05: Lies

"You happened" she yelled, venomous. Her rageful voice echoed akin to a curse from the abyss.

Hades' features remained frozen in shock. "What" he stammered, bewildered, his eyes wide open. What had he done now to cause such wrath?

"Don't act ignorant!" Hestia's hair fluttered with the frail gusts. She stood up. Her fists were clenched, while her eyes looked at Hades with fury.

His eyes cast to the ground, Hades stayed silent. He did not feel ashamed. Even though clueless about his transgression, his sister's rage was evident. Her aura seemed unstrained and wild, akin to a forest fire.

"Look around you" she told him. Her slight push made him stumble.

"Can you see those cadavers?" She asked in a mysterious tone akin to a dying star. Her stare was unflinching.

He nodded in understanding, yet was still confused. The ashen skeletons lay on the ground reminiscent of fallen leaves in autumn. The wind flitted through, creating clarion sounds. The flesh in between was limp and would ring with a squelch.

"Can you see the flesh hanging on the walls?"

Trailing down as if droplets, parts of flesh mottled the walls. It was a macabre backdrop. Yet the significance of that eluded him, for he found nothing wrath deserving in it.

"And that eye, lying here?"

"...Yes" a silent murmur of agreement came out of his mouth.

"Can you sense the eeriness in the air?" She asked, her alluring eyes still transfixed on his. A strange air of furor shimmered around her.

This time, he did not respond.

He stood silent, a familiar voice reverberating in his mind.

'𝑁𝑜'

Haethan's memory told him to be truthful. To not hide what he truly felt.

"Can you feel it?" She yelled. Their faces almost grazed. She stood so near, he could clearly see the maelstrom swirling in her eyes. Her hand on his shoulder was oppressive.

"...Yes" he lied. It was the first time he lied, a departure from his overly naive self. Something he would have never imagined before.

Why was uttering the simple word "no" so arduous?

"Good" she purred. She smiled with wide-opened eyes.

"Now then, don't you think there is something wrong with it?" She asked him, her steps carrying her away. The entire landscape was now visible.

'𝑁𝑜'

His gaze swept over the sea of bones. The orphic darkness flitted in the air akin to a squid. A sound buzzed. A tang aroma of death starched, yet Hades didn't find it unpleasant. The flesh adorning the walls seemed an ominous ornamentation. Remorse was not something he felt.

However, this was not the answer she sought.

Hades' pallid eyes probed the enigmatic shadows, grappling with uncertainty. Did she abhor the darkness?

If so, why was she so angry?

This was not the answer to this query.

Why, then?

He raised his hand, battling against the furious wind that suddenly appeared. A sublime tendril of darkness manifested, slowly waving itself into an ephemeral hand. This hand reassembled his. And then they merged as if one, the darkness gently fluttering.

The darkness was comforting. Why, then did it displease her.

'𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠, 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢.'

"...It's too dark" he finally answered. Yet what he said was another lie.

Abruptly, she whirled around to face him. Her anger seemed quelled, a fire smothered into cold embers. Her eyes, unflinching, stared at him.

"Hades-" her voice hung still in the air. She took one small step. Another. And Another. A piercing sound rang every time her feet touched the floor. A staccato melody.

"So slow"

How long had it been? His perception of time diminished, for her steps, seemed to be the center of the world. Everything danced alongside her.

Her fiery hair swayed from left to right, a familiar aroma meddling with the darkness.

"Is that what you truly think?" She asked, their faces touching. Her fingers took his hand, gently merging together.

And then she hugged him.

'Why?'

Her arms tightened around his back. Without a warning, her nails dug into his skin.

Gasped breaths tinkled near her ears. Each exhalation was a struggle against her constricting arms.

Yet she persisted.

"Is that what you truly think?" She echoed, her head tilting to meet his gaze.

Her actions greatly confounded him; she was angry, but also not.

"Answer!" Her grip persisted, with ichor unknowingly dripping.

"...No" he murmured.

"You don't" she affirmed. Her arms relinquished him, her gaze unwavering.

'She's angry' for the first time in his life, Hades was able to discern her emotions.

"You don't see anything wrong with what you've done?!" Her rage once again erupted.

Hades stood silent, not knowing what to answer. Her behavior was too confusing. This was beyond anything he's seen so far.

'𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑔𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑑. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑠.'

This was the moment Hades realized what being a Hellenic god entailed—strangeness.

"Sit" her voice brought him back from his thoughts. Again, she left him bewildered. Her voice had mellowed down. She did not appear angry anymore, her eyes dimmed.

He looked at her hesitantly before complying. Though a buffer distance separated them, his wound had healed, he did not want to be hurt again. Especially by his sister.

"Don't experiment with life ever again" she beseeched, an enchanting smile on her face which would have tempted many.

Yet Hades wasn't normal.

"Why?" He asked her, his experiment did not inflict pain on intelligent beings, nor did it have grave consequences.

"Well, that's…" a momentary silence lingered. She was searching for an explanation, it was like explaining common sense, which it was.

'It's immoral' this answer, however, would not satisfy him, and she knew it.

Her mind wandered on various explanations till she found one.

"Life is precious. It doesn't bloom endlessly and that's one of its charms. Being alive is a rare chance. Experimenting on it would be akin to tarnishing it and its dangerous beauty. That's why it is taboo."

"But I-" Hades tried to argue, however, Hestia interrupted him by placing her hand over his mouth, thus muffling his voice.

"Just promise me this, don't try to create life ever again. If you do, you'll see how the others will be much more welcoming of you."

"I promise" another lie woven. He would not let himself be constrained by such laws that the common life thinks as common sense. He would follow her wish for now, yet the future was uncertain.

His pale blue eyes gleamed with dim light, perceiving the world anew. He was growing, his ambitions crystallizing.

***

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