Hello. This is the first story I've written in a while and I hope you enjoy it and are hungry for more after this chapter. In this story, I'll be trying to follow the Greek Myths and Mythology as closely as I can, but there will be some moments where I will "color outside the lines". I am fully aware that there are handful of grammatical errors in my work, please do not get surprised by them, English is not my first language.
Mount Olympus, as it's known by everyone of this generation, is one of the tallest mountains in Europe and the tallest one In Greece. With its magnificence and enormously large body it still covers Greece in light shadow keeping it cool and making sure people will have shelter from hot Mediterranean sun as it always had, eons before any people made themselves present in the fields below it.
It is not only a shelter. It is also a home, a home for many species of exotic plants and animals that are nowhere else to be seen or are yet to be discovered by talented scientists of this generation or maybe even by a kid that just happened to be playing hide and seek with his friends in forests of tall oak trees. But what is so special about that? Every mountain has a large body to shelter nearby inhabitants and their body may even be with more mass and more dignity. Himalayas, the Alps they all look at Olympus from enormous height, they are much bigger, taller and more challenging to climb than Olympus that is why many of alpinists prefer to take on their challenge, leaving Olympus for beginner alpinist and tourists. There are many mountains that have greener flora and more exotic fauna than Olympus', but still it remains unique and special, there will never be or is a mountain that is more special than it.
What exactly attracts people to come and see it, what gave Olympus so much publicity that almost everyone knows its name when you say it. Yes, it is the largest mountain in Greece, but I am sure almost no one knows the largest mountain in Germany, India or maybe even Russia and yet they acknowledge Olympus as one of the most important mountains in history. But the same question keeps popping up, what makes it so special, why is there so much fuzz about it. It's because of its rich and unique history, no other mountain in the world has as many mysteries as this one, for Olympus is the home of Greek gods. Zeus's castle at a very top of a mountain stands there, made out of white marble with enormous pillars made in ionic style. It possesses an overwhelming number of rooms, halls and statues that all show current gods and those before them. In the center of the palace is its largest room, round shaped with an enormous table and 11 chairs that are so big, even gods don't fit them perfectly.
That is a room similar to a board room, where almighty Zeus rallies his brothers, sisters and children to discuss current matters in Greece and world in general. That room is the most decorated one in all of already extremely beautiful castle, it has statues made out of many materials, marble, volcano rocks and some are even made out of ice. They are all equally as realistic no matter what they have for material they have their heart made of. Tablecloth on large yet elegant stone table is created of only the finest silk with lots of ornaments and scenes of Greek people in wars, wrestling, doing sports, but also with them worshiping the gods and dancing to the sound of pan flute. Meetings are arranged once a year ,gods measurements, but for humans that is nearly 930 years, last one was on a year 1069 new era, so now in the year 1999 it is finally time to arrange another meeting of the gods. Zeus walked into the round room, he seemed confident and so young for age of the god, all the other goods looked at him with envy and jealousy, even though they all have one task they need to take care about, it is well known that Zeus can demote or even murder one of them with the lightest touch of his lighting, that is why he was feared and respected by not only mortals but immortal entities as well. Zeus could feel the fear and the sweat dripping from the foreheads of all the gods even his favorite daughter, Athena, and he loved it, he always wanted to be the one to rule everything, he isn't satisfied with being the second best god, the golden throne of Olympus belongs to him and him only, he finally set on his chair that was much bigger and much better decorated than everyone else's, no one complained, or had courage to brave him.
He got his muscular hand on a table and started to tap on the table's surface, that was his way of saying, "You can start talking", his eye was specifically focusing on his brother Hades, god of the Underworld and ruler of the dead, and Persephone, his wife and co leader of the darkest of realms. Zeus was more angry than usual, he sometimes faked seriousness to seem intimidating, but this time it was serious, he could hardly control the emotions he's feeling right now.
He never felt more hateful towards his brother, the youngest one, the one he saved from the from his father's deadly embrace, he couldn't even bare to look at him, he felt so disgusted by his presence. He wasn't the only one with that emotion, his sister Demeter, who shared the same fate as Hades, had also felt the anger and disappointment towards her daughter, Persephone, her eyes were starting to go red from all the tears accumulated inside of them, she couldn't leave a tune, it was like she went mute, she could hardly breathe because of all the emotions she went through right now.
Hades on the contrary could keep his cool, he felt no emotions, he never shed a single tear, not even for his brothers or anyone he brought to the endless suffering of the Underworld, that is why he was perfect for that job, he wouldn't let weakness such as emotions get on his way of doing his job, unlike his brothers, Zeus who ruled the skies and Poseidon who ruled the seas, he could maintain the Underworld in perfect order and silence. Many souls of the dead tried to rally together and escape the dark place that they were bound to, but Hades always managed to defeat them, maintaining the perfect blank face while wielding his Scepter of the Raven, even though souls are already dead, just a little of Hades' arcane magic is enough to erase them completely from existence.
