The tunnel let out in some sort of forest. Hades could see nothing but more trees in every direction and he was about to slap his hands on his legs when suddenly through his annoyance he felt a spark of amusement, like a little voice inside of him was laughing. When he realized what it was his annoyance only grew and he tried to internalize it, wishing somehow it would reach the tricky goddess who was making fun of his emotions from all the way underground.
Yet maybe he could take advantage of the connection. Hades spun a circle slowly on his heels, waiting until the Goddess sent a little pulse of affirmation through the link. He walked straight in that direction, his green shoes crunching over brush and wood that were quite similar to those he'd seen in Oz. It was a bit surprising.
He had expected more of the Underworld to look like the chamber he had fallen into. All fire and brimstone, not quaint arrangements of trees that resembled his home. Or Oz at least.
Oz wasn't truly his home, for he had been born in a different land. He had few memories from that time except, oddly enough, the most important one of all.
His parents had sent him off into a forest much like this one to gather wood. A storm swept up out of nowhere, a green cyclone, that whisked him away to Oz, where he had been adopted by a young couple that found him on the side of the road, crying into his dirty off-white shirt.
His magic wasted no time in presenting itself to his new parents. Given time it only grew and he was sent to a magic school in the Emerald city. Hades was never very comfortable there, making a couple close friends, but mostly keeping to himself.
One of the witch prodigies had tried to court him, and he had entertained her interest until the discovery that he really wasn't interested in her. She was too shallow, too patronizing for him to deal with. He broke up with her as kindly as he could but she threw a fit, the way children of that age always made mountains out of molehills. He became a pariah as a result.
The time had been difficult for him, especially when the people he thought were his friends abandoned him to escape the same torment. A darkness came over his heart in those days, keeping his head up when no one was there to support him. He gained a bit of a superiority complex and took to his schoolwork more and more, until finally his potential exploded, quite literally, and all his abusers came to respect him as the best magic user in the school.
His former girlfriend was one of the few who never got over being pushed out of the number one spot, but he didn't care. He was on top, a wizard so powerful he nearly outstripped several teachers.
He never took revenge on the people who hurt him, but he didn't forget. He greeted his appointment as apprentice to the previous Wizard of Oz with a smile, but it wasn't from happiness, more from expectation.
Hades lived for a couple of years under the Wizard, shadowing the man in his work. This often involved working with his ex, who had been elected to the Council of Four Witches as the witch of the South, but he was always civil to her.
The darkness that had buoyed him throughout his tough school days was slowly being worn down by the Wizard, a kindly old man who saw how the teen in front of him was suffering. He broke down one night, and cried out his troubles to the Wizard, who just patted him on the back, gave him a brilliant smile, and said several immortal words.
"Do good, child."
After that Hades was a changed man. He let go of his hatred, and the fake kindness from before began to give way to true kindness. The old man grew older, and more of his duties fell to Hades, such as helping the less fortunate. It was these days, and the amazing yet downtrodden people he met that finally allowed Hades to turn the corner and regain the sweet countenance he had as a child.
He wondered several times if he should try returning to his birth parents, to see them, and tell them he was ok, but the Wizard informed him that the only way to travel realms was a pair of silver slippers. They were a treasure of Oz, and, to make getting them even harder, they were never in anyone's possession for a long period of time, switching locations of their own volition. They could be found, and used temporarily, but their power depended strongly on the user's will.
The man patted Hades on the head and informed him in no uncertain terms that his will was not strong enough. Hades began to protest; the remark had sounded unusually mean, but the Wizard stopped him, saying he only wanted Hades to grow a little more in his magic before attempting such a trip because if his will wasn't strong enough, the slippers may take off while he was in the other realm and he would never be able to get back to Oz.
The old man smiled at Hades.
"I wouldn't want to lose you, child, and neither would your mother and father," referring this time to his parents in Oz.
Hades, only seventeen at the time, nodded and accepted the Wizard's word without complaint.
He worked for two more years then one day while he was working on learning a new spell in his study, a messenger came running into the room, tears streaming down his face. Hades led the boy to a chair and offered him a glass of water. The messenger drank then slammed the glass hard on the table, still crying.
Through his tears he recounted how the Wizard had gone on a routine diplomatic mission to meet with a warlord from another realm when everything had gone wrong. They had met in a neutral area of Oz, but, as the name implied, the warlord had nothing but war on his mind and had slain the Wizard where he stood.
The boy finished his story, shaking, then looked up into Hades' shellshocked eyes.
"You are the Wizard of Oz now, Mr. Hades."
