Guest review response section:
Once more on the topic of Rhea X Cyril, I must add that I don't quite like Cyril as much as he probably deserves and I would do his character a disservice if I tried to force a romantic sub-plot. Plus, there's the whole lifespan issue that might interfere (as it actually also would with Flayn's or Seteth's potential love interests).
To the second guest reviewer, the spell is explicitly called the Forbidden Spell of Zahras. There is no a after the h. The h is emphasised, however. Considering that the word is (most likely) Persian, that is nothing unusual. Solon's voice actor also might possibly have mispronounced the h emphasis, but the transcribed spelling is definitely Zahras.
Cursory research into the term, by the way, has revealed the Iranian anti-Israel TV-series Zahra's Blue Eyes (جشمهاى آبى زهرا), in which Israeli doctors harvest the eyes and organs of Palestinian children. Fits the Agarthan Modus Operandi quite well, doesn't it?
In reference to pronunciation, I would like to point out that "corrupted" pronunciations of emphasised h-sounds and aspirated a-sounds are fairly common. It's how we came from Aides to Hades and from the Hebrew pronunciation of Michael to its German, English, etc. pronunciations.
Chapter 12: Dealing with Death
The return to the Monastery was a short affair thanks to the Warp platforms the Knights of Seiros had deployed. That was fortuitous as the students had started to become a bit jittery and restless. After they had passed the inner gates, Byleth ordered them to halt.
"We're back. Remember that a mission is only ever completed once you have returned safe and sound," he began, "That said, you have performed well during this mission. I am proud to call you my students." After a short pause, he added, "We reconvene at the dining hall in one hour. You're dismissed until then, though I'd like to have a quick word with Hilda, Claude and Lysithea."
Byleth took the three he had mentioned to the side and spoke quietly, "I'm relying on you three to watch over the others while I'm gone to debrief the Archbishop. Hilda, you and Marianne are friends, correct?"
"We are, Professor," she answered with a slightly confused tone in her voice.
The former mercenary was pleased. "Don't leave her out of your sight, then. Your first kill can mess you up in many ways. For people with her particular set of problems, even more so."
"Her set of problems?" asked Claude.
"It's a private matter I stumbled upon without intending to," answered Byleth. "Claude, I take it that today wasn't the first time you killed."
"It wasn't," confirmed the youth.
The Professor nodded. "Very well. In that case, I want you to look out for Raphael and Ignatz."
Lastly, he turned to the white-haired girl. "Lysithea, I will entrust Lorenz to you. Be warned, his mannerisms might irritate you. Leonie will be in your care too." He then stepped closer to her and whispered into her ear, "Look out for the others as well. Today might have been Hilda's first kill. And if you need help, come to me, Professor Manuela or Seteth. It is a sign of maturity to know when you can't handle something by yourself."
Byleth then stepped away and saw that Lysithea nodded in assent. Her pensive look made the young Professor hopeful that she would take his advice to heart. It was possible that her own first kill earlier that month had left her in an unpleasant state of mind, after all.
With those precautions taken care of, he made his way through the Monastery up to the audience chamber. Rhea and Seteth were already there, having been notified of the Golden Deer's arrival by the knights.
"Welcome back, Byleth," Rhea said with a small smile, "I hope the students have performed well."
"They did," was the young man's response.
"What of the secondary mission?" she asked.
"Proceeding as planned," answered Byleth, "Claude is likely to catch on sooner or later, Lysithea maybe as well, but the others are mostly in the dark."
Rhea looked pleased. "So it is as predicted, for the most part. That is good to hear. I know that you do not like to keep things secret from your students, but we are already at risk of leaking information."
The reprimanding look she send him did little to shake Byleth in his conviction that sharing the knowledge they had already shared had been the right decision. It was far from ideal to trust strangers like Baron Ochs, but trust was always necessary and risks were unavoidable. Luckily, this one actually seemed to be paying off. Plus, the current goings-on in Zanado could easily be made part of a contingency plan in case their trust proved to be misplaced.
Leaving that point of debate behind, Byleth instead moved to another topic. "I'm concerned about a few students," he said.
Rhea and Seteth frowned. The latter asked, "Why would that be?"
"Most of them have killed for the first time and some will not take it well," answered Byleth. He added, "I have taken the liberty of recommending Professor Manuela and you as counsellors."
