12. Labor’s of Love and Hatred
Chapter 12
Labor’s of Love and Hatred
Ella
“ C ome again?” I asked the moment my sister told me about Ragnarok and what it actually meant. Damn… forget algebra in school, I should have concentrated all my time on learning mythology!
“Ragnarok is the end of the world, and from this comes the rebirth of a new world. A series of events that includes natural disasters and a battle between Gods and the evil forces against them.” Once more the scene around us began to change, showing the incredible and frightening sight of Godly figures fighting against giant monsters. Creatures that were too terrifying to look at for too long.
“But surely the good guys are fated to win this fight… right?” I asked naively the moment the vision ended and left us standing in nothing more than the same desolate landscape my past self must have become accustomed to. Our ghostly forms were reliving a time I couldn’t remember and hearing stories of not only my former life, but also the all-important answers to two simple questions… how and why?
But my innocent question about the good guys winning made her grant me a gentle smile before softly shaking her head.
“Many Gods are Fated to die if Ragnarok were to happen, as the release of evil would become too great to battle against. The mortal realm would be swallowed up by the oceans and over time, a new Earth would rise. But as for the other Realms, these would be left to be ruled by the forces of evil. For in the end, it is Fated that whoever starts Ragnarok, will be left standing as the new King of all nine Norse realms… including Earth.”
I swallowed hard before making the point,
“But surely the other Kings and rulers of other realms, those that aren’t Norse related, they wouldn’t allow that to happen?”
She shrugged and replied, “I honestly do not know if they will care, but I hope with everything in me that they do, and it will mean them rising up to fight against Garmr if he starts this war. For above all else, he must be stopped from starting Ragnarok,” she told me, making me ask,
“And how is he said to do that?”
“He tried once before, but we prevented it before it was too late.” Okay so this gave me hope, because if he was stopped all that time ago, then it was possible to stop him again.
“How?” I asked, because it was like Jared was always telling me, knowledge was a person’s greatest weapon, and well, right now, it was all I had. Okay, so that wasn’t strictly true as I did have the book, even if I was still unsure as to how that worked exactly. So far, anger seemed to have played a big part in it, but I knew I would need a lot more than that if I was to beat the likes of Garmr.
“How was he stopped…? By taking you from his control,” she answered, and I let out a startled breath.
“Me…? But I don’t understand, how did I have anything to do with it?” I asked, my voice getting high-pitched because naturally, this was confusing the hell out of me… no pun intended… oh fuck it, yes, all Hellish puns were from now on totally intended!
“Come, let us return back to our physical beings.”
Before I could question how she would do this, I placed my hand in hers and suddenly came back to myself with a start. I bolted upright and the first thing I did was begin choking, spluttering out water and coughing up as much as I could with her there patting my back. We were both dripping wet, and back to where this had all begun, in the safety of the temple, although it brought little comfort.
“It’s alright, just give it a minute and the effects will clear,” she assured me, her light golden hair now hanging down like golden ropes, the water making it darker.
“Will clear…? I feel like a drowned cat!” I complained, making her laugh before telling me,
“You know, there was a time when neither you nor I had ever seen a cat.”
My eyes grew wide at this, and I asked incredulously,
“You must be joking.”
She held out her arm, motioning toward the empty temple room and said,
“Not really the place for pets.”
I looked around and had to admit, “No, just confused as fuck sisters locked away in a marble prison.”
With a dejected look she told me, “You used to believe the same thing.”
I knew she was referring to when I was known as Anástasi, as it seemed that no matter how much time had passed between us, our thought process hadn’t changed. Although that still didn’t make it any easier in accepting facts. Now as for feeling as if this place was nothing more than a beautiful prison, then yes, I would still agree. Which was why I corrected her, reminding my sister that we were one and the same.
“I still do.”
She released a heavy sigh and surprised me by saying,
“Yes, and now so do I, as it soon became clear that it was not so much the secret of our father kept hidden, but more so the power a child of his possessed.”
I shivered at this, and Lerna mistook it for my being cold as she offered to go and fetch a blanket of fur to wrap around my shoulders. But before she could retreat, I grabbed her hand in mine and asked her,
“You mean me, don’t you?”
She bowed her head and told me, “It seems as though I took on our mother’s side and you, our father’s.”
I winced at that, feeling my body tense.
“Oh, joy me,” I commented sarcastically, and again she granted me a sympathetic look in return.
