[Thessaly]

Near the edges of the city of Thessaly where the land and forest met, there was a large building made from a mixture of both wood and stone, the building had a large sign board with writing that stated clearly that It was the hunter's guild. A place where various individuals who make a living by killing monsters and various magical beast come to get their rewards and quests, one doesn't need to be a hunter to receive a reward, as long as you killed a monster the appropriate reward will be given. 

Thessaly was a region that was perhaps the most plagued with the threat of monsters, as such, it was a region that held a large number of hunter Guilds to combat such an issue. The region was also home to various tribes and people as such it's citizens were very diverse, this was a great benefit as each people's had their own techniques and ways of killing monsters that can be shared with other people for better cooperation and extermination of monsters. 

The door to the guild opened as a big boned woman exited and threw a man into the street, cussing him out in the process, the man was quite drunk, noted by his inability to stand up and his mumbling of incoherent thoughts. The guild also doubled as a bar for Hunters who recently came from a hunt to rest a bit and enjoy themselves, it was also a way for the guild to make back some of the money they paid the hunters. 

"excuse me" 

A man wearing dark robes, said and the lady stepped aside and let him in the building, the man entered and found a rowdy atmosphere, music was playing and many men were dancing, there were also pretty hostesses who served them drinks and kept them company, there were a few people who were sat down having casual conversations or speaking of their exploits and encounters with monsters, while other looked to be close to coming into blows due to disagreements, The overall atmosphere was fun. 

His eyes roamed the room as he looked for someone specifically, and it took little time to spot the red-haired individual he was looking for. He seemed to be having a conversation with a bunch of other men, but that didn't matter as he quickly made his way towards him. 

Hercules was seated at a table near the counter and he was surrounded by a bunch of young men and he was currently retelling the story of his battle with the minotaur, each of the young men listened with great enthusiasm and interest, Hercules held quite the bit of a reputation as over the year he has saved many people and many of them regarded him a hero. 

"this particular minotaur wasn't like all the ones I've faced before, it was stronger, tougher so it made for quite the worthy opponent, it was incredible, each blow I landed it returned with vigour….. 

He told, captivating the youth who ate up his words without a single doubt, his eyes quickly landed on the robed individual who had suddenly appeared near his table and simply gave him a look. Seeing the look on the man, Hercules quickly dismissed the boys and promised to continue the story another day. Once the boys were dismissed, the two began to talk. 

"Why are you following me?" 

He asked with a bit of annoyance in his tone, it was a week ago that he met this man called Diomedes who claimed himself to be a traveller yet spoke words that were almost Heretical and for some reason he wouldn't leave Hercules alone. 

"Am I ? This is clearly a coincidence" 

"if it were, why did you come straight to me? We aren't friends nor do we know each enough for you to come greet me, I find it hard to believe that this is a coincidence" 

"very well, you got me. I was looking for you" 

"Why?" 

With a scowl, he asked. He felt the need to simply leave without hearing his words but that would be rude, he was already rude to him already but that was only because he doesn't appreciate being followed by some guy he doesn't know. 

"Did you hear about Arcadia and what happened to it a 3 days ago?" 

"What happened?" 

He asked in curiosity, Arcadia was in complete contrast to Thessaly, and one could even call it its opposite. As Arcadia was a peaceful place despite having a dense forest, It hardly had any dangerous monsters and was more than peaceful, it hardly any hunters or rather the hunters there were weak as they probably never faced a true monster, aside from maybe rabbits and wolves. 

"apparently the whole city has been abandoned, everyone suddenly vanished overnight" 

"how does a big city like Arcadia just become abandoned overnight, but not only that who leaves a peaceful place like that?" 

Hercules asked in a bit of shock, for anyone wishing to have a safe haven going to Arcadia is the most logical solution, so for Arcadia to be completely abandoned made no sense, where would it's people even go? Despite Arcadia having weak Hunters Hercules didn't believe that it could a monster could kill everyone in Arcadia without the other Guilds knowing, plus the Arcadian population was large hardly something that could be wiped out in three days. 

"exactly, a big city like that doesn't just disappear. Something or someone made it abandoned" 

Hercules was already aware of what Diomedes was going to imply, and he couldn't help but look around the room to see if anyone was listening he can't have himself be associated with a heretic. 

"don't you see Hercules, the gods don't care about us, they say they're our creators yet, they would destroy half an isle just because of petty dispute and an entire town of people disappears and they do nothing about it. How can you follow such beings with a clear conscience, and if you do, you have to ask yourself to what extent can the gods act freely in the world without accountability? Why are they allowed to trample on human lives?" 

As he spoke Diomedes became more and more fervent, raising his voice with each word and gaining the attention of everyone in the building, Each word he spoke was laced with various degrees of anger, his speech elicited everyone in the building to be silent and listen. Hercules could see the anger in his eyes. The man was more than just a Heretic. He had been wronged. 

"Think about it, Olympia had it's shores destroyed and not only that many people lost their homes and during their fight in the arena many lost their lives, how can we continue to let them do as they please? how long are we to let them play with our lives like this? Sure Olympia received a blessing but was that truly enough after all people died, simply giving the land a blessing is not enough, we cannot let their oppression continue like this, how other humans must due to the recklessness of the gods? We absolutely can not go on like this, so Hercules, I ask of you, join me so that we can stop their tyrannical rule over us." 

