16 King of The Underworld (III)

After he finally put everything down, and the Daemons became organized, Hades started the process. Souls that have been wandering for thousands of years without a direction now were guided by an invisible hand towards the Hall of Judgement. Shades of humans older than some civilization started walking towards the balance, the gaze of its protectors watching them all the while.

One shade walked towards the balance, and it was judged. The shade had been a tribe chief, he had always wanted to the protection of his tribe and in his youth had helped the defense of many of his fellow tribesman, eventually taking the position of chief which provoked a change in him, no longer was war all constant but only when necessary, they didn't have to raid any longer, instead of warriors they became soldiers and farmers.

The tribe chief never forgot what those raids did, he never partook in the acts that the more unruly of his tribesman did, and he was called weak by them for it. He was killed by one of them in his sleep.

His sentence was Elysium.

The next walked in, he had been a terrifying warrior in his life, his fame had spread across numerous tribes, contrary what some of his followers said to others he only killed for himself, he was strong so why he should he adhere to anyone, he had secretly insisted conflict many times with other tribes simply because he was bored, the deaths that these conflicts were nothing to him after all they were weak so they deserved to die.

He had tasted many women, many of them being very unwilling, he had killed them after. But one day the new chief came with his reforms, he talked about peace, and how they could survive without the need for raids, he talk about planting their food. The shade didn't know where he had gained such knowledge nor did he bother with it, he remembered who the chief was, the wuss that was too weak to force himself on those who were weaker than him.

So he made a decision and murdered the chief in his sleep and decided to take the tribe for himself. He had been murdered in a duel by the chief's son.

His sentence was Tartarus.

Another shade walked in, he was rather a neutral individual, he didn't participate in the raids, as he was a craftsman, he preferred to be in the background not interfering with anything else that didn't affect his. When the chief was killed he had helped his son by creating his weapons, mainly because he knew that he was done if the chief's murderer ruled the tribe.

After the chief's son killed his father's killer in a duel, he had remained in the background where he liked, the chief's son who had become the new chief visited from time to time so they could talk over a nice drink. The shade died by natural causes, surrounded by his family and friends. His body was buried in one of the first cemeteries made by mankind.

The shade was sent to the Asphodel Fields.

And so it went, soul after the soul was judged, all sent to their next step, either eternal happiness in the Elysium's, eternal damnation in Tartarus, or eternal listlessness in the Asphodel Fields.

~~~~~~~~

{I like what you did to the place} Erebus said, looking at the structure of the throne room, he was accompanied by his wife who didn't look interested, unlike her husband.

"This my domain, my kingdom, if I shall rule it, then it must be grand" Hades said in his remodeled throne. He based it after the Throne of Kings of Overlord (The anime not the game), he thought it looked propriety enough. "Why are you here Erebus?"

{To introduce some gods to you, as the lord of the dead you have many new servants at your disposal and they want to serve you,} Erebus answered, before Hades felt a familiar smell, it was the smell of a rotting corpse, of death.

A silver masked being appeared, he possessed two pairs of dark avian wings and dark robes that glowed purple. He was Thanatos, son of the Night and the Darkness, god of death.

{This is Thanatos, he is responsible for the flow of souls that make way to the Underworld}

Thanatos bowed never speaking a single word, for death is always silent, which is why it makes it unpredictable. 'I saw the river of souls that make way towards the Underworld' Hades thought 'It is empty of souls, though I am sure that won't be a problem when Prometheus does what he said he would'

"I welcome you Thanatos, you can, rise," Hades said not expecting Thanatos to answer, it seems that he is one of those silent types. The god of death nodded his head and got up from his kneeling position.

"Are there more you want to introduce to me?"

"Yes, but it will take time"

"I have plenty of time to spare"

~~~~~~~~

Hades met many new gods, from the barely awake Hypnos to the grim Charon, when the meetings were over he went towards Tartarus ignoring the pleas of help that came from the souls that still had some individuality as they collared towards their eternal punishment. His target was another.

He arrived at the darkest places of the Underworld, it still wasn't completely devoid of light and with his connection, he could see as bright as day, but mortals and weaker gods would surely blind from here on.

But it didn't matter he arrived at his destination. Hades looked at the bound Titans, his two claws ready to attack wherever he liked, the Titans were still conscious, though they didn't notice him, Atlas the one who he once considered to be his greatest adversary looked completely lost as if something had gone wrong or missing.

Again it didn't matter, he had already gotten what he wanted from him, his true prize awaited at the heart of the prison of the Titans.

In there he saw his father, the King of The Titans Cronos, chained like his brothers and nephews. No longer was he the arrogant King but the humbled prisoner of the new order, no longer would he eat the finest foods and drink from tastiest drinks the only thing he would consume would be the empty air around him. No longer would he rule over his subjects for he had no more subjects to rule over.

"Hades" Cronos groaned out, having felt his presence, for Hades never bothered to hide it "Have you come to mock me? Or maybe to torture me? Well then give me your best shot brat!" Hades ignored the mocking tone of Cronos, it was false bravado, with his helmet he could sense fear, and Cronos was drowning in it.

"I only came here for one thing and one thing only" Hades grabbed the chains that held his weapons "Cronos. Give me your soul!"

Two hooks flew towards the body of the king of the titans, hooking themselves on his torso, Cronos knew what was going to happen and he could do nothing except scream as Hades pulled his divine soul from his body, an ethereal version of Cronos appeared and was absorbed by Hades.

Cronos felt an emptiness in his essence and Hades felt his knowledge over the powers of time increase, he now had the same level of control that Cronos had, but it didn't matter. He wanted Cronos' power because he could peer into the future, by seeing different timelines, this is why he only wanted Cronos's soul and left the others.

Because in his eyes Cronos power was the only that would be useful, immensely so, with this his actions will be greatly eased, though he will never completely rely on it there were many that he read and saw on his previous life that did and they were destroyed in the end. But there were a few that correctly used the power.

He returned leaving Cronos and the Titans behind, he would not peer into the future now he deserved rest, which is exactly what he did, as he marched headfirst into his bed not bothering to know how the Cyclops managed to create an actual bed.