Chained Souls: Night One {Book Two of the Chained Duet}

[Katherynn]

Night One I turned over in my bed, feeling the warm body beside me. My eyes lifted and met emerald green ones. Nearly three weeks ago I had left everything I knew and loved to find the father of my child who was supposed to be dead. Not that I wasn’t ecstatic that he was alive. It was the consequences that came with loving him that I was afraid of. Nearly three months ago, in August, I had found out I was the reincarnation of Pandora from Greek Mythology. I had been attacked at my school by an evil named Jealousy. Shortly after I was taken in by Helios—the person who I was supposed to be impregnated by—and fell in love with him. We went to the Carpathian Mountains in search of Hephaestus—the God who created the first Pandora—and, sometime after that, I was kidnapped. I was kidnapped by the evil Doubt and tested, barely escaping. I was able to get out because of the evils Pain and Death. Shortly before I left I found out something that shocked me. Calleah Dashkoff—my best friend—wanted to kill me. But it didn’t stop there. Pain turned out to be Calleah’s sister. I had fallen in love with him and ended up sleeping with him. Then I found out I was going to have a baby. Death had taken me back to Wellston, Ohio and given me back to Helios. Helios ended up finding out about the baby and he still loved me and…I betrayed him. Without hesitating I turned back and met up with Death. It was then that Death told me he loved me—that he had fallen in love with me. I went home and Calleah told me everything the next morning. How she wanted me dead—had killed me in previous lives—and that she was Helios’s mother. Death came to me then, telling me that Pain was most likely alive and he knew where Pain was. Helios saw us together and told me that, until I chose him, he would hate me. So, I left. And I’d been traveling with Death ever since. As of now we were somewhere in Russia. “Are you feeling well?” he asked in his normal, whispery voice. He was always so quiet around me and I wasn’t quite sure why. I nodded, wrapping my arms around myself. I hated Russia. It was too cold for my taste. “Why aren’t we just flying there?” I asked, thankful for Death’s heat next to mine. “It’d be so much easier.” “It’s on the ground,” he explained, hugging me to him. I would have been fine with it if it wasn’t for the fact of I knew he wanted more. “And I’m not completely sure where it’s at.” Carefully I nodded, laying my head on Death’s chest. I never had been sure why I called him by his evil name. His real name was Talisen Oullette but I never called him that. After about another hour of resting we were traveling once again. Death managed to shield me from most of the cold but it was still freezing. Neither of us spoke until we found a slant in a bed of snowy rock that shouldn’t have been there. “Is this…?” He nodded and closed his eyes, placing his hand on the snowy earth. Seconds later we stood in front of a metal door with no handle. “Touch it,” he said quietly, taking a step back. “Do you see the indent there? Touch it.” I saw the crescent stamped into the metal and I allowed my fingers to brush against it. A blast of hot air knocked us down and I blinked, dazed. Death was up in a second, helping me to my feet, before leading me into the hot cave. He door closed behind us automatically and the heat swirled around us. It was bliss compared to the freezing, icy air outside. As we traveled through what seemed like a never ending hallway I felt more and more like I was in Tartarus again. I’d spent nearly a month there and I didn’t want to ever go back again. Finally, after what seemed like forever, we met the end of the hallway and watched as it split into two more—one side filled with glass windows the other more metal doors. Death led me down the one with doors. It was becoming even more like Tartarus. He stopped in front of the eighth door and I held my breath in anticipation. “Are you ready?” he whispered, touching the door. I nodded, unable to speak, and the door swung open to reveal what was inside. One bed, a light fixture on the ceiling, and machines were all that filled the room. Pain was on the bed, tubes running from various places. Something—my heart?