Hunter: Eclipse

Chapter 16

"Maybe tell your cult of worshipers that. Might save the dry cleaning bill for those altar costumes." I shudder at the memory of those final moments.

"You would think my silence would say enough. It has been centuries in your realm since I answered their calls."

"Why?" This really wasn't what I was expecting.

"Your people see me as evil. A monster to be feared. I am none of those things. I blessed your world with the magic of mine, and it was your people, the demons that already lived there that turned it dark," Hecate growled, the air altering from calm to tense and the plants appeared to shake with the energy that came from her. "I could not undo what I did, those that were faithful stayed on my path of light, while others. Well, they did not."

"The dark and light fae." I think out loud.

"The witches, mages, spell keepers, sorcerers. Whatever it is you call them these days." She snapped. "They forget their origins, their creator, their purpose!"

Cain created us, the Hunters, Slayers and Trackers. Hecate essentially did the same only with those who possess magic. There was just so much in our past and history that we didn't know, understand and not just for us, the general human population and even the supernatural. How much had been lost of the centuries, changed and altered.

"Do not think too hard or too long about this, young one. We would be here for an eternity if you were to try and understand, or even make sense of it all." Easy for her to say. "That power that is inside you now, it's raw and pure, but old and tainted. It has been resting for too long and has only just started to awaken."

"Tainted?"

"Those born with these powers all start the same. No one is particularly stronger than another, but rather, the vessel themselves decides that. Just how they decide how to use their gifts. It is not so much the power they are born with, but the abilities they have to use it."

"I don't know quite what you're saying."

"Take Hades and Zeus. Brothers. Hades was a quiet child, he enjoyed the simple things in life whereas Zeus needed to be the centre of attention. They were equal in power, only they used it in different ways. Had Hades sought more fame and attention, then perhaps we would have seen more conflict as they grew. Perhaps we would have had a different King all along." She mused. "Aphrodite is a lover more than a fighter. If she were gifted with a love of war in her heart, instead of well, love and all that comes with it, perhaps Aries would be sharing his battlefields with a comrade fiercer than even he."

"What about Cain?" The words leave me before I can stop them.

"He is no different. His gifts were perhaps more of a curse than any will ever understand. He is all. The ability to see and then do, a great burden to bear. He rivals them all, his gift is their gift, their powers all matched, but the abilities are not."

I get it, I think. It's the person, not the magic that decides who is good or bad, and for what purpose they use them for. It went wrong for Hecate when she brought those abilities into our world because the magic wasn't theirs, just like how it isn't really mine. We have it, we control it, but some people are just wrong, while some are good, and the power we have attaches to that rather than gifts the Powers and Gods were also born with.

"You would not have these powers if he did not think you could control them. You are not like the other child, and that is your greatest power." She sips her tea, the mood transitioning into a calmer state.

"Did you know Sobek-Ra?" I'm not sure why I ask.

"I know of him." She looks at me over the edge of her cup. "Drink your tea."