Aria woke to the sensation of being watched.
Not through the bond—Hades and Cerberus were still asleep, their presence warm and steady in her mind. This was something else. Something that made her skin crawl.
She opened her eyes carefully, not moving.
The room looked normal. Dawn light—or whatever passed for it in Hell—filtered through the windows. Nothing seemed out of place.
But the feeling persisted.
Something was here, she thought. Last night. While we slept.
She slipped out of bed carefully, not wanting to wake the others. Her bare feet were silent on the cold stone floor as she moved around the room, searching for... what? A sign? A threat?
Her eyes caught on something near the window. A symbol drawn in what looked like ash, so faint she almost missed it.
Hades, she called through the bond. Wake up. We have a problem.
Both men were awake instantly, alert and dangerous.
"What's wrong?" Hades demanded, already scanning the room.
Aria pointed to the symbol. "That wasn't there last night."
Cerberus moved closer, his eyes narrowing. "That's an observer mark. Someone was here. Watching us."
"How?" Hades' voice was deadly calm. "The wards should have prevented any intrusion. Even I can't bypass my own protections."
"Unless someone helped them from the inside," Aria said, the pieces clicking together. "Someone on the council."
The implications hung heavy in the air.
"We can't trust anyone," Cerberus said. "Not until we know who's compromised."
Hades' expression went cold and calculating. "Then we trust no one except each other. The reconnaissance mission to Erebus' territory—we go alone. No backup. No support. Just the three of us."
"That's suicide," Aria said.
"Maybe. But it's also the only way to ensure we're not walking into a trap set by our own people." Hades moved to his armory, pulling weapons from hidden compartments. "We leave within the hour. Pack light, expect nothing, trust only the bond."
The outer rings of Hell were nothing like the palace.
Here, the landscape was raw chaos—lakes of fire, forests of petrified screams, mountains that moved and breathed. This was where the truly dangerous entities lived, the ones even Hades kept at arm's length.
Aria walked between Hades and Cerberus, feeling their protective presence through the bond. Cerberus had shifted to his full beast form, all three heads alert and scanning for threats.
"Erebus' forces are camped another mile ahead," Hades said quietly. "Beyond that ridge."
"I can feel something," Aria said, her hand instinctively going to her chest where the Heart pulsed. "Power. Dark and old. Like what I felt during the ritual."
"Chaos," Cerberus growled, all three heads speaking in unison.
"They're trying to summon it," Hades said grimly. "Or open a passage. Either way, we need to know how far along they are."
They crested the ridge and looked down into the valley below.
What they saw made Aria's blood run cold.
Thousands of demons filled the valley, all of them working on a massive structure. It looked like a cathedral built from bones and darkness, with spires that reached impossibly high. At its center, a swirling vortex of energy pulsed with sickly light.
"That's not a portal," Aria breathed. "That's a wound. They're literally tearing a hole in reality."
"And feeding it power," Hades added, his expression dark. "Look at the perimeter."
Aria followed his gaze. Around the structure, hundreds of creatures were chained—souls, demons, things she couldn't identify. All of them screaming as their essence was drained and fed into the vortex.
"They're sacrificing them," Cerberus snarled. "Burning through lives to fuel that thing."
"We need to get closer," Aria said. "See what they're actually doing."
"Too dangerous," Hades said immediately. "If they sense us—"
"They won't." Aria felt the Heart pulsing, responding to the dark energy below. "I can mask our presence. Use the Heart's power to make us invisible to their detection."
Through the bond, she felt Hades' reluctance warring with his strategic mind.
"How sure are you?" he asked.
"Seventy percent?"
"That's not reassuring."
"It's the best we've got."
Cerberus nudged her with his center head. I trust you, his voice said in her mind. If you say you can do it, I believe you.
Hades sighed. "Fine. But at the first sign of detection, we run. No heroics. No last stands. We get out and regroup."
"Agreed."
Aria closed her eyes, reaching for the Heart's power. It came eagerly, silver light dancing beneath her skin. But instead of letting it shine, she inverted it—turned it inward, creating a bubble of absence around the three of them.
"Move slowly," she whispered. "Stay close. If we separate, the veil breaks."
They descended into the valley like ghosts.
Up close, the structure was even more horrifying.
The bones weren't random—they'd been arranged with precision, forming complex patterns that hurt to look at. Runes covered every surface, written in languages that predated language itself.
And the screaming. Gods, the screaming.
"They're not just dying," Aria realized, horror churning in her stomach. "They're being unmade. Erased from existence."
"Ultimate sacrifice," Hades said, his voice hollow. "Not just death, but complete annihilation. That's what's powering the vortex."
"How many would they need?" Cerberus asked.
"To punch through the seals holding Chaos?" Hades did the math in his head. "Thousands. Tens of thousands."
"They don't have that many here," Aria said.
"No. But this is just one site." Hades' expression darkened. "If they have multiple locations, all working simultaneously..."
"They could do it," Aria finished. "They could actually release Chaos."
A voice cut through the air: "Clever girl."
Erebus materialized in front of them.
The veil shattered.
Instantly, every demon in the valley turned toward them. Thousands of eyes, all burning with malice.
"Run," Hades commanded.
They ran.
