Page 48 of Chaos Unleashed

“Yes. It’s not the only thing, though. The stones are pretty unbreakable, but on the off chance that they do break, the bond that’s funnelling magic from Hades to the five of you will be broken, and Hades will get his magic back. However, all of them need to be broken in order for Hades to get all of his magic back. All five of the stones will need to be broken, and it's hard to break them. There is a small chance that Hades could break the connection, and if that happens, the stones will shatter.”

“So basically, broken stones mean bad,” Azreal says.

“Yes, in layman's terms,” the god replies, not sounding very amused at all. His voice is stern, and yet, for some reason, I feel like it’s being distorted and isn’t actually his voice. He continues to explain, “Since he is now weak, his power funnelling to you, it has allowed me to put a glamour on him, which means that he won’t be able to be recognised by anyone else, and since all of those that were witnesses today are now dead, that means that no one will know that you were instrumental in bringing them down, it’s up to you to decide how to play that. The glamour will stay on him for as long as the stones last.”

That’s the last thing that he says, and then he just disappears. There’s no other words said, no more explanations, nothing of the sort; he’s just gone, and I still don’t know who the fuck he is. It seems that’s all that I need to witness, though, because I can feel myself being pulled, or at least that’s what I thought was happening, but instead, I’m pulled into another vision.

Fucking hell, exactly how much do I need to see.

This one is just a quick vision; I watch as Azreal stares at the bracelet on his wrist as he speaks to an elderly gentleman dressed like one of the staff and obviously, someone that Azreal trusts and is fond of.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Hades wasn’t supposed to be tortured, I never wanted that. They didn’t tell me that’s what they were planning, and then it was too late. I’ve had no choice but to go along with it.”

“I know, Az,” the elderly staff man replies kindly.

“Well, no amount of reasoning is convincing them to change what they’re doing. Nothing I do or say is showing them the damage that they are doing to the Underworld. They’re destroying it. All that was once beautiful is now being destroyed, and all they want to do is release the souls that should never leave; they want to wage a war that will destroy realm after realm; they want to rule all the realms and, in the process, they’ll destroy everything that is good and beautiful. The realms need balance, all of them. The Underworld provides the ultimate balance; what the princes have done to this realm has had a knock-on effect that has affected all of the realms, even if they aren’t aware that it happened. It’s been decades. There’s only one thing that I can do that may be able to help just the tiniest amount; there’s only one person who has hope of restoring the balance, and he’s down in the cells. I tried to help his loneliness and put him near Farren like I was instructed to do. I don’t think it’s enough; he’s so weak.”

Surprise shoots through me when I hear my name.

“What are you going to do?” the old man asks.

“This.”

I watch in awe as he takes the bracelet off severing the connection to Hades, he lays it on the stone hearth of the fireplace and then blasts all of his power at it. I realise that he’s trying to break it, he’s trying to give Hades a fighting chance. His magic doesn’t crack it though. He needs help; under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t be able to do anything, but for some reason, my instincts compel me to move behind him.

Following pure instinct, I place my hand on his shoulder and lean in closer so I can say into his ear, “Try again.”

He tenses under my hand, but when he glances over his shoulder at me, he doesn’t look shocked or even acknowledge that I’m there.

“Do as she says,” the old man tells him, his eyes on me and smiling, “she can help.”

I want to question everything, but there is no time; I can feel a sense of urgency, and I can’t ask those questions.

Azreal nods, and without any questions, which means he’s far less curious than I am, he faces the bracelet again. I let my magic flow through him as soon as he starts to unleash his on the gemstone.

“Wow,” I hear him mutter as the power of the magic rushes through him.

Our combined magic only touches the stone for a few seconds before it turns to dust, completely destroyed. As soon as it breaks, I pull my hand away from his shoulder, severing the connection. The door to the room smashes open as the other princes rush in, they kill the old man within seconds causing Azreal bellow in pain as he sees his friend fall to the floor.

They surround Azreal.

“What have you done?” Dagon screams.

“What was right!” Azreal screams back, his shoulders back and his voice filled with conviction.

“You betrayed us,” Hiromu replies.

There are no more words as they all close in around Azreal; they attack him. I can tell it’s personal because they don’t start by using their magic; instead, they use their fists, brutally attacking their own brother. Azreal manages to hold his own for a short amount of time before he is quickly overwhelmed. They are merciless, and I am sure that they are going to kill him. I wish I could help him, but it seems like my interference in this vision was limited to a one-time deal, and nothing that I do now is making any difference to the reality.

Before I see what happens, although I’m pretty sure that I know the outcome, I am pulled out of my vision and back to the present. Although I learned a lot, I still don’t know officially what happened to Azreal.

Chapter Nineteen

Farren

It turns out that when I was pulled into the vision, my body landed somewhat awkwardly on Hades' throne. I have no idea how long I’ve been out, but I do know that it's been long enough that I’m stiff. My head fills woozy as fuck, and I take a few moments to get my bearings before I move.

“Ow,” I hiss as the pain in my hand finally registers, and I realise that when I fell I must have sliced it on something on the throne.

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