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    Cynus
  • Cynus
  • Author
  • 11/08/2017
  • 764 Words
  • 2,558 Views
  • 15 Comments
Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Rivers of the Dead - 38. 4-7 - Drink

Don't forget to comment and react to this chapter! Also, special thanks to my Patreon Supporters: Michael, Bill, Charles, Amr, Don, James, Joe, Jos, Mark, Mark, Paul, Steve, John, Frank, Sam, Matthieu, Ben, Jay, Scott, Chris, Lachlan, Matt, and Haldon. Couldn't have done it without them. Email me at Samuel.D.Roe@gmail.com to be put on my mailing list! :D

“Why?” Caleb managed to ask as the gruesome image of Ethan bore into his soul. "Why do you do this?"

“You can’t escape me now," the figure replied, digging its bony fingers into Caleb's cheeks. "I am truth. I am death.”

Caleb felt something, a trickle at first, and then a torrent of energy filling him. He knew it came from outside, from the realm of the living, because the energy had a distinct signature. It was love, pure and simple, and love was not a common force in The Underworld outside of Elysium.

At first he thought it was Liz, but within a second he realized the exact source. Ethan had reached him, and had given him the energy to fight. Knowing that Ethan stood on the other side of the veil cheering him on gave Caleb all the courage he needed to face this demon that wore Ethan's face.

“I love you,” Caleb said to the energy, but the image of Ethan laughed in his face.

“What do you know of love?" The figure asked. "Death has no place for love.”

Caleb reached up and gently pulled the bony hands away from his face. They came away easily, unable to resist his gentle touch. He could see in this being a reflection of himself, of all his fears, his despair, his woe. He could see his self-loathing, his desire to escape the pain. And he could see the rivers.

Above all else, he could see the rivers and knew that he had to drink.

He caressed Ethan's image, brushing his fingers softly against its cheek. The figure shuddered at the touch, and a single tear fell down its face. Caleb leaned forward quickly and kissed the tear before it fell from the figure's chin.

“By your tears, I drink of the Acheron," Caleb said consolingly. "Your sorrow, your pain, is mine.”

“Who do you think you are?” The figure asked, backing away from him.

Caleb followed, step for step, pursuing the figure until it backed into the throne. He pressed in urgently, passionately, kissing the figure's lips and tasting of its saliva.

“By your lips, I drink of the Cocytus," Caleb said longingly, "your despair, your misery, is mine.”

“Who do you think you are?” The figure sputtered, falling back onto the throne. It trembled now, in fear, sweat forming on its brow.

Caleb climbed atop the throne, straddling the gaunt figure as he gently pressed forward, kissing its forehead. “By your sweat, I drink of the Phlegethon," Caleb said, "your vileness, your bitterness, your suffering, is mine.”

“Who do you think you are?” The figure screamed in Caleb's face, lifting its bloody arms in a vain attempt to fend Caleb off.

But Caleb merely kissed the figure's wrist instead. “By your blood, I drink of the Styx," Caleb said lovingly. "Your hatred, your loathing, is mine.”

The figure shifted then, its gaunt features filling out, the blood fading back into its skin, the wispy hair glowing, growing full of its golden sheen once more. Ethan sat on the obsidian throne, or at least the perfect image of him just as he'd been when Caleb had known him, down to the eyes filled with the detached disillusionment they'd shown when Caleb and Ethan had faced each other on the sidewalk.

“Who do you think I am?” Ethan's image asked.

“You are me," Caleb said. "You have always been me, as I have always been you.”

Ethan's image shook its head. “I am not fully a part of you.”

“No," Caleb said, feeling the love from the real Ethan burning inside of his chest, "but soon you will be.”

“How?" Ethan's image asked dejectedly. "Consume my essence and you’ll consume Lethe, for that is all I have left.”

“Is that so?” Caleb asked. “I see things differently.”

He wrapped his arms around the image of Ethan's shoulders, hugging their naked bodies tightly together. He whispered in the ear so like that of his beloved. “By your soul, I drink of the Mnemosyne. Your madness, your insatiability, your thirst, is mine. I transcend Lethe, for I hold no expectations, only accept the mysteries your soul will open up to me.” And then he reached into the image's flesh, grasping at the essence behind its creation, the River Mnemosyne, manifest physically before him.

“By your will, I drink of Death," Caleb shouted to the room, "and I have become its Ruler!”

“Not quite, I’m afraid," said a melodic voice from the mouth of the cave.

Caleb smiled and turned toward his guide. “Orpheus.”

