Black Stars - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 1

Chapter 34 - Answers

Life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours.

- Unknown

Seth's the Mors Mortis Device. Seth's the Mors Mortis Device. Seth's the Mors Mortis Device.

Danny's words were echoing around Leah's head, refusing to take on weight and let the information sink in.

"That can't be possible," she said, though her voice was faint to her own ears.

She was beginning to realise why Danny and Seth were the only people she'd remembered from her previous life. One was the brother that died for her and the other was the one who couldn't.

But of all the things she should've remembered, shouldn't this have been the first? Shouldn't she have known that the Mors Mortis Device wasn't an inanimate object, but her own brother?

"How is it possible that a person is the Mors Mortis Device?" she demanded, her voice rising.

Danny kicked at a stick that'd fallen across the path.

"We don't know, not really. The origin's been lost with time, but there are myths. My guess is that someone tried to create immortality, and it came back and bit them in the ass."

"What myths?" Leah asked.

Danny glanced at her, his eyes dark. He gestured that she should keep walking and fell into step beside her.

"All the myths about the Device are centered around Hephaestus, the Greek God of Metallurgy and Fire, and a son of Zeus and Hera," Danny said. "He was a famous inventor and one day, after he'd finished crafting all the Gods' weapons and wasn't needed anymore, Hera banished him from Olympus.

It's said that in his anger he created a Device powerful enough to destroy Olympus. Hades heard of Hephaestus' plan and joined him, forging the device with an energy Hephaestus had never been able to replicate before: life.

The Device became a human man, but before Hephaestus released the Device on Olympus, Hera apologised and accepted him back. Hephaestus was a kind God, and on his return, he tried to disable the Device, only he was unable to.

The DNA Hades had provided included godly powers and the human was immortal. Hephaestus tried to make a knife powerful enough to kill the Device, but merely scratching him with it caused the whole world to shift.

So, Hephaestus hid him among the thousand others on earth. Only once the Device bore children, and the powers had been passed down a generation, did he become mortal and was able to die naturally."

Leah was watching Danny curiously. "You believe in Gods?"

"No," Danny said, scratching his head. "As I said, it's a myth. But there's no reason for the basic story to be wrong. People have always been obsessed with the idea of immortality. Who's to say those events didn't happen among early scientists?"

"Okay," Leah said slowly. "So, Seth has some ancient DNA inside him that makes him immortal?"

"Yes. Dad did too, until he had Seth, and we do as well, it's just dormant."

"Why do we call him the Mors Mortis Device then?" Leah asked. "Why make it sound like an inanimate object?"

"To mislead people," Danny said. "If anyone did find out about it, they went off on a wasted search."