#there is a reason many people say poseidon is more powerful than zeus

[lilislegacy]

frank: let me get this straight. thalia and jason’s domain is the sky, percy’s domain is water, and hazel and nico’s domain is basically the underground?

annabeth: yes

frank: but… can’t percy also create storms? that have clouds and lightning and thunder?

annabeth: yes

frank: and… and can’t percy also create earthquakes and make volcanoes erupt?

annabeth: yes

frank: so… in a way, doesn’t that mean everywhere is percy’s domain?

annabeth: yes.

annabeth: but don’t tell him. he hasn’t had that realization yet

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

double-posting this from a discussion i had somewhere else, but i really like Hera in Hades 2.

Overall Hera seems to be the only Olympian who is fully aware and engaging with the fact that their entire reign of humankind and relationships with one another are fucked up and likely beyond repair, but she's also like, reveling in her power-- it's not because it's morally dubious that she's not gonna be a goddess, she just says it out loud as opposed to hiding behind false poise or forced dignity like Athena or Zeus do.

She's too smart and in control to give herself to her base instincts like Poseidon and Dionysus do, she's too important and stubborn to just stay in her lane or leave like Hestia and Hephaestus do, and she simply couldn't fathom not being in the spotlight and living in relative peace with her own responsibilities and nothing more, like Hades or Artemis are more than comfortable doing. She has to be the star of the show, she has to be fabulous, but she will not for a single moment stop pointing at the other actors in the play she calls her life and laughing at them.

She's incredible, I really really like this Emma Frost-style take on Hera. After so many versions of her have ran the gamut between battered wife trying to hold her family together, stepford cuckoo trying to pretend it's all fine, horrible crone monster no one could like and just kind of There and Not Very Active in the daily life of anyone, we finally have a version of Hera more like we see in the Illiad and other texts-- someone who's simply very comfortable looking someone in the eye and saying "You're just kind of a piece of shit, aren't you", even when that someone is the King of Olympus.

I usually like most of the takes Supergiant has with their interpretations of Greek myth but the Hera stuff is particularly fascinating to me. She's not Zeus's equal and she's not holding herself back to give him the illusion that she's beneath him; she's above all of them, she is fully playing the role of Queen of Olympus, it's just, everyone else is either kind of stupid or doesn't care. And she knows that, and does it anyway.

It strikes the very specific balance of "these people have caused wars for petty reasons" and "hahah look at the silly gods" that I feel not a lot of things manage to.

[dearqueerheart]

sorry just let me infodump for one second, ok? ok.

epic the musical has me in a chokehold (spoilers ahead, PLEASE GO LISTEN if it seems like something you’d be into). and i was rethinking on the song Monster. specifically, the part where he begins to justify being cruel by comparing himself to the foes he’s faced. polyphemus, circe, poseidon (i 1000% think the order matters, ill get there in a second). and all of that just shows how his, like so many dangerously intelligent men in greek myths, big flaw is hubris. overwhelming hubris. he thinks that he’s allowed to be cruel because a cyclops, a witch, and a god are allowed to be cruel. he is just one of so many greeks who think they’re as good as — or even better than — the gods.

and there are hints of this throughout the entire show up until that point. he attempts (and succeeds in, after facing tragic losses) to deceive polyphemus by drugging him with the lotus fruit, believing that he is more powerful and intelligent than the cyclops. he tries to reason with poseidon after being asked by the sea god for an apology for blinding his son, but he does this in SUCH a manipulative way. poseidon tells him, “i won’t kill your men if you apologize to me,” and ody goes, “alright bet,” and gives him such an incredible non-apology (“poseidon, we meant no harm”). he is too fucking proud to apologize, and will attempt to MANIPULATE AN OLYMPIAN GOD in order to protect that pride. it’s wild.

he actually does successfully “defeat” circe, but only by literally begging her (“i beg you circe, grant us mercy”) to save his men and help him get home. he wins this fight because he puts his pride aside for once in his goddamn life, and rescues the scouting party because of it.

so here’s why the order matters in the song monster: he’s working himself up to comparing himself to an olympian. he doesn’t list his foes in chronological order. he lists them in amount of power and intelligence. if you just take what he’s saying at face value, he says “well, polyphemus was justified, and circe was justified, and poseidon was justified, then i must be, too!” but if you read deeper, he’s comparing his evil deeds to the evil deeds of people far more powerful and complicated and experienced than him.

in the thunder saga, both scylla and zeus manipulate this pride. scylla uses it to drop odysseus’ guard, inviting him to compare himself to her, and to find kinship with her, as they’re both “monsters” (“deep down, you know that we are the same”). and zeus tests his pride, to see how deep it fully goes, and possibly to reveal to odysseus himself how prideful he is. like poseidon and athena, zeus may be trying to teach odysseus a lesson, albeit significantly harsher than the latter. (“if i had to make you choose the lives of your men and crew or your own, why do i think they’d lose?”) it’s one of my favorite moments in that song, because it’s really just zeus pushing all of odysseus’ buttons to force him to make the choice that zeus wants him to make.

anyway that’s all. it’s just so cool and i have a lot of thinks!! i could make a whole essay just about the gods’ desire to teach odysseus but i’ll save that for another time.

[bones4thecats]

Hey! I love your writing and have been wondering what the ror characters (Poseidon, Thor, Adam, Hades, etc really your choice) would react to a blue diamond s/o from Steven Universe. As when they cry everyone else surrounding them cries. And their giant size. Sorry if this isn't the right place to request!

A/N: Hello there, thank you for the compliment. I’ve tried my best in keeping my writing skills the same, yet updated based on the scenario. But, I do hope you like how this turned out! I’ll be using the three Gods you had mentioned, and I’ll be leaving Adam out, but if you want another part written with Humans, just send it in! Now, enjoy~~

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

🔱 You were part of the new Pantheon that had made their way into Valhalla, representing different gems that were found throughout the world by your ancient people

🔱 When he first met you, many said you would get along, especially Zeus and Hades

🔱 You sat by the edge of the sea, your towering form scaring away any Gods from speaking to you

🔱 He could feel the sadness radiating off you, and when he felt his vision blur, he reached his hand up and noticed he was crying out of free will

🔱 When you noticed him crying behind you, you gasped and apologized, saying it happened whenever someone was around, and even if they were happy, they’d cry

🔱 It took a while, but after you guys got together and married, it was normal to see your husband and you sitting side-by-side

🔱 To have this make a bit more sense, let’s say you can shrink down to his size

🔱 When you do that to rest, he likes to lay his head on your chest where you blue diamond laid, for some reason it calmed him down

🔱 Poseidon and you both were prominent figures in your pantheons, so being apart constantly was normal, but that didn’t stop you from accidentally making him cry

🔱 The way your merciful nature did come at a halt with how humans had started to get themselves tossed into hell made him fall for you more

“ Yes, look down on them, my teardrop. They are nothing. “

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

🌩️ Thor fell for you because of how gentle and caring you could be

🌩️ It was something that he lacked to show, but you seemed to thrive showing

🌩️ You were known for your amazing diplomatic skills used through Gods’ Council meetings, and it could make anyone side with you

🌩️ The power you held made him happily look at you behind a dead-looking facade

🌩 Now, with the size difference, he doesn’t really mind it

🌩️ Normally, he’s the larger one, like this guy’s 7’4, he’s pretty much always taller than someone

🌩️ Thor would look up at you and smile lightly, giving you a kiss on your hand as you squatted down to reach his gaze, since you’d be like 25-100ft

🌩️ But, since you do enjoy shrinking down to do things with your husband, you normally go to around 6’5-7’0 most of the time whenever you’re not working with your sisters

🌩️ He noticed how much you seemed to care about this young male on Earth whom you called ‘Pink Diamond’ and he just smiled to himself as you laid down on his chest, telling stories of him and your sisters

🌩️ His favorite part of being married to you is how much you seemed to care about certain humans, as they were innocent and did no wrong, while you despised others and wished for them to die

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

💀 Oh yeah, you and him bonded ever since birth

💀 You guys had been together for centuries, and he knew your sisters very well, they even enjoyed having him around

💀 He witness everything happen year-by-year, how much pressure White Diamond had put on you all, Pink Diamond leaving and ‘dying’, Yellow Diamond trying to push the memories of Pink behind her to be perfect, and you going through many essential crises

💀 Hades watched as you went through every single crisis, struggling at times to manage all of the colonies you and your sisters had

💀 So, being the best husband he could, he made sure to have your top superiority manage it while he took you to Helheim to calm you down

💀 When it came to the crying thing, he doesn’t mind it, seeing other Gods try holding themselves back from crying as you sat there doing nothing was quite funny

💀 And your size? Not a problem

💀 Cerberus loves the hell out of you, your big size and his big size (around 15ft) make a fun mix to play

💀 Seeing you shrink down to share a bed was funny at first, and now when he sees your form shrink he smiles gently and hugs you as you sleep

💀 Like Poseidon, he also likes to lay his head on your chest, but instead of laying his head on the gem in your chest, he likes to run his hands on it and mess with your hair that wrapped around your chest

[thequeer07puss]

On Hera and Zeus’s marriage: a rant

I’ve seen a lot people get mad at Zeus because his application of marriage in mythology is a bit more flexible than what we’re used to, while misunderstanding the theological and cultural realities that surround it

The Native Hera and the Foreign Zeus

Long ago, before what is now known as the Greek pantheon was a thing, the Greeks worshipped the goddess now known as Hera, and she was their main goddess. Some time later, another group of people, recognisable as derived from Proto-Indo-European descent through their worship of a sky father (Zeus), either conquered or merged with the existing culture of the time.

These two groups, to avoid too violent of a clash while merging, made their patron deities spouses to make the transition more smooth for everyone, effectively breaking the Proto-Indo-European pattern of sky god-earth goddess duos, while still being present to a lesser extent in the form Demeter’s brief marriage with Zeus.

Divine marriage

Now, we all know Zeus in his myths was quite a womaniser, both because of his function as an All-Father, and as his function as the representation of Ancient Greek patriarchal society where men could have as many extramarital affairs and women could not. Note the fact that this was completely allowed and accepted in Ancient Greece, and that other male deities with known spouses still slept around without their wives getting angry (eg Poseidon and Dionysus).

Why is that so? One could simply dismiss this by saying that Hera is just “being jealous”, but the answer is deeper than the surface level.

The marriage of Zeus and Hera is meant to be egalitarian, meaning that they occupy the same position and receive the same amount of honour in Olympian society, and Hera, as defender and mistress of Olympus, has to constantly check whether or not there is a breach of that egalitarian semi-open marriage or an attack on her honours as both queen of the gods and equal partner of Zeus.

Now, Hera is well-known for her fury against Zeus’s mistresses, and while this may seem funny/tragic to people, it’s not rlly ALL of them that had that treatment. The only ones of Zeus’s mistresses (that I know of) that received any kind of attack from Hera were Leto, Alcmene and Semele. (This ill reputation of Hera as a jealous wife might mostly be due to Heracles, but we’ll get back to him later)

Leto and Semele

Leto was one of Zeus’s previous wives before Hera came in power, and she conceived her children, Apollo and Artemis after Zeus and Hera got married (UPG). Semele was a mortal princess from a very important family line, who Zeus took a liking to and came down to often, even swearing to her on the river Styx to give her anything she wanted. This could tickle Hera the wrong way for 2 reasons: Leto, a previous queen, and Semele, a mortal, may have started to feel proud of Zeus’s special attention, and that their children (Apollo & Artemis, and Dionysus respectively) were destined to eventually enter her home due to them being very important. The first point could just be a reminder of Hera’s supremacy as Queen of Heaven, and sends a clear message: “Just because the King gives you special favours doesn’t mean you are above, or better than me”.

The trials that face Heracles, Apollon and Dionysus (ie madness followed by redemption, Python, and a period of madness respectively) could therefore be tests to prove their worth and proof that Zeus did not waste his time and energy making children unfit to integrate the Olympian family without some pushback. Zeus famously spent 3 days conceiving Heracles, whose famous fate at the hands of Hera could be seen as trials in her honour, as evidenced by his name which means “the glory of Hera”. When he ascends to Olympus, he even goes as far as marrying Hera’s daughter, Hebe.

Conclusion

Hera is not a jealous wife, and her marriage with Zeus is certainly not dysfunctional. They love each other deeply (see: the foundation myth of the Daidala festival) and their relationship is certainly not something to be questioned or made fun of. Honouring Hera properly means honouring Zeus, and vice-versa.

On that note, I wish you all a happy Theogamia.

[msbunnat]

thank you for your answer, in any case I was already very excited by your comic and I cannot wait to read more about it!

I honestly cannot understand the people hating on your work. I feel like fandoms has been invaded by a wave of purity/moral policy that shouldn't exist anymore. it's even more wild to me knowing you're working on a greek myth, and the greek myths are KNOWN to have many versions. that's the beauty of them in my opinion, the way these authors all wrote their own versions and they passed them to us. I love the fact you picked Ganimedes, and you decided to explore both Zeus and him. And the mystery you keep about your relationship really makes me wonder which take you will follow!

and speaking of take, I really enjoy yours on Zeus. Gods are complex beings, and sure they're problematic (like duh) and bad, and everything but it's funny how people will decide which pick for who. Like everybody love Poseidon but oh boy, he can be as bad as Zeus people. So yeah, I am actually excited to read the way you're gonna write him! I don't hate Zeus, sure he does seem one of the "worse" when reading most of the myths, but my favorite thing is the way you can love one god in one story, and hate him in another. they're immortal beings. they're not just black and white. so I happen to enjoy when authors write Zeus as more than just a big bad villain. But I also enjoy when they just don't make him a "sweet lovely daddy".

Oh by the way, I didn't know the version of Metis abusing him and I'll have to look into it! We had a more "feminist" vision of her myth in my class, so it's not something that was talked about hmm.

Also, my bad for saying he died. It was a sum up because of him turning into a constellation. I cannot say we studied this myth so unfortunately I don't have sources to help you on it! It's assumed he lives on forever young but the fact he turns into a constellation is why people think he died?

Thanks! I want to post soon, but I'm so tireeed ;w; I prefer to make people wait and do a good job tho.

About the hate... People re affraid (artists have to much power kkkkk) and we live in a time that you need to share your opnion to get validation. In my case, they need to say that Zeus is bad and hate on him and me so they know they re on the rigth side and have good morals. And even after all this, I think its a good thing they just warning people, that way I can get to my real target that can enjoy characters more complex that re not good or evil, but mess up beings (that includes Ganimedes). And even if people in the end critizied my aproach, its also fine, I dont claim to be perfect and just hope that even to the mad ones, they feel inspired to create their version as well. I think they forgot that, like, they can have their version and will be as valid as mine, dosent matter the story.

(I really enjoy everything about Ganymede, if people go and do their versions, its a plus to me! More about him is best for me heheh. I came across two versions of Ganymede on tumblr and I LOVE BOTH!! I really want to do a fanart of the second one, but I'm a lil afraid if they dont want to interact with me, which is fair, but I'm just judging by the dark aproach on the myth, as a horror story).

Thanks for liking my Zeus u.u I'm really more found of him, as I think about his past, but I'm trying not to focus to much on him! He steals the scene to much!!!

About Metis, its not a version, but a interpretation. I'm looking to see if I find a sourse, but anyway, its intresting, since they met when Zeus was still young. And there re some greek myths with female abusers, so... its something.

