Ch. 009: You Are Not Hades
"So, what did you mean earlier?" Zeus whispered in my ear as we walked down the long hall. "I know you don't just say stuff like that but how sure are you about what you said. I need this to be legit, not that I'm interested in other women but it would not hurt to give it a try though."
Prometheus had already been condemned to his fate for all of eternity and my head was still a bit boggled. I did not know if it was as a result of being reborn but....
"Zeus, you never change." I did not know if it was right to just call him by his name but I had a feeling it wouldn't hurt to.
Zeus made an odd face I identified as disappointment. "Big bro Hades, is it because we dragged you out of that hell? You've been away for so long we were worried, I was actually. Poseidon, not so much."
"You know I'm right here Zeus?" Poseidon cleared his throat. "We know you are still recovering from that time, we all are but staying alone won't do you any good."
What's this about recovering from something? Was Hades in a fight earlier? What kind of fight would cause the god of the underworld to still be recovering from
I was walking with gods, it felt like living a dream. In my old life on earth I had lost my family and siblings at a young age, there was a bombing of sorts leading me to grow up in an orphanage. That's why I fell in love with the myths--
"I am so glad you changed your mind Zeus, whatever Hades told you I don't know but its good that humanity stays." Poseidon sounded excited at least.
But why...
Zeus looked at him and I thought he wanted to say something but he didn't.
"So Poseidon, why do you want humanity preserved. It's not like it has any benefit to you." I asked.
Poseidon's face had a glow I had not seen earlier, it made me wonder if I perhaps did something. "I want humanity to ride my waves, admire my oceans. It's not like the gods themselves have plenty of time for it."
So that's it, he did it for the ocean? But humans haven't even invented boats yet, I think the first human inventor should be born right about now or so.
Zeus stopped causing me to stop too, they were both staring at me. I stood there expecting them to speak.
They looked at me with an expression I could not discern, I had never been good at reading others.
Zeus gritted his teeth visibly. "You're different Hades, I don't know if you really care or you just want to toy with my feelings. If you did care why did you abandon us for all these years!?"
I locked at Zeus' powerful eyes and said. "I'm-- sorry for my missteps." I apologized regardless. I was unsure of what was really transpiring here. Was there a feud between the brothers.
Poseidon stepped in and said. "You sense it too don't you?"
Zeus' eyes pierced me further as he uttered the words. "That's not Hades."
My heart churned at the utterance of those words, the pit of my stomach filled up with icy waters. I had been found out, the chances of me playing Hades was slim from the start now I wondered what they would do to me.
Do I just come forward and say that I was the real Hades? What if they asked me a question only he would have known? Of course I was asking for trouble choosing to be reborn but there was no turning back now.
"Why would you say that?" I asked in a confident tone.
Zeus flared. "Your aura, your posture, your tone they are all too weak to be my brothers.
If they had known then why did they not come at me from the start? Or perhaps they weren't fully sure of it yet, but the aura they were giving off itself was monstrous.
"If you really are Hades prove it!" Poseidon boomed with a dead serious look on his face.
I tried to hide my trembling spirit from them as much as possible as I asked with a confidence I managed to muster. "And that would be?"
"—fight me!!" Zeus boomed.
I barely suppress the gasp held within my lungs.
Poseidon nodded. "Here on Olympus, power is absolute supremacy."
Zeus grabbed the thin air and caused it to sizzle. "If you win then we will accept your claim that you are indeed Hades..."
"And if you win?" I asked boldly.
"Your status as god of the underworld and one of the big three will be revoked with immediate effect." Zeus responded. "So do you accept?"
Just what type of crazed mentality was that?
Why is it always violence with the Olympian gods? And why the would I want to fight Zeus of all people? I knew I should have been reborn as Zeus instead, that way I would have been able to do whatever I wanted without caution. And even have a massive harem list to boot.
I gulped down, there was no such thing as refusal in a duel so unfortunately for the scholar who had been reborn— "Yes I accept your duel, Zeus!"
I knew it— I had just signed my death sentence.