Chapter 216: The Abyss and the Seraph

Chapter 216: Chapter 216: The Abyss and the Seraph

Damon descended toward one of the peaks of Mount Tamalpais as the sun began to disappear beyond the horizon. Atlas’s death didn’t concern him much; the Titan had made it quite clear what he intended to do if he ever regained his freedom. What continued to linger in Damon’s mind was the name he’d mentioned before dying.

"Ahhh... how annoying." Damon crossed his arms as he watched the sky turn orange. "Why the hell would Tartarus be involved in this?"

"I felt the same way when I was in your position."

The voice came from behind the redhead. Damon turned his head and found Uranus standing a few steps away, wearing his usual elderly appearance with his hands hidden behind his back.

"Old man." Damon regarded him with some curiosity. "You have a bad habit of showing up whenever I’m thinking about problems."

Uranus calmly approached him. "Well, I can’t help it when so many of your problems are very similar to mine."

Damon snorted. "That’s not reassuring."

Uranus stopped beside him and looked toward the horizon. "I heard enough of your conversation with Atlas to know what’s bothering you. Tartarus."

"Yeah... Kronos I understand. Atlas would’ve followed my father even if it led him straight to his death." Damon paused. "But Tartarus is different. I never understood why he seems to have so many problems with Olympus, much less why Atlas talked about him as if he were already on their side."

"Because that problem began long before Olympus. Before Kronos. Even before me."

Damon narrowed his eyes with interest. "I didn’t know that..."

"Before the Sky existed, Gaia was already here. Tartarus was as well. Both were among the first beings to emerge from Chaos, and during that time, the relationship between the Earth and the Abyss was much closer than you can probably imagine."

Damon frowned slightly. "What kind of relationship?"

"Tartarus wanted to unite with Gaia."

The redhead fell silent before turning fully toward him. "Wait... what?"

Uranus laughed. "Not in the way you’re probably imagining. We were different back then. Tartarus was the Abyss, and Gaia was the Earth above him. To Tartarus, joining those two existences together was something natural. He wanted to extend himself toward her, become part of her, and have Gaia accept that union. For a time, he truly believed the two of them would eventually become one."

"Hmmm... I’m guessing Gaia had other plans." Damon was already beginning to understand where the story was going.

"She did. Until I came along..."

Damon let out a small laugh... Uranus continued without paying it much attention. "Gaia created me and chose to share her existence with me. Earth and Sky. Tartarus didn’t take that decision very well."

"That’s a pretty polite way of saying he hated you."

"Ohhh, yes. He hated my guts. He never made much effort to hide it either." agreed the primordial.

"But fortunately, Tartarus was never an idiot," Uranus continued. "He knew what would’ve happened if he’d attacked me directly back then. Gaia wouldn’t have taken his side either, so he waited."

Damon ran a hand through his hair. Until a few minutes ago, he’d assumed that whatever problem existed between Tartarus and Olympus had something to do with Kronos, the Titans, or some later conflict. He hadn’t expected it to go back this far.

"I’m guessing this is where Kronos comes in."

Uranus nodded. "When my relationship with Gaia began falling apart because of my own decisions and she turned against me, Tartarus saw the perfect opportunity. Kronos believed he was fighting for Gaia and his siblings. Tartarus had his own reasons for making sure my son had every possible chance of defeating me."

Damon thought about what he’d just heard. He already knew several parts of his family’s history, but learning just how far back the conflict really went gave him a very different perspective on things.

"I swear, every once in a while I learn some new fucked-up thing about this family."

"Unfortunately, that’s just how things are, and you know it."

"But that still doesn’t explain why he’d care about what’s happening now. I mean, he won, didn’t he? You’re not even ruling anymore."

"Hahahaha, I wish things were that simple, but as you’ve probably realized by now, even Primordials, much like gods and mortals, are capable of holding onto certain things for eternity." Uranus turned toward him. "Look at you. You carry my Domain, you’re close to Gaia and you’re also her champion, as well as Chaos’s. You’re quite the unpleasant collection of memories for Tartarus."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Yeah... about that, don’t you think it would’ve been a good idea to tell me all of this before giving me your Domain? Now I have a Primordial coming after me over something I didn’t even know happened."

Uranus didn’t seem particularly bothered by the complaint. "Ohhh, please. Don’t act like you would’ve refused my Domain if you’d known all of this. We both know perfectly well you would’ve accepted it anyway."

Damon opened his mouth to respond, only to end up snorting. "I guess you’re right... desperate times call for desperate measures."