Oooh! I see. hm... I never see the constelation as a death, so its not clicking with me, but I understand. Any way, I kinda dont like the constelation, for some reason looks wrong to me, but its a valid version and Im totally using the aesthetic kkkk

[blicketdabest33]

FINAL CABIN PLACEMENTS I DON'T WANT TO EDIT IT AFTER THIS

So many of y'all had so many good ideas (and since a lot of these i came up with without any real reasoning) here's my updated version that i think fits A LOT better

#1 Zeus Cabin: Jimmy, Joel Jimmy: He's a Zeus kid, but everyone somehow forgets about it. Joel: He's competitive and strong. Also, because Jimmy is his half brother through godly parent, i get to make a fun bit about him dating Lizzie. And one of his origins in Afterlife SMP was a thunderborn

#2 Hera Cabin: Scott, Impulse, Ren Scott: Scott's whole thing is loyalty. Hera is the goddess of marriage and is insanely loyal to Zeus. However, I feel like Hera should get at least one affair. So now Scott can use peacocks as weapons. Impulse: According to @dawnfire7 Impulse is known for loyalty, which i did not know. He's also known to hold grudges. Perfect Hera kid. Ren: He's apparently known for loyalty (and i didn't really like his Nike placement anyway)

#3 Poseidon Cabin: XB XB: Something about water temple guardians

#4 Demeter Cabin: Sausage, Shelby, Bdubs, Stress Sausage: This man built Sanctuary in a jungle and has flowers in his hair. He sells wood. There is no other place to put him. Shelby: Mushroom gnome, spooky mangrove witch, powerful storm witch, i need not continue. Bdubs: Moss man. Stress: SHE HAS FLOWERS

#5 Ares Cabin: Martyn, False Martyn: His planet is Mars, which is the roman version of Ares. He ended Limited Life in such a violent way, i can't help it. He was also red for the majority of Secret Life. False: I just feel like False should get to kill people more often.

#6 Athena Cabin: Grian, Pix, Owen, Xisuma Grian: This sums it up pretty well

Pix: Smart man. Archeologist and definitely a nerd. I wanna see him skipping out on training just so he can read history books. Owen: He likes to explore and discover new things in Pirates. In Rats, he's a tinkerer. In New Life, he's an explorer who wants to study hybrids. In Empires, he's a Llama who's curious about how humans work. Just a very curious character overall. Xisuma: Admin. I'm not elaborating.

#7 Apollo Cabin: Oli, Lyarrah Oli: MUSIC. MAN. Lyarrah: She writes the captions for the hermitcraft recap.

#8 Artemis Cabin: Pearl, Gem Pearl: Y'know, Artemis could've just like... had a kid, even though she took that oath. It wouldn't even have to be with a guy. Gods can change to whatever gender they want. Anyway, Pearl gets to be an Artemis kid because her symbolism is moon, she loves dogs, and will commit murder and hunt at night. Gem: Someone really wanted these girls to be sisters, and I think Gem and pearl should get to hunt at night and be fierce together. Oh, and she's got the whole deer aesthetic.

#9 Hephaestus Cabin: Doc, Mumbo, Tango, Zedaph, Fwhip, Iskall Doc: Redstone Mumbo: Redstone Tango: Redstone Zedaph: Redstone Fwhip: Redstone AND has a red scarf (don't ask me how that's relevant) Iskall: Redstone

#10 Aphrodite Cabin: Keralis, Skizz, Bigb Keralis: Okay, I don't know why, but Keralis gives me the vibes of a very charming person. His voice is nice to listen to, so imagine how useful it'd be if I gave him charm speak. Skizz: Person in the tags said he was really charming and you can't help but love him. I agree. He's here now. Bigb: Smooth talker. Someone (i think it was Scott) said in one of their videos "It's hard to kill him while he's talking". Charmspeak. Ma man, go do chaos.

#11 Hermes Cabin: Scar, Etho, Joe Scar: Trader Scar, scammer extraordinar. Etho: All i must say is Shady-E's. I get "jack-of-all-trades, master of none, often better than master of one" vibes from him. He's funny, he's mischievous, it just works. Joe: Comedy man. Excellent delivery. And, yet again, i look at this man and go "That right there is a multi-talented man with a habit for mischief."

#12 Dionysus Cabin: Joey, Beef, Cub Joey: *points at his season one empires theme* i need not say more Beef: Idk, food. I don't really have a reason. I don't know too much about Beef. Cub: Someone said Cub was really laid back, i liked this idea, he's here now. C'mon, go make ur empire.

#13 Hades Cabin: Zloy Zloy: Zombie man. He writes the Hermitcraft recaps in the dark at 2am with nothing but pure spite.

#14 Iris Cabin: Katherine Katherine: SHE. HAS. COLORS. and also I couldn't put her in Demeter cabin because Shelby is already there and i am NOT excluding Nature Wives from this au

#15 Hypnos Cabin: Wels Wels: @dingdinghq said something about sleeping during S6 and i completely agree

#16 Nemesis Cabin:

#17 Nike Cabin:

#18 Hebe Cabin: 

#19 Tyche Cabin: TFC TFC: Man goes mining and gets really lucky. That's it.

#20 Hecate Cabin: Lizzie, Cleo, Jevin Lizzie: Witchy vibes. Also, Arson. Cleo: Arson. She uses her magic for Arson. Jevin: He's a magic slime. Also, Arson. All Hecate kids love Arson.

[valewritessss]

Hot take I don’t think ANY demigod would make it out of Tartarus if they fell in the same way Percy and Annabeth did but alone. Yes, even Percy.

If I remember correctly he almost let himself sink in the river they fell into, and if Annabeth hadn’t been there to give him hope he would be a goner. He’s also had other moments where he feels like he is deserving of death, and I feel like Tartarus would enhance that. Tartarus is meant to drive people to insanity, so if I had to guess a way Percy would be affected is by making him feel like he doesn’t deserve to live.

Yes, he is an extremely powerful demigod but to get out of Tartarus you need more than power. You need a strong will to live, the mental strength for the emotional scars Tartarus is about to give you, and quite frankly I don’t think Percy has a lot of will to live.

Yes he is determined to have his happy ending but it didn’t take long for Tartarus to make him forget about that the second he fell into the river. If he were to go in another way, maybe, but specifically by falling in the same way Percy and Annabeth did together, no.

He’s also a son of Poseidon, a powerful one, so like, huge target on his back. Many enemies he makes there would be probably just because of that. And there might be friendly titan out there like Bob, but Bob doesn’t have his memories to he doesn’t remember Percy’s dad being part of the reason they’re exiled to Tartarus. All of the other ones though, yikes.

Would Nico be able to make it out solo? I don’t think so . He made it once but he was captured the entire time, and he didn’t fall in the way Percy and Annabeth did so there’s more to consider.

Most demigods would die on impact from the fall, and I think that’s Nico included. Percy and Annabeth only survived that because Percy could control water and they could make it to the river, but Nico and other demigods can’t do that.

What he does have on his side, however, is that he’s more in his father’s element than other demigods. He also made friends with Bob which is a huge advantage. But that doesn’t really matter since he would’ve died on the fall anyways.

Jason, I feel like, would make the fall because he can fly, so he won’t die on impact. But his huge disadvantage is that he’s a son of Jupiter, which is like the Titans in Tartarus’ number one enemy. They would probably smell his scent because he’s a powerful demigod AND a son of Jupiter, and I’m not sure if Jason can take that many attacks against him. Anyway, he’s dead so argument is pointless but idk I just wanted to consider it.

Would Thalia make it? Probably not. Her powers are more lightning based, instead of wind. So I don’t think she would survive the fall. And she has a big fear of heights, which I don’t know if that would change much but with that and the fear of Tartarus itself, who knows, she might have a heart attack before she makes it down. I’m joking, mostly.

Thalia is also a hunter of Artemis, which I think is both an advantage and a disadvantage at once. For one, she’s faster and stronger than normal demigods, so yay. But also, I wonder if being a hunter gives her some sort of aura, which could possibly attract more monsters. She’s a daughter of Zeus, so she already has enough enemies down there. But that’s all assuming she makes the fall down.

Would Luke make it, if he were alive that is? Umm, that’s actually a tricky one because he was on the Titans side, so they might would probably love him and help him out. However, again, the fall down would probably kill him. If he managed to fall into the river though I think he’s got a pretty strong will to live so he’s got a good shot.

A thing about Luke though is that nothing for him would really be too far, as in there’s probably nothing he wouldn’t be willing to do to survive.

Those are all the demigods I can think of that I’ve heard people say could survive. There’s probably more, but I really don’t think they would make it. Most would die from impact, so immediately no. And if they were to survive the fall everything else would just be too much. Tartarus is meant to drive you insane and be nearly impossible to get out of. So it’s okay to admit that’s what it would do to everyone, including our favorite characters. Also, assuming they make it to the doors(because they’re taking Percy and Annabeth’s route), if they don’t make any sort of alliance, who would hold the button for them? They’re stuck there forever or until death.

[castieelsblog]

Hello! So I'm in the PJO Fandom (have been for a couple of years) and I wanna talk about some of the characters that get hate or aren't understood. Starting with Bianca Di Angelo. There ARE spoilers to HoO and TOA, proceed with caution.

Bianca and Nico grew up in WWII era Italy and were brought to DC when Bianca was...10?? I think?? Whatever that's not the point, when they were brought to DC with their mom, Zeus had tried to kill them (because hades, Zeus, and poseidon kids were too powerful and Bianca was a hades kid) but he only killed their mom because hades had a barrier around the two kids. Fast forward to when we meet them, Bianca is 12 and Nico is either 9 or 10 (can't remember but that's not the point) and Bianca leaves Nico to join the hunters of Artemis. On the surface level, you might think that's a pretty shitty thing to do but let me put this into perspective for you: their dad is a God, meaning he can't associate with his kids directly and their mother died. Bianca had to become the sole caretaker to a hyperactive 9 or 10 year old boy for 70+ years. The ONLY reason she left was because she KNEW Nico would be safe at CHB (or as safe as you could be) she wanted to do something for HERSELF for once. It's not her being a bad sister, it's her wanting to finally do something for HERSELF. As an older sibling, I can understand her more than anything.

Next, Reyna. She grew up in Puerto Rico with her older sister and father, she was the first person in her family to be a decendant of Bellona, but her father became manic and she killed him. In doing so, all of her ancestors had gathered and called her a murderer-punishable by death at camp Jupiter. She and her sister fled Puerto Rico. Fast forward to current times, she's 16 years old and a commander of camp Jupiter. She's the one that brought peace between the Greek and Roman demigod camps. 16 and a commander. Why is she disliked so much? I think she's a badass person who shouldn't be treated like filth-from ANYONE, fictional or not. She's been through so much and yet you don't like her? Grow up.

Next is...well Jason AND Thalia Grace. Thalia and Jason were born a couple years apart (I not sure how many) to the Greek and Roman forms of Zeus. Their mother was a beloved actress who turned to the bottle because Zeus wouldn't notice her anymore. Jason was kidnapped by Hera when he was 2 and brought to Lupa. Thalia ran away from home. Fast forward to current time, she finally finds her brother again, but his memories are...well, they aren't in tact. Thalia is a hunter of Artemis and Jason is a child soilder. Thalia is forever 15 and Jason just turned 16 while on a quest to defeat Gaia. In which he nearly died. He hadn't seen his sister in YEARS and he couldn't even remember her because Hera had wiped his memories, can you imagine how they both felt? Thalia was so relieved to see him alive and he didn't even remember her face. They're both so complex and I WISH we saw them together more...instead Thalia will never see her brother again because he's dead.

Next, funshine bear personified: Will Solace. Okay, where to start with him...his mother traveled all over as a country singer bringing him along. When he was 9, monsters disguised as pigeons attacked him. He was brought to camp half blood, claimed by Apollo and then...well..hell broke loose. In the first war, he lost so many of his siblings it-hurts. The ONLY reason he's head of the Apollo cabin, is because the one before him died. He was only about maybe 11 or 12 when he was leading the main healing legion in the war with Kronos. He's lost so many people in his life, yet when people think of him they only think about him being Nico's boyfriend.

There's so much more and I could do a whole essay on this. ESPECIALLY Bianca and Rachel, but for now: please read their backstories before you say someone is selfish.

[superheroauthor]

Dragons, Magic and other Things

Chapter Four – Who?

   After we ate, the dragon started to fill me on a few things I needed to know.

   Once upon a time, many thousands of years ago when the Earth was still young, the devils and the demons each had their own realms above the Earth. On one side was the Vortex, home of the devils. In the middle was Godshome, kingdom upon kingdom of all the various Gods. On the other side was Barren, home of the demons.

   “There was little trouble between them . . .”

   “Are devils as powerful as gods are, in their true form?”

   “Demons are, devils are not. Devils are mighty, as powerful as some of the mightiest heroes that ever existed. A demon in its true form is a match for any but the most powerful of gods.”

   “But the gods are gone now. They don’t exist. Not the Greek ones, nor the Romans, nor the Norse. Nor the . . .” I interjected.

   “When belief for the Gods waver, they go to pastures new. You forget a true god can see the past, present and future all as one. They simply go to a new planet, remake it into a garden of plenty and populate it with creatures of their choosing. When belief in the Greek gods waned they split up, each claiming a planet in their own name and each starting a new world with that God presiding. Poseidon, for instance, chose a planet in the Orion Nebula. He did not choose water planets. He had no wish to be God of the Oceans any more. Now he would be the Gods of Gods. He took a barren planet and made it lush. He created other gods and in time they created the beasts of the world and finally the populace of the world.” Ever seen a dragon smile. This one’s snout opened as if in a grin with tiny teeth shining. “Poseidon was overthrown as the main god and put into a hell-like dimension for all eternity. It is often the way. Zeus killed his father, who killed his father. The original Greek gods of this world were first Uranus and Gaia although it is difficult to say, the tales differ. The point is, was it not Zeus who in the end ruled the gods of Olympus.”

   “Go on. All lived on their separate places and all got on.” I urged her.

   “Soon the gods thought that the devils and demons could help them. The devils and demons could become masters of the hell worlds. Every religion has them near enough, hell worlds, for all that are evil in their lives. The demons and the devils had no problems with that as it would give them realms to govern.”

   I nodded to show I was keeping up.

   “Some of the hell-worlds were for confining the evildoers for ever but most were there to teach the person a lesson and then they could go on to the realms of the dead. Arguments broke out between the gods and the demons. Not many were crossing to the realms of the dead, they were staying in the hell-worlds. The demons and the devils complained that the job only meant that that were coming into contact with evil and was turning them evil in consequence.”

   “Were the demons not evil in the first place? You told me devils wanted chaos and demons were evil.” I asked.

   “It is said that the demons were around long before the gods arrived. They were a peaceful, beautiful people but their world was a desert where nothing would grow, hence its name Barren. To rule elsewhere, the demons accepted places as rulers of the hell-worlds and became evil, more evil than anything else in all the worlds. Whether it is true or not no-one really knows.”

   “So, the gods, the devils and the demons all became sort of mixed up in our history?”

