บท 119: Chapter 119 - Entering the House of Hades

Located in the deepest part of the Underworld, but not quite as deep as Chaos' Lair, is a pleasant, homely place known to all as the House of Hades. It is thus named because Hades lives there and it is from here that he presides over the Underworld, his dominion.

In the Hades Record, gods and goddesses are assigned authorities by the joint administrators of the Record, Primordial Chaos and Mother Gaia. Due to his isolationist tendencies and workaholic nature, Hades was assigned authority over the entire Underworld. None of their other offspring could be trusted to shoulder such a large burden.

Nyx, the Goddess of Night, ruled over the Underworld long before Hades did, but she was not upset by the new assignment of authority that had been carved out. She had her hands full just keeping her children out of trouble, so she appreciated the help in her work, even if it put a man weaker than she, above her.

Hades, too, appreciated the dedication Nyx had to her work and they have kept a harmonious relationship for the next 10,000 years since he was appointed. Neither had much desire for partaking in the pleasures of the flesh back then. Hades was simply too focused on his work and Nyx on hers. Unfortunately, Hades soon found himself getting burnt out and in need of some enjoyment.

When he discussed it with Nyx, she offered him a hand. As in, literally gave him a handjob. The problem was though, Hades was not into it. Nyx is an intimidatingly powerful figure of pristine beauty. More importantly, she has a maternal nature that emcompasses all living and nonliving things under her Night. It was comfortable for him, yes, like the long-forgotten times when he used to sleep, but it was not exciting.

Hades was too proud to ask for help from Aphrodite. He held a deep grudge on the rest of his family, the Olympians. Him and they were simply incompatible, not only due to being separated by the realms, but due to the blase attitude they put into their work! He was bitter that Zeus was chosen as the King of Gods instead of him. That left him without the authority or status to force his fellow Gods to do their duties instead of fooling around.

What made it worse was how irresponsibly they wielded their power upon mortals and inflicted needless suffering upon innocents. This was all in spite of the fact that Hades and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, fought together valiantly to kill their parents, the Titans, 10,000 years ago! Bonds of brotherhood forged in war, broken, just like that, over differences in morals. Only 1,000 years after his appointment to the Underworld, he was no longer capable of having a cordial conversation with any of the Olympians besides Artemis, with whom he did not have anything to talk about anyway.

So Hades took a trip to the Surface, the mortal realm, seeking some mortal pleasures. He came back to the House of Hades after only a month away and went back to his work, but there was a woman who followed him. He was happy for a time. He even smiled.

That woman left after 20 years, leaving a stillborn baby boy. Hades took her departure poorly. He had already been isolated by all of his Olympian family, left to the endless toil of paperwork in Hell, now his lover had left him, and even their son was born dead. Unable to cope by doing anything other than burying himself deeper in work, his personality became irascible, even towards his roommate Nyx and the other inhabitants of the House of Hades.

Nyx decided to put her foot down. Something had to be done, or else Hades would explode in a few centuries, thereby destroying the House they had worked for millenia to sustain. She went to her daughters, the Fates, and convinced them to revive the stillborn baby boy, Zagreus. It was a success, Zagreus was reborn in the bloody waters of the River of Styx.

Hades was joyous to have his first son! He wanted to teach Zagreus everything he could about duty and paperwork so that he could lighten his own load. Unfortunately, these hopes were dashed as Zagreus made far more trouble as a baby than he expected. Hades had no prior experience with children, so he returned to his irascible nature and Nyx had to occasionally stop him from disciplining the poor boy.

Zagreus, the son of Hades, was raised primarily by Nyx, who took him as a foster son. She had plenty of experience with kids, so she was glad to be his "Mother Nyx". Hades, however, made her vow to never reveal the circumstances of his birth to him. This was his only condition for allowing her to raise him, which she accepted.

~ ~ ~

A hundred years before the birth of Zagreus, there was a beautiful golden haired woman who had become the head priestess of a seaside Temple of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom. Her name was Medusa and Athena favored her for her celibacy and beauty. However, her fate was destined for tragedy. Poseidon passed by the Temple and saw Medusa. He was instantly struck by an impulsive desire to claim her and even more so because of her vow of celibacy.

Poseidon entered the Temple and brutally r*ped Medusa! After completing the deed, he felt slightly guilty seeing how broken and blank her face was, so he quickly left. He fulfilled his desire already and she's only a mortal, so his niece Athena shouldn't be too mad, right?

Wrong. Athena was pissed. Royally pissed.

