11 Light, Day, and Darkness

In the Mansion of Night, a reckoning silence reverberated, stilling the flowing darkness.

Aiether gazed at the empty cup that now clearly had the auras of Hypnos and Hemera written all over it. His heavenly face was daubed with colourful hues of glitter, as if it were a thoughtful masterpiece by Iris herself.

The resounding silence was suddenly broken by pearls of derisive laughter resonating throughout the mansion of night.

"Hypnos!" Aether immediately bellowed. He whisked his head to his left. Hemera was gone, obviously. "Hemera!"

Their laughter rapidly became distant, as if they were running away at breakneck speed.

The Primordial of Light immediately stood up and looked all around, his golden eyes turning abnormally bright and piercing through all the concealments of Hypnos with his light.

He immediately found them. They were already halfway through Tartarus.

"You cannot escape this time!" Aether thundered, and his form began to shed an infinite amount of light. The glitter on him didn't melt away as he expected, which only served to increase his rage all the more.

Immediately, the Primordial of Light shot forth like a shooting star towards Hypnos and Hemera at the speed of light, passing through all the obstacles in his path with the intangibility of light.

All throughout this escapade, Erebus didn't even move his gaze from the projections, only intently focusing on the battle of Hades and Altas. Their battle was reaching the breaking point.

He wanted Hades to win, obviously. He could sense the immense potential of the eldest son of Rhea. It was very impressive for a god to be able to stir his domain to this level.

Though Erebus prepared himself for a disappointment, that was the problem with the divine wars. The marvellous battle that you were enjoying would always be interpreted by others joining the battle, drawn by the commotion.

As expected, more Gods began to enter the battlefield to support Hades, and Titans immediately followed suit, plunging everything into a path of chaos with no victor.

Erebus sighed, sipping his wine. He still continued to watch the chaotic battle just for the sake of it.

"Erebus!" Nyx called from the kitchen.

"Yes, my love?" Erebus drawled, reclining in his sofa.

"Can you please put a stop to your oblivious act?" Nyx spoke so deafeningly. "They are going to fight in the middle of Tartarus and will most likely end up waking our strung brother."

"We don't want Armageddon on our heads."

Erebus placed his glass on the table. "Children…" he sighed yet again as his form collapsed into a mass of wavy darkness.

——————

A few minutes earlier.

In the middle of Tartarus, Hypnos and Hemera were running at breakneck speed with wide smiles plastered on their faces. But their happiness soon faded as soon as they noticed a beam of light shooting towards them at the speed of light—it was their incensed bother, Aether. And the dreadful fact was that his speed was increasing beyond the speed of light, breaking the material laws of creation.

"He is going to catch up," Hemera expounded the obvious.

Hypnos caught her hand, and they screeched to a halt in their path. Then he immediately turned and pointed his hand at his raging brother.

"Infinity." The Primordial of Sleep declared, his deep voice resonating with the space, sending ripples throughout it.

Between them and him, the fabric space began to elongate infinitely, trapping Aiether in an endless loop. He was still shooting at them at warp speed, but he made no progress under the expanding river of space and was struck in his position infinitesimally.

"That won't be enough to hold him down." The Lady of the Obvious expounded yet again.

"This is just to buy us some time." Hypnos said. "There is no point in running, so come, let's fight him."

Hemera grabbed his hand, hesitation written all over her face.

"What, sister?" Hypnos stared at her. "Don't tell me you are chickening out just because he is also your husband?" he provoked with a smile, pointing between them. "What about the pact we made?"

Hemera glared at him. "Fine," she finally sighed in defeat, though the gleam of eagerness in her eyes told a different story.

Meanwhile, as they expected, Aeither didn't even bat an eye in infinitely expanding space. He raised his hand, condensing his primal power into a bright and burning sword.

And he swung it down at the flowing space.

The searing sword ripped through the very fabric of space, shredding and scorching it all into smouldering cinders.

CRACK!

Like a sand castle hit by a wave, the endlessly streaming space immediately collapsed on itself.

Aether dashed out of falling shards of space, his grip on the sword tightening at the sight unfolding in front of his eyes.

Hemera rose from the ground. Her blonde hair and eyes were dyed white, followed by the magnificent reveal of a blinding golden halo behind her head that unleashed an infinite amount of light mirroring Aether. For a moment, it appeared as if the sun itself had descended on Tartarus, bathing the entire pit in daylight. Ultimately, a blazing spear materialised in her pearl-white hand.