Once he finished the room was silent, everyone was deeply contemplating his words and a few of them even somewhat agreeing with him, understanding his sentiment, Hercules was in awe, the man spoke from the heart and he could find no fault in his words, was he wrong? He was there when the battle happened. He saw people getting crushed by the collapsing stadium, so can he truly sit here and tell Diomedes the gods are blame less? The silence in the building continued for a full 15 seconds until one man stood up. He was seated the corner of the room, and he opened his mouth to speak. 

"Heretic!!!!" 

Grabbing a piece of bread from his table, he threw it at Diomedes, seeing such an action, everyone followed suit and threw their food while cussing out and yelling profanities at Diomedes, forcing him to retreat outside, Hercules stayed inside rather than follow him. Even though he felt bad for him. 

...….. 

Hephaestus was seated at his throne with the mirror floating in front of his face, the mirror was divided into about eight squares and each showed a different location of the world, some even showing under ground and underwater, he was using the mirror as a way to try and locate that strange blackness that swallowed up everything in Arcadia and unfortunately he couldn't find it. His eyes moved sporadically from one square of the mirror to another but no matter where he looked he just couldn't find what he was looking for, there wasn't even a sign of it, which confused him as he remembered seeing it when he and Hades were watching the battle between the kraken and whale so why did it suddenly became impossible to find. 

"Hephaestus did you find it?" 

"no I'm still looking, did you?" 

"what?" 

"I'm asking if you found anything since you and Apollo said would search by yourselves instead of using the mirrors, since there might be blind spots in the mirror" 

"Why would I ask you if you found it if I did?" 

Hades asked in a bit of confusion, him asking the question would imply he didn't find anything, so it made no sense for Hephaestus to ask him the same question. 

"Oh!" 

"it's been 3 days since that incident. You need to get off that chair" 

Ever since they witnessed the dark substance swallow up an entire city of people, the three Gods, him Apollo and Hades spent the next 3 days trying to look for the darkness but none of them have found any, it seemed whatever they're looking for is hiding from them. 

"Probably but if procrastinate I'll end up putting the search off for longer, and we can't have that" 

He explained that he wouldn't go so far as to call himself lazy, but if he stopped the search he'll probably end up spending too much time with Aphrodite and forget. Although he has been ignoring her for the past 3 days, he did explain the situation to her, but he shouldn't ignore his wife for 3 days even if she understands the situation. 

"Oh right, I also forgot to inform Athena about Apollo. Which human city is she in?" 

"I don't know, I haven't seen her ever since she said she'd go look for him, she hasn't come back since, you should ask Artemis" 

"okay where is she?" 

"I don't know" 

"then why did you even suggest her?" 

"I was giving you ideas, you should find Artemis to find Athena" 

Hades explains, and Hephaestus shook his head. He didn't think that was an honest suggestion from Hades. It was more of a convoluted way to have Hephaestus take a break. 

"Fine, Tria" 

With that command one of his maids suddenly appeared in the middle of the throne room, he had transported her from the kitchen to the room, using the same method Gaia had used on him but in reverse, he just needed to know where she was and then simply pull her to his own location. 

"Yes, your Majesty!" 

She gave him a salute before rubbing her eyes, it seemed that she was in the middle of a nap, although they aren't humans, Hephaestus had made them closer to humans as possible, as such each of the maidens has a personality and quirks of their own, and Tria happened to be the lazy one. 

"Find Artemis and ask her about the location of Athena" 

"Yes my lord… but where is lady Artemis?" 

"that's why I want you to find her" 

"I understand my king, but how?" 

Hephaestus quirked his brow in confusion, while each maid specialized in different areas of either combat or house work they should all have an in built device similar to a GPS so that they can easily find anything that he tells them to find. 

"figure it out, just find Artemis and ask her about the location of Athena" 

"Yes your Majesty" 

She gave him a salute before he used his hand to teleport her back to where she was before. 

"are you sure she's not defective?" 

"no, she's exactly as I want her to be, so it's no problem" 

"if you say so, so what do we do now?" 

"I'll take a break for the time being and spend some time with my wife. You should do the same too" 

Due to the emergency situation, Hades hadn't had time had time to see Persephone as well. He has been flying around looking for that dark substance, so he needs to spend time with his wife as well. Although they have been married far longer as such a mere three days is hardly anything to worry about. 

"will do, by the wait, did Apollo come back yet?" 

"no, he did lose a lover, so he is most likely more determined to destroy the black mass than either of us" 

Hephaestus reasoned, and he was right, though how does one destroy a mass that doesn't have a form or shape. 

As the two gods were about to exit the throne, one of Hephaestus' maids suddenly appeared before them at the door, nearly bumping into her on their way out. 

"Ena ?! what is it?" 

The maid took a step back before giving him a bow and apologizing for blocking their way, Hephaestus simply waves her off and repeated his question. 

"My king, lady Nyx is here, and she demands an audience" 

The two gods looked at each other, as neither of them remembered anything to elicit her attention. 

....