Uniting As The Ten- Part Two Of The Conclusion To The United Series

Chapter Seventeen

Max's POV:

What?

"WHAT?!" I shout, stumbling away from Setràkus Ra. He smiles sadly at me.

"I know who your father is, Max. Poseidon, Greek god of the sea, and I'm positive you've never met him before. You're a smart, kind girl. You deserve a father figure in your life." Setràkus Ra explains calmly.

"I don't have a family because you killed them all!" I yell at him, my anger slowly rising again.

"And you should let me repay you for that." Setràkus Ra replies. I shake my head in disbelief. This can't be happening. Setràkus Ra wants to take me in as his daughter. But why?

"Why? Why do you want me as your daughter?" I ask him, cause that's probably a really bad decision.

"Again, you've proven yourself worthy of my care." He repeats and I'm even more disgusted.

"Your care? You're saying you care about me?" I question bitterly. He sighs heavily, looking back up at the Mariot.

"My great-granddaughter, Ella. She rejected me. I was hoping she would take the Mogadorian throne after me, but she decided to go against me." Setràkus Ra explains.

Did he just say...?

"Ella? Ella's your great-granddaughter?" I ask him. He nods his head yes and turns back to me, an even deeper care and kindness in his usually cold black eyes. I tightly grip the black bars on the walkway. I'm probably going to hurl over the side if this keeps going on.

"Follow me, Max." Setràkus Ra orders me, then turns around and opens the door that leads back outside to the hallway. I look back at him and, because I know that I don't have a choice, I follow him outside into the hallway. He closes the steel door behind us and places his hand on my shoulder again. I flinch when he touches me, but I bite my tongue and roll with it. He steers me down hundreds more empty hallways until we reach another room, this one to the left of a hall littered with random doors placed everywhere. This door seems just like all the others in this hall; dark, splintered wood. It doesn't look like anything special.

But when Setràkus Ra opens the door, I catch my breath and bite my lip hard to stop from gasping.

The walls and ceiling are all space; stars, planets, moons and asteroids everywhere. In the distance I can see the bright glow of the sun.

And in the very center of the room, a huge throne of gold and Loralite- the material mined on Lorien- sits still. I examine it closer and notice that a few of the gold pieces in the throne are either melted or charred and black.

"What is all of this?" I ask Setràkus Ra, disbelief and interest in my voice as I look around the room in amazement. I hate giving him the satisfaction of knowing that I love this, but it's hard not to. It's absolutely beautiful and just straight-up wonderful.

"I knew you'd like it. This is space from the view of Mogadore."

Okay, now I'm really shocked.

"Well, the view before Mogadore became what it is now." He adds in, then walks to a small screen on a stone pedestal I didn't notice before in the bottom right corner. Setràkus Ra touches the tablet and swipes two of his fingers to the left. The images of space zoom in and out of focus like the vertigo effect. I'm almost dizzy by the time it finally stops, and what I see shocks me.

It's still the view from Mogadore, but it's not at all what it was before. Now all I see are low, heavy gray clouds and smoke covering everything. I look down at my feet and realize that the screen below me is what the land of Mogadore is, and my gods. It's horrible. It's completely dead and barren. The whole surface is gray and lifeless. Not a single plant or blade of grass grows. Near the edge of the room, there's a wide yet not too deep hole. What did that used to be?