As the dreamlike essence of Sleep settled quietly within me, I finally turned to the ninth orb—the final one in the constellation of my inner world.
It shimmered with an ethereal glow, pure white, translucent like moonlight on still water. This was no element, no force of destruction or influence over others.
This was the Soul—the essence of self, the anchor of identity, the eternal flame that endured beyond time, memory, and flesh.
As I reached toward it, I felt no resistance, no reaction of wariness or challenge. Instead, the orb greeted me as if it had been waiting… always.
I channeled divine energy into it—not forcefully, but with reverence. This wasn't a power to wield, but one to become.
And the moment it accepted me, a sudden wave of clarity swept through my being. I didn't feel stronger in my muscles or aura, but something deeper.
My soul, the core of my existence, grew brighter, denser, and more complete.
Every wound I had endured, every ounce of pain, every victory and awakening now pulsed within this soul like a living chronicle, eternal and indomitable.
---
From the outside, Hestia watched closely.
Her expression softened, then turned into a quiet smile.
She didn't see his body change. No sudden wings or horns. No surge of power or darkness.
But she felt it in the air, in the silence.
"His soul… It's grown," she whispered, almost in awe.
The feeling of standing near him now was different—not heavier, not oppressive… but deeper. Like standing near a well that had no bottom, or gazing into a sky that had no end.
She pressed a hand gently to her heart.
"Finally, now, this seems like a normal awakening."
---
And within me, I understood something profound.
Each orb represented not just powers or domains, but parts of who I was meant to become.
Now, with the awakening of the White Orb, soul divinity strengthened the soul, increased divine energy capacity and control, and also created a protective shield around it.
With soul divinity, I could detect any soul, read their memories, and also gain control over spectral species.
With the ninth orb of Soul awakened and harmonized within me, I believed the storm had calmed, and I had reached the end of my divine awakening.
But then… it revealed itself.
A tenth orb.
It hovered at the farthest edge of my inner world, half-hidden in shadows, wrapped in a stillness so complete it felt like time had paused around it.
Its color was pure black—not like night, not like obsidian, but like the absence of all things.
The aura it emitted was neither violent nor sinister, not even chaotic, but calm, peaceful, and orderly—like a quiet and unbreakable truth.
I knew without needing to be told. This was the domain of Death. It was not just the death of a living being, but the decay of things—the inevitable end of all things.
And as I reached toward it, I expected resistance, as this domain was already owned by someone else. I was ready for anything that was thrown at me.
But to my surprise, like the orb of Sleep, this orb, too, welcomed me. As if it was submitting itself to me.
I channeled my divine energy into it, and the reaction was immediate, silent, and profound.
The space around my soul dimmed and froze. Whatever was in that space disintegrated into nothing.
I didn't feel destruction—I felt structure. A sense of balance. A line that even immortals were not meant to cross.
This was the godhood that governed the end of all stories and life journeys, the keeper of the final door, and now… it was part of me.
---
Far away, deep within the darkest cave of Erebus, a figure stirred from his silent watch.
A tall, calm man with sleek black hair, piercing grey eyes, and large, imposing black wings unfolded from behind his back. His aura was heavy—not with emotion, but with the burden of his role.
He was Thanatos, the God of Death—the twin of Hypnos.
As Hades awakened the death domain, Thanatos felt a shift in his divine consciousness. A resonance, echoing within his own soul.
He opened his eyes slowly, sensing something beyond the usual trickle of dying souls.
"…Someone has touched the line between ending and eternity," he murmured.
He was neither angry nor afraid. Just a silent acknowledgement.
A god of death had accepted another into its fold.
---
In the shadows behind him, cloaked in eternal night, Nyx, their primordial mother, watched quietly.
She had seen this once before with Hypnos, when he resonated with Hades' awakening.
Now, again, she saw her other son, Thanatos, reflect the same pull.
A new god, one not born of her, but chosen by her domains, had taken root.
She smiled faintly, a rare curl of expression upon lips usually frozen in stillness.
"Sleep welcomed its king," she whispered.
"And now… Death bows to its equal."
---
And in the depths of my soul, where the ten orbs pulsed like a constellation of fate, I understood myself more.
I was no longer a mortal, no longer just a god, no longer just a child swallowed by fear and flame.
I had become the bearer of ten divine domains.
And now, with Death itself answering my call,
I was Hades, the one who would walk between endings and eternity.
And soon, the world would know it.
---
As I stood in the quiet aftermath of awakening the godhood of Death, I believed I had touched the deepest parts of existence—life, end, soul, and silence. But then, just when my divine core had begun to settle, I noticed it…
A presence, not like the others.
An orb that didn't shine, but absorbed all light around it.
It hovered in the furthest corner of my inner world, a swirling, hazy, black orb, cloaked in mist like smoke that bled into the void itself.
The 11th orb.
The domain of Darkness.
Not just the absence of light.
But the primordial void, the origin, the unknown—the place before form, before name.
As I reached toward it, I felt something I hadn't with any of the others. It was neither resistant nor hostile, but held a deep resonance.
It felt like me.
Yet at the same time, it felt immense, formidable, ancient, and endless.
I began the awakening, and immediately the darkness responded, wrapping itself around me—not gently like Sleep, not cleanly like Death—but devouringly.
A surge of energy flooded into me. It increased my strength dramatically.
But with it came something else—something that cost.
My arms and legs began to blacken, starting from the tips, turning into obsidian-like void matter, the lines crawling slowly but surely toward my chest.
It was empowering me, but also eroding me.
My aura flared wildly—unstable, incomprehensible to divine senses.
---
From across the chamber, Hestia's eyes widened in horror.
She had seen gods bleed, rage, and even die. But this… this was transcendence at a cost.
"No," she whispered. "That's not just a domain... that's a primordial inheritance."
She could see her brother's body slowly being consumed.
Not just infused—engulfed.
"That darkness…" she said, her voice trembling, "…belongs to someone not even Father dared to provoke."
Her flame flickered.
---
Back inside the orb, my vision was swallowed whole. Sight, sound, even thought began to dull, fade, dissolve—
Until there was only black.
And then—
In the centre of that void, amidst the stillness—
She stood.
A tall woman, draped in flowing shadows, her black hair like starlit silk, her eyes deeper than eternity, her presence neither warm nor cold—simply infinite.
She wore a dress woven of night itself.
She was Nyx, the Primordial Goddess of Darkness and Night, the mother of Hypnos and Thanatos.
She did not speak. She did not need to.
Her existence alone echoed in my soul like thunder in a hollow world.
And yet she looked at me—not with wrath, but with recognition.
Like a mother seeing a child born not from her womb, but from her will.
---
The darkness that had been eroding me began to stop.
Instead of consuming… it settled.
The blackened arms and legs became marked, not decayed—branded by shadows and darkness.
My body quickly adapted to the new power.
The orb didn't just grant me power—it accepted me as heir of shadows and darkness.
And in that final moment, Nyx stepped back into the darkness and whispered:
"Let the darkness be… the new king's weapon and shield."
---
My vision returned to my inner mind.
The dark black orb pulsated with energy and resonated with me. With this, I awakened my dark divinity and became the god of darkness and shadows.
---
And far above, in the depths of the night sky, Nyx watched her newest child of the void.
And smiled.