Free Universe in Flames 3: Destination Oblivion by Christian Kallias

ground. A
battle had taken place here. He proceeded cautiously.
    He stepped through
a destroyed entrance, with lots of debris and rubble, into a big room. A body lay
in the corner. Ares! A dark pit grew within his guts. He took a few steps
towards Ares’ motionless body. He was missing an arm and there was a large hole
in his rib cage. Chase swallowed hard. He knelt beside the body. Ares was dead
alright, for a few hours at least. His body was cold and all color had drained from
his skin.
    “I’m sorry, Ares.
I . . . I never
wanted this to happen.”
    “I know,” he
heard.
    A jolt ran
through Chase’s body. He jumped to his feet and spun around, instinctively adopting
a defensive fighting stance.
    “Who’s there?”
    A golden light appeared
a few feet away from him, first as a sphere, but it soon took on human shape. Although
the energy entity had no face, he knew it was Ares.
    “I thought you
were dead?”
    “I am, Chase.”
    “Doesn’t really
seem like it at the moment.”
    “My physical body
died. This is all that’s left of me.”
    “I see . . .”
    “I can sense you
have questions.”
    “Yeah. If you can
sense it, why don’t you explain it?”
    “When Olympians
die—the physical death—our energy is transformed into this form. We become
beings of pure energy and thought. Humans call it a soul, but it’s an
inaccurate description.”
    “Neat.”
    “We’re not
supposed to stay around, though. Normally we go to Elysium.”
    “Elysium?”
    “What the humans
call heaven.”
    “You’re shitting
me, right? Heaven exists?”
    “Not the way
religions of Earth paint it. It’s just a specific plane of existence in the
universe that only a few beings can reach when their physical body dies.”
    “Why didn’t you
go, then?”
    “I wanted to see
you again, for one thing.”
    “I’m glad to see
you too, and sorry as well.”
    “Don’t be. It’s not
your fault. The moment Aphroditis broke the rules and contacted you, this was
always a highly probable future.”
    “Still . . .”
    “Chase, you
really need to listen to me now.”
    Chase exhaled in
frustration, but out of respect for his old mentor he nodded in agreement.
    “Look, I
understand how you must feel. You think we told you to kill Sarah and your
unborn child, and no one should ever be put in that position.”
    “You told me it
wasn’t you already.”
    “Would you please
let me finish, Chase?”
    “Alright. Go
ahead.”
    “I have no idea
if contacting you was a good or a bad thing. I don’t have the gift of foresight
like my half-sister. And honestly, I don’t know if what she sees can be taken
at face value. But she sensed something in you. She sensed your purity of heart.
Until I met you and we trained, I didn’t think much of you. Most Furies were
just bloodthirsty creatures. They care not for others. All they want is
domination, chaos; and they don’t mind spilling the blood of billions in their
pursuit for power. Before they were defeated, they thought they were the only
race deserving to live and had no problem obliterating any other race standing in
their way. Their complete lack of empathy towards life was legendary. So many
races are gone today because of them. So, about ten thousand years ago, my
father and a few other older races decided to do something about it.”
    “They killed all
the Furies.”
    “I don’t think
so.”
    “What do you mean,
you don’t think so?”
    “Olympians don’t
like taking lives.”
    “Uh-huh. Not
really in line with what you told me about yourself.”
    “Alright, I’m
amongst the exceptions. We’re living beings with free will after all, and some
of us don’t respect all the rules.”
    “That’s pretty
clear by now.”
    “Chase,
understand I’m not the person I once was. I did terrible things. I plotted
wars, used the weaknesses and fears of one civilization to destroy another. I
was blinded; drunk on power, in fact.”
    “You don’t have
to apologize to me. I wasn’t