Blood of Immortals

My mission is to find the mirror in the underworld. Gideon wanted to come with me but since the Queen was absent, he had to rule the palace on her behalf. He wasn’t convinced at first, but I told him that if he wanted me to prove my blood to everyone, he must let me do it. Without his help.

I was granted two young elite warriors, Amari and Veltra. They did not know the purpose of this mission or why they had to accompany an unknown wolf barely out of her teens, to this mission.

It was no surprise that Amari had no qualms in showing his disapproval of me at every opportunity he got. He seemed annoyed and displeased with everything. Including me.

Veltra, on the other hand, seemed alright with the situation. She was friendly and asked me what the mirror was all about. I decided to evade her questions at all costs. After all, I did not want to tell anybody anything until I was certain of who I am.

On the seventh day of our journey, we encountered a group of trolls robbing an old female elf.

“Let go of my belongings, now!” The old woman bravely told the trolls.

They didn’t listen though. One actually was about to hit her, but I decided to intervene before this incident became bloody.

Grabbing one of my knives, I threw it straight into the hand of the troll holding the elf. One moment later, we heard cries of pain. The troll let go of the elf and held his bloody hand close to his chest. He walked towards the other trolls who were busy rummaging through the bag of the old elf.

The troll showed his hand to his buddies and they started running away. They were bullies but they were also big cowards! We decided to check out the old elf if she was injured.

“Are you alright?” Amari asked the elf.

“Yes,” the old woman replied as she picked up her things that were scattered on the ground.

“Let us help you,” I said to the old woman as I helped gather her things.

After we fixed her things, the old woman, approached us, bringing a basket of food.

“Take these with you!” said the old woman giving us her basket.

“Oh no, we-” I started to refuse but she interrupted me.

“You are going to the underworld.” That had stopped me from talking. “You will need this in your journey.”

I looked at her, utterly confused about how she knew of our mission. As I recall, Gideon made sure that no one knows about our orders, aside from the people partaking in this task - that would be me, Amari, and Veltra. Even they did not know why we had to go to the underworld to retrieve a mirror. Except for me, Gideon, and Nana, no one knew the purpose of this journey, until this old woman appeared.

How? I gave the woman a questioning look, but my questions remained unanswered as the old woman ignored my apparent need for answers. Instead, she handed me the basket containing a bottle of wine and cake.

As I examined the food, I noticed that they were not ordinary wine and food. These are ambrosia wine and honey cake.

Food for the Gods!

How could an ordinary elf have them?

Do not question me, child. It is not the time yet. I heard someone speak inside my head. I looked at the old woman. She’s definitely hiding something, but if she’s doing this to help us, I am willing to swallow all my questions and let this go.

“Thank you,” I said after we accepted her gifts.

She’s mysterious but it wouldn’t hurt us to accept all the help we could get.

“I see you’re trained to use knives,” Amari commented after the incident. He must have thought I was a total burden at first.

“Yeah, Gideon trained me,” I answered absentmindedly.

“You mean the Royal Duke?” Amari asked, shocked.

“Yeah, I was his student,” I told him.

“Wow!” Amari was amazed. “You are lucky, the Royal Duke used to be the commander of the royal wolves.”

“Really?” I asked, amazed at Gideon. “I didn’t know that.”

“It’s true,” he continued. “Many guards and warriors admired him. He was really famous during the war of gods and demons.”

“Oh.”

Then our conversation went to the training Gideon had me undergone. He was really interested. I also shared some funny stories about Gideon and the adventures we went through in the past months.

“Aren’t you getting too close to her?” I heard Veltra asking Amari as I went back from gathering supplies. I hid behind a tree to eavesdrop on their conversation. “We don’t know her after all.”

“She seemed nice.” I was shocked. Amari actually thought I was nice?

“She could be a spy for all we know,” she told him. What? How dare she!

“This is my business,” Amari replied. His voice seemed stiff. He must be angry. “Stop interfering!”

Then he walked towards his tent while Veltra followed him.

What a mess!

It was the tenth day when we finally reached the river Styx. A boat was tied off on the post beside the river. Sitting beside the post, was a creature wearing only a piece of black cloth covering his groin area. He has grey skin and a unique mouth.

I couldn’t identify what creature he was. But one thing for certain was that he must be Charon, the boatman who will guide us to reach the underworld.

“Hello!” I greeted him. He looked at us, confused. It seemed no one ever greeted him before.

“Uh,” he responded.

“Is this boat going to the underworld?” I asked him.

“I am on leave until next week,” he replied. “Come back by then.”

Veltra and Amari looked annoyed. It was apparent they didn’t want to stay here until next week.

“Why are you on leave? Do you have an emergency or something?”

When I was a slave in the Dark blood Pack, I could only take leaves when I was sick or pretended to be one. This must also be true for others.

“It’s actually my birthday,” he answered shyly.

“Oh! Happy Birthday then!” I told him

“Thanks…” Then, I remembered the ambrosia wine given to us by the old woman. Maybe I could use it to ease our situation.

“How about this? I have a bottle of wine here, I can give it to you to celebrate your birthday,” I said, then I added, “but you have to guide us to the underworld in exchange.”

“I have no need for wine,” he replied. “I can drink wine anytime I wanted.”

“Oh, but this wine is special!” I explained exaggeratedly.

“How special?” he asked curiously.

“It was made of ambrosia.” I saw the glint in his eyes.

I won.

After all, who would have refused a wine that only gods can drink?

“What do you think?” I asked him again as I showed him the bottle of wine.

“Okay,” he said finally and I handed him the bottle.

Charon happily guided us to the gate of the underworld. It didn’t take long for us to finally reach our destination.

“We’re here,” Charon told us as we reached the gate to the underworld.

“Thanks! Happy birthday again!” I shouted as he rowed his boat away from us. We walked towards the gate, but even before we made it further, we were greeted by the barks of the ugliest and largest dog I have ever seen.

Or dogs? I wasn’t certain because it has three heads with only one body!

Crazy!