Questions And Punishment

The tent was now down once again, the armies facing each other once again with even more hate and anger built up than the first battle. This time they would fight until blood flowed like a river, the forest would be rained upon with death and decay and pure hate, only one side would emerge from this battle alive.

Meeting halfway Okrinus, Dominic and Loki faced Tyronis, Kulos and Tania. Loki who’d been far too quiet for his own taste as of late said, " You can still surrender I suppose, I mean I want to kill you all but I suppose you should get a chance to live and retreat, get into your ships and go."

Kulos snarled at this, " Nay, we won’t yield to a low life vampire. We outnumber you greatly so it is you who should surrender, turn your cowardly army of cut throats and blood drainers around before we decide to cleanse the earth of more monsters."

Knowing there would be nothing else to say they both turned around and returned in the lead of their armies, facing each other Kulos raised his arm up in the air and yelled out, " Charge!" Dominic on the other side motioned for the army to rush ahead as well, both armies began their rush toward death.

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What a bad time for games thought Ares, at least for these sort of games. He’d had something with a little more sword slashing in mind, he liked the feel of metal cutting through flesh and bone. The agonizing look of pain on their faces as they faced the realization they were about to die.

It was the reason Symbolsian was the last doppelganger, when the doppelgangers had grown in power, they had thirsted for more power. They had broken the established perimeters set by their creators, they were to be the protectors, the peace keepers.

But they’d started with little things, subtly toying with the weaker races, testing them to see how they would respond to certain situations. When they got tired of subtleties they began to be more direct, more bold. Not staying in hiding but making themselves known, manipulating the lower races directly.

But then the creators took notice, although they were suffering through harsh times as their worshippers were deceived into worshipping Yahwe rather than the Olympian gods, they still had a sense of responsibility to the world. They punished the doppelgangers, creating the punishment of death by power distribution.

The punishment however was not taken seriously, it was seen as more of a gift than a curse. The Doppelganger Empire was vast, many were willing to die in order to increase their race’s power, Symbolsian who’d been not but a low ranking outlaw had not thought the same way.

He hid, as more and more Doppelgangers were killed and the power was dispersed he became more and more powerful, but he did not make the same mistake than his superiors. As the centuries progressed he soon found himself as the last doppelganger, but being inventive he found a way to increase his power.

Dark Fairy, turning to face the wall clapped her hands to make the giant image of the two facing armies, frozen in time with looks of malice and blood lust, she said, " Now the winner of this first task will choose the fate of these two armies, lets begin."

The green lights dimmed , a green spotlight coming on Adonis and Cyranos Dark Fairy asked in a menacing yet teasing voice, " Five questions each, how would you describe true power, the best answer according to the gods will be the victor."

They all looked at Adonis, Cyranos grinned and whispered something into his ear, Adonis did not agree but relayed the answer, " Power is the energy within, it is the control one has over oneself. To control one’s own fate."

There was a round of applause, as they all turned surprised to notice the other half of the room was replaced by the legendary mount Olympia, and in a semicircle sat the twelve opinion gods, lifting large billboards of gold with different numbers between one and ten. A total of sixty, how could they treat the fate of the world like such a game, it was a serious affair.

The spotlight now turned to Jolene and Ares, he’d already shared the answer with her being power itself wrapped in a fleshy burrito, " True power is more than control over one self, it is the control over everyone. To be able to manipulate people so well that not only you change your own fate, but the fate of the world itself."

"You change the world to what you want, and no matter what the price you rise in the hierarchy until you are on the very top." The applause were much stronger, as they looked at their points of 120. Now replacing the picture of the frozen armies were two columns, one column with the name Adonis and the other with the name Jolene.

Spotlight remaining on Jolene Dark Fairy who was evidently enjoying this toying with lives asked the second question, " What is compassion?" This was a bad question, Ares had not known compassion in over a four centuries, and Symbolsian had never known it in the first place, being an entity of power and immorality.

Jolene pondered the question, " Compassion is the thought process the weak go through, have compassion on one and your stuck in a web of compassion, people will always expect your compassion and a compassionate person does not receive credit or power, only gratitude which does nothing."