She didn't have the seniority though, so she tried to appeal to her father, Zeus, to punish her uncle Poseidon. Despite Athena being his favorite daughter, Zeus wouldn't stoop to damaging his strong brotherly bond with Poseidon for a mere mortal, so he shrugged off her concerns. Unable to find a proper outlet for her rage, Athena eventually punished Medusa on the charges of committing blasphemous acts in her Temple and violating her vows.

Athena intended to turn Medusa into a hideous monster with snakes for hair and a gaze that would turn any mortal into stone. However, Medusa's beauty was so deep that even after Athena's curse took effect, turning her hair into snakes and her skin green, her beauty remained. Medusa resolved to wait out the rest of her life in isolation. She had no desire to use her new powers to fight back, since that would only cause more pain to everyone. She no longer held faith in the Gods after being violated twice. She only wanted to live and die alone when her time came.

Unfortunately, Athena's rage was still not quelled. Seeing that Medusa's beauty remained regardless of her efforts, Athena gave the mortal hero Perseus the task of beheading her, providing him with a powerful shield and scythe. The shield would allow Medusa's gaze to be reflected back upon her and the scythe would allow him to behead her without danger to his life. Completing his task with absolutely no knowledge of the full story, he wielded Medusa's head as a weapon for some months until it disappeared one night.

Nyx took pity on Medusa's plight upon hearing her daughters, the Fates, speak sadly about her. She brought Medusa to the Underworld, appointed her as the Queen of the Gorgons, and made her into a maid in the House of Hades, the most luxurious place in the Underworld. However, the damage had been done. She recognized the brand of Athena on the shield that petrified her long enough for Perseus to behead her.

Medusa's character was twisted by how the Olympians had wronged her thrice. She was filled with hatred. Nyx figured it would fade away, but it did not. Medusa continually pushed for war with the Olympians in private with Hades. He wasn't dumb. Hades knew the circumstances, but he couldn't be bothered to endanger the lives of everyone and jeopardize his work for the sake of a maid. When you're a mortal, Gods can do whatever they want to you, as long as they do it in moderation. He didn't like it, but he couldn't go around killing them for it. That could lead to a war on the scale of that with their parents 10,000 years ago, which had reached apocalyptic levels.

Decades later, Medusa saw that Hades sired a son, Zagreus, so she had an idea. It was a toxic little plan to seduce Lord Hades and convince him to impregnate her, allowing her, within her delusions, to usurp the position of Mistress of the House from Nyx. The maid wanted to bite the hand that fed her!

As Goddess of the Night, Nyx can see anything that occurs under the cover of night, should she choose to do so. And see she did. She saw the look of disapproval on the face of Hades as Medusa stripped herself in front of him. She saw the blazing ambition in Medusa's eyes. Sighing, she transmitted to her roommate's mind, "Impregnate her with your strongest seed." Since Hades has a t4 soul and Medusa is only t2, it was a death sentence. The baby would have to suck up all of Medusa's soul in order to be born, but Nyx couldn't have devious maids in her House. There was a time and a place for sympathy and so too for cruelty. At least this option would leave Medusa with the hope that her child would carry on her wish.

Hades replied mentally to Nyx, "Very well." and proceeded to accept Medusa's advances. He had to admit, she was a beautiful woman. The snakes on her hair submissively played with his beard and chewed at his vast shoulder blades, inflaming his sexual desires. His inordinately large penis somehow managed to fit inside her small frame like a glove due to the snake-like features she had been cursed with. Upon finishing inside her and filling her with his strongest seed, he felt it was a pity that she had such a venomous nature. She would have been good for his stress relief.

~ ~ ~

A year later, a bedridden and withered Medusa goes into labor. She already died once, but she kept all the memories of her suffering, so when she senses a more permanent form of death approaching, she feels oddly at peace. Despite knowing it is her Mistress Nyx that had a hand in planning her death, Medusa turns to look at her with gratitude. Nyx puts a hand on Medusa's shoulder to comfort her under the dim moonlight of the Night.

Medusa cries silently, feeling like she's in the arms of her mother. Nyx is the only one that stood by her side and showed her true kindness, even now. Despite trying to usurp her status, Medusa still loves her deeply for saving her from the clutches of Perseus and the Olympians. "Sorry, Mother Night.. sorry."

Nyx sighs and states in her perpetually soothing tone, "Sleep now, child. Find peace in eternal rest."

It is then that something unexpected occurs. As Medusa slips into unconsciousness and her soul is about to be extinguished by the baby's, a blob of primordial chaos swallows all of her body except for her head. Nyx is startled to see her parent, Chaos, exerting its power to intervene in this minor incident. They have been estranged since shortly after the beginning of creation!

One minute later, when the writhing blob of purplish-black clouds dissipates, Nyx sees a baby snake-haired girl crying and Medusa's gorgon head unconscious instead of dead. Seconds later, Medusa wakes up to the baby's crying and her head floats up. She looks around innocently and sees Nyx looking at her curiously. "Oh, dearie me! M-m-my deepest apologies for falling asleep on the job, Mistress!"

