The Sirius Ritual

A few hours after Ares left, Hades was in front of a huge volcano which floated over the sky, the lava flowed as if it were a river and was so big that not even Everest could compare, Hades looked at it for a while until a gray mist began to cover it which only took a few seconds, Hades began to fly and headed at high speed to the top of the volcano.

When Hades reached the top he stopped flying and landed on the ground, the air around him was so hot that space was distorted as some swirls of fire formed out of nowhere, although the level of heat he had reached was very high, Hades seemed relaxed and not at all pressured.

Hades walked for a few minutes until he finally found him, in the distance he could see the silhouette of what appeared to be a man lying on a stone, Hades approached him and raised his hand in a gesture of greeting.

''Hephaestus, good to see you.''

''Hades, what a surprise to see you, it has been a long time since you last came.'' Hephaestus stood up from what appeared to be a white anvil and greeted Hades, Hephaestus was a rather ugly man, he used a cane as he was lame, he had a scruffy beard and his chest was in the air.

''Sorry about that, but I need a special artifact.''

''Wow, I thought Sirius would be enough for you.'' Hades grimaced as he remembered how Sirius had been trapped in a weapon and had chosen Indra as his carrier, which made him still a bit annoyed.

''Hahahaha don't worry, the weapon is more than enough, I simply need an artifact for Persephone.'' Hades tried to change the subject quickly, after all it's not convenient for him to keep talking about Sirius, Hephaestus might start doubting which will be very dangerous.

Hephaestus clearly sensed that Hades was hiding something, however he couldn't tell what and ignored it. ''Sure, just tell me what you need, you can tell me what shape you want and I can help you choose the materials.''

''I need an artifact which can camouflage the divine energy, no matter what materials you need, just make it almost impossible to detect the energy of the wearer, as for the form, make it an accessory, you choose the one that suits you.''

Hephaestus simply nodded, then stretched out his hand and a leaf appeared out of nowhere, Hades took it and looked at it, on the leaf were written the materials needed for the artifact.

''Although these materials are quite hard to come by, they are the best to create what you ask for, although I don't know exactly how long it will take me to do it, after all concealing divine energy is not a simple thing.''

Hades simply nodded, then talked some more with Hephaestus and left his domain.

===================

Hades spent the next 6 months collecting all the materials for the artifact, as Hephaestus had said, they were far from easy to come by even for a God, although Persephone threw a tantrum since he didn't spend much time with her, Hades tried to console her by promising her many things upon completion.

When Hades finally gathered all the materials he quickly headed towards Hephaestus' domain, upon reaching his domain he was surprised to feel another quite powerful divine aura, Hades simply continued and when he was about to reach the place where he had met with Hephaestus earlier, he could see that Hephaestus was talking to a beautiful woman, clearly he knew her, after all she was one of the most important Goddesses and his niece.

''Athena, I haven't seen you in a while.'' Hades spoke with a warm smile.

Athena turned and met Hades, Athena was a beautiful tall woman, her height hovered between 1. 80, she had beautiful white skin, her eyes were a beautiful silver color that would make any man get lost in them, her hair was a crimson red that highlighted her beauty, she had beautiful red lips that provoked endless kisses, she wore what appeared to be a chain mail that covered a small part of her neck, arms and back, on top she had a silver armor that covered her arms and a part of her back, below her chest she seemed to be supported by a thin layer of leather that went over her curves and also covered a part of her back. A strip of this same leather cape went down her curves to her lower region, likewise, above the leather cape she wore a silver armor that only covered her midsection and back. She also had a small armor that covered her lower region and her butt, she had armor on her legs that were fully silver boots that went up to her thighs, on her waist she had a sword that also seemed to be attached to the armor, although Hades didn't want to say it, Athena looked incredibly sexy.

''Uncle Hades, what a surprise to see you again.'' Athena gave Hades a nice smile as she greeted him.

''I've been quite busy in the underworld fixing some things, that's why I haven't been able to visit you lately.''

''Oh I see, don't forget you can always count on me, I could give you some advice if you're so busy.''