The sound of one set of applauds came, but the remaining were silent. Hades raised a sign with a large ten, however the remaining gods and goddesses were completely silent, hating the answer and seeing it as a cold one.

The spotlight came to Adonis once more, Cyranos would not know this but Adonis thought he comprehended the idea, " Compassion is not a weakness, it is the greatest strength in life. Compassion is a sign that you are more than an animal, animals do not have compassion. Animals hunger for survival and power, but as humans we can be more than animals, as intelligent beings we can go beyond the savagery level."

The gods all cheered at his but Hades, he did not get a perfect score but got 110, giving him a large lead over Jolene who was nothing but a cold blooded killer, Ares had been right about power, he’d been a master of power. He’d manipulated his sister so much that she mise well be nothing but an animal, a sword with a person attached to it.

The room transforming into a fancy dinner the gods were suddenly gone, Ares and Cyranos were suddenly gone and the separation of air between them was now gone, they found themselves fitting on an elegant round table.

Looking down he was dressed in very extravagant clothing, on the table on the left were four forks of various sizes and shapes, on the right were four knives and in the middle were two spoons. The voice of Dark Fairy comes, repeating a line from his past, " I got a present for you, well its no good anymore but it was a free romantic dinner for you and Ronaldo. At that fancy restaurant with ten utensils and nice floating candles and voodoo like that."

Looking around more closely he recognized this place as the fancy voodoo restaurant ten leagues south of their house, candles floated in the air above them, giving a scent of some sort of drug and incense. Upon the table was a large meal of tender turkey marinaded in fresh plum sauce.

On the side of plate in large goblets formed in the form of Damballa, the ioa of creation was the finest red wine deported from the best winery in Eradonia. Taking a sip Jolene said, " I guess you do end up giving me my present after all, I hope your satisfied with that little victory, because its going to be your last."

Beginning to eat Adonis suddenly realised how hungry he had truly been, forgetting table manners he began to grab at the meat with his hands, stuffing it in his mouth when the room returned to its normal state, gods watching and Cyranos at his side.

The light was on him, Dark Fairy smiled slyly at Adonis, thinking that he was the funnest to toy with, he actually reacted. " This question goes to your advisors, so for your sake you better have chosen your advisors wisely. What is the marking point in your life, the pivotal moment that transformed your life and made you who you are?"

Adonis was nervous once again, he did not know Cyranos that well. He’d only chosen him because of his age and knowledge regarding, well regarding everything. But he did not know anything about his past, other than the fact that he had committed a crime of grave importance that had gotten him turned into a cat.

Cyranos however was not nervous in the least, " I am glad Dark Fairy should ask, the pivotal moment in my life that has led me to my magnificent present self is the day I became a co founder of the Emporial Conquerors."

"We waged war in a land of false peace and saved Eradonia from a vile dictatorship, it cost many lives and cost my place on the throne but it made me who I am" There were no applause to this, the last thing gods would support was the idea of rebellion, they were a dictatorship themselves once.

They’d been worshipped by people from all lands, even lands outside Eradonia in a fabled place called Greece where Mount Olympia was supposedly found. He got zero points, leaving him with 160 points in the third round.

Light switching to Ares he grinned and replied with great arrogance, " Aye, good question indeed although Cyranos, not such a good answer. The Coronian Empire is nothing but a terrible mess, the path to hell is paved with good intentions, so at least you’ll get the pleasure of hanging out with Hades that much more."

There was a general sound of laughing as his comment was taken as the comical statement he’d meant it to be, even Hades had laughed at this. " But to answer the question myself, the pivotal moment that made me who I am right now is when I realised the true path that needed to be taken."

"Eradonia is not the whole world, it is only the world as we know it. No one ventures past because the Royal Kingdom fears the wise words of our beloved gods. My finest pivotal moment in history is when I seen the path, we don’t need a revolution, we just need a do over."

This statement did get applauds, the gods had thought this way for over a millennium as they watched their creations slowly slip away from the truth, falling for the false God, a do over is what they’d always wanted. For that they all gave him the perfect mark of ten, giving Jolene a total of 250 points.

