Authors Note: Big shoutout to Yoshi, The Daemon of Erebus for coming up with the mountain domain. Was really in a pickle with that one. And a quick shoutout to Theseus-Theo, DeadDredd, and parallaxyt as well (Read their stories!). Also, important announcement at the end, so take a look.
Chapter 17: The entire mythological world knows something new
The Olympian Gods were still standing, and gaping at Perseus in shock. Sure he got some cool domains, but one thing that went through their minds was 'what in the world was hellfire?!' Perseus wobbled forward to his throne, which was placed just next to Apollos'. As soon as he sat down, he immediately felt a rush of power flow through him and he immediately relaxed. "So this is how it feels to have and sit on a throne? No wonder Zeus always hangs around here when he's not in the mortal world."
Perseus then looked around the room, surveying the crowd, which looked quite tiny due to his fifteen-foot stature. They had just finished cheering and applauding for him, though that still didn't stop the whispers that were now coming in full force from them. He then looked at his fellow Olympians on their thrones.
Apollo and Hermes were giving him full blown grins and thumbs up's, Ares was looking at him with pride and a bit of jealousy mixed in. "Probably because of my get-up." Perseus thought, massaging his now healed arm. Poseidon also had a proud look on his face while Zeus...looked confused? Perseus was pretty much sure that Zeus's master bolt was going to make an appearance after hearing about that last domain which even had the Fates on the edge.
On the lady's side, Hera gave a small smile and mouthed 'congratulations' to Perseus. Demeter was now definitely avoiding Perseus's gaze which led him to suspect if she did have a crush on him. Now that was plain weird and...eww. Hestia was positively beaming with pride and Artemis was also giving him a big smile and a thumbs up. "Man, that smile looks so...wait. Is she blushing, or is that a trick from the light?" Perseus thought. He was then distracted from his thoughts when Zeus launched a thunderbolt into the ceiling, the rumbling loud enough for the room to quieten down.
"I have some questions...regarding Perseus's domains." Zeus began, looking around. "But first, I would like to congratulate each and every one of you new gods and the domains you all represent. I am sure you all will be an integral part of this council and for the future of Olympus as well. Hermes, I'm pretty sure you are going to be the busiest of all of us. Never thought of having a messenger god but now that I think about it, we definitely need one." Zeus said, followed by light chuckles from everyone.
"Apollo and Artemis! I couldn't have asked for better candidates to be the new sun and moon deities. And Apollo, as the god of prophecies, you have an important job which I will fill you on soon. And Artemis, it makes me happy to know that the monsters plaguing the mortal world will soon be eradicated by you, with help from Perseus of course. Speaking of Perseus..." Zeus said, trailing of his words as he stared at his pseudo nephew. He then looked at the crowd gathered at the end of the throne room and addressed them. "Dear attendants, I ask of you to leave this room for the time being as we wish to delve on some confidential matters right now. It won't take long at all." The people in the crowd muttered among themselves, obviously wanting to be a part of the discussion but slowly left the room. The only people remaining in the throne room was the council of eleven, Hades, Leto and Maia, and the three Fates.
"Now, what I first want to know is. What is the eclipse phenomenon exactly?" Zeus asked.
"There are two types of eclipses. A solar eclipse, and a lunar eclipse. You remember that day when you called an emergency meeting for the gods and all thinking that Nyx was going to declare war on you because she 'shrouded the sky in darkness and made the sun into a glowing ring'? That's the solar eclipse for you. When the moon turns a red color, that means it's a lunar eclipse." Atropos explained.
"Oh...I see." Zeus murmured. "But how does that happen?"
"Oh look up the books, we are not your physics teachers." Clotho grumbled. "Now, is there anything else you want to know, or no?'
"Why does the punk have mountains as his domain?" Ares asked, scoffing. "Pretty dumb one if you ask me."
"Says the god with courage as his domain but is the total opposite in that aspect." Lachesis said. "We needed to give something that more or less justifies Perseus's earth manipulation powers. Mountains was the best we could come up with as it fits his hunting dynamic as well. Anything else?"
"What's the deal with the whole protecting thing I have to do?" Perseus asked.
"Simple. You would roam the lands of Greece, basically acting as a protector and helper to people in need. You can also act as a guide to heroes on their quests, give them little tips and all when necessary." Clotho replied.
"Wait, but doesn't that go against the ancient laws? I'm not comfortable with the fact that a god can have so much leeway without any consequences." Zeus argued, clearly unhappy.
"Oh shut it Zeus. If Chaos decrees it so, then there is nothing you can do about it. Would you like to ask the omnipotent one if you're still pissy about it? We can always drop you off at the Void." Atropos said, smirking when she saw the king of the gods sink lower on his throne. "Now, is there anything else, or shall we take our leave. You have a crowd waiting outside you know.
"Yes, I have one last question. What is this... hellfire? Is it that weird white colored fire we saw engulf Perseus during his ascension?" Hestia, surprisingly asked.
Clotho let out a heavy sigh. "Yes, Hestia. That was hellfire. As to what it is exactly, we really can't tell you as it goes against Chaos's wishes. All we can really say is that it's a powerful and mystical form of energy that older deities will definitely be interested in getting their hands on. Having Perseus as its official user is definitely a good thing let me tell you. So don't try to do any sort of funny stuff Zeus, we're warning you!"
