Luca Alastair was only eighteen, but he could hear the whispers. The unsaid words and wishes of the ghosts, the cries they couldn't let out in the mortal plane, he heard them all. And because he could relate his pathetic existence to their experiences, he found it peaceful.
The Mather's graveyard was his place of peace, a scenery that the air and illumination of the world, trapping it in it's own darkness. It was upon the very floors his mother had been buried, and since he had been originally banned from threading in the Underworld, he wasn't able to visit her soul. So instead, he assumed their deathly connection in this grave.
The only thing Luca wanted that evening was an undisturbed mourning— to suppress the pain and anger that had always washed over him. However, he must have considered it an easy job, forgetting about the very death that took his mother away.
Literally.
"You are really persistent." Hades said behind him. He had appeared out of the darkness in the form of a young man with shaven beards. He dressed on a hunter's cloak and issued a death stare at Luca, who had been backing him.
"What do you want?" Luca demanded rawly, hate evident in his voice.
"I thought we already talked about this, you can't be found using the powers of the Underworld." Hades sighed in exasperation.
"I don't remember agreeing to your orders. It's my decision. My life. My risk." Luca retorted.
"You listen to me because I am your father!"
Luca's head craned towards Hades, the hate and anger spurring his eyes bloodred.
"Father?" He asked, glaring at the god with murderous intent. "I used to think that too... Right before you shamelessly killed my mom."
There was a pause, Hades didn't speak a word in reply to Luca's words. Regret was a clean projection on his face, and guilt crept along his frail fingers.
"I did what I had to..." The god finally spoke. "...for the sake of everyone."
"For the sake of everyone, or for the sake of the gods?" Luca spurted out. "You greedy oldies wanted to push me to the extent of giving up. You wanted me dead but had to sacrifice my mother for the process."
"Luca–"
"Surprised? That this young infant did not take life too seriously to consider suicide a better option? That all the mental trauma you gave me hasn't given you the miracle you wanted?"
"Listen..." Hades tried to speak, but Luca's appalled voice was over ruling.
"These powers are mine, and I would do whatever I want with them." Luca was authoritative. "And don't you ever for once think that I've forgiven you for what you did."
Hades sighed. "I didn't want to do this the hard way." He said. "But if i let you hone these powers than you already have, then I'm afraid the prophecy of the sixth great calamity might become you."
Hades raised his hands in the air, and out of it came a black kind of incense. He reached for Luca's shoulder, but another grip came upon him and flung him away.
Hades groaned as he stumbled backwards, his feets sliding against the hard floor as he refused to fall. Before him, a skeleton had regained life, standing defensively ahead of Luca as dirt fell from its body. Now he was able to bring the pieces together, Luca had visited this place so much that it was already a part of him now.
And because of that, his necromantic powers had unleashed on their own, enabling him to summon the dead.
The god realized he was running out of time, he had to stop the boy now or it would be too late for the world. And the only way to put a stop to this menace was to take his powers.
Since killing him was no longer an option.
Hades charged at the skeleton, determination and responsibility being the wind that pushed him forward. He took a few seconds to study the bone movement. It was a martial arts user for sure. Even the way it thew him backwards from Luca explained it all.
However, he did not have time to play hide and seek with a mere skeleton. He clicked his fingers and the bones dissipated into dust, after all, he was the god of the dead.
Hades was going to leap up and rapidly swipe his mortal son of the powers of the underworld, but he felt a rumble beneath him.
Out of the graveyard floors, hands and heads of bones popped out, materializing into an army of skeletons sorrounded around him. Hades's eyes widened at the sight. When did Luca become this powerful to summon dozens of undead soldiers? He thought he had been keeping a watchful eye on him.
They charged all at once, their bones clanking to the ground as Hades shattered them immediately. Luca might have been strong enough to summon multiple undead soldiers at once, but he still wasn't good enough to make them sturdy.
And the god wasn't waiting around for that to happen. Anger berated in his eyes as he glared with exasperation at Luca.
"You really want to do this the hard way huh?" As he spoke, the air around them got calmer, and calmer and clamer until it ceased from existing. "Fine, I'll play your game."
The moment he spoke, Luca felt a force throw him down flat to the ground, making him unable to move. He recognized this power from when he wanted to retaliate for the death of his mother.
Murderous Intent.
And just like before, he never failed to be the weakling, the one who ended up begging for his life to be spared. No, not again, he wasn't going down by just one puny power of a god.
"I won't let you..beat me!!" He groaned as he struggled to move, but it was all to no avail.
"I know I can't kill you..." Hades said and approached him. "So I'll just give you an idea of how dying feels like."
The god snapped his fingers, and a black arrow apeared from nowhere, flushing into his back. Luca groaned in agony, the pain rippling through him like acid. However, it didn't seem like the god was finished with him. Another snap of fingers, and two more arrows appeared, impaling into his back.
And on and on he went, until there was a full cluster of arrows dug into Luca. Blood drippled down his body, staining his shirt and the dead of narcissus flowers on the floor.
Hades crept up to him and knelt, his glare piercing into his eyes. "A hero isn't it? Did I not tell you that the darkness inside of you won't fathom those petty dreams of yours?"
Luca didn't reply, as he was too busy focused on his own pain.
"You've always never listened to me." The god continued and eased his hands towards Luca. "I hope in the future you're able to understand why I did all of this without holding any grudges against me."
Blood spilled from Luca's mouth, sweat bedraggling his face at the inexistence of air around him. The tension softened as soon as he felt his powers leave him, but the pain in his back was twice the explosion.
Hades stood up and turned away from him. "It won't be a good reputation if I turned out responsible for the existence of the sixth calamity."
And with that, the god dissappeared from where he had come.
Rain droplets poured down from the sky as soon as the underworld faded from the picture. Luca slept on the cold floor, barely conscious. As the rain fell, it mixed up with the agony in his blood, drenching his soul.
He pictured himself living happily ever while sleeping six feets down the grave, but the reality was quite simple, a child of Hades already had his destiny planned out by the Fates.
And apparently, the Fates had decided that he wouldn't die until he was 22, and that his death was going to be by the hands of a mortal woman. And even Hades, the god of the underworld, couldn't stop that.
At least, this wasn't the first time he had tried to kill his own son.
Shitty Fates! Why couldn't he just die now?!
[REDEMPTION ARC MUST COMMENCE]
[REDEMPTION ARC MUST COMMENCE]
[REDEMPTION ARC MUST COMMENCE]
[System Notification: YOU HAVE EARNED THE TITLE OF SHADOW MANIPULATOR. CLASS E.]
[ACCEPT/DECLINE?]
If only... If only I could just die quickly.