need to be able to protect ourselves and each other.”
“Well, from what Monty said, we’re going to be in the Dragon Realm for a while, so we can just add it to the list of things that we need to do when we’re over there,” I suggest.