Colton cradled Kevin on the worn couch in Apollo's cramped office, the air thick with the sour stench of blood and stale coffee. Kevin's face was a husk, pale as ash, his eyes half-open but empty, like windows to a house long abandoned. Blood crusted his nose and ears, a faint tremor shaking his hands.
The Eclipse Aegis pendant hung heavy against Colton's chest, its silver surface jet-black, a void swallowing the flickering fluorescent light above. Evil was near—or had been, when the shade-lord's smoke poured from Kevin's mouth, hissing Cronus's taunt: Your sister's screams will echo forever. Colton's throat tightened, his fingers gripping Kevin's shoulder. A folded photo stuck out of Kevin's pocket, creased edges catching the light—Colton and Bella grinning at last summer's fair, the one Kevin held back at the house.
Colton pulled it free, his hands trembling, and a tear traced down his face, hot and stinging. "What's wrong with you, Kev?" he whispered, voice cracking. "Are you… dying?"
The Prometheus spark burned in his chest, a searing pulse that had torn through Ares's hounds, their blood still staining his hometown's porch. It gave him faster healing, stolen powers—Hermes's speed, Apollo's solar flare, Hestia's armor—but it couldn't fix Kevin, couldn't explain his lifeless stare.
Bella was locked in Cronus's stasis in Tartarus, and now Kevin was slipping away, his best friend since they were kids, after his dad's death. Not you, too, he thought, the spark flaring, urging him to fight.
Apollo stood by the desk, his Mr. S. guise—cheap suit, weathered face, glinting glasses—barely holding, his eyes flickering with divine light. "He's not dying, Colton," Apollo said, voice low, heavy with something unspoken. "The shade-lord possessed him, and when it fled, it took his soul. It didn't return to Cronus—it failed to claim your spark.
Cronus would destroy it for that. So it fled to the Underworld, to Asphodel, a purgatory where the unjudged wander, neither heroes nor damned, lost in endless gray fields."
Colton's head snapped up, his eyes blazing. "His soul's gone? You're telling me Kev's soul is in some damn purgatory in Hades's backyard?" He paused, a startled laugh escaping him. "Man, I can't believe I just said that sentence—Hades's backyard? This is all so crazy, it's insane!" The spark surged, heat coiling through his veins, his fists trembling. Apollo's silence was answer enough, but there was more, a weight in his gaze Colton hadn't seen before. "What else are you hiding?" Colton demanded, his voice a blade, sharp and cutting. "Spit it out, Mr. S.—or Apollo, or whoever the hell you are."
Apollo's shoulders sagged, his human mask slipping. He ran a hand through his hair, the gesture too mortal for a god. "Colton, there's something I should've told you years ago. About your dad, Marcus." His voice dropped, heavy with guilt. "It wasn't a car accident. Cronus sent shades to kill him, ten years ago, in a shadow dimension. They tore him apart, left his body in the street to fake a crash. I… I got there too late to save him."
Colton froze, the words slamming into him like a fist. His dad's face flashed—young, laughing, calling him Prometheus—then bloodied, broken, shades' claws dripping red. The spark roared, a fire in his bones, but it couldn't drown the rage boiling in his chest.
He stood, letting Kevin slump gently back, the photo clutched in his hand, Bella's grin a ghost beside Kevin's husk. "You knew?" he growled, stepping toward Apollo, his voice low, dangerous. "All these years, you let me believe some drunk driver took him? You let Mom cry herself to sleep, let Bella think he was just… gone?"
Apollo's eyes met his, raw with regret. "I wanted to tell you, Colton. From the moment I met you, seven years old, punching walls in that shitty rowhouse. But how could I? A kid, grieving, would've thought I was crazy—some nutjob social worker raving about gods and shades. I stayed close, became Mr. S. to protect you, because Cronus was after the Prometheus spark. Your dad's spark never woke—he wasn't unworthy, just untested, not ready. But you… a prophecy showed me your spark burning brighter, defying gods. That's why Cronus killed Marcus. To stop you before you could rise."
Colton's breath hitched, his mind racing. He saw his dad's smile, felt his hand ruffling his hair, heard Light up the world, Prometheus. Then the lie—shades, not a car, ripping his family apart. Cronus hadn't just taken Bella; he'd been destroying Colton's life since he was seven. The spark flared, hot enough to burn, and he slammed his fist on the desk, the wood cracking. "That bastard," he snarled, voice shaking with rage. "Cronus took everything—my dad, Bella, now Kev. I'm not angry at you, Apollo. You tried. But I'm fucking furious at him."
Apollo nodded, his face etched with sorrow. "I saw it in a vision, ten years ago. Marcus, dragged into a shadow dimension, shades tearing him apart. I raced there, but I was too late—his blood was already pooling. I swore I'd protect you, Colton, so you wouldn't end up like him. Or like the prophecy's end—a mountain, you chained, a vulture tearing at you." His voice broke, a god's fear laid bare. "I failed Marcus. I won't fail you."
Colton's jaw clenched, the spark's heat steadying him. The photo's weight burned in his hand, Bella's smile and Kevin's loyalty a knife to his heart. He knelt beside Kevin again, whispering, "Thanks for keeping this safe, Kev," and carefully placed the photo back in Kevin's pocket to protect it. Kevin's husk-like face was a silent plea. "How do I get to the Underworld? How do I get his soul back?"
Apollo straightened, his eyes glowing like suns. "The only way I know is through Cape Tainaron, a jagged cliff in Greece where Hercules once descended to the Underworld. You'll need to cross the River Styx, pay Charon the ferryman to reach Hades's realm. Asphodel lies beyond, a gray purgatory of drifting souls. The shade-lord's hiding there, weak from its failure—your spark can destroy it, free Kevin's soul. But you'll need to sneak past Cerberus, the three-headed hound guarding the gates. You're not strong enough to fight him—not yet, though maybe one day." Apollo's voice hardened. "I can't come with you. Zeus forbids gods from entering Hades's domain without his permission, and I'm already pushing his patience."
Colton stood, the Eclipse Aegis black as night, a warning of the evil waiting. "Then open the way. I'll do the rest." Apollo raised his hand, a golden portal crackling open, its edges sparking with starfire, the air humming with the scent of ash and decay—a path to Cape Tainaron, a dark cave leading to the Underworld.
"Wait!" Apollo called, his voice sharp. Colton paused, one foot in the portal, the spark thrumming. "Don't trust everyone who seems to help you. The Underworld's full of deceivers—gods, shades, even the dead." He flicked a coin, old and tarnished, into Colton's hand. "For Charon. One obol for the ferryman. Without it, you're stuck."
Colton caught the coin, its weight cold and heavy. He slipped it into his pocket, the image of Kevin's photo—Bella's grin, their shared past—burning in his mind, his dad's bloodied face a shadow behind it. "Cronus took my dad," he said, voice like steel. "He won't take Kev. Or Bella." The spark flared, a fire defying gods, and he stepped through the portal, the Underworld's chill swallowing him whole.