Uranus shrugged. "The good thing is that Tartarus is trapped in Tartarus. He won’t become an immediate problem for you."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean exactly what I said. The laws of the cosmos don’t allow Tartarus to truly leave Tartarus. Why do you think he’s never manifested directly in front of you?"

The old man chuckled. "He can create the occasional manifestation, but he can’t leave completely. That’s why he’s always wanted to unite with Gaia. Imagine how different things would’ve been if I were confined to the heavens the same way. Of course, it wouldn’t have been quite as bad for me because, unlike him, you know... I can see a lot of things. Hehehe."

The way the old man ended his sentence left very little to the imagination. He was clearly entertaining himself with images of naked women.

Damon’s eyebrow twitched.

...This perverted old man...

"Well, that makes a lot more sense," the redhead said as he thought over what he’d just learned.

It also explained why he’d sensed Nyx’s presence inside Tartarus. If Tartarus couldn’t leave his own Domain, then there was no reason for him to hide himself from Damon while inside it.

Which meant Nyx had probably been the one covering for him. That only left one question. Why the hell would she help him? After all, he barely knew her...

"At least you’ve been gaining allies, you know?" said the primordial quietly.

Damon snapped out of his thoughts. "Yeah... looks like my instincts weren’t wrong. But I need more."

"That’s already a lot better than I did." Uranus gave a small shrug. "All I did was make more enemies by imprisoning anyone I didn’t like and ruining my reputation in the process. By the time I was dethroned, no one in the pantheon even cared enough to stand by me."

Silence settled between them.

"Thanks." Those were Damon’s final words before he vanished in a flash of light, leaving the Primordial alone on the mountain.

Uranus sighed. "I’m getting too old for this shit, and I don’t even know why..."

XXXXXXX

A few hours later, when Damon returned to his temple, moonlight covered much of Olympus. The redhead appeared in one of the hallways and walked calmly forward as the pale light streamed through the large windows.

It didn’t take long for him to hear several voices accompanied by the occasional laugh coming from one of the rooms. When he approached, he found none other than Hestia sitting with Melinoe, Gabriel, and Amaterasu.

Yasaka had returned to Kyoto some time ago. Being the leader of an entire faction demanded her attention constantly, so she couldn’t remain on Olympus for as long as she might have liked.

Melinoe’s presence didn’t surprise him much. After all, she was a Greek goddess and could visit Olympus whenever she wanted. Gabriel, however, did catch his attention. Several hours had passed since he’d last seen her, and he’d expected her to have returned to Heaven by now.

"Well, this is a surprise..." Damon commented as he entered the room.

All four women turned toward him. "I didn’t expect you to still be here, Gabriel. You’d think your brother would be a little more protective of you. After all, a lot of things can happen."

Gabriel scratched her head with a hint of embarrassment. "What can I say, Lord Damon? I got a little carried away, hahaha."

Damon smiled at her response. "I’m glad you’re comfortable here."

Then he turned his attention toward Melinoe. "Now this is another surprise."

The Goddess of Ghosts immediately understood that he was referring to her and became somewhat nervous. "I thought I could visit Olympus, like you said. Unfortunately... I ended up getting dragged into all of this by Amaterasu-sama and Hestia-sama."

The discomfort in her voice was obvious. Melinoe wasn’t accustomed to gatherings like this, much less remaining surrounded by people who talked and laughed so easily.

"Unfortunately?" Amaterasu repeated.

Melinoe tensed when she realized how her words had sounded. "I didn’t mean it that way."

Hestia let out a small laugh. "I should hope not. I don’t think we’ve treated you that badly."

"You haven’t," Melinoe replied quickly. "I’m just... not used to this kind of thing."

Amaterasu waved a hand dismissively. "Don’t be boring, dear. You don’t have to rush back to that dark place so quickly, you know?"

Melinoe shrank back slightly. She didn’t exactly want to argue with the Supreme Goddess of the Sun either. "Well... I had a few things I needed to do, you know."

"Like what?" Amaterasu asked, amused.

Melinoe opened her mouth but couldn’t come up with a convincing answer. Amaterasu raised her head with a self-satisfied expression. "That’s what I thought, dear."

Damon laughed as he finished approaching them. "Melinoe, don’t worry so much about Amaterasu or Hestia. If either of them gives you trouble, just tell me and I’ll make sure to punish them."

The room went silent. The women quickly caught the double meaning, although none of them said anything at first.

"Punish me, huh?" Amaterasu tilted her head, entertained by the thought. "I like the sound of that." Damon rolled his eyes, perfectly aware of where Amaterasu was taking his words.