   “Yes, what some believe are gods are demons, what others believe are devils are ex-gods that have left our realm. It all became very confused. The reason I am telling you is when it all started out humans did not even exist. The gods all lived on their own realms but separate. Heaven and hell did not exist. I am giving you a quick summation here. When they all joined forces that did not work. The Gods say the devils cheated, the devils say the Gods cheated and they became enemies leaving the Hells to the devils with a god here or there to try and keep order.” Ultra was talking in a calm unemotional voice in my head as if reciting a history book. “After 99 years of punishment the humans could go to the normal realm of the dead. Persons punished were ending up there for eternity, not a century less one year. This is how devils will appear to have their hells in all different gods’ realms and hells.”

   This was not new and very new all at the same time.

   “The reason I am telling you this, is many devils and demons are unaffected by Christianity and priests have no effect on them as they are far more ancient than any human religion. It is only the ones that live in the hell-worlds that are affected and they are only affected by the religion of that hell. If a devil lived in Naraka, the Buddhist and Indian hell, it would be unaffected by a Christian priest, as that is a different region altogether. Get it?”

   “I think so. What about the one I fought?”

   “It has lived in the Nexus, the homeland of the devils. She is unaffected by the practices of any religion.”

   “So do your homework first and you might find a weakness of a devil?”

   “Yes, exactly, human.”

   “Tim!” I insisted and then had a thought. “So, who created the Earth. Was it Gaia, Mother Earth, or God working his seven days?”

   “Neither and both. All the gods came together to make the Earth and all its inhabitants. Much later they came together again to put humans on this world. The Greeks had tried to get ahead of the race by putting down their proto-humans. They were the first humans but all male. The other gods in the world found out and made their own version of humans, both male and female. This was a joint effort, although each race of gods made their humans slightly different.”

   “So, what happens if a Catholic priest tries to exorcise a devil that comes from the Nexus?”

   “A devil is chaotic so will play with him like a cat plays with a mouse. Sometimes pretending to be fearful, sometime angry, sometimes violent. A demon on the other hand would consume him whole for daring to subdue one such, say from Barren.” Ultra told me. “This is a common problem with all religions. They all believe their god or gods are the mightiest and always conquer evil. To actually kill a devil or demon they would have to go to the realm in which they reside and kill them there. Imagine a human trying to cross the plains of a hell-world to kill one particular devil. All the other devils would strike such a person down on his very first day.”

   “So, no-one has done that? Ever?”

   “Only the true heroes could take on such a quest. Those chosen by the gods, like Heracles, also known as Hercules. Or Siegfried from the Norse mythology. These heroes are almost godlike and are not normal mortals.” Ultra intoned and then a little ‘Oh’ went through my head. “Oh, you mean, can a dragon trained man walk into the Nexus and survive or into Barren and come out alive. Only one has done this. The human female Ella trained by my grandfather Lux The Everchanging. She marched into the realm of Barren with Lux at her side and the demons trembled. This is almost myth you understand. Lux was two hundred feet long and breathed ice in a long line to any that got in the way. Ella had the Shield of Blight and the Spear of Ultimate Destiny.”

   “So, what happened?”

   “The lesser demons did not want to take the pair on. To die there would be death forever and they thought as themselves as immortal not eternal. Borax the Unworldly headed an army of imps and battled against them. Imps are the least of demons. Ten feet tall and the brain power of a snail. Ella charged them smiting them left and right and taking their power into her spear. The army broke and the imps ran. Borax now alone smote the pair with molten lead in the form of rain but the Shield of Blight protected Ella and nothing hurt Lux who was nearly two thousand years old. The Spear pierced the foot of the hundred-foot-tall demon and he cried out and died forever. That was not why the pair were in the Barren realm though and they carried on.” Ultra paused to catch her breath. “They had come for Schank The Devastator, a demon that had caused fire to rain down on America, which was then called the New World. All the demons ran as they approached. They had killed Borax, one of the strongest demons. They did not want to share its fate.”

   Her nostrils twitched, her snout opened wide showing row after row if tiny sharp little teeth.

   “So???” I asked impatiently.

   “They all died, or that is the legend. Certainly, they were never heard of again. Schank the Devastator no longer plagues the Earth with volcanoes and earthquakes. Ella was totally forgotten to all except the dragons and the demons. Lux the Everchanging changed no more. He died on a demon realm and so was not reborn. They all in their way though, made history. My grandfather would have liked to go out that way. Through every life he lived for combat. He was not the subtlest of dragons. Attack, attack, attack was his motto.”

   “So, we just fight them here. Or more accurately you do and I watch.”

   “Every devil you thwart gives you power. Rajmund The Provider will be nervous to fight you now. You have beaten her once and that gives you power over her. It means in a physical confrontation you will find it easier to best her. The best she could hope for would be where both sides were too weak to carry on and backed off. Most devils are cowards anyway. Demons are not but devils are.”

   “We defeated that devil in a man’s body. Is he gone for good now?” I asked hopefully.

   “No, she has been banished from the Earth for one score years bar one to the Nexus she was born into. As the year in which we forced her out of a mortal body was 1975 she could appear on Earth again as an avatar, in a person’s body. Or even in her true form is someone was powerful enough to summon her.”

   “Oh! Oh, holy fuck and all the little fucks that go with it. That woman won the lottery, millions of pounds. Twelve million to be exact. That is a huge amount of money to give out in one lump. Do you think she could be trying to summon that devil to Earth.”

   “She would not be likely to be powerful enough to do it on her own. She would need a coven of followers in which she was the leader. Rajmund The Provider delights in making humans wealthy in exchange for their souls. She does not want to rule over them in a hell-world. She collects the souls and trades them to other devils and demons. She gains power and status for something most devils can provide.”

   “We must stop her.” I exclaimed, thinking more of the fact I did not wish to meet that devil again, ever, more than anything else. I especially did not want to meet that devil again if it was in her true form on Earth.

   “We will. We will give her a closer look tomorrow and find the others that are in this area. Just research, not need to confront any devils.” The little dragon told me reassuringly and then added. “Of course, killing the summoner might be the best way.”

   I don’t think the dragon could tell the difference between humans and devils. She was a dragon and probably thought her race was the wisest of them all. Killing a human here and there was nothing, as long as you were not a human.

   “Or I could find a devil and offer up the heart of a dragon to him.” I said pointedly.

   “Maybe we need only to kill devils and not humans.” Ultra said quickly, almost stumbling over her words.

   She was in my mind half the time. She knew I did not ask for this quest, did not ask for her. She knew my limits and also understood she had pushed me far beyond those already. Only her death it seemed would make me back into a normal if mad human being.

   So, now I had been briefed, her mood turned back to food. More tripe for her but I was full already. I wanted more delicious Indian food for sure but I thought my belly would pop if I had anymore. Ten minutes later I was sure Ultra was feeling the same thing.

   “Hey, you are getting fat!”

   “What a thing to say to a girl.” Was her response. “I grew because of the battle. It has showed what sort of draco-venator, hunter dragon, I am going to be. There is the long and sleek with broad wings almost as wide as the length of the dragon, The Swooping Dragon. There is the shorty stumpy dragon, the Predator Dragon who attacks first and thinks later and the other kind.”

   “What other kind?”

   “The wyrm. The one who loses his wings. Most lose their wings when they move into middle age, about a thousand. They become wyrms then but they give off magic in a twenty-mile radius. The young wyrms are sneaky, underhand, backstabbing sorts of dragon.”

   I went over to her and was appearing to be examining her.

   “Nope, I count two wings. Are you sure you are not a wyrm though.”

   It was a sarcastic remark but she got the point.

   Her eyelids fluttered and I picked her up and took her to her little house. The breadbin with the windows.

   I was not tired. I went back to my research.

   I had been staring at a webpage for five minutes. I knew there was something wrong here but could not work it out.

   I suddenly felt myself soaring through the air, great wings extended, shooting fire down on a human village in a dispute about a sheep.

   I realised I was not dreaming. It was Ultra who was dreaming and her dreams were filtering through to my mind.

   I returned back to the webpage. A local woman reporter had tracked down a family in which all the males of every generation looked exactly the same. There were a lot of photographs, all the way from Victorian times to less than a year ago. Not family photos, more ones to do with business, photo ops I think they were called.

   I had it. This man did not just look the same, he was the same. The man has a mole above his lip. It was in every picture. Some things are hereditary but not a mole in the same place. I looked to the bottom of the page to see if I could contact the reporter in the morning only to find a link to her.

   I clicked the link. It was not to her site but to a remembrance page for her. She had died a few days ago.

   Back to the page about the man. If he was around in Victorian times . . . the photograph was a group raising money for a school. It was dated 1893. Seemed to be right, it was about then that free schooling for all children came into England, not just for rich kids and those who could pay.

   That would make him, 2020-1893. I was ashamed I had to get a calculator for that one. I was good at maths but sometimes my brain did not work as well as it should. It just blanked. That was 127 years difference plus the bloke’s apparent age of mid-twenties. About a hundred and fifty years old. More even. This could have been the first photo taken of him. He could be much older than that.

   Eternal life . . .

   I swooped though the air snatching up a cow and flying through the air with it. Zaide the Controller. I heard and it appeared that Ultra was speaking through her dream to me then, just odd thoughts.

   Zaide the Controller is a devil who gives eternal life for regular human sacrifices, the purer the better . . . I supposed that meant, virginal or young or both.

   A tip for you children . . . if you receive eternal life, avoid cameras and get any distinguishing marks removed. I think I had just caught a devil and its human minion.

   Eternal life . . . that would be eternal hell for me. I wanted a short life to get away from the ever-present pain of my mental illness.

   I woke in the morning, slumped over the desk.

   Now that was a first. It took me twenty minutes at least to get to sleep, sometimes an hour, sometimes two. Just laying there, thinking, and hoping to sleep.

   They used to give out sleeping pills but now the doctors, in their wisdom, did not do this often. As if I could not control my sleeping patterns when I was taking sleepers.

   Not once in twenty years, longer maybe, had I just fallen asleep. Not even when I had four hours sleep in three days. I had to be hospitalised that time. My mind had gone strange and I was going to hurt myself. I had not meant to stay up, just could not sleep and got the briefest of catnaps.

   I went and put on a pot of coffee. No-one had put the tripe away I noticed. I cut some up and put into the microwave to warm. Just a little bit on a side plate. As soon as the microwave pinged the breadbox opened and the dragon was there. Saliva was dripping from her jowls. It seemed she liked tripe.

   I fixed myself a cup of strong sweet coffee and took the plate out of the microwave.

   “The plate is hot.” I warned her but she landed on the plate nonetheless.

   She suddenly let out a wail and seemed to jump five feet in the air.

   “I did warn you the plate was hot.” I told her with some amusement.

   “I want my cow’s tripes.” It wailed in my head.

   “Wait, just for a few seconds. It is the microwave. It is like putting a plate into a hot oven. Just wait.”

   Instead she dived the meat and snatched away a bit without touching the plate, she let out a cry of triumph as she flew off with it.

   I suppose that was one way to teach her how to snatch sheep from the fields. She would have to practice these things. She knew how of course but she would have to practice. I had seen how to fire a gun on television but I am sure, if I tried it, I would be an awful shot.

   Drinking my coffee I settled back into an armchair, lit a cigarette and watched some comedy program. Always comedy first thing in the morning, nothing too edgy or it would have me twitchy all of the day.

   The dragon flew up but I batted her away with a muttered curse about it being too early. Let me relax for a bit and get my head together and we will discuss things

   She just flew away back to her meat. She knew what was wrong. She had been in my head enough. She knew what I said to be true.

   The problem with Ultra was she was childlike, so always wanted attention. I was not the best one for that. Sure, I could look after her but not every second of every day.

   That was why I had not had kids. Kids were noisy, sticky creatures who would need constant help and crave attention. In my mental state I could not give that. It had lost me more than one girlfriend who wanted to settle down and breed rugrats.

   Two cups of coffee and three cigarettes later I called out to her and she was with me so fast I thought she would not be able to stop. She perched on my shoulder quite happily.

   “I have got two and maybe a lead on a lot more. Some of though seem very strange so I am not sure if they are true.” I told her.

   “There is a devil for everything and everyone that is willing to accept one. Shepherds have a devil that help them with their flocks. For one annual tribute of a goat or a sheep the devil promises their flocks don’t stray, get eaten by wolves or get diseased. And he keeps his word. Agrohasha the Tended he is named and that is his only duty. He is happy to do this. He started as a Putrid, the lowest form of devil and now is quite powerful. There are an awful lot of shepherds in India, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan that use his help.” Ultra explained. “He does not ask for their souls just for an annual tribute.”

   “Well, we have to sort out that woman soon. We have to find out whether she will let the devil inhabit her body or if she will summon him entire. The second one is a man that has lived about one hundred and fifty years and does not look a day over twenty-five.”

   “Zaide the Controller.” Muttered Ultra.

   “Yes, you gave me that name in your sleep last night. Something about that one liking human sacrifice . . .”

   “Children or virgins or both. A most horrible devil but as long as the sacrifices continue the person will never age. They are a lot of humans in this world who do not want to age. Sacrifices are not yearly. They are one to start with and one every ten years. These humans can last forever so it is not worth the devil’s bother to insist on yearly sacrifice. The devil is a duplicitous fiend anyway. If the person is convicted of murder, say for a human sacrifice, the devil leaves them and they start to age again. And of course, Zaide gets their souls after death. According to this devil, it is not worth keeping eternal life for someone in prison. Add to this it will be noted they are not aging. Zaide is quite safe. Who would believe in eternal life and devils in this age? Zaide however is careful, a hangover from the times such things were believed. Plus, he gets great amusement watching his former eternals rotting in prison and then aging at home after prison has broken them of all their spirit.”

   “Can you track magic, dark magic?”

   “On a devil, human or other?” The tiny dragon asked.

   “Any or all?”

   “All of them in my own particular way. I can see devils even in human flesh, like devils can find me by my own magic. Whereas I would track a devil and kill him, it would not do that to me. It would be scared of my big brother.”

   “Oh, you have a big brother?” Everyone seemed to depend on their big brothers to protect them.

   “Oh yes, George The Dragon.” I sniggered, George the dragon indeed. Ultra hissed through her nostrils. “George is a hundred foot long and that is big for a draco-venator, a hunter Predator like me. He is like one of your supply airplanes. He is huge. Devils are not the bravest of creatures and George scares them back to the Nexus when he targets them. My brother is the most dangerous in England.”

   She seemed very proud of this.

   “Back to the point. Detecting magic?”

   “Oh, I can detect those who are tainted by devils but you have to know why. It is no good killing the human without knowing these things . . .”

   “IT IS NO GOOD KILLING HUMANS!” I boomed into her tiny mind and then added. “I want to find out where her books are. Does she have a summoning circle and such things? She will keep all that hidden. Unless you want Rajmund The Provider . . .” I was interrupted by letters coming through the box and hitting the mat. “Unless you want Rajmund The Provider walking and talking, in her real self, down the high street, you better think about the same.”

   “Ooooh !” She said with a little giggle. “The last time Rajmund The Provider was on this Earth was in 1914 when he was funding the Austro-Hungarian empire to start World War One. He funded them for millions and millions and they made him whole. She was at time a he. He walked across the battlefield looking like an eight-foot-tall man with a machine-guns in his hands. None could stop him.”

   “What happened?”

   “George did. With Lillibet on his back. That was his human back then. Now he has Max. Four other dragons joined in. Rajmund had broken the code. Humans are not allowed to attack devils or demons or their avatars with guns. In return demons and devils are not allowed to use guns against humans. As demons are the ones who invent the guns, it is a very good pact for the humans.”

