The Trial

"Now let the trial begin." His voice echo's through the room. "Trial?" I look up at the woman who is staring at the man on the throne. "Hecate I see you bought him earlier than expected." Hecate?! I think to myself. "I did, I found him trying to escape." I look at the man on the throne "It's not like..." Hecate kicks me "Silence!" The man on the throne demands. Hecate stares at me "Lord Hades if you don't mind me asking, why did you bring this lowly mortal for trial? Since when do we even give mortals trials?" She looks back up at Hades waiting for him to respond. "There is something about him, I can't put my finger on it." He looks over at the dog next to him. "Cerberus, go fetch the sword on his waist." I look over at Cerberus walking over to me and pulling the sword off of me with his teeth.

"You have a unique artifact with you" he grabs the sword from Cerberus's mouth. "This sword hasn't been seen in some time in this realm and the fact you have it makes me wonder. Tell me, mortal, where did you acquire this sword?" I look over at him "I was tasked with reaching Nemea by the god Hercules, while on my travel I met an old man in need of help and as a reward he gave me this sword." Hades looks at me "I find that a little hard to believe mortal so how about you tell me the truth." He stares at me leaning forward "I am, I'm telling you the truth that is exactly what happened." Hades stands up "You expect me to believe you helped a random old man and as a reward, he gave you this sword?!" He visibly grow irritated. "What's so important about this sword? Every God I have come across has been eyeing this sword, what is it about it?" Hades laughs "watch your tongue and do not speak without being spoken to mortal." Hecate grabs me by my head and throws me forward "If you wish to keep your life watch yourself mortal."

Hades grips the sword and walks over to me, he takes the blade and put it across my neck "this sword is the sword of Ares. This sword is the sword of a god and a mere mortal should not possess such an item." I move my eyes to attempt to look at Hades being careful not to move my neck so I don't get cut. "This sword has been missing from this realm for years and all of a sudden it appears in your possession." He takes the sword from my neck and walks back over to his throne. "If what you are saying is true and you did somehow get this sword in the way you speak then we have to find the one who gave it to you." Hades looks over at Hecate and nods his head. Hecate nods her head in agreement and walks away as if they had a nonspoken agreement. "Mortal you may stand." Hades stands up and using his finger tells me to come over. "Follow me."

We make our way down a corridor filled with rooms. Along the walls are jewels and precious medals. "I have a theory for you mortal" he stops in front of me and whistles. From behind, I hear Cerberus snarling at me. "I think you may have had a part in the disappearance of Ares and you just won't tell me." She looks at me menacingly. " I swear I have no idea about the sword or that Ares was missing in the first place. I just woke up in this realm and I have no idea how I even got here." I try to reason with him. Hades grabs my arm and throws me into one of the rooms. "You will stay here until Hecate returns and we will resume your trial afterward." Hades grabs the handle for the door "your story is rather strange but I will hear it out. Hecate just went to check on something for me, she shouldn't be long." He closes the door and I wait in a room with no windows or doors, just an empty pitch black room. I sit there in silence until my body puts me to sleep. I wake up to the sound of the door being opened. "Come, she has returned." I walk out of the room and there isn't anyone there. I look to the right and see Cerberus standing there. "Are you taking me to the room?" Cerberus barked as if he is agreeing.

I walk towards the room and upon entering I see the old man who gave me the sword. "Tobias!" I yell out. He looks over at me and smiles. I make my way over to him reaching my hand out "what are you doing here?" I ask him. He takes a deep breath "I was out tending my fields when a woman came from nowhere and..." Before he can finish Hade sighs loudly "Enough the two of you, we don't have time for idle chit chat. We will now resume the trial." Hades sitting there looking at us "now Tobias was it, explain to me why this mortal says he got this sword from you?" Tobias looks at Hades "Lord, the sword was passed down" before he can finish Hecate slams a door open. "Lord Hades, your brothers are here to speak to you." Hades rolls his eyes and sighs "tell them to leave I am taking care of business, do not let them enter here.

I'll meet with them later." Hecate turns around and walks away. "Please continue" Hade talks to Tobias. "My father passed that sword down to me as a kid before he passed away. He said to me to protect this sword." Tobias again gets cut off speaking this time by Hades "Your father told you to protect this sword and the first thing you do is give it to this mortal as a reward?" Tobias looks at me and then at Hades "I don't know why but I felt it was right to give him the sword, as it belonged to him and not me." Hades frustrated gets up "This sword along with the God of war Ares has been missing for some time, and you mean to tell me your father gave you this sword and as a reward to a stranger you gave it to him? It's hard to believe."

Hades then walks over to us. "With all my power I possess, I will make you suffer for your crimes and treason towards the gods." As Hades gets closer Tobias laughs. "Oh, you don't scare me uncle" Tobias stands there laughing. Hades grabs Tobias by his neck "Say that again mortal, I am not your uncle either" Hades throws Tobias across the room. Tobias stands up and his appearance starts to change. He starts walking closer to Hades as he starts to grow taller. Hades looks at him shocked as his features start to take shape. "Phobos? You have been missing for a while now also, you mean to tell me you were hiding?" Phobos laughs I have been taking a break from you arrogant Gods." Hades grows upset "Where is your father?! Why does this mortal have his sword!?" He begins to grow angry as his body starts to get darker. You can feel the heat radiating off of his body. Phobos looks at Hades and backs away some.

"I gave him the sword as it felt like it belonged in his hands. I am a god and I know what is right for my father's belongings." Just as Hades is about to speak Hecate bursts through the door "Hades! Calm down before you do something you will regret." Hades looks over to Hecate. He starts to calm down and breathe. "Phobos, where have you been? Why are you here?" Phobos starts to explain everything and looks over at Hades. "I left with my father on a mission given to him by Zeus. Once we reached the destination we were ambushed and forced to retreat. When we realized this was an attempt to dispose of my father we went into hiding." Phobos looks over at me "My father left in an attempt to draw the attention of those that ambushed us and left me his sword.

My father is still missing but I felt it was right to give him the sword as he has a familiar aura to him." Phobos then looks over at me. Hades walks closer to him and slaps him across the face. "You will face your consequences Phobos." Hades walks away leaving me and Phobos standing there. "Mortal, follow me." I look at Phobos as he nods for me to follow. I catch up to Hades as he brings me to what looks to be his office room. "Take a seat" he extends his hand towards the chair. I take a seat adjacent to him as he looks at me intimidating. "I need your help." He looks at me for a few seconds without saying a word. "You can see Phobos genuinely believes that the sword which you possess should be with you." He looks down at his desk "I believe you shouldn't have it at all but going against Phobos is a task I don't plan on doing." He looks at the sword on my waist "I am going to put you in battle with gorgons to assess your battle prowess." I look at Hades in shock "I don't have any battle skills nor do I have any knowledge of war, I don't think I can do this." Through my tone, you can tell I am nervous and Hades picks up on it. "Then this should be fun." Hades smiles as he gestures for me to leave him.