Medusa's floating gorgon head goes over to a nearby broom, bites the handle with two of her hair-snakes, and starts sweeping rapidly like she's possessed. Seeing Nyx still staring at her, Medusa turns her head to the side and says shyly, "U-u-umm.. I c-can't work if you look at me like that, Mistress.. You know I get nervous.."

Nyx senses that Medusa's soul has been tampered with by Chaos. She soothingly says, "I saw you were doing good work over here. I've decided to make you Employee of the Month. How would you like your name and title to be written down for it?"

Medusa bounces up and down with utmost excitement, despite the Employee of the Month being a nominal designation having no reward at all other than having her picture up on the wall of the lounge. She says excitedly, "Please put down 'Maid Dusa'. Thank you so much, Lord Hades and Mistress Nyx! I promise to work twice as hard, no, thrice as hard!" after which she returns to sweeping even faster.

Hades seems dumbfounded by the situation, but otherwise pleased with the work ethic of Medusa, well, just Dusa now. He reaches down to pick up the crying baby and senses an oddity. The body of the baby has been primed for housing a t3 soul, but the baby, whose soul should be a blank t1, is already t2. He hands her over to Nyx since the change occurred upon Chaos' intervention. Hades only knows about Chaos' existence from Nyx, but she rarely speaks of her parent. It is better that some topics be avoided when it comes to discussing unfathomably powerful beings.

Nuwa maintains her [Acting] as she cries and pretends to struggle to open her eyes. She feels like she can move her hair just like she can move her limbs, which is a really cool feeling. Opening her red eyes to look at her new parents, she sees two utterly intimidating figures.

Hades, a large hulking man 3m (10 ft) tall with grey skin, red eyes, and braided hair coming down to his waist from his head and mustache. That's right, the two tassels of his mustache go all the way down to his waist! His shoulders and biceps are massive with all four of them individually larger than his head. He's wearing luxurious blood-red robes with gems and various monster skulls serving as tasteful decorations stitched into them.

Nyx, a beautiful woman of 1.8m (bit under 6 ft), with grey skin and yellow eyes. She has perfect E-cup breasts, a flowing beige-purple dress, and hair that looks like the Night sky. Her hair is especially enthralling since it floats and flows behind her and the closer that Nuwa looks, the more she can see stars twinkling within. Nyx wears tasteful jewelry on her hair, forehead, ears, neck, and fingers, with clear favoritism towards a particular purple gem.

Alas, Nuwa is blindsided by the power of the Gods she is facing. She maintains her [Acting] for all of 1 second before her soul force bottoms out and she's almost unconscious. [Acting] works by taking cues from the expectations of the souls of those around her. The vast chasm between her barely t2 soul and her parents' t4 souls is not so easily bridged.

Hades says with his booming voice, "A daoist playing tricks? This one has died once of old age and once while young to a sacrificial ritual. It is strange that she wasn't processed the first time." His authority inside the Underworld allows him to read the causes of death from anyone whose soul is within his domain.

Nyx hums with thought as she stares pointedly at Nuwa, who has already dropped the act as she looks at Hades and Nyx with panic. She clarifies for Hades, "I believe Chaos has picked her up from the outside. Moreover, she has some means to retain the memories of her past lives."

Angered, Hades booms, "What!? How can I trust my paperwork to an Outsider?"

Zagreus skips into the room upon hearing the commotion. "Father and Mother, you're here. What happened to Medusa? Why is she so excited about boring old cleaning?.. Eh, who's that? She's so cute! I always wanted a little sister!"

Nyx smiles dotingly upon him and says, "Give me a moment and I'll introduce her to you."

Then she looks back at Nuwa and transmits to her mind, "Apologies, child. Zagreus wants a little sister, and you are too old. Sleep now and let us raise you anew, at least, until you outgrow this House."

Nuwa feels drowsy just listening to her voice, but gets a distinctly bad feeling about the phrase "sleep now". She sees Nyx pull a purple gem off her earring, crush it effortlessly between two of her fingers, revealing a bundle of Darkness, similar to the purplish-black substance Chaos wielded. Nyx then smears the Darkness over the baby Nuwa's eyes. She manipulates the Darkness into threads to seal all of Nuwa's memories and most of her soul, reverting her into an actual baby.

(A/N: Depressing life lesson in the exposition of this chapter: If you have power, you can get away with almost anything. It doesn't mean you'll be genuinely happy, but it does means you can do basically anything you want.)

(A/N: https://discord.gg/VD3C2BFPAu)