The older man frowned again, in thought, but he eventually nodded. "Very well. I will make an effort to make myself available."
"There is also the matter of their families," continued Byleth.
Rhea had the answer to that. "Those are valid concerns," she said, "However, we cannot take that risk yet. Should danger approach, we will notify them, but not before."
Byleth was not too happy about that, but he understood it well enough. Such moves had a high chance of tipping off their enemies.
Still, speaking of students' families, there was one big elephant in the room.
"Are things in place for the incident at the beginning of next month?" he asked.
Rhea made a face. "It is regrettable that Lord Lonato and the Western Church are lost to us, but we have gathered a considerable force of knights in secret. We will proceed with the plan."
"Much as I would find it objectionable under ordinary circumstances, I must agree with our current course of action," commented Seteth.
Byleth was not looking forward to it either, but matters such as war were never pleasant. He only hoped that his pupils would be alright through it all. His concerns were shared with Hyperion and Sothis, even though they all knew that the students would have to grow up fast and had helped make the plan in the first place. The only comfort he could take from the situation was that he could ensure the students' survival.
The plan itself would present yet another deviation from Hyperion's foreknowledge, but according to the man, that was a good thing. He could see why. One could not be overly reliant on outdated intelligence and expect to succeed. Another big reason was initiative. Waiting for the enemy to act was risky due to the reactive nature of such a move. Unless one was entrenched and unassailable, that kind of approach could not easily be condoned, especially not with Shambhala's Pillars of Light in play.
So, a multitude of plans was drawn up and prepared. Contingencies were in the works too. Some of their plans would certainly fail, after all. There was no such thing as a flawless campaign. The best one could do in these situations would be to plan for failure ahead of time.
"It might improve your mood to know that Jeralt's operation is progressing well," said Rhea, breaking Byleth out of his thoughts.
"It does," he replied.
His grandmother smiled. "I am pleased to hear that. Soon, things will have reached the point at which I will have to head down to expedite the process."
That was good to hear. Rhea was the one who put the defence mechanisms in the chasm in place. Disabling them, or better yet, repurposing them was well within her means.
After a few seconds had gone by, Byleth asked, "Is there anything else?"
Rhea looked at Seteth, who shook his head, and then said, "Not at the moment. You're dismissed."
In the meantime, Byleth's students were cleaning up and winding down, and true to her word, Hilda hadn't let Marianne out of her sight. Looking at the blue-haired girl, she understood why her Professor had asked her to do that. Marianne took her first kill even worse than she had taken hers several years ago when she and her brother had been ambushed by outlaws.
Marianne looked awful and the sluggish way she moved unsettled Hilda. So, just like some hours before, Hilda helped the other girl clean up. Thankfully, there was only sweat and grime involved this time, instead of blood.
Throughout their time in the baths, they stayed silent. Both their minds were busy, though with differing subject matters. For Marianne, thoughts about her behaviour during the fight were prominent. Hilda, however, was more occupied with worrying about the other girl. Externally, they simply went through the motions of helping each other with the hard-to-reach spots.
During this, as she washed Marianne's hair and back, Hilda noticed that her friend was sobbing quietly. Abandoning the soap and other supplies for now, Hilda wrapped her arms around her from behind.
"Don't beat yourself up over what happened, Marianne. I would've been dead if not for you. Thank you for saving my life," she said in an attempt to reassure the blue-haired girl.
The sobbing grew a bit louder. "When that man swung his axe at you, I lost control. I… I'm a beast, Hilda, a monster. You saw what I did to him. I'll snap again and at some point, I'll hurt you and the others and…" Whatever else she tried to say was incomprehensible.
By the Goddess, this is so much worse than I imagined, thought Hilda as she blanched. She tightened her arms around Marianne.
"You're no beast or monster to me," the pink-haired girl said resolutely, "You saved my life and you didn't hurt anyone except our enemy. That doesn't sound like losing control to me, at least not completely. Yes, you were violent, but you did that to protect me."
The sobs started to die down at that. Marianne lightly gripped Hilda's arms around her and leaned back. "Thank you," she said, "But I'm still so afraid what I'll become eventually. I've known it for years and I can't escape it."
Hilda was quiet, thinking about what to say. She had no idea how to respond to that. Eventually, she asked, "What do you usually do when feel like that?"
"… I pray," answered Marianne.
