Hercules walked the streets of Thessaly at a leisure pace, it was night time and it was incredibly dark, there was no moon tonight to illuminate his path however he didn’t need it, his eyes worked just fine in the dark, of course this didn’t mean he had night vision but rather his eyes were used to such darkness so his eyes had easily adjusted to it to allow him to be able to walk without stumbling on any rocks or bumping into someone.

His destination was the edge of the city near the outskirts and a location where most of the unsavoury types of people spent their time, of course walking alone at night wasn’t advised for any normal individual but Hercules had nothing to fear, in fact any would be assailant should fear him instead.

After a few minutes of walking, approximately thirty minutes he had made it to his destination , he only needed a brief stretch of a walk that took him to the inner parts of the outskirts , once arrived he took a sharp turn at an alley and found himself in a dimly lit dead end with a with a lone figure wrapped in dark robes. 

It was a homeless man or at least that would be the first thought a random onlookers would think when seeing the man but Hercules knew who the man was.

“I thought you said you didn’t want to help me?” 

Diomedes asked incredulously as he stood up from the ground and shedding the layers of robes that covered his entire body, disguising himself as homeless worked in his favour and kept him from getting attacked by the mob that thought him to be a Heretic plus it helped that Hercules is the only one who got a good look at his face.

“I never said I wouldn’t help, I just needed time to think”

Hercules responded to the man’s words, his initial meet with him at that abandoned village wasn’t one that painted Diomedes in a good light, he seemed like an insane cultists that liked doing human sacrifices, however after his fervent speech the other day, Hercules had to conclude there was a deeper meaning as to why this man’s seemed to hate the gods, or at the very least disliked them. 

“Oh! So did you come here to offer your help then?” 

Hope sparked in his eyes as he asked, Hercules was one of the few individuals capable of standing against the gods, he is mere human that can do nothing against the might of the gods as such his help would be tremendous, plus he has a reputation, people will follow him.

“it depends on what you’re willing to tell me, why do you hate the gods so much?”

He asked, Hercules was aware that the gods were not the most caring of people, he knew that they basically did whatever that they wanted without any repercussions, despite being worshipped the gods were quite notorious, especially his Father’s Zeus. These were gods what could a human do against them? The idea of going against them was something he hadn’t thought of, in fact it seemed natural not to, even when the stadium at Olympia Collapsed he didn’t think of the idea to fault the gods for that instead he thought to go on a journey to improve him and become stronger, he was inspired by their strength.

“What good will telling you that do?”

He asked, a bit unwilling to divulge his reasons for Hating the God however still he needed Hercules’ help it would take far too long to find another person with his strength and power.

“Because I need to know if you’re doing this because you genuinely believe the gods should be held accountable for their actions or simply seeking revenge”

Hercules could see the need to hold the gods accountable for their actions and he is willing to help, however he will not help an individual who seeks revenge just for the sake of it, not to mention seeking accountability for the gods is much more peaceful than trying to fight against them.

“humph, very well”

Diomedes paused before heaving a deep sigh, there was reluctance to speak but he decided to proceed and tell Hercules his reason why the he didn’t particularly like the gods.

“I had a daughter, I had initially thought I about having a son, a young me that I could mold to become a good man and protector, something that I could look to and be proud that they are my son, unfortunately I didn’t get that, instead I had a daughter I wasn’t necessarily upset at this outcome just disappointed, however the first time I held my daughter in my arms after her birth washed away all of that disappointment and an overwhelming need to protect and provide for her filled my being.

This tiny little creature was the result of the efforts of me and my wife after years of trying, a combination of the both od us, she was cute and adorable she had the brightest blue eyes you could ever see, like perfect little crystals gifted from the gods, just like her mother. A purpose was instilled into me, one I was sure to complete, I couldn’t just provide for her, I had to go beyond that, I had make a world that she would be happy in even when I’m gone.”

A spark of joy and happiness appeared in his eyes as he remembered the memory of his beloved daughter, his own brown eyes shone with a brilliance, almost as if he was reliving those days with his daughter and wife. Hercules found himself flabbergasted, the contrast between the cultist image he had when they first met and the image he saw right now was palpable.

“5 years passed quickly and I was determined to complete my mission, I had began in my local area, being more involved in its matters, regarding the quality of life there, I gained the trust of the city lord and began working by his side to better the territory, this meant I got more pay and I could spoil my daughter rotten, my wife warned me of the dangers of doing so, I heeded her advice but I was weak to my daughters pleas.”