Adonis actually agreed with this, Ares was speaking out what had been eating at his mind for weeks now. The world needed a do over, Eradonia was a magnificent land of magic and wonders, but it needed to change. It had begun as perfect, but the power had spawned monsters such as Ares and others.

The normal people did not see this, it was only the monsters like Ares and the monster he was slowly becoming that could see that, if too many monsters were born they would fight to stay on top and the world would be ruined.

Shifting to the left on Jolene Dark Fairy walked away from the pulpit and stood right in front of Jolene, staring deep into her eyes she asked quietly, " Do you worship the gods or the God?"

Jolene frowned at the question, it was a simple question and she could be honest about it, " I worship Aphrodite for giving me my beauty. I worship Zeus for being such a formidable warrior and leading his siblings to freedom. I worship Poseidon because all one has to do is look upon the ocean and his power is as clear as day."

" I worship Ares, and I mean the god Ares and not my advisor, for war is key to world development and you have blessed me with incredible war tactics. I worship Hades for governing the land no one wants to govern, for punishing the vile and wicked."

"I worship Hephaestus for creating the metal that makes my blades and my armour, and the flames that forged them, without these we would be nothing but animals trying to choke the life out of each other."

"I worship Athena for giving me my artistic gift that I have used to its full potential in many occasions. I worship Artemis for the hunt, of both animals and people alike, always such an adrenaline rush." Adonis looked at her nervously she continued, he knew she did truly believe that and knew that’s what the gods wanted to hear.

Finally done flattering the gods there were highly enthusiastic applause from the gods, receiving a perfect score of 120, the score board now read 370 over 160, not a good marge in of difference. Light now converging on Adonis Cyranos said, " Your honour, we would like a recess."

Without warning they were in a complete different room, the room was completely white in a spherical room with one table located in the middle , there was so much confusion with all this transporting, he was going crazy. Cyronis who now wore a mock pin strip suit, tail sticking out of specially made hole with a small top hat.

He looked at himself in Adonis’ eyes and cursed out loud, " Damn, Dark Fairy has a lousy sense of humour." Focussing back on Adonis’ dilemma he said, " Now I know Adonis did not believe in the gods before this moment, or in God. And the gods are going to hate that even more than anything else."

Adonis had known this as well, pulse quickening to an unbearable level he began to cry on the table, asking as he sobbed on the table, " What should... I do?" Cyranos sighed, the sight of Adonis crying like a little school girl getting on his nerves.

Jumping on the table he scratched him across the face, looking up with shock Cyranos said, "Get yourself together, Adonis is sure to lose with such a behaviour as that. The plan is simple, just lie about it"

Without further a due they were back in the game, Jolene facing him Dark Fairy said in a dark conniving voice, "Nice cut, now for your answer." All the gods looked at him without even flinching, making the gravity of his following words that much more important.

"My advisor told me I should lie, he told me that the truth would be worse than believing in the Christian God, but I am not that low yet, I may be but a mortal but I can face up to my mistakes and so I do."

"Before this moment I did not believe there was anything after life other than the cold ground and the wooden box I would lay in, but I have witnessed you in person and I am shamed for not having as much faith as my sister did, I did not believe until this day, and am not worthy of your grace."

Wiping the blood off his face he awaited as the gods looked down upon him pondering his words, Cyranos cursed under his breath thinking they were sure to lose this one. Surprisingly they all put up perfect 10s, making it a total of 370 to 280, Adonis gleemed at this. They were far from winning, but there was still another round to go.

This was a bad sign, he was actually beginning to enjoy himself, the fate of the world hinged in them and he was enjoying himself with this trivial games made to entertain the gods and the sinister Dark Fairy, looking up at Ares he actually looked more uncomfortable than himself.

All the times he had ever seen Ares, he had always been arrogant, powerful and never hesitating. Now he was standing as though he was standing on a floor of needles, always shifting around. It was evident he wanted to be in battle right now, the spotlight remaining on him the final question finally came, " Clever mortal, now for the final question. What came first, the chicken or the egg?"

What was this, so far all these questions had been intense, why was the final question such a childish one. It was a question with no answer, people talked over this at the pub as a joke, but to have the world hinge on the answer to the child’s riddle.

