Earning A Sword, Stopping A God

As we walked around one another and talked it started to feel like a dance. "Cut to the point, what are we doing here other than to make a point?" I asked her with as much understanding for her situation as I could. "There is a way to solve all the problems of entropy in the world, of the humans, of the magical and Godly alike. All of it can be reversed and stabilized. You just need to step through the entry of this room and you will be taken to your next step to figuring it all out!" Persephone wasn't just talking to us she was pleading with us, as my brothers and I made up our mind that it was better to see this through than to turn away we sent a message to our other siblings that we were taking a step into the next part of our journey but we weren't sure where it would lead to next. We gathered around one another and thanked our host for her hospitality and her information. Still without knowing what was next we made ourselves ready for anything. Each of us summoned several expressions, a teardrop pendant that cast a shield of ice that humans know as ice 4 and it was strengthened by essence to become unbreakable, it sat ready around my neck, the tear shaped crystal was plain but beautiful in its perfection. I also had a staff, carved with ruins. It was capable of striking from a distance, even if the staff didn't make contact the wave of energy always found its target. My brothers made similar proportions. Walking up to the arch way I took a deep breath and stepped forward. "You didn't tell me we had guests, my wife." A voice boomed and we took a step back as darkness filled the void in front of us and took form as Hades emerged from the darkness surrounding him. I felt an oppression fill the room. Presiphone just took a step to the side and said. "Hades, what are you doing here?" She asked him, she looked afraid but not down right scared.

"I felt something off down here, life, overflowing life and I had to find where it was coming from and I found my wife with unwelcome company." Hades looked us over and the feeling of oppression in the room would be overwhelming for a human. "Why are you here Hades?" I asked him, I was ready for a conversation or a fight. "I'm here because this is my home, I'm here to find out why you're here, I am here to find out why my wife has been keeping secrets from me. That is why I'm here. Don't forget you're in my home!" Hades spoke but the underlying point of anger was there in his voice and the pressure mounted. My brothers and I shrugged off the pressure, we even let him know that his essence wasn't strong enough to take us on even if it was only three of us, it is still three immortals against a God. It might have been a struggle for us but we would win. What was more important was that Hades knew it. I stuck out first, I sent essence into my staff and threw a line of energy out with a small flick of my wrist. It hit the mark, leaving a welt the length of his cheek and small drops of blood fell from the bottom of the welt. He lifted a side of his clock and a wave of pain rolled over us, it hit against my shield and broke around us, Robbie pulled an herb from his satchel and threw it, at first it was just a blob of went green on the floor, it sent roots down and into the long decimated earth. A wild stem twist and turned into the air at an amazing rate, vines and tendrils wrapped into the room and snared Hades. "Really Robbie, a PinkPullsy!" I yelled at my brother. It could siphon life out of any being. It didn't delineate where it took life from, or who it came from and it didn't need dirt or water to grow after being released. Hades grabbed at the stem and it grew brown and withered, then another popped up and more vines wrapped around him, he cut through a vine and it died. Finally he was mummified with stems and vines, blooms and pollen sealed him in. We didn't have much time to make it past him, we made ready to jump while Hades was dealing with the PinkyPulsy. As soon as we approached the archway a massive dog jumped in front of us, his three heads looked around and found us. It sensed our attempt to leave and grabbed at us. Larry went from standing behind me to in front of the dog as if he had always been there, he put his blade behind him and reached up with one hand and grabbed the coller hanging from its middle head. Just like that the dog was on his back and they were wrestling together. Every attempt it made to stand was countered by our eldest brother. Both moved so fast that the room rumbled and blocks of rock fell from the dome above us. What books and scrolls weren't completely destroyed, broke into dust. Hades was still fighting with the herb that Robbie had thrown down, Persephone stood near the wall watching everything as if she didn't have a care in the world and the fight between our brother and the dog went on. One of the four clawed feet struck Larry and he flew through the air, turning and twisting in the air his feet landed on the wall he was headed for. His legs absorbed the force and he shot back at Cerberus with such force that the rocks behind him cracked, as he collided with the mighty dog he twisted and struck him