Henry didn’t show much reaction.
He kept his eyes on the screen and opened his mouth.
“Yeah, what about them?”
“Our dad was Hades and our mother was Persephone.”
Henry stopped.
His fingers froze over the keyboard, and he raised his eyes to look at Neo.
The tension in the room thickened.
“Who told you that?”
“That doesn’t matter. What I want to know is if you know what I am talking about?”
“….I don’t.”
“I guess you do. It’s clear by your reaction.”
Neo leaned closer.
“What I want to know is why our parents – who were Gods – lived and died like mortals, and why the fuck no one had any idea they were Gods?”
Neo’s voice was sharp.
“As far as I know, everyone from the Hephaestus clan and their acquaintances used to treat them like normal unawakened demigods.”
“….”
Henry remained silent.
He stared at Neo with an unreadable gaze.
“Are you going to give me answers? Or should I get them directly from dad when I meet him in the Underworld?”
“You can go to the Underworld that easily?” Henry asked suddenly, surprised.
“Yes, I’m a Grim Reaper now. Kind of,” Neo said, recalling that the timeline where he became a Grim Reaper was erased after Daniel’s countless regressions.
“Kind of?” Henry asked, noticing the nuance in his words.
His brows furrowed slightly.
“I don’t know about it myself. I need to meet other Grim Reapers and ask them about my position.
“But that’s not the point right now.
“Why did mom and dad act like mortals when they were Gods? And why are we both like ‘this’?”
Henry’s silence was deafening, broken only by the faint clicking of the clock on the wall.
Neo’s eyes burned with frustration as he pressed further.
“I have barely any talent, and you were physically weak during childhood and had trouble awakening your God Blood.
“Shouldn’t both of us be more talented if our parents are Gods?” Neo questioned.
Henry closed his laptop.
The soft click of the screen shutting echoed in the quiet room.
He took out another cigarette and lit it.
The sharp scent of smoke curled through the air as he took a puff.
The dim glow of the desk lamp flickered slightly, casting long shadows across the room.
“I guess it’s time I tell you about these things.”
He stood and walked towards the window.
His eyes were fixed on the Void Window #8477 that loomed far on the horizon. Read new adventures at My Virtual Library Empire
“Firstly, mom and dad themselves did not know they were gods. They were born as humans, and they lived as humans.”
Henry took another puff and closed his eyes.
“They recovered their memories only on their deathbed.”
“Deathbed?”
“Yeah.”
Henry’s gaze became distant as he recalled the last moments of their parents.
“You might not remember this because you were…. injured back then.”
Saying Neo was ‘injured’ was an understatement.
He had been on the verge of death thanks to Void corruption.
“After the Void Entity killed everyone, it moved towards us.
“It would’ve killed us too, if not for dad injuring it lethally,” Henry explained.
“How did they recover their memories?” Neo asked.
“I don’t know,” Henry answered.
Neo frowned.
He recalled the meeting of Aides – a reincarnation of Hades – and Zeus, which he had seen during the third vision of the Sphinx.
Aides had said something like ‘we would meet again’ to Zeus back then.
It seemed Aides was aware he would reincarnate.
‘In both cases, dad seems to know who he is during the moments of death.’
‘Is it that he can recall his identity as a God only when he is about to die?’
Henry did not notice Neo’s confusion.
He continued.
“While dad was holding back the Void Entity, mom healed us both and brought us out from the Window #8477 and…”
Henry’s voice wavered slightly.
He took another puff from his cigarette.
His hand trembled just a bit.
“She died as soon as she brought us to safety.”
“What about dad?”
Neo’s voice was barely above a whisper.
Henry shook his head.
The words he couldn’t say lingered in the air like a ghost.
He did not survive either.
He turned back to the window.
“The reason I think both of us have low talents is because our parents were mortals, until they awakened their memories at least,” Henry said.
Silence blanketed the room.
Neo went over Henry’s words.
His mind churned.
‘Something is weird here.’
When Neo was in Shadow World, the Grim Reapers of Underworld told Daniel that Hades always remained within his castle to protect.
If Neo’s dad was in his palace in the Underworld, how was he reincarnating in the world of living?
‘Does dad have a way to be at two different places at the same time?’
Neo kept his thoughts to himself.
“Is that all you know?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for answering my questions.”
Neo stood up to leave.
The creak of his chair sounded unusually loud in the quiet room.
He expected Henry to say something like ‘look at this little shit, leaving as soon as he got what he wanted, even though he said he was here as he missed me.’
Henry remained silent, contrary to his expectations.
His eyes followed Neo as he walked to the door.
After Neo left, Henry let out a long sigh.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.
He massaged the scar that ran across his face.
The silence of the room broke when Henry suddenly frowned.
“Shut the fuck up. I don’t need your moral lessons. I lied to him, but it was for his own good.”
His voice was filled with irritation, and directed at the empty air.
“Dammit, you blabber so much that it gives me a headache.”
The room seemed to grow colder.
“Why are you even talking?”
He paused.
His gaze narrowed as if he was listening to a voice only he could hear.
“What….?”
“What do you mean you sensed a similar presence on him?”
Henry’s voice grew sharper.
His eyes darted toward the door Neo had exited moments ago.
“Are you sure it was something similar to you?”
He had not peeked into Neo’s Shadow Space as he respected Neo’s privacy.
After listening to ‘it,’ he seemed to believe Neo was hiding something in his Shadow Space.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind if he is hiding something. He is old enough to make his own decisions,” he said to no one.
…
Neo walked down the long hall.
His mind kept returning to what he had heard from Henry.
He learned two things from it:
‘Mom and dad seem to recover their memories right as they are about to die.’
‘They don’t recover their full strength. If they could, I doubt they would’ve failed to kill the Void Entity that wiped out the Hephaestus clan.’
Neo’s parents had been defeated by the Void Window.
Void Window #8477 .
It was visible from anywhere on the continent.
Many demigods had entered it, boasting they would avenge the Hephaestus clan.
None had returned.
The Void Window remained impenetrable to this day.
However, unlike normal Windows that grew over time, it’s size never expanded.
Neo’s thoughts came to a halt as he stepped into the backyard of the mansion.
The soft crunch of gravel underfoot gave way to the earthy scent of the forest that spread beyond.
Towering trees framed the area.
His friends stood in a clearing ahead.
Their faces were taut with tension.
They carried weapons and wore sleek combat gear.
Neo’s gaze landed on Felix, who held a gun tightly in her hands.
“You bonded with the True Soul Weapon already?” he asked.