Hades sunk into a chair, his face buried in his hands. His mentor of many years was dead, and now he was expected to run an entire realm and protect it from oncoming war? He took several deep breaths but against his efforts he began to cry and it was with shame that he fell into the arms of the messenger, who must have been about five years younger than him.
They cried for about an hour then separated, Hades' cheeks flushed and his eyes red from rubbing. He turned to the messenger, tears he thought he didn't have left shaking in the corners of his eyes.
"Look at me-" He choked on a laugh. "-blubbering away. I can't be the Wizard."
To his surprise the messenger smiled at him. He laid a hand on Hades' shoulder.
"I think, Mr. Hades, that it is precisely because you cried that you can be the Wizard. The best Wizard Oz has ever seen."
Hades blinked. The boy just laughed at his shocked expression.
"You'll be fine, Mr. Hades."
The messenger got up and found the glasses in a cupboard, pouring them both more water. By the time he got done with the task Hades' mind had gone through a whirlwind. The messenger's wisdom and simple, childish belief made him waver on his doubts. It would be so easy to give in to hope, to just fling himself headlong into what he had been trained for. But fear was much more comfortable, it felt safe, and reasonable. Did he dare allow himself to do what his heart wanted and follow his beliefs?
He drank the glass the boy placed in front of him in a daze. Then when both glasses were drained, Hades stood and strode over to the closet. He opened it and pulled out a long green cape, so shiningly colored it caught the light from every angle. He dragged it over to a mirror.
Taking one last look at the happy reflection of the messenger behind him, Hades flung the cape around his shoulders and clasped the gold chain across his chest. The cape hung from his shoulder diagonally, revealing a large slit of the green vest and pants he was wearing. But it fit perfectly.
With a deep breath he turned back to the messenger.
"Who do you work for?"
The boy cleared his throat.
"For the advisors to the Witches Council."
Hades snorted.
"Not anymore you don't. Now you work for me." He moved forward. "Go tell the generals to rally the armies and tell the other Emerald City messengers to send out a summons for the people to gather beneath the castle. I am going to give an address."
The boy nodded, smiling wide enough to split his cheeks. Then he took off, racing down the hall in his leather sandals. Hades ran his hand through his hair.
He made the address from somewhere deep inside, an unconscious place he hadn't known existed before. Never mind what he actually said, his message got across and the people cheered. He even saw his ex clapping weakly and got an approving nod from the generals.
The next year was spent going from camp to camp, looking over battle plans and learning magic from any old practitioners he met in remote hamlets along the way. He worked at lightning speed, rallying troops to defend the realm from the warlord. The mood was unlike anything Hades had seen from the people before, a mix of fear, anger, and disbelief that only heightened as both sides rallied on a field that was much closer to the Oz border than Hades would have preferred.
The day of the battle finally came, and he stood at the front of the troops, fireballs gleaming in both hands and a sword at his waist. He glanced around at the line, aware that several thousand of these men and women would probably not be coming home alive. It was quite the weight to bear, for a twenty-year-old man, but he had to bear it. He was the Wizard.
The fight itself was a blur in his memory, just blood and magic blasts, and rushing to take out the other side's wizards before they could hurt scores of his people. Hades only regained conscious thought at the end, standing over a couple of corpses with the green edges of his robes tinged red.
By all accounts the battle was a thrilling success. Only a couple hundred died as the opposing army had mostly taken to the forest and ran once Hades had killed or captured all of their magic users. He didn't take the loss of life or the taking of lives lightly, spending many days afterward attending countless funerals and crying alone in his rooms over the people who wouldn't be going home on both sides because of him.
But the guilt faded over time, which made him even more guilty, the justifications war always gave repeated enough times in his ears that he began to believe them. But he didn't forget.
Although certain events helped. The most positive outcome of the entire War of a Day was the people's response. They had seen or heard the stories, of how their Wizard had marched on the front lines, had flung himself into battle before anyone else, and the moments of courage where he took out the enemy or saved the lives of his own soldiers. It left an impression, and Hades was welcomed as the Wizard with an enthusiasm he never had before.
The people loved him. Seeing their smiles and hearing the cheers on the day he walked on his own feet into the Emerald City finally convinced him that the safety of these people was worth his own pain. That didn't stop him from sending for his family the minute he stepped into the castle and allowing them to comfort him.
There were no more wars in his rule, and as he went out periodically to mend infrastructure and cut down crime, the people's love only grew. Which was why when an old friend in a far away district had called him out to take care of a mysterious portal, he hadn't hesitated for a second.
The two men who had taken him out to see it had inspired no suspicion in him, up until the moment they shoved him through the portal and he fell into the middle of a Goddess' living room.