Hypnos closed his eyes for an infinitesimal moment. He began to imagine the darkness that was always so close to him. His mind immersed into the ethereal darkness that covers all of creation, felt its coldness, emptiness, and voidness, but that was not all; as many people subconsciously presume, darkness was much more than that; it was calming, it was soothing, it was….

The Lord of Dream declared, opening his brilliant eyes. "I am Darkness. All encompassing. All guarding."

The very darkness of creation heeded to him. His silver eyes darkened and twinkled with stars. His platinum chiton had been dyed in inky darkness, rippling out in a wave of darkness that deadened the infinite light emanating from both Aeither and Hemera. At last, in his hand appeared a sword as dark as the eternal night.

And Hypnos turned toward a raging Aether in unison with Hemera. Their eyes met with each other, flashing with strikingly similar light.

There were no words spoken. There were no jabs thrown. Only the will to battle was entrenched in their hearts in this ceaseless moment, though they were still withholding a lot of their power. They hadn't even taken on their primal form yet. This was not a grave battle that required them to go all out, which would only bring catastrophe for the cosmos. The concepts they embody would be affected, unleashing hell on creation. So, unless absolutely necessary, the Primordials would never use all of their power.

But, still, everything in Tartarus stood still under the terrifying aura that was emanating from them. A deafening silence all but consumed the pit of evil.

It was instantly shattered by the mightier war cries of Hemera and Hypnos as they dashed towards Aether, leaving trails of tawny light and inky darkness that began to spread throughout Tartarus and beyond.

Hypnos, Hemera, and Aeither held the Darkness, Day, and Light, pitting the very concepts of creation against each other.

Tartarus himself appeared to be holding his breath. And they squared off as their lips rose to form frenzied smiles. Hypnos and Hemera immediately stabbed their weapons at their brother, who lifted his bright sword to parry their blows.

But then, seemingly out of nowhere, a massive pillar of eternal darkness descended. It immediately submerged and restrained them at an unfathomable speed, effectively ending their battle anticlimactically.

———————

They actually got off the hook since their parents decided to not press the issue considering the meeting with the representative of Gaia tomorrow, or they just felt like being partial for a change. Anyway, they were left with just a scolding from their mother.

Regardless, they didn't reconcile with each other. After Hypnos and Hemera removed the glitter from Aether, he still continued to shoot them glares from time to time with hidden calculative light. Hypnos was pretty certain he was planning his revenge on them, and so yet another prank war was on the horizon, though it was probably not going to begin anytime soon.

Hemera and Hypnos then returned to the kitchen and continued helping their mother with her cooking. The food was being prepared with the finest ingredients from the shadow plane.

Just as they finished preparing myriads of dishes, Thanatos finally arrived, soothing the troubled heart of their mother.

And they all convened for the dinner of the night. The sumptuous food was served by their mother. In-between bites, recent stories, tales, worries, concerns, and dreams were all exchanged under the light of the stars.

By the end of the night, they were in the living room. Hemera summoned a new instrument that had recently become popular among the heavenly court in the east—the zither. She began playing for them, strumming out godly tunes.

Enthralled by her music, Aether joined her, summoning his flute. And the husband-and-wife duo performed a heavenly concert for them.

As the divine tunes of music filled his being, Hypnos stared at his family with a contented smile.

He really couldn't have asked for anything more…

————————

Hades felt tired. He had just returned from the battlefield with his siblings after facing Altas and his brethren Titans, which yet again ended in nothing but chaos.

They were utterly losing the war against their father. The truth was already as clear as day, no matter how much Zeus pretended to goad them otherwise.

Kronos…

It would be an understatement to call the Titan of Time horrifying; he was crooked as they came. He instilled bone-chilling fear into everyone with his mere presence. Some deserted Titans even called him "evil" given literal form.

Though Hades discerned the exaggeration in the words of the terrified Titans, he could totally understand their perspective. His father was just that terrifying.

Kronos was all-rounded. Cunningness. Deviousness. Ruthlessness. Authoritativeness. You name it, and he would excel at it.

However, what made him truly terrifying was not any of that; it was his power over time—the ethereal flow that was ever present throughout the cosmos.

In the hands of Kronos, time was nothing but a toy. He could pry into the future to know the outcomes, possibilities, and prospects of a particular event and plan well ahead to nip all of his eventual problems in the bud.

