A God Gone Mad

As the group continued walking, Rook questioned curiously, "You said that you are from Faeland, but are you certain sharing this information is all right?"

"Hm?" Peony looked to him with a questioning gaze, "What is it? Could it be that you wish to visit there? The only way to get there is guidance and another requirement. Aside from that, if you try to get there yourself, you would be rejected and made to forget once you're at the gate. Not to mention, if I bring you there myself, you can have a nice talk with my father."

"Y-your father?!" Idia looked to her in disbelief.

"What? You want to talk to my mom instead?" Peony tilted her head in confusion, "That's all right, but, when it comes to the kingdom, father legally has the final say in the end. If you can't convince him, then I can't help you escape from memory manipulation magic."

"N-not at all...." Idia shook his head fervently.

Seeing this, Vil couldn't help but sigh in dismay for some reason before turning to her, "I'm surprised that the lord of the Underworld will actually try to stop us even after losing the bet. Didn't he lost fair and square?"

"Do you think anything is fair and square when you are talking with a maddened god?" Peony huffed in dismay, "Don't forget. Yes, he is considered to be very kind to others and befriended many creatures and beings, but he is also a ruler of a place devoid of life and filled with death. He is someone who has to stay here by himself while his family are up there. He has a multitude of files to go through everyday and his youngest brother is up there holding banquets and helping the living beings while the lord has to make sure they stay in the river of Styx in the Underworld. Now, that brother and his wife had birthed a beloved son and held a massive banquet in celebration. You also want to go up and celebrate, meet people who could understand you and grow close with your family, but the deal was that your domain is in the Underworld and you can't always leave it, even to your minions who can't complete tasks without you to confirm it. Even when you do, your reputation and hair always makes other realize who you are and your tremendous power making them fear or disgusted to be in your presence, much less speak your name fearing it as omnious. If you were in his position, tell me... How long can you last?"

There was a long silence before Idia spoke up, "I see... I would've gone mad by then."

He sighed shaking his head and continued, "Being feared by others while also in awe puts a distance between you and everyone else, obviously. Your own family doesn't understand you and it like they are just fine leaving you out of the picture. Even if there was a good individual who invited me and I take their advice to associate with everyone. With a family, no matter how big, there is always a limited number of people and the chances that they understand what you say or how you feel is less than ten percent. Not only that, family are the first to watch you grow as they are constantly around you. Any bad or embarrassing incident in the past will always be remembered by at least one person, so there's also a possibility that they would keep their distance from you no matter how close to try to be with them. No matter what you do, not even your own family understands what you're going through or wants to be around you. This means that you would be pushed away in some isolated corner to become a wall flower no matter what you do while others happily chat away and run around under the light. By the time someone does want to understand you or knows how you feel, you'd have already shut yourself from others around you. That'd make anyone jealous... Not to mention, there is no virtual reality back then either and if he was by himself, there probably wasn't anyone to play board games with. I didn't realize that, despite all the talents in socializing, he'd also be lonely and misunderstood too..."

As Idia sighed again and shaking his head once more in deep contemplation, Vil sighed too and nodded, "When you have such a reputation, everyone is bound to keep their distance from you and see you in a bad light, no longer a person in your own right. And, I bet, in turn, it would also turn them colder to those around them. Let's not forget that he is also the king of the underworld, so he has to maintain order. I've seen many stories and historical biography that talks about those who says how those who passes away just didn't want to pass away. So, they could also want to escape from the underworld too, which would throw the world balance into disarray. Those who die cannot be brought back to life, no matter how hard you try. The pleading of others may be a little trivial at first. However, if it continues, it could easily wear you down psychologically."

"So, this means..." Rook grimaced, "The kind ruler of the Underworld..."

Peony nodded, "He's long since snapped. Not enough sleep and people always coming to you for help. Then, being pushed away by others then giving up yourself. Even if you are a god, the mind will always be that of a mortal as long as you have emotions ingrained in you. His has already shown quite a few cracks and has tossed aside his morals. Not long after I made a bet with him, he did everything in his power under his circumstances to make sure that Ortho fails to merge back together by attacking the vessel you made for him during Idia's Overblot."

"Under his circumstances?" Vil raised a brow.

"Didn't you know?" Peony tilted her head in confusion, "With his mind snapped and morals tossed aside, what do you think could've happened? And, why has he not shown his true form to us even though we are in the Underworld and wrecking havoc?"

As a long silence with nothing but footsteps to be heard passed, Peony shook her head in disappointment before turning to Idia, "What do you think, Idia? Don't you think this sounds quite familiar?"

Hearing his name, Idia jumped in surprise as he tried his hardest to come up with an answer before a shiver ran down his spine and he froze in place in disbelief while muttering, "No way... You mean, he also tried to rebel against his blood relatives?!"

There was a sudden jolt as though a bolt of electricity shot through them in disbelief as they stared at him in horror. However, after a short time, Rook frowned, "To rebel against one's own family who holds more power than themselves all together..."

"That's nothing when it comes to his ability to scheme." Peony responded, "He is a talented schemer, remember? Able to pry information out of women as the story goes. He can also play chess with a talent for it too. With his connections to all of his powerful allies, can he really be unable to launch a surprise attack on his unsuspecting siblings?"

Hearing this, Vil nodded in agreement, "I'm reluctant to say this, but she has a point. Hades is powerful and intelligent. With just these, he can amass an army under the noses of his siblings and relatives. With this and his history, this is the big picture in the end... Hades grew jealous of all the good things the gods have in the end and threw a rebellion hoping to regain all that was lost to him by birthright. We can not forget that he is the eldest of his family and, back then, it was by law that the eldest son inherits everything that his predecessor left for them. But, if he did that, that would mean that he succeeded with his abilities. Was there someone who overpowered him in the end?"

"That'd be unlikely," Idia shook his head in disagreement, "However, if it did succeeded, then I can't say that he would've let everyone who treated him badly off and that's like another world of people all together!"

"He failed because he was miscalculated his step and brought that newborn nephew he met with into the fray." Peony explained, "It should be in the Land of Dawning's libraries and museums. In the past, Hades' brother, leader of the gods, had a newborn divine child who suddenly lost his divinity upon birth and sent to live in the human realm with a humble couple. After many difficulties, that child met up with his family again, but, in the moment where he regained his divinity upon becoming a hero during a crisis, he gave it all away after the incident to be with his companion whom he had saved."