Page 89 of Darkening Truth
“We don’t know as much as we would like,” Kill replies pointedly.
Aldrastos sighs, “You’re right. Although I have no idea how you know what you do, because, as you said, no one has been able to get in or out of my realm for more than a thousand years.”
“It’s complicated,” Storm replies, taking the decision of whether to tell him or not out of my hands.
“Fair enough. My realm, Siorraidh, has been known by many names. Most recently, although that isn’t saying much, your realms have known it as the In-Between,” Aldrastos starts.
“Whoa, hold up,” I reply. Hades and Khaos need to be here for this, because something tells me that I won’t be able to explain this again, even if I wanted to.
“Guys, we need you,”I say over the bondlines. By the time that I’ve caught them up on the events so far, they both appear in the office.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Farren
“You say that your realm is the In-Between?” Hades asks as soon as he appears in the office.
Aldrastos shrugs, not seeming to be bothered by the fact that they just showed up here and that they are both clearly extremely powerful.
“It didn’t start out that way,” Aldrastos explains. Seemingly completely unaffected despite the fact that Hades has shown up with his glamour dropped, he continues, “I was wondering when you two would show up.”
“You knew that they would come?” Zev asks, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“Shouldn’t you be more shocked that a god is in your office?” Loki asks, his eyebrow raised.
“They’re baby gods, hardly anything to be concerned by,” Aldrastos explains, and my eyebrows rise higher on my forehead. I also try not to laugh at them both being referred to as baby gods, Khaos isn’t even a god.
“This is getting a little bit confusing, I think you had better start to explain things instead of just making us have more questions,” Mayhem suggests.
“Sorry, I just really didn’t expect it to be you guys,” he replies. “I’ll start by explaining more about Siorraidh. You’re going to need to know as much as possible if you’re going to help me and stop the balance from being destroyed,” Aldrastos starts. “Some of the stories about the in-between, as you know it to be called, my realm, are true, but they have been warped and exaggerated over time. The realm was used as a prison for some of the worst criminals in the realms, but it wasn’t always that way, and it didn’t happen until the balance was tipped.
“You must understand that it’s not an instantaneous thing. At least it isn’t usually. It’s gradual. The realms were fighting the consequences of the balance being tipped for years. The Ancients betrayed us, and they started to use Siorraidh as a prison, sending the creatures from the abyss, as well as other creatures that only an imbalance can create. Those of us who called Siorraidh our home were left to fend for ourselves. The Ancients spun the story into one that would suit them, and the story of the In-Between was created. Our king, our God, did what he could, and in some ways he succeeded. In others, he did not.
“He sacrificed himself in a huge battle. One of the things his sacrifice was supposed to do was to seal the punishment side, keeping what was left of the realm safe. The realm itself had already been closed completely years before so that it could be used as a prison, and only the Ferryman and our God were able to come and go. The creatures from the Abyss were too strong, and the king's death plunged the realm into complete darkness, ensuring that it died slowly. Siorraidh was never supposed to exist without a God. It was thoughtthat although his death had plunged the realm into complete darkness and set it on the path of a death itself, that it had succeeded in getting rid of the Abyss creatures.
“Somehow, some of the Elders managed to survive in small pockets in the desolate darkness. Parts of the realm died quicker than others. The Elders discovered rather quickly that some of the Abyss creatures still roamed the darkness. They thrived in it. They still do. It has become a hunting ground for the creatures and the souls that escaped the punishment side of the realm. Very few survive. The realm is still locked down completely. Nothing can come in or out.”
“But you’re here, and you seem to have knowledge that only someone who has been there would have,” Reaper replies, when he pauses for a little too long and just stares at us. He adds, “And what do you mean, souls? What’s the Abyss?”
He sighs, “I was born there. I lived there until a short time ago. I have never been good at explaining things, and I jumped the gun a little bit without fully explaining things. Allow me to start from the beginning, and then I can explain how I’m here,” he says with a slight frown. “Siorraidh was the Underworld for the Ancients before the current Underworld was even a thought.”
What the fuck?
My jaw, along with everyone else's, drops open at the bombshell he’s just told us, but he seems to be unaware of the effect of his words as he carries on explaining.
“When the balance gets thrown off, a place called the Abyss gets opened. It’s a realm that is completely locked down. Filled with horrors that you couldn’t even begin to imagine. The doors to this realm only ever open when the balance is tipped too far in one direction. The creatures from within it are supposed to cleanse the realms. In order to cleanse them, they are supposedto empty them completely of life so that things can be balanced again. They can’t be reasoned with, and they don’t discriminate. They will not give anyone a chance to fix it, if there is even a way to fix it. Once they have arrived, it’s the beginning of the end. There is nothing that anyone can do.”
We simply sit there in silence. What he’s describing is terrifying.
“But somehow Siorraidh is still existing, and from what I can tell, has been for hundreds of years,” Rival says.
“Thousands. It’s been thousands of years since it happened,” Aldrastos replies. “When the balance got tipped, the punishment side of Siorraidh, in fact, all of the realm got extremely busy. It was the realm where all those who die go, before the Underworld came to be, and as you can imagine, there was a lot of death back then. The creatures from the Abyss worked methodically through the realms, and then came for Siorraidh, after all, it is still a realm. Before they got to us though, some of the souls on the punishment side managed to arrange an uprising. Our realm was in turmoil already and was prepared to handle an uprising from the punishment side as well.
“As I said, it takes years for the Abyss creatures to cleanse the realms, and in that time, the uprising from the punishment side managed to gain traction, and eventually they escaped into the rest of the realm. Thanks to the Ancients' betrayal and closing Siorraidh down to use it as a prison, they couldn’t leave Siorraidh, but they conquered and warred across the realm, taking over the non-punishment side and then moving on to the villages, towns and cities that made up the rest of the realm, where the people who were born there lived.
“Fortunately, Siorraidhians are not meek people. We’re all warriors to a certain extent, it’s in our nature. So the people of the realm were quite capable of defending themselves and their land, but we, of course, still had vulnerable people amongst us. It went on for years until the Abyss creatures reached us, and everyone’s focus became on simply surviving. Many didn’t. Although ourGod’s sacrifice restored the balance, it didn’t protect our realm in the way that he had hoped it would. The Abyss creatures are trapped there as well, and without him there, the punishment side never got fixed.”
“Wow,” Mayhem mutters in shock.
