The Fated One

2 (Hades)

"You're smiling." A voice jolted me out of my thoughts. I blinked, returning to the present. I was not in a dark tent meeting Athena for the first time; instead, I was in a large receiving room largely untouched by modern architecture outside of a floor made of the same grey marble that made up the castles of Olympus and Atlantis. Waterfalls made from the rivers around my home cascaded down rough and mossy stone walls and into carefully-constructed pools at the edges of the room, creating a soothing, dull roar of sound.

I straightened in my throne and wondered briefly how long I had been sitting there. The last thing I remembered was discussing a complicated death with Rhadamanthys, Minos, and Aeacus. They were gone now, so judgement was certainly over. I cursed Morpheus in my head. He enjoyed picking through my head and had been doing it a lot, and quite randomly. I didn't appreciate not being asked, especially when it made me lose time like this. How long had I just sat there in silence? I often left my judges to make decisions anyway, but it made me uncomfortable to not have memory of those decisions.

I shook my head and sighed, glancing at Thanatos. Made of darkness that took only a vaguely humanoid shape, and wings spattered with stars, he looked like the perfect mix between Nyx and Erebus, like Chaos had taken both of them and made them into one creature. His eyes gleamed from the depths of his otherwise featureless face like twin blue stars. In one shadowy hand, an inverted torch glowed with the same blue fire of his eyes, and in the other was a scroll, the seal unbroken. "For me?" I clarified. When he nodded, I took it from him and cracked the seal. "Usually a servant brings me scrolls. Why did you?" I asked, glancing up at him.

He shrugged. "I needed to deliver a few souls. Hermes gave it to me at the Styx and told me to bring it directly to you. He said it was urgent. He left before I could ask about it."

"Hm." I opened the scroll and took a quick glance at the contents. I meant to read it more in-depth later, but upon seeing the name of the sender, I paused. It was common for Zeus to send me letters, but it was not common of Hera to do so. What did the Queen of Olympus want from me? With a deep frown, I started from the top, waving Thanatos away. "Tell your brothers to stay out of my head, will you?" I called after him. He might have replied, but if he did, I didn't hear; I was already immersed in the letter.

Aidoneus,
An urgent matter has come to Olympus' doorstep and requires the input of the Underworld to be resolved. It is imperative that you come to hold audience with us tomorrow, alongside the Dodekatheon. It should not take more than twenty choes of the water-clock. While I wish I could tell you of the reason for this meeting, I have been bound to silence by the Styx until tomorrow. I will see you then.
Signed,
Queen Hera of Olympus, Goddess of Marriage and Family

Wonderful, a meeting. With the Dodekatheon, no less. I grumbled a curse but didn't bother to draft a reply—It didn't seem like I had much choice in attending or not.

Hera's letter bothered me. Not just the summons, but the cryptic wording as well. I was used to cryptic after centuries of dealing with the many illusive creatures of the Underworld, but Hera was usually a very straight-forward kind of character. Keeping quiet wasn't her style; if she wanted you to know something, you would. So why would she agree to swearing by the Styx? That wasn't her style. Not even Zeus could make her do something like that. Something had to be very wrong, and Hera made sure I knew that.

I was not about to go into this unprepared. After a few moments of quiet deliberation, I opened a small pocket in the aether and stuck the letter in there for later. Then I stood up from my chair and went to find the Moirae.

Erebus, after the war ended, had surrendered his humanoid form to spread his darkness across the entire Underworld, as did his wife. Though we could still communicate, it was a little different than how we might've had they not chosen to do so. We couldn't verbally speak anymore, but we could still understand one another. As I approached the Styx, I sent out a soft pulse of power in the direction of the caves. After a few heartbeats, I felt him awaken. His awareness narrowed on me as I pulled my Bident from the aether and called for Styx to grant me passage. As the inky black waters parted with not even a whisper of sound, an answering pulse resounded in my head. There was a question in it, unspoken but clear as day. What do you need?