Once, Leonidas, a Spartan king who died in battle like a hero, couldn't bear to sit tight while he doesn't know what's happening to his homeland. He rallied all the souls of the dead, from the first human, Lucy, to the Theodora of Byzantium who happened to be the newest soul in the army when the rebellion started. Hades had little idea of what was going on, but even if he did, he wouldn't prepare much, he is known for being extremely lazy, but with extreme amounts of magical energy that even surpassed Zeus'.
His laziness is a thing that is keeping him in such a humiliating position, he doesn't want to challenge his brother, not because he fears loss, but he fears hard work and preparation. When the hour came, Leonidas and millions of dead charged in attempt to overthrow and kill Hades while he was recharging his arcane magic.
They moved like a stampedo. They couldn't be stopped. Their wish to see their families, their countries, their homeland again was too great. They all charged towards Hades' castle murdering every single one of his helpers in a process, even the mighty Cerberus had fallen to the millions of the dead, they were too strong. Leonidas was proud, he couldn't wait to go back to Sparta and see how much it had evolved, he wants to feel the fresh smell of olives again, the air before it rains, he wanted to hear the chirping of the birds and noises of children playing. His wife was long dead, just like him, he forgot her name and couldn't find her, it's been so long since he saw her or his kids, Hades used powerful magic to make every dead person one knew be invisible and unable to reach, souls were tormented by it and forced to give up on their old life and start anew.
He wanted to see his wife, yes but he never really loved her. In Sparta it was normal for men to fake romantic feelings towards a comrade because if you share feelings, you share heart and a mind, and therefore perform better when the time of battle comes, but it was different for him, the reason he was such better soldiers is that bonds with his soldier partner weren't backed up by fake drawbridge of emotions, that drawbridge was strong and stable and so were his feelings and their connection, Leonidas never found anything beautiful with women and even his wife knew that, but she loved him too much to let him go and she knew he was in a romantic relationship with one of his soldiers that died in battle of Thermopylae, his name was Alexander. Out of anything in the world he wanted to see him again the most, because when all people escape the Underworld, they all go back to the spots in which they died. It's been more than a millennium since he saw Alexander, but his love for him never faded away. Leonidas suddenly flinched from his reminiscence, because of a little boy that was poking his leg.
"Excuse me, mr Leonidas" he said "We're going out... finally? Is it true that we will make it?".
Leonidas smirked and looked at a little kid, judging by the color of his skin he was Persian, he held no grudge against Persians, because he set their differences aside now in the hour of freedom ,when they all come back to life, concept of death would be no more, because the god of the dead would be killed, he thought. And he was correct, world could finally be in peace and he was sure there was enough room for everyone that was and that is yet to be.
He said to the thin boy, who was obviously extremely poor, with tears of joy in his eyes
"Do not worry, soon, the castle of Hades will crumble to nothing and death will be no more, we will all come back to life and enjoy our lives like they used to be without all the wars and blood", little boy had light of hope inside of him and started to cry himself. Leonidas, on the edge of tears, wiped his eyes. "Remember what your father told you, Leonidas, real men don't cry, you shouldn't sink so low".
"Lord Leonidas!", Leonidas turned quickly to see a man running close to him, "M'lord, we're about to break into the sealed doors of the Tartarus, our freedom is just around the corner".
With the last strike of the battle oxe, the black metal door, decorated with violet crystals, had been crushed into pieces and were one obstacle less to the joy of freedom.
"Hades!", Leonida screamed, louder than anytime he did before, ceilings started to shake and chandeliers made out of dark glass started to swing. Everything was silent, for the next few seconds.
"Seems like Hades got scared", one soul of middle aged woman said, "King Leonidas, you truly are intimidating".
That remark made Leonidas feel the flow of confidence go through his veins even more, he knew he's gonna succeed.
"Search every room in the Tartarus, there is no way for him to escape all of us! GO!" Leonidas ordered.
"Yes, king Leonidas!", millions of souls said and started the charge, just to stop immediately.
"Ah, king Leonidas, what brings you to my castle right now, with tons of visitors?". Leonidas turned, he wanted to see the source of that noise, the air in the room got chill and he could start to feel his confidence boost get big again, the ground started to form the ice over how cold the air was and the fog started to appear, leaving the whole room appear like a cloud that came from the sky, that none of the souls had seen in such a while.
"Welcome to Tartarus my friend, what brings you here", Leonidas knew who he was, light blue- gray hair, elven ears, one of which has an earning with light blue sapphire engraved in it, his skin tone was almost as white as snow and eyes were whiter than it, in his right hand he carried a black staff, taller even than he is, but still he could use it with such an ease. The staff had vines of thrones around it and a raven in a sitting position on top of it, that raven had crystals engraved in his eyes, the ones similar to the ones his earning has.