   “And against dragons?”

   “That is fair play as humans use them to wipe out dragons. They still see us a threat rather than their guardians.” She flew down and looked at me. “Why haven’t you got your post yet?”

   “I don’t bother half the time. About once a week I might sort it out, sometimes it is weeks on end.”

   “Go, pick up the post. It might be really important.” I cut her a withering look and the only reply I got was BUUUURP!

   I sniggered, I had no choice it was funny. There she was trying to get her point across but could not control her gastric function.

   “Does baby need burping?” I asked. “Would you like me to rub your belly and massage your back?”

   I heard an indignant hiss but strangely she flew into my hands. Her scales were not hard and rigid as I expected but soft like leather. I tickled her belly and she giggled like a schoolgirl. I massaged her back and she let out a long Ahhhhhhh and then BURP!

   “A little more on the stomach !” I heard and she wriggled into place. I did not massage her belly I rubbed it gently as if stroking a dog. AHHHHHH! Came a noise of bliss and then BUUUUUURRRP!

   This was new. The baby needed burping after feeding.

   “Not a baby now. I had a growth spurt! In your human terms I am two or three!”

   Ah, no need to burp the baby then and just hold her in my hands.

   “Twickles!” Came a plaintiff cry by which I guessed she meant tickles and I tickled her belly and stroked her back.

   This got lots of strange noises from her, very happy ones by the sound of it.

   “Tim luvs me.” A high pitched giggle followed this statement which was not strictly true.

   You find a baby creature and you nurture it. This one though was more trouble than it was worth, whether I was rich or not. I cared for the little beast, who would not? In its way, it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

   If it had just been to care for a baby dragon I would have loved it unreservedly but, for a crackpot like me, the stress was a killer.

   I had actually fought with a devil. Yes, it was in mortal guise but that did not change the fact I had fought with a devil who had thrown balls of fire at me.

   “Twickles!” Came the cry again and I realised I had been lost in thought. I started to belly tickle her again and massage her back.

   More giggles. More sighs of contentment. Right at the moment this was one very happy baby dragon.

   This went on for minutes, her squirming in my hands with delight.

   “You got mail!” She then said and went back to giggling. I carried her to the front door knowing she was not going to shut up about the post.

   Bank statement, something from the housing company and a brown envelope. I hated brown envelopes. I burst into sweat every time I saw one on the mat. It was not the colour, it was usually the content.

   The Benefits Agency used brown envelopes and they tried to get people off the benefits all the time. Even people like me who would never be able to work again. They had given me a lot of grief over the years had the Benefits Agency and a nervous breakdown and a few near misses as well.

   I suddenly remembered I was not on benefits any more. More to the point it did not have the address of the agency printed on the back.

   “Fly my beauty.” I told Ultra so I could open the last letter.

   The first page was a photocopied cheque for five hundred thousand pounds paid into my bank account by one Archibold Pratt. The second sheet was a covering letter that said this was a receipt for a half a million pounds to purchase the Japanese 1588 gold oban.

   The dragon was perched on my shoulder reading as well.

   “That Merlin, he is good is he not? Now you are financially secure. More than that, it has made the money legitimate. The rest will come through more covert structures.” I felt the dragon twitch on my shoulder. “Can we have takeaway again tonight? I have a preference for Taiwanese food.”

   I laughed. Always thinking with her belly that one.

   “I have to eat my way back into the fridge, finish the rest of the other takeaway. On the other hand, yes, I can live on takeaways for ever now.”

   Thinking of that made me hungry. I usually only ate an evening meal and snacks but, when there was food in the fridge, I got strangely hungry. I got some of the remaining biryani poured some of the masala sauce over it and microwaved it and have a nice flavoured rice breakfast.

   “You should be thinking of a plan to slow down this lottery winner.” I told the dragon. “To burn her books or to show her the fiendish predicament she is in.”

   “It is strange, is it not, that she is still at the same place? She had not moved, nor is she bothered by the press? In fact, there seems to be no reporters bothering her now.”

   It was a good point. She had not have been anonymous. The lottery allows that. Yet, the piece was in the local paper and online from local sources. The hubbub would not die down for weeks. The press are little more than vultures. They would have interviewed every one of her family and friends and be asking if they would receive a share and what do they think. It is strange none of that seemed to have happened. A few bits in local and national press and then nothing, no follow up.

   I thought for a second.

   “When someone wins the lottery, they are given a person to help them with all the money. To help them invest it wisely and try to get them to be careful and not just splurge and spend it all. They would help her with estate agents if she wanted a new house, give her contacts for new cars. Steer her, guide her if she would be guided. They would try and get her somewhere out of the way of the press . . .”

   “Oh, I have it.” The dragon flew off my shoulder and was bobbing up and down in front of me in excitement. “She can’t sell the last place. That is where her summoning circle is and her pentagram of safety from devils, if she should need it. She will not risk anyone seeing them. She will be paranoid, will she not, that others will see she got the money through magic and deviltry. The fact that people do not believe in magic and devils will not enter her head. She will guard the secrets with her life.”

   “So . . . she will not sell the house, she will continue to live there. So, we know where to find her . . .” I added more slowly as I thought it out.

   “Today we will go look. Do not worry she cannot harm you. She has no true magic. She did not ask for that. She asked for mere wealth, did she not?” The tiny dragon gave as a reply.

   I grumbled and groused about that and then had a cigarette which with tinkling laughter the dragon lit for me with a line of flame from its tiny mouth.

   We then got in the car and drove to her area. I parked around the corner from the shops in her part of town. I did not want to be too obvious. The dragon knew the parts of the job.

   One, check there was no press coverage on her still. We might not want witnesses.

   Two, work out whether she was at home or out.

   Three, try to detect the magic of her magical summoning paraphernalia.

   We were just walking past the shops when it happened.

   A knife in the back or nearly so.

   A man struck from behind me but I had felt his presence just before, as you sometimes do. Sometimes you just know there is someone behind you.

   I did not have any combat experience but a friend, long ago, had taught me a few tricks. A couple of ways to disarm someone with a knife and how to punch someone in the throat and smash their windpipe.

   As this man tried to stab me I turned and snaked my arm around his, coiling his arm with mine. My arm went up and his arm had no choice but to follow. The hand with the knife in it went high and out of danger. His body was now open to attack. My flat hand slammed into his belly and he grunted and I moved closer to him and turned my back to him. Now using his arm that twisted up with mine and the weight of my body I nudged into him and twisted my torso. He went flying over my shoulder, our arms releasing as he went. He smashed to the ground and (half in fear) I was on him.

   Another flat handed smash to his belly, a second, this time to his chest. He tried to rise . . .

   ‘Quick! Quick! I have got you in an invisible cube so no-one can see but I cannot hold it much longer.’

   I dropped my weight onto him and then grabbed his head and smashed the back of it against the pavement. With a grunt he seemed to go unconscious.

   ‘Check his forearms.’ The voice in my head told me and I grabbed the left arm and pushed up the sleeve. There was a tattoo. A circle coloured in yellow with a black square in the centre.

   “The Chinese coin.” The dragon muttered and then added with haste in her voice. “Quick. Go into that shop there. Quick. I cannot keep the invisibility cube up much longer.”

   I dodged into the shop and felt a tingling go through my body. I started to relax as I browsed the papers in the shop.

   This was all odd. Very odd.

   I could not fight. I had no real strength. I was small and weedy and fat. I got out of puff easily but I had countered that man as if he was nothing.

   True, I did know how to disarm a person with a knife. My friend had me disarm him again and again to implant the skills in my brain. Not just that way but other ways too.

   That had only been the start of it though. From there I had gone on to punches and a throw. Punches that hurt my opponent. A throw I had only ever seen on television.

   I bought a newspaper I would never read and a chocolate bar that I would soon eat. There had to be a reason for me to be in the shop so I provided one.

   By the time we went out onto the street again the man had gone.

   “I am lucky the police did not catch me.” I muttered.

   “He was an assassin. He would not like police attention any more than you. If a policeman had gone up to him, he would not have wanted charges bought. He would have told the officer to forget about the whole matter. It was nothing.”

   “An assassin! What have you got me into?”

   “I told you. Now you have beaten Rajmund The Provider, you will be stronger than you were before in a fight with her. She wants you out of the way. She cannot fight you so sends others. The problem is now you have won a combat against her your skills have improved. You now know the martial arts. You can fight any one man to a standstill. With luck or thought you can beat him. That last one, the assassin of Rajmund The Provider, he thought he already had the kill when you surprised him. In all the fight he never managed a comeback. It was over too quickly for him.”

   “And the tattoo was a mark to show he was the assassin of Rajmund The Provider?”

   “Yessssssssss! Each of the devils has bands of assassins. Each of these are marked to show the devil they fight for. They are promised, when they die, they will have a high place in that devil’s hell-world. It is all false of course. They are the lowest of the low as they have to punished for their violence and killing. Rajmund who lives in the Nexus, does not send hers to the hell-worlds. Instead, she trades their souls to other devils or to demons.”

   “Nice! Mental note, never trust a pact with a devil.”

   A girlish giggle.

   “There is a way. You have to sign over your soul but in a god’s name. The god of that hell-world. That way the god is named. The devil cannot go back on their word if that is in the contract.”

   I started to towards Bury Street.

   “Can they break their contracts? The devil worshippers. After signing a pact?”

   “Oh yes. All the gods love a lost soul coming back to them. It is no light thing though. They have to renounce their devil in all things, in life and death. They have to leave their home and start again with nothing but what the gods provide. Sometimes this is helpful, sometimes it is not.”

   “So, you could not win the lottery, renounce the devil and then keep the money?”

   “Oh no. The lottery company would suddenly find a mistake in the win and then seek to reclaim their money.”

   So, the woman had a choice. Live in luxury for the rest of her life and have her soul traded to another devil or start again from scratch without even pot to piss in. Hard choice.

   We were in Bury Street now. I was to walk past the house and the dragon was to scan all around for magic or signs that she was still inside.

   Ultra flew off and I carried on my way but not too fast. I stopped and unwrapped the chocolate bar and began to eat it. Not walking but munching away at it.

   I needed the sugar. I had just had a shock or that is what I told myself.

   What would others tell themselves when an assassin came for them?

   I started walking again and, as I turned the corner, Ultra flew past me and stopped at the bus shelter. I went to it and sat down and opened my newspaper. See, it had been of some use.

   “She is not in but she left an upstairs window open, for the house to air I expect. There is a horrid smell of sulphur in the building. There is a trapdoor for a cellar but I could not get in. In fact, I am not sure anyone could pass it without her knowledge. It has a sickly green aura around it. I think it is the spell-book protecting itself.”

   “Do spell-books do that?” I asked, wanting to see a spell-book, curiosity overwhelming me on this.

   “Only the oldest and grisliest ones. Some are covered in skin, human skin, flayed from a live victim. The blood of the flaying is left on the skin. They are the nastiest of them. They cannot protect themselves so they make a link with any who wish to use their spells. That person becomes the guardian. They have to give their life if necessary to protect the book otherwise the incantations will not work.”

   “By hook or by crook we have to get that book. And destroy it. Not only for the sake of this woman but for others who might read it too. We maybe not able to save this one but we can save others who could get twisted up in this sort of thing.” I said in my head and not aloud.

   “They don’t need the grimoires to ask for a devil’s help. The devils are always listening and only too willing to help in exchange for their yearly tribute of sacrifices. When you are right though, you are right. These books contain the ways to summon forth the devils and demons of the hell-worlds. Only a fool would do so without protective circles or pentagrams but devil worshippers are ever fools. Sometimes it is just the shade of the devil that escapes. His essence on this world, neither wrapped in mortal coil nor fully whole but even that can cause mischief beyond imagining.”

   I said nothing and this seemed to annoy the dragon.

   “Last year a devil escaped her bounds and killed a coven of thirteen in Wiltshire. It took on one of the dead as its body and killed again and again, taking each new person as the body to inhabit. A dead body lasts a night and a day only with a devil inside of it so they have to keep taking more lives. One hour and a minute without a body to inhabit and back to their own dimension they go.”

   “I have never done housebreaking before. How does one go about it?” I asked the dragon, me hiding behind the paper pretending to read.

   The dragon flew off and I let my thoughts roam. Housebreaking, or burglary as it was known these days, was a serious offence. Did I really want to get caught up in all that?

   More to the point, did I have a choice?  

   The only other thing worth considering was kidnapping the woman and trying to do what they did to people in cults, deprogramming I think it is called.

   Kidnapping is a worse crime than housebreaking and, if caught, who would believe I was trying to get her away from a devil. With my mental history it would be off to the mental hospital on section, if I was lucky that is. If unlucky, it would be prison, years of it.

   It was not as if I could say I was trying to help out a dragon. A tiny little four inch dragon, that they could not see, as it was invisible to other people. Mental hospital and a section for that one too.

   Ultra flew back to me.

   “Things have changed since I was last a dragon. The security on windows for instance. They are sealed shut now. No tiny gaps to slide a knife in and cut the cord. The best I can suggest is the back door but even that is a solid looking door. As solid as any front door in my day and from what I peeked it has a bolt top and bottom and a lock in the middle.”

   “That is it. Can’t be done. How sad, what a pity, never mind. She keeps the money. This is a job for your brother George. He could ram the door down and rush down to the trapdoor. I bet he would know a way of breaking that spell too . . .”

   The tiny dragon flew off in a huff.

   A bus came up much to my dismay.

   “I am after the thirty two.” I called out when the door opened.

   “Thirty-two got laid off last year son.” I was told by the old driver, which he informed me by shouting it out so all could hear. “You want the N-4 and that goes from Beechcroft Road now.”

   Without saying another word, he closed his door using the automatic lever and drove off.

   Not wanting to draw more attention to myself I started to walk back down Bury Street towards the shops. The dragon would find me if it needed me and indeed it did find me.

   “You still want to go in, do you not?” Ultra challenged. “I melted the lock so that that is not a problem.”

   “And the bolts.”

   “I dragged them across and it was not easy.”

   Now I was stuck for an excuse. If I was to help the dragon and stop this woman from getting into more trouble, I would need to spike that grimoire, so to speak.

   The devil had use of a body before and probably wanted the same thing again. I could not see a reason for her to do this but you never knew. She was on the path of devil worship and who knew what Rajmund The Provider could persuade her into.

   Worst still, Rajmund The Provider might offer still more money if she could bring the devil into the world whole!

   I knew I was going to do it. I did not have much choice. Oh, how my life had changed in a mere week or so.

   “Alright. Lead me to the back door. Not as the dragon flies either. Show me a way for me to walk there without much chance of being spotted.”

   She led me to an alley between the gardens of two rows of terraces. I opened the gate she landed on and went up to the back door. It looked shut but I gave it a prod and it swung open easily enough.

   Following her I went into the kitchen and then to a storeroom. In the storeroom was the trapdoor to the cellar. Over that trapdoor was a globe of a sickly green light. I could see the trapdoor clearly enough through it so I tried to put my hand through the green light. The globe felt like it was solid.

   “The spell conjures what is like a massive boulder that takes the shape of the protective spell. Even if you felt though to the handle of the trapdoor you would not be able to lift it.” Ultra informed me.

   “Then you do it.” I said getting irked. Either we could do this or I was wasting my time in here. The dragon bobbed before my eyes. “Breath on it you daft lizard.”

