Aurelia stirred from a deep sleep, the world around her heavy and muffled, like she was underwater. She could hear the faint rumble of thunder in the distance, the storm still raging outside, but something else… something closer… seemed to be calling her name.
"Aurelia…"
The voice was low and commanding, laced with a strange, almost magnetic pull. It was not a whisper, yet it didn't quite echo in her ears—more like it vibrated inside her mind. Her eyes snapped open, heart thudding in her chest. She wasn't sure if she had heard it in a dream or if it was real, but it felt too real.
She blinked rapidly, the remnants of sleep still clinging to her, trying to make sense of what was happening. The room was dark, save for the flashes of lightning illuminating the apartment through the window. The storm outside had intensified, casting eerie shadows across the walls.
It wasn't until she sat up that she noticed it. A man. Standing there, just beyond the foot of her bed. He was cloaked in shadow, his figure towering, but she could make out the distinct silhouette of a tall, broad-shouldered frame. His presence was unnervingly still, as if he were waiting for something.
Aurelia's breath caught in her throat, her pulse pounding in her ears. She blinked again, harder this time, convinced her mind was playing tricks on her in the haze of sleep. But when her eyes focused on him, she froze.
There was a man in her bedroom. The man, she realized with rising horror—stood there in all his glory. A vision of darkness incarnate.
He was tall, impossibly so, with long, inky black hair that seemed to ripple like smoke. His eyes, glowing an eerie crimson, stared down at her with an intensity that sent a shiver down her spine. His skin was pale, almost deathly, but there was a sharpness to him—a fierce elegance that belied the raw power radiating from his being. His presence was suffocating, as though the very air around him had turned thick with divine weight.
Aurelia scrambled back, her heart racing, eyes wide with disbelief. Her mind screamed that this couldn't be real. But the storm outside wasn't the only thing that seemed to have escalated. The air in the room felt colder, unnatural, and when she glanced around, she saw that the flickering candlelight from earlier had flared up again. The flames now danced with an otherworldly, violet glow, casting grotesque, twisting shadows that seemed to pulse in time with the god's every movement.
"What… who are you?" Her voice came out breathy, barely a whisper, but her body trembled with a mixture of fear and confusion. She wanted to run, to scream, but something in his presence held her in place, as if the very act of moving would somehow break the fragile boundary between this world and whatever he was.
He stepped forward with slow, deliberate movements. His gaze never left her, and it felt as though he were peeling away her very soul with his eyes. His dark cloak shifted with an unsettling grace, as though it were alive, swirling around him like it, too, was part of his power.
"You," Hades said, his voice deep and rich, a sound that seemed to resonate within her bones. "You summoned me."
You might be wondering how I ended up here.
It had started on an ordinary afternoon, the kind of day that blurred into the next, lost in the haze of her routine. She had wandered into an antique shop she'd never noticed before, tucked away between two narrow buildings in a quiet part of the city. It had looked like any other dusty, forgotten store—shelves crowded with old relics and knickknacks, the scent of aged wood and musty pages hanging in the air.
But it was there, in the back corner, that her eyes had landed on something peculiar.
A box. Simple, unassuming, and yet there was something about it that drew her in. On the lid, in faded gold lettering, were the words: Summoning the Underworld.
At first, she had thought it was some kind of joke—some tacky souvenir, maybe a novelty item. But the longer she stared at it, the more it intrigued her. The box was old, its edges worn, but it felt… different. Unsettling, even.
Summoning the Underworld. Who would make something like that?
She had almost dismissed it, about to turn away, but then curiosity, that ever-present companion, took over. With a quiet sigh, she picked it up, dusting off the top and inspecting the intricate patterns carved into the wood. Something about the feeling of it in her hands unsettled her.
What kind of fool believes in things like this? She had almost laughed at the absurdity of it, but a strange, reckless impulse took hold.
The shopkeeper had seen her hesitation and grinned knowingly. "That box," he said with a glimmer in his eye, "is not what it seems."
Aurelia had raised an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me this is real?"
He only nodded, his expression far too serious for her liking. "That box contains instructions. Instructions for a ritual. One that can summon a being from the Underworld."
Aurelia had shaken her head, the idea feeling ridiculous. But there was a strange part of her—one she would never admit to anyone—that had felt the tug of something beyond reason.
"Yeah, sure," she said with a dismissive laugh. "I'll take it."
Now, standing before her, with a god's gaze piercing into her very soul, Aurelia's mind scrambled. She could practically hear her own inner voice, taunting her as it revisited that moment:
Haaa! Fake my butt! she thought, remembering the moment she'd lit the candles, drawn the symbols on the floor, and chanted the words from the book—words that had sounded so absurd she hadn't thought for a second it might actually work.
And yet, here she was.
You've summoned me, Hades had said. The storm, the cold, the weight of his presence—it was all real.
Aurelia's mind raced. She had… summoned him? Her heart skipped a beat as memories of the grimoire flashed through her mind. The ritual. The storm. She had mocked it all—hadn't she? She hadn't believed it could be real. And yet, here he was, standing before her.
The storm outside raged louder, a crack of thunder booming so close it rattled the windows. The temperature in the room plummeted, and Aurelia felt a sudden, suffocating cold seep into her skin. Her breath came in shallow gasps as she tried to process the impossible reality unfolding before her.
"You shouldn't have done this," Hades continued, his gaze now colder than the air itself. "You've broken the laws of the gods, mortals never summon us… and yet, here I am." His lips curled into something like a smirk, though it didn't reach his eyes, which burned with an ancient, unreadable fury.
Aurelia's mind spun, her thoughts tangled in a chaotic mess of disbelief and terror. A god. She had summoned a god. The god of death. What was she supposed to do now?
Her voice was shaky when she spoke again, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest. "How did I… what do you want from me?"
"What do you want from me?" Aurelia's voice quivered, the words barely forming as she tried to make sense of the impossible reality unfolding before her. Her pulse thundered in her veins, her hands trembling uncontrollably.
Hades, in all his terrifying glory, tilted his head slightly, his eyes narrowing as though considering her question with a chilling deliberation. His lips parted, but instead of answering immediately, he leaned closer, his presence enveloping her as though the air itself had turned to ice.
"You've awakened something," he murmured, his voice sending a shiver through her bones. "Something that was never meant to be stirred."
Aurelia's breath caught in her throat, panic clawing at the edges of her mind. What was he talking about? What had she done?
Aurelia felt the irony hit her with brutal force. She had mocked the ritual, laughed at it, and then performed it with nothing but skepticism. And now, standing in her own apartment, she was forced to face the consequences of her disbelief. She had awakened him. Hades. The god of the Underworld.
This is impossible, she thought. But the reality around her proved otherwise.
Aurelia's heart hammered in her chest. She had thought it would be harmless. A prank. A silly trick. But now, she couldn't escape the gravity of what she had unleashed. The shadows in the room seemed to press in on her, the air growing thicker, heavier.
Hades's gaze never wavered. It was like he could hear her thoughts. The power radiating from him made every inch of her skin prickle.
"You've broken the laws of the gods," he repeated, his voice now a quiet, dangerous growl.
And Aurelia, for the first time in her life, realized that sometimes, the line between myth and reality was much thinner than she'd ever imagined.