"Wh-What?! Of course I won't do any funny stuff to Perseus. Why would I do that?" Zeus nervously asked, as he tried to convince his family who was staring at him unconvinced.
"You literally swallowed your first wife, my mother, when she told you her next child will become the new ruler of Olympus." Athena said in a deadpanned voice.
"That was only that one time." Zeus muttered.
"How dangerous is hellfire exactly?" Hermes asked.
"Let's just say...that it's capabilities are still very much unknown." Lachesis said, turning to face Perseus. "If you want to know more about it, then I suggest you can meet up with Hecate if you want to. She also has some minor control over hellfire."
Zeus remarkably stumbled on the ground from sitting on his throne. "Hecate?!" he shrieked out loud, getting up. "That minor goddess also has control over this powerful flame?! Bring her here immediately!" he bellowed.
Atropos facepalmed on seeing this reaction. "Why am I not surprised..." she muttered. "Think Lord Zeus, do you really want to make her mad when she's an ally right now to Olympus?" she asked.
Zeus merely blinked as he sat on his throne, contemplating her words. "You may have a point. And I wasn't going to do anything stupid, I was just going to talk to her about stuff. Really!" he cried when he saw the unconvinced looks on the gods faces.
The Fates let out a collective sigh. "I'm sure this is the end of our discussion. Enjoy the party, we'll be taking our leave now." And the Fates disappeared in a flash of grey light. The gods looked at each other then shrunk down to normal sizes.
"Oh I am so proud of both of you!" Leto said, bringing her twins in a hug. "God and goddess of the sun and moon! And of course you two have archery, I'm not at all surprised."
"I'm surprised!" Artemis said, grinning at her brother. "You are like, worse than Athena when it comes to archery. And that's really something since she's not good with it."
"Hey!" Apollo and Athena said together. "I'm very much skilled in archery, thank you very much. You, on the other hand have some really boring domains, other than the moon. Like, hunting? Who wants to be the god of hunting?!" Apollo said.
"I am!" Perseus cried out, putting his hand on his chest. "To be hurt by my very own friend, is a pain I never thought to experience at all."
"Oh shush." Apollo muttered.
"What I want to know cousin, are these vambraces." Hermes said, holding Perseus's arm out, inspecting the braces attached. "They don't look like any other metal I've seen before."
"Oh these? These are kind of like my birthday gifts." Perseus said, forming a sword and shield out of the braces. He then changed it up to a spear and an attached blade on the vambrace and then a bow, much to the shock of the other gods.
"Duude! Where did you get this! Did the cyclops make you one, can I get one? Holy me, I have to go and get one of those!" Apollo cried out.
"You want something like this?! This is meant for a warrior punk, if anything I should get something like this." Ares said, also taking hold of a vambrace. "Can you make a claymore out of this?" he asked.
"I'm not sure about two handed weapons, but I can try." Perseus said, as he imagined a claymore in his right hand. The vambrace spasmed, but nothing happened. Perseus then tried to make both vambrace form into a claymore and sure enough, both vambraces moved from the bands to form a claymore which fell on the floor making everyone jump.
"Sorry about that. Well looks like two handed weapons are possible." Perseus said, willing the vambraces back and backing up a bit on seeing Ares literally drool over them.
"Perseus, what metal did the cyclops even use to make marvels such as these?" Hades asked.
"Oh, the cyclops didn't make them. This is from that cube thingy I came from. As soon as I touched it, it turned to these. I think you guys called it Nexus Platinum if I'm not mistaken." Perseus said.
The gods were now staring back and forth at the vambraces and at Zeus, who was slowly turning pink and was beginning to splutter.
"Alright! We have guests' outside expecting a party so move it people!" Hera shouted, clapping her hands. The thrones were pushed at one side and in its original place, tables were laid out with food and drinks everywhere. The doors of the throne room opened and the guests flooded in, with many of them going to the new gods to congratulate them. Apollo was eating all the praise up as he walked with Ourania, Hermes was still trying to sell his winged cap, now autographed, to all his well-wishers. Perseus was somewhat uncomfortable by being swarmed by so many people asking about his parentage and domains, and it didn't help that most of the crowd were all female. The same thing was going on with Artemis, only her crowd was mostly males, and a large bunch of satyrs. Soon enough, Perseus was pulled aside by a grinning Poseidon, who stirred him away from the crowd.
"Not even five minutes into the party and you're already getting swarmed." Poseidon said, giving a light slap on Perseus's back. "Just a heads up, this is going to be the scene for at least a week mind you. Unless you do something heroic and cool and get swarmed again."
"So you're saying I should hide myself in the shadows and be a particularly boring god?" Perseus asked in a deadpanned voice.
"Now you said it yourself shadow god. 'Hide in the shadows.' The only problem is that you might turn into another Hades. Now, I love my brother and all, but the whole brooding and lord of the dead thing has really made him into quite a grouch." Poseidon replied.
Perseus opened his mouth to argue that his uncle was hardly a grouch when muffled cries were heard on the other side of the room. There was some minor god who was lying on the floor, clutching his broken arm while Artemis looked down on him, a deathly glare present on her face. Athena, on seeing the commotion, went and grabbed Artemis and began to drag her to where Perseus and Poseidon were.
"Athena."
"Poseidon." Athena curtly replied. "Looks like you couldn't handle the spotlight as well huh Percy." Athena said grinning at Perseus who huffed in response.
