The Runaway Rebels- Book 1

Prologue: Meet The Gods (Not All Bad)

The Goddess of Darkness had little to look forward to.

Barring one light in her life, the only other solace in Pandora's world of darkness was the mornings she'd spend down by the River Styx lazily watching the water go by.

It may not seem like much, but when the alternatives are listening to the suffering souls or receiving harsh punishments from your destructive, murderous parents who clearly think less of you than the dead souls wandering aimlessly round the eerie Underworld, then it starts to look a whole lot more appealing.

Pandora loved the peace of the dark water flowing by.

It may be a river of death but it was a beautiful river, nonetheless. The dark water shimmered like a starry sky, peaceful and uninterrupted, unlike anything else in her life.

Though on this particular day, as Pandora sat with her eyes following the trail of the glimmering Styx- a scream pierced the air, breaking the peace of the dark water with a start.

Despite this, Pandora's head didn't move.

Screams in the Underworld were, of course, nothing out of the ordinary. Or, at least, that's what she assumed, until a person in torn clothing came running out of the shadows, looking behind them with utter terror etched in every corner of their face.

It was a young man with a pallid, pale face and sunken, horror-struck eyes. He whipped around to Pandora as she stood up in shock.

This person shouldn't be this close to the River. He was miles away from anywhere remotely close to where he was meant to be.

Surely... surely he would've passed Cerberus by now? Then, before the man could scream on sight of her, Pandora jumped forward nimbly, muffling his scream with a gentle hand as she made to speak, lowering her volume.

"How did you get past Cerberus?" Pandora asked, a genuine concern licking through her voice.

The man's dark eyes turned, looking into the sincere green eyes of the goddess. A second later, and something that might once have been relief flooded his two dark pools.

Gently, Pandora lifted the hand off his mouth, and the man spoke. Shaking from the terror, the man's voice was as quiet as the gentle rustling of leaves on a breezy day.

"I- I climbed into one of the Harpy tunnels, but then those creatures followed me, and I came out here, and-" "Well, we'll have to amend that weakness, won't we?" said a voice as cold as the coldest ice, cutting across the terrified man. Upon hearing the voice, Pandora turned, with a sinking feeling in her chest, as she recognised her father's awful voice.

There he was, standing next to her tall, terrifying mother, who walked forward and grabbed Pandora's arm in a vice like grip, pulling her away from the poor man as she struggled fiercely- to no avail.

"Now then, we need to discuss your punishment to make sure you don't try any... tricks again," Hades sneered, nodding at the trembling figure whose feet seemed to be glued to the rocky river bank.

Desperately, Pandora struggled against her mother but The Goddess of Death had her upper arm in an iron grip as Hades grabbed the terrified man and dragged him away.

With his chance of escape melting in front of him, the young man looked back at Pandora with eyes that screamed a thousand cries for help. But no help came, leaving Pandora alone with her mother, feeling just as trapped as any of the lost souls around her.

Once Hades was gone, Hel turned and shoved her daughter fiercely, leaving her sprawling on the ground for a second before pulling her upright. The Goddess of Death pushed her face down to Pandora's level and hissed menacingly at her.

"How dare you! You are the daughter of two of the fiercest killers in this land- you cannot EVER be SOFT!! You are my daughter! Do you think I want someone as weak as you to be my only child?!" Hel spat in disgust, marching the two away from the River as Pandora protested and yelled out to her mother, escaping her glance for one small second.

"I'm not yours!! I'm not just your property! I can decide who I want to be, and I won't let you tell me what to do!!" Pandora yelled as Hel grunted in fury.

The protests and fights continued onward, growing in intensity as Hel reached their main room.

Upon entry to the large space, The Goddess of Death grabbed Pandora by the arm, throwing her daughter down into a cramped, bleak cell carved into the wall. In under a second, the door was locked and The Goddess of Darkness was alone again, in the horribly familiar confines of the dark cell.

All that remained with the young goddess was Hel's last words, ringing around the horrid silence,

"You can come out when you finally learn what side you are on!!"

Pandora wanted to scream, or do something, anything, but instead she just lay there, tears clouding her eyes. She began to shake, the dark walls around her closing in, shadows nipping at her feet.

Now, while Pandora's story wasn't even heard by the nosiest of Immortals, Ace's story was the most well-known of them all. For a while, it was something of a legend to the Immortals, and once you read it, you might just begin to understand why.