Our beautiful princess Serenity fell from the moon like a shooting star towards the Earth. A radiant light encompassed the princess and protected her from the barriers of flame shielding the planet of sapphire and emerald.
Gods are most often the ones who play tricks on humans. But this time, a power greater than wielded by any god played a trick on our hapless Serenity. For instead of landing into rich, fertile earth that her feet had yearned to run across, she made impact with a layer one below that. Serenity landed in a realm in which hellfire consumed the leftover of mortals' souls. Where the actions of one's brief life in the mortal realm were judged with an eternal sentence. Where even gods cannot escape from forever. Serenity, the child who Fortune favored, had landed in the unforgiving Underworld.
Her shielded form easily broke through the barriers protecting the mortal world from the fiery landscape of hell. Souls who had not been kissed by the suns rays in eons screamed in delirium as they rushed to the opening, desperate to escape their tortuous punishment.
The commotion of the screaming ghouls alerted the God of Eruption, who stood as one of the first line of defense in the Underworld. "What the hell is going on?!" his cries were followed by explosions from his palms, rocketing through the poor souls. One by one, he blasted one tortured soul after another into oblivion. Perhaps such actions would be too cruel, but if these souls leaked into the surface world, then they would wreak unimaginable havoc. These depraved souls would know no bounds and leech onto the first body they found, alive or otherwise. The dead would walk once more. It was up to Bakugo, the esteemed patron of Eruption to prevent such an apocalypse from plaguing the human world.
When he finally reached the breach in the barrier, his roar of anger rang through the land. Such a reverberating call forewarned others of the threat and momentarily stalled the souls desperate to escape. The first to arrive was the God of Riot, Kirishima. His limbs hardened to easily break through souls who had already withering forms and watched as they crumbled into dust. "The arrival of Tengai, God of Barriers, is forthcoming!"
"Well he better hasten! More of hell's most foul creatures have taken notice of the tear. How in the name of Hades did something break through the strongest barrier in Hell? Why would any common sense possessing creature desire to do so?! Do they not know that we are keeping the most vile creatures in?" Bakugo spit out these words as he sent explosions in every which way.
Just as stated, Tengai, the best barrier creator in all of hell, came to the rescue. As Bakugo and Kirishima pounded more deviant hellish creatures and souls into utter oblivion, Tengai patched up the barrier. More reinforcement came in the form of Ashido, Goddess of Acid, and her regiment who corralled the remaining creatures into their personal hell.
"I have finished a temporary reinforcement to the barrier, but I will need more support if this hole to be truly fixed. I will see to it that my apprentices come at once to assist me." Tengai finished his report to Bakugo with a nod and went on his way to summon his students.
"Has anyone discovered what monstrosity could have done such a thing? Was it an attack from another god? Who in their right minds would want to start another war? Hell is filled to the brim with soldiers with blood on their hands." Bakugo's anger was palpable. While most would reason that his explosive anger was a sign of his immaturity as a god, the reason why he was Hades's right hand man lied in his experience in combat. Bakugo was a seasoned god who had fought alongside Hades to defeat his Titan father and sent him to a place where even the light of hellfire could not reach.
"Sir, you need to see this!" It took all of Bakugo's self-control to not launch the soldier into the river of bone-melting lava coursing alongside them.
"Why the hell are you presenting me with a flower?! I will shove such foolishness so deep inside your—"
"Wait!" Ashido cut the god before he could erupt in anger. "How did you stumble into a flower of all things in a land where no such life grow?" She gingerly took the flower from her soldier's possession and cupped it in her hand, shielding it from the withering heat.
As a loyal creature hell, Ashido had always remained in the Underworld, never dreaming to cross to the surface. But this marvelous yet very delicate piece of wonder made Ashido question the earth that lied above them. She never imagined such beauty could lie elsewhere than in hell. The petals felt like velvet underneath her clawed fingertips and its pink color complimented her blushing skin.
Another underling cried out, "General! We have discovered the cause for the breach!" All three gods jolted at the proclamation and ran towards the newfound discovery. The sight that beheld them robbed their breath out of their lungs.
A crater larger than the eye could take in had gobbled up the rusted ground. The strangest thing was the the flurry of flowers that proliferated inside the crater itself. If hell were full of brighter creatures, then one of them would frolic and roll down along the gentle slopes of the crater. But hell was not full of such creatures. Hell was full of monsters that desired to tear such creatures of innocence to shreds.
A most peculiar shining object laid in the center of the crater. Its light shrouded the object in mystery and even these gods of the Underworld were too scared to approach it. For to touch such radiance meant to risk annihilation as none of these gods had been faced with such power in eons.
"We must alert Hades at once."
There were no other God that reigned on Earth or the Heavens that was more feared than the great Hades, Overseer of the Underworld. Even the whisper of his name would send a crowd fleeing like cockroaches. His power was heard to scorch an entire country with the flick of his wrist or freeze a land into an unbearable Age of Ice. Mortals did anything and everything they could think of to appease the feared God of the Underworld.
Hades was a secretive God for someone of such great stature must guard his secrets lest they be used to topple him. There were few who knew his true face for he never left his castle without his impenetrable armor. And even fewer knew his true name. Only those in his innermost circle had the privilege of calling him Todoroki.
Todoroki sat on his golden throne, barely able to stay awake in this trial determining whether or not this soul would be pardoned from his crimes as a human. Typically he would not be bothered with such trivial matters but the upkeep of hell was growing more and more restless. Seems like the mortals above were growing all the more creative with the sins they were committing.
The hapless blathering of this purplish, round creature before him could not hold his attention for more than a second at a time. Perhaps he should do away with such patheticness and sentence him to the second level of hell for his lustful gazes he consistently threw at the female warden. Just as he was about to announce his decree, a soldier from the outer levels burst through the doors.