"Of course Perseus wouldn't handle the spotlight, he'll disappear!" Poseidon said, laughing. On seeing the confused faces, he quickly back tracked. "Cause Perseus is now the god of shadows, and if you shine light on a shadow, it'll disappear. Come on, that was a good and clever one!" Poseidon cried indignantly on seeing the three gods' groan.
"Certified wisdom goddess over here. No, it was not a clever one as another shadow would have formed when shining a light on something, whether it's a shadow or an object. If you said the dark, then the joke will get a pass. As for you, young lady." Athena said, turning to face Artemis. "You cannot just break someone's arm for no apparent reason."
"He was invading my private space; they all were really." Artemis muttered.
Athena let out a sigh, as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I... will allow that. But next time, don't be so hardcore."
Poseidon snorted. "Which is why you can't seem to throw away suitors off your feet. Did you even manage to get your cape back from that satyr?"
"No." Athena said, gritting her teeth. "And I don't even want it back now, if that dumb creature is going to do what I think he's going to do with it." Perseus and Artemis looked at each other and visibly shuddered in disgust.
"Perseus!" Apollo and Hermes shouted, stumbling forward. "We need you to shadow travel us around! It'll only be for a few minutes."
Perseus frowned why do you want me to shadow tra-"
"To get some instruments! We can't do our snappy summoning trick yet so we need your help in moving the equipment around. Hermes over here thinks he can beat me in a solo music fight." Apollo said slinging one arm around Perseus and Artemis's shoulders. "I ain't the god of music for nothing, sales god."
"That is true my dear cousin." Hermes said, nodding sagely but with a shit eating grin on his face. "However, we can only use our very first musical instruments for the fight."
"Done!" Apollo shouted, until he registered Hermes's words. "Wait, our first musical instrument?!"
Artemis stifled a laugh while Hermes explained further. "Yes, my dear cousin. I will play the lyre, and you will play the very first instrument you ever had."
"The Keras! Oh little brother, you are so screwed." Artemis said, patting her brothers head who immediately paled.
"How long has it been since you last played that trumpet? I'm pretty sure you dropped it in a month, after you were born." Perseus said. "And you have never used it since."
"Of course I have!" Apollo cried out indignantly. "I still use it to...wake up Artemis and Perseus. Sometimes." he mumbled.
"Smartest decision you ever made was to stop using that as an alarm for us." Perseus said, visibly shuddering on remembering the flashbacks.
"Well, an arrow up the butt tends to make a person make smart decisions." Artemis said nonchalantly. "And making random noises on an instrument doesn't mean you are good with it.
"Is this gang up on Apollo day or what." Apollo muttered, a look of determination on his face. "Let's get the party truly started. We are going to rock on till the night!"
And they did. The entire throne room was a mess, with gods drunk from nectar and alcohol sprawled around. Perseus and Artemis were walking around the gardens, the latter a bit tipsy from all the drinks and because of exhaustion."
"Come onnnn, what...other stuff can you make with these braces? Can you make...food?" Artemis asked, yawning.
"Nope, it looks like the only possible thing that can be created are weapons. Though I wonder if I can make something like Zeus's master bolt...though I'm really do not want to face the wrath of the real thing." Perseus said, and chuckled when the sky rumbled with thunder.
"But...you are the god of hunting." Artemis said grinning as she skipped ahead. "And I'm the goddess of hunting...we're the hunting duo!" she said, giggling.
Perseus cocked his head to the side as he saw the carefree nature his friend was displaying. "Who knew that the most stubborn person ever would act like this. It does make for good teasing material though." he thought.
"And get this. You are the god of something...that I create now! How cool...is that?!" Artemis shouted, stumbling forward.
"Woah, easy there arrowhead. How about I get you home huh?" Perseus asked, letting out a sigh when he only got a giggle in response.
"HADES! Show yourself, you child kidnapper! I will seriously gut you if I don't find you!" Demeter shouted, barging into the gardens and brandishing her scythe. "Oh, hello handsome. Have you seen Hades anywhere? Demeter asked.
Perseus stared at her, wondering who she was talking to as there was no one around when it struck him. "W-Wait, you're asking me?!" Perseus asked, who was starting to freak out when he saw Demeter nod. "Um...no. I haven't seen uncle Hades anywhere...aunt Demeter."
"Oh well, I'll find him tomorrow then." Demeter said, shrugging. "See you later Perseus." and giving a wink, she disappeared, leaving behind the smell of earth after the rain.
"Percy...did Demeter call you handsome?" Artemis asked.
"Um...you might be hearing things in your head! You're too tired Artemis, go to sleep."
"She's not wrong though." Artemis muttered, letting out another yawn. Perseus whipped his head around, staring open mouthed at Artemis. "It's drowsiness, and the drinks of course. There is no way she would really say that up front, no way." he thought. He then sensed something approaching from his left, and immediately knew who it was. "Hades, you can come out from there. Demeter isn't hanging out here."
"She isn't? That's a relief. Nice save there though nephew. But I clearly see that nothing really happened with that fib huh?" Hades said, stepping out of a shadow. "How did you know I was here though?"
Perseus shrugged. "Looks like I can sense beings who are close by using the shadow plane to move around. And what did you do to piss Demeter of so much."
