24 AD

A strange stillness hung over the town. People, of a sort, moved around just like they would on any normal street, but the sounds here were different, muffled one moment and echoing the next. The smells too were strange. Helix's sharp nose could scent the dis-congruent mixture sulfur, ash, and frost. The very air itself felt wrong. He would say that temperature was mild, but it was more like there simply was no temperature. No wind, not even the whisper of air as someone passed him on the street.

Nona strode ahead, aiming for a blackened street end, Cinix beside her. To his left Eslein walked, tension in every part of her body. She had insisted on accompanying Helix to the edge of the black Spectral void. It was past that point mortals like her could not go. It was past that point that Helix might very well die.

Both the seer and Cinix had merely shrugged when he'd asked why they thought he would be able to make the trip to through the blackness. He couldn't help but feel like maybe Eslein was right, and he was committing suicide.

Ever the attentive one, the witch guessed at his thoughts, "If you start to feel like you are floating, or that you can't remember your life up to now, try to make it back to a rift as soon as you can."

"How would you know that?"

Eslein's mouth turned up slightly, "I tried to enter the Specter once. I'll tell you all about it when you get back."

The unspoken if hung between them. Still, Helix nodded, "I look forward to it."

Within a few more steps they stood before the shadowy wall, inky and black, like a cloud made from ash. Nona stepped through without pause, Cinix right behind her. Taking a deep breath Helix looked at Eslein one last time, "Till later," then he stepped through.

Nothing could have prepared him for the other side. Helix had been under the assumption that it would be dark or at least gloomy. Instead, he was greeted with a kaleidoscope of color and sensation. There were a billion stars set into a midnight sky. Each point of light flickered between red and gold, illuminating silver grass, stretching out for miles around, gently waving in a breeze smelling of sweet flower scents accented with sulfur. About a hundred yards to the left stood a dark wood or something like trees. Except, these trees had a dark soft feathery substance in place of leaves, and what looked to be interwoven roots for branches. To the right more silver grass. Straight ahead, so far into the distance that Helix could barely make them out, were large shapes that he took to be mountains or maybe large mushrooms. Best he could tell they were bulbous on the top and narrow below.

Cinix let out a snort, "He's going to be fine."

"So it seems," Nona said casually. "Shall we continue or would you rather stand here all day?"

Helix closed his gaping mouth and swallowed. "Let's go."

Falling into step beside him, Cinix flashed a grin. "Welcome to immortality."

Refusing to acknowledge him, or the ramifications of what the creature said Helix asked instead, "How did you and Eslein meet?"

"Why? Jealous?"

"Should I be?"

Cinix grinned. "Maybe she should be."

"What?"

The male just grinned again before catching up to Nona.

Helix stayed back trying to wrap his thoughts around everything.  This place, Cinix's words, the fact that he was following a blind woman, his goal for coming here, and now the high likelihood that he was somehow immortal. His head hurt.

As Nona lead them into the strange woods, Helix forgot his worries. Forests were almost always filled with sound, birds, insects, and the rustle of leaves. These trees were different, none of those sounds being present. However, it was anything but silent.

"Are the trees singing?" Helix asked incredulously. It was a low, barely audible symphony of sound. As if each tree had its own unique voice, blending perfectly into the whole of the wood.

"Yes." Nona answered, "This is a fell wood. Each tree has a life of its own."

"Treat the trees well, and they will treat you in kind," Cinix muttered softly.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Time was strange in the Specter. They could have been walking for an hour or a year and Helix would not know the difference. A strange relief flooded him when they, at last, left the fell wood. The landscape opened abruptly into a black desert. A short distance ahead stood a massive tower. It appeared to be fashioned from crystalline red stone. Drawing nearer Helix marveled at the intricately carved stair leading up to solid obsidian doors.

"We are in luck. Decuma's trial is about to begin." Nona muttered. "Zeus will be here. And I won't be late."

Cinix grabbed his arm before he could follow Nona through the entrance. "This place is made of Moirai stone. The walls themselves listen and bind. Make no promises and tell no lies."

"Why would you care? Why tell me this?" Helix found the actions of the male peculiar at best, and his motives suspicious. "And what in the hell is Moirai stone?"

His hazel eyes gleamed brighter as he flashed his again sharpened teeth. "Moirai stone is mined from what you call the Underworld and Elysium. The very ground you stand on now has existed since before time was known as time. It holds more power than any of your gods and most other beings as well." He blinked then and released Helix's arm. "I am telling you because Decuma Salvius will be in there. She will try to bargain with you. Do not let her."

"That is not an answer." What did Sal have to do with Cinix's choice to help him? And why did the male hate her so?

Cinix tilted his head then turned to go inside, "If we survive this perhaps we can discuss my reasons. For now be content in the knowledge that I will help you."

He wanted more answers, but Helix could see that he was not about to get them. For a flickering moment, he wondered if he had made a foolish choice in coming here. He had come to hunt a god, and to do so would have to face Sal again. Both daunting tasks. Growling at his own cowardice he followed the seer and Cinix into the Fate.

