Chapter 4

Hades had accompanied his children to the surface, to their pleasure and headed to his main temple first. His main temple had already become absolutely massive and no longer consisted of a single building. Wherever you went you would see men and women dressed in black robes roaming around.

The temple contained multiple shrines to Hades where many mortals would gather and pray to their god. There was a large room specifically held for feasting and all the food was provided by the underworld as a thank you to each follower that contributed to his strength.

Hades amplified his voice so everybody within the temple could hear him and called all his followers to the largest room available.

It didn't take long for the dark room to be filled with hundreds of mortals, all who had sworn to never betray him. Hades sat on a large throne covered in skulls and bones. The mortals waited excitedly as their god rarely visited, let alone called a meeting.

When the last woman had arrived Hades beckoned his two children towards him, "I am proud to introduce you to my two children, Macaria and Thanatos, the prince and princess of the Underworld." His voiced boomed loudly.

The twins purposely began to make the shadows around them dance, in hopes of looking more intimidating. A thunderous applause and cheering filled the room as Hades waved his hand and large tables with lots of food appeared.

Hades knew his children were moderately safe in the temple as it had been magically protected by himself and Hecate. Anything less than a member of the big three or three Olympian level gods wouldn't be able to force their way through the barrier.

As his children joined the mortals for the feast Hades could sense his mothers presence nearby calling him, along with Hestia. Walking to an empty room, so he wouldn't blind the mortals, he disappeared in a flash of gold light.

Hades found the Goddess and Titaness just outside his temple waiting impatiently. He could tell from their expressions that they were anything but happy. When the two spotted him they immediately started to rattle of questions a mile a minute.

"How could you keep something so important from me!? I should be allowed to witness my grandchildren grow!"

"Hades! I can not believe you didn't tell me!"

"More importantly who is their mother?!"

Hades spent the next few minutes calming them down before explaining that he didn't want them to be exposed to the immorality of his family until they were old enough to know right from wrong, so he kept them a secret until he had instilled some morals into them and they were able to defend themselves to a moderate degree.

However this explanation did not have the desired effect. "Are you suggesting that your sister and I are immoral?" Rhea asked menacingly.

Hestia, not wanting to waste time arguing, spoke up "That's enough for now mother, we can speak of my brothers secrets another day, but now I must meet my nephew and niece." She said whilst sending Hades a meaningful look.

Hades, thankful for his sisters intervention, melted into the shadows and vanished.

It was a seconds later that he reappeared with his son and daughter. The two twins had been briefly informed of where they were being taken and who they would be meeting. It was because of this that they were both extremely nervous. "This is your grandmother and aunt I've told you about, Rhea and Hestia, introduce yourselves."

The two Demigods stepped forwards with false bravado, "It is a pleasure to meet you Grandmother, my name is Macaria and this is my brother Thanatos" She spoke politely. Thanatos preferred to remain silent as he found the situation to be uncomfortable, unlike his sister he did not yearn to meet his extended family and only wished to explore what this world had to offer.

Rhea and Hestia reached out and embraced them both and began to smother and ask questions about their childhood, completely disregarding Hades. The god decided to leave the four to catch up and melted into the shadows.

...

Although his family knew of his children they had not reacted as Hades had feared, with most gods not even bothering to introduce themselves to the Demigods, thinking it beneath them.

It was a year later that Hera had announced that she was with a child, and Hades knew Ares the war god would soon be born. He had personally visited his sister and congratulated her.

Hades had been thinking of Olympians that would soon arrive and wasn't sure if he should try and change their personalities.

Ares was one of the few children of Zeus and Hera. From what he remembered Ares developed a love of violence that surpassed that of any other Olympian, which made him the perfect candidate for being the god of war. However it also made him unpopular among his fellow deities who despised him for his overt love of war, regardless of there not being a reason to fight at all. Despite this, he was given a place on the Olympian ruling council, possibly due to his parentage.

As a god Ares didn't take as long to fully grow as a human and was the size of a fully grown man within a matter of weeks. Nevertheless his mindset was still that of a child.