''Don't worry about that, changing the subject, ¿what artifact do you need?, maybe if I have one that you need you could save a lot of time.'' Hades got a little nervous, he was a little afraid of Athena, after all, she is a near perfect Goddess with many titles, even though Ares and Athena share the title as Gods of war, Ares agrees to be a little afraid of her.

Athena clearly saw Hades' quick change, unlike the others, she didn't ignore him. ''Looks like you have some problems, I'll drop by the underworld when I have time, and don't worry about the artifact as I've come to receive it, see you later uncle Hades.'' When Athena finished speaking she quickly flew away.

Hades got a little nervous as he didn't know when Athena might visit him, if she gets to see Indra she is 99% likely to kill him or at least until they can complete Sirius' ritual, she is a Goddess that keeps order and doesn't allow anything to get out of control, Indra's existence is something she can't allow, even if Hades gave her a thousand excuses she would never accept.

''Did you bring the materials? I must accept that it was quite fast.'' Hephaestus interrupted Hades' thoughts and slowly approached him.

''Sure, it took me a while but I got them.'' Hades handed over different types of minerals to Hephaestus along with some strange plants.

''I know it will take me a while but I don't know exactly how long, I have never made an artifact that hides divine energy with such high quality materials, however according to my estimation it could last between 1 to 7 years.'' Hades nodded at Hephaestus' answer and then took out a small hair from his sleeve.

''Try to make the artifact only able to bind to the soul of one person, this hair contains part of my divine essence, try your best.'' Hephaestus looked at Hades thinking about the possible reason why he seems to need this artifact so much, until finally an idea came to his mind and he nodded.

''You must have some special person for the tournament, right?'' Hephaestus thought that Hades was doing so much to try to win the tournament by giving one of his chosen ones some exceptional treasures, in a sense, he wasn't wrong.

''Hahaha you're right, the next tournament is coming up and I don't want us to be wiped out of existence.''

Hephaestus nodded and smiled at Hades. ''We still have some time before the tournament starts, if you need anything feel free to come over.'' Hephaestus and Hades talked some more until Hades returned to his realm.

''Well, I'll have to do my best with this artifact, although I don't see much use for it in the tournament, Hades must have some idea.'' While Hephaestus was talking to himself, Athena who had apparently left had actually heard all of Hades and Hephaestus' conversation, she had used an artifact that her father Zeus had given her, this artifact was in the shape of a black sphere which expelled a field of invisibility when used, obviously it also made it almost impossible to notice the presence and energy of whoever was inside.

'Looks like my uncle Hades is hiding something big, I wonder when I should go check what he's hiding.' Athena thought to herself before shrugging her shoulders and flying away.

===================

Three years later, in a beautiful garden surrounded by flowers, a boy was sitting in the shade of a tree with his legs crossed, he had his eyes closed and seemed to be meditating, from one moment to another, the time around him seemed to freeze, the falling leaves stopped in the air and the passing wind seemed to stop, after a few seconds the boy opened his eyes while sweating and panting heavily.

''Indra ~ honey, stop overexerting yourself, it's bad for your body'' Aphrodite who was looking at Indra from afar, couldn't help but sigh, Indra had grown up and even as a child he was truly handsome, he had medium length dark hair with green-blue hues, his skin was white and his eyes were golden like a cat's, He had a blood red color around his eyes that looked like makeup but was clearly natural, he wore a white sleeveless shirt with dark pants with small black boots, on his right arm he had a green tattoo of a bird very similar to a phoenix.

''I'm sorry, Hades told me that if I don't learn to control my power I could hurt the people I care about.''

Aphrodite could only let out a laugh at Indra's words, when Indra turned 2 years old he could already talk and walk, it was quite obvious that Indra was not a normal child, after all even for the Gods this would be something out of the ordinary, except for some occasions like the birth of Athena where she was born as an adult.