Smiling at this he answered the question with confidence he’d never demonstrated before hand, " I like it, people always want to fight wars to save the world and make it better, but I can do it but answering the infamous chicken or egg dilemma. Staying on the straight and narrow path of honesty, I don’t know. I suppose only the gods themselves know that."

Rather than giving the ratings immediately the light shifted to Jolene, she looked around never having taken any interest in such trivial matters such as this one. Looking at the gods she said, " this is incredibly ridiculous, you are the gods! You created many great things, fought wars for power, and now you try my faith with this trivial question, I refuse to answer."

The entire room was silent, lights going completely out Ares could not even hear the heartbeats, spotlight returning on Jolene Dark Fairy said, " You are victorious, but before anything occurs we have one small matter to attend to."

Walking down from their pedestals of power Ares, Hades and Athena were now facing Ares. Without warning they extended their arms, extending chains they wrapped around his arms, pulling him off his chair and to the ground. Ares growled in pure malice, all the pure energy flowing within him.

He glared up filled with hate, eyes swirling a darker yellow than usual he pulled his arms back throwing Ares the god and Hades away. Moving in a quick motion his hands went down to the swords on his belt, grabbing them he swung them out of their safe homes and swung them in front of him, cutting through Athena’s neck.

She stared at him for a moment, a look of surprise and sadness on her face as her head rolled off her head. Ares and Hades regained control, all the other gods joining in with their own power as chains enveloped his arms, fusing to his skin with a glowing red heat, other end of the chain sticking deep underground.

Symbolsian grinned at this, pulling his arms back the floor of the temple was filled with large cracks as the long chains emerged from the ground. Free of their hold he flipped forward landing in the middle of them all. Winking at Jolene she got his cue and ducked as he spun the chains in a perfect circular motion, slamming the gods away.

It was ended as Dark Fairy sighed with amusement and grabbed the chains in her hands, pulling Symbolsian/Ares as he struggled to escape, but despite his efforts he could not escape from her. The gods finally getting control she stood against the wall and watched with amusement.

As Ares struggled in his constraints Hades did the same with Ares’ legs, chaining them to the ground Ares howled not in anger but in even more anger, his yells echoing throughout the chamber Zeus came down and faced him.

Flowing white beard with the power of Olympia itself within him he said, " Symbolsian, too long have you alluded justice. Did you think we would be deceived by technicalities, you are not to affect humanity directly and for a long time you managed, but your escape was your damnation."

" Your fusion has driven a power driven necromonger with a deadly curse that should have killed him, and made him a demigod, and we know your true motive Symbolsian. You will never reach Olympia, you will never usurp our power, we know not even we as gods can kill you, but you can trap you away."

The chamber opening to the show the large open ocean the chains came out of the ground, Dark Fairy grinning largely at this said as he squirmed in resistance, " Symbolsian, you really thought you were the shit. Your ambitions were your own undoing, thanks for getting out of my way."

A golden coffin appeared replacing the pulpit, as the gods bolted the chains into the coffin he was placed within it, yelling out before being sealed, " I will be god! I will rule this world!" the lid was shut tight, tied with the excess chain it shook as though they had trapped a feral animal, and as far as they were concerned Symbolsian/Ares were indeed exactly that.

Grabbing his coffin Zeus began to walk away onto the ocean, bringing him to a famous temple under construction in the foreign, more normal land of Greece deep down underground where it was certain he would never be found again.

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The coffin top splattered open as if made of wood, chunks of gold flying everywhere in the small room. At first he could not rise up, growling angrily he yanked the chains broken. However the chains that had fused in his flesh were permanent, creating a sort of infused natural armour.

Other than that all had been taken away from him, standing naked in this small catacomb deep down underground he knew he could not get out of this room, punching the twenty inch thick doors of steel he began to ponder his revenge. He had been bent on taking over the world, but now he wanted more than that.

He would take over the world, he would take over the heavens and the hells. The gods themselves would bow at his feet and beg for mercy, fortunately he would not be lonely at least, Ares and his entire race all trapped within the confines of one body, it would be an interesting few centuries indeed.