Monster [malexmale]

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Tartarus was a dark and dismal place. The only lights came from the hellish flames that were used to forge weaponry and torture devices. It led to the river of fire called Phlegethon, a river that ran toward the giant mountains that led to Hesphastus's homeland.

There was a large trench that wrapped around the spit of land Zelios's home rested upon. The trench was lined with hundreds of cells, rickety iron walk ways going past them as guards decked out from head to toe in steel armor walked around. There were earsplitting screams and wails, heartwrenching sobs and curses echoed through the land.

Yeah, it was definitely a hundred times worse than Hell. Well, then again, I feel like I got the VIP greeting in Hell.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked Hannibal as we made our way down the stairs toward the gates that led to the Titan's holding cell just a level below Tartarus. A pair of guards sent by Zelios to escort us there led the way, their armor clinking the whole way. Hannibal held my hand, walking with his head held up high.

"Yes, sir." He answered firmly. I didn't ask him again. I just watched him walk with all the pride and power that a god should walk with. He wore a pair of tight black leather pants with chains dangling from the belt loops, a skintight black sleeveless turtleneck, his leather collar with the dog tags jingling, silver spiral armlets with a phoenix symbol on either side, tall buckled boots that thumped when he walked, and he even let me add a bit of eyeliner around his eyes, making them stand out all the more powerfully.

He truly looked like a god now.

I walked beside him, wearing black jeans with large white stitches going up and down the sides, a long sleeved black shirt with stitching in the front and a cropped leather jacket with studded shoulders. No way was I going in there looking like I couldn't defend myself. They would know the moment I walked in that I was mortal.

We descended down the dark staircase to the Titan's area. The only light leading the way down were the lanterns held by the guards and lanterns set up in the actual holding area. Lanterns ran the length of the circular room, one in between each dreary cell. Most of the Titans had scrunched themselves back into corners, hissing and hiding from the light.

It was actually a pitiful existence and my stomach clenched tight, but I didn't dare let myself feel an ounce of sympathy for them, especially the ones I recognized as Hannibal's so-called family. Well, except Atlas, who was punished by holding up the heavens, and Menoetius, who was obviously being held somewhere else. Hannibal passed by Iapetsus's cell and the Titan sneered at him in disgust. Clymene hissed at him from her cell beside her husband's, reaching for the bars, but they electrocuted her and she yelped in agony, shrinking back.

Hannibal ignored them both and went to the cell where Epimetheus and Prometheus were. Despite my insistence that they be separated, Hannibal somehow found mercy and asked Zelios to put them together. The guards held the lanterns out for us to peer inside.

Epimetheus was curled around Prometheus, who lay unconscious and bleeding heavily. The shackles were no longer the same. Hades requested, more like ordered, that Alexion use his god killing powers to create gold shackles that could restrain god powers, and so Alexion did, quite happily in fact. Clad in gold shackles that glowed faintly with Alexion's power, the Titans were chained to the far corner of the cell and were given limited mobility.

Epimetheus cringed at the light and as soon as he saw us, his eyes flared with hatred. He scrambled to his feet and tried to run at the bars, but the shackles tore him back by his ankles, his wrists, and the gold collar around his throat. Epimetheus screamed angrily, clenching his fists.