Chapter 73

Darkous hadn’t seen a power like Elika’s before, it was destructive and dangerous, but it was also the exact reason that he needed her to win the war. The battles between brothers has been going on for far too long, no more, The lord of hell was going to end it all. He was going to destroy Atlas and anyone who followed him into battle.

But first he had to get the girl on his side, and that was harder than he had originally thought.

Elika might have agreed to help him, but she didn’t mean it, not truly, she was just waiting for him to give her an opening where she could escape. But what she doesn’t realise is that he knows. He knows what she will do, and he is ready for a fight.

She might have power beyond imagining, but she is still a child in his eyes, and children need to be taught who their master is, and he is her master, not matter how much she denies it.

Elika can run away if that is what she wants, but Darkous will always find her, no matter where she goes or what she does, he will always come for her.

He will always bring her back.

Michael steps into the room, his eyes on the girl, “I take it you are the one who destroyed the thousand year old tree?” He growls, stalking forward.

“I commanded her to.” Darkous interjects, “I wanted to see exactly what she could do, especially after she destroyed the bedroom that we gave her.”

Michael stops, “And what did you learn?”

“I learnt that she is useful.” Darkous says coldly, “I learnt that she would end this war, for all of us.”

Elika watches them carefully, sensing that there was some sort of tension between them, though she wasn’t sure why.

Did it have something to do with her?

Had she done something to anger Michael? Except from escaping and hiding from them for several months.

It felt like maybe he didn’t trust her power, or the fact that she had control over it, and he was right to doubt her, Elika doubted herself. She wasn’t sure that she could control the power inside of her, not matter how much she pretends to know what she is doing.

“Let’s get going.” Darkous says, putting his home back into his pocket, “Michael create a portal.”

Michael nodded his head, his hands working the ancient magic as a swirling back hole was created in the doorway to the living room.

Elika hated travelling by portals, it always made her sick to her stomach, but she couldn’t refuse. She wasn’t allowed to refuse. No matter how much she wanted to.

Stepping out of the other end of the portal was always hard, but this time the girl was prepared to do it, and it wasn’t exactly so bad. At least, she didn’t think it was.

Elika looked around, though she couldn’t see anything of interest, Michael had created the portal and made the other side come out to an empty hallway, and she wasn’t sure why.

Weren’t they going to see Hades?

Hades lived in a mansion, but the hall was dark and their were no windows, the darkness stretching out as far as the eye could see.

It was strange that Hades lives in a mansion with no windows, surely Michael had taken them to the wrong place.

Darkous stepped through the portal, but Michael did not follow, the black hole disappearing behind her uncle.

Darkous noticed her curious stare, “Michael isn’t coming, he has something else that he needs to do.”

“Okay.” Elika says, following him as he starts to walk through the dark hall. “Where are we going?” She asks nervously.

“Hades wants us to meet him in his lab, so that’s where we are going.” Darkous shrugs, grabbing her wrist when she stops and pulling her along.

“What is he going to do to me?” Elika murmurs, running to catch up to him as he drags her along. Just like he used to.

Darkous sighs, “I’m not entirely sure, but I know it’ll be painful, all of Hades’ experiments cause pain.”

Elika tried to pull her arm back, “I don’t want to be experimented on.”

Darkous growls, shoving her against the wall, “did I say you had a choice?”

Elika struggles, “I’m not going to the lab to be cut open and toyed with!” She argues.

Darkous laughs, his hand wrapping around her throat, “you will do as you are told.”

Elika growls back, the hall beginning to shake, “I will not.”

“Don’t even try it, girl, or you will truly know pain.” He warns her, tightening his grip on her throat.

Elika takes several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, but it was hard, especially when Darkous was so close, threatening to hurt her.

Elika’s power wanted to protect her, but that wasn’t always possible, especially when it came to her uncle and what he wanted from her.

She yelped when he dragged her through a metal door that was hidden in the darkness, quickly slamming it behind him as she trembled in apprehension.

Unsure what to expect, she hung by the door, keeping her eyes low, she wasn’t sure she wanted to look around. The very thought of what happens in this room haunting her mind.

Elika decided to face her fear and glanced around the vast and perhaps oversized room, realising almost instantly that it was Hades laboratory, the place where he ran vile and disturbing experiments on live subjects, some of them human.

Immortals didn’t care for human life, especially because they didn’t live as long. They lived only a fraction of time, not enough to truly experience all that life has to offer them.

The room held many vials of peculiar substances, things that the princess failed to recognise as they ranged in size and colour. Her eyes widened in curiosity and slight terror as she glanced around the strange room, the smell of cleaning substances and bleach attacking her senses as Darkous launched her further into the room; instantly growing impatient with her hesitation.

Taking a shuddering breath, she continued to scan the room, its walls and floors bright and alive with colour. In the centre of the lab was a medieval looking torture chair, the wooden structure linked to many machines, each one beeping as a figure hunched over them pressing various buttons and jotting down the results on a small piece of paper. The figure rose suddenly, a tremendous smile appearing across his features as he turned to look at the princess, his raven black eyes glowing under the harsh florescent lighting.

“Hello, brother. You have brought our niece, I see.” Hades smiled, limping towards his brother as he spoke.

“As promised, brother.” The dark lord smiled in return, savagely shoving the princess forward.

Elika’s uncle glanced down at her, his smile holding as he began to speak; his tone seemingly polite. But Elika knew he was anything but kind. The stories of his cruelty were that of legend, especially where she came from.

“Hello Elika, do you know why you are here?” He asks her, indicating that she should approach him.

She hesitated, taking a small step back, “you want to experiment on me.”

Hades laughs a little, “I guess that’s correct, I want to enhance your powers and help you to control them in battle.” He turns to Darkous, “we also want to test your DNA and make sure you are who Atlas says you are.”

Darkous shoves her forward, “go sit in the chair.” He orders.

Elika does as she is told, but only because she wasn’t sure what either of them would do to her if she refused.

She didn’t want to cause herself any more pain than necessary. In fact, she didn’t want to feel any pain at all.

If only she could run from this place, far, far away where they wouldn’t be able to get to her.

Freedom was so close she could almost grasp it in her hands, but she would never know it again.

Elika was trapped, and even worse, she was going to be a weapon in a war she wanted nothing to do with.