1. Dele memorias indignorum: Erase the memories of those unworthy
Chapter twenty-three
The Final Judgement
Atlas
The first sound to envelop me was a steady drip from an I.V. connected to my forearm. The bandaging was itchy and felt heavy and thick. The second sound was the hushed whispering of a man and woman, whose voices I couldn’t quite make out, but I knew somehow were familiar to me. I felt a pit in my stomach, like I instinctively knew something was wrong, but was unable to put the pieces together in this state.
My fingers flexed before the rest of my body began to catch up with me. My head turned from right to left in search of a comforting face, and landed on Galaxy and Halcyon, who perked up when they saw me start to move. “Atlas!” Galaxy sighed in relief, coming to the edge of the bed to kneel beside it and brush a strand of hair from my eyes. “I’m so glad you’re awake.”
“What… happened…?” I breathed painfully.
He bit his lip as he thought of an answer. “A lot.”
“What does a lot mean?”
Halcyon crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed gently, patting my hand as if to warn me of what she would say next. “It was… very unpleasant. Most of us came out of it alright, but there was some… injuries.”
“To who?” I gulped.
“Nick… isn’t fairing too well,” Galaxy mumbled.
My eyes widened in disbelief. “Fairing too well? What the fuck do you mean?”
The two looked to one another, looking for the right answer. “He’s… we had to do a lot, to keep him alive. You, um, I mean, Death… he really hurt him this time.”
In an instant I was upright. Both Gods yelped and tried to push me back into bed, but I yanked the I.V. out of my arm and squirmed free to race out of the room. “Atlas, wait a moment!” Galaxy begged, but I slipped through his fingers.
My socks stuck to the floor as I ran, weaving in and out of bodies in search of someone in a hospital uniform. I grabbed the first nurse I crossed and shook her. “Where is Nicodemus Crawford’s room?”
“Um…” She flipped through her charts rapidly. “317. He’s just out of surgery…”
“Surgery!” I roared in disbelief.
“It went well…?” I didn’t give her time to finish, and instead, bolted through the stairwell door and down to the third floor. Galaxy and Halcyon raced after me; Halcyon barked into her phone that I was awake and coming, but I could care less about what the other said or did right now. I got to the room and wrenched the door open, panting from the run and the state my body was still in. To my astonishment, the situation was much worse than anything I ever expected.
Most of the Gods were sitting in various spots in the room, curled up with their partners and friends as they recovered from whatever the Gehenna happened. Many had deep bruises andicepacks nursing foreheads. Some were in casts, others wrapped in thick bandages that were dyed pink from old blood. Lysander was currently stitching Esen’s cheek, with pieces of shrapnel sitting in a clear bowl beside them from where Lysander had picked them from Esen’s face. Esen winced from the tugging, but Calypso steadily running his thumb over Esen’s seemed to keep him steady.
Odysseus was lying on the hospital bed alongside Nick, who was hooked to more machines than I’d ever seen my entire life. A mask was fixed to his face to keep him breathing, and he had multiple braces and bandages cascading his body. What skin did show was covered in welts and black splotches. His eyes were ringed pure black, and his complexion was so grey that he looked like a corpse. He resembled a plague victim, as it was obvious he had run-ins with all four Horsemen, who had equally devastated his frail body. Odysseus had his lips pressed to Nick’s temple to feed him healing energy, but he, too, was covered in as many bruises and bandages as his comrades.
My outburst of throwing the door open made everyone in the room jump, and when they saw me standing in the doorway, many betrayed looks fell over their faces. Some, like Sebastian, hid in Soren’s shirt so he didn’t have to face me, while many just gave me empty stares full of contempt. Ashlynn, who held Nick’s frail hand to aid in the healing process, refused to turn and look at me, even when I fell to my knees beside she and the bed.
“Oh Gods… what have I done?” I choked out.
“He’s stable, for now. He took a real good beating,” Odysseus murmured.
I looked to each face, trying to find solace in one, but failing. “I… I did this to him?”
“You kept calling him a ‘false God’ and were dead set on killing him. We’re surprised he made it out alive,” Ashlynn spat venomously.
I clutched the blanket that covered his broken body and buried my face into it, letting a weak sob break from my chest. “What the fuck is wrong with me? Why, how-… I can’t believe I hurt him like this!” I wailed, tears pouring down my cheeks by the dozens.
Ashlynn placed a hand on my back and rubbed it in small circles. She was careful in her movements, but trying to reassure me, nonetheless. “It is a hard situation. We understand you did not choose to become that monster, but… a lot of damage has been done.”
I continued to cry into Nick’s leg. “I swear Ashlynn, I swear, I don’t remember a damn thing that happened. I had no clue what was happening to me! Everything went black and I, I just… I don’t know what happened!”
“I know, love, I know,” was all she could offer me.