—lodged in my throat and I walked over to him, unable to speak. “Do you like our little set up?” someone asked just as I was about to reach Pain. I turned and saw a woman with ruby red hair and blazing green eyes. She was slim but not points like most females nowadays. She had had, unlike most, curves that seemed to be in all the right places. “Hera,” she said, extending a hand. “Zeus’s wife and the current scientist studying these creatures…you are?” “Pandora,” I said defiantly. “And they’re not creatures. They’re people.” That managed to release a laugh from Hera’s perfectly shaped lips. “Pandora, dear,” she said, her laughter subsiding. “That is a crazy notion you have there. They are not human. They’ve simply taken over a human’s body. The human is dead.” I glared at her defiantly and she walked over to Pain, testing his vitals and looking over the machines. “So how long until he leaves?” I asked, eyes never leaving the red-haired goddess. “Leave?” she asked, laughing again. “Dear, they don’t leave. They’re here until they die.” My blood ran cold and she walked out. “Death?” I breathed, suddenly realizing he was gone. “Are you still here?” He stepped out of the shadows and walked towards me, nodding his head once. “I have to leave,” he said quickly. “I’m sorry, Pandora but…if they catch me…” He looked at Pain and I nodded, signaling for him to run away from this place. Death had helped me this far. I wouldn’t betray him by forcing him to stay and end up captured. I looked at Pain. Who cared what Hera thought! Pain was human, like it or not. “Pain,” I whispered, touching him gently. “Wake up, Pain. It’s time to go.” His eyes opened slowly and he blinked, his gaze focusing on me. Then he narrowed his eyes which betrayed confusion. “Who…are you,” he managed, trying to sit up. “And where am I?” I froze, unsure of what to say or do. “Stop playing around, Pain,” I managed, helping him remove most of the tubes and wires from his body. “I’m Pandora, you know that.” “Pandora?” he asked, still sounding confused. “I’m sorry but I think you have the wrong evil.” My blood ran cold and I immediately touched my stomach as realization sank in. He doesn’t remember. He didn’t remember me or what happened at Tartarus. He didn’t remember the E-Project or the tests where he had to fight me. Pain didn’t remember loving me. I took a step back, feeling hurt, and grabbed his hand, pulling him up. “You’re in Russia,” I said thickly, barely keeping the tears at bay. The time for crying could come later. Now all that mattered was getting out of the place. “And we have to get you out.” He said nothing as we escaped. It was surprisingly easy…until we got to the end. Someone had told the guards a prisoner had escaped and so at least ten of them stood at the door. By the time we reached them they all hit the floor, Death standing behind them. “How—” “My power,” he said, interrupting me. “We have to get out of here now.” Pain and I followed him and then we were in the air. I held onto Pain, breathing in his familiar scent. It was something that, for nearly a month, I had missed. We landed, of course, in a meadow. Pain didn’t ask any questions as I walked to Death. He—Pain—chose to sit on the ground and sleep as I talked to Death. “He doesn’t remember me,” I whispered, the tears finally falling. “He doesn’t remember me or Tartarus or…the baby.” I shook violently from the silent tears and Death held me gently, allowing me to cry. “How?” I whispered, my hands clenching into fists. “How can he not remember a whole month?” “Pandora,” he whispered, forcing me to look into his emerald gaze. “Whatever happened between the two of you is still there. You just have to unlock it.” More tears fell. I hated doing this to Death. Here I was crying over another man and talking to Death about another man when Death himself was in love with me. How was that fair? “Death,” I managed past the tears. “I wish I could pay you back for doing this. But, believe me, when I say ‘thank you’ I mean it.” “You can pay me back,” he said in his normal whispery voice. “But you don’t have to.” “How?” I said quietly. “Anything I can do to pay you back I’ll do if I can.” “Kiss me.” His eyes flashed a brighter emerald and I blinked, surprised by his request. “But, like I said before, you don’t have to.” I shook my head and a corner of my mouth tilted upwards in a half smile. Carefully, as if he was a fragile piece of porcelain, I twined my fingers in his hair and lowered his lips to mine, kissing him softly. His arms wrapped around me as he pulled me closer, lining my body up against his. After a moment, he pulled away, emerald eyes sad, before he spoke. His lips were at my ear, his breath on my neck. “Thank you,” he whispered. He stepped away from me, leaving me slightly disoriented and unable to move. No one had ever kissed me like that, kissed me with so much…just with so much. It was as if he put everything he was into the kiss. My cheeks reddened and I turned to see Pain watching me, blood eyes blazing as he looked at me. There was something in his gaze that made me think he remembered something. “Pain?” I asked, tilting my head as I looked at him. “Is something wrong?” “No,” he said coldly, jerking his gaze away from me. “There’s nothing wrong.” I smiled. He might not remember anything but his feelings and body sure did. I