''Fufufu what am I going to do with you? I know you want to learn to master your powers as soon as you can, but you are still a child, your body is constantly changing and so are your powers, you should eat well and take care of yourself until you are old enough to train.'' Aphrodite slowly approached Indra and then gave him a small kiss on his forehead.

''You keep treating me like a child, but Hades told me I was old enough to train.'' Indra could only pout and fold his arms at Aphrodite's pampering, though he clearly liked being pampered by her.

Aphrodite just smiled and took his hand. ''Let's go see Hades, he said he had a present for you.''

Indra smiled happily when he heard that he was going to get a gift, after all, the only gifts he had ever received before were Aphrodite's kisses, though of course, he wouldn't dare refuse them.

Aphrodite took Indra near the lake, then she turned her hand to the front and a portal appeared, this portal was directly connected to Indra's room in the underworld, Aphrodite had done it some time ago because as time went by she became more and more fond of Indra, Hades easily accepted as it was a great help for him because he had a lot to do in the underworld, after all he has to keep an eye on all the souls that arrive there.

Aphrodite went through the portal with Indra and they reappeared in Indra's room, Ares, Hades and Persephone seemed to be waiting for them. ''Hades, Aphrodite told me you had a gift for me, quick, show me what it is.'' Indra ran out to Hades as soon as he saw him, he was quite excited.

''Of course I have a gift for you, but you must wake Sirius to deliver it to you.'' Hades said with a smile as Indra nodded, Sirius was the first person Indra spoke to, after all they could communicate telepathically.

'Hey sirius, wake up' Indra spoke telepathically to Sirius, however Sirius ignored him, Indra got angry and a mischievous grin formed on her mouth. 'Looks like they found a fragment of your sou-' Indra couldn't finish speaking when Sirius woke up instantly.

''Hades, are you serious!'' Hades was a bit taken aback when he heard Sirius, then he looked at Indra and saw a small smile on his face that made him shiver, Indra had always been very smart, but at the same time he was a joker, Hades, Ares and Sirius had been Indra's victims, however he always hid behind Aphrodite when they tried to punish him.

''I woke Sirius up, now give me my present!'' Indra just smiled innocently as he held out his little hands, Hades just sighed and shook his head.

''Damn brat!'' Sirius was clearly angry with Indra, after all getting their souls back was something very important to him, Aphrodite chuckled and nodded, she was very proud of Indra.

Hades took out a wooden box and handed it to Indra, who quickly snatched it, when Indra opened the box and saw its contents, he was somewhat disappointed.

''Hades, why are you giving me earrings, I'm a man, you know?'' in the box was a pair of silver earrings with a four-pointed star hanging from a small ring, Indra turned to see Aphrodite with teary eyes, Aphrodite chuckled and then approached Indra.

''These earrings are something special, you can name them later, besides if you wear them I'm sure you'll look very handsome'' Aphrodite gently stroked Indra's head as she comforted him, even though she knew he was only pretending.

''Make no mistake boy, this is just the beginning, I'm going to give you a present too.'' Persephone stepped forward and completely ignored Aphrodite as she bent down and handed Indra a black box, Aphrodite just snorted and rolled her eyes when she heard Persephone, they have had a feud for some time now.

Persephone had also changed a lot, since Indra turned 2 years old they stopped taking turns taking care of him, after all he was pretty smart and didn't bother Persephone while he was in the underworld, Persephone started spending time with Indra after getting to know his personality, they got to the point where they were both playing pranks on Hades.

Indra smiled at the sight of Persephone's gift, she quickly moved her small hands and opened the box, inside was a golden chain bracelet that had 7 different stones. each one had a different color, in order was red, blue, green, purple, black, white and grey.

''This bracelet changes its name depending on the owner, it will give you an overwhelming boost of strength and has 7 seals which will give you different levels of strength when you open them, each higher seal unlocks more strength than the previous one, although currently you can't withstand even the first seal, when your body is strong enough you can use it.'' Persephone seemed very proud with her gift, after all it is a treasure given to her by her mother, she has never used it as she has never needed it, although she hesitated several times to give it to Indra, when she remembered that he would have to fight in the tournament she couldn't help but feel a little guilty, after all they only adopted him to use it.

