Hades stood at the threshold of his realm. Then, he changed. His form dissolved and swelled, reshaping into a creature of majestic dread. A giant black phoenix now hovered where the king had stood, its wings vast enough to cast a shadow over the land. Its feathers were the colour of a starless midnight, each one tipped with a sharp gleam of gold. Violet eyes, glowing with eerie brilliance, surveyed the world. From its body coiled tendrils of a drifting black haze, an aura of elegance and profound power.
He rose toward the cavernous ceiling of the Underworld. As he neared the earthly seal, he uttered a single, silent command.
'Shadow Dispersion.'
His physical form dissolved into a cloud of pure, shadowy smoke, seeped through rock and soil. On the surface, the black smoke poured from the ground, came together and materialised once more into the formidable phoenix.
He ascended into the bright blue sky, the sun warming feathers that radiated an unnatural cold. 'Blue sky instead of eternal twilight. No scent of sulphur and death, only the sweet perfume of soil and living flowers.'
His very presence warped the environment. The black haze drifting from him spread like a silent plague. Below, animals froze mid-stride, their instincts screaming of an apex predator. Birds fell silent and fled to the deepest parts of their nests. The sunlight around him dimmed as if afraid, and an unseasonable coldness seeped into the air, stirring ghosts and minor demons to unnatural activity.
He stretched his senses across the world, using his divinities of Secret and the Underworld to seek what belonged to him. 'Five rivers. Styx, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, Acheron. The nearest... is Phlegethon, the fire.'
With a powerful beat of his wings, he shot toward the west. Speed gathered around him and flew faster than storm winds, leaving shockwaves. He crossed a hundred kilometres in a heartbeat, reaching a range of towering mountains. As he prepared to cross them, a spear of concentrated divine energy ripped through the air where his heart had been a moment before.
Hades banked smoothly, his violet eyes dropping to the mountain pass below. A young Titan stood there, hefting another spear. A quick pulse of divine insight revealed his identity. 'An illegitimate son of Atlas. Arrogance runs in the blood.'
"Child of Atlas," Hades's voice echoed, devoid of anger, full of warning. "Do not make yourself an obstacle in my path."
The Titan laughed, a crude, booming sound. "A divine bird! You should be honoured to become my meal!" He channelled his power into the next spear, making it glow with ferocious energy, and hurled it with enough force to split a mountain.
Hades simply glided lower, the spear passing harmlessly overhead. But now, his patience had evaporated. His violet eyes sharpened, glinting with a killing intent the young Titan was too foolish to perceive. Hades opened his beak, drawing in a breath that seemed to suck the warmth from the world. At the tip of his beak, a small orb of dark blue flame sparked to life, radiating an intense, soul-deep cold.
He exhaled.
A beam of that chilling blue flame shot downward. The Titan, enraged, met it with a raw blast of his own divine energy. The two forces collided, but the Titan's power was like a candle against a glacier. His beam was instantly overwhelmed. The blue flame touched him, and his screams were cut short as his body was not burned, but utterly desiccated and charred into fine, black ash in the space of a second.
"Aaahhh!! My son!!"
A nymph burst from the trees, her wail splitting the silence. She stumbled forward, collapsing to the scorched ground where only ash remained. With trembling hands she gathered the remnants into her arms, clutching them desperately against her chest.
Her sobs wracked the air, raw and unrestrained, as if her heart itself had been torn out. Rocking back and forth, she whispered broken pleas, as though her child might still hear her:
"No… no, not you, not my boy… Please… please come back…"
The black phoenix above watched in silence, his violet gaze unreadable.
Minutes passed, her sorrow echoing through the mountains. Slowly, grief bled into fury. Her tears fell, but her voice hardened, each word jagged with hate.
"This… this is your doing." She lifted her face, eyes blazing with despair and wrath. "He was Atlas's son! You… you killed him! You will pay! Death will claim you!"
Hades looked down, his voice cold and final. "If one is ready to kill, one must be ready to die." Without another glance, he beat his wings and continued his journey, leaving the mourning nymph behind.
He crossed the mountains, and the endless blue of the ocean stretched before him. The rhythm of the waves and the vast, calm power of the sea filled the air, thick with the smell of salt and algae.
In seconds, he was hovering over a volcano rising from the centre of the sea. Lava boiled in its crater. Hades poured his authority into his voice, making it resonate deep into the earth's core.