had kissed Death and, like any other normal male, he turned possessive. He just didn’t know why most likely. “Are you sure about this?” I asked, looking at Helios’s house. “Neither of you can get in if he tries to hurt me. He’s not exactly stable.” Death wrapped his arms around me, comforting me, and I could feel Pain’s eyes boring into my back. “You’ll be alright,” he said quietly. “Just scream and throw yourself out of a window. I’ll catch you.” I nodded and broke away from his embrace. Death gave me a gentle smile when I looked at him once more before walking into the house. It took me no time to find Helios. He was in the bedroom that had been mine for the short time I had stayed in this house. “Helios…” His jasper gaze met mine and I suppressed a shiver as his eyes hardened, turning into dark obsidian. “Pandora,” he said coldly. “What are you doing here? Have you given up on the evils?” “They’re outside,” I said evenly, remaining calm. My tattoos were burning but I ignored the slight pain caused by it. “Death helped me find Pain. But he doesn’t remember me…” “Good,” he said icily. “You don’t deserve to be remembered. You only play with people. The moment you have that child I’ll hand deliver you to Doubt myself.” Before I knew what was happening I had crossed the room, my hand hitting Helios’s cheek. An angry red mark glared at me. “You claimed you loved Pandora!” I whispered, trying to remain calm. “You claimed that you had tried to save her!” His obsidian eyes bore into my own and I suppressed the tears, knowing what he said was true. I had played with them—all of them. Helios had loved me unconditionally, given up everything to keep me safe…and I chose the one thing he was trying to save me from over him. Pain had loved me completely, knowing that it would be dangerous to love me. He had freed me knowing the consequences of his actions. Doubt had probably thrown him to Hera as a punishment. And Death…he was in love with me still. He was willing to do anything for me even though he knew I didn’t love him. I had played with all of them, been unfair to all of them. Now I had to fix things. “Helios—” “I don’t want to hear your excuses, Pandora,” he said, interrupting me. “I’m not going to bother with them anymore.” I closed my eyes and took a breath. How could I make him understand? “Helios—” “I said I don’t want to hear your excuses, Pandora,” he said, eyes boring into my with a coldness that seemed unexplainable. “I don’t care if you do or not!” I growled, anger searing through my veins. My tattoos responded, trying to fight back the evils. “You’re going to listen whether you want to or not!” My back met the wall in the next moment, my head bouncing off the wall resulting in my vision dazing for a few seconds. Helios pinned me to the wall, hand on my throat while his free one pressed against my shoulder. “What is it?” he growled. “Because I know I sure don’t give a damn about what you’re going to say.” “I was going to tell you that I’m heading back to the Carpathian Mountains,” I said calmly. “And I’d like your help in capturing the remaining evils. And…hopefully getting Pain’s memories back.” “And what would I get out of this little exchange?” “The baby,” I said softly. “You could have her—have Jaucalynn. That’s what I plan on naming her.” Helios relaxed his hold on me slightly and he took a few steps back. “You can have her—I’ll be dead,” I continued. “I’ll leave it up to you to protect her from the evils once they escape me. And frown Cal—Selene.” “You’re going to get yourself killed,” he pointed out. “If you go to the Carpathians then the Gods there will kill you.” “Hephaestus will keep me safe for a while,” I said with a smile. “He’s strong enough to. Plus the fact that I’m carrying the new Pandora should keep me safe. “I’ll lie about who the father is, if that helps.” “And what about your little human friend?” I paused. Honestly I hadn’t thought about Epimetheus. He’d been there on the side somewhere, pardoned from my violent thoughts. What would become of him once I was dead? “He’ll move on,” I said finally. “Helios…” I took a step towards him and he tensed. I ignored the motion and closed the distance between us before wrapping my arms around his neck. “I am sorry, Helios.” I turned and opened a window, looking at the ground below. At the very least it was a twenty foot drop. “Yes,” he said softly as I threw my legs out the window. “I know.” I fell out of the window, air rushing past me, and landed in Death’s arms. “Thank you,” I said as Death put me down. “Now we have somewhere to go.” Death gave me a confused look and I felt Pain’s glare boring into me. For someone who didn’t talk much, words said it all. Lake Alma was a badly kept lake just outside of my hometown. It had gotten so bad that people weren’t allowed