He could also control the flow of time, turning it forward and backward and even freezing it. It was what gained him most of the support of his Titan brethren and gave him absolute dominance in any war. He could make it so that his subordinates and allies were always in a peak state, devoid of weariness and fatigue. So they can endlessly fight in a battle without even breaking a sweat. And the frightening fact was that this was only one of many applications of this absolutely marvellous power.

Then there was the next alarming power of Kronos: he could completely rewind time in a particular area. This made him absolutely unbeatable, as he could simply turn all of his disadvantages into advantages and always be one step ahead of his enemies.

And finally there was his cursed scythe—the nightmare of immortals. As much as he hates to admit it, Hades himself was afraid of the scythe. It had the power to scatter the essence of immortals, bringing upon them a fate worse than death.

In the beginning of the war, his siblings were kind of lethargic, audaciously holding back their power in the battles. The luxury of immortality was slowly getting to their heads and giving them a false sense of security over their lives. And when Hades pointed it out, they merely rebuked and reproached him. He didn't bother anymore, knowing their naiveté would return to bite them back.

And bite them back it did; Hades still remembers that day as clearly as the day he was born. It was well into the middle of the war when they finally managed to gain the upper hand over all of the Titan troops, forcing them to retreat. They were jubilant, clutching onto their first true triumph. Even Hades felt the hope of victory in the air, but his delusions, along with those of his siblings, were collectively shattered by their crooked father.

Kronos entered the battlefield for the first time and utterly destroyed all of them. With a swing of his scythe, he slew many minor gods and his treacherous brethren.

Zeus was the only one who stood a chance against their father. He fought the Crooked One desperately while also trying his best to protect them, but it was ultimately useless, as even his most terrifying lightning bolts meant naught in front of the might of time.

Under their horrified eyes, they witnessed their father swing his cursed scythe at their unguarded sister, Demeter.

Hades hated his weakness more than anything at that time. There may be misgivings and bitterness between him and his siblings, but at the end of the day, they are his family. If his mother taught him anything, it was that you can't give up on your family, no matter what.

He thought it was the end.

But just then, she arrived, blocking his father's cursed scythe with her mere body. The curved blade that so easily slaughtered immortals themselves didn't even leave a nick on her blemishless skin.

Under her presence, his all-powerful father became as weak as a baby. The Crooked One tried attacking with all he had, but his mighty powers of time literally broke before they could even touch her.

From the beginning to end of the battle, the ethereal woman didn't even move, merely gazing at Kronos with disappointment. She literally forced the proud king to retreat with his tail tucked behind his back with nothing more than a stare.

Their saviour was none other than Gaea, the Earth Mother.

That was how the dreadful day ended. From then on, Hades put everything into improving his power, and his siblings also broke free from their naiveté. They then fought, putting everything on the line for victory.

Years flew by. Hades grew stronger along with his siblings, but their father still remained as insurmountable as ever to them. The only reason they had not already lost the war was because of Gaea and Prometheus. The Earth Mother saved them from the crooked claws of their father in every hopeless situation, and the Titan of Forethought had clairvoyance that countered the precognitive abilities of their father. They somewhat balanced the situation of the war, but the tides were not turning in their favour at all. Everything was slowly becoming meaningless.

His recent battle with Atlas was no different, ending in chaos with no victor yet again. Hades felt utterly worn out, and judging from the expressions of his siblings, they too shared his sentiment, but before they could get any reprieve, all of them were summoned by their beloved grandmother.

To Hades, Gaea was an enigma. He didn't really understand her true intentions. He could tell his grandmother still loved all of her children wholeheartedly, including the Crooked One. She wasn't really being subtle about that.

So, suppose he and his siblings won the war. They would surely banish all the Titans who supported their crooked father.

At that time, would Gaea, the all-mother, still support them?

Questions always flooded his heart wherever he thought about his grandmother, only increasing his distrust toward her.

Hades didn't share his feelings with his family, though, as he knew this was not the place or time to do so. It would only amount to even more chaos.

As he was musing on his grandmother, Hades and his siblings entered the general meeting hall with their mother.

Gaea was there in all her ethereality. She immediately turned to him. "Hades," she smiled gently, surprising him. "I am giving you an important duty."

"You shall go to the deepest depths of the world, bearing my message to the dark family of existence."

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