The more the light shines brights on you, the more your shadow gets bigger. In the underworld, everyone's perception of it was just death, dreariness, and an absence of light. There was nothing beautiful and worthwhile in the underworld. But you see there is no heaven or hell, well I mean, not like the ways people have been telling you about. You see heaven and hell are in the same place.
Heaven and Hell are in the underworld. Underworld meaning down under, where the so-called "devil" lives. I can assure you that there is no red figure with two horns living in the underworld. Instead, there lived goddesses and gods. People who have sinned, and those who have not. That is what the underworld is all about, and It seems like people make their own delusional perceptions of my home in which an underworld is only a place where the "bad men" go to after their deaths. I mean some of you aren't wrong but, that's not what my home really is.
My apologies, I seem to be digressing a lot more than I would usually want to but I also never introduced myself. My name is Hades, eldest son of Cronos, the King of Titans and God of Time, and Rhea, the Titan Goddess of Fertility and Motherhood. I may have been the eldest son, but I was the fourth born after my three sisters, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. I'm considered to be the ugly duckling of my family, I mean that's what the mortals on the surface like to call me, and they aren't wrong. I just wish they put it a bit more nicely, cause I am no duck nor am I ugly.
Hestia, the firstborn, the Goddess of Hearth and Domestic Life. The one who pledged to our brother Zeus to never be in union with a man for she will remain pure and undefiled. Meaning, she was a virgin. She is soft-hearted too, cares way too much for the mortals on the surface. But I guess it's a win-win situation for her since all the mortals on the surface respect her. We aren't close if you're wondering.
Demeter, the secondborn, the Goddess of Harvest. My sister whom I stole her daughter from her and made her mine. Oh, but that's a story for later on. She unlike Hestia was not a virgin, instead, she had given her purity to Zeus. And you might be like "ew, that's gross she had sex with her younger brother?" but I have to inform you that incest was normal during our time even though it sounds disgusting. And to be honest most of us didn't even think we were siblings, in truth we didn't really like each other. With the few exceptions of Hestia and Posedian, I didn't r̶e̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ like my siblings.
Demeter was one of the more "kinder" Goddesses out there, and we were on okay terms before I did something she did not like. But what can I do, it's not like it's my fault for- Oh yes, I forgot already this is a story for later on. I'll just keep my mouth shut about Demeter, for now.
Hera, the third born and my least favorite sister, the Goddess of Marriage and Birth. She married our brother Zeus and became the Queen of the Gods. She was the seventh wife of Zeus by the way. She was always in a foul mood, that one. IF nothing went her way, she would ALWAYS throw a fit. Everything she wanted, she believed she should have it no matter what. Hera never liked it whenever Zeus went to the surface because she knew he would go wild and breed 300 new kids. You see Zeus was a̶ ̶b̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ man-whore, his belief that his greatness should be shared with everyone made him a breeding machine. Disgusting if you ask me.
Hera to me was what the surface mortals say a bitch. Her jealously and possessiveness also don't help her case. I don't understand why people call me evil and dark when it's quite obvious Hera is the most despicable out of us siblings. She uses snakes to her eliminate what she doesn't like. For example, the so-called "great" demi-god Hercules. If you don't know the story well then here's the summary of it, when Hercules was born Hera had sent a flock of snakes to kill him but failed. I'm just happy she failed because if he were to die, then he would be my problem to deal with. And I don't like problems, especially if I didn't cause it.
After Hera was me, but I already talked about me so next is Poseidon. By far my favorite sibling. Poseidon, the fifth born, the God of the Sea. He was ill-tempered, violent, and feared by many. Despite his looks look somewhat similar to Zeus', he was a better god than Zeus by Valhalla. He didn't stand for anyone's opinions and instead followed his own self. I've never had any problems with him, and the same goes for him. We let each other do our own things, in our own worlds. Although he was also a bit of a man-whore, he wasn't as bad as Zeus.
Zeus, the sixth born, the God of the Sky and Thunder and also the King of Gods. My youngest brother, who I am ashamed to be related to. I've mentioned him many times already when talking about my other siblings. Man-whore he is. Married seven times, had many affairs both from the immortals and mortals. But it's not only the man-whore part that made me dislike him but it's his inability to make good decisions for Olympus and his world. His foolish decisions of locking away the Titan's were nothing but an idiotic and selfish move. Due to his decree of locking away the Titan's, it became my responsibility to uphold his damage and keep them with me here in the underworld.
Zeus has done more than one idiotic decree and damage with his inadequate decision making. But I'll give him the fact that he is a powerful force. Despite his idiotic tendencies, he is able to uphold his surreal strength and make others fear him. If only he had as much brain as he did strength-wise. But I guess there's only room for one wise and knowledgeable God in my family, and that's me. Poseidon would come second while Hestia and Demeter would tie for fourth. And well the rest is quite obvious if you ask me and which I don't want you to.
However, Zeus did create a being he deemed was ethereal. I wondered how on earth was he able to make a Goddess like his daughter Persephone. Although I hadn't met Persephone until she was 16 years old, I felt as if my whole perception of love has been changed because of her. It was weird to me though when I had realized she was Zeus's daughter, but Demeter had told me he never once acted like a father to her. So I guessed she had daddy-issues. She never said father to Zeus, instead only bowed and left as soon as she greeted them to go to Aphrodite and Artemis.
I knew from the moment, I saw Persephone, she would be mine. I'll make her mine even if she'll hate me in the beginning. Because this is just one of my many very Selfish Acts of Love.
A: If you liked this book please feel free to include this in your collection. Also check it out on Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/245941265-the-selfish-acts-of-love
Also feel free to check out my other book "Outside Hitters"