Hilda smiled. "Then let's pray together. The Goddess will look out for you for sure." Though she wasn't particularly devout, Hilda was still a believer and thought that it could only help to ask the Goddess for aid.
Marianne had mixed feelings about this. She was touched, deeply so, that Hilda showed her such kindness, but her friend didn't know what she usually prayed for. Though, lately she felt as if there was some faint hint of a gentle reprimand whenever she prayed for the Goddess to take her to her kingdom up above.
In the end, she decided to take Hilda up on her offer. "Alright, let's do it," she said as she relaxed her grip on the other girl's arms. Instead, she brought her hands together and felt more than saw that Hilda did the same without letting go of her.
The pink-haired girl decided to take the initiative and began, "Dear Goddess, I ask you to take good care of Marianne. Guide her and protect her. Put her fears to rest and help her understand that a girl as wonderful as her can't be a monster. Stand by her and give her the courage she needs."
Embarrassed but happy for Hilda's support, Marianne added her own prayer, "Dear Goddess, please protect us from harm and misfortune. Help us overcome the trials of today." There, she paused. After a few seconds, she clenched her eyes shut and continued, "And if you can find it in your heart to grant me this one wish… please, lift my curse. I don't… I don't know if I can keep on living like this."
Both the girls' eyes flew wide open when they heard a voice speak to them in their heads, "Fear no curse, for if you defy it, it shall have no hold on you. God or mortal, it does not matter. We all are the makers of our own destinies, and so are you the architects of yours. The blood which imparts upon you your Crests may have been stolen from my children, but the sins of your forebears are not your own. Do not repeat them and you will never have to fear their consequences. Bear the blood as my children bore it, with respect and benevolence and prudence, and it shall be of no harm to you."
Shock went through both of them. "D-did you hear that too?" asked Hilda.
Marianne nodded, her eyes still wide. "I did," she whispered.
A bit more hesitant than before but no less sincere, Marianne put her hands together again. "Thank you, dear Goddess," she said in prayer.
"Think nothing of it. Few are as qualified as you to bear the blood," was the answer she received, the tone somewhat less formal than before. Instead, it held a comforting quality to it.
"She answered again," said the blue-haired girl with a small smile.
"What did she say to make you smile like that?" asked Hilda
"She told me I was qualified to bear the blood," answered Marianne.
Hilda's was happy to hear that, "That can only be good, right?"
Her friend smiled again and nodded.
Suddenly, the daughter of House Goneril looked pensive. "Do you think we should talk with Lady Rhea about this?"
Marianne thought about it. "We probably should," she said.
With that topic of conversation closed for now, Hilda remembered that she hadn't finished washing the other girl's hair and back. She also noticed that she still had her arms wrapped around Marianne. She decided that she quite liked doing that, and was rather loath to separate again, but she did so eventually.
As for Marianne, she relaxed, enjoying her friend's ministrations and finally letting go of the heavy thoughts that had plagued her since the mission. Hilda, she decided, definitely had a gift for scalp massages. With that, her thoughts drifted off and she fell into a small daze.
Hilda noticed this and simply smiled as she continued, quite enjoying the small sounds that escaped Marianne throat. Adorable, she thought.
On the other side of the baths, there was another heat-to-heart pending. Claude had sat down Ignatz and Raphael in a quiet corner. There was awkward silence, however. When no one said anything, Claude decided to break the ice.
"Tough day, huh?"
"You can say that again," said Ignatz.
There was silence again, but this time, Raphael spoke, "I always thought it would be quick. The Professor always says that life is fragile, but when it happened, it wasn't like that at all."
Claude nodded in understanding. "It looks that way in the beginning, but I think you'll realise soon that that was quick. A slow death… That's not something you'd want to see."
Ignatz gave his House Leader a worried glance. "How do you know that?" he asked.
The tanned youth gave the two other boys a wry smile. "I've had assassins after me for my whole life. The first time I encountered one without guards, I nearly died, but I did manage to slash her thigh with a knife my mother insisted I keep on my person."
That was probably the reason why he had this odd fixation on women who didn't protect their crotch area as zealously as they should, he reflected.
He continued, "I hadn't known it before then, but there is a major artery on the inner thigh. I'd managed to hit that. The assassin was unconscious within a minute and I was panicking. I was still quite naïve back then and hadn't wanted to kill her. So, I hastily put pressure on the wound and bandaged it with a bit of cloth I cut off her shirt. It stopped the bleeding, but the wound was infected." He grimaced. "Her death took days. By the end of it, she was in so much pain that she begged me to kill her. I was afraid to do so and instead watched as she withered away in agony."