"It's not my fault really! She was a bit drunk, so I took that into my advantage by asking if she'll allow Persephone to at least visit me during the weekends, not during the winter. It's not like the agreement stated that she had to be 24/7 up in the mortal world. Demeter, obviously didn't like that and brought out her dragon driven chariot and chased me around the throne room. I just hope that Demeter doesn't tell Zeus that it was my fault she went loose cause most of the thrones are kind of destroyed." Hades said
"It is your fault stupid. And Demeter." Artemis said sleepily. "Dumb gods..."
Hades cocked his head to the side. "I swear, this girl has some personal vendetta against all of us. How do you even put up with her is beyond me." he said, shaking his head.
"Hey!" Perseus and Artemis said together.
"Oh and what is this recent development I have now come across huh nephew." Hades said, smirking. "It seems like my sister...has the hots for you! This is seriously hilarious!" Hades said, bursting out in laughter. "Your mother is going to freak out so badly when she hears that her baby sister, is into her baby boy AHAHAHA!"
"Can you shut up! Please." Perseus said, clamping his hands over Hades's mouth.
"Mphf! Bleurgh...I'll keep quiet nephew, not to worry. Though I do have something a bit important to tell you. Remember when the Fates told you that you should see Hecate right?" Hades said. "Well, she's currently down in the underworld right now. I suggest meeting her during the afternoon, she's not really busy during then."
"Will do uncle, thanks a lot." Perseus said. Hades gave a short nod and then slipped through into the shadows.
"You're going to meet...Hecate? Why?" Artemis asked, her head nodding off.
"Just to get some questions answered." Perseus said, staring at his hand. "Come on Artemis, I think it's time I get you home."
Below Mount Olympus however, down in the mortal world where a few miles away in the outskirts of the village of Dion, a lone farmer was tending to his crops late in the night. As he was walking to his plough, the ground beneath him suddenly rumbled causing the farmer to fall over. A large crack began to form on the ground, creating a large chasm. The farmer walked slowly towards the chasm, wondering what immortal deity caused this when a large deafening roar tore through the calm atmosphere. A wall of fire erupted from the chasm making the farmer fall back on the ground. In front of its eyes, a large claw like hand came out of the chasm, followed by another hand. A large reptilian like face, reminiscent of a dragon then came out, its yellow eyes darting around until it settled on the lone farmer who was trembling like a leaf. The drakon let out another deafening roar as it fully emerged from the chasm and then lunged at the farmer.
Elsewhere, on the island of Lemnos, loud banging noises were heard out loud, coming from an underground location situated next to a volcano. In that location, was a makeshift forge, with various tools and molds. On one end of the forge, there were large ten feet structures covered by a cloth and harnesses that vaguely resembled chairs. But most likely, they were thrones. The source of the loud banging noises was coming from a lone figure, who was wearing a cloak that mostly covered him up and was working on a throne that looked like it was made of adamantine.
"The suspension cables should be fitted here...but that won't leave any room for the locking mechanism." the figure muttered.
A mortal man then entered the forge holding a piece of paper. "Milord, your foster mother has returned with the requirements. There are now four new gods in the council, one of them female mind you. Their domains will allow you to make some interesting creations."
The figure stopped his work on the throne, and then wobbled to the mortal man. Metallic creaks and groans were distinctly heard as he walked. He then grabbed the paper and inspected it. "Messenger, speed, patron of those travelling the roads. Sun god, poetry, music and prophecies. Moon goddess, hunt, wildlife. Eclipse, shadows, mountains...hellfire? What is hellfire?"
"Thetis reckons that it's some kind of white colored fire. But she really doesn't know what it is. She has asked around but no one has any answer, heck they all have the same question as her. The only reason she thinks its white in color is because similar flames engulfed the god during his domain process." the mortal man answered.
"Hmm, I won't do anything about it then. Once I get more information, then I'll do something about his throne. For now, I can work with the rest." the figure said, removing his cloak to reveal a misshapen and hairy face. "Soon, my plan will work and I will finally have my revenge on the woman who dared to wrong me. Fire up the flames! We have some thrones that need to be made."
The next day, Perseus emerged just outside Hades's palace. Taking a detour to meet Cerberus (while also getting an unsanitary kind of bath from the three-headed dog) he then made his way to the palace. He spotted the Furies flying off from the veranda/throne room, who immediately created the symbol of Nyx with their fiery whips and flew off. Perseus chuckled, knowing very well that his uncle didn't like other gods symbol being shown off in his own realm. Sure enough, Hades was in the veranda, looking at the still burning symbol up above.
"Stupid overgrown bats, now that was definitely intentional." Hades muttered, walking in the throne room to greet his guest. "Nephew, I would say it's a real pleasure having you here but I know that I'm not the reason for your visit." Hades said, letting out a laugh on seeing the sheepish expression on Perseus's face. "Hecate is down in the basement, the second level down under. You came at the perfect time, like I told you to. Well then, off you go. I'll just be over here, wallowing in self-pity and dearly missing my beautiful wife." Hades said, sitting on his throne in a dramatic manner.
Perseus let out a sigh when a thought came into his mind. "Uncle Hades... if you really miss Persephone that much, why don't you go and visit her up in the mortal world? It's not like you're banned up there anyways."
Hades merely stared at Perseus as his mouth slowly opened in disbelief. "Y-You're right...you're actually right! I can very well visit her in the mortal world...why didn't I think of that before! It's not like I'm banned or anything like you said."