...

It was the darkest day of the year and Hades had just sat on his temporary throne for the winter solstice meeting.

Currently seated at the meeting was Demeter, Hades, Poseidon and Hestia. The queen and king were both fashionably late as usual. The gods and goddess's sat in silence as they waited for Zeus and Hera.

In a bright flash of gold light the two immortals appeared in the throne room and seated themselves. "You were late... again" Poseidon snarked.

Hera dismissed the comment before Zeus could retaliate, "It matters not Poseidon, this meeting is more important then our usual. I have a topic of the utmost significance." She said seriously as Zeus nodded his head.

Demeter raised a curious eyebrow and leaned forward, "Pray tell sister, what is so crucial that requires all of us to be in agreement?"

Heras eyes narrowed dangerously, "I said nothing of needing us to be in agreement, have you been spying on me?"

"There is no need to spy on you sister, we can tell this 'topic' is something important to you, so you would spoken of it sooner had you not needed all of us present. Now please tell us what it is." Hades interrupted, already having guessed what she wanted to speak of.

Hera sighed calmingly before turning to Zeus expectantly. "This is not something that needs your agreement, but you should know it is happening. My son Ares is now the god of war and will be welcomed onto this council as a full fledged Olympian." The thunderer boomed.

The hall was silent for a few seconds before it was filled with the sounds of Poseidon and Demeter's objections. Hades remained silent in the background as he knew it would be inevitable as there was no point in arguing about it.

Zeus face contorted into one of anger, "SILENCE, I AM KING AND MY SON WILL JOIN THIS COUNCIL". Lightning rumbled in the sky as the gods fell into muteness.

The quiet was broken by the door to the throne room opening and large a muscled man stepping through. He was dress in a red Greek robe and had a sword on his back. Where his eyes should have been were balls of fire.

Area swaggered in confidently and took his seat on a throne that Zeus had summoned. The war god had an arrogant smirk on his face, clearly having heard the shouting from outside. The whole of Olympus had probably heard it.

Hades nodded towards his nephew, "Welcome Ares" one by one the other gods welcomed him with false smiles, all except Poseidon who just glared at child.

He believed that having a place in this throne room was something to be earned. He and his siblings had all fought bravely in the war against the titans for years, and now this spoilt brat was welcomed because of his mother and father. There were minor gods who deserved more in his opinion.

The others also wanted to object, but were powerless against Zeus and Hera. As far as they knew only Hades and Poseidon had the strength to question the king, and Hades didn't seem to care.

Outside the palace a statue of Ares erupted next to the other Olympians as a show of his new position.

Ares turned to his uncle "I was under the impression you were barred from entering Olympus, was I mistaken?" Although face hardly displayed any emotions, everyone could here the mockery laced in his voice.

It seemed the war god did not like how his uncle was feared by all, even more feared than him.

Hades kept a calm expression, "Hmm? Oh yes, but the winter solstice is an exception."

Hades felt Ares's aura trying to tempt his emotions, more specifically his anger and bloodlust. He wanted Hades to act so Zeus would have to step in and punish the god. As expected, the the god of war wanted a war to strengthen his domain.

Using his Helm of Darkness Hades emanated a powerful force of fear. It was the same fear that had caused his brothers to turn pale and sweat profusely in the past. The same fear that had single-handedly halted Kronos's entire army.

He had specifically targeted Ares, but the other gods were strong enough to sense it. The winds violently began to pick up as lightning crackled above, Zeus had unsheathed his master bolt and aimed it at Hades.

Amidst the wind the sound of waves crashing was clear for all to hear. Poseidon had lifted his powerful trident in defence of his eldest brother, clearly wanting Ares to be taught a lesson.

Hades turned to face Zeus when his instincts alerted him of an attack from behind. Using Helm of Darkness he immediately became invisible and intangible. Hades watched as sword passed through his body as if he wasn't their, at the end of the weapon was a ferocious looking Ares.

The god of the underworld stood from his seat and grew to the staggering height of 500 feet, followed by Zeus and Poseidon.