Both Ignatz and Raphael were shocked at the tale. "Assassins? Seriously? You must've been a kid back then! Who sends assassins after kids?" shouted Raphael.
"Let's just say, the place where I grew up is a bit wild," answered Claude.
At least his parents had stopped tying him to a horse and dragging him with it after the incident, lest he run away again and get killed somewhere. They were forced to reconsider their approach to "toughening him up" as a consequence. Not for the first time, Claude concluded that they had no idea about child-rearing.
Ignatz pulled him out of his thoughts. "Still, that sounds like an awful way to die," he said.
Claude agreed. "It is. You were lucky that your first kills were quick, even if yours wasn't all that clean, Raphael."
Said person made a face at the mention of that. "Does it get any easier?" he asked. He was kind of afraid of the answer.
"It really depends," said Claude, "It gets easier in the sense that you get better at it over time. Now, if you really wanted to ask me whether it gets easier to stomach, then I can't give you an answer. It's different for everybody. In my case, killing has become easier to stomach, but I have never taken a liking to it, nor do I believe I will. Ideally, ever life should come to a natural end, but we don't live in an ideal world. I doubt that anyone ever will."
That wasn't as bad as Raphael had been expecting, though it still was a sobering thought. Claude was right, however. The world wasn't ideal and they would all have to learn how to live with it.
"That doesn't sound very comforting," said Ignatz.
Claude smiled. "It's how it is. We can work towards a better future, but before that, we have to live in the present, as unpleasant as that is."
The lean boy looked down, realising that his House Leader was telling the truth. "Do you have any advice for us?"
"Don't hesitate," was the answer he received.
"What do you mean?" asked Raphael.
Claude leaned back a bit and then elaborated, "If you're in a fight, don't hesitate. That doesn't mean you should charge in all the time, but hesitation is indecision. You can decide to wait or to attack or to run away, but you need to decide fast. Hesitation might cost you your life or that of your comrades. Sadly, that often means taking the life of your opponent. That's still far better than the lives of those on your side, though."
The other two looked pensive at that. After some time, Raphael said, "I guess that's why the Professor told us to pay attention to each other."
Ignatz thought about it for a moment and added, "That seems reasonable. He is a former mercenary, after all. He's probably got lots of experience with that."
"He does," said Claude, "I managed to speak with some of his father's mercenaries some time ago. He's personally trained over half the company and has been there for a lot of the younger ones' first kills. From what they say, he gives sound advice on how to deal with it, though that may depend on their profession as mercenaries."
"That explains how he seems to be so good at teaching," commented Ignatz.
"Makes sense," added Raphael.
There were a few seconds of silence and inactivity before Raphael spoke up again. "All this talking is making me hungry. Let's finish up and get to the dining hall. I hope they have meat on the menu today."
Both Ignatz and Claude laughed at that and decided to follow his suggestion.
While Byleth was talking with Rhea and Seteth, I was busy going over some notes. There was a lot of stuff I wanted to experiment with in terms of magic. I also had a contingency plan to prepare for the possibility of getting zapped with the Forbidden Spell of Zahras. And lastly, there was the matter of my deification and my divine powers.
When it came to Black Magic, I would rely mostly on Hanneman to do the number crunching. I really, really sucked at maths and I needed somebody to make sure any magic attempted with my ideas wouldn't blow up part of the planet. Case in point, the first spell I wished to develop was a magical railgun. Magic cast with the lightning attribute was a thing and combined with the concept of IBF, any mage capable of casting the railgun spell would immediately become the modern magical rifleman. Overpowering that spell could have devastating consequences.
White Magic, on the other hand, was more my metier. Well, technically Sothis would have me beat there once her memories were recovered completely, but it was the one area aside from Crestology where I had had a lot of success so far. Sure, a single spell didn't sound like much, but it was, considering that the spell required a completely new magic circle. I had no clue if that was the circle that was used originally, but the fact that it worked was a huge achievement in and by itself. In a way, it was the first thing I could ever legitimately be proud of.