''Also, according to my mother this bracelet has a hidden power, only no one has been able to discover it, if you unite your soul with that of the bracelet you will have a better understanding of its function, however that doesn't mean you can unlock and use its hidden power. '' Indra seemed quite happy with this gift, she then put the bracelet on her left wrist, Aphrodite frowned when she saw Persephone's gift, she didn't have any gift for Indra since they were supposed to just do Sirius' ritual, after thinking a bit she went straight to Indra and pushed Persephone to the side, she then crouched down until she reached the same height as Indra.

''I am going to give you a gift too, my gift will be very special and too unique unlike the others, however you will have to wait until your 15th birthday to receive it''. Aphrodite gave Indra a nice smile and kissed his cheek, Indra seemed quite his interested in Aphrodite's gift and was looking forward to it.

''You don't seem to know why everyone is giving you gifts.'' Ares made Indra shift all his attention to him, certainly Indra was curious to know the reason for all this, he knew they must be up to something.

''Sirius will do something to your body, after he is done you are going to go with me to train, you will see Hades from time to time, but neither Aphrodite nor Persephone will see you for a few years, we will go to the mortal world and I will teach you what it is to be a real man.'' Indra froze after hearing Ares, he already knew that Ares would train him, however he never thought that he would be taken away from Aphrodite and Persephone.

''No... ¡I don't want to, I'm not leaving!'' Indra immediately refused, after all he knew very well how Ares would treat him and without Aphrodite to protect him he knew he would have a hard enough time.

Indra jumped into Aphrodite's arms and hugged her tightly, Aphrodite seemed to be in shock, not because Indra was clinging to her, but because she had no knowledge of this matter either.

''Ares, do you think I'll let you separate Indra from me?'' Aphrodite was clearly upset, even the smile that always remained on her face had vanished.

"I think you have misunderstood me." When Ares said these words Aphrodite and Indra looked at him with smiles on their faces, however his next words made their smiles vanish.

''I am not asking, I am commanding, you will leave with me until I believe you are ready to live in our realm, until I see that you have what it takes to be among the Gods, you will remain with me in the mortal world.''

Hades nodded to Ares' words. ''This is something that Ares and I talked about recently, Indra, you know very well that you are special, as none of your parents are from our pantheon we will have to make the other Gods accept you, for that we will do this, currently only we know that you exist, you will have to pretend that you are a simple mortal who met Ares by chance, Ares will see potential in you and will train you to come to our kingdom, at least this will be the story we will tell to the other Gods.''

''Can't we pretend he is my son? I can convince the other Gods of his identity and he won't have to leave.'' ''Aphrodite seemed to dislike the idea of parting with Indra, she had become very attached to him.

They all looked thoughtful at this idea, after all it wouldn't be the first time something similar had happened, however Sirius' words made them dismiss the idea.

''We can't, the earrings Hades brought are stronger than expected, when the ritual is over it's very possible that not only his demonic energy will be hidden, his divine energy will also be hidden, which will make him look like a mere mortal, although I'm not totally sure the probability of it happening is over 90%.''

Aphrodite looked quite sad, according to the rules no mortal can stay in the realm of the Gods, although Herakles, Perseus and other mortals have been able to stay in the divine realm, this was only because they were demi-gods, which made them have a bit of divine energy.

Indra seemed quite confused, when he was about to ask Hades spoke. ''I know you have doubts and don't understand what we are talking about, however I can't tell you for now, even though you are smarter than children your age, you are still a child, when you grow up I will tell you everything.'' Indra just nodded, he knew they couldn't tell him everything but he was still quite frustrated.

''Aphrodite, behave yourself.'' Ares looked rather tired of all this.

Aphrodite was quite angry, however she nodded and went down to Indra. ''I'm sorry Indra, you'll have to put up with it for a few years, but I promise you that when we meet again we'll do lots of fun things.''

Indra nodded and then moved toward Ares.

