PREVIOUSLY
When Eumelus and Atlas meet back in the island’s cave they argue. When he sees that Atlas has feelings for Sadie, Eumelus mocks him telling him, “Your soft heart is your biggest weakness” implying this was the reason he lost his throne/kingdom. Later Sadie and Adrian follow Atlas into the underworld where they come across Eumelus and a shadowy companion. Sadie is shocked to learn Adrian is a Satan worshipper who’d had an ulterior motive all along: to ditch Sadie as soon as they got to the underworld and make a name for himself among the residents there. Unfortunately for him he’d underestimated just how unwelcome fan boys are in Hades and is rebuffed by Eumelus.

Sadie is eventually taken to the old throne room where Eumelus, Atlas and the shadowy figure are. She’s delighted to hear that Atlas made a deal to free Amy and Ophelia then the catch is revealed: Atlas bargained everything he had to save them because he didn’t know Sadie was in the underworld, he has nothing left to bargain with for Sadie’s life. The final scene shows the shadowy figure raise his boney finger at Sadie.

~ ~ ~

My ability to love and to be loved is not a weakness; it is my greatest strength. I tell myself this as I unwillingly heel to my new master. Five minutes ago I took an oath: in exchange for Amy and Ophelia’s safe return to the island I will spend eternity in the underworld serving Eumelus. The idea fills me with dread but the thought of Sadie heartbroken with the grief of losing her sister was just too painful to bear. Now I see it was a trick, a ruse planned out for his entertainment. He hadn’t told me she’d somehow followed us down here. In pledging my soul to Eumelus, the only thing he felt worth bargaining for I’ve sentenced Sadie to a fate a thousand times worse than a life of grief and misery and there’s nothing I can do about it. Thanatos will not be bargained with. I repeat the mantra again trying to convince myself, “It is my greatest strength, love will overcome.” I have no idea how that will happen but I was still alive, and in my book, where there's life, there's hope.


Thanatos raises his finger and I know what’s coming. The die is cast; Sadie is being banished to Tartarus, just another soul crushed in a sea of writhing agony. Tartarus is the most loathsome of places: the land mortals unknowingly refer to when they talk of ‘hell’: a fiery tomb of torment and chaos. I can’t bear to think of Sadie being thrown there like a defenceless rabbit tossed among the hungry wolves.



Eumelus looks back at me savouring the agony etched on my face. Stoking my misery further he mocks, “Any last words for your fair maiden, Atlas?” He walks over to her, caressing her tear soaked cheek, “a farewell kiss perhaps? Oh that’s right, you can’t; I haven’t given you permission”
“Fuck you Eumelus” Ngh, I can’t lose control now I reprimand myself between terse breaths. Eumelus feeds off my pain and fears, puffing his chest in victory with every mental blow. My sorrow gives him strength and power. Watching him savour every last second of this waking nightmare I realise the only chance I have to stop it is to stop feeding his insatiable hunger for misery. For Sadie’s sake I must.


Thanatos claims his prize, ripping Sadie’s soul from her body and condemning her to an eternity in Tartarus. Eumelus watches for my reaction a gleeful smile spread across his face. I feel sick to my stomach. It takes every fibre of my being to fight the intense urge to react: to yell and cry out and throw punches. My heart reels, inside I’m a turbulent storm of emotion but I know I mustn’t feed the troll. I raise my eyes to Eumelus, steady and deliberate as the corners of my mouth twitch into a crooked smirk. It’s as close as I can manage to a smile. I utter, “touché, master”.
His smile falters, “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? Does your feeble heart not break, weak one?”
“You said it yourself, she’s only human. They all come here eventually, why delay the inevitable?”
“Why did you fight so hard for the other two then?”
“The kid, she’s barely out the womb. Wouldn’t you rather she knew what she was missing out on when you take it from her?”
A tinge of confusion or maybe doubt washes over his face for a fraction of a second, “Hmm…indeed”
I have no idea what my next move is but trying to appeal to his darker side only seems to have pissed him off. It didn’t weaken his defences, but neither did I feed his hunger.


Disappointed with my lack of performance Eumelus has me thrown into the holding cell until I’m needed again. Adrian cowers in the corner.
“K.. Kelly? …She’s gone isn’t she? Oh god…”
I know he’s speaking to me but it barely registers, I’m thinking through what to do next. If I can bring Eumelus down I can reclaim my crown…not that there’s anything left of my kingdom but with my crown comes power, magic, and the grace of the Gods. I don’t even know if it’s possible to rescue Sadie any more but I have to believe it is. Regardless I have no chance unless I have one or preferably all of those things.
“I …I’m sorry. I got it wrong” Adrian continues.
Violence won’t work. He’s my master now, he owns my physical strength; my body bends to his will. That’s part of the oath he tricked me into swearing. I am to serve him as though he were the elder son, as though he was the chosen one, not me. Besides, I think it would only anger him more.
“I thought …at least they’d accept me, you know?” Adrian persists, “I thought if only I could get here it would be easier to become somebody in hell than be nobody on Earth”
I need to catch Eumelus off guard, I need to do the unexpected…but what doesn’t he expect from me?
“I mean it’s hell, the door’s always open isn’t it? Turns out it’s not that easy. There are no vacancies in hell today. Atlas, I …I’m sorry. Please… forgive me?”
“Adrian, shut-up, I’m trying to think here!…Wait…what did you just say?”
“Eh...there’s no vacancies-“
“No, after that”
“um…I’m sorry?”
I suddenly remember the words I found scrawled in a book that washed ashore a few decades ago, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that”.