“We were not to know and kept in the dark about many things. But it became clear why Cerberus connected with you, being a guardian of the Underworld, his natural instincts came to the surface. He could sense your unease growing as time here continued. He was Fated to being your protector, and with good reason as it was also Fated for an enemy of our father’s to be hiding in the shadows, waiting.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, needing to know the details and wondering just how long it would take her to tell me everything. It felt as if there was still a mountain of information I didn’t yet know.
“Garmr was waiting for his opportunity. For a way inside the Underworld, and it was through this waiting that he discovered your existence. But he also knew that Cerberus was now guarding two things that belonged to Hades. The gate he needed to breach and a daughter that held the key.”
“The reason Cerberus wasn’t there that day… what happened?” I asked, after guessing Garmr had something to do with it. But then she totally shocked me by saying,
“Heracles was the one responsible for taking Cerberus.”
I frowned, my face inching back as I asked,
“You mean Hercules? The famous Greek hero… I mean, I saw the Disney version but I…”
It was soon her turn to frown, and she quickly told me,
“I don’t know what that is.”
I was unable to help my reaction as my mouth dropped but then again, why would she know about Disney and all that stuff? Damn shame too because there was some real classics. Naturally, Beauty and the Beast had always been my favorite and well, at least now I knew why.
“Never mind, it’s not important… so Hercules… I mean Heracles…” I said because clearly, I had been saying his name wrong all these years.
“He was the son of Zeus and like us, was the illegitimate child of the God, although he had been birthed by a mortal woman named Alcmene. Now this was not unusual as Zeus had fathered many demigods with mortal woman, over fifty if it can be believed…”
I cringed at this, before whistling, “Wow, Zeus was a giant slut bag.”
“Again, I do not know what this means.”
I waved this off and told her, “Again, not important, please continue.”
“Well, Zeus was married to the Goddess Hera. And like his brother, Hades, his wife was plagued with a jealous nature.”
I scoffed at this and agreed, “Er yeah, and for good reason from the sounds of it.”
“Yes, it is true that Zeus knew no restraint when it came to getting a woman he wanted, and it was one of the reasons the laws against the creation of demigods and sexual relations between supernatural’s and mortals became forbidden.”
“And now I can see why,” I muttered, just glad that same rule didn’t apply for Fated Chosen Ones.
“Yes, well, even with the law in place, a son was born, and with it, a burning hatred from the goddess, Hera, who even tried to have Heracles murdered as a child. Her vengeful act began by sending snakes into his crib when he was but an infant.”
I screwed my face up at this and hissed,
“Jesus, that’s messed up… why would she do that? He was just an innocent baby.”
“Because his presence in the world just reminded her of her husband’s infidelity. However, Heracles was a demigod and therefore not easily killed. Meaning he had strength enough to choke the snakes and kill them before they could bite him and inject him with their venom,” Lerna said, now ringing out her hair by pulling it off to one side and twisting out the water.
“Gods, she sounds lovely… not,” I commented sarcastically, deciding to follow suit and try to dry my own hair by doing the same.
“No, and unfortunately, her attempts didn’t end there. She waited until he was at a happy point in his life, settled with a wife he adored and many sons, then she struck in the cruelest way possible.”
I froze my actions before saying, “Oh God, what did she do? Did she kill them?!”
“Even worse… she poisoned his mind, making him go mad enough that he unknowingly killed his entire family.”
I cried out in shock, covering my mouth and hissing a drawn out,
“Noooo.”
“Yes, it was a cruel tragedy, and one he therefore wanted to atone for by seeking the God Apollo’s advice,” she told me as she stood and walked over to one of the statues that I assumed was of the God Apollo who she spoke of.
“Apollo told him he must spend ten years of servitude under King Eurystheus. A ruler he believed to be inferior to himself and was someone he loathed, but it was a punishment after all. One that would only get worse because Hera wasn’t done with him yet.”
I wanted to say I couldn’t image bearing the brunt of such burning hatred from someone, but I couldn’t, because Garmr had been haunting me in my dreams for as long as I could remember. But as for now, well I still needed to know what all this had to do with me.
“I mean, this is all terrible, but I still don’t see what it has to do with…”
Lerna was quick to interrupt, looking back at me, saying,
“Ah, but I am getting to that, as first you must understand why Heracles was forced to get involved. Like I said, Hera was not done with him yet.”
“What did she do?” I asked, almost too afraid to find out.