   Ultra flapped her wings again and again and then breathed her little jet of flame at the globe of light. Patches of it seemed to melt as if it were a solid globe, bit by bit letting in good wholesome light.

   When there was barely a third left of the globe there was an almighty CRACK! and the globe vanished but two creatures appeared.

   “Oh no!” Came a shriek in my head. “Putrids. Guardians bought forth by the spell.”

   “Devils? Bought whole on this planet?” I backed away from them. They were not the most pleasant looking creatures.

   About six foot tall but skinny, very thin indeed, almost stick-like. Purple skinned with mottled green patches that did not help their appearance. Nor were they totally conversant on how many limbs you should have.

   They did both have the same number of heads, two each. Two crocodile heads whose toothy maws dripped with saliva. On the other hand, one had only one thick leg but did have the correct number of arms, two.

   The other had the correct number of legs but only one muscular arm that was coming out from its chest. Both were naked and sexless. Both had weapons, a two foot long, thick bladed dagger or short sword.

   “They cannot leave this spot.” Ultra told me and winged off to fight the one on the left, it with one arm and two legs.

   “They are armed and I am not, snake-snout!” I screamed in my brain like a little girl seeing a spider.

   “If you want a weapon, takes theirs.” The dragon said unreasonably. “They are not tough.”

   I did not believe her though. Two snapping heads and armed with little swords was tough enough for me.

   They did stare though and that came in handy as both lunged with their little swords at me. It was as if they were telegraphing the blow. I slid easily between them, grabbed a skinny arm of my opponent and twisted it. I slammed my open palm into its elbow and heard a ‘POP’ as the joint went. It let out a keening howl. It should be feeling the crunch of bone as the joint there smashed.

   It had dropped the little sword but away from me. To go for the sword would lay me open to attack. One arm was hanging limp on the creature but it was advancing its neck craned forward to let the crocodile heads snap at me.

   Its other arm darted forward fingers outstretched to plunge into my eyes but I knocked the arm aside. Not fully though, the little finger slid across my face and it burned.

   Oh little elves and fairy tales, the touch of these devils burnt the bare flesh of mortals. This was not good.

   How could that be right? I had touched its skin with my bare hands and not got burnt. MURDEROUS INTENT flashed into my brain, if we die it gets to stay here as a guardian.

   With the words came feelings and I understood. The creature was a vicious monster that wanted to kill me to stay here with it as a guardian. With each of its attacks came a hideous diabolical intent. That intent made the attack more dangerous, hence the burns.

   The burn was not much, this time. It was like the burn you get when you touch an oven grill but it inspired me to action.

   I charged the snapping devil, turned, grabbed its bad arm with both hands. Now I pushed my weight into its body, my back to its belly and pulled on that arm. I expected him to be flipped but it was so much more. It almost flew. Through the air it went and smashed to the ground. The blade was just past him and I ran for that.

   His good arm came out and tripped me but I was already moving towards the blade. One hand caught it as I fell face down on the ground and I was on top of the devil, snarling as much as it was. I cried out as teeth chomped into my face and I slammed the little sword time after time into its chest.

   The other head was coming for my throat but I did not stop my attack, slamming that blade in and drawing it out and slamming it in again. It was too much for the devil and it went limp.

   I got off it cautiously in case it was a trick but there was a pool of blue blood over the floor that looked like paint. This creature was not going to even twitch again. It was dead.

   I turned to the other and saw what Ultra was doing. She was flying in close and letting rip with her little shoots of flame then flying away. The devil was trying to bat her away. It had lost both eyes on one head and a single on the other. Its face had numerous burn marks as did its one hand. Still though it fought on. It did not retreat or try to move past the dragon, it just fought on.

   I don’t know what made me do it, I just did. I threw the little sword. It was not balanced for throwing and I threw like a girl, a three-year-old one at that . . . normally. This time it hit just where I wanted it to. Right in the centre of the chest and embedded itself to the hilt. The devil dropped and did not rise. It was still alive, barely, but breathing its last breaths.

   I was not in a good mood. My face was stinging from a burn and bites. It felt as though my cheek was hanging loose but I suspected that was just what it felt like. I doubted it was true.

   The Putrid shuddered and died and the last of the eerie green light above the trapdoor faded.

   I pulled up the trapdoor and saw some stairs going down. No light down there . . .

   “Ultra fly down and flick the light switch.”

   I heard a HUFF in my head as if this was menial work not a dragon’s work so I explained in my head that, if there were any more nasties down there, I could not fight them in the dark. She could fly right out if there was any trouble.

   Did I look foolish when she gave a little burst of flame and then clamped her claws down on a light switch that was one step down and on the wall to my left.

   Light flooded below. It was like a storm cellar. A small area below grounds, maybe fifteen feet by fifteen. On one side was a circle marked on the ground in what looked like white paint with unlit candles at five points. On the other side was another circle, this one in black paint, also with candles, dark purple ones. Between them was an open book.

   And what a book. It must have been a foot tall.

   “Burn it.” I told the dragon and she let out a burst of flame on the edge of the pages but it did not ignite. She flew over the top and tried to burn it that way but nothing.

   I went down and plunged the sword into it but the blade bounced off the pages as if they were stone.

   “That book is for devil summoning. You are a dragon. Surely you must have something that will destroy it. Or know some way . . .”

   It seemed as if the tiny dragon was inhaling and getting fatter and fatter . . . she let out a huge burst of pure white fire. The book flared up into oily black and gold flames and the dragon dropped, falling to the ground before I could catch her.

   “Now that was special.” I told her, picking her up and cradling her in my hands. She let out a long happy sigh and tried to burrow deeper into my hands. I guessed what she wanted and I tickled her belly for her and got a contented giggle.

   I looked more closely around the room now. The walls were painted white with strange markings on them. Glyphs I think they were called, painted in red over the walls. Hundreds of glyphs and symbols, about six inches in size.

   On the far wall was a piece of paper stuck there. I took it down. It had a list of names on it.

Michael Moorhen     £1 resolved

Terrance Stand         £3.2 awaiting

Brian Trent                £2.5 to be paid

Sandra Cee                £7 resolved

Morgan Finch            £.5 half paid

Stephanie Beech        £4 resolved

Theon Tyson              £2 resolved

Belinda Septoria       £7.5 resolved

Hadson Peters           £4.5 awaiting

Celia Trafford           £500 awaiting

Harold North             £1.75 resolved

Charles Hutchins      £7.5 awaiting

   “Hey, there are twelve here. That’s a coven, isn’t it? Twelve or sometimes thirteen with the high priest? Amanda Sparr, this is her house. She could be the high priestess?”

   “A coven is a like-minded group of witches. There are no special numbers. The books and films on Satanism are mostly spurious and put the number down to twelve or thirteen. This is usually made up. I think something different is going on here.”

   With a grunt she flew to nestle on my shoulder.

   “Moneys paid out to worshippers.” She informed me. I gave a snort and told her to look at the amounts. She gave a snort and told me it was millions, not single pounds. “Take the list with you and phone it through to Merlin. He will pass it on. It will be leaked to some intelligence unit as possible Red Wing terrorists. That will get them watched. It will get their houses searched, get their phones tapped. The house searches should shock a few special agents. See this? This is a personal summoning room. This is not a room for a meeting. One of the others will have that. I think you are right. It is a coven with Miss Sparr in charge, maybe as High Priestess but all are selling their souls for money.”

   “She won twelve million. If you are right some of the amounts here are for a million or so.”

   “None but her know everyone’s amounts. Everyone has a different idea of what is wealthy, what is rich, what will last them the rest of their life.” She looked at me and I told her I was wealthy. “You can live years or decades on what you have. You normally are a frugal man. Life has made you into a frugal man. Most out there don’t learn the lessons and are in debt most of the time. The prices up there are Soul Prices. The amount that a person thinks will make him or her wealthy enough to live the rest of their lives. The poorest amongst us see that price as lower than the ones who are more comfortable. This lady for instance was married and owns her own house. That is why her Soul Price is higher than all the others.”

   “Bar one. If you are right Celia Trafford is about to get five hundred million.”

   “She needs watching. That is a not a Soul Price. Yes, the devil will pay anything for a soul. Money is nothing to her. Indeed, she makes it out of thin air to tempt mortals with. She likes a good deal though. That looks to me like the price for giving up her body to the devil to walk around in.”

   I snatched the list and put it in my pocket. The grimoire was burnt to ashes. It was time to go.

[lorepossum]

For me I use human as a blanket term. Not factually correct, but It doesn’t matter how many Huma-Alters, Aliens, and adjacent species we meet. Most behave (barring notable exceptions) in my mind at least as equivalents to humans for the purposes of thematic analysis.

The thrust of my “Saint Faithful” argument is more based on what she accomplishes throughout BW. In the face of a whole planet of cult adjacent religious fanatics and monsters Faith manages to, with little more violence (on her part at least) than a kick to the balls or two, spit in the face of an entire religion and deny it it’s power. She does it through the strength of her conviction and the people she manages to convert to her side; largely Albus and Devlin, who become utterly devoted to her. But to a larger extent most of the incidentals throughout BW (Joshua excluded) are, through limited interactions swayed to her cause— Knight Captain Bran from the “On trial” episode comes to mind, who seeks the solace and asks the forgiveness of a woman he called ‘Faithless’ mere hours previous. All thanks to the work of Faithful and her ‘acolytes’. In this way it’s perhaps more accurate to compare her to a Christ-like figure than a deity, disciples and all.

Lordy this is getting long…

My main fascination for the “Humans as Best (and worst) Gods” are the Star Captains. We get a lot of characters seen as Gods by various populations; Hades/Zeus/Poseidon, Rion, ect. Where most Star Captains Mostly take on the qualities of mythic heroes, mentor figures, angelic generals under Rion and the Mother-Queen. The Guardian specifically takes on the role of a capital G God for the people of Manas. And this is where is gets interesting for me!

Star Captain were human. Were people on or from the Landstar who were shoved willingly into Untempora. And most of these people are excessively damaged— they have lost people and are seeking anyway you change their situation. Being a Star Captain brings with it a massive amount of power and Knowledge, enough to the point that Raze (The Guardian) is viewed with the same level of reverence as someone like Hades. Star Captain Forks was seen as the only person who could or should rule Thunderhive.

But, charitably; both of these figures through the course of their series are shown to be fallible. To be unstable. To not be the trusted and ‘always right’ figureheads their ‘followers’ (Zed for The Guardian, Yargwynn for Forks) thought they were. The Guardian and Forks push their own emotions away to the detriment of themselves and the people who put their faith in them. Forks leaves the second he is able, leaving Thunderhive to flounder, it only takes a stint without their ability to repress their emotions to show just how unstable the Guardian really is.

Comparing that to someone like Rion, Hades, or even the one actual Universal God we actually meet in a full series; one of the Chrono Dragonis that we meet in SPS they are all powerful yes, but empathic, kind, and sometimes fallible.

So what then do we say makes a deity good? In a world where so many people are given the position of deity as opposed to being born one, how do they earn this honor? What should they value most? What should we? Is it power? Or is it the messy thing that makes people human? I’d argue that the reason The Guardian has to leave at the end of MotH is because they understand that they are not suited to be a God for their world. Manas needs to learn to manage without its distant, unstable God.

It’s why my thesis’ point is that Humans make the best and worst deities. Because in the context of GBA’s stories it seems that the closer to what we would consider “human” is the better choice of deity, the people who will actually rule with empathy as opposed to someone like a Star Captain. In becoming less human, the Guardian became less qualified to be a good deity. Looping back to my other thesis, I’d trust Faithful more than I’d ever trust Raze or Forks.

But yeah im just yappin. Rion himself could probably be a whole couple paragraphs more lmfao ^^’

How many thesis ideas will Dismas come up with based on the videos of Mr. Goodboyaudios dot youtube dot com? Only time will tell.

The newest ones are “There is always a Hopeful light— and it’s connection (it doesn’t matter if you’re human or not)” based on something said in the newest BvZ, and “Humans; the best (and worst) Gods” an extension on my “Faithful is basically a deity/saint figure” thesis.

Someone please talk to me about this shit, I’m loosing my damn mind /lh

[sashi-ya]

➡𝐈𝐌-𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐀, 𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐔𝐒, 𝐒𝐍𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐒. a theory. ⚡ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ. ᴏᴘ ᴍᴀɴɢᴀ Sᴘᴏɪʟᴇʀs

So, since last week when ch. 1060 was released I've been thinking of something. As I adressed some days ago here. So... Many have said that Im’s weapon was something similar to a spaceship while I do not see that AT ALL. In my opinion that thing looks pretty much like a snake or a dragon. So, many people in the community thought -as well as I did- that that weapon can be no other than Uranus, right? And it makes a lot of sense that Im has an ancestral weapon since what could give them such power if not something that scary? How could they be the king of the world if they don’t have an extremely powerful tool so nobody can defeat them?

Ok, so, let’s say that that thing that destroyed Lulusia was no other than the third ancestral weapon, Uranus. Right? It would make so much sense since we know that Pluton (Ruler of Hell) is buried under Wano, Poseidon (God of the Seas) is Shirahoshi who can control the sea kings and Uranus is meant to be the God of Heavens (Zeus)… so, where should Uranus live if not in the sky? Then it would be logical to think that, that thing that sent 16 destructive (that number is hella important, too. But I will discuss it later) presumably rays from heaven to the earth is in fact Uranus.

Now, back to what Uranus might be: - Pluton is probably a machine since it has plans (those Franky burned and memorized during Ennies Lobby), - Shirahoshi, a person, is Poseidon. - What could Uranus be? Probably a creature. And… do you remember what Roger had on his ship when we saw the flashbacks of him getting to Laugh Tale? The damn EGG that we only saw but had 0 info about it. So, what kind of animals hatch from eggs? Birds, and reptiles. REPTILES…. Snakes… dragons… Oh, and do dragons fly?

Surely they do, right? And… do you remember who lives over the fucking red line? YES, the CELESTIAL DRAGONS… Oh, and what is the celestial dragon’s mark? Yes! No other than “the Hoof of the Soaring Dragon”! That mark used to identify their slaves, as if the hoof of a dragon over their backs was their superiority putting a step over them. But wait… there is more! do you remember Punk Hazard? There were dragons, that were created by Vegapunk… but for who? So… what if VP who works for the WG has been asked by them to create dragons that would be similar to Uranus?

Good good, now let me show you WHY everything made sense now. So, I was scrolling through twitter where I saw someone posted a cropped photo of Zoro and Chopper. That photo came from Volume 82’s colour spread. Let me show you…

Now, take a closer look at Zoro’s clothing… doesn’t it look like a snake? Somehow like a dragon? And isn’t he looking UP? The light comes from the hanabi up in the sky! Usopp is pointing at it, they are all beautifully being illuminated by it… so, does this reminds you of something? It does for me… I don’t know but you, but what Zoro’s yukata has printed in it seems pretty similar to the silhouette over Lulusia…

But, you could say, Sashi… wtf has Zoro to do with this? well I don’t know, but we don’t really know a lot about Zoro either… so, let’s discuss what we DO know and why it might be linked to it then:

He is linked to Ryuma in some way. Not only he looks exactly like Ryuma when he was young, but he also fought him and the samurai gave Zoro his Shusui.

Shusui, the katana that killed that DRAGON attacking Wano, for which Ryuma became a Wano heroe.