"Yep. And all you really need to look out for is Demeter. As long as you don't invoke her wrath, you'll be fine." Perseus said.
"Holy me, you are a genius Perseus! That's why I like you. Let me just..." Hades said, a look of concentration forming on his face and then jumped off his throne. "Ok, the Furies are in charge of the palace, you can go see Hecate now. Have fun! Don't do anything I would do or not do, now bye!" Hades shouted jumping off the veranda and immediately flashed away.
Seeing that there was no way Perseus can pick up Hades with a shadow wisp and drag him around the fields of Punishment, Perseus instead went to find the entrance to the lower floors of Hades's palace. He had only been in the dungeons before when he was younger and almost got caught which he was definitely not supposed to go to. He soon reached the second level and after roaming around for a few minutes, he found a door with a weird symbol engraved on it. But what caught Perseus's attention was the outward facing crescent moons attached to a shaded circle symbol that was also etched on the door. The symbol of Nyx.
Steeling himself, he gave a couple of knocks on the door and waited. Moments later, the door slowly swung open, letting out a musky smell making Perseus wrinkle in disgust. He then trudged into the room slowly, taking in the various glass beakers and vials all filled with a multitude of different colored liquids. Perseus spied a shelf filled with the brim with monster parts and there were two large fireplaces on either side of the room, each burning with regular fire and Greek fire respectively.
"I'm surprised you hadn't come across this room during your early years when you visited Hades. You were such a curious child, always running and hiding around, making life quite difficult for the lord of the dead and his attendants. It was actually highly amusing. I like to think that my warding spells managed to do their job, but I'm sure it was something else right?" a female voice drawled out.
Mist started to form out of thin air in the room which then solidified into the shape of a human. The mist disappeared to reveal a woman wearing long billowing robes with intricate jewelry hanging of her arms. She had long black hair and jade green eyes that had a look of curiousness and amusement shining in them.
"Lykofós Perseus, you caused quite the stir up in Olympus and I'm guessing everywhere in the greek mythological world. Have a seat, would you lie some tea?" the woman asked, holding up a steaming pot.
Perseus looked at the pot and then at the woman who gestured towards the table next to her. Shrugging, he sat down. "Since you know who I am, I think it's fair that I should know who you are. But I already do. You're Hecate, goddess of magic, mist and crossroads. And other stuff of course."
"Looks like you're not that ignorant as I thought you would be." Hecate said, offering Perseus a cup of tea. "You know, I knew you would come to see me. And do you know how?" On seeing Perseus's questioning gaze, Hecate carried on. "Would you believe me if I said that I can look into the future?" she asked.
Perseus took a sip of his tea and then set his cup down. "Maybe. You do have magic under your belt so I'll say it's not that farfetched to think that you can view the future. Or you knew I was going to come because you saw me getting hellfire as a domain." Perseus said.
Hecate smirked. "Yes, and no. I wasn't there for your inauguration Perseus. I rarely care for matters that involves the Olympian council, or more technically the gods really. If my presence is absolutely required, then yes, I will take a part in whatever I am needed for. Tha is not to say however, that I don't like the gods. I'm indifferent to most of them, and I like some. Demeter, Persephone, Hebe are some examples. And I guess Hades as well, he does provide me a home away from home."
Perseus nodded when a thought confused him. "How do you know my full name then? I'm pretty sure my first name is kinda classified information until the Fates revealed it, and you said you weren't at the ceremony. And what do you mean by 'home away from home'?" he asked.
Hecate sighed. "Curious child indeed. To answer both your questions, let's just say that our mother's realm is positively buzzing with excitement and wonder that one of Nyx's very own children is actually a full-fledged Olympian god and not a child of Zeus or Kronos. If I'm not mistaken, three other kids of Zeus became a part of the council, right? Oh, and mother was gloating about it everywhere I believe."
Perseus now had a lot of questions floating in his mind right now. "You know, now that you mention it...each half of the council is made up of kids of Kronos and Zeus. And I'm the odd one out." Perseus said, chuckling. "But, our mother?! I didn't know you were a child of Nyx."
"Yes, and no again." Hecate said in a sing song voice, while waving a finger. "My actual parents are Perses and Asteria, which makes me a third-generation titan actually though some people tend to overlook it. But you see, I was born right in the beginning of the first titan war which led to my parents basically ignoring me. One fought in the front lines while the other acted as a medic. But for some reason, Nyx found me roaming around the country side and decided to raise me as her very own daughter, which if you ask me wasn't actually that bad. I had two doting parents and a slew of siblings, either adopted like me or Nyx and Erebus's natural born kids. If you didn't know, mother has a tendency of adopting kid's left and right, which highly confuses the mortal priests and scholars up there when it comes to who's related to who. I like to think she adopts those people who kind of bare a resemblance to her, like aesthetically. And also because of Hemera and Aether, you would never have guessed that those two were Nyx and Erebus's children."
"I see..." Perseus said. "So I'm guessing you stayed neutral like some of the other titans?"
"Actually, no." Hecate said, taking a sip from her cup and smirking at Perseus's shocked expression. "Surprised, aren't you? I did help the gods during the first titan war. Mother honestly didn't want me to interfere but I felt that I could create some goodwill with them you know, make a good first impression. Though maybe it was also for revenge, revenge against my parents for abandoning me. And it worked, I was seen as an ally of Olympus and was left relatively on my own without any interference from Mr. Thunder high up there. And now, I have the pretty sweet gig of being Persephone's handmaiden and an important goddess within my own right. Pretty cool right?"