The light in his eyes dimmed and his fervent voice paused for a few seconds and a somber mood descended on the area, Hercules could feel what he was about to say next 

“a month after I began working with the city lord, my daughter became sickly, acting quickly I took her to a physician but unfortunately he could not identify what was wrong with her, I tried every physician I could find but none knew anything nor how to fix her sickness, using all of my money and resources I managed find a Scholarly Mage and practitioner of Alchemy, using his arts He identified the problem. 

My daughter had an incurable disease that would eat at her until she eventually dies at the age of 10, using some alchemy he gave me some medicine that would make her lively but otherwise still sick, it would give the illusion that she was fine but actually wasn’t. It was here that I figured if my daughter couldn’t be cured by human means then surely the gods can as such I dedicated myself to the gods and become the most faithful person in my city .

I didn’t want to worship only one, as such I put my faith in all of the twelve Olympians, and dedicated myself to a fervent daily life of worship, both my daughter and wife joined me and we became the most pious family in our city. A year passed and the Gods were said to have descended to Olympia, when I head of the news I quickly took my family to Olympia in hopes of meeting with At least one god and as a pious person I was sure they would grant me the favor of curing daughter’s sickness”

“I take it your daughter died when the stadium collapsed?”

“No, I had taken my family out of the stadium as soon at it began to shake, however at the same time I saw the goddess Demeter as she flew away, I beckoned to her and she heard me but ignored me”

“How do you know she ignored you?”

“because mid flight she stopped looked back at me before flying away”

Hercules withheld letting out an exclamation at the man’s words, The goddess Demeter probably stopped because she thought one of the other gods was calling to her but once she saw it was a human she dismissed him and continued on her way.

“I had thought as a pious individual who worshipped the gods she would recognize my voice after all I prayed to all the twelve everyday, unfortunately that wasn’t the case, with shock on my face I asked me and my wife split up and look for other faithful individuals within the stadium, hoping they might know how to get to the other Gods, After all the gods had descended that day as such many priests and cultists would be there, I took my daughter with me and we searched the around the stadium. After a few minutes I met back up with her and luckily enough when the stadium collapse we weren’t harmed we decided to move away from the stadium and wait at a distance for when the fighting was done unfortunately that was a mistake”

“what happened?”

Diomedes paused and his lips quivered, his mouth struggled to utter any words to answer Hercules’ question, Hercules seeing the hesitant look on the man’s face tried to stop him from speaking any further, feeling sympathy for the man, there was no point in letting him relive his trauma, however Diomedes spoke before Hercules could say anything.

“a bright golden light eviscerated by wife”

He said with a quickness and caused Hercules to doubt if he heard him correctly.

“ The light Reduced her to nothing but ash and by a stroke of luck it missed me and my daughter who weren’t far from her.”

Hercules found himself speechless, he remembers that bright golden light, it was the attack used by Hephaestus to kill Zeus, attack left a great scar on Olympia and split the sea even after it was done, Hephaestus had killed Diomedes' wife.

“after that incident, I don’t know what happened, either the medicine stopped working or the Disease got worse because my daughter died a week later” 

Diomedes finished, his pasture was slouched and his head was down, Hercules could see the tear drip down from his face and he could see the man’s hands were shaking, he felt pity for him. Standing up off the ground he had sat on, Hercules walked closer to him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“I understand your cause, forgive me if I made you relive terrible memories but from now on I’ll support you, and ensure that the gods are held accountable for their actions”

He spoke with a determination, If Diomedes’ wife got killed by Hephaestus’ attack then how many more did that golden light kill ? Because it extended beyond the stadium, so many lives were lost that day, Diomedes was right, a simple blessing wouldn’t be enough to fix things.

“ Please don’t pity me but thank you, truly. If good men like you can see the tyranny of Gods then I have hope that no one will suffer at the hands of the gods like I did.”

“so how do we go about this?”

Hercules asked, smiling broadly as he did, he couldn’t help but feel excited for some unknown reason.

……….. 

“how long are you going to stay here, Athena?”

A short and bearded old man asked the young goddess who seemed to be Lounging about in his former apprentices home. The old man was shirtless and had thick brown beard covering his face and a bald head, he was short about tout, he had a wheelbarrow with him that was filled with different kinds of Ore.