Zoro, who defeated King (with Enma, let me tell you about this later pls) USING THE SAME TECHNIQUE. Both panels from when Shimotsuki Ryuma defeated the dragon (you can read it in Wanted) and Zoro’s cut King’s DRAGON attack are EXACTLY THE SAME.

also... for some reason, Dragon the leader of the RA visited Koshiro while Zoro was just a little kid training at the Shimotsuki village… why? Maybe they know something else about Zoro. Specially because we know he arrived to the village all of a sudden (that said by Koshiro to him when he thanked Zoro for being Kuina’s friend)

Cool, now, let me address something that’s also linked to Zoro, and it is about Enma and AME NO HABAKIRI. Both Oden’s swords. Enma, given by Hiyori to Zoro, and Ame being now on Momo’s hands. I have a theory that -of course wasn’t a prediction, but still is related- speaks about this… do you know what Ame no Habakiri means? Feathery Cutter of HEAVEN/ SNAKE-SLAYER. Snake… heaven…

So, we could say Zoro is related to dragons a LOT, and, even if it might be just a coincidence (at this point, there aren’t coincidences in Oda’s drawings but let’s say there are) I wouldn’t be surprised that he used our precious marimo to give us some kind of foreshadowing there… maybe a little hint of his past? Who knows, maybe he will be the one who slays that snake during the ultimate war…?

But wait… there is even more. Let’s go back to the look of that silhouette in the sky… what if it’s not some kind of snake related to Japanese culture but from Mayans? Yes! Do you know Quetzalcoatl? The feathered serpent? Let me show you a little bit of this beautiful creature!

You have the FEATHERY SERPENT (ame no habakiri) form and the God form… also the Temple of Quetzalcoatl in Teotihuacan (moon and sun pyramids) , Mexico (I’ve been there several times and it’s AMAZING)

Awesome so, does this remind you of something? It does to me… SKYPIEA! So, you probably remember Skypiea’s snake, don’t you? And also their architecture… pretty similar to these ones, right?

Cool. That’s good… now, who was the bad guy in Skypiea? Enel, right? And which was Enel’s power? RAYS! And didn’t he create the “Raigo” (Advent of Thunder)? That ball was pretty similar to the thing that destroyed Lulusia!

NO, BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE!!! THERE IS A CERTAIN ATTACK ENEL USES AGAINST LUFFY, IN WHICH, OF COURSE, IT DOES ANYTHING TO HIM SINCE HE IS MADE OF GUM… YES, THUNDER DRAGON!! Again… DRAGONS!

The dragon and snake pattern KEEPS repeating!! This is a plain parallelism with Skypeia (not to mention Nika being first addressed RIGHT THERE WITH FUCKING DRUMS! You know, now we know Luffy is in fact Nika)

But, even if everything looks "similar" we have to get something in consideration... there has been a little bit of confussion regarding those "rays" destroying Lulusia. Many people -myself included at first- thought of them being lightining like Enel's. However, if you take a closer look at how Oda draws lighting you can see how different those falling from the sky to Lulusia are to Enel's.

While lighting is always depicted with zig zag motions, Imu's attak look different. They are straight and have no continuation. (YES, IT IS ODA, IT'S IMPORTANT)

And so I thought of... if those are not lightings... what could be "spitted" by a dragon then (if not fire?) well... do you remember Kaido's attacks? Bolo Breaths look pretty similar, huh? Isn't Kaido a Dragon?

But wait, please, I know you are actually hating me RN for this… BUT I have more.

You know Enel did manage to get to the moon, right? Yep, he did. So, look what he found when he arrived to the moon? YES, THOSE CUTE CHOPPER LOOKING HABITANTS! And look what they are showing him? OH HELL YES.

A sun with SIXTEEN swirls (swirls that look like Luffy’s eyebrows when in gear 5th), Humans (that look pretty much like Mayans and Quetzalcoatl itself in his God form), probably… Lunarians? An ARC (Noah), Sea kings and AND THAT THING THAT LOOK LIKE A FUCKING SNAKE.

So can we please PLEASE start thinking URANUS IS A FUCKING SNAKE/DRAGON? Thank you.

Now, I promise I will shut up after this… You know Uranus, the planet? (jokes aside, please)

So Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun (16 rays ➡ 1+6= 7 -also remember Doffy’s attack 16 HOLY BULLETS? I mean that man knows the secret of Marie Joise after all-)… and it is called that way of course because of the God Uranus, but… do you know that Uranus is an ICE planet?

Do you remember where does Im-sama have that GIANT strawhat? YES, FUCKING ICE.

So tell me… does Im come from the outer space? Which is their connection to Uranus? Do they have the ancestral weapon Uranus? What is their connection? Idk, but I’m sure all of this has to hide some kind of hint.

[posallys]

Let’s talk about Percy and Poseidon, and their nature and powers here for a second.

I’m gonna start with Poseidon; I’m aware of the whole “Zeus-is-supposedly-the-most-powerful-because-he’s-king” and whatnot, but let’s look at it from a power and worship perspective.

While, yes, Zeus is extremely powerful, his typical powers in mythology consist of throwing lightning bolts, controlling the weather (rain, snow, etc.), and causing thunderstorms. And then the other powers the gods have, such as superstrength and shapeshifting and such (this is very dependent on the source, however, because there are thousands of versions of these myths). His introduction is usually along the lines of “Lord Zeus, King of the gods, god of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, and justice.” He was worshipped mainly out of fear, as he was the King of the Gods, but he was also worshipped by farmers in hopes he would provide them with rain for their crops.

But then we have Poseidon. His introduction, much like in PJO, typically goes something like “Lord Poseidon, earthshaker, god of the sea and horses, protector of sailors” Along with controlling the sea, Poseidon also has control over all water in general and holds authority over all ocean/river spirits. He was worshipped almost non-stop because of how reliant the Greeks were on the ocean for travel and trade, and this worship and praise partially stemmed from fear, but a lot of it was also out of respect for the ocean. He was also commonly worshipped as a fertility god. He even had the Isthmian Games held in his honor, which was one of the Pan-Hellenic festivals held in Greece. And, in many stories, he is often worshipped for many things that have little to no relation to the sea, and have more to do with the land.

And this is from a purely mythological standpoint. If we take a look at PJO, however, we see that most of this carries through. I’m not going to reexplain everything above, but I am going to jump to TLO. In TLO we have this scene:

And, yeah, Poseidon isn’t necessarily winning, but as he said, he’s been fighting for a year, and from what we can gather he’s practically fighting the monsters in the army by himself. Also, later on, we see that the majority of the Olympians (save Demeter and Poseidon, and even Hades and Hestia) are fighting Typhoon and that the only reason they end up winning is because Poseidon comes and helps. Again, I know it wasn’t just Poseidon, the cyclopes and such helped as well.

And I’d like to briefly touch on the fact that, while Zeus’ titles are pretty straightforward, Poseidon’s, in particular, “Earthshaker,” is much more ambiguous. In the modern world, we know that earthquakes are caused by seismic activity and that tsunamis are often a result of high magnitude earthquakes in coastal areas. However, there’s something else that is caused by seismic activity: volcanic eruptions. Often, larger earthquakes are regarded as the trigger for subsequent eruptions (*cough* Percy in botl *cough*). So while a lot of his worship did stem from sea-related things, he also has a massive influence over the land itself, which explains the worship for more land-related things in some stories. This is particularly interesting because this increases the span of his domain beyond the range of water; he’s not only controlling perhaps the most important thing in Greek life at that point in time, the sea, but he’s also controlling the very ground they walk on. And, knowing what we know about the Earth today, water is roughly 71% of the surface, while land makes up the other 29%.  Poseidon practically controls the entire earth, in some form or another, simply because of the reach of his powers (Mr. sea god really said “Gaea who🤨✋”). Not to mention that there’s also water in every living thing, and even in the air that Zeus controls. 

All of this is a long-winded way to say that arguably, Poseidon is way more powerful than Zeus, and many of the things listed are reasons people genuinely have a hard time understanding why Zeus is considered to be the most powerful Olympian when Poseidon is right there….

Okay, now onto the reason I’m writing this: Percy (duh).

This is 100% brought on by Mari talking about how Percy’s powers are so deeply ingrained into him that it would be practically impossible for the gods to physically take them away, btw.

Percy is arguable the most powerful demigod child of Poseidon to ever exist. I absolutely adore the similitude between the two of them as well, and I want to talk about their nature for a bit.

The ocean has so many faces; it can be calm and welcoming, but it can also cause mass destruction in the blink of an eye. Both of those can exist simultaneously, too, like in the eye of a hurricane or the current of a riptide. The ocean can kill without hesitation, but it can also be the place where one feels the safest, embraced in the steady push and pull of the tide.

This nature is such an inherent part of both Percy and Poseidon as individuals, too. We’re all well aware of the temper Poseidon possesses—it’s by no means glossed over in mythology—but as Percy grows as a demigod and develops his powers even further, this trait is very apparent in him as well. Percy is quick to anger and has been since before he ever knew he was a demigod. In tlt it’s said that he had to go to counseling for his anger, and one of my favorite examples of this anger is in tlo where he snaps at Nico while they’re in the underworld. And, obviously, we have a multitude of examples in hoh, where we get to see Percy let go more than he ever has.

One of my favorite things about the ocean is that it’s this practically unstoppable force, and it does anything to be in control. It’s not a coincidence that both Percy and Poseidon have the drive to be in control of situations. It’s quite literally in their nature to want to be in control of everything around them. When a ship goes out on the ocean, it has no control—the ocean does what the ocean wants, and if the ocean feels like sinking the ship, then so be it. I could delve a little deeper into the psychological aspect of this, particularly with Percy, in a nature vs. nurture argument, but I’ll spare you and simply mention how this same trait (in a much more diluted way) is experienced in Sally as well, or at least hinted at in tlt when Percy mentions her rebellious streak. Also, I can’t mention Percy and Poseidon’s relationship with control without mentioning “the sea doesn’t like to be restrained” (I think that’s a cardinal sin, actually)

However, on the flip side, both Poseidon and Percy (and also Sally) are also very “go-with-the-flow” kinds of people. They strive to be in control, sure, but they don’t get discouraged when something gets in their way. They adapt and they overcome. Kind of like that line in MoA (this may be inaccurate; it might not even be from the books at all, I could be making this shit up for all I remember) that goes something like “given time, the sea could overcome any restraints.” 

And, I love this, because, for any of you who know anything about the ocean, you can’t beat it by fighting. If you get pulled out in a riptide, your best bet is to let the current pull you out. The more you struggle, the higher your chances are of drowning, and the more control you give to the ocean (which is already stronger than you’d ever be).

There’s something so poetic about the riptide metaphor, though. The way that we see Percy struggle with control in every book—the way he’s constantly fighting himself in HoO and has to restrain himself from letting go—is such a great part of his character, and it’s even better when you look at him and his control through the light of the riptide. The more Percy tries to hold on to his control, the more he struggles. It’s not until we see him begin to yield to his anger almost completely (Akhyls), until he lets the riptide of his anger carry him away, that he begins to feel okay. Which, may not make sense because of how he reacted afterward when Annabeth stopped him, but how many times do you remember him mentioning feeling like he was drowning after that? Was he ever truly scared of drowning, or was he afraid of the ocean inside of him taking control?

The way that Percy and Poseidon’s powers are so linked to who they are by nature is honestly perfect. 

In conclusion, I’m fueling my dark!Percy and Let Percy Go Apeship agendas, and also forming a new Let Poseidon Overthrow Zeus agenda.

[astaroth1357]

Demigod MC Series: Nyx

Nyx is a primordial goddess and the Greek personification of Night - the mother of Hypnos, Thanatos, Nemesis, and many more. She's a mysterious figure in their mythos as there's little surviving info about her cult. What is known, however, is that she was portrayed as beautiful, powerful, and feared by Zeus himself.

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena, Hades Pt. 2, Poseidon, Ares, Hestia, Nyx

Lucifer 

What happens when you take a being born from the darkness and place them in a realm of eternal night…?

The answer came when the MC first stepped out of the portal. Everyone in the room was wholly expecting a normal-looking, confused human they could get up to speed, however…

The MC's skin suddenly darkened until it was as black as a shadow, their clothes levitated around them as if they were defying gravity, and glimmering speckles dotted their skin like twinkling stars.

Even their eyes turned a pure, glowing white without irises or pupils… Like two crowning stars locked into a body made from the shimmering night sky...

They weren't human. At the time, Lucifer wasn't even sure he could say what they were... Breathtaking, certainly, but there was something else about them that he couldn't place… something… foreboding...

Diavolo must have had the same unease because Barbatos was put in charge of monitoring them. The butler would send reports to them both and the results would range from benign to nerve-racking...

They kept their distance from his brothers and most people, but their power seemed immense... Barbs would report seeing them making small items float or summoning a meteor shower from their fingertips!

Lucifer ended up actually tasting their powers only once. When they stepped in to protect Beel and Luke and he went to attack them…

The whole House began to shake and the candles of the tomb started going out one by one as the air grew intolerably heavy... He could have sworn he saw a vortex of… something... swirling at their feet...

He backed off immediately and Beel and Luke got off with a warning, mostly because he was trying not to look utterly petrified...

He's never met a more beautiful and dangerous creature in his life… Pact mark or no, this is probably the only person the firstborn will admit he never wants to have to fight because he'd lose, big time.

Mammon

He was expecting to find a human when he walked into the Student Council room, not an alien!!

Mammon was seriously scared of the MC when they first met because he legitimately believed they were an extraterrestrial sent to probe him!!... Or whatever else those scary movies say aliens do, lay eggs in his stomach?

He straight up avoided them like the plague until the Goldie incident more or less bound them together. But even then there was a distance between them he just couldn't place…

Naturally, it bothers a demon a bit if their master doesn't seem to like them, so he eventually cornered them one day to force them to tell him why they'd been running off!

As it turned out, the MC actually knew as little about their new form everybody else! They had been perfectly normal in the human world, but for some reason the Devildom supercharged them! They could tell that they were powerful, but had no idea how to control themselves yet and it scared them...

So Mammon became their first unofficial "coach." Not that he knew how to train them or anything, but he was the first person supportive enough to even try to help them learn their new powers.

It led to some… interesting misadventures. Like when the MC unexpectedly burst every water pipe in the House or when they got a little too frustrated and ripped the kitchen apart with an accidental twister, but hey, Mammon was always there for them at least.

Of course, because he's who he is, he's not above asking the MC to help him with his schemes for "training purposes…" Infiltration is more fun if you're weightless, after all!

Speaking of weightless… His favorite way to float is when the MC gets excited and hugs him. They can't help but levitate them both off the ground when they're that happy and it makes the whole hug that much sweeter.

Leviathan 

It's… it's like he's in his very own Magical Girl anime!!! Uh, "I'm a Demon and this is My New Life with a Magic Starchild!!"-or something like that. 🤷‍♀️

He didn't even think their transformation was real when he first saw it! He really thought it was an elaborate body art cosplay but then their "freckles" rearranged themselves when he frightened them, so it had to be real!!

He'll declare that they're probably (literally) the coolest thing on the planet. They have the looks of an epic fantasy character plus insane powers to boot! 

…though uh… they may need a training arc or two to learn how to control them… 😅

Since their powers are apparently tied to their emotions, Levi's seen them do a whole bunch of stuff that's not entirely on purpose... Like, they can make things float when they're happy and push everything down when they're sad. 