"Phlegethon. Awaken from your slumber. Your obligations call you back."
The volcano trembled. The lava flows surged violently, and clouds of sulphur and ash billowed into the sky. From the heart of the inferno, a towering figure of nightmare rose. It was wreathed in living fire, a skeletal, horned visage glaring from within the flames. Jagged armour of charred bone and flesh clung to its frame. It was a demonic incarnation of fury.
"ROAARRR!!!" it bellowed, the sound shaking the very sea. "Who dares awaken me!"
Its molten eyes scanned the area before locking onto the black phoenix hovering above. It raised a burning claw. "You! You awakened me!" But as it examined the creature, its fury was tempered by a sudden, deep-seated instinct. 'What is this being? My very essence... feels submissive.'
"I am Hades," the phoenix's voice echoed, heavy with the weight of the underworld. "King of the realm you once called home. I awaken you because your purpose awaits."
The fire around Phlegethon dimmed slightly. The river god's posture changed from one of aggression to wary respect. "I am Phlegethon. This lowly one... wishes to ask a question. May I?"
Hades gave a single, regal nod.
"Thank you, my lord. The Dukes... do they still rule? Specifically, the Duke Miramor?"
"They are gone. The Underworld is now ruled by me, and my wife, Hecate."
'Hecate? Married?' The thought was so shocking that Phlegethon's flames flickered in disbelief. 'That cold, untouchable witch took a king?' For a moment, he was distracted, until he felt the phoenix's gaze sharpen, the air growing colder. He quickly recomposed himself.
Ahem "My gratitude, that I may be of use to you," Phlegethon said, bowing his great, fiery head.
Hades raised a wing and, with a fusion of Underworld and Magic divinity, tore a giant, swirling portal into the fabric of the air. Through it, the familiar violet twilight of home could be seen. "This leads you back."
"Thank you, my lord." Without hesitation, Phlegethon stepped through the portal, and it sealed behind him, leaving only the scent of ozone and smoke.
'One reclaimed. Four remain,' Hades thought. 'The next closest is Acheron, to the south.' He turned, preparing to continue his journey.
But he had been observed. Far below, an orca had witnessed the entire exchange. It now dove deep, speeding through the dark water toward a place where the ocean floor was a garden of glowing corals and bioluminescent jellyfish. In the heart of this beauty stood a majestic palace constructed of sapphire-blue stone and silver.
The orca transformed into a muscular merfolk at the gates, where guards in golden armour saluted him. He moved swiftly through the grand halls to the throne room.
There, upon a throne carved from a single, enormous sapphire, sat the Titan Oceanus. His body was vast, scaled, and powerful, his long white beard swaying like sea kelp in a gentle current. His blue eyes, ancient and deep as the trenches, opened.
"What news do you bring, Orcanon?" Oceanus's voice rumbled through the hall.
Orcanon knelt. "Hades has been sighted on the western sea. He killed an illegitimate son of Atlas and forced the river god Phlegethon to kneel. His aura... it seems to be at the God Chief level."
'Hmm…One who always hid in the shadows now walks in the light.' Oceanus's brows furrowed. "Is there more?"
"Yes, your Majesty. There is something else. The rumours... the chatter about the rebellion and the rise of Cronus's sons... it has all suddenly gone quiet. It's as if the world has forgotten. This phenomenon is even affecting our own people and me. If I haven't met lord Poseidon, then maybe I also have forgotten about rebellion."
"You may go," Oceanus said. Orcanon bowed and departed.
Alone, Oceanus steepled his fingers. 'Mass amnesia... I, a God King, retain my memory, which means the caster is below my rank and targets only rumours and information related to rebellion. Who has such power? Lethe or Mnemosyne? Their abilities are too narrow for this scale.'
He stroked his beard, pondering. Then, a memory surfaced. 'Poseidon once mentioned that Hades possesses a near-omniscient awareness when it comes to secrets. Could it be his doing? And if one considers the outcome, who benefits most from this silence? The rebellion gains precious time. The evidence, while circumstantial, points to one conclusion.'
A slow, deep smile spread across Oceanus's face, which soon turned into a low, rumbling laugh that shook the pearls in his beard.
"Hahaha! Oh, nice, nice Hades... you have played everyone. Nyx, Gaea, Uranus... you old schemers," he whispered to the silent palace. "A new player has joined our game."