"Hades" ,he mumbled, " The army of souls that you keep locked in here and I have came here to take our livesy back! But in order for us to succeed, you must be the one to bite the dust! Now, give us a Scepter of the Raven or we'll be forced to use violence".
Hades laughed slightly, "Heh, come and get it, Leonidas!".
Leonidas ordered charge and millions of souls started running wildly towards Hades. Hades stomped his foot on the ground, suddenly large thorned vines came swinging and squeezed at least one tenth of the whole army, then he manipulated the vines and concentrated them all into the glass chandelier at the entrance, Leonidas was shocked he wiped out one tenth of all the human who ever lived with one foot stomp.
"He surely is worthy of his title, that will make his murder even sweeter", he stopped being so confidant the second he saw hades put his fingers of the right hand closer to each other and softly snapped them, but it could be heard by everyone. The chandelier started to get frostbitten and slowly got covered in ice and souls inside of it started screaming, there were millions of people crying out in pain as their bodies solidified and they lost complete control over them, the cries at one point got so loud, the ceilings shook even more then when Leonidas heroically entered that accursed castle, hope seemed to get lost and decreased. Chandelier got completely imprisoned in ice together with all the souls ice continued to get heavier and heavier until the point the titanium rope that held it got snapped and fell on on the army, squishing about two fifths of an army, Hades smirked.
"Half down, half to go".
In the middle of his triumph he grabbed onto his chest in pain, he was really low on arcane magic and even though he's immortal, his heart finds it hard to handle that much of pressure his grip on his Scepter of the Raven got a little loose, Hades' head started spinning and he coughed some blood. In the moment of his weakness, he couldn't notice a small kid sneaking near him, more and more, and honestly he had bigger problems now. He tried to concentrate and gather some arcane magic, he usually does that by absorbing a human soul or meditating, but all the human souls are against him and extremely far away and it is not greatest time to sit vulnerable and fall into the trans, so meditation is off too. Just as he was about to regenerate when he noticed someone snatching his Scepter of the Raven.
"Give it back, you scum!", Hades yelled desperately.
"Never, you demon, lord Leonidas will bring us all back to life with this!", Leonidas turned, and his smile got wider, it was that Persian boy he talked to, he ended up to be the one who had enough courage to get near the terror of the Underworld who is Hades. Persian could hardly hold the scepter but he still managed to throw it down the stairs. Force of gravity did the rest and the Scepter of the Raven was now in Leonidas' possession. Every dead soul cheered for the little boy and they were all amazed by how brave he is for his age, he could hear them cheering and he felt relieved and he could feel a spark of joy inside him again, he never felt it when he was alive, his father died in a war and his mother was a slave, so he had to live with her and be slave as well. His life was miserable and he never wanted this moment to end, his time to shine is now, he saved so many human lives and now they're cheering for him, the cheer slowly turned into a warning, they were saying something like "careful" or "behind you,kid", when he started turning his head it had been too late, Hades' cool and thin fingers were grabbing his neck and he couldn't breathe.
"You might think that you have helped you comrades right now and that you were a successful for once in your entire existence, however i assure you, you were neither helpful nor useful to them, but to me, oh you will be a thing that will save me from death and humanity from joy of eternal life"
With those words Hades took off his earning and with his entire fist put it in the boy's mouth. Boy felt cold, colder than before, he felt cold enough to suffer badly, but not as cold to die, he could feel his vision get blurry and his heart beats go slower. Hades continued to hold his hand into a boy's mouth for a while until boy's flesh had disappeared and he had became nothing but bones. Hades had absorbed his soul and with it some proteins and vitamins to help his heart survive the shock it has been through. Hades' arcane magic started flowing through his body again and the room became even colder than the abyss itself.
"I must thank that boy for helping me retrieve my arcane magic, for you people were rude enough to interrupt me while i was meditating, i had only used 3% of power when i fought you."
Leonidas was shocked and started to get scared. "It's not possible no one is that strong".
He thought and started to get worried, they will not make it and they won't even be able to live in the Underworld they will be completely wiped off the face of the world... no, he refused to accept it, the nostalgia and patriotism were high in him and he wanted to see his country again, his wife and Alexander, the man he loved.
"Hades! Even though you have Arcane magic inside of you again it wouldn't be enough to beat me, millions of the dead and your Scepter of the Raven!"
Hades seemed to have figured that out, he got his hands on his face and seemed to start crying, his confidence left him and he was left hopeless, he lost to very people he killed and from being best god at his job he turned out to make such a huge mistake, Leonidas saw him and started to walk up the stairs that separated him and Hades, his steps were light and he didn't seem to be in a hurry, Leonidas climbed up the last step and swung Scepter of the Raven high above his head and then he hit him as hard as he could, chopping his head off.
