6 Destiny

Thanatos was silent for a moment, and then he spoke quietly. "Titanomachy."

"Titanomachy…" Hypnos creased his brows. He closed his eyes and waved his hands, plucking all the recent dreams about Titanomachy from the beings of Europa. The experience was disturbingly similar to surfacing on the Internet; he even had to filter out the ridiculous and outrageous fallacies that clogged most of the content in search of a sliver of truth.

All of this took a few seconds. Thanatos did not disturb him; instead, he crossed his hands and waited patiently.

Soon, numerous holographic screens emerged around Hypnos and Thanatos, presenting to them the catastrophic and apocalyptic image of the world.

The Titanomachy. The Great Conflict between Titans and Gods, which had taken the world by storm, was a war for both dominance and patricide that had been going on for the past nine years. Between battles, the continent of Europa, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean had been turned into devastated battlefields.

In the beginning, the gods had absolutely no chance against the Titans. They were upstarts in every sense of the word. They would have been literally scattered in their very first fight with their father if Gaea, the Mother Earth, had not intervened. She sided with the gods, and that was all that was required to change everything.

The very presence of Gaea, along with the terrifying curse of Ouranus, tipped the scales of Destiny in favour of the gods.

The fate of the war was already sealed. Gods and Titans were oblivious to the underlying mechanisms of the cosmos, but Hypnos and most of the Primordials were aware of them, and it truly opened his eyes to witness the creation in a whole new light and even re-evaluate the impacts of his powers and duties on the cosmos.

As the information flashed through his mind, Hypnos gazed at the dream projections gliding around them. They showed the main battlefields: in the Mediterranean, Zeus and Poseidon fought Altas, nearly vaporising the entire sea in their war, but Pontus, the Primordial of the Sea, negated their damage to his domain.

On the plains of Sicily, Hera fought Crius, and the light from their attacks illuminated all of mainland Europa.

In the surging waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Hades clashed with Iapetus; their attacks rocked the seabed, resulting in tsunamis that touched the sky, but Pontus negated their damage to his domain once again.

In the mountains of central Europa, Demeter and Koios pitted the very seasons and nature against each other, almost destroying the ecosystem of the continent; however, Gaia negated their damage to her domain as well.

In the infinite sky, Helios dragged the sun itself to face his father, Hyperion, the Titan of Light, Sun and Power.

Hypnos analysed the situations in all of the projections. Then he frowned at the oddity of the revelation. "The gods are not winning."

"Yes," Thanatos emphasised. "The gods are not winning."

The screens changed to show the end of all those battles, echoing their words: Kronos arrived on the battlefield in the Mediterranean. The Titan of Time immediately defeated both Zeus and Poseidon single-handedly, and they only managed to flee his crooked claws due to timely assistance from Gaea.

Hera was catapulted to the other side of the continent by a shooting star launched by Crius, crash-landing in the plains of Rucia.

Hades was pierced in the back by Iapetus with his spear of mortality, severely injuring him, but Selene descended in time and helped him retreat.

Demeter would have been frozen to the core by the Northern Winds summoned by Koios, but Hestia descended to help her sister. The goddesses desperately used all of their powers in one last attack and fled in the ensuing chaos.

The blinding battle of Helios and Hyperion ended in a tie since the father-son duo refused to go all out against each other.

Hypnos peered deeply at the gliding projections.

The Gods are losing the Titanomachy, even more so in an utterly unbequeathed way considering all the stakes were in their favour.

This was a war they were destined to win, yet...

Destiny.

A wild guess formed in his mind, making his heart pound with trepidation.

Hypnos turned to Thanatos, who was staring intently at a projection of Kronos raging and cursing Gaia profanely. "Brother," he called, his tone tinged with apprehension. "Do you think she changed the…."

"No jumping to conclusions." Thanatos cut him off; his voice was as edgy as his eyes. "At least until we have a complete picture."

Hypnos abided, waving his hand. The dream projections faded into nothingness. He could tell his brother also wanted to drop this topic for now, as much as he wanted to. They have always been uneasy about "Her" existence, though for different reasons.

"Pour me some more." Thanatos held out his empty glass.

Hypnos snapped his fingers. The glass refilled itself with nectar, and his brother gulped it down with a heavy sigh.

Hypnos drank the remaining nectar in his cup as well. "So?" he inquired, attempting to dispel the heaviness in the air. "How is my realm?" he asked, a slight smile on his lips. "Is it better than your gloomy and depressing kingdom?"

"As if." Thanatos snorted and waved his hands to emphasise how ridiculous that question was. "Our realms are too different, Hypnos. It would be pointless to compare them," he paused, smiling. "Though I must admit, your realm is great in its own right." he waved around, indicating the grand and magnificent throne room, "It truly reflects you."

Hypnos blinked. He wasn't sure if his brother meant it as a compliment, a snub, or both. He had to admit, however, that he could be a little narcissistic and flamboyant at times.

Thanatos went on, his hands still waving to the Dreaming. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?" Hypnos raised his brows obliviously, though he had a good idea of what his brother was implying with that question.

"The infinity." Thanatos started at Hypnos. "I can sense the infinity of your realm."

"Don't you already know it?" Hypnos asked back, nailing down the guess of his brother.