There were already quite a few ideas bouncing around in my head. One of them was an expansion of the Ward spell. The existence of magic made the massed ranks tactics of Fodlan's militaries dangerous at best and suicidal at worst. Most of the troops that would be available to our side, however, would be comprised of those who had been trained to fight this way. To mitigate this weakness, we needed either more people casting Ward spells, which was impractical, or we could employ new variations of it.
Another idea involved the Warp spell. All manner of shenanigans could be conducted with it. For example, one could drop explosives into the middle of an enemy formation unless they had wards and enchantments that blocked such things. And a true master of the spell could possibly succeed in ripping off the Flying Thunder God Technique, though there was a good chance that that would be impractical.
The third, though not the last, big idea for White Magic, specifically Thaumaturgy, revolved around blessings. With that I didn't mean simple buff spells like the different Rally abilities in the game were. No, with blessings I meant permanent enhancements that could only be retracted by the one who handed them out. It wouldn't just involve combat applications either. Mostly, I was looking into this so I could lend some form of aid to Byleth and his charges. Making people stronger, sturdier, faster, smarter, more inventive, etc. would be a huge boon in the coming war.
I now turned my attention to what I had on my contingency plan. The fragments left by my divine benefactors had been most illuminating in the process of analysing the Forbidden Spell so far. As it turned out, we already had a bit of an advantage of highly ironic nature.
Basically, the Darkness of Zahras was preoccupied. The untold number of Gods imprisoned in it had managed to give the Agarthans a huge middle finger by usurping it. Sure, it had still killed them before they managed it, but they had still succeeded in turning it into their place of power.
What this meant was that while the Darkness of Zahras would still try to imprison whatever God found their way in there, as the black tendrils attempted when I was there, it would not be called upon by any outside force. In essence, this meant that if the spell were to be cast again, it would banish the target into a vastly inferior and far weaker copy of the original Darkness of Zahras. It would be a prison from which any God, even a minor one, could escape.
In conclusion, there would be one or two options open to us that avoided the soul fusion aspect of the escape. The only problem there was that Byleth was not a God and could not channel the full power one, but that was something I was working on mitigating.
Curiously, the fragments also told me that there had been a few escapees from the original Darkness. They were still dead and thus mostly powerless, but they could not be discounted completely.
Related to the topic of the Gods was the ease with which I could use the powers gifted to me now. Over the last couple of weeks, I had rapidly adapted to their use. I had realised somewhere along the road that they were integrating into my soul and that their use was becoming instinctual, which was definitely a boon with Prometheus' gift to me. I sucked at maths and electronics, but with this instinctual grasp, being a God/Titan of Technology would work out in the end. Already, I had plans to upgrade some of the weapons technology employed by the Knights of Seiros.
The marked improvement in the efficacy and potency of the powers Psyche had gifted me with had been noticed very quickly as well. Sothis appreciated it greatly and it made me genuinely happy, an emotion I rarely ever felt, that I could help her regain what she had lost that much faster.
Hyperion the Elder's gift was the most difficult for me to truly keep track of, but the way I could feel light convinced me that it followed the example of the other two. As for the aspect of wisdom, that was not something one could really sense. It seemed like it was getting a bit easier to think things through, but I would have to see how the situation developed further.
Still, this, combined with the partial reconstitution of my spiritual body, told me one thing: I was in the finishing stages of Citrinitas. I would develop my own divine power, unconnected to the domains I was gifted, and I would develop it within the next few days.
With these thoughts on my mind, I decided to finish for the night and head towards my bed. While I didn't truly need sleep anymore, I still enjoyed it, and it improved my mental acuity. That said, I laid down and drifted off into sleep.
When I woke up, I noticed immediately that something was not as it should be. For one, the bed I woke up in wasn't mine. The room also wasn't one I was familiar with. It was even strange that this was a room. After all, I hadn't seen any kinds of walls except through Byleth's eyes for the past few months.
The place had an interesting colour scheme. The floor was grey, the walls black, the curtains red and purple with golden outlines. I noticed a black rug with a red and gold design on the floor as I left the bed. There was also an arch at the room's end that was made of gold and had many gems covering it. I spotted rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds as well as purple and yellow amethysts.
Curious but also apprehensive, I decided to stop through the arch. The hallway I entered featured much the same colours as the room behind me, though there were tapestries that also featured vibrant greens, warm yellows and soothing blues.
As I neared the end of the hallway, a chorus of voices addressed me, nearly scaring me out of my shoes.
