I walked down the cobblestone path silently. I didn't want to use my Shadow Travel, as I called it, too much. It was a simple concept. In a shadow, I can transport myself to another shadow I can see or just take a random guess and it puts me to the nearest shadow. The first way made it feel as if I had run half a mile with no rest and the second as if I ran two.
I looked into a window to see three women spinning a tapestry. The young blonde one spun the actual thread while the middle aged black haired woman measured it. An old woman sat at the end with a pair of shears and cut the thread. She looked me right in the eyes as she cut a thread. Behind her was a tapestry of a bird headed man stepping on top of a bleeding Poseidon.
I continued on walking. No point in wasting time. I quietly snuck past a tall man in black furs. He was about eight feet tall and two dual blades were strapped to his wrists. They were made of some strange metal that seemed to suck in light. They curved at the tip into dangerous points. He wore a simple black tunic with a blood red belt. His hair was messy and cut short. His red eyes darted back and forth.
As I walked past he began to sniff the air. He turned to me and continued to smell before turning into a three headed wolf. He had a shoulder height of eight feet and his eyes turned into red slits of smoking energy. In his mouths, an ominous red glow poured out.
I held still. He sniffed me all over before growling and walking away. I looked down at my not mauled body and sighed before noticing the red scars were gone. I didn't know what they meant but I had more things to worry about.
Cronus just stomped out of what I assumed was Hecate's house. He drew something in the grass with his scythe and vanished in a puff of golden smoke.
I quickly ran over to the house and silently slipped in before the door closed. I was in a hall that was definitely bigger than the house on the outside. It was a vast hallway that had various riches in glass cases along the walls. The walls were lined with black round columns chiseled with a checkered pattern. The walls were painted red like the floor and it went up high into a rounded ceiling. The ground was covered with a black carpet with a green 'H' embroidered on it. There were no torches and the light came from everywhere, dismissing all shadows.
Cursing my bad luck I took a step and a whip wrapped around my ankle. I was pulled off my feet and was dragged through the air before smashing into a pillar. I fell to the floor and rolled to my feet. My ankle spooled ichor into my sandal. I looked up at my attackers.
Three girls flew a few feet off the ground in front of me. They all looked exactly the same. They were short at only about four and half feet. Their crimson hair ran free down to their waists. They wore a red cloth over their flat chests and torn up, black wings sprouted from their back, each one almost their entire height. Another strip of cloth wrapped around their waists, barely reaching to half their thigh, leaving much to the imagination.
I dismissed it and looked at their weapons of choice. The girl on the left had a scourge flail clutched in her hand. The handle wasn't long and at least ten stips of black leather hung down. On the end of each strip was a curved hook made of that lifeless black metal.
The girl on the right had a long red whip. It was just a normal one, besides the small spikes. The center girl had another red whip. But this one had large pieces of the black metal along it. Looking closer, I realized it could probably shorten into a sword. They all smiled down at me. I could see their thirst to inflict pain in their black eyes.
I turned off my invisibility to not waste energy. They could clearly see me just fine. I grabbed a knife and threw it at the girl on the left. They split apart and surrounded me after landing. The flail girl laughed. Her voice was sweet and terrifying at the same time. Like a psychotic torturer.
"Look, Tisiphone! Another mind to break!"
"Son of Cronus," growled the one I assumed was Tisiphone. Her voice was scratchy and coarse. She had the sword-whip. "You were foolish to come here. We'll deal with this slowly."
"Don't worry. They scream only at the start," the last girl said. She had a mature voice. While the first girl sounded insane, she sounded more mature. Cold and calculating.
I readied my kopides. There was no way I could fight all three of them at once. The range advantage was too big. Before I could move, Tisiphone's whip smacked across my bare chest. I reeled back as pain flared through my body. The sword-whip wrapped around my arm and tightened. Before I could grab it, the flail hooks stabbed into my side. I looked at the girl as she yanked it out, pulling out chunks of flesh.
"!%$@E!DFCSV^^!&^!@R!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and collapsed.
"Megaera. That's supposed to be a finishing move. We can't break him too early."
"No but he's different! He drank from the River of Fire! He won't break!"
"In that case." The long whip wrapped around me and I was thrown into the ceiling. The obsidian cracked and I fell back down. The sword whip slashed across my back and created another laceration. The hooks on the flail caught me right under my chest and held me mid air. The hooks pulled up a little more and Megaera pulled me up to her. I couldn't concentrate. The River of Fire seemed to be a blessing and a curse. I couldn't pass out from pain which may have been good, but now I had to sit through this torture.
Megaera leaned over to my ear. "I need you to survive only three more minutes son of Cronus." She put her foot on my shoulder. She kicked me down while pulling up her flail, tearing it out of my chest.