So once he showed them one of those "tragic ending" animes for fun, but they cried so hard that they increased gravity and accidentally sent his bathtub crashing into the basement…

The worst of it is when they're mad, though. He made the mistake of making them play a rage game once and they ended up shattering all the glass in his room! His aquarium wall and Henry's fishtank included!!

They were able to make a zero G sphere of water in order to save Henry's life, but the cleanup was brutal… They were super sorry, but Levi took most of the blame himself anyway.

Honestly, he'd have been more mad but their body is clearly not something they can control just yet. Plus, it's so cool that he can put up with a little destruction anyway, you know?

Satan

Well, isn't that an interesting phenomenon?

Meeting a demigod is exciting enough, but one who reacted to the Devildom like that? It was pretty much unheard of!

Though he'd hate to admit it, Satan stalked the MC just as closely as Barbatos for a little while... But only because he was a little unsure of how to approach them…

They kept to themselves and their powers seemed "a little" unpredictable (see Levi's orphaned bathtub). Thankfully, Mammon ended up recommending the MC to him since Satan's one of the smartest guys around.

Satan made a better coach than Mammon, anyway. He was far more knowledgeable and actually able to hypothesize the strength their powers, which came in handy because uh… well…

Look. The whole realm 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs' over their appearance but they're all fools - no morons - for not noticing what potential the MC actually has. Satan was positive that the MC is the most powerful being in the Devildom, without question.

They had a complete control over gravity, atmospheric pressure, and even astronomical bodies… If they wanted to, they could literally pluck a planet out of orbit and send it careening into who knows what!

Want more terrifying? They could create near-matterless vacuums at the palms of their hands with the potential to suffocate, crush, or rip apart basically anything they wanted with implosive force….

Does he even need to spell out why that's utterly horrifying??

At least the MC seemed to be a genuinely nice person who wanted to control their powers better… Their emotions often got in the way but they tried their best.

He likes the MC a lot, but he'd be lying if he said that they didn’t also terrify him… They may have been pretty normal in the human world, but give them endless night and they may as well be a god...

Asmodeus 

Oh… My… Father!!! They're GORGEOUS!!!!

From the moment their transformation completed, Asmo had never seen anything like them! He said that they were like a living droplet of the night sky!

They were magnificent!! They were radiant!!! He was posting pictures of them before they had even said their first sentence!!

So Asmo was pretty much patient zero for any and all rumors and hype about the MC after that... Apparently someone like them only visits the Devildom every one, maybe two, centuries so everybody was bound to get talking.

Thankfully, the MC's habit of ducking out of the House kept them from becoming a full on sideshow. Unfortunately, however, Asmodeus was relentless!

He'd beg them to try modeling or make videos with him because of their unique look! He'd lay on the praises, but it was a little... much. It wasn't until Mammon finally stepped that he backed off a bit.

Asmo sometimes forgets that not everyone puts as much emphasis on looks as he does... Though he meant well, he hadn't realized that the MC maybe wouldn't appreciate him making such a big deal out of their appearance change. Pretty as it was, it was still involuntary to them...

Of course, after they told him this he cooled off and stopped putting them out there so publicly but even still he could hardly keep his eyes off of them... unless he was looking in a mirror, of course. 😘

A fun fact about the MC: when they blush, their skin makes a pink nebula. And thanks to his antics, Asmo has seen their lively pink cheeks many, many times… 🤭

Beelzebub 

Belphie would like them, wouldn't he...?

Beel's first reaction upon seeing the MC was genuine sadness, as seeing the stars with his twin brother still gone often brought him… 

The sadness didn't last too long at least because Beel tried his best to see the MC more like a person than a work of art or an oddity. Sure, they looked different - like really different - but they still laughed, cried, and ate like everybody else so they couldn't be that different.

Though then again, most people don't end up floating in midair when they laugh… Eh, oh well. It's not like those little details bother him. 🤷‍♀️

He always remained certain that Belphie would like the MC so he told them a lot about him. Since his twin loved stargazing, it'd only be natural that he'd like someone who looked like the stars, right?

Aside from the occasional tangent about his brother, Beel would also help the MC with their training by letting them help him with his training!

Controlling gravity can be pretty nifty for strength/resistance exercises, so there would be days where Beel would just pull a Dragon Ball and walk around at 1.5 or 2 times Earth's gravity thanks to having the MC on his back!

Sure, lifting a glass of milk becane so difficult that he literally broke a sweat from trying, but he felt like he can juggle motorcycles afterwards so who's complaining? Not him!

Belphegor 

……

………….

Was it some kind of joke?

The MC was not human. There was no way in heaven or hell that whatever he lured to the attic was supposed to be a human!!

Really, everything about the MC and their situation seemed directly designed to throw a monkey wrench into his plans...

One: They weren't human so how was he supposed to ruin Diavolo's dream? Two: They were clearly some kind of magical being so they could likely defend themselves…

But third ans most embarrassing of all... he honestly, genuinely, has never seen a more amazing person in his life. Blame it on his soft spot for the stars, but the moment the MC step up to his prison bars, he was smitten...

And. He. HATED IT!

Look, as much as he loved the night sky, he wasn't about to let some random non-human derail his anger! He was stronger than that!

He managed to hold onto his bitterness just long enough to make a halfhearted attempt on their life after they got the door open, but uh…

His brothers found Belphie when he fell through a newly-made hole in the ceiling... Said hole was made when his body slammed to the ground hard enough to crash through the attic floor... 😣

If the damage they caused wasn't enough to change his mind (which it was), then their distress when they thought they might have hurt him certainly did. Even their tears looked like stardust...

After far too long, Belphie got over his denial and began to properly love MC. If he liked stargazing before, he adored it now because he never even has to get out of bed! He can just roll over and follow the "stars" on the MC's body!

Unfortunately, that same love means it also takes a lot to ditch him if they get sick of being his personal night's sky… The brothers have found him floated up and sleeping on the ceiling on numerous occasions so the mortal can get some fresh air (clever MC)...

[roger-that-cap]

all the flowers will bloom

hades!natasha x persephone!reader

summary: you would have never tried to leave your mother if you knew that bringing that pomegranate tree back to life was your ticket to the underworld. or, maybe you would have, because it turned out that hades was quite the opposite of the evil goddess that you had been drilled to know.

warnings: my own take on greek mythology (apologies to greek people who may possibly see this), usage of both persephone and y/n, angry gods, this is a short series, angst and fluff!!

word count: 4.2k

this is part one!!

please guys i’m so excited for this one, already have so much written and planned!!

You were born from your mother thousands of years ago without so much as a whimper, and when you arrived after a particularly peaceful and short labor,, flowers bloomed for miles. You grew quickly, and you had gained the power of life within everything that grew. Your domain was everything that the light touched and below in the soil, and soon, you were the young goddess of nature and growth. If anyone wanted to find you, they could surely look at the trail of bright flowers that you left with every step of your feet.

The name you were born with was Persephone. But just as the humans wanted to make names for themselves, you wanted one of your own, too. One that was not overshadowed by your mother being Demeter, one of the twelve Olympian Gods, and the ever kind yet harsh Goddess of the Harvest. And so, you changed your name, like many of the others much older than you had done, and all but your mother and the nymphs that she charged to take care of you called you Y/N.

“Lady Persephone,” a soft voice called from behind you as you dipped your toes into your favorite pond, and you sighed when you looked over your shoulder even after recognizing the familiar voice. “Your mother wants you home soon.”

You knew that your mother did. She always wanted you home, away from the outside world- where you truly belonged. She didn’t want you anywhere that she couldn't walk twenty steps to get to you, despite you being two thousand years old. Your mother’s idea of a good day was when you stayed inside, and it wasn’t fair. When you could convince her to let go of your leash just a little, she sent nymphs to watch you, girls you weren’t even close to. They were so focused on not angering your mother that they hardly cared about what you thought. But deep down, you understood. Your mother’s hand was just as gentle as it was harsh, and like the harvest she watched over, she only gave you what you gave her to work with. If you produced her mind with the equivalent of dry soil and broken land, she would be unruly, fickle, quick to fall apart in frustration. If you watered her and gave her the amount of sunlight she needed, she would bless you. She had been that way since the dawn of her time.

“I don’t feel like returning, I’ve only just gotten here.” You weren’t looking at them, but you could practically feel the way that they were eyeing each other, getting more nervous with every passing second. You felt the bottom of the shallow part of the lake that you were in with your foot, and you smiled at the sound of silence, knowing that it would only last for a few minutes.

“Your mother will be quite angry if something happens to you, my lady.”

“Nothing is going to happen for that reason,” you sighed, and when you got a few moments of silence, you knew that they knew you were right.

You walked through life practically fearlessly. From birth, you were deeply connected to every animal . You had no reason to fear even the most vicious bear or boar, and you could not die from poisonous plants of any kind. No minor or major god who knew your mother would even dare come close to you with any ill intent, and humans never came where you liked to be. You were probably the safest god of them all, besides Zeus himself.

“Please don't make me return to that house so early,” you pleaded softly, making sure to not sound too whiny. “I need fresh air. I need to feel grass under my feet. How am I supposed to be the goddess of vegetation if I cannot even see the vegetation?”

If you had been paying more attention, you would have felt the way that the grass started to sway and the whispers of plants all around you. And you surely would have felt the way that part of the ground opened up to reveal your mother, who had heard your entire small speech. “My, what a talker you are.”

You turned around to face her, and she was already giving you a look before she started to talk to you yet again. “I have already told you to not guilt these kind nymphs into doing you any favors. You’re lucky that they still want anything to do with you, you trouble maker.”

“It’s not my fault that you don’t trust me.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s that I don’t trust men,” she said, her voice hushed. “They are cruel, and they are disgusting. And you are not to be alone when they could be around.”

“There are none here.”

“You wouldn’t know until it’s too late,” she reasoned, and she held a hand out for you. You grimaced when she pulled your legs out of the water and dismissed the nymphs kindly, and they jumped into the water themselves and disappeared. “I cannot trust many with you, my flower. Do not be rude to the very few that I do.”

You scowled as she turned her back, a face that you had never quite grown the courage to make while she was still watching you. You could rattle off many people that your mother had scared away and told you to stay far away from, and that included humans, most men, and a few of the gods that she didn’t trust to not attempt to take you away.

That was her biggest fear, though she never said it explicitly. It was clear that her fierce protectiveness came from her terror. Young girls were always at risk by being taken, by gods and men alike who had no regard for the opinion or feelings of women. It seemed that every hundred years or so, a huge war would break out on earth, and typically, it was because one man’s wife became another’s hostage. And between gods… it was not unheard of for them to take young goddesses and make them bear heirs. None of the ones that you were close with ever did anything like that, but that didn’t make the threat less real. Your mother made sure that you knew of that.

“Don’t speak to Hermes alone,” your mother would say, her voice half full of fondness. “He means well most of the time, but he is capable of fast talking you into selling your time and your soul.” And then there was another string of advice, such as, “ Never go too far out in the sea. Poseidon is moody, and he may not spare you if you start to drown. It takes a village to anger him, but go out of your way to not push Zeus. He is the mightiest of all, and if he wishes to strike you down, he will.” And with every single harsh word about them, she would always say that she doubted that anyone would truly ever wish harm towards you, the youngest of the young gods, the harmless little Goddess of Growth.

Except for Hades.

“She is pure evil,” your mom had hissed out, and you remembered flinching back at how angered she suddenly was by just the thought of the ancient goddess, and you knew from stories that the nymphs used to tell you that your mother and Hades went way back. And though you didn’t know the full story, you certainly understood that they knew each other not in the best of ways.

“She is capable of murdering anything with even a sliver of life in it, and she reigns over the dead. Anyone who is condemned to have such a gloomy job for all of eternity must be evil, and that she is. If you ever see her, or ever start to feel the choking feeling of death in the air and are not with me, you are to run until you cannot run anymore, do you understand me?” She had made you nod and tell her that you understood verbally, and still, even as days passed, the tension never left her body.

Days later, while nursing a flower as slowly as possible from its bud, you called for her. “Mother,” she turned her head and smiled when she saw what you were doing, and then she responded softly, urging you to continue. “What really happened between you and the Goddess of the Dead?” Her smile dropped instantly.

You never really got the full story about what happened.

§§

You had seen what was happening to you happen to others hundreds of times, mostly humans. Your favorite humans were the ones just like you, young women with parents who were worried sick about everything. And soon, you realized a pattern. Every single one of those children had rebelled in ways, some more drastic than others. It took you two thousand years and a few extra nights for you to realize that it was your turn. You were going to sneak out from right under your mother’s nose, and you were going to be back before the morning. Unless, of course, you found something worth staying for. Something worth risking the wrath of your mother for.

It took weeks for her to leave you alone, even if it was for a second. And for that one instance while she wasn’t breathing down your throat, you shot off like an arrow, out of her sight before she even realized that you had been brave enough to run. You hadn’t ever had to run, but it felt exhilarating. You could feel the wind against your skin and the petals of each flower lovingly brushing against your legs. It felt more freeing than growing wildflowers by your cabin, under the watchful eye of an Olympian and her guard dogs that came in the beautiful form of nymphs.

You had never felt so good in your entire two thousand years.

Feeling life had always been something you could do, and you could feel it even more now that you were running, breathing in through your nose and out of your mouth like you had seen soldiers do. With every breath that expanded your lungs, you felt like you could feel trees swaying, or hear leaves singing to you. It grew more addicting, and before you even knew it, you were running until you didn’t recognize where you were. You slowed down with a smile on your face, chuckling to yourself when you thought about how furious your mother was going to be. And then you felt it.

Something to the left of you was terribly, terrifyingly wrong. The life in the area was thriving, but something, a cave it seemed, was crawling with the scary and breathtaking feeling of death. You had felt it before, while discovering lifeless dear or helping your mother bless crops that humans thought had no hope. But you had never felt death on the scale that you were in that moment, and even though the feeling was making you more and more sick by the second, you couldn’t help but approach the cave, the darkest thing in your vision while everything else had enough colors to satisfy your eyes for the rest of your life.

You didn't know what was in the cave. It could have been a dead person for all you knew, but your gift was more or less affecting the cycle of life. You could help. And help, you would. So, you trudged towards the cave and stepped in, your hand covering your throat once you felt the constricting feeling come back even stronger than before. And then, in the dim light, you saw it.

It was a tree, one so dead that it was nearly unrecognizable as one. It had shrunk into itself, almost to the size of a bush, and you could see that the fruits on it had shriveled up, and like the rest of the tree, lost all color. You frowned and uncovered your throat, stepping forward as you watched the dry thing in pity. You reached out for it, bottom lip jutting out as you tried to understand what on earth had happened for it to appear like that. Before you could even ask yourself why you did it, you reached forward and touched the thing with your hand, and like it had known you all along, it started to slowly grow.

It took you a few long minutes to grow it to a point where you recognized the tree, and saw that it was growing pomegranates. The fruit grew redder by the second, and the feeling of death and decay was leaving, but for some reason, traces of it still lingered below, and you figured that it was in the soil. You grinned as you nursed the tree back to life, and the inside of the cave seemed to be just a little brighter.

“I wonder how long you’ve been left here to rot,” you murmured to yourself, your fingers itching to grab one dark purple pomegranate and bite into it, but you knew better. You had just brought it back to life, and eating a part of it would have been cruel. “I wonder if you were even prettier back before-” the ground beneath you made an odd noise, like the earth was taking its first shaky breath, and you braced yourself against the wall of the cave. You gasped when it came back even stronger, and a short scream left your throat when you felt the ground open up beneath you and swallow you whole.