"That's actually really cool, not going to lie." Perseus said, draining his cup whole. "Man, this is some really good stuff. I need this stuff every day."
"I could always send a bag if you want." Hecate said, taking both cups and putting them away. "Oh look, my potion is ready." she said, going over a cauldron that was burning under a Greek fire.
"What are you making over there?" Perseus asked, walking over.
"Just a simple healing paste." Hecate said, sniffing the contraption. "I used this on you one time you know, when you got lost in the gardens of Persephone and injured your knee.
Perseus looked at her confused when his eyes widened. "You were that red haired lady?! The one who helped me next to the pond? But why do look...oh wait, sorry. I forgot that gods can change their forms, you must have also done that."
"Yes and no once again!" Hecate said, doubling down with laughter. "Is this going to be my response to you every time you ask a question? Ok, so basically, I have three forms I can appear in, depending on the time of the day." she said, walking over to the shelf filled with monster parts. "I'm low on hellhound claws...Perseus? Can you give me that claw hanging on your neck?" Hecate asked.
"What? No, definitely not! It's sentimental, no way I'm letting go of this." Perseus said, placing his hand on the fang beneath his armor.
"Alright, jeez. You don't have to get so worked up. Anyways, like I said. I can come across anyone in three distinct forms, depending on the time of the day. A mother during the morning, which is my redhead form. A witch in the afternoon, which is this current form you are seeing right now. And finally, my natural form. Not my true form or anything like that but my default, original form. In that form, I appear as a blonde woman. Does that answer your questions?"
"Yes...and no." Perseus said with a grin. "You know, I honestly don't know if you are actually this nice in general or is it because of me or something. Because I was fully expecting to persuade you into asking all my questions regarding, hellfire."
Hecate had a thoughtful look on her face as she put her healing paste in a vial. "Hmm, I am nice you know. In general, that is. I did help Demeter in finding her daughter you know. But I'm mostly indifferent really, like I said before. And now the elephant has entered the room. Hellfire." Hecate said, placing he vial on a holder and then sat opposite of Perseus. "What do you want to know about it." she asked.
"Everything you ever know about it" Perseus said, making the white flame engulf his wrist. I want origins, powers, functions, like...whatever you know, honestly." he said, staring at the flame. "And how am I wielding this without any former training and with such ease but I more or less struggled when it comes to my other powers?"
Hecate shrugged. "Maybe because you're the god of it? I don't know."
"And yeah, how big of a deal is this thing that there has to be a domain title for it? Like-"
"Alright, slow down over there. Let's get the basics and whatever I know out and then move on to speculation." Hecate said, making a 'slow down' gesture with her hands. "First off, this information does not leave this room. I can't stress this enough okay. There's a reason why no one knows about this stuff. I'm sure the Fates didn't even reveal anything either."
Perseus nodded. "That's true, they told me specifically to ask you for information. Zeus wasn't happy though."
"Not surprised. Alright, so you know how this world basically has a personification, a primordial, for every major aspect? Like the earth, sky, water, etc. Now, each of the realms of these primordials have something special resource, gifted by Chaos itself. But with a warning. And that is if a primordial basically breaks the law of nature, ancient laws, something like that, Chaos will then take that resource away, and trust me. You do not want your resource taken away. I'm quoting mothers words by the way. Anyways, some examples of these resources are stygian iron for Erebus, umbra ore for Nyx, celestial bronze for Gaia. These resources have to be shared by the realms occupants mind you, they can't be kept by someone. Some primordials didn't get that memo however. Big example, Aether. He basically hoarded his resource called radiant prisms and Chaos was not happy. If I'm not mistaken, he wanted to create some weapon that would produce a beam of light that can destroy planets. Don't ask me why or how, I don't know all the details myself. So Chaos took the prisms away. And I'm guessing he did the same thing with the hellfire, which was Tartarus's resource. But, gave it to someone for use intentionally? That is truly unexpected. Do you understand everything so far?"
Perseus felt that his mind was going to blow on trying to grasp all this stuff. This was worse than the time Athena made him cram a weeks' worth of knowledge into him for two whole days.
"Yeah...I caught on so far. So basically, I'm in charge of something that belonged to Tartarus's realm and instead of it going to lockup in a vault, it's under my command. Understood." Perseus said.
"Amazing, because that's all I have for you." Hecate said, pouring another two cups of tea and handed one to Perseus. "That was quite the talk." she said, gulping her drink down.
"Mhm. Hecate, how do you use hellfire? Can you manipulate it as well, or..."
Hecate set her cup down, got up, and began to move towards a cupboard. "I use these in order to use the hellfire." she said, bringing out two metal torches. The torches then glowed a bright jade color and two white flames burst out, making the torches lit.
"I was roaming around Tartarus when I came across a monster trying to unsuccessfully get a hold of the hellfire. It melted right through the glass you know, and burnt off the monsters' fingers to ash, an earthborn by the way. A scuffle soon followed between me and him and unknowingly, I finally killed him by using hellfire. I was really freaked out because here's some strange fire that is burning my hands, but not really. And it was the case until I reached back home in mother's realm when it left my hands and proceeded to light some torches, which are these very ones. Mother obviously freaked out cause you can't have another primordials resource in another realm without permission, but the flames wouldn't budge. We tried throwing the torches away but then they would return in my hands. In the end, we decided to give up and consider this an act of Chaos, since the deity hadn't gone all ballistic on us. I use a simple trick of the mist to hide the fact that this is hellfire, any other person would have seen greek fire."