Gabriel had caught the implication as well, although fortunately for her, the black band covering her eyes hid much of any reaction that might have given her away. Even so, the faint blush appearing on her cheeks didn’t escape Amaterasu’s notice.

The Goddess of the Sun turned toward her with a mischievous grin, showing her teeth. "Ahaaaa! I knew it! You’re not nearly as innocent as everyone likes to make you out to be."

"E-Eh?! I didn’t do anything!" Gabriel replied, becoming even more embarrassed.

"But you understood exactly what I meant. I can tell." Amaterasu narrowed her eyes. "I don’t need to see your eyes to know."

"That doesn’t mean anything!" the angel protested, waving her hands frantically as she rose from her seat, even more embarrassed at having been caught.

Hestia couldn’t help laughing at how flustered she had become. "Amaterasu, leave her alone. You’re going to make her run out of Olympus."

"I was only saying..." Amaterasu replied, raising her hands with an innocent expression that fooled no one.

Gabriel carefully sat back down, her cheeks still red. "I’m sorry..."

Hestia nearly walked over to pinch her cheeks, but Damon spoke before she could. "To be fair, I was only talking about punishment. You were the ones who took the conversation somewhere else." The redhead shrugged before looking at Gabriel. "Besides, don’t worry. Nobody here is going to judge you over something that silly."

Gabriel nodded gratefully and let out a quiet sigh. "Exactly," Hestia added. "You don’t have to worry so much when you’re with us. You can be yourself." For some reason, everyone’s attention ended up on Gabriel once again.

Melinoe, meanwhile, still didn’t entirely understand what the big deal was. She simply went along with the conversation while waiting for a reasonable chance to slip away without Amaterasu stopping her again.

Damon decided to change the subject before Gabriel embarrassed herself any further. "You know... I was thinking about your father today."

Gabriel turned toward him, surprised by the sudden mention. "My father?"

"Yeah." Damon settled into his seat. "I was thinking about humans. About how much everything has changed since those days."

Gabriel angled her face toward him, giving him her full attention.

"I spent quite a while today watching how they live now. Especially those people who become famous in front of millions of strangers..." Damon snorted. "It’s strange. Some of them are worshiped more than plenty of minor gods who still exist. It’s almost like they’re little human gods walking around on Earth."

Amaterasu let out a small laugh. "You’re not entirely wrong."

"I know." Damon crossed his arms. "And it made me wonder what Elohim would’ve thought if he’d lived long enough to see all of this. Humanity has progressed a great deal without us constantly sticking our hands into their affairs, but they’ve also found some pretty impressive ways to complicate their own lives."

Gabriel took a moment to consider his words. "So now I’m curious." Damon turned his attention back toward her. "If you were in Michael’s position, what would you do with them?"

"I’d purge them all," Gabriel replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Hestia blinked. "Ehhh..."

"All of them?" she asked, making sure she’d heard correctly.

Gabriel tilted her head slightly. "Well... if things had reached a point where there was no longer any other way to correct the problem."

"Gabriel..."

"Yes?"

Hestia stared at her, not quite knowing what to say to her friend.

Damon, on the other hand, studied her as though he’d just confirmed a suspicion. "I knew there was something strange about you."

Gabriel looked concerned. "What do you mean, Lord Damon? Is there something wrong with me...?"

"No, not at all. In fact, you’re more than fine." Damon shook his head. "I’m pretty sure your father would’ve been proud of that answer."

Gabriel’s concern disappeared and a sweet smile formed on her lips.

Amaterasu continued paying close attention to the Seraph. The answer itself wasn’t what interested her most. She had known enough angels throughout the centuries to understand that far less questionable thoughts had been enough to push some of them toward falling.

And Gabriel’s words weren’t all that different from certain ideas expressed by the first Fallen Angels centuries ago. Many of them had refused to serve or protect humans they considered imperfect, even using terms like purification to justify their beliefs. That was why, even after falling, they could still manipulate light; it truly reflected the nature of their race.

What was strange was that Gabriel had just spoken about purging all of humanity with the same casualness she might have used to talk about the weather, yet her nature hadn’t reacted at all. In fact, Amaterasu would swear the Seraph would probably make the perfect Fallen Angel...

It wasn’t the first time the possibility had crossed Amaterasu’s mind. In fact, both she and Damon had begun suspecting it some time ago. Gabriel had an almost absurd reputation for purity and innocence, but perhaps the reality was much more interesting.

It wasn’t that she never had improper thoughts... Maybe, no matter what kind of thoughts crossed her mind, Gabriel simply couldn’t fall....

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