to swim in it. That didn’t stop me though. Death, Pain, and I all stood on the island in the center of the lake. It was small but it was what was beneath that I wanted. “What are we doing here?” Pain asked, glaring at me. “Do we really need to be swimming?” “There’s a cavern below here,” I explained. “I’ll be back in a few hours—don’t leave.” Pain glared and I saw Death nod before I dove cleanly into the water. The water was murkier than last time but I had no issues finding the entrance nonetheless. I gasped, drawing in air, as I surface. The room I was in was cavernous and looked like a cave. On the far side was a hallway that had multiple twists and turns that spiraled downward towards the mantle. I followed it and, after a while, came face to face with a door. The door was nothing but wood and looked like something from the eighteen century—brown, wooden doors and black hinges and the like. I pushed it open and felt familiarity slice through me as I scanned over the room for the second time in my life. The room was made of sheer crystal—stalagmites as well as stalactites. Pillows of every make, color, and size littered the floor made of glass. The wall in front of me was glass as well. In front of it, in an ice-made holder, sat a crystal ball. Touch the time orb, someone said from inside of me. An evil I am not, Pandora. I am a guardian of what is to happen and what has occurred. Touch the orb and all will be told. I smiled and obeyed, preparing myself as I was flung across the room and into pillows. “Speak your name,” a voice said as it echoed around the room. “Pandora Avalon,” I said immediately. “What is the year Pandora Avalon?” “Two thousand and eleven.” “The names of the Pandora and husband before you, if you will,” the voice said, continuing. “Jennifer and Galen Avalon,” I said gently. “Died November 6, 1999.” I blinked. Galen…was it…could he have been Epimetheus? “Even though this life has no recollection of it, you begged me to love you, to take you, many times before. Either me or Epimetheus.” I shook my head as I turned my attention to the glass in front of me. It worked kind of like a movie screen, the crystal ball the projector. “Your past,” the voice said calmly, loudly. The screen flared to life and I watched as Pain held me, taking me to Death. “No,” I whispered to myself as the scene played before me. “Why…?” Pain handed me to Death as I screamed for him to stop after I realized what he was doing. He turned and looked back at me, smiling. “Goodbye, Pandora.” The screen blanked and I could tell I was pale. My blood and run cold. It was then that I thought he was dead. “Your present.” I watched the screen as Death, Pain, and I walked towards Helios’ home. It cut off just before Death was getting ready to speak. “Your future,” the voice said finally. I tensed. The last time it had shown a bloodied battlefield after I’d sided with the evils. Helios was begging me to come back and I killed him. Would it be worse, now that I truly had sided with the evils. The screen flared to life and showed three houses, all in three different frames though all were still photos like they’d been taken by a camera. In one was Helios with a girl who looked like me. In her arms was a little boy. But, I knew she wasn’t me. There was something about her that seemed to resemble Pain. The second was of Pain with another girl who looked like me mixed with Helios. In her arms were two little girls. In Pain’s arms was a little boy. In the third and final frame, I saw me with Death, his arms around my upper body. My arms were down at my sides, iron-clad cuffs on my wrists, and Death’s arms were crossed over my chest. My head was lying on his chest and both our eyes were closed. The screen blackened and I blinked. I wasn’t quite sure how I was supposed to interpret this new information. The best thing would probably be to consult Death—and then figure out how to get Pain’s memories back. Please reply. I apologize in advance for any incorrect phrasing or wording. ****It is copied directly from the microsoft word document so font variations have been canceled out**** And to those who read Chained Memories: Thank you for your continually reading and dealing with the neverending cliffhangers. I hope I don't disappoint you.

[Aristaeus]

Good work. This prologue picks up well after the last novel's epilogue. Death/Talisen is definitely an interesting and favourable character, in my opinion. A couple of typos I spotted: Spoiler for Typos: He door closed behind us he said, eyes boring into my with a coldness And frown Cal--Selene I gasped, drawing in air, as I surface. looked like something from the eighteen century Would it be worse, now that I truly had sided with the evils. (sentence needs a question mark at the end) I hope to see the next entry.