"Be welcome, young God, in the House of Hades. Approach us."
I was shocked. The House of Hades? It certainly fit with the colour scheme and the decorations, but did that mean I was well and truly dead now? Then again, it had already been arguable before. Alas, if I wanted answers, I would probably have to step into the next room.
As I did so, I came upon a strange site. The room I had entered was very large and featured far more gold than the others. Silver and platinum were also prominent colours and I could see white poplar leaves all over the walls. Even stranger was the arrangement of black stone chairs at the back of the room and the people who sat on them.
At the furthest part of the room, elevated above the ground and only reachable by a dais, were two big thrones made of black marble, both of which were unoccupied. On both sides of the thrones were dozens of stone chairs arrayed in a semi-circle. Most of these were also unoccupied, but those closest to the thrones had people sitting on them.
There was one prominent figure among them, who sat slightly apart from the others. I only noticed that she was a woman as I came closer since her thick black robes had hidden her figure before. She held a spindle, I noted. I also noticed an old bearded man with a scythe seated next to her as my angle changed. They both smiled at my approach and waited for me to step into the middle of their assembly.
"Greetings," said the woman, "I am Ananke and this is my husband, Chronos the Elder."
Ah, so I was dealing with Primordials here, those before me being the Primordial of Fate, mother of the Moirai, and the Primordial of Time, ancestor of the Titan Cronus. It seemed to me that these were the escapees from the Darkness of Zahras. This had the potential to go either way, but by the way I was greeted, I was hopeful that this meeting would come to a good conclusion.
"Hello. My name is Hyperion, Hyperion the younger," I responded.
Ananke spoke again, "I am sure that you have already guessed who the rest of us are, correct?"
I looked around to confirm my suspicions before I answered, "You are the Primordials from what I can tell, though I can only recognise a few of you by appearance."
With some, it was actually quite easy. One of them was Eros, easily recognisable for his indescribable beauty and the torch that rested in his hand. Erebus was easy to spot thanks to all the shadows that cloaked him, as was his sister-wife Nyx who sat next to him. Aether was not difficult to recognise either, as he shone brightly as the sun and his wife Hemera was not far behind either. Luckily, though, it didn't hurt my eyes, though that might be because no light could harm me anymore.
"It is enough that you recognise us as a group," said Ananke, "You must be curious about how this meeting has come to pass."
My response was a bit dry. "With you involved, it probably had little to do with chance."
She laughed heartily at those words, something that was echoed by most in attendance. "You'd be surprised," she said, "The future is rarely ever set in stone, no matter what my foolish daughters thought. The probability of someone like you even entering this reality was below 3%. Nonetheless, this meeting was planned in case that old codger you worship actually succeeded with his insane gamble."
I didn't quite approve of her talking about my Adonai like this, but I could understand her perspective. It was good to have it confirmed that my presence wasn't brought about by a malicious force nevertheless.
"He gambled on me being in this world?" I asked.
Ananke shook her head. "No, he gambled on you being in this world on top of being deified by those who chose to give you their gifts. Not that that was his only plan in case this one failed, mind you. He put most of his faith in dear little Sothis."
I had gathered as much, but the clarification was nice. "I see. That makes a lot of sense."
"That also brings us to the reason for your presence in the House of Hades," added the woman, "Your deification is entering the last stage and you need a domain of your own."
I interrupted her, "I actually have a question before we begin with that. Aren't I dead? I mean, I don't have my body anymore so I think I am."
"I see why you would think that, young one," a voice to my left said. I turned my head and noticed that it was Erebus. He continued, "But you are not dead, merely disembodied. You never died."
That was a bit hard to grasp for me. Not having a body was pretty much synonymous with being dead. Then again, things were different when divinity was involved. "Thank you for clarifying," I said.
Ananke took the floor again, "My apologies, you were but a mortal a short while ago and it takes time for your kind to understand such things."
"No problem," I said with a nod.
She continued where she had left off, "Seeing as your own divine powers will manifest from now on, we prepared this small ceremony for you."
I was confused. "Ceremony?"
She nodded. "When a mortal is deified, the council of Gods can grant them their primary domain, though it does not always happen that way. Eros' wife Psyche, for one, attained her domain all on her own. However, we, who now function as a stand-in for the council, thought it best to offer you a very special position."
"What position?" I asked.
