Chapter 620: Hate And Discord
Laz didn’t have an excuse and wasn’t planning on giving one. Persephone was a full fledged god now and while that didn’t mean Laz couldn’t fight her, it did mean that the effort wouldn’t have been worth the reward.
"I swear to all my ancestors.... This is the last time I let you convince me to visit him alone," Aphrodite said with a sigh before bending over to pick up the passed out goddess.]
"Look. I was suppose to do introductions but since it has come to this, you both can just do it yourselves. I would say I’m going to go tie this bitch in heat to her bed so she can’t cause anymore trouble, but I get the disturbing prediction that she would like that. Anyway, you’ve got about six hours until the escort bringing mother home arrives so get to it. Compared to the others.... this is going to be a bit harder," Aphrodite sighed again while walking out the door and closing it behind herself, Persephone’s limp body flung over her shoulder.
Laz took a seat and poured himself a drink not even bothering to cover up before pointing to the seat opposite of himself. The clocked figure hesitated before moving over to sit down, her actions stiff and her posture as straight as could be.
"So. How can I help you? Perhaps we can start with your name?" Laz asked after a few moments of silence.
"You are nothing more than a fuck boy for my sister’s and I. Why should I bother to give you my name? It would grate on my ears to have to hear it come from your vulgar mouth," said a sweet yet cold voice from beneath the all engrossing fabric. Except for an approximate height, Laz had no idea what the features were of the young woman he was sitting next to.
"Then leave. Nothing is keeping you here. The door is over there and I won’t be walking you out. Goodbye," Laz then said, not caring in the slightest if she choose to stay or go. After all, one more or one less goddess didn’t really make a difference after the over a dozen he had empowered these past few days.
Laz could hear the young woman grinding her teeth at his answer, obviously mad at his response. But she never once stood to leave, instead sinking back further into the comfy chair.
"Eris.... my name is Eris," she finally admitted after a long few minutes of nothing.
"Eris. Then tell me... what is your path?"
"And why the hell would I explain that to you? I know my sister’s claimed that you’re some sort of magical guru who understands us more than we do ourselves, but that’s just utter garbage they are feeding one another to feel as though they haven’t been taken advantage of. I won’t believe it for a moment you swindler!" Eris snapped back, her voice made of venom.
Laz looked at the cloaked figure as he tried to gauge her actual personality. She seemed both distrustful and cold, but she was still here. Which meant that somewhere, even if it was hidden so deep that she wouldn’t admit it, she knew she needed his help. She was a different kind from Artemis who was just proud and didn’t want to admit that Laz could help. Eris couldn’t deny if he could help or not as there were already over a dozen examples of his ability. But it seemed like fighting him was ingrained in her being and that wasn’t something that could be solved quickly.
Not in six hours anyway.
"The sky is red!"
"It’s blue you idiot."
"Grass is blue."
"No. Grass is green. Is there something wrong with your eyes or your brain?"
"Water is blue."
"Water is clear you moron. It get’s it’s blue color from the sky. Does that glass in front of you contain blue water? How the hell is anyone this stupid?" Eris said before getting up as though she wanted to leave.
"You’re cloak is black... or to be more accurate, onyx."
"It’s... no. It’s.... some other color...."
’They had all been wearing the same cloak when they visited me and when I asked about the dark, almost black like color, I was corrected and told it was onyx as it was actually a deep shade of grey that looked black to the eye. Not something I would know, but something those women prided themselves on knowing. Perhaps some men would feel the information useless, but I can’t help but marvel at how descriptive and perceptive these sister’s are about things such as this,’ Laz thought to himself.
"I’m taller than you."
"You’re barely a foot and a half taller."
"I’m a man."
"That remains to be seen."
"You’re not a man."
"You’re still an idiot..."
It wasn’t the way Laz wanted to go about it, but he got the general idea. It also made sense as to why she would be the last one to see him as it probably took every single one of her sister’s to convince her to come.
"You’re path to godhood is... disagreement... discord.... It’s discord, but it’s more than that.... You don’t even know me, but you clearly don’t like me... hell. It’s almost like you hate me...? Eh?" After Laz said these words out loud, mostly in the forms of musings to himself, he noticed Eris went stiff all of the sudden and shook just a bit.
’Gotcha....That’s why she couldn’t just tell me huh?’
"Ha. You... a person like you... thinks you understand me? How could you possibly..."
"From the world that I come from, hate and discord has lead to so many wars and atrocities that it’s almost like we thrive on it. Like we can’t live without it. I’ve seen the map of this world. I’ve heard tales of your battles... thousands marching to war against one another, epic battles of swords and spears along with special powers and skills. War is almost the ultimate form of discord, in such a large scale that it makes one soul shake. Now let me explain something more than that to you."
Laz then closed the curtains of the bright morning, allowing it to be bathed in darkness before sending out his flames to light the candles that were scattered throughout the room. Laz then grabbed a large one from a side table and brought it over, setting it down on the small wooden table that sat between them.
"Even before my time, war’s fought involved hundreds of thousands, even millions. Massacres were sometimes registered in ethic groups and not just numbers. We even have a word for that, one that I have never heard spoken of here; Genocide. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people based on their race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. And the worst part? There are far more than just one or two examples of such a thing in the world where I am from. We study them and attempt to learn from them. World Wars that started with one man being assassinated to groups that kill each other every time they met for no other reason than because their parents did it before them and their parents before them. Even the citizens living within a single nation can hate and despise each other, just for stupid little differences between them. And what’s more, good will is soon forgotten, but hate lasts generations. So yes, dear Eris. I know of discord, I know of hate. I have seen it, firsthand. In the word that I come from, I am hated for what I am. I am hunted. I am excluded. But you? Have you ever faced a time like that? Or is it that the only times you find discord are when you cause it yourself?" Laz asked, looking at the shocked young woman.
Laz was right and she didn’t know how to respond. She had always felt like she needed to cause hate and discord ever since she was little, like it was a part of who she was. But she was horrible at it. She could never cause people to hate each other, only get them to fight a little bit. Of course she didn’t understand what hate actually was, she just liked seeing people in conflict. But often times her plans were found and spoiled by the very ones she was targeting. Due to who she was, she was always forgiven.]
And she hated that because it was out of pity that they forgave her and not anything else.
"Always... just to get attention... like I don’t get enough attention as it is. And... all of those.... even you..." Eris said, looking up at Laz while lost in her own mind and memories.
Laz didn’t saw anything back, just watching the play of emotions that she was performing with her body. Even if he couldn’t see her face, he could feel her inner turmoil.
"You speak so confidently, so self assured. Your ego radiates off of you like a mist, filling this room. It’s... slightly enchanting in a way, but it sickens me more. You who seems like you know all the answers? Tell me... How much does this disgust you then?" Eris asked, dropping the cloak.
Her small, almost child like frame was draped in a delicate black dress that looked like it was made of silk. Her face was still covered in a black, masquerade like mask, accented with ribbons of gold, but behind her was the biggest surprise as two massive wings extended from her back, the midnight black feathers shaking a bit as she freed them from their cloth cage.
"Heh. Now you can drop that hypocritical act you were just.... giving... me....what?"
"OH MY GOD. THAT’S FUCKING AWESOME! CAN I TOUCH THEM?" Laz was eyeing her like a kid on Christmas.
