A confused man, waking up in the middle of nowhere and not understanding what was happening, he observed his surroundings
It was a horrible place, but also pure, everything seemed to be night and screams rang out in the distance
"Everything is beautiful here, isn't it?" A voice caught his attention
The man observed in silence and analyzed the owner of the voice
"Who are you?" The man asked curiously and in a low but confident voice
"The morning star, the Rich Man, lord of darkness, lord of the dead, The serpent, the trickster, frost giant, the devil, I have many names" the being spoke confidently and looking directly into the man's eyes
"The devil and Loki? It kind of makes sense" The man spoke with a slight sigh "does that mean I finally died and came to hell?"
"Hahaha, very clever, you discovered my second identity, I liked you better and yes, you died, but you're not in hell" the devil replied pulling up a chair "this is purgatory, the dimensional border between heaven and hell"
"How strange..." The man asked
"Exactly... Few end up in purgatory, very few" the devil replied with a slight sparkle in his eyes "your soul is special"
"I understand that I'm neither in heaven nor in hell, but what does the devil want with me?" The man asked with a slight touch of distrust
"I'll tell you" the devil replied "I'll give you another chance to live"
"What's the price?" the man looked into the devil's eyes "there's no such thing as free"
"You're right" the devil laughed and in a hoarse voice joked "I need a variant of me in another universe that isn't Lucifer or Loki, I've already found variants of those"
"What do you mean?" The man looked for any sign of the devil's prank
Variant, the man understood the concept of such a thing, but did not understand why
Being the devil's variant would be the same as being a copy of the devil in another world
The man thought he understood that the devil and Loki were the same being was justified, since the Nordic culture greatly affected the Christian culture
But the rich man, he did not understand and more importantly was why would the devil need a copy?
The man thought for a few seconds and looked into the devil's eyes
"What is the reason?" The man did not take his eyes off the devil
"Simple, I'm tired and I'm too old" the devil sighed "I want to retire"
The man felt a hint of empathy for the devil, it was true that no one deserved to work forever
"I accept" the man sighed and the devil was happy
"WONDERFUL" The devil shouted with joy and pointed at the man: "From today on, you are Hades"
The devil snapped his finger and the world lit up causing the man to disappear
The devil then sighed seeing purgatory going into a rage and laughed
"It's obvious he's in a rage, it's the third soul I've taken from him" the devil joked and his black hair turned white and wrinkles began to appear on his face
In the middle of the darkness of purgatory a light shone and a being appeared
The being did not appear to be a man or a woman, it was a being that was too feminine to be a man and too masculine to be a woman
But he still had a supernatural beauty
"Have you come to see my last moments, old enemy?" The devil joked
The being looked at him with pity and shook his head
"Goodbye, father/mother, take care..." the devil turned to dust with a smile and a tear fell from the eye of the being who shook his head and disappeared
__
"Lord Hades?" A voice caught the man's attention
"LORD HADES, WAKE UP" once again the voice called him and the man opened his eyes
In front of him, there was an old woman who looked at him with concern
"Lord Hades, I have an invitation for you in the name of Olympus"
Oh shit...