“I’ll stay for quite sometime old man, this isn’t your house”

Athena answered with a nonchalance, she was seated on the floor near the house her back resting on its wall, this place was the mountains where she and Hephaestus had met for the first time and the old man she was talking to was the one who taught Hephaestus how to forge.

“it may not be my house but it’s not yours either, plus I need to use the forge Hephaestus built in there and I can’t focus if you’re here moping about”

“that’s Awfully disrespectful talking like that to a goddess”

“you aren’t acting like a goddess right now. Are you?”

Talking to any God like that would definitely equal a type of curse however Athena didn’t care much right now, not to mention the old man was just a simple nobody.

Athena remained silent and did not answer his question, contrary to what the old man had said she hadn’t been here all the time, she recently arrived here a week ago when she finally gave up looking for Apollo, in truth she wasn’t looking for him, she just left Olympus because she needed to be away from Hephaestus and Aphrodite not to mention Leto was getting really annoying, so Athena decided to just leave.

“I’m not going to ask you anything, I’ll just ignore you till you leave”

The old man said beforewalkingg into the house, he wasn’t really thetypee to give advice nor was he the type to be emotional as such he usually avoided those things. Athena sighed, she doesn’t know what she was doing here to be honest all it did was remind her of Hephaestus and how he’s married now so she can’t have him.

“am I a hypocrite?”

She asked herself, she never considered Hephaestus to be anything but a friend, the thought of being with him never crossed her mind back then, he was ugly so there was no need to even consider that idea so why exactly is she feeling jealous of Aphrodite, why does she want Hephaestus to be with her?, she harked at Ares last year about physical appearance not being important yet now that Hephaestus is handsome she has feelings for him.

“ugh! I am a hypocrite, but She doesn’t deserve him”

Leaning her head against the wall she turned her gaze up and looked at the sky and let out a sigh, she didn’t feel like going back to Olympus as things would be a bit weird, especially considering that Athena lives Within the Royal palace.

“Maybe I should make my own palace?”

She questioned, it would mean that she sees Hephaestus less and she won’t have to see the two of them being all loving to each other so building her own palace is not a bad idea.

“Or maybe I should—"

Her thoughts were interrupt as she suddenly she spotted a flying object from high above, the object was slowly descending towards her, she was about to stand up but quickly relaxed as she recognized what it was, it was one if Hephaestus’s maids so age waited until it finally reached the ground.

“Lady Athena”

Tria spoke as she finally touched down on the ground however unfortunately before she could speak any further she somehow bent her ankle and face Planted onto the ground shocking Athena who didn’t see that coming, Tria swiftly got up and dusted herself off and cleared her throat.

“lady Athena, Lord Hephaestus requests your presence”

The maid informed and she high fived herself inwardly celebrating the fact she didn’t stutter, while she wasn’t shy she still found in a bit intimidating to talk to other gods besides Hephaestus.

“when?”

Athena asked, perplexing the maid, which was her intention, if Hephaestus didn’t specify when Athena was needed then she could easily stall herself sometime. She was aware that thisparticularr maid was quite unreliable so it would be easy to have her doubt what she was told.

“huh?!”

“when does he need my presence, today tomorrow?”

“Well, now… I think?”

In actuality Hephaestus had told Tria to look for Athena not call her to Olympus so she should have went back to Olympus the moment she spotted Athena but she was certain that Hephaestus wanted to speak to Athena, otherwise why would he bother to look for her.

“So you don’t know?”

“… he didn’t really specify on the when he just said you were needed in Olympus”

Athena was very intimidating when she wanted to be and the maid found herself telling Half truths, she didn’t want to go to back without Athena but at the same time she didn’t want to lie.

“fine, let’s go”

Athena conceded, eventually she’s going to have to go back to Olympus and it’s not going to be any less awkward when she sees Hephaestus again, might as well get it over with.

……

[Olympus]

“Mhm I like this, it fits my form very well”

Nyx stated while she looked at herself in the mirror and seeing the black one piece dress that hugged her form, while twisting and turning to check out her own curves. It wasn’t just her, her daughters as well, they were going in and out of the Changing room fitting in new clothes with the exception and checking themselves out in the mirrors, with the of Nike who seemed Content with what she was wearing. 

“I’d say black is definitely your color, although I’d advise getting something loose as well”

Aphrodite advised the Primordial while also looking over at Styx who seemed to be quite fond of short but loose frilly dresses, Judging by the stack of them beside on her.

