1. The Danger of Men and Gods

Gods are the only constant among the heavens. Many of our stories have been told by humans and the gods themselves, but mine seems to be a carefully fabricated lie to gain sympathy. My mother Demeter has told the world that I was stolen away by the being that the world fears, the god of the underworld, Hades. He is not what people perceive him to be. My mother’s lies about my history and what happened in the War on Humanity are completely inaccurate. So, this is a story of what happened just years ago. A true firsthand account of the war and how the god of the dead did not kidnap me but, how he saved me, in a way no one else could.

My story begins on my mother's estate. It was the only life I had ever known. My mother had kept me close to her, when she had to visit Olympus, I had nymphs to keep me company. From a young age, my mother taught me about just how horrible the world was. Humanity was far from perfect. However, we needed them. They were there to worship us and in turn we would give them what they needed to survive.

But humanity was not the only thing that was corrupted, the Gods themselves were arrogant, vengeful, and above all dangerous. The worst of them being Hades. I had been told that he was evil incarnate. He relished in death, that is why he had been named the God of the Dead and given the position of king of the underworld. According to my mother, Zues gave him the position just to make sure he didn’t spew his poison onto the other Olympians. He had his own dominion to wreak havoc on.

My mother had made me feel safe on her estate. I was far from the gods, and their heathenistic attributes. I was kept from the mortals who constantly wanted more than they should have. Mortals who had no morality, I was valued and loved. I had nymphs that were my friends, my best one not being a nymph but my mother. I loved Demeter more than any human ever would. She was my everything, and I was Her's. So, when she told me to hurry off and stay away from our home for a few hours I did it without question.

I took to the rose gardens that were just behind our house grabbing some of my art supplies. I had been determined to sketch the beautiful flowers my mother and I planted. I wanted to capture some of the enormous fountains that littered the large floral garden. The sun was shining, and I deemed it the perfect day to spend in one of my favorite places on the estate. I could have chosen one of the ponds on the property where I liked to swim with the nymphs, but I was drawn to the lush roses and how their smell stroked my being and made me feel my magic come alive. I wondered if I could somehow capture that I felt myself in those flowers.

I got lost in my small world. Focusing on lightly putting lines down on the paper. Outlying the forms of the flowers and a fountain closest to me. I knew I would spend many hours out there trying to capture the environment. But I didn’t mind, my mother had asked me to go find something to do outside of the house. I didn’t know how long I had been working when the sky began to fall very grey. Then a flash of lightning struck, and I shook at the force of it. I looked to the sky to see the dark clouds suddenly evaporating and I was left once again to sketch.

Once again something sounded drawing my attention from my art. I watched as my mother was storming out of the house. Her dark red hair was tied in a neat loose bun at the nape of her neck. She was spewing curses as she stormed from our home. Her hands fisted at her sides as she walked at a fast pace until she was out of view. My face pinched together. I didn’t often see my mother frustrated.

I wanted to know what had caused my mother so much affliction. I knew my mother could handle herself, she required no protection from me. Though I was a goddess in my own right, my mother was one of the twelve. The most powerful of the gods and she didn’t require me to fight her battles. But something in me felt drawn to investigate what had driven my mother from our home. I stood and set down my supplies and began to creep toward the house, curiosity driving me.

I snuck through one of the French doors near the back of the house. I found no one inside. That was unusual seeing as my home was always filled with nymphs running about doing one thing or another. I continued deeper inside, keeping my body close to the walls. If whatever had sent my mother into that fit was still in there, I didn’t want to face it. I just wanted to see it. I finally heard voices coming from the library. They were loud and much deeper than any I had ever heard. The wooden door was closed.

I had a deep rush of insecurity about what would happen if I just opened the door and walked inside. Whomever was in there must have been horrible to send my mother off like she had. But I wanted to know, so I opened the door slowly just a little. Just enough to see, I thought. There I saw them. One had their back to me. He was larger than anyone I had ever encountered. I assumed it had to be a man. I had only seen a few of them in my lifetime and had never spoken to any of them, so I couldn’t be sure.

I looked at the closest figure. His white curly hair draped down his large back. I looked past him wanting to get a look at the other figure in the room. As I looked, I knew he was of the male form, his arms reminded me of tree trunks. His figure was intimidating. His body was colossal, and the definition of his muscular frame was apparent as his clothes hung close to him. Not to the point of defining everything on his body but enough to tell me this was someone who could crush me if they chose. I found he too had long hair. But it fell to his shoulders rather than down his back, and it was as black as coal. I then looked at his face; he had a beard. The same color as his wavy black locks, but it was trimmed and neat.

When I got to his eyes, I noticed they were staring right back at me. Fixed on me instead of the person in front of him. A chill ran up my spine as I felt I couldn’t pull my eyes from him. His dark gaze felt like they were burrowing into the deepest part of my being. I tried to look away, but his fixation was powerful and kept me in place. Suddenly, his eyes broke contact after what felt like an eternity as he looked at the other massive figure. I saw a slight lifting of the corner of his mouth.

I was about to leave when I heard the word “Kronos.” I knew that name. He was the father of the 12. Mother had said that he had tried to kill all his children including her and wanted to rule everyone and everything. I had been scared he would come for my mother when I was little, my mother assured me it would never happen, and I had come to believe her. But here these men were openly using a name I had only heard a few times. I didn’t want to know anymore I had seen who was in my mother’s house and that was good enough for me. I quietly shut the door and crept back to the garden.

I tried to pick back up the drawing I was working on, but my mind kept wandering back to those dark eyes staring at me. I flipped to a new page in my notebook and began to try and recreate those eyes. Suddenly my heart began to pound. My skin peppered with goosebumps. I looked up to find the man from the library looming over me. It felt like I was no longer breathing. A smirk fell across the man’s marbled face and then he spoke to me in a deep voice that radiated power. “You, know curiosity is never a bad thing, but listening in on a private conversation between two gods is probably not the wisest. But then again if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known that Demeter was keeping such a rare flower all to herself.”