Chapter 5 - The Condemnation

Athena has sent the Champion of Sparta on the Underworld for the second time, but at this point, he was left detained in chains in the Jails of Tartarus where the commodities of Greece are left imprisoned, so are the Titans who were tormented by the Gods by forcing them to work as their slaves. Matthaios is still senseless after he was rendered unconscious by Apollo, and little thing did he know, he was now in the pits of endless suffering and damnation.

Screams could be heard inside the jails as if the prisoners are begging to be released from their imprisonment, and the Spartan Demi-god has awoken after hearing their voices begging for mercy. Unlike his father Kratos who also went to this gutter that is the Jails of Tartarus, Matthaios did not consider murdering the inmates just to regain his strength and vitality as a Demi-god. But instead, he did not take any actions to free them or whatsoever, they were left tied up and suffer thinking that they deserve to be abandoned and forgotten.

The false hopes that were given to the prisoners wouldn't grant them their salvation, and Matthaios kept on walking until he arrived at the jail's entrance. There is only one God he could reach out for him to leave the pit and that is the Primordial Deity who is the embodiment of the dungeon where he is right now, and that is Tartarus. The Demi-god was forced to pull and operate levers to make his way to him, but what he found is the statue of his grandfathers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.

Looking above the statues, Matthaios could imagine what his father has gone through to defeat them, but it wasn't the right time for him to stall as the shrines served as the gateway for him to the following path. There were more prisoners inside, but there was one who was brooding at the edge of the room. Matthaios thought of talking to the captive at the side of the penitentiary, but what he saw are the walls covered with carvings similar to what he has seen earlier.

"By the Gods... What does this mean?" Matthaios asked himself while using his hands to feel it.

"Us, Champion of Sparta. We are only prisoners that are meant to be rotten here." The prisoner answered in a low tone of his voice.

"By the means of it... You must be one of the prisoners." He spoke, and he was left surprised by the illustrations of the Ghost of Sparta ending their suffering by killing them.

"You, son of the Ghost of Sparta, should put an end to our misery." The prisoner faced the Spartan Demi-god, and he begins to get uneasy.

"The freedom upon you people will defeat this place's purpose, and it makes me wonder how you ended up here." Matthaios lends an ear to the detainee.

"I was born in Athens, Champion of Sparta. But my ideologies are not according to what they strive for. I am a political prisoner, and I was imprisoned for stating nothing but facts. Yet those hypocrites are living their lives at best, while I was destined to rot here until the vermins of this jail consume my flesh..." The man introduces himself, stating that he is enchained because of political conflicts.

"Is it because of the rivalry between Athens and Sparta that's why you're here? Or is it something more?" He asked the convict who is making a new carving on the wall.

"Their democracy is nothing but lies coated with how sweet their campaign is. I do not believe in such things, Champion of Sparta. But the thing I do believe in is this." He laid his hand into his brain, expressing that he follows.

Matthaios doesn't show any interest in politics even if he was wise enough to go for a higher rank in the governance of Sparta, but the inmate he's talking to made him enthusiastic. "You seem to make a point, and yes, you have to use your brains. And if I may, can I tell you that it is not in the right place?"

"It is in the right place, Spartan. I do not belittle you but yours isn't. That wisdom of yours is hidden with your deep resentment towards someone just like your father." He starts comparing him to his father Kratos.

"You show signs of elitism, acting like you are some sort of an intellectual. No wonder why you are destined to decay here." Matthaios crossed his arms as he was offended by what the prisoner said.

"You are a walking epitome of intuition amongst brute forces, Matthaios. What a wasted potential you are." The jailbird tells the Demi-god that he is not being utilized adequately.

"I do not have time for arguments that will lead to nonsensical verbal assault, whoever you are." The Champion of Sparta turns his back to him.

"Athamas is my name in case you are wondering." He states his name while he is in progress with the carving that he is making.

"Thank you for wasting my time, Athamas. But I must proceed now and find Tartarus." Matthaios was about to leave and move on, but Athamas was offended by what the Demi-god talked about.

"Wasting your time?! How vivid of you to defy me." Athamas stood up and tries to stab the Demi-god with his sharpened rock, but Matthaios caught it on time.

"You are not in the right place to demand entitlement, and I'm sorry that I had to do this." He took the tool and slit his throat with it, decapitating him with it.

Athamas' head fell after it was severed, and the thud it made caught the Gorgon's attention. The sisters of Medusa showed up to block the Champion of Sparta's way, and Matthaios was left under pressure. Still, it did not bother him on a maximum scale as he found a way to deal with them and that is to manipulate their movements. Matthaios performed a roll evading their beams that might affect him, leaving the beasts victimizing each other by turning one another into stones.