Don't forget to comment and react to this chapter! Also, special thanks to my Patreon Supporters: Michael, Bill, Charles, Amr, Don, James, Joe, Jos, Mark, Mark, Paul, Steve, John, Frank, Sam, Matthieu, Ben, Jay, Scott, Chris, Lachlan, Matt, and Haldon. Couldn't have done it without them. Email me at Samuel.D.Roe@gmail.com to be put on my mailing list! :D
Copyright © 2017 Cynus; All Rights Reserved.
  • Like 16
  • Love 3
  • Wow 2
Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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Chapter Comments

Cynus
6 minutes ago, Wesley8890 said:

Awwwwwwww come on!!!!! 

If you've read the other comment reply, you'll be happy to know I'm back to posting every other day. You'll see chapter 8 before you know it. :P

1 minute ago, Benji said:

B)..............................I love it, Caleb has made Orpheus show his hand and in doing so Caleb and Ethan will prevail over Orpheus. Will Caleb walk away towards the cave and not look back?

Great chapter!

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one less traveled by. Does the same rule apply in caves when facing Dead? :P

  • Like 2
Benji
Just now, Cynus said:

If you've read the other comment reply, you'll be happy to know I'm back to posting every other day. You'll see chapter 8 before you know it. :P

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one less traveled by. Does the same rule apply in caves when facing Dead? :P

 

B)................I thought the analogy of the two roads was about choice, or choosing a path. The cave only provides with a way out, one path traveled less.

 

  • Like 2
Cynus
1 minute ago, drpaladin said:

A tiny chapter, but yet it conveyed so much. Using love and understanding as a weapon was a brilliant move. Now, what curve ball is Orpheus about to throw? I still haven't forgotten Caleb has a trick up his sleeve, if he had sleeves, waiting for Orpheus.

Who needs sleeves when you have a trusty backpack? :P I'm hoping the emotional punch of this chapter, as small as it is, will make it more forgivable that I've posted such a short piece.

I appreciate your comments. :)

  • Like 2
Stephen

Orpheus has his bag of tricks, smoke & mirrors, and doesn't mind using them to demoralize Caleb but it isn't working. He has the strongest magic

at his disposal, but I still contend that there's a limit to what he can do with all this to Caleb since he isn't really dead. All his tricks are proving

inadequate and it must be galling to him since Caleb seems to have a stronger force fueled by love, and that didn't work for him so long ago.

 

 

  • Like 1
Cynus
On 11/7/2017 at 9:54 PM, Parker Owens said:

This is an awesome chapter, as Caleb perks back death’s layers one by one. The rivers flow back to the living; a perfect return. Yet there remains Orpheus to deal with...

This is easily one of my favorite moments in the entire story. I had this scene in mind way back at the crossing of the Cocytus, and I couldn't wait to get here to write it. This is the culmination of the mythology, really.

On 11/7/2017 at 10:29 PM, glennish said:

 Caleb doesn’t seem surprised that Orpheus is behind him.  Is he the manifestation of death or could he not defeat death the way Caleb just did and he is waiting to double cross him.  Orpheus did promise to take Caleb to Ethan and so he did. Just not the real Ethan. Thanks for the new chapter. 

All of those details may still come into play. We've still got the conversation between Orpheus and Caleb to get through, after all. :) I'm glad to see people putting all these different pieces together and looking for matches! Hopefully you'll like the final image of the puzzle.

On 11/8/2017 at 2:27 AM, Puppilull said:

Love is a most powerful weapon for those who dare feel it and share it. 

The purest of emotions, one might say. :) Certainly an awesome magic source by that same logic, right? :D

On 11/8/2017 at 6:48 PM, Stephen said:

Orpheus has his bag of tricks, smoke & mirrors, and doesn't mind using them to demoralize Caleb but it isn't working. He has the strongest magic

at his disposal, but I still contend that there's a limit to what he can do with all this to Caleb since he isn't really dead. All his tricks are proving

inadequate and it must be galling to him since Caleb seems to have a stronger force fueled by love, and that didn't work for him so long ago.

 

 

Orpheus is an extremely complicated person still, and his motives remain somewhat in question. Does it gall him to think Caleb might be stronger? Perhaps. Or perhaps he's glad Caleb is proving so resourceful. He IS after all, attempting to recruit him. The more Caleb understands, the better.

To a point, hah! :P I find I slide into Orpheus' shoes far too easily.

Thank you to everyone for commenting! We're on the home stretch now!

  • Like 2
Cynus
46 minutes ago, BlindAmbition said:

Using love, compassion, and understanding. Just perfect, even with a lousy cliffhanger.

To be fair, I didn't write this with any intention of posting it on the web. it was supposed to be released exclusively as a whole book, so the cliffhanger wouldn't be an issue, because you'd be able to read straight on through. If I'd been intending to write this for serial release, I would've structured it differently. :)

  • Like 1
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