Hades' warrior

12. Duty calls

I gulped down water as I sat down on the benches waiting for my next turn. I fought against three boys and won with two, which seemed to satisfy Hades at least a little bit since he eased up. When he first entered he seemed so tense that I could imagine corpses on earth turning over...if he could do that.

I honestly still had barely any idea of his powers. Ansel kept telling me that Hades wasn't a God to be messed around with but I hadn't seen him do anything that kings of Earth didn't do...other than read.

Shakar, my trainer was clearly a woman. She had cut her hair short but it was longer in the front that it fell on her eyes. However, she wore men's training gear and everyone else called her "sir". So I did too.

"Ansel." The trainer nodded him to the centre of the room for his turn. And then turned to look at me. "Illiana."

I grit my teeth as I placed my water bottle down and got up. I was still mad at Ansel for invading my privacy but at the same time, I knew I couldn't beat him in a battle.

I walked to the centre of the room as I felt everyone look at me. I glanced at Hades. His eyes were scattering between Ansel and me.

I looked back at Ansel as I took my stance and held my hands up.

"Fight."

I swung my hand at his face expecting him to block it but I was shocked as my hand hit him.

He let me hit him on purpose. I ground my teeth.

He walked forward and threw his hand at my face. I dodged and threw my fist at the bottom of his jaw. He staggered back.

I was sick of it. I dropped my arms and walked up to Ansel and stood in front of him, my hands by my side. I didn't protect my face or my body. Anybody else would have hit my jaw hard, causing it to break and Ansel definitely had the power to do that.

But he didn't. Instead, he turned around and left the room. I stood on my spot as nobody around me said a word or made a move.

"Um." Shakar walked to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Another player then."

I shrugged the hand off my shoulder and walked out of the room in search of Ansel.

I found him in the amphitheatre, sitting on the top row. I ran up as he saw me coming and made no move.

"What was that?" I asked pointing in the direction of the training room.

"What was what?" He asked cooly.

I sat down beside him, sighing. "You're my closest friend here. I am just slightly mad because I have a problem trusting people. I don't tell anyone I meet about my past or the hardships in my life. I may have talked to you about it eventually but when you told me you already knew, I just got mad. I'm sorry."

Ansel took my hand. "You remind me a lot of my actual sister and I feel like you are one to me too. I can't hit my sister when she isn't even going to bother to defend herself."

I pulled my hand away. I scoffed. "Right. Admit it. It was because I bruised your ego when I hit you in the jaw." I joked.

He laughed and just like that things went back to normal. Well, sort of. I wanted to ask him about Lucas's phrase on loyalty but I decided that it was his secret to tell.

"Do you want to go back inside?" Ansel asked as he rested his head against my arm.

"Nah. Let's just go eat." I replied as I got up and pulled him with me.

Ansel jerked his head pointing to the direction behind me. I turned around to see Hades along with Apollo standing at the centre of the stage.

"Can we help you?" I yelled.

"We need Ansel," Hades replied, he wasn't shouting but I could hear him clear and loud.

I looked at him and he shrugged his shoulder. "Duty calls."

I don't reply as I step back and Ansel jogs down the stairs to Hades and I follow slowly.

"Hey, beautiful." Apollo grins at me as Ansel was talking to Hades in hushed towns a few feet away. I could see Hades's head turn in our direction but I didn't look away from Apollo.

"Why are you still here?" I asked as I came to a stop near him.

"Hades is pretty hard to convince once he has made up his mind," Apollo replied.

"Then why bother?" I asked.

The light died out of his eyes and the eternal smile on his face disappeared.

"Because if Hades doesn't listen to me, quite a few people are going to die and if people die, gods die." He replied.

"And by quite a few people...you mean..."

"Tens of thousands. And by gods...well...it includes me."

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