Perseus merely nodded, but then frowned. "I can like, sense the fire. Or feel it? I don't know..."
Hecate raised an eyebrow. "You want them back? I have no problems with it honestly, never used them anything except for a few experiments that ended up in failure."
Perseus shook his head. "No, not at all. It feels like, I feel that you can use the hellfire if that makes sense. Maybe it's my domain talking through me? But all I know is, that you could keep it, I really have no problems with that."
Hecate looked at him curiously. "You sure? Cause you're like, the hellfire god and you're allowing me to keep like a tenth of your powers. I can't launch them or anything, just set things ablaze."
Perseus let out a light chuckle. "If it makes you feel any better, think of it as a blessing from the hellfire god himself. That should work."
Hecate smiled. "A blessing from the hellfire god." she mused. "I can live with that. Alright, let's go with that."
"Awesome." Perseus said grinning. "I think I have everything I need to know covered. And none of this will reach anyone, unless deemed necessary. Anything else?"
"No, I think we have covered it all." Hecate said, grinning. "You're honestly not what I expected you to be. I was kinda thinking of a semi egoistical and spoilt god. But... you are quite alright. Hestia raised you well."
"She is the best." Perseus said. "And I actually enjoyed hanging out with you, maybe I could introduce you to my other friends and we can all hang out, something like that. Or just me, if you're not that comfortable with lots of people and all."
Hecate smirked. "Are you asking me out on a date Perseus? And you only just met me officially today. Quite daring of you, I must say."
Perseus's eyes immediately widened as he scrambled for an answer while flailing his arms around. "Wh-What?! No! I mean, I...uh, I'm not asking you on a date. Just-"
Hecate immediately bursted out laughing. "I'm messing with you Perseus. But yeah, I wouldn't mind hanging out some time, and who knows, maybe we can add your friends as well."
"Awesome." Perseus said, extending his arm out for a hand shake which Hecate returned. "See you sometime then."
"Yes...and no." Hecate replied, a full-blown grin on her face.
"Wind speed is almost fifteen miles per hour. Can decrease to twelve." Artemis muttered
"In other words, perfect wind for hunting. So, one obstacle is tackled." Perseus muttered.
"Terrain is flat, no bumps or anything around. Will make escaping easier for animals." Artemis said.
"Not unless I have anything to say about it." Perseus said with a grin, which immediately turned into a scowl when Artemis gave a light whack on his head.
"No other powers are going to be used today, we are only going to rely on our new god level hunting skills and powers. Can't go on autopilot with just one power you know." Artemis said.
"And here you want me to use my shadow powers to create a distraction for those deer to fall in our trap." Perseus shot back, gesturing to a herd of deer, grazing in a clearing in front of them which made Artemis blush in slight embarrassment.
"We are not going to outright use your powers to capture your deer! Just, make a small distraction to like, coax it. No harm in that. Plus, we are going to be using monsters so technically, it's them who'll do the distracting, not us. How are you going to get a monster here anyway?" Artemis asked,
"Simple, I'll just bring one over from the shadow plane." Perseus said nonchalantly.
Artemis looked at him confused. "You can summon monsters now?" she asked.
"Yes and no." Perseus said, smirking internally. "I can bring over any being who uses the shadow plane to travel over here. Basically, redirect their path unless they are strong enough to break my control. I had accidently set a hellhound loose when I sensed it in my house and mistakenly brought it here yesterday."
Artemis shook her head fondly. "Only you Perseus. Okay, commence operation. Shall we, Perseus?"
"We shall, Artemis. Three hellhounds coming right up." Perseus said, bringing over large shadows which surrounded a herd of deer, except for one side which faced the trap. Loud growling noises were soon heard as three hellhounds came out of the shadows, momentarily confused on seeing that they were not in their actual destination. Perseus used this opportunity to bind their movement by holding them down with his shadow wisps. The herd of deer, spooked on seeing the hellhounds rushed forward from the only available opening, towards the trap. Perseus then dragged the hellhounds away, forcing them to go through the shadows they came from again, which left the clearing empty.
Artemis then ran up ahead, launching a singular arrow into the air, and watched as it sailed through the tree line. A few moments later, loud noises were heard from the path the deer took, signaling their capture.
"Alright, this time the deer didn't end up on the other side of the country." Artemis joked, giving a high five to Perseus.
"Very funny arrowhead. Come on, let's go survey our capture." Perseus and Artemis then walked to their trap where a bunch of deer were suspended up by a net. There were also some disgruntled looking dryads who were staring at the capturing mechanism in disgust.
"Stupid gods, think they can use our trees for their amusement." a dryad muttered. On seeing the Olympians, she immediately launched into a tirade.
"Just because you're the wildlife or hunting goddess and god, doesn't mean that you can freely use our tees for your gain you know!" the dryad yelled.
Perseus cocked his head to the side, slightly impressed that a tree nymph was shouting at them. Artemis however was having none of it.