with his blade. It was like a cork screw through a wine cork. Cerberus went down, its blood boiling as it hit stones. Some stones dissolved on contact with the boiling blood,others withstood the onslaught of the venomous liquid. We stepped back away from the growing pool of blood, Cerberus started lifting its heads and thrashing around. What looked like liquid death flowed from the walls around us and out of the stone destroyed by his blood. The foul waters of death started to merge with his flesh. Broken bones could be heard cracking back into place, veins snapped like stings in a piano, flesh loudly smacked and banged against one another. The sound of ripping flesh could be heard as it reached for one another and wrapped around the broken body and grew back together. At the same time Hades was gaining ground against the vines and leaves, sucking away his power, his essence was winning out against its overwhelming desire to survive. As the guardian dog finished healing, the streams of death ebbed and the blood dried up. We were being trapped all over again, through our connection I reached out to my brothers. "What do we do? What's our next move?" Larry didn't respond; he just moved, and assaulted Hades, with a full on attack. Keeping him down while he still fought the vines. Even with part of his life energy being devoured by the plant Hades fought impressively. He countered every assault my brother threw at him. "My brother is a God of war, you fool!" He snapped at Larry as they fought. Larry laughed, "My sister is the only girl and even she can take me down with one hand!" He was right of course. Karen may seem meek, mild, and only interested in healing arts and knowledge she could lay down a force unparalleled in our family. Probably something that came from being not only the youngest but the only girl in our line. "Our sister is so fierce that Athena once yielded to her, you fool!" Larry snarled to the God he faced off against. It had become a fight of insults as much as weapons. Larry used a long sword to fight, it was an expression that he was awarded after winning against a leviathan. That was a long battle, the struggle broke through Water, Earth,Fire,Ice. Ores and ground rocks laden with iron and silver broke during their battle. In the end Larry won against the beast. It had been attacking a village on the cliff of an ocean, we felt the cries of need and despair as the villagers ran in fear. When we arrived the town's guards were doing their best to fight it back but the size of the beast was far too much for them to handle. Larry took point and we made sure the villagers were safe, using our essence to stop buildings from collapsing, lifting rubble off of trapped men and women, healing wounds we had the means to heal. In the end it became Larry's chosen battle and he became the only person to defeat it. He carried it away from the cliffside and the village there, Steven pulled out a sword and thrust it into the ground, a bubble encompassed everything within the walls surrounding the town and every last stone vanished. When the bubble burst the entire town was on our land and the many beings that lived there went to work caring for anyone in need, House had gotten in on the work providing shelter and beds for everyone, stretching every resource like any proper village would, we all made room for the townspeople. I used an expression to get back to the cliffside where our brother was still fighting, an old fashioned Eskimo yo-yo. It had a small bone toggle as a grip, and two long leather stips attached to two round orbs made of leather, when essence was applied to it, a portal could be opened to anywhere on this realm. I jumped through and found Larry standing over the head of the leviathan, its body slowly falling over the edge of the cliff or what was left of it. With his boot brother kicked the head over and one of the monster's teeth fell out before the head fell over. Larry went up to it, when he picked it up the long sword suddenly appeared. He applied a little essence to it and it cycled through every element that they had fought through. With another application of essence iron spikes on fire burst out of the blade, another burst of essence and lighting shot out and where it landed large chunks of ice formed. That sword had potential and that potential could take down a God with a little effort, from the look on Hades' face he understood that. The vine was losing as death took over its body and decay claimed the essence it had stolen. As the body of the plant fell away from his body his strikes took on more direction and stronger force but against the sword and my brother we were running out of time as the beast jumped up fully recovered. Suddenly flute music broke through the bangs and bursts of noise in the chamber, it was slow and steady at first then louder and more full. I turned around and Robbie was playing the flute from the chest, as the battle went on Cerberus who was poised to fight suddenly swayed in place, his eyes grew heavy, his pupils widened and very fast he was fast asleep. As soon as the last note was played a portal formed in the archway and without a moment to spare we jumped.