The Damned

Chapter 19

It was the 29th of January, the day of the court hearing. It was a cool, crisp Winter day, Dimitras was not looking forward to the four hour drive to Cape Taenarum, where the council resided.

The courthouse was made of stone, and dated back as far as the third century BC. The roof was held up by intricately placed, curved stone arches and support beams. The benches surrounding the courtroom were wooden and curved inwards towards the center. There were five chairs at the front of the room, in front of two large wooden doors that were nearly as tall as the ceiling.

Once Kai, Dimitras, Onyx and Ava arrived, the courtroom was already filled past capacity, forcing some hybrids and hybrid supporters to observe from outside. They pushed through the crowd and found their seats next to the other three supremes. Dimitras noticed twelve chairs lining the inner circle of the courtroom, and knew the gods would likely be arriving soon. She looked to the council and saw Persephone and the other three council members in their assigned chairs, talking amongst themselves.

Onyx and Ava were seated behind Dimitras and Kai. Dimitras nervously checked the golden watch Kai had gotten her as an anniversary gift a few years back, then gulped thickly when she saw there was only one minute until the hearing would begin. She looked up when she heard the wooden doors behind the council open, and the gods entered one by one, taking their seats around the inner circle. Hades entered last, and took her seat in the center of the room.

Before the doors closed from the room they had entered from, Kai noticed that the doorway had acted as a portal from Mt. Olympus, then noticed the faint blue line that traced from the doors and around the chairs of the twelve Olympians, acting as a protection barrier cast by spell allowing them to set foot in the courthouse.

Hades looked to Kai and Dimitras with a crooked smile, knowing they must have been looking forward to making her pay for her judgements and prejudices against the hybrids. As soon as Hades sat, the room went quiet. The lack of sound was not what Kai had expected. She was expecting shouting and rioting, things being thrown at Hades from all angles but instead she realized that the hybrids still likely feared the goddess. The more she watched Hades, the more she realized that the god was just as scared as she tapped her foot repeatedly and fumbled with her fingers.

"We haven't got all day. Please begin." Zeus stated with a deep voice which echoed throughout the courtroom, shaking the stands. Persephone cleared her throat as she straightened the papers on the table in front of her.

"Today we are addressing the the Hybrids Vs. Hades. Hades will state her case, followed by any hybrids who wish to speak against her. The council and the gods will vote. If the votes are in Hades favor, she will choose to do with her laws as she pleases. If the votes are in the hybrids favor, Hades will be forced to comply, surrendering the laws she placed forth years ago. If the voting results in a tie, the laws remain unchanged and a second hearing may be called for." Persephone explained.

Hades stood as soon as her wife finished speaking, then steadied herself by placing her hand on the arm of her chair as she had almost lost her balance. She was intimidated and Kai could tell. She walked around slowly within the circle as she looked at all of the hybrids who wanted her dead, clenching her fists as she realized how many had slipped from her grasp and hadn't been arrested or handled accordingly. She then looked at each one of the gods before speaking.

"Brothers, sisters, members of the council, let's go back, say... two thousand years for a moment. What was it like here on earth? I don't know if you remember as well as I since you were always up on your mountain eating grapes with golden forks but I very vividly remember the fact that hybrids were everywhere. Their power was too strong for them to handle, they were wreaking havoc across the place we called home. Fires were everywhere, earth's soil was charred and soiled from these inexperienced amateurs and the dead bodies they left in their wake. It would be irresponsible, no, unacceptable, if we allowed them to go back to their normal ways. The people would think poorly of us and would stop worshiping and praying to us, we would lose their trust. I only did what I thought was best by creating these laws. Zeus, your son was killed by a hybrid. Aphrodite, your best friend was killed during the war by a hybrid. How can you be so forgiving? These are creatures of Typhon for gods sakes. Evil is in their blood, it courses through their veins right now as we speak. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying they are all bad or that they are all inexperienced, but as soon as things go back to the way they were the sooner we open that window of possibilities. Earth has just caught up and has finished healing from the times hybrids ruled, if we reverse this law we would dramatically increase the chances of mass extinction of humans and would threaten the livelihood of the world itself." Hades made her claims.