"Oh yeah? And you could have been polite enough to tell us not to use it on you when we called out to you, just like your sisters told us not to. So don't think you're all high and mighty when you can't even speak up and only do it when the damage is done!" Artemis shouted.
The dryads immediately backed away and disappeared with a poof. Artemis huffed as she went over to the capture mechanism, turning over a pulley to lower the net down. "Stupid dryads, acting as if they are queens or something and then go 'poof' when confronted." she muttered. Perseus sighed, knowing it was futile to go ahead with this conversation. "Looks like a couple of them missed the trap." Perseus commented instead. "Either we should go for a bigger one, or lay out smaller ones around the forest."
"We'll have to see to it then ourselves if the prey moves to the traps." Artemis said, bringing out a knife. "Messy part is happening now."
Perseus looked away, still not used to that sight. "It might be possible if we have a group or something to help us out." he commented, getting a single hum in response. A few minutes later, the two were soon walking around the forest, commenting on the wildlife.
"I didn't expect to see this many deer in Delphi of all places. Imagine how abundant the other area could be, it would be perfect." Artemis said.
"Yep. And who knows, if we're in Ceryneia, we might finally capture that deer you have been after for so long." Perseus said, grinning. But on seeing that Artemis didn't comment on his joke with a punch on the shoulder, he looked at her to see a far off look in her eyes."
"Artemis. Arrowhead. Arty!" Perseus said, the last name making Artemis snap out and immediately giving Perseus a punch to the gut.
"You dare call me that name again, and I will run you over my moon chariot." Artemis threatened.
"Gotcha..." Perseus groaned. "But what's on your mind, you looked really spaced out like a minute ago."
"Artemis just stared at the horizon and sighed. "You remember how I was so worried that we might possibly drift off with all of us being piled up with godly duties and all?" she asked. On seeing Perseus nod in confirmation, she continued. "Well, turns out it wasn't that big of a worry since we basically have domains where not much work has to be put to it. The two of us basically share a domain." Artemis said with a chuckle.
"From what I'm getting from this, I'm guessing you're bored." Perseus said. On seeing Artemis's sheepish nod, he shrugged. "That's not much of a problem. If you want to do something new, then you can obviously do it."
"Yes, but I don't know what to do. You have this whole 'protect the innocent' gig during nighttime. Apollo has a whole prophecy gig which he is surprisingly taking seriously. And I don't have anything remotely interesting to do at all. It's not like I can go to city to city, waiting for some pregnant woman to go into labor or teach someone archery." Artemis said, letting out a heavy sigh.
"Well...you can always be my eyes in the sky." Perseus said with a grin. On seeing Artemis's confusion, he further explained. "You can like do your moon chariot gig while also looking out for any potential suspicious activity. Then you will alert me of it and I will come over and deal with the mess."
"You know...that doesn't sound so bad." Artemis said. "I think I can make it work."
And if you are still bored and want to do something fun...then go with that hunt idea I told you about." Perseus said.
"The one where I bring a bunch of people to help me hunt?" Artemis asked.
"Yeah! You can train them in archery and hunting techniques to make them better. You and the group can live out in the mountains and what not. They could basically be your very own group of followers. Your...hunters.
"My own followers..." Artemis mused out loud. "I can teach them all that stuff, and I can bring them on hunting missions as well. And they won't be my hunters, they'll be our hunters." Artemis said, poking her finger on Perseus's chest. "You basically came up with the idea so leave a little credit for yourself."
"I can bring them on my missions also if they are really good. You can also bring them on any hunting assignments. And hey, if they are really skilled, we could also bring them on our hunt to take down monsters."
"And I could maybe give them my blessings, enough to make them fine-tuned with the wild and archery at least so that they can be comfortable from the beginning. You can also give them some minor blessing or something if you want to. We can visit cities and search for potential candidates. Wow, are we really doing this? Making our very own hunt?" Artemis asked, a giddy smile on her face.
Perseus grinned. "Looks like we are. All we have to do now is probably let Zeus know about this and I think we are all set then."
The top of the mountain where the oracle of Delphi was, suddenly lit a golden color. "Looks like Apollo wants us over, wonder what he has for us now." Artemis said.
"He probably wants our opinion on whether his statues look like him, or no?" Perseus said. "Race you to the top?" he asked.
Artemis glanced at Perseus and smirked. "You're on, and already lost." she said, immediately speeding off, Perseus hot on her heels.
And that's the chapter for you. Basically "Here's all you get about hellfire, now bye" chapter. Alright, important announcement time. I'm not sure if you guys already know this, but I'm technically in summer break right now, since the past two weeks something like that. And I have been pumping out these long ass chapters twice a week and they have really taken a toll on me. Which is why I'm going to be taking another break, just so I can get some rest from all this. Cause I'm kinda burned out right now. But I'll be back with updates, don't worry, and they will start again on Wednesday, 9th June. A ten-day break really, I think I deserve it. Also, remember that A/N I made a few chapters ago, asking for that flashback sequence of certain events, or make a separate book out of it thingy? Well, some of you'll want it to be a book so now it's up to you guys to see whether this thing is really what you'll want. I'll be posting a poll where you'll either want the book to happen, or no. It'll be just one-shots, you guys can give me prompts to if you'll want. The poll ends in a weeks time, you'll have until Sunday the 6th of June. And you can only do it through a computer, not a phone sadly. It sucks, I know. That's it for now then, hope you'll enjoyed this chapter. Bye!...\/