Ares pointed to a rather large black box that was in a corner. ''That is my gift, however you can only get it when you are strong enough, if you don't believe me try to open it''. Indra nodded and ran off towards the box, when he arrived in front of it he tried to open it, however the box didn't move an inch, Indra seemed to be quite sad.

''Let's start the ritual.'' Sirius commented to which everyone nodded.

Indra stood in the center of a circle, Ares bent down and made 3 lines on the ground going out of the circle in different directions, then he drew another 3 circles connecting the lines together, Ares stood in one of these circles, Hades followed suit while Aphrodite seemed to be in a strong staring battle with Persephone, in the end Persephone surrendered and Aphrodite took the last place, then Indra sat in the center of the circle.

''Very good, now help him with the earrings Persephone.'' Persephone nodded and approached Indra with the earrings in her hand, then she released some of her energy and made a hole in each of the earlobes, then she gave the earrings to Indra and he put them on.

Ares, Aphrodite and Hades nodded and began to release their energy, the whole room began to shake like an earthquake until Persephone acted and put up a barrier that stopped the shaking.

Around the tattoo on Indra's neck, its color changed to purple and in its center a view equal to that of space formed, then Indra's earrings began to glow and a golden sphere of energy enclosed Indra.

===================

A few hours later everyone looked quite tired, then the sphere that enclosed Indra slowly stopped glowing until it disappeared, Indra felt a connection with the bracelet and the earrings as both had bonded to his soul, to Aphrodite's disappointment although the demonic energy had disappeared. Indra's divine energy also disappeared.

''Boy, from now on you will have to wear the earrings, no matter what happens don't take them off.'' Indra nodded at Sirius' comment, then walked to the mirror to see if anything had changed in it, however he was the same as before, the only thing that changed were his earrings and the bracelet, both had changed to a blood red color exactly like the red surrounding his eyes.

''I'll give you a few days to get ready, then we'll leave for the mortal world.'' Ares commented and then he stuck his golden spear into the ground and disappeared.

''Would you like to eat something delicious?'' Aphrodite took Indra's hand and asked, to which Indra accepted with a bright smile.

''It's good that it went well...'' Hades whispered softly.

Indra said goodbye to Hades and Persephone, then passed through the portal with Aphrodite.

When Indra and Aphrodite arrived at the garden, they walked through the bushes until they came to a small hut, the hut was quite simple and ordinary, Indra quickly ran inside as if it was her home, inside the hut was a small bed and a mirror, Indra stood in front of the bed and then bent down and pulled out a box that appeared to be quite old, opening it she took a somewhat worn book, then climbed onto the bed and sat down while Aphrodite smiled at the sight of Indra, after all loved that book.

''Aphrodite, can we read it?'' Indra asked Aphrodite as she opened the book, this book was about the story of Zeus who defeated Cronus along with his brothers, Indra seemed to admire Zeus deeply.

Aphrodite just nodded and sat next to her, then when she was about to take the book she froze, Indra was staring straight ahead while some blood dripped down her nose.

"¡Indra, ¿what's wrong, are you feeling his bad?!'' Aphrodite was quickly frightened, it's the first time something like this has happened.

Indra just stared blankly into the air as more and more blood dripped from her nose, then turned and stared at Aphrodite. ''I think I'm a little tired, maybe you were right and I tried too hard training.'' Indra closed the book and put it aside as he lay down.

Aphrodite was quite worried as she didn't know what was happening to Indra, it was the first time she acted this way with her. Aphrodite thought that maybe he was just tired, or at least she wanted to think so, then she got up and left the cabin.

When Aphrodite came out, Indra turned and stared at the door for a few minutes, then closed her eyes and spoke to Sirius. 'Hey, did you see that?' Indra asked somewhat strangely.

'I told you about it a long time ago, you just didn't want to believe me.'

'... I don't think Aphrodite would be able to do something like that, maybe I could expect it from the others but not from her.'

'Do what you want, I'm only here to advise and guide you, after all I already told you, you're someone with no future.'

Indra stared at the door for a few more minutes until she turned over and slept.