The inside smelled strongly of jasmine and sulfur. Reflected crimson light made the walls, floor and ceiling look as if they were made of swirling blood. It was disconcerting. He hurried to catch up.  After climbing hundreds of stairs they passed under a dark archway. The room beyond was strange. Two doors stood to either side, one was made of liquid gold that shifted and moved, yet somehow remained solid. The other was crafted from solid pearls. It was also occupied with a half dozen people. Against the far wall stood a low dais, a throne of black obsidian held a cloaked man. In the center, sneering at him as he entered, stood Sal. Around her throat was a glowing golden collar, from which a golden thread extended to the hand of another stranger. His skin was pale as moonlight, hair black as the obsidian throne, and his eyes blazed a deeper, brighter crimson than the walls. The last three men Helix knew. Ares, Poseidon, and Zeus.

Helix's body went rigid as his gaze locked with Zeus's. In unison, they both spoke. "You!"

To his right, Cinix grabbed for him but Helix moved to quick. Within a heartbeat, the god and man were on each other. Thunder cracked the sky and Helix snarled an inhuman shriek of rage his body beginning to shift.

"Enough!" The black cloaked figure rose to his feet, hands outstretched sending them both back against opposite walls.

Helix gasped for air as he hung suspended against the shimmering wall. He struggled to force a shift as he'd done when Cinix held him but nothing happened. Seeing Zeus held in a similar manner, he let his gaze go to the man still standing on the dais.

The hood obscured his face in shadow. His build was tall and lean with broad shoulders. Helix's instincts suddenly flooded him with indescribable horror. He knew who this person was. In every fiber of his being he knew.

"I apologize for my outburst."

An upward tilt of the cloaked figures head brought his face and eyes into focus. A strong jaw and fine features held eyes so dark grey they were almost black. In him, Helix sensed an ageless power so vast it eclipsed the pantheon of gods standing before him.

"Very well." His voice resonated through the room in a rich, deep vibration that made everyone in the room drop their eyes.

The pressure released letting Helix slide to the floor. Keeping his feet under him he landed with a surprising amount of grace.

"Damn you Nythis! Release me!" Zeus spat.

"This young man has more manners than you." Turning Nythis sat again on the black throne, leaving Zeus pinned to the wall with an invisible force. "Get on with this mess. Nona, call your other sister would you."

"Morta will be here in a moment." The seer walked forward climbing up the short dais to stand beside Nythis.

"I'm here! Sorry for my lateness."

A young looking woman with bright gold curls bounced into the room. Helix saw her eyes and knew she was as blind as Nona. Odd, two blind sisters and one seeing.

Nythis waited until Morta stood by her sister before speaking again, "Decuma Salvius, you have pleaded with me for a trial. Thief, traitor and attempted murder though you be, I have granted your petition. What do you wish to say?"

"My king, I am no thief. Poseidon gifted me his blessing upon my betrothal to his nephew Ares. My-" she paused her gaze flicking to Helix, "Re-gifting of that blessing was in a time of great need. And a traitor? Nay my king, I have done nothing but what is within my nature to do. I do not wish to be king as Ares accuses me of. For who could stand against Death?"

Nythis' hands steepled before him. "And of the attempted murder of Zeus? Did you not send a mortal, trained by your favored witch, and armed with an un-refutable favor from you, to retrieve your Seers sight and to take Ares' blessing in order to kill your former lover's own father?"

Decuma's eyes slid to Helix, a glint of malicious pleasure swirling in the beautiful green irises. "I have no quarrel with Zeus."

There it was. All of the answers Helix needed. The hair on the back of his neck rose. His eyes flicked from Sal to Zeus then to Ares. The war god's face paled as he met Helix's gaze, realizing the same thing as the wolf, he'd played into Sal's game. Ares had made Helix immortal and could he have enabled him to kill gods? But hadn't Ares known that already? And what exactly did it mean to kill a god?

"Only a War blessed king can kill me, bitch. Your own predictions of the future said so." Zeus snarled. "A simple blessing from my son is not enough."

Nythis stood, silencing Zeus. "Decuma, the Fate deems it true that you have not stolen from Poseidon. Morta, Nona, do you agree?"

Both seers nodded so the king continued, his voice emotionless. "As for being a traitor, and attempted murderer, the Fate judges your words true, however, your answers were far from forthright." His steely eyes looked to Helix. "What do you think, is she guilty?"

All eyes turned to him. Cinix's warning on the stairs chimed loud in his mind. Make no deals. Tell no lies.

Clearing his throat to give himself a moment to think he answered, "Of being a traitor to you? I would not know. Of attempted murder? Absolutely."

Nona leaped toward her red-haired sister as the gold cord in the stranger's hand exploded in a bright flash, Decuma shrieking curses. Within that blink, the Seer of the Future vanished.

Nythis released Zeus to go to Nona's side. She lay unconscious where her sister had last stood. Helix watched intently as the king's fingers brushed over her face. She shuddered sitting up quickly regaining consciousness. As her lids fluttered and opened Helix could only gape. Two familiar green eyes stared into his.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Authors Note: Welcome to the Specter and a fraction of the Pantheon. As they say, the game is afoot! But what is the game? Any guesses?

I wrote this while reading an amazing series here on wattpad called Bereft by @rentachi Go check out her stuff!

Please vote if you enjoyed this part!