The Champion of Sparta saw an opening and immediately kicked the body of the Gorgons that were turned into stones, but it didn't end there as he collected their eyes out by gouging it. The Gorgons were crying out in despair and Matthaios decides to take their heads off similar to what has Medusa suffered, knowing it would serve as sacrifices for him to gather enough strength to take on tougher challenges for him. And after storing the Gorgon eyes, he gets the chance to travel the depths of the Jails of Tartarus once more.

While traveling the depths of the prison, he encounters a shattered throne that once served as a gate with its keys still attached. And after bypassing the Shackles of The Titans, he is now at a terrace, and there was the path leading to the Temple of the Gods that has Zeus' monument left destroyed. The Temple was rather invaded by his father Kratos to acquire the Gauntlet of Zeus, a weapon powerful enough to create forces of lightning and other related elements. And when Matthaios investigating inside the Temple, a deep, raspy, and shivering voice disrupts him.

"Champion of Sparta... A second voyage here in the Underworld had me wondering." The voice comes from the ruler of the jails himself, Tartarus.

"How so, Tartarus? I thought you aren't coming to use a small talk to me." Matthaios faces the Primordial God with courage and boldness.

"I must say, you match Zagreus' skills in battle. But lucky for you, his army is not on his mother's temple." Tartarus took a seat on the broken statue of Zeus.

"He would make a perfect adversary, yes. But as my mentors reminded me of as always, I shouldn't let my guard down." The Demi-god states while staring at his uncles Hades and Poseidon's pillars.

"I also have awareness of your battle with Triton, and I can't deny that his Lance helped you win that one. But how would you prevail without it, hmmm?" The ruler of the prison asked.

"Improvisation, Tartarus. I always find ways." Matthaios answers while holding a replica of Poseidon's Trident.

"This might offend you, but I know the sole reason why they sent you here... You might be questioning Athena on how she cares about you, but in reality, she never did. Hell, I couldn't blame your overprotective mother for molding such a cold-blooded murderer." The Primordial God also knows about his acts above.

"All of this because of a damn vision, and I know that Athena is preventing me from what she has seen. The Queen of Sparta also consulted the Oracle, and what they told her is identical to what Athena saw." Matthaios knew about his fate, and he couldn't do anything but to follow it.

"Aw, poor you. You shouldn't be a slave to the Gods just like your father did. I do not mean any offenses, but you shouldn't follow his footsteps." Tartarus gave the Demi-god some advice.

"They are always telling me the same thing, but I couldn't. Not that I cannot do so, I just don't know how." He finally gets rid of his frustrations by telling what he felt about living up to his father's doing.

"Softening up, huh? Must have been from your mother." He pats his back after getting up.

Matthaios took a deep breath before speaking. "My mother is the reason why I am still sane, and it makes me ask what if I was just like what they call the Ghost of Sparta. They say I would cause chaos and bring terror upon Greece and the new reign of Gods, but Athena is curbing the possibilities sooner as I thought."

"Follow the message, but not them. That's all I could tell you." Tartarus then gave the young Demi-god a piece of advice.

"Disobeying the Gods, but living up to the visions? Hmph, sounds skeptical. I can't." Matthaios gets the idea, but he refuses to do it.

"Ha, I knew you would chicken out," Tartarus smirks to taunt the Champion of Sparta.

"Me? Chickening out?" He was offended by it, causing his eyes to lit up red.

"Yes... You don't deserve to be called a Spartan. And hence, you do not deserve the title as a Demi-god." The Primordial God kept on mocking him until he grows angrier.

And when Matthaios was about to surge and strangle Tartarus, the Primordial God calls for some other Gods. "By the names of Morpheus and Nemesis, I call you."

The two Gods have been summoned by Tartarus, and those were Morpheus, the God of Dreams. And Nemesis, the Goddess of Revenge and Divine Retribution. Tartarus stood in front of an angered Matthaios, and it has been revealed that the two Gods were the ones responsible for the nightmares and vengeance on him. "Look at you, easy to rectify."

"He has always been an obedient boy, Tartarus. He does resemble his father, oh, full of pure rage and hatred to the Gods who have cursed him." Nemesis grins at the Demi-god's mishap of getting himself manipulated by them.

"Your father had the chance to kill me, Spartan, but he didn't. So who's the coward now?" Morpheus shows up in his normal form that is way different from his appearance when he plagued the mind of Kratos.

Tartarus allied with Morpheus and Nemesis to bring Matthaios down until he is now controlled by them and their desires to terrorize Greece and the remaining Olympian Gods. While gripping the Demi-god's jaw, he orders him to go back to the mortal grounds. With Morpheus and Nemesis using their shared powers, their objective towards the Champion of Sparta becomes convenient.

"Climb up to Mount Olympus, and bring your whore mother's soul to us. And it goes... Again, and again. Until you drag them all here."

To be continued...