"Your Majesty, Bakugo is in utmost need of your presence. The barrier guarding our world from the mortal realm has been broken by a mysterious object. The God of Barriers is currently mending the tear, but you must come at once to take witness to what has fallen into our realm." The soldier finished his report with little breath in him. He cursed his luck for being the unfortunate messenger to deliver such news to the most feared being in all of hell.
The fires in the room flared in a frenzy, its flames almost licking the sky-high ceiling. "Fetch my chariot at once!" His roaring command made the walls tremble and all residents went momentarily deaf. The poor soldier's knees buckled and fell on his bottom as fear rendered his legs useless. The soldier would rather have bathed in the blazing fires of hell for a million years instead of bearing witness to the visage of Hades in his horned helmet that made his eyes menacing rubies in black sockets. The poor soul quickly scrambled off the floor to do as he was commanded lest he risked not even having legs to flee from the most feared being in all of hell.
Todoroki was absolutely livid. The heat in the room became unbearable and the luckless soul awaiting his judgement perished on the spot. What creature, mortal or otherwise, would be foolish enough to trespass into his domain? But the better question was: how mighty was this creature to break one of the most powerful barriers in heaven and hell without alerting the ruler of the Underworld himself? The only answer was that a God had assisted such an attack but the only ones able to do so were Zeus and Poseidon. Had the time come for another war? Todoroki shook his head. Now was not the time to ponder about such things.
The dark chariot raced across the red skies of hell to bring Todoroki to his destination. Instead of stepping onto the commonplace scorched earth of hell, Todoroki found his feet upon a patch of soft flowers. His attention became completely fixated on such exquisite greenery. No such greenery grew anywhere in hell and it had been centuries since he had visited the mortal or heavenly realm to even bring such seeds back accidentally. Rare were his invitations to the frequent celebrations that most other gods held to bathe in their luxury.
"Your Majesty!" Todoroki was shocked from his stupor by the voice of his general, Goddess of Acid. "You must see this." The general led him through the field of flowers to his right-hand man, Bakugo, and his lieutenant Kirishima. The two stood at the edge of a crater whose sides filled with the same floral life. His followers' gaze all gestured towards energy field circling the crater.
"We haven't been able to step past the edge of the crater to inspect what lies below. Tengai is busy fixing the tear so we have not been able to break through this shield. But this energy signature, I haven't felt such a thing since the Great War." The implication of Bakugo's words hanged heavy in the scorching heat. The return of the Titans would be one of the worst outcomes for all those involved: mortal and immortal beings alike.
Todoroki placed a metal-gloved hand upon the energy shield and felt a slight shock coursing through his body. His fingertips pushed against the stubborn shield. The more the shield pushed back, the more his adrenaline coursed through his body. He realized he had not felt this sort of excitement in ages. The barrier finally broke at his insistence, shattering into a million pieces. His company watched in awe at this subtle, yet masterful display of his power. This truly was their overlord.
Todoroki's legs grew a mind of their own as they took him sliding down the crater's slope. His body filled with an electric kind of anticipation that had his mind thrumming. When he finally reached the center, the sight before him ripped his breath so violently from his lungs that he almost keeled over.
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life. No, "beautiful" was not enough to describe what she was. He had seen millions of souls and goddesses pass before his eyes, but no creature, otherworldly or otherwise, could even hold a flame to the radiance that this woman before him held. Could she be a fallen angel from Zeus's court? No, that could not be. Her light was simply so pure, it was unbelievable. It was if she had never crossed paths with anything even tainted with a speck of dirt. Almost all the Gods and Goddesses he knew who had been on Earth were tainted in some way, by their own darkness or the humans, which sometimes did unspeakable deeds in their name. Was it possible that she was not even one of the heavenly patrons of Earth?
A memory bubbled up to the surface and this time Todoroki's knee did hit the ground in shock. The esteemed God of the Underworld knelt for no man, but he would kneel for the daughter of the last Titaness, Goddess of the Moon. He remembered several centuries ago, before the moon's barrier had gone up, he had caught a fleeting glimpse of the most exquisite creature on the white surface of the moon through the use of his telescope. The telescope was a gift from the Goddess of Invention, Hatsumei, but he had had no idea how to use it. It was a stroke of luck that he had even seen her that night. She was such a heavenly visage, wrapped in her white flowing dress with her rivers of golden hair cascading from her head. Even from the depths of hell, he could see the blues of her eyes, so enchanting peering down on the Earth. But in a flash, she disappeared from the view of his telescope. He had tried every night again for years before he finally convinced himself that it was only a mirage.
The devilish God removed his horned helmet to reveal hair split between scarlet and ivory and eyes resembling turquoise and silver gems. Every fiber of his being desired to get a better view of this heavenly being that he had been blessed with. Her long flaxen hair was strewn across the ground like spilled golden thread. Velvet flower petals caressed the side of her peaceful, slumbering face.
"Your majesty!" The footsteps of his underlings broke him out of his trance. "Long moments have passed since your departure. What have you discovered?" Before anyone could step any closer, their demonic leader whipped his head around to reveal flashing red eyes as a warning to his subjects. 'Come any closer and you will not live to see the next moonrise,' these glowing red eyes warned. Todoroki spread his large bat-like wings to block the view of Serenity, completing the devilish look of Lord of the Underworld.
Without a word, Todoroki summoned large, frozen crystals with a stomp of his right foot to barricade his generals from approaching his newfound treasure. Gingerly, he scooped up the fallen Goddess of the Moon into his arms, cradling her head against his chest. With one bat of his wings, he shot up into the sky like a cannonball.
His abandoned generals looked at their leader's ascending figure in complete befuddlement.
"What in the nine levels of hell just happened?"