Jar of Sorrows: The Oaths of Dante, #3

By Mika Mathews

The Final Installment of the Oaths of Dante, watch as Dante rises up to create the Jar of Sorrows and heal the world he helped break. Armed with greater power and a drive to do whatever it takes to make amends, he moves forward with the love of his mother Thea, partner Christopher and several good friends to heal the earth. However, just as he has great power, he find he is stripped of his immortality and even his lycanthropy. Can he succeed where so many before him have failed, can he undo the damage he has caused... 

Should he? 

 

Written by Award Winning Author Mika Mathews, this novella has been awarded Nerdections Must Read Seal of Approval!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mika Mathews
• Release date: Jul 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223597186

Book preview

Prologue - A Mother’s Fury

Hatred, loss, desire. Hera was filled with these feelings and more. She hated her disgusting husband, mourned the loss of her freedom, and desired nothing more than to reset her life and take back the power she had scarcely enjoyed before Zeus stole it from her. Her entire existence had been nothing but pain from the moment she was born and eaten by her father, then violated and forced into marriage by her brother, who then proceeded to cheat on her with everything that had a heartbeat... no, Hera was not happy.

She desired vengeance, and she would get it... one way or another.

Ragnarok would provide the perfect opportunity for that sort of thing, or so she hoped...

And so it was.

This is the tale of how Hera reclaimed her power, her life, and in many ways... her will to live.

It all started mere moments after the Gods left the mortal realm, fleeing into the divine portal at Gaia’s command.

Ragnarok will not happen on my soil, my flesh and blood! she demanded, her tone clear and potent. I will not suffer your petty grasping ambitions any longer. You may return only when you have healed the rifts of time.

And so they left, all the gods, fleeing into the portal. Hera felt her husband, her brother, put his strong arm around her. My queen, shall we retire, rest before Ragnarok begins?

She barely withheld a sneer... instead she smiled, her tone seductive as she said, Of course, my love. And they moved off, into the gold and marble halls in which they they lived. They reached their room, where she summoned the wine she had prepared for this, using talents crafted and honed over eons. As a domestic goddess, it was an easy thing to prepare for her monstrous husband. Wine, my lord? she offered, and like the fool he was, he drank it.

Drinking... drinking... drinking until the goblet was empty and her plan could begin. He collapsed onto their large bed, making it rumble and rattle, before the agony started to spread. His gorgeous steel gray eyes wide, he went to scream, but nothing escaped his chest as poison burned him through.

Kneeling next to him, she pulled out a knife. It was gray and gold, sharper than most immortal weapons. My love... my lord... for eons you have cheated on, abused, and hurt me. This is your punishment. Gaia presented me with this blade, made of the same metal that killed her lover Ouranos. Now it is your turn... Good bye!

And the dagger was rammed home, deep into his chest, gold light spilling into the air, his powers fleeing him... but Hera did not waste it, no, she drank it in, breathing in his powers until her body thrummed with power so great that it would rival even the lovely Aphrodite’s!

Shaking, she stood. Long live the king, and long may he suffer in all the hells we gods may go to...

She walked away, ignoring her fading lover, knowing no force could save him, and that in mere minutes, he would fade from existence, leaving her to rule her kingdom alone...

Just as it should be.

Chapter One - Dealing With the New Way

Damn it! Christopher barked out, dodging a strike from one of five minotaurs chasing him. Why did the gods replicate these beasts, wasn’t one enough? he managed to think before throwing himself to the side using tactics he’d learned from Heracles’ harsh training. Rolling, he popped up, turning back into his human form to slash out with his still turned claws. The minotaur nearest him cried out, stumbling back as blood welled up from the wound he caused. Try me! he bellowed, ready to charge...

Only for a wave of green energy to explode from the air, consuming the minotaurs and dragging their remains into the earth. Sighing in relief, he fell to his knees.

Thank you, Gaia.

The great mother’s love washed through him, the sweet embrace of a mother that lifted his soreness and eased the pain from his various bruises and torn muscles. Always, my love. And so she faded away, leaving him with a sense of love and peace that only she could.

Standing, thanks to her blessing, he turned to and faced the hiding, wounded Cypress. You okay?

Cypress nodded, stepping out. Beautiful in a dark way, being one of the Empousai species, he was the epitome of perfection. He was designed to be a predator, even though he had vowed not to feed on humans if he could help it. His own people had banished him for that, and yet despite that, Christopher admired him for his choice. It was hard not to appreciate the restraint and decency of it.

Gaia’s been active. His tone was sharp, withholding judgment despite that fact. It’s odd, I cannot think of any time in human history that she has been this way. He shifted, moving the two deer he was carrying on his shoulders to a more comfortable place. He was incredibly strong, like all of his vampiric species.

It’s our fault, in a way. Dante released the spirits locked in Tartarus, and their memories and lingering hate broke the obsessive love and loyalty of the human race towards the gods. They are fleeing the sanctuaries and cities and temples, entering the wilderness where the monsters of old reign. The monsters know they have free meals now, so they are more active. Gaia is responsible in large part for all of this, so this is her way of making up for it. Protecting us until we can heal from it.

The male empousai nodded. She will be active for a long time then... for humanity may never recover from this...

I pray, to no one really, that they and we do... now come, We have to get back to camp.

And the two boys, just fifteen, rushed back into the woods, waiting and willing to find their new home, taking with them the meals they hoped would feed their new people. People that needed them...

Wake Up

Wake up... wake up... wake up!

The echo of a hundred human voices, male and female, shot through Dante’s soul. Shaking, he woke, sore in ways that went beyond the physical. His soul ached, and his mind felt like a sea side cliff, with the ocean crashing into it a hundred times a day, chipping away at it until nothing was left but rubble.

Shaking, he looked about, curious, wondering. He could barely move, barely