“She was sure that if Heracles was put through enough that he would eventually meet his end. So, she suggested to the King that he demand that the only way for Heracles to atone for his deadly sins was for him to complete twelve labours.”
Well, I could see where this was now going.
“Let me guess, Cerberus was one of them,” I commented with a grit of teeth.
“Not just one, but the very last one. The hardest of them all and one Hera never expected him to survive.”
No, I could imagine not, seeing as I had now witnessed Cerberus in all his giant glory… definitely no sexual pun intended.
“Hades was convinced by Hera to allow Heracles to try and attempt to take Cerberus.”
“But why would he?!” I shouted, outraged at our ‘father’, something that I still wanted to fight against being real in my mind.
“Because Hera had once helped Hades, when he first kidnapped Persephone and took her to the Underworld, although the details are not readily known. But in true Hera fashion, her jealously ruled her mind, as Demeter, Persephone’s mother, was another of Zeus’s wives.”
My mouth dropped again.
“Christ, how much pussy did one guy need?!”
Lerna gave me a quizzical look because clearly, she wasn’t up to scratch on the modern sex lingo.
“Again, why do we speak of cats?”
I choked back a laugh and said quickly,
“Er, never mind, please go on.” Because yeah, I was so not going there and being the one to corrupt her ancient little mind.
“Hades had no choice but to acknowledge this treaty they had made, but it was not to be that simple. He didn’t tell Hera exactly what he would tell Heracles, as there was a catch.”
“What was that?” I asked, now getting to my feet and walking over to her, following her to another statue, one who I gathered was the wicked witch herself… The Goddess Hera.
“That he could take Cerberus to the mortal realm, but only if he used no weapons and used only what the Gods had given him … his strength.”
My mouth fell open at this.
“No way! How would he ever manage something like that? Cerberus was huge, a beast! He looked like he could crush a man under his paws… no, I don’t believe it!” I said, shaking my head.
“And nor should you, as it’s true, he used no weapons but contrary to popular, mortal belief, he didn’t use his strength either.”
“Okay, I guess this is the part that I’m not going to like all that much.”
Her face said it all before her words followed.
“No, I would think not, especially considering he used you as bait, or should I say the idea of you.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, having a terrible feeling wash over me. But as for Lerna, a look of disgust over came over her features before she walked a few feet away from me.
“All of this was Garmr’s doing,” she told me, lowering her head and keeping her face turned away, her voice lost to the memory.
“What?! How?” I asked, despite knowing this was the moment it all came full circle and why she was telling me about the woeful tales of Heracles.
“The moment he realized who you were, it became his mission to get Cerberus out of the way so as you were left unprotected, along with the gates to the Underworld. He played this all out, starting with Hera, who he gave the idea to in the first place, telling her this was a sure way for Heracles to meet his end.”
“Well, that was foolish,” I commented dryly, angry at the depths Garmr had gone to.
“That is putting it mildly, but she was desperate at this point. Her vendetta was a building obsession that knew no end, not until he was finally dead, and she was made to believe that Cerberus was the key to achieving that for her.”
“And?” I asked, desperate to find out the end. If I was sitting, I would have been on the edge of my seat.
“After all the other eleven labours had failed, it meant this was her last chance, and Garmr knew it, having kept his eye on what he still believed to be his heritage. So, he used this knowledge to his advantage, twisting both sides by making Hera believe Cerberus would surely kill him.”
“And why didn’t he die, Lerna?”
She released another sigh before turning back to me once again and telling me,
“Because Garmr told him how to get him to the surface without the beast killing him.”
I gasped at that, because I didn’t need to ask what she meant as muttered dejectedly, “It was me, wasn’t it?”
She nodded sadly, telling me,
“Garmr knew the beast would kill him and he needed the guardian of the gates gone. So, he told Heracles about his love for you, and that it was a sure way to lur the beast away from the gates and into the mortal realm where he believed you had been taken.” I sucked back a breath and asked,
“And when Cerberus found out it wasn’t true?”
“It was too late, Garmr had taken you.” At this she looked saddened, but there was something else in her expression I couldn’t place. She had started to walk away again, back toward the water when I stopped her. Once again, I placed my hand on her arm, gently pulling her back to look at me before I whispered the question,
“What is it?”
This time when she looked away, it was off into the never-ending distance, making me wonder if she was going to answer me. Long moments stretched between us until I finally said her name in a questioning way.
“Lerna?”
At this she finally looked back at me, and with the pain clear in her eyes she told me,
“He had taken me too.”