Hades had survived the trial.
He had not conquered the Colossus. He had done something greater.
He had been acknowledged.
And now, the Outer Gods were watching.
But he was no longer alone.
Because Zeus and Poseidon had arrived.
The Shattered Path
The void trembled.
Not from Hades.
Not from the Colossus.
But from something new.
A tear formed in the fabric of reality, lightning bleeding through like veins of molten gold. The air itself became thick with the scent of rainstorms and salt, as though the entire cosmos had been pulled into a single moment.
And then, they emerged.
Zeus.
Poseidon.
They were not the same.
They had left Olympus behind.
And now, they had changed.
The Storm That Walks
Zeus had always been the god of lightning. The king of Olympus. But now, he was something more.
Lightning no longer crackled around him.
It flowed through him.
He had become the storm.
Wherever he stepped, the sky obeyed—not just in the divine plane, but in all existence.
Storms raged in distant realms, responding to him.
Reality flickered.
Because now, Zeus did not summon lightning.
He was lightning.
And when he spoke, thunder rolled across the void.
"Hades."
The Ocean Without End
Poseidon had been the ruler of the sea.
But the ocean of Olympus was nothing compared to what he had now become.
The water that surrounded him was not water.
It was the abyss, the endless tide that moved between worlds, drowning stars, reshaping existence.
Poseidon was no longer bound to earthly seas.
Wherever the concept of tides existed, wherever the pull of gravity bent the shape of a world, his presence touched it.
He had become the Eternal Ocean.
And when he moved, the tide followed.
Brothers Reunited
Zeus looked at Hades.
For the first time in eternity, there was no rivalry between them.
Only understanding.
Poseidon exhaled, his trident shifting in his grip. "You left us no choice, brother."
Hades smirked, his black robes shifting with the void. "I was never waiting for you."
Zeus chuckled, the storm rippling at the edges of his form. "And yet, here we are."
The three brothers stood at the edge of the unknown.
And for the first time, they were equals.
But the Outer Gods were watching.
And soon, the real war would begin.
Foreshadowing: The War Beyond Olympus
Hades had stepped beyond divinity.
Now, so had his brothers.
But the Outer Gods did not welcome change.
And soon, the three kings would face their greatest challenge yet.