Chapter 21 - New Life in God of War

"Alright, stand up, I have something for you. The two elf kings, come forward!" Hyperion ordered.

The two elves then stepped forward and knelt before Hyperion.
 "Do you know why only you elves become stronger when using the light? Do you know why Odin never tried to monopolize something that supposedly brings great power?" Hyperion asked.

Everyone was shocked by these questions; they had never thought about this before. Some proud elves might say that it was because Odin feared the military power of the elves... but even that elf would probably laugh at themselves.

Hyperion saw that they did not know.
 "This is because you dark elves are incomplete beings. Your body is full of darkness and very little light, but when you use the powerful light of the well, you become beings of great light and little darkness. In fact, the light only appears stronger because you have a source of it, whereas darkness does not. Nature tends to seek balance, but you have gone against this from birth. And that is why you can use the light—because your bodies are already unbalanced. Odin, on the other hand, would not imbalance his body, as it would make him weaker. As for the other functions of the well, Odin has already created Valhalla." Hyperion explained.

This made the elves look at each other in disbelief.
 They had never known this... except for the librarian at the center of them. She and the librarians before her had always kept this knowledge hidden, fearing that the elves would lose themselves in the pursuit of darkness. Knowledge was dangerous.

She looked down, wondering if she had made the right decision in making Hyperion the ruler of the elves.

Hyperion had noticed this but ignored it. He would fix these things later.

He then looked at everyone, who were lost in thought, and smiled.
 "Alright! TIME FOR GIFTS!!!" Hyperion shouted.

This snapped the elves out of their thoughts, and they looked at him in confusion.
 "Well, first, these!" Hyperion said, showing four large luminous crystals, each the size of a fist, floating in his hand. There was also a small luminous crystal, about the size of a fingernail.

"These crystals contain all the souls of giants, Vanir, and both light and dark elves who passed through this well. Even those who had already been cleansed by the well—I rewound their time, and they are now in the state they were when they had just died. Those who were damaged at the time of death have also been restored. And for the souls that had already reincarnated, I used a spell that allowed the future to interact with the past and gave them a choice—to return to who they once were. All the giants and Vanir said yes, and most of the elves also agreed, though some were satisfied with their current lives. Ahhh, as for the heinous criminals, I did not bring them back and left them there. But only the elves tended to have such individuals, and there were not many. The Vanir and giants are much more peaceful and harmonious, and there were no such criminals among them. Of course, I am talking about heinous criminals—bad people were still included." Hyperion finished his explanation.

As his words settled in, an uproar and heated discussions began. The elves knelt and called him the true god-king.

Hyperion did not like being deified this way. He had great power, but who could truly call themselves the one true god in this vast, infinite universe?

He did not mind being called a god, as here it was more of a race of beings who possessed divinity.

"Stop calling me that. I don’t like it. Just call me Your Majesty, as before. Now, let’s distribute these goodies. The first crystal is for Faye—it contains all the souls of the giants… This small crystal also holds the lost fragment of your blue friend. The second is for Freya—it contains the Vanir souls. The third and fourth are for you two—they contain the souls of the dark and light elves, respectively." Hyperion said, enjoying the happy faces all around.

But then he looked at Kratos, who had an emotionless face, lost in thought. He thought for a moment, and his eyes gleamed—he decided to quickly handle things here and then spoil his goddess of war.

"Well, dark king, where is the largest concentration of hive substance?" Hyperion asked.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the largest amount of hive substance we have found exists a few miles to the northwest—not very far. It was because of it that we managed to suppress the light elves." The dark king reported.

Hyperion then raised his hand, and a black crystal floated toward the dark king—this crystal originated from the hive substance he had received earlier.

"The area should be rich in dark elements. Throw this crystal there, and a dark soul well will emerge. All evil souls will migrate there and strengthen the dark well, while this luminous well will become purer without the evil souls and will also grow stronger. The two wells will seek balance—so when one strengthens, the other will also grow stronger." Hyperion said.

Once again, the elves cried out in amazement. The librarian’s eyes were filled with shock and tears—the problems that had always plagued the elves and had been kept secret by the librarians would finally be resolved.

Hyperion waited for them to calm down before continuing.
 "Alright, once the well is established, you will instruct the elves to seek their elemental balance. All of you will change in appearance the closer you get to balance, and you will become stronger. Now go—later, I will give more instructions on how to revive these souls and how to establish the empire." Hyperion finished his speech and gave his orders.

All the elves knelt, banging their heads on the ground, and shouted:
 """THANK YOU FOR YOUR BLESSINGS, YOUR MAJESTY"""

After shouting, the elves flew off, dispersing to fulfill their ruler’s orders.

Only Hyperion, Freya, Faye, and Kratos remained in that place.

Faye and Freya jumped and showered Hyperion with kisses after all the elves left.

After many kisses, they pulled away.

Hyperion then looked at Kratos, who was lost in thought, and approached her.

Kratos, seeing Hyperion approach, allowed herself to be embraced by her husband.

Hyperion kissed her lips for a while before pulling away.

"Love, would you like me to recover all the souls of Greece? You could revive the good ones—this way, you would finally let go of that weight I know you carry in your heart." Hyperion gently asked, looking into her eyes.

Kratos’ eyes widened, and she soon buried her head in her husband’s chest.

"I would like that." She whispered, muffled against his chest.

Hyperion said nothing and simply stroked his beloved’s back.

They had been together for over ten years—not ten years of a normal couple where the husband goes to work and only sees his wife at night, but ten years side by side, never apart, even going to the bathroom together. So he knew very well the weight his wife carried.