Cerberus' beast form was fastest. He scooped Aria onto his back while Hades materialized wings of shadow, taking to the air. Behind them, Erebus' forces gave chase—a tide of darkness and teeth and fury.
"They're gaining!" Aria shouted over the wind.
Hold on, Cerberus thought to her. This is going to hurt.
He leaped, impossibly high, impossibly far. They crashed through a barrier of reality itself, tumbling through darkness before slamming back into the physical realm miles away.
Aria rolled, gasping. Cerberus shifted to human form, blood streaming from his nose. Hades landed beside them, his wings dissolving.
"Is everyone alive?" Hades asked.
"Define alive," Cerberus groaned.
"We're breathing. That counts." Aria forced herself upright despite her spinning head. "But we have a bigger problem. Erebus knew we were coming. He was waiting."
"The observer mark," Hades said grimly. "He watched us sleep. Heard us plan. He knew exactly where we'd be."
"Someone in the palace is feeding him information," Cerberus added. "Someone close enough to bypass your wards."
"We can't go back," Aria said. "Not yet. Not until we know who the traitor is."
"Agreed." Hades looked around, assessing their location. "We're in the wastes. Neutral territory. No one's claimed this area because it's too unstable."
"Perfect place to hide," Cerberus said.
"Or get killed," Aria muttered.
A sound echoed through the wastes—something between a roar and a laugh.
"Too late," Hades said. "We've been noticed."
From the shadows, shapes emerged. Not demons. Something older. Primordial entities that existed before Hell itself, drawn by the power radiating from the triad.
"Of course," Aria said. "Because today wasn't already terrible enough."
The creatures circled them—seven of them, each one massive and wrong, existing partially in this reality and partially in others.
"They want the power," Hades said quietly. "They can sense the triad. Want to consume it."
"Can we fight them?" Aria asked.
"Maybe. If we use the full bond. But that much power..." Hades hesitated. "It'll be like a beacon. Every entity in Hell will know exactly where we are."
"Including Erebus," Cerberus finished.
The creatures moved closer, their forms shifting and rippling.
Aria felt the Heart pulsing, eager to be unleashed. Through the bond, she felt Hades' cold calculation and Cerberus' wild readiness for violence.
"We fight," she decided. "Together. Full power. Let them come. Let everyone come. Because I'm done running."
Are you sure? Hades asked through the bond.
No. But when has that ever stopped us?
She felt his grim amusement. Fair point.
Aria raised her hands, silver fire erupting from her palms. Beside her, Hades summoned his blade, wreathed in shadow and ice. Cerberus shifted back to beast form, all three heads snarling.
"Together," Aria said.
"Together," they echoed.
The bond flared to life, and power exploded outward.
Silver, black, and crimson light twisted together, forming a pillar that reached the sky. The creatures screamed and charged.
And the triad met them head-on.
The fight was chaos.
Aria moved on instinct, letting the bond guide her. She could feel where Hades was without looking, knew when Cerberus would strike before he moved. They fought as one organism, covering each other's weaknesses, amplifying each other's strengths.
Silver fire burned through one creature. Hades' blade severed another. Cerberus' jaws crushed a third.
But there were so many.
We need to end this fast, Hades thought. The power draw is too much.
I have an idea, Aria sent back. But it's risky.
Everything we do is risky, Cerberus thought. What's one more?
The Heart can absorb power, right? Consume it. What if I use it to drain these things? Take their essence and use it against them?
Silence through the bond. Then:
That could kill you, Hades said. Or worse.
Or it could save us. Your call.
She felt his internal struggle. Then: Do it. But if you start to lose control, I'm pulling you back. Consequences be damned.
Same, Cerberus added.
Aria smiled. I love you both too.
She dropped to her knees, pressing both palms against the ground. The Heart responded eagerly, reaching out through the earth, through reality itself.
The creatures felt it. Tried to run.
Too late.
The Heart's power erupted like a black hole, pulling at their essence. They screamed as they were dragged toward Aria, their forms dissolving, their power being consumed.
Aria felt it flooding into her—raw, chaotic, burning. Too much. Way too much.
Aria! Both their voices in her head, panicked.
She was drowning in power. Losing herself. Losing—
Two sets of hands grabbed her. Hades and Cerberus, kneeling on either side, pouring their own power through the bond to stabilize her.
We've got you, Hades said. Anchor to us. Let us carry the overflow.
You're not alone, Cerberus added. Never alone.
The power equalized, flowing through all three of them instead of just her. The creatures' essence was absorbed, purified, and integrated into the triad.
When it was done, Aria collapsed between them, gasping.
"That," she panted, "was absolutely insane."
"You absorbed seven primordial entities," Hades said, awe in his voice. "That should be impossible."
"We're a triad," Aria reminded him. "Impossible is kind of our thing."
Cerberus laughed, wild and relieved. "She's got a point."
But their victory was short-lived.
The pillar of power they'd created had done exactly what Hades feared—attracted attention.
In the distance, shapes were moving. Lots of them. Coming fast.
"Erebus' forces," Hades said. "The council's army. And..." He paused. "Something else. Something that feels like—"
"Heaven," Aria finished, her blood running cold. "The angels are coming."
Through the bond, she felt their shared realization.
The war they'd been trying to prevent had just begun.
And they were standing at ground zero.