Chapter 240 - The Empty Throne
As the wagon returned to Wasteland Valley, everything was, more or less, settle.
"Home, finally home" Said Alfonso.
"It was a hell of a trip" Said Dionysus.
"My gods, this place is freezing!" A complaining voice came from the wagon.
"Dimitri, don't be rude, my lord was kind enough to give a place to stay and you have done nothing but complain about the weather since we left Tulip town" Said Mirana.
"Listen to your mother" Said Artemis.
"…" Dimitri looked at Artemis and then turned around.
"You know, It's strange, however, this godforsaken place is actually quite nice once you get used to it" Said Aphrodite.
"Well, it's not like we got much of a choice here, where else do we go?" Murmured Dimitri.
"Now that I think about it Alfonso, what about Cerberus, he used to follow you everywhere you go" Said Demeter.
"He said that he had something to do, I don't know what though" Said Alfonso.
The wagon got into Wasteland Valley and everyone went to the manor, Alfonso arranged a house for Dimitri and his mother, an amazon came and, with the help of Ribeiro, the house was ready in a few hours.
"Everyone this trip was a lot… exciting than expected, so, you have the day off, go and entertain yourself" Said Alfonso to the four gods.
"I will go to see my beloved grapes" Said Dionysius.
"Let me go with you, I want some wine" Said Aphrodite.
"I will go to Camel's house, I want to now the state of the potatoes" Said Demeter.
The three of them went on their way, leaving Alfonso and Artemis on the same room.
Artemis looked at Alfonso for some time before sighing.
"Stupid disciple, come with me" Said Artemis.
"…" Io appeared behind Alfonso and nodded.
Io went out first, Artemis followed her from behind, however, before closing the door, she turned to Alfonso.
"We are on your side, you know that right?" Said Artemis.
"Of course I know that" Said Alfonso.
"Then that's good" Said Artemis.
She closed the door leaving Alfonso alone.
Alfonso looked at the door…
"I know that, of course I know it…" Alfonso repeated this line on his mind for a long time.
However, every time he repeated them, he looked at his trembling hand.
"They want to kill us"
"Shut up"
"They want to kill us"
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
*PUM*
Alfonso punched heavily on the desk.
The voice on his head had being bothering him since the fight with the goddess.
"I am afraid, I am afraid of them" Though Alfonso.
"No, there is no reason to be afraid of them, they are my friends… my family…" Though Alfonso.
"They our enemy"
"No, no they aren't! We are equals-"
"Are you sure?"
"I-"
Alfonso didn't know how to answer.
"Is because you are weak"
"I am weak?"
"That's right, you are weak, you are afraid of them because you are weak hence…"
"If I become stronger, I won't be afraid" Though Alfonso.
"You have in you, the power to kill a god"
"Inside of me?"
Alfonso touched his eye patch, he knew what the voice was talking about.
"Embrace that power, make it yours!"
Alfonso has always rejected the power that he has inside, he knew that this power was dangerous, it will consume him…
"No, no, I won't use it…"
"Little by little, our will is merging into one, we will be one, at that time, you won't be afraid of anything, nobody will ever question you, the answers that we seek for, will be answered… all you need to do, it's accept it"
"Accept? Accept what?"
"ACCEPT THE MADNESS INSIDE YOU!"
Alfonso felt the darkness consuming his will…
"I-I-" Alfonso felt the world becoming green.
Everything was cover with disfigured figures and clocks.
*Tick-Tack* *Tick-Tack*
The sound of a clock surrounding the world caused Alfonso's eye to hurt…
"Ahhh!"
Alfonso took out his eye patch, at the instant… he felt a certain relieve…
"Why… was I hiding my eye again? I don't remember…"
The disfigured shadows looked at the eye of Alfonso and kneeled on the ground, Alfonso looked left and right and saw that, everything that he looked at, it will show respect towards him.
"The respect that a sovereign deserves"
The voice once again entered Alfonso's mind, this time, the voice was cleared than ever, curiously, the voice was the one of a woman, however, at the same time, it was the voice of a man and, at the same time, it was neither of them.
However, the voice had an attraction that was hard to describe.
Alfonso walked towards the path of kneeling disfigure corpses, for some reason, he felt enlighten every time he passed a…'Subject'.
"My throne…"
Alfonso looked up, at the very end of the path of corpses, a huge destroyed black throne could be seeing, floating above the throne, a pair of huge red eyes could be seeing.
"COME HERE, MY SUPREME SOVEREIGN"
The pair of eyes looked at Alfonso and seeing to smile.
"I-"
"NO"
Alfonso smiled looking at the red eyes, at the same time, he extended his arm.
"Here I come…"
Finally both of his eyes turned green.
"WAIT!"
Alfonso, who was almost at the throne, was stopped by a voice.
"This voice…" Alfonso felt a familiar feeling…
"I have heard this voice before…"
Alfonso looked at the throne once more, however, right now, someone was blocking his way towards it…
"De…me…ter?" Asked Alfonso.
"No…"
"Ga…i…a?"
The figure in front of him was a beautiful woman with green hair, it was almost identical to Demeter, the only difference was that this woman had the upper half of her body exposed.
Alfonso remembered the last time he saw her, and then, he remember something.
"The… collar"
Alfonso took a look at the collar, it was shining.
"This isn't you…" Said Gaia.
"No… we are this… we… you are in the way!" Shouted Alfonso.
"We? I am talking to you, Alfonso Lockheart" Said Gaia.
"I- no, we, there is no 'I', WE ARE ONE!" Said Alfonso.
"The last time I saw you, you were only Alfonso Lockheart, the one whose will was so high that he could stand side by side with the gods, if I could describe him in one word would be…"
"Brave"
Gaia looked again at Alfonso and pointed a finger at him.
"However, the man I am seeing in front of me, isn't even the shadow of Alfonso"
"What I see in front me…"
"Is nothing more than a coward that is consumed by his own fears!" Shouted Gaia.
Alfonso backed up a little…
"WE, no… I, NO! WE!" Alfonso touched his head while he shouted in agony.
"Who are you!?" Shouted Gaia.
"WE ARE-"
"NO!"
Alfonso stood up once more.
"I AM…"