A figure to my right coughed into his fist. He was a man with pitch-black skin. His eye sockets were filled dark miasma and blood seemed to run out of them in a constant stream that drenched his clothes.
"We offer you the position of King of the Underworld, God of the Dead, He Who Receives Many," the man said, "It is not a domain any new God can gain by themselves."
I blinked and ran that over in my head. "But why? I'm honoured, but I don't quite understand why you would want me to have that position. I'm also not exactly qualified to govern anything."
The man's answer was quick, "Contrary to you, we are dead. Ironically, only a living God can fill the position of God of the Dead. It is only because I am Tartarus, Lord of the Pit, that we have been able to keep the Underworld and all of the other realms of the afterlife stable. It won't remain that way for much longer. My strength has run out."
"There are other circumstances too," another voice said. It was Eros. He added, "As God of the Dead, you will have the authority and the power to retrieve those who have died but not entered the afterlife. While this would ordinarily be a task for Sothis as Goddess of Death, a God of the Dead has far more authority over those who already are dead." After a pause, he also said, "I admit, there is also a selfish reason. I cannot stand to be separated from my wife and daughter for much longer. It drives me up the wall that they are still trapped in that infernal place that killed us all."
For the first time since the beginning of discussion, Chronos also spoke, "Then there is also the aspect of reward. The mortals you are close to will die eventually. I reckon you would enjoy being able to interact with them. Since the afterlives of all realities are at least somewhat connected as well, this will also solve the problem for any mortals of your old world."
That was a very good point. I was tempted to accept this offer and, after thinking about it for a minute, gave in to that temptation.
"Very well," I said, "I accept."
A smile split Ananke's face. "Splendid!" she said, "Let us begin immediately, then. Don't worry, we'll make it quick."
She stood up and motioned for me to follow and walked up the dais to the thrones. Once I stood in front of them, I turned to face the small crowd of Primordials. From there, I watched as Erebus and Tartarus brought forth a cushion on which sat a crown of metal and wood.
Ananke turned to me and said, "Kneel, young one."
Guessing that this was part of the ceremony, I did so. She spoke again, "Do you swear to take on the burdens that this crown represents?"
"Yes, I do" I answered.
"Do you swear to rule the Underworld and its denizens with fairness and compassion to the best of your ability?"
"I do."
"Do you swear to keep those imprisoned who so deserve?"
"I do."
She smiled and took the crown from the cushion Erebus and Tartarus were still holding. "As your oaths are so sworn, I now present you with the crown of the Underworld, forged in the fires of the Phlegethon, quenched in the waters of the Styx and wreathed in the branches of Leuke."
Ananke then placed the crown on the faint outline of my head. "Rise now, young king."
I rose to my feet and as I did so, she turned to the others and loudly proclaimed, "Hail Hyperion, King of the Underworld and God of the Dead!"
"Hail!" shouted the crowd.
The halls of the House of Hades were humming now. A sense of tension was in the air as though the realm of the dead itself waited with bated breath. Then, at Ananke's gesturing, I sat down on Hades' old throne next to Persephone's and suddenly, the tension was released. From beneath the throne, a pillar of reddish black light erupted and engulfed me.
Without warning, my mind was assaulted by sensory information. I could feel the rivers, the Pit, the fields of punishment, Elysium and so much more. Every part of the Underworld now forced itself into my head. Thankfully, the immense pain this caused didn't last long. Instead, I was occupied with marvelling at the fact that I could now feel the location and status of every place within my new domain.
Some minutes later, I was finished with revelling in this new sensation and focussed on the people in front of me again. "That was a bit of a rush," I said.
The statement caused a few chuckles around the room. "Sounds about right," commented Nyx, "I like the new colour scheme, by the way."
"Colour scheme?" I asked.
Looking down at myself, I saw that the blue colour I had come to associate with myself was gone and replaced by the same reddish black that had engulfed me just a few minutes ago. I thought a bit on it and came to the conclusion that blue was probably just a very generic colour as far as Gods went, considering that the streams of power back in the Darkness of Zahras had been blue.
"Consider it a sort of uniform, only soul-deep," said Tartarus, "Speaking of which, you don't have to worry too much about your duties yet. With you stabilising the Underworld, we can take over the day-to-day minutiae. You still have much to accomplish in the world of the living and we don't really have anything better to do."
"That is convenient," I remarked.