I smashed into a glass case and the shards cut me even more. I reached up and grabbed the pedestal to pull myself onto my feet. My hands were slippery with my own blood. I could feel the cold girl's whips lash against anywhere they could. I grabbed what was on the pedestal and a cool feeling washed through me despite my burning body. I instantly focused on it and sat in the cool darkness for what felt like hours.
I exited the area and I was laying on a bed. The titaness Hecate just finished wrapping new bandages on my body. I tried to sit up and failed miserably, causing the white bandages to turn gold. Hecate huffed. She flipped her dark violet hair behind her head. She had grown it out and it ran down to the small of her back. The light seemed to come from every direction again and I speculated it was her torches.
I laid back down as Hecate took a deep breath and cast a spell and the bandages changed again but they left my midriff unwrapped. I could see gold scars across my pale skin. Hecate finished the bandages again and she looked at me with her lime green eyes. She wore a black tunic with a green belt.
"Good idea taking a stygian iron weapon. It saved you from lots of more pain." Hecate crossed her arms under her large chest. I didn't know if she was presenting them or if she found it uncomfortable or anything. I went for the latter as she wasn't that kind of person. Like Aphrodite. Now that was a slut. I smiled and Hecate frowned.
"Yeah you may have saved yourself but your divinity is inside the weapon now. You literally bathed it in your blood. You probably don't remember, but when I finished fuckin up my reasearch I found you curled up on the floor with this bident. So I furnished it up for you." Hecate stood and brought over the pitchfork. It was eight feet of the black metal that I assumed was stygian iron. The prongs went out horizontally for a few inches before sharply turning up into rods that were a half foot long each. At the end of the two prongs were long, leaf shaped blades with serrated edges. Hecate gave me the bident and the cool metal calmed me down.
"Why are you helping me?" I asked. Not only was she nursing me, she gave me a weapon. Even if I couldn't use it, you'd never arm a prisoner."
Hecate smiled. "I've decided to switch sides. I've purposely failed my Ophiotaurus project under the ruse it simply couldn't work. Breaking the natural order of things or something. I'd say it's been nine years in the mortal world now. Everything seemed to have gone smoothly."
I shot up again, reopening a few more wounds. "NINE YEARS! I have to return to Olympus."
"Aidoneus you idiot! The spell was almost done." She recast the spell and new bandages appeared and she wrapped them around me. "You didn't sleep for nine years. Nyx was just messing with Chronus at the wrong time and time in the underworld became a little messed up. You've really been here for nine days."
I sighed and stood up. My body was a little tired and I leaned on the bident. "Call me Hades." Hecate took off all my bandages. Black scars ran across my body.
"Alecto, Meg, and Tisiphone are good at their work. Don't take it personally."
I nodded. "Can you send me back to Olympus." Hecate smiled at me.
"Hades. Odd name." She picked me up with her arms under my knees and back, carrying me horizontally. She drew a rune in the floor with her foot and we vanished.
It got significantly colder as the wind I've grown used to smacked against my face. Hecate set me down on my feet as I was quickly engulfed in a hug. I patted Hestia's head. Everyone stood around me and began asking questions. There were three things I noticed that were different.
The most obvious was Metis' pregnancy. She looked six months into a pregnancy. She wore a loose tunic and I could clearly see her bloated belly
Next was my brother's change of clothes. Zeus changed his white chiton for dark brown shoulder guards that traveled down his arm in plates. Similarly colored cloth of sorts that looked tight and was made of what might have been leather covered his arm and ended in open fingered gloves. Steel chains wrapped around his arm guards and hung down loosely. He now had three scars on his left that looked like an animal had scratched him. Black tattoos shaped like two arrows on either side of his chest pointed inwards. (Cover image.)
At his waist was a brown cloth that billowed behind him. On it was a series of daggers similar to Hecate's. It had a red cloth as it's belt. On his legs were brown trousers that blended into knee high armoured boots.
Poseidon wore a white fustanella with a blue belt and a single white shoulder guard much like Zeus'.
Finally was the fact that Hera was holding onto Zeus' arm. Metis often told me they had feelings for eachother. Sadly I missed everything.
"So I see shirtless and chains are the style nowadays." I said while smirking since I was topless as well. Zeus shrugged.
"Seemed fitting. Gotta look cool for the people when we take over the world. Not like we could find any useful tops. They just mess with ventilation."
"Ventilation? You can breathe with that?"
"Of course."
Poseidon smiled. "Yup, I don't know what's up with Zeus but I like this simple design."
I winked at Metis. "Looks like we have a lot of catching up to do. There are a few things I should tell you."