“I suppose but I like this one it highlights my feminine charm”

“I won’t deny that I like tight dresses myself but you need something loose for when you want to just relax, tight dresses are restrictive and can be uncomfortable if you wear them for long periods of time”

They were currently in a clothing store one that was owned by Her, or rather owned by Hephaestus, the store was run by his maids that were programed to make clothes and run the a business with Aphrodite overseeing everything. This was their first stop in the tour of Olympus as Nyx had expressed that she wanted clothing Similar to the one Aphrodite had worn.

“I see”

Nyx responded, understanding Aphrodite’s point, plus it was better to trust her advice since she knows better than her.

It didn’t really take long for everyone to quickly pick out a set of clothing that they wanted and Aphrodite’s stored them, Hephaestus had made her plenty of gadgets for such situations. Incidentally Aphrodite’s had more rings on her fingers than actually necessary.

The group exited the store with wearing entirely new clothes and Shoes, with Styx being far more excited than she should be, this somewhat surprising to Aphrodite, Styx’s carefree behavior was a stack contrast the image Aphrodite had of Styx in her mind.

“So where should go next? Aphrodite any suggestions ”

“try looking around and finding something you like, I’m not really good at giving tours ”

She advised and Nyx nodded, as soon as they had exited the store many eyes had fallen on them, a few curious about Nyx and her family but a majority were judgmental stares and glances at Aphrodite. The citizens of Olympus were fine with Hephaestus as the King but it seemed they were not fine with Aphrodite as the queen, they didn’t associated Queen hood with her even though Aphrodite was quite popular before becoming queen it seemed that popularity was suddenly reversed.

As she accompanied the three guests who were quite excited to see various things that existed in Olympus, Many Minor gods that had some relation to crafting had built Beautiful sculptures and other who had a neck for arts and entertainment, showcased their talents publicly earning themselves some praises and coin, Olympus had become a very vibrant place as many gods made use of their talents and Nyx and her family seemed to enjoy that.

“honestly what is that whore doing? Shouldn’t she be in the Palace taking care of her duties, but instead she’s prancing around doing nothing”

A random onlooker comments as her gaze followed the queen and her guests.

“Right? This is why whores aren’t suited for royalty”

Hushed whispered reached her ears, she was out in public as such she expected that she would be hearing the unfiltered thoughts of the citizens, and to her ears they weren’t really wrong on the part of her being a whore. She has been trying to change herself and become someone worthy of Hephaestus but how does she do that, it has been a year already and she feels no different than before. 

Her face sunk and became sullen as he mood became ruined. Does she need to physically change in order to finally be free from being a whore.

“are you alright my queen”

Nike asks as she suddenly appeared beside her and held on to her shoulder.

“of course I’m fine just thinking about somethings that’s all”

She smiled at the titan who in turn look at her with a bit of skepticism and worry but chose not to pursue the matter any further, plus if she had not qualms with the citizens talking about her like that then it was no place for her to complain. If it was Zeus head would have rolled.

….. 

[Ocean]

Deep in the depths, a black ball of darkness was currently shining with a bright and blinding golden light as is slowly changed it’s shape, the light died down and the ball had transformed into the head of a person complete with lustrous black hair that floated like snakes in the water, a neck of the head slowly grew out from the base of the head before its shoulder muscles began to form. Slowly and surely the torso formed.

Dense bones, muscles and ribcage formed and were immediately covered by layers of muscles and skin. While the lowered half of the body was forming the obsidian black head turned in to black electric eels that spark electrically as they wiggled. Scales appear on the cheeks and large fangs protruded from its mouth.

After a few minutes the chiseled humanoid body was complete, The shoulder and elbows had sharp protruding bone, and it’s hand has sharp razor like claws with the capability of slicing through anything. with the face having some minor resemblance to Apollo. It’s eyes opened Revealing the black orbs that held Nothing but an abyss of malicious intent.

With its eyed open and it’s body complete, it took a whiff in the water and smelled something familiar in the water but it was far away but that was irrelevant, its bottom half morphed into the tentacles of a Cracken before It whole body enlarged to the size of a whale and it swam towards it food.

It remembers the food it ate, remembers the golden arm that took a long time to eat and now it’s nose was leading it toward the same thing, but this time there was a promise of it being more than just an arm, perhaps the whole body, maybe two. It’s stomach growled in anticipation ready to devour food. 

.........