Chapter 0 (prologue) - a certain crazy bastard

"I often get this dream; I don't really know why," Ithax said, a dead look on his face as he wiped the tip of his spear. "I remember him often recounting this story every time we were done with a battle. I still don't get why," I thought to myself as he continued to recount the same old story.

***

"Haah, this is it, Olympus has fallen," I said, standing atop the corpse of a gigantic black lizard with wings and a pair of black horns—a dragon.

I shook my hand and sword to get rid of the golden blood that had covered me from the split head of that lizard. With an exasperated sigh, I spoke, "I suppose it is about time to open the gates of Tartarus."

Slowly, I opened the doors to Hades and walked into my domain, starting to move in the direction of Tartarus.

One may now question my sanity on why I am setting free all the dangerous prisoners of Tartarus, and I would consider it a smart rebuttal. But you see, our situation is just that messed up right now... to the point where I would consider setting free even the Titans, i.e., the generation of my parents. This would, of course, include my father, the same father that it took the combined powers of all the Olympians and myself to imprison.

You see, I was not kidding when I said Olympus has fallen to these cursed lizards. Asgard is likely to be next. These insects reproduced at a crazy speed for creatures of their level of strength, and if that wasn't a problem, they started to eat the higher races, gaining a portion of their abilities as they digested them.

So, if I am to die anyway, and if Tartarus is to open the moment I die anyway, I might as well have a little talk with a crazy bastard.

Resigned to my fate, I opened the gates of Tartarus, letting out the pretty beasts and monsters that had been imprisoned there, but not quite dangerous enough to have been chained. Further below, I moved, setting free the Hecatonchires and giants, who, had I not escaped any faster than I had, would have been far more of an annoyance than they had been.

Taking a second to rest and checking to see if my injuries had started to heal (which they had not), I moved even further below, into almost the lowest depths of Tartarus where our predecessors, the Titans, had been "imprisoned." At this point, their chains had already broken free, and they had been walking around at the base for several millennia now, unable to climb higher due to the gates of their isolated region being closed... that is until right now.

I calmed myself down and took in a slow breath as I opened up the doors to the second lowest level of Tartarus and activated Kynee. As I did, the Titans rushed out the doors like a horde of crazed monsters. Who could blame them after having been in here for eons?

Slowly and carefully, I walked past the Titans and looked at my father, who was patiently sitting on a red rock in all his majesty, his body now finally in one piece.

"You had me waiting there for you for a while, Awides. I almost thought you had died fighting those lizards," Father said as he chuckled and continued to polish a sickle that he had made from the chains that were meant to bind the other Titans.

"I do not go by that name anymore, Father, and as you can see, I am alive and well," I said, hiding the pain I was feeling from the injuries I had gotten from both the dragon and all the attacks I had to sustain to get down here.

"I see, seems like a lot of things have changed, huh? As for alive and well, I can see that you are barely even standing right now. Now, do you wish to fight me and die here, or are you going once more to that crazy bastard?" Father spoke to me as he threw away the rock he had so far been using to polish his blade and got up, shrinking down to my size as he slowly walked towards me, standing right in front of me. Close enough that I could see all the scars he had from all the cuts we had made on him to keep him from joining back up again.

"I believe he already gave you the answer to that, did he not, father?" I said as I stared into my father's pitch-black eyes, which made even me, who had gotten unbelievably stronger since the days when we fought him, feel awe at his power. It just went to show how amazing of a feat it was that we had actually ever managed to defeat him back then. I still don't know what goes on in this old man's head, honestly. To some degree, as a father myself, I wonder if he had actually let us defeat him, such that we would gain greater favor then.

"Move along now, I have a few scores of my own that I have to settle with those lizard bastards," Father said as he picked me up and threw me right onto the stairs, and just as he did, a large tremor was felt throughout the entirety of Tartarus.

I looked at him for a second before realizing there was not enough time for me to think about other stuff and moved on to my real goal, moving down to the lowest level of Tartarus, reserved for the most dangerous prisoner stored here.

As I finally opened the last door of Tartarus, a gigantic space opened up before me, one filled with mist and covered in mountains and greenery from top to bottom.

"PROMETHEUS!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, parting the mist and mountains in two as the figure of a chiseled man with long black hair chained onto a gigantic rock by his limbs, with a dead eagle lying on the ground next to him. With a wide grin on his face, he replied as his diamond-like eyes shined, "Olympus has fallen, has it not? Bwahahahahahaha, I knew the moment I saw the bird died that I would finally be free. Bwahahahaha, screw you, Zeus! You no longer get to spread your seed like a rabbit in heat. You had this coming for you, you asshole. Bwahahaha, come, old friend, let's celebrate, that menace is finally dead," as he continued his crazed laughter at the thought of the demise of Olympus, I approached him with a tired yet serious look on my face.

"Cool it, will you? By family, as annoying as they may be, have just faded, and I too am not too long for this world, as you can see," I said as I slowly unlocked the chains that bound the maniac.

*crack crack crack*

"Well, how about one last game of petteia?" Prometheus offered as he cracked his body that had been bound to a rock for eons.

"I fear I do not have enough time for that, maybe next time. For now... I don't really have to say it, do I?" I said as I looked at Prometheus with a tired look on my face, as I sat down on one of the chairs that I had brought here a while ago to sit and play games with this crazy guy.

"Go ahead, it is not like I can change your mind, but just so you know, I can already see it, your plan is very likely to fail. I am certain that overgrown lizard already has an idea of what you have thought of," Prometheus said as he sat down before me on the ground with his legs crossed, with his eyes closed.

"You jerk, simply couldn't just say goodbye, could you?" I said as I touched his forehead, and a blinding light covered up... the last thing I knew, both our limp bodies had fallen onto the ground… 'Take care of the humans you oh so love, you son of a bitch.'