The Lord of the Pit grinned, "Ha! You admitted yourself that you don't know much about governance. Did you think we'd throw you in the deep end right from the start? No, we will have decades, if not centuries, to ease you into the role."
That got rid of some of my worries. "I'm relieved to hear that," I said.
The following silence was then broken by Ananke, who said, "In that case, I would say we are finished for now."
I nodded. "I think we are," I said, but a thought came to me, all of a sudden. I spoke again, "Though I would like to speak with Eros about a private matter."
Slightly surprised, said Primordial took a second before he replied with, "Sure, but if it's private, we should probably wait for the others to leave."
I smiled, "Thank you Eros. And thank you to all of the others as well."
With that, the gathering of deities broke apart and all but Eros and I had vacated the room within minutes. This left Eros and I alone to discuss what I wanted to discuss. I chose to leave the throne and sit down in the chair next to his for this.
"Alright," said Eros, "What do you want to talk about?"
I took a deep breath and spoke, "It's got to do with a problem that my friend Byleth and I share. We're not good with emotions, you see? It's hard for us to understand them or even know that we feel them. It took me nearly twenty years to figure out that I love my siblings, for one. I know I can feel familial love and I know that I feel it, but I can't grasp it. I can't pick it out of the mass of emotions I feel."
"I see," muttered Eros.
I continued, "Now, the big problem I see for Byleth and for myself is the question of whether I can feel other types of love as well, specifically romantic love. I'm kind of scared of encountering it and not even noticing, which would leave me a loner for the rest of my presumably immortal life. Therefore, I have a request."
To my delight, the Primordial nodded. "Name it, then."
"Seeing as your domain is love, though it's primarily hot and passionate love, I wanted to ask you for help in matters of romantic love. Is there a way you can help us recognise it?" I asked.
"Refreshing," he commented.
That seemed like a bit of a non-sequitur. "In what way?"
He grinned a bit. "Normally, requests of favours from me involve some entitled arse begging me to make the man or woman of their dreams falling in love with them. That you haven't done so is a bit new, and I like that. I will help you."
Those news were wonderful to hear for me. "Thanks a lot," I said with a smile.
Eros smiled back and then closed his eyes in concentration as he gripped his torch tighter. His face scrunched up in concentration and I could see how much focus he put into whatever he was doing right now. The flame of his torch started to flare and dance while he did is work. Then, he reached into said flame with his free hand and pulled out two strips of golden fire, one of which he wrapped around my wrist.
"Listen well," he said, "This strip of fire is yours and the other one is your friend's. Tell him to wrap it around his wrist as I did yours. It will sink into his skin after a short while and can be brought out by focussing on it. The important thing is that if you ever wish to know whether what you are feeling is love or not, you only need to make the strip appear and tug on it."
"Wow," I said, "That's great! Thank you so much for this."
"Pay me back by doing well in the struggles to come, Hyperion," he said.
"I will," was my response.
I was then subjected to a scrutinising gaze. Whatever Eros saw seemed to satisfy him. His smile returned and he said, "Good luck then. Now, if you excuse me, I think I'll check upon my humble abode down here. I will see you around, young one."
Having said that, he stood up and made for the exit of the throne room.
"Goodbye!" I shouted after him.
He raised his hand in salute and then left through the archway.
With nothing better to do anymore, I suddenly realised that I was getting drowsy. Acting on a feeling, I went back to my throne and sat down on it. Then, I closed my eyes and fell asleep once more.
AN:
Greetings, dear readers. I present to you my newest chapter and very much hope that you have enjoyed reading through it.
I would like to once again thank everyone who favourited, follower and reviewed this story. I'm glad to know that so many have taken a liking to my writing.
As for today's mythological confusion, there are two beings in Greek myth who bear the name Chronos. One is Ananke's husband/consort and a Primordial. The other is Rhea's husband and father of Zeus. Both have Time as their domain, though the Titan Chronos also has Harvest.
In that regard, Eros is similar. There is Eros the Primordial and Eros the God, son of Aphrodite and Ares.
By the by, I have also noticed that as of this chapter, Headmates now surpasses the first two Harry Potter books in word count, individually of course.
Anyway, I will see you next time in three weeks again, if my schedule holds true.
Today's recommended story is Harry Crow by robst. While it can be quite cheesy at times, this story is one of my favourites and I can only recommend it. At over 730'000 words, it is also quite a long read.