The blood started coming out as a fountain from Hades' body and he was laying there dead, it's over, the rain of terror from Hades was over and now finally everything can go back to normal, he thought about Sparta and Alexander and finally being free from death's cold embrace, but his fantasizing stopped as he continued to hear Hades cry, even though he was dead.
He turned his chopped off head to check if he was still alive and all he had to see was his lifeless face staring at him coldly. However he could still hear him cry. The cry slowly turned into a maniacal laughter that gave chills to every soul in the room. On the opposite side of the hall, Leonidas saw Hades walk near him and being the source of that laughter that made everyone go numb.
"Oh dear, Leonidas, you didn't think i would let you get me so easily, did you?", asked Hades. Leonidas was confused, his heart was beating fast and he couldn't keep up with his lungs' breathing pace.
"How... how is this possible? I murdered you! Right here! How? Is it because you're immortal and can't die?".
"Hmph, dear, Leonidas, yes, i am immortal, but i can assure you, i can die, all gods can. Being immortal means you have powers beyond human imaging and being able to control various forces, in other words, be a god. You humans made immortality same to the inability to die because no god was ever killed before, except for my dear father and other Titans, of course. But i can assure you", Hades licked his lips,"All gods can die, just in a same way normal humans can, too bad that Hades you killed wasn't me, it was someone who bonded their soul with me, he was too scared to die and wanted to continue living in the human world".
Leonidas lost almost all of his strength, "Could it be that his fog is draining souls too?"
"Don't you dare interrupt me again!" His voice got deep and intimidating, not like his usual neutral and cold tone. Hades stomped his foot and a pillar of ice came out of the ground sealing Leonidas' lover half of the body.
"As I was saying", Hades' tone returned to normal, "This human wanted to live forever, however it was not so easy to do that, I made a compromise with him, every time he died, he would reincarnate as another human being with no soul, he would live normally and feel all the emotions human feel, but his every death will be painful and he will never be here, with the rest of the people. But many ask, why Hades, why would you let a human manipulate a god like you? I'll tell you why!"
Hades got closer to Leonidas and whispered into his ear. "He was the most beautiful man i ever had to welcome here."
Leonidas cringed, Hades didn't mind him and continue to speak, "I rarely feel any emotions, it takes something really strong to made me feel, sadness, happiness... love, I might think you know this person", Hades snapped fingers, his other lifeless body started to gain color, his white hair got dark brown color and his muscle mass got bigger, Leonidas knew who he was, he couldn't accept it, "No, no, please, why? Why did you do this Alexander!"
"Ah, I see, so you do recognize him.", Hades' eyes were shining, he was having so much fun right now, but his poker face remained unchanged. He picked up Alexander's lifeless head and started walking around Leonidas.
"This man fought in many wars, as i've heard and he was always considered brave by his comrades, well that is wrong". Hades continued to walk around Leonidas and continued taunting him.
"He fought, yes but he was one strange Spartan soldier, he was scared to die. He was scared so much that he attempted to plea with me, the lord of the Underworld, luckily for him". Hades licked Alexander's cheek, Leonidas felt sick by that, he never thought he'd meet such a psychopath ever in his life.
"Luckily for him, he was extremely handsome. He was the only one that made me feel that feeling you people call... love, i never thought i'd meet someone better him, who can finally awake my emotions, but i did, her name was Persephone, my wife. She knows about Alexander of course, because he's nothing but just a mere puppet now. Well he's dead, so he's completely useless now".
Hades got to Alexander's body and kicked it, "NO!", Leonidas screamed, "People, charge!", in his surprise no one charged, "People, charge!"
Hades laughed a bit.
"Dear Leonidas, take a look around you, they all got annihilated by my chilling fog, their souls have been absorbed by me, you're finished now"
Leonidas cried."It's over now?"
Hades lifted Alexander's lifeless head and kissed it passionately.
"Now it is all over, good bye, Alexander, goodbye Leonidas." Hades ripped out Leonidas' arm that held The Scepter and took it for himself.
"Before you vanquish into nothingness, i wish to thank you Leonidas, I have completely emptied the Underworld thanks to you rebellion and now my job will be much easier, no? Again thank you, and bye."
Hades touched Leonidas' face and squeezed it slightly. Leonidas was choking, he was coughing out blood and was yelling in pain, most of the blood got on Hades' face but he didn't change his facial expression at all, Leonidas died in pain and all his efforts were meaningless, he failed to protect Sparta while alive, and now, while dead he failed to protect all other people who were before and after him, his life was one big failure. When it had all been done Hades sat in his amethyst and silver throne and started laughing maniacally, celebrating his victory and complete death of all the humans. This event is known as The Great Underground Escape.