Several hours pass before I’m called to serve Eumelus. I’m escorted to the amphitheatre and made to kneel before him.
“Do you know how long I’ve waited for this day?” he gloats. I don’t answer. “The day I stand as King and ruler, my limp hearted brother in his rightful place; beneath me”.
“Is it really such a victory? Your Kingdom is dead and gone, your subjects…they’re just fading memories”
“You think I ever gave a damn about the people, Atlas? I have power, that’s all that matters; I own you. My darkness has at long last completely and utterly extinguished your light. All is as it should be”.
“Are you sure about that? What if your reign of darkness is nothing more than a...a solar eclipse: a temporary shadow just waiting to be flooded with light?”


His eyes narrow on me, “Are you challenging me, slave boy?”
I can’t help but smirk, he’s predictably competitive but I’ve teased enough. I’ve riled his temper enough that what’s to come will shock but not so much that he’ll ignore it in a fit of rage. “I’m not here to challenge you, Eumelus…I’m here to forgive you.”
“…what?”

I can see in his face that was perhaps the last thing he expected from me. “You’re a cold, heartless bastard and you’ve committed untold atrocities against innocent people that really didn’t deserve to endure your wrath…but I see now that you were angry, you were lashing out.”
“How dare you speak to me like this, you forget your place!” he spits.

“It’s not your fault you turned out the way you did. I always knew I was ‘Daddy’s golden boy’, I watched as you were given my cast offs, as you were made to keep one step behind me, made to kneel before me like a servant boy, even when you were scolded for misdemeanours I committed. Only three minutes between us, it shouldn’t have made a difference but it did. It was wrong. I knew you were jealous, angry, unfairly treated but I did nothing. The truth is I didn’t want to jeopardize my privileged lifestyle, I…I didn’t want to be demoted to your position.”
“I command you to desist” The anger is dissipating from his voice but he remains stubbornly stern.

I’d intended to bluff my way into his trust but I find myself speaking truths I’ve never admitted before…not even to myself. “I wasn’t even angry with you when you spread your darkness over Atlantis. I feared for the few remaining innocents, sure, but the masses; they could think for themselves and they chose the darkness. No, I admired your ambition, your determination. Imagine how you could have united our nation if your message had been one of light instead of darkness. Love instead of hate. Maybe…maybe if you’d been shown love as I was you would have learned how to love as I did”.
“Why are you doing this?” I hear the slightest tremble in his voice.
“Eumelus, I understand why you’re angry, why you hate me, why my ability to love causes you pain...even why you love to cause me pain. I forgive you. For Atlantis, our people, all the innocents you snatched from the island...even for Sadie...but more importantly, I’m asking you to forgive me?”


For a moment he looks angry again then when I think he might lash out at me he lets out a sigh. As his shoulders sag he slumps down onto the steps and sits for a moment in quiet contemplation. Eventually he talks, “I never meant to condemn all of Atlantis to hell you know? I just…I wanted to feel important for once in my life. I wanted to be noticed.” He looks at me and laughs softly, “Well, I certainly got noticed, huh?...You know, having your Kingdom was never enough, I resented you for not being condemned to the underworld with the rest of us. Once again you had the favour of the Gods”
“I dunno, living alone on an island for eternity, trying to save lost souls before you guys suck them into the underworld isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You guys made my job pretty goddamn difficult,” I chuckle.
“It couldn’t have been that bad...you found love...there’s no place for that down here”.
I don’t think he meant that as a dig but I still flinch.
“Atlas …I’m sorry” He says with a knowing look. “You know…it’s not entirely irreversible”
“…”, I almost forget to breathe as I struggle against getting my hopes up too soon.
“Between them, Hades and Thanatos will rip you in two if you try to steal a soul from the underworld but Zeus...he can be very persuasive. I know he’s had souls released from Tartarus before”
“What about-”
“We’ve made our peace, Atlas. I’m not saying we’re gonna be a big happy family or anything but…I think we can say we don’t owe each other anything. You’re a free man.”


Zeus was impressed by the way I resolved our age old conflict in two simple words; “I’m sorry”. He offered to re-instate me as King and gift me back my powers but that was no longer the life I desired. I asked instead that he resurrect Sadie and that he wipe the horrors of Hades from the survivor’s memories. He obliged. Finally I asked that he grant me mortality. This last one puzzled him but I explained, “Zeus I’ve worked for you on that island for thousands of years now, it’s time to retire. Sadie...she’s the other half of me; I know she is, I felt it the moment we met. I just want the chance to grow old with her.”
“Very well” he consents, “but who’ll stay on the island to police that brother of yours and his crew of soul collectors?”
“As it happens I know just the guy. He was looking for vacancies just recently”


7 years later…
Today we brought home our first born...and our second born. Twin boys: one fair, one dark born three minutes apart. When they were born, just days ago I took one last oath “I swear to you both, I will not let history repeat itself: both of you will always and forever be equally loved and adored by your family”. Now that is an oath I would rather die than break.


Current Events: Tomb (Tartarus = fiery tomb of torment and chaos), New Addition to the family.
Previous Events: (Chapter 1=) Homeless and Adventure , (Chapter 2=) Dog Days and Funeral, (Chapter 3 =) Paranormal Character and Twins, (Chapter 4=) Emperor of Evil, Chance Meeting and Betrayal
Word Count: 1996
CC Used: Allowed: Yes, Penalized: No
Bonus Quote: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that “Catherine Claire Larson, As We Forgive.
(The words were originally written for a sermon delivered by Martin Luther King at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on Christmas of 1957)