Chapter 3 : Meeting the fates

"Good morning lord Hades, the time is five A.M, I am getting your coffee ready and your water is already hot."

A sleepy man with messy black hair rose from his bed and swung his legs to the side. He leaned forward and pressed a small red button on his wall before speaking, "good morning pixie, please display my schedule for the day."

A hologram screen came to life in front of the man, carefully tabulating all his activities for that day. "You have a rather boring meeting with the fates at eight A.M my lord. After that you have the afternoon free. Should I fit in your gym session at one o'clock?"

"Please do," Hades responded as he rose from the bed and walked towards his glass shower.

"You also have a dinner date scheduled for nine P.M this evening, would you like to cancel?"

Hades opened the shower door and let the water flow down his silky black hair, handsome chiseled face, and incredibly toned body. "Who am I expected to meet exactly?"

"With the siren of the river Styx, Melia"

Hades paused and furrowed his brows trying to browse his memories of what Melia looked like. Suddenly a hologram was displayed on the glass wall of the shower with a picture of a curvy woman with long wavy black hair and smooth yellowish skin.

"She is one of the most lusted for women in all the three realms," pixies explained. "Your first encounter with her was at Zeus' nine hundred and eighty ninth birthday party on Olympus."

"Oh that Melia," Hades mumbled with a sly smile while looking at her pictures. "I suppose she will make a fitting companion for the weekend to come. Keep the date!"

"Done." Pixie confirmed.

Pixie was an artificial intelligence that was gifted to Hades by Hephaestus, the god of design and creativity, on his one thousandth birthday. Pixie was fitted into all of Hades' day to day accessories so as to make running the underworld a lot easier for him. Hephaestus even though being the son of Zeus, was much closer to Hades because of their compatible IQs. Hephaestus was a literal god at designing anything that helped to make everyday life easier, and Hades was a god at implementing Hephaestus' ideas and using them to their maximum potential. The two together were a force to be reckoned with and together had built the two god inhabited realms from ancient ruins, to technologically advanced civilizations.

Hades turned off his shower, grabbed a towel and walked to his large 'walk in' wardrobe that began to move, displaying his favorite Friday outfits.

Hades grabbed a pair of black pants, a tight fitting white shirt whose sleeves he folded, a matching pair of socks and baby seal leather Chelsea boots.

"Should I suggest a tie for you lord Hades?"

"No need pixie," the god responded as he walked to a mirror and left the top three buttons of his shirt open, slightly revealing his firm chest. "I have a date today remember." As the god of the underworld combed his hair, his phone that was on his bed buzzed to life. It was an incoming call from his brother, Poseidon.

"Hades speaking.."

'Are you always this formal?' Poseidon chuckled on the other end of the line.

"Unlike you, running the underworld is a full time job." Hades grabbed his car keys and walked out of his room, down a corridor whose walls were adorned with mirrors and motion detecting lights, and out to his large grey and black kitchen.

'And I understand that,' Poseidon responded, 'that's why I'm inviting you to my wife's birthday party this Saturday, everyone will be here. It will be the first event ever to be hosted in Atlantis. Come on Hades, celebrate with us, you can even bring a date.'

A date? Hades didn't like bringing women around his brothers for one reason, they would expect him to bring her around again. And that just wasn't him, he wasn't ready to settle down with one woman just yet, not after what happened.

'So will you come?' Poseidon asked eagerly.

"I will be there.." Hades mumbled. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself that he was going rather than answer Poseidon's question.

'Perfect, can't wait to see you there, you've been locked up in the underworld for too long.'

"Sure, see you there."

When the line cut, Hades threw his head back and sighed. He had avoided social gatherings of this sort for some centuries now because he dreaded the questions that always came with them. 'So are you seeing someone?' 'Why aren't you married?' 'Your brothers already have children and you're still alone? Aren't you the oldest of the bunch?'… but he also couldn't let Poseidon down, even though his brothers annoyed him constantly, he still did care for them.

"Lord hades the time is seven thirty five," pixie's voiced echoed around the kitchen, "if you don't leave now you will be late for your meeting with the fates."

"Oh right!" Hades grabbed his keys and rushed to the elevator that led to his underground garage. He walked to his favorite toy, a custom made Aston Martin Vulcan, and started the engine.

"Take route six six six and make a left at Tartarus," pixie explained. "You should arrive at headquarters in twenty minutes exactly."

The man put his car in drive and sped out towards work, where he arrived thirty minutes later because he had to stop by a cafe and grab a whole wheat bagel and some black coffee for breakfast.

He got out of the car and walked briskly towards the elevator that led to his office. As the elevator opened, he found Thanatos who gaped at him in relief.

"Good morning boss," Thanatos greeted the man.

"Good morning Thanatos, please let me know the instance the fates arrive for our meeting."

"Oh.." Thanatos rushed behind the man who had stepped out of the elevator and was making his way to his office. "Sir.."

"What is it?"

"The fates are here sir," Thanatos responded sheepishly.

"What?!" Hades shoved his coffee and bagels into Thanatos' arms and rushes the opposite direction to the meeting room. "Handle my calls!" He called to his personal assistant.

The king of the underworld opened the doors of the meeting room and found the three women sitting and waiting for him. "Ladies please forgive my tardiness."

"Yeah we knew you would be late oh dark one," one of the women spoke. Clotho was a slender woman with short dark hair that covered one eye, dark makeup, an outrageous amount of jewelry and clothing that left nothing to the imagination.

"Yes of course," Hades mumbled as he sat down on a chair in front of them. "You see I had a bit of a distraction this morning from-"

"Poseidon.." one of the other women completed his statement. This one was named Lachesis, and was like the embodiment of all things colorful, she had wavy blond hair, bright make up and was wearing a flattering red dress. "We knew he would call you."

"We see everything, we're the fates," the third woman responded. Atropos was more on the neutral side, either in dressing, speech and the way she carried herself.

"Yes, I understand the concept," Hades responded. He straightened his posture and cleared his throat before proceeding to speak. "Thank you for meeting me at such short notice, but I just wanted to make a follow up on the request that I made a few years ago, I haven't received any feedback from you."

"Oh yes!" Lachesis responded with excitement, "actually-"

Clotho covered her sister's mouth and glared at her, "what the hell is wrong with you?! We're not allowed to interfere in how fate runs its course!"

"Wait," Hades leaned forward and eyed the three women, "so is there good news? Is there truly someone out there for me?"

"We cannot say," Atropos responded. "If we disclose such information the flow of fate will be disrupted."

"What about a hint?" Hades tried to coax the women.

"Sorry, can't do.." Clotho responded while still covering Lachesis' mouth.

"Please," Hades beseeched the three goddesses, "my brother is holding a birthday party for his wife this weekend and he asked me to bring a date, yet I have no one permanent in my life."

Lachesis muffled a sad 'aww' and turned to Clotho who shook her head in disapproval.

"My fate is in your hands ladies," Hades explained, "I grow tired of running the underworld on my own, I need a helper, and maybe if fate allows it, an heir?"

Atropos rose to her feet and shook her head, "we are merely the servants of destiny," she explained, "you choose your own path, and the path you will choose ultimately determines your fate."

"Well can't you at least tell me which path to choose?" Hades sounded a little desperate and it almost broke the women's constitution. But they knew if they interfered, Hades would take a path that would only make his journey to what he desires longer and tougher.

"We're sorry lord Hades, but this is for the best.."

"Wait!"

Before Hades could reach for the women, they disappeared. He sat back down on his chair and ran his hand through his hair. It seemed that not even the fates could help with his lonely existence.