As he had the thought the trees in front of him opened up and he was left gazing out over a large city with a castle in the center. The castle was black with red accents, as everything seemed to be in the Underworld, but other than the coloring it resembled the Emerald City perfectly. Hades had to blink a little and make sure it wasn't fake. Yet the longer he looked, the more his eyes were drawn to the familiar buildings.
The four armories on the corners of the city, sixteen libraries arranged throughout the residences with the same hurried placement, and even the door on this side of the castle that barely anyone could see and only he used to get into his rooms.
The people were almost impossible to see from his elevated position, but they were there, their movements the only reasons they were visible as more than full black specks. A hot wind blew Hades' blonde hair back.
He leaned forward from the tree he was grasping to get a better view of how he could access the city, but in his careless wonder he hadn't noticed the hill he was standing on slope abruptly down.
His footing gave out with a rush and he tumbled several meters down the side before getting his feet under him and scrabbling with his hands to find any purchase.
The annoyance he felt seemed magnified, his on top of the Goddess' who must surely not be appreciating all the little scrapes he had now peppered his legs and back with. Persephone's annoyance faded with time and he felt those little scrapes heal, magic closing the wounds. Mentally he thanked her before standing on the hill, leaning back so he wouldn't fall.
The walls around the city were high, much higher than the small barrier that surrounded the Emerald City, meant to focus traffic through the gates. These walls were almost fifty meters at a glance, the onyx sides without any abrasions or markings.
Hades was beginning to wonder how he ever would get in when the ground he was standing on shook and he saw a section of the wall, indistinguishable from the rest of it, detach and swing outward. The crack reached all the way up the wall, creating the largest gate Hades had ever seen. It didn't open much and the amount of people on the outside who were entering was very small.
Hades realized joining this group may be the only way he could get in so he scrambled down the hill as fast as he could, skidding on the brush the last few meters. His feet landed on a path, next to the caravan of people. A few of them looked over at him, likely noticing his bright green robes in their sea of oily black, but their eyes were disinterested and they soon turned away.
Everything about Hades was disconcerting, starting with the very ground he was standing on. He felt the solidity of the surface beneath his feet but to his eyes it appeared he was walking on a cloud of ever-shifting cream-brown mist, dust from the path lifting up as he walked and swirling with suspicious slowness through the air around his ankles, as though reluctant to allow gravity to drag it back to the ground.
The people continued to unnerve him as well. He could pick out men and women from the crowd, but their cloaks were quite baggy, making the task difficult. The cloaks also wrapped entirely around the bodies and heads of the people, like a poncho without a single break where he could ascertain what clothing they wore underneath. They had accepted him in silence and so he marched with them in it, approaching the doors.
The wall loomed large in his vision, and with the aid of his height, Hades picked out a few men and women standing at the side of the door, waving the people in. These had clothing that differed from the others clearly. For a start it was standard in its drabness but varied in style, helping them look more like normal people. The red light that pervaded the space glinted and gleamed from their direction.
Hades squinted and picked out golden bands wrapped around the necks of all the guards. The bands glowed with magic and when his group finally passed them he felt the power of the bands putting pressure on his own magical signature. His breath shortened with the power.
He was raising a hand to his neck when the feeling lessened, an alternate source giving him the strength to pass the guards. He breathed again when he was inside the wall, once again grateful to Persephone for her help. It was interesting how easily she was able to affect him magically. Not only was it a mark of her magical prowess, nothing less than what he'd expect from a Goddess, but it also spoke to the ease of the connection. How much else could be shared through their link?
Hades chanced a moment to slip aside and close his eyes. He focused all of his power inward and thought, Persephone?
He wasn't sure it reached her but then he felt a rush of discomfort. A voice came back in his head.
Quit working so hard. You almost burst my eardrums!
He winced and decreased his concentration. Hello Goddess.
I told you to call me Persephone. You used it before.
That I did. Sorry, Persephone.
Don't waste time apologizing to me, get inside, the wall is going to close.
His eyes shot open. Most of the group had moved on and the banded guards were passing him as they hurried to not get hit by the slab of the wall that was swinging shut behind him. He chose to join them, moving out of range and allowing the gate to smooth itself back into the rest of the battlements.
He stared until he couldn't see where the wall began and the gate ended. Then he spun on a heel, facing the city of the Dead.
Author's Note: This took a bit. Sorry friends. I hope you enjoy this one. I'm trying to update all my stories so Icwill probably either post a new multichap (because I love to torture myself) or a new chapter of Law of the Land. Thanks for sticking with me, please R&R.