Thanatos took a look around the castle. "So all of this is... really your dream." he uttered, wonder sparkling in his eyes.

"Yes." Hypnos nodded, his emotional gaze fixed on his realm.

"Mother would be proud," Thanatos said.

"Obviously." Hypnos flashed a brilliant smile.

"Close your mouth." Thanatos placed his hands over his eyes. "You are blinding me."

Hypnos' smile froze. And Thanatos laughed, his amused laugh rolling through the pillars of the throne room.

Hypnos scowled at Thanatos, but he decided to be the mature one. "While we were on the subject," he shrugged. "Tell me your stories."

"What stories?" Thanatos raised his brows obliviously, deciding to get back at Hypnos.

And Hypnos decided to stop being the mature one. "Thanatos—"

"Fine, fine," Thanatos said, raising his hand.

Stories. It was one of their traditions. They would meet up in the shadow realm after their monthly training with their parents. They would immediately battle and then proceed on a hunt for the mythological monsters. After capturing a few, they cook it over the hearth and eat the sumptuous food under the stars while exchanging stories about their training, which mostly involves them complaining and grumbling about the strictness and brutality of their parents.

Thinking about those days made Hypnos feel a pang of nostalgia, easing his anger. "Who have you met recently?" he still snorted at Thanatos. "Hela? Ereshkigal? Yama? .. ", he continued, listing all the Chthonic gods and goddesses.

"Well.." Thanatos drawled, as if deliberating his favourite. Then his expression hardened. "I meet Izanami."

"Tell me everything." Hypnos perked up immediately.

Thanatos remained silent for a moment before beginning to tell the story of his meeting with Izanami.

However, to be honest, Hypnos was worried about his brother. Izanami was the definition of a mad woman, though madness for a primordial being could be quite subjective. But nobody could deny that her madness made her all the more terrifying and powerful.

To give an example, when Izanami's husband, Izanagi, abandoned her in Kami, the Shinto Underworld, since he was disgusted and abhorred by her new form as the Primordial of the Dead.

The betrayal of her beloved shook Izanami to her core, and she screamed in rage, causing the creation itself to rumble. Her rage, hatred, and desire for vengeance all coalesced to create a second-generation primordial, Amatsu-Mikaboshi, the embodiment of evil, whom she sent after her husband.

All in all, Izanami was a Primordial that most beings wished to never meet in their lives, but his brother didn't have that luxury since his duties overlapped with hers.

Restraining his running thoughts, Hypnos pricked his ears and turned his sole attention to Thanatos' story.

The story went on like this: Thanatos met Izanami in his realm, Tenebrous. She had come to see him to discuss his arrangements and plans for the underworlds of the divine pantheons. She even accompanied him on his first day of duty and gave him free counsel and guidance from time to time.

In the story, Izanami appeared to be an elder, enthusiastically teaching her junior, Thanatos, to whom she might one day pass the mantle and retire forever.

But Hypnos just couldn't believe her kindness. Perhaps he was just being paranoid. Perhaps Izanami really didn't have any ulterior motives or intentions. However, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Hypnos warned his brother not to trust her and to never let his guard down. And if any problems arose with her, he assured his brother that he and their family would always have his back.

Thanatos nodded obediently, smiling as he accepted all of his concerns. To his relief, Hypnos could tell his brother didn't trust her either. Despite all of his wisdom and prudence, Thanatos could also be unnervingly oblivious sometimes. Hypnos didn't really want to see his brother suffer because of this flaw.

Thanatos then continued to tell his stories, weaving his encounters with underworld rulers into them.

After a few hours of fascinating tales and drinking nectar, Thanatos finally left the Dreaming. Though he stressed to Hypnos not to forget the meeting in the two days before he departed for Tenebrous.

After sending his brother away, Hypnos returned to his throne, his hand on his chin and the other on the chair's armrest.

The situation of the Titanomachy plagued his thoughts. The outcome of the war between gods and titans should already be woven in favour of the gods by the Fates. However, the tides of war were still not turning in favour of the gods.

Destiny was an inescapable and inexorable force of the cosmos. He felt utterly apprehensive about it, since he was born into this world. It was against his very nature, which desired freedom above all else.

The confrontation between him and Destiny was unavoidable, he knew, since his very existence conflicted with everything Fate represented. He had foolishly attempted to delay it for as long as possible, but the sudden changes with the Titanomachy changed his mind.

He fixed his gaze on Dreaming, his eyes hardening with determination. Delaying the inevitable will not give him the answers to his questions or solve his problems.

Hypnos decided. He planned to confront Destiny herself. He recognises the recklessness of his own decision, but this was inevitable as the Destiny. There was no avoiding this.

But first, he had to confer with his father since he didn't want to embark on this dangerous endeavour blindly.

Hypnos arose from his throne. He summoned Alexandria and informed her of his departure, which could very well end up being very prolonged.

"My lord." Alexandria hesitated, worry marring her expression. "Can the realm withstand your prolonged absence...?"

"The Dreaming is my dream," Hypnos said, his form dissolving into starry sand.

"I am always here, Alexandria…"

Then he was gone.

Alexandria gazed at the fading sand in silence, and then she turned and left the throne room, locking the ivory doors behind her.

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