§§

You must have screamed the whole way down, because when you landed harshly on your back, you heard echoes of yourself. You turned and coughed, shaking your head to get rid of the stars that flooded your vision. And then, the second your airways opened, they tightened again, the feeling of death so strong that you thought that you were well on your own way.

You coughed again and clawed at your throat, and then turned on your side as you fought for even just a sliver of breath, and then even with your blurry vision, you saw something huge and dark barreling your way.

“What’s she doing here?” You couldn’t answer. You hardly even knew if they were talking about you. You were still losing it on the ground, gripping at your torn dress and clawing at your throat like that would make it open up.

“She's not human.”

“Wait, wait, she’s not even dead!”

Somehow, the feeling of dread and darkness got even darker, and your eyes rolled to the back of your head at the overwhelming feeling of death surrounding you like a heavy blanket. “What is all the commotion about?”

Wherever you were grew silent. You heard people scrambling away, leaving you alone with the newcomer. The owner of the voice commanded everything, and you heard the distinct sound of heeled feet coming your way, clicking against stone. And then, right before you lost consciousness, there was a feather-light touch on your throat, right where you felt it was constricting the most, and then you felt the weight on your chest lift off all at once.

You barely got in three breaths before someone shook you, and you blinked rapidly before turning your head towards whoever was grabbing you so boldly. Your eyes focused, and then you almost lost your breath all over again.

You had no time to ogle over the obviously powerful woman and the way she looked. Even if you had time, it would have been ruined by the way she was scowling at you like you were the bane of her existence. “How did you get here?”

You took in a choppy breath. “I don't know. I don’t know where I am.” You looked away from the angry woman and saw your surroundings, and immediately, your heart dropped to your toes.

It was gray. Gloomy. Without any sign of life, not even little buds of grass. There was no color besides a lazy river that was the lightest blue you had ever seen, and it added barely anything to the sight in front of you. The entire place seemed to be made of rock, like one big cave, and the feeling you were getting made you sick. You could breathe again, but something was right. Wherever you were, you were absolutely not supposed to be there.

The woman’s eyes were still narrowed on you, but you didn’t miss the way that her face lit up in the slightest of ways, and then rested at a look of understanding. She let go of you. “You fixed my tree, didn’t you?”

“Your tree?” You repeated, shaking your head and hiding the trembling of your hands by playing with the hem of your dress, something that your mother said that you should never do. It dawned on you seconds later, and you frowned. “The pomegranate tree? It was yours?”

“Of course it’s mine. How were you unaware?”

Before you could let yourself get offended by the woman’s harshness, you crossed your arms for a different reason. “How dare you let something die like that? You left it to rot, I could feel the death from miles away,” you exaggerated, but it still didn’t move the woman. “If you plant something and call it yours, it’s your responsibility to take care of it, not to let it die.”

“My plants never grow, young god.”

You scoffed, even though your mother would be embarrassed that you made the sound with such confidence. “Young god?” You straightened your posture even as your fear grew, and the stranger seemed to grow more and more amused by you. “We’ve never met. It’s bold of you to assume my age.”

“I’ve met all the Olympians, so tyou can’t be one of them, and you’re no demigod, either,” she said, and your heart clenched at the fact. You knew no one who had met all twelve of the major gods that wasn’t one. The woman was certainly a god, it was as obvious as anything in the world, but you had no idea of what. “And you glow like the morning sun. You’re a young god.”

“Maybe so,” you said softly. “But I request that you take care of the things you decide to create.”

“Most people don’t get brave enough to request things from me,” she mused, and then her crossed arms went to her side. “Do you lack the skills to look around you and infer?”

“I suppose I do today,” you shrugged, and she gave a light smirk, almost like you were her entertainment for the day. You could hear your mother’s voice in your head though, telling you to run and that this woman was no good, no matter how at ease she seemed in the moment. In fact, the closer she got to you and the longer she stood there, the more you felt death swirling in the air and trying to pierce through some sort of protection and finish you off for good.

“You’re in the Underworld, young god.” Your breath was stolen right out of your chest, and you could barely see the faint look of triumph on her face. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know what that tree was,” she said, and for some reason, her voice seemed to tease you more than reprimand you.

You knew vaguely of what it meant. Now that you knew it was the tree, the one tree on all heaven and earth that you had no business touching, you knew who it belonged to, and what it did. It belonged to the woman before you, the god whose presence was making you more and more terrified by the second. Now, you knew exactly who she was. “You?” You sputtered, and she lifted a perfect brow. “You’re Hades?”

You don’t know what you expected. Maybe a woman dressed in all back wit long, dark hair, and a sickly smile. Maybe you expected for her to look as terrifying as the thought of death was. You expected some one who looked much more terrifying than the red headed woman before you, even though she was without a doubt intimidating. 

“I prefer another name, but that will do from you,” she said, and your jaw dropped. “And you saved my tree.” You knew you had, but the consequences of the far ff tale that you had never imagined would apply to you were running around in your head. You were kicking yourself for being drawn to the tree in the first place, and for your morbid curiosity and the way that you ran straight out of your mother’s suffocating but protecting arms. “Do you know what that means, young god?”

Your voice was shaky, almost not even there when you muttered the word “yes” and stared off into the distance, cursing yourself for not listening to what your mother had told you ever since you could remember.

“I hope you have enough strength for the entire garden, young god.” 

You were bound to Hades and her realm by age old magic, and there was nothing that you or your mother could do until you found a way to do the impossible; make the Garden of Hell grow.

Your blank stare must have made her uneasy, because she snapped her fingers in front of your face. When you blinked, you saw something huge come barreling your way, and once you realized what it was, your heart fell into your stomach. She had summoned a huge, three headed dog to come and lean over the both of you, eyes yellow and staring at you with intrigue that made you want to screech. Instead, you swallowed. “Please. You can let me go, I won’t tell.”

“Its magic almost as old as I am, placed by Hecate. You may know her as Wanda.” She gave you a shrug, but she hardly looked bothered. “Her spell cannot be broken, not even by herself.”

Your breathing was accelerating, and you saw Hades look at you strangely, and you were sure she could sense your extreme fear. You locked eyes with the dog, the dog even you had heard of despite your mother cursing the owner’s name. “I don’t know how I fixed your tree, and I doubt I could do it again. Please, let me leave.”

“By bringing that tree back to life, you’ve made your decision and signed your name in blood.” You both ignored the pitiful sound that escaped your throat. “There’s nothing that I can do about it.”

You gulped. “My mother will come looking for me,” you said, and you watched her unbothered face drop just a bit, and then she tilted her head to the side. You had gotten her. “She won’t stop until she finds me and brings me home.”

“You say this like I should be afraid of your mother, who is no doubt a nymph of some far off forest.” You made a face. She simply shrugged, her shoulder length red hair bouncing a bit. “She’s nothing to me.”

Being a nymph was the furthest thing from dishonorable. They were loyal and always very beautiful. You almost cried when you realized that you would never see your overbearing nymphs again. “My mother is not a nymph.”

“I do not care for whatever minor goddess birthed you, young goddess. Not even Zeus could break this, and you’d best understand that.”

“My mother is friends with Hecate. She will make her find a way to release me, Hades.”

There was a pause in the conversation, but none of the tension faded. If anything, it only built on the silence. “How is it that you’re a god, yet I’ve never seen you?” Hades asked, a frown on her face.

“My mother keeps you far away from me because she despises you.” You spat, and you saw a flash of light behind her eyes, and she breathed out harshly. “I was never supposed to meet you.”

“The Fates have spun your destiny a different way than either of us have hoped, then.” She said, her voice rough as she looked you right in your eyes. It was then that you noticed how pale her blue eyes were, and the emotion that lacked. Her pink lips curled down all of a sudden, and then her eyes were narrowed. “Demeter, isn’t it? She’s your mother?”

You gathered all of the courage that you had left after everything that happened. The feeling of death was still intimidating, and even worse was the way Hades commanded the space with her hellhound. “Yes. And she will find me, and she will take me home.”

“This is a one way ticket until you can fix my garden, flower girl. Believe me, I don’t particularly want you here, either.” She looked you up and down, eyes lingering on the crown of flowers on your forehead and the way you had bands of them wrapped around your wrists and ankles. You were the brightest thing down there, and it was obvious that she wasn’t used to seeing things so… alive. “Your mother is just going to have to be upset.” She gave you one last look, her eyes on the dress made of fabric and flowers for a second too long to be categorized as a fleeting glance. She muttered something in a language that was foreign to you, and her unimaginably tall dog stood all the way up at attention, slightly baring its teeth at you until you forced yourself to look away from it.

And then they were gone. And you were alone. By yourself in the Land of the Dead, the one place a flower would never grow. In the one place where you could truly perish.

                                                 *******

hi guys! i really hope you guys liked this one, this idea has been like swirling around in my mind for months and i can’t get it to leave. it’s s much fun right now to write though, so i hope at least one of y’all enjoyed this lol

if you happen to like this and would like to be placed on one of my tragic tag lists, it’s a definite yes for me! thank you guys for reading this 

[phantaloon-books]

Things about Tower of Nero that I want to highlight to remember them forever:

Lu being an absolute badass woman, I just love her too much

Piper McClean being canon wlw, she was actually kissing another girl, we really fell in love in october

Chaos being canonically female (just chaos being mentioned as a deity rather than what's below tartarus)

nobody DIED, like no one on the good side at least?? yes plenty of beings have died throughout TOA, but nobody died in TON?? so many died in TLO and BOO, I expected to mourn someone and I didn't have too??! it made me so happy

solangelo. that's it. solangelo makes me happy.

will being incredibly supportive of nico, and instead of stopping him, going with him on dangerous adventures because he doesn't want to leave him alone. also them treating Nico's PTSD for what it is

WILL SOLACE CANONICALLY GLOWS IN THE DARK. HE'S A GLOWSTICK BABY.

also will just appearing at the gates of the throne room, glowing in rage because someone touched his boyfriend (and tried to kill his dad), and him just marching through everyone (everyone else letting him), just to pick up his hurt precious boyfriend and take care of him.

meg McCaffrey got her happy ending. she's baby, she deserves her family and her happy ending. also Lu being the mother and the 12 children being siblings?? that's one hell of a way to tell nero to fuck off and right his mistakes. we love meg.

dionysus being the best olympian after apollo. the duo content we needed, and now will never get

nico mentioning bob and how he wants to go look for him, because he can still be in tartarus

rachel still being a Total badass and hitting people in the eye with her blue hairbrush thus being iconic

meg acting as lester's anchor and only reason why he didn't let go of the ledge, not falling into chaos, is top tier 'reasons why I cried reading', because if you think about it, Meg is the first ever friend apollo ever had, and them being best friends is everything to me

also apollo choosing to go looking as lester rather than apollo because lester feels like home is on top tier 'reasons why I cried reading' too

again, the only thing apollo did in the end (once he was god again) that could be described as 'godly' was be in several places at once, fly his chariot, and get meg her unicorn

but apollo shooting fucking fire out of his hands is crazy asf, it was so cool. he really got amazing godly powers this book.

rick being bold enough to showcase abusive parenting knowing that a huge porcentage of his readers are minors, helping many realize that they could be in abusive households, and giving them a tool to reach out for help

apollo defeating nero was so satisfactory, because you realize in the end, that nero wasn't really a monster, he was monstrous, but still very much human (if only with some godly power), and pretty useless once he couldn't hide behind props and weapons, his being wasn't powerful, he was just under layers of protection

the jackson/blofis scene was so warm and loving, they really are willing to put their family in danger, baby estelle in danger, to help 'percy's friends' even tho she knew percy didn't like apollo, but she still takes in everyone who needs help, and paul being a loving and accepting husband

sally working on her SECOND novel, she really is having her best life

none of the big heroes from other series having protagonism, besides nico and will, instead giving the other kids from camp halfblood their chance to show they're just as worthy as the "heroes of olympus"

(still I would have loved to see a scene with everyone else, like the heroes of olympus guys, fighting together one last time, just for nostalgia's sake - I legit hoped to see percy and annabeth arriving with chiron in triumvirate tower, but yeah)

the arrow of dodona may have been a dumb, cringey, and slightly ridiculous thing at first, and I personally rolled my eyes everytime it said anything, but it knew what would happen from the start, and without its sacrifice, apollo would have achieved nothing. we stan one arrow

nico wearing a white cowboy hat. idky but it makes my heart swell with joy. he a gay cowboy

y'all know I love Apollo's arch, and I just gotta point this out. his trials, his time as lester, started with him falling to earth, and ended with him getting up after purposely throwing himself off the earth, towards tartarus, almost falling to chaos. that's really clever writing.

the olympians watching over him, and some actually being concerned for him rather than his progress.

poseidon not really giving a fuck about the world or council meetings anymore because percy's not there anymore

athena being the only one apart from artemis who trusted apollo could do it makes me warm fsr

lester deciding that the best way to retell his adventures is by singing is hilarious to me, he really thinks it'll solve everything

Grover not telling percy and annabeth jason died seems so funny to me, he really said "nah it doesn't matter much, field trip, yes"

"hey man" my heart broke in twenty million pieces. like I don't know where I expected to see jason. but that wasn't it. and it hurt me as much as it hurt apollo man.

(also I kinda hoped we would see nico summon his spirit or smth, but I'm actually happy nico realized that jason went by his own choice, and he was in peace, so he decided not to summon him, because it was alright. that hurt too)

kinda love how lester passes out after literally every battle. it reminds you that even tho he's apollo, his body isn't. I'm sure we all would pass out too if we did a quarter of what lester did in the span of 4 days. his body isn't made to endure that, it doesn't even have a halfblood endurance, it's a weak mortal body

the trogs were fucking hilarious. their screeches and grrs, idk there's something ridiculous and so childish about them, it's so fun

really happy that apollo never had a /real/ love interest (reyna doesn't count), cause that wasn't what his story was about. instead he got to make so many friends, and have quality time with them and his children, it's amazing

apollo being thankful people were telling him he'd grown, and was more human, because he realized that was the best thing he could have learned from his time as a mortal

also him saying fuck you man to zeus and his speech, like "no asshole dad, I did learn, I'm not going to see this as punishment, it was a great time in which bad things happened but I enjoyed it." yes, we love apollo not letting zeus win

getting to see what everyone will do now. nico and will figuring out rachel's prophecy, probs saving bob. rachel living her best life away from her parents. leo doing what leo does, always helping those who have no one else. the hunters' open storyline about this fox, possibly hinting at content? piper settling down in a quiet life is what she deserves tbh, she's earned quiet life with a cute gf, wish her the best. Frank and hazel being the best praetors, and I bet they will continue to be so. And annabeth and percy, who chose their happiness over all, at last

kinda wish we got to see someone still really miss jason after apollo becomes god again tho lmao like apollo missed jason more than the others, nico and piper being the exception. I mean, leo is fine and dandy, hazel and frank are okay, percy and annabeth are done mourning... I just we got to see any of them really mourning, rather than reading they mourned. it would have made it feel more emotional

the last conversation and the last words in general. "the sun always comes back" and "we're friends now. call on me. I'll be there for you" that shit got me sobbing my heart out. rick really managed to do right by the books and end it like he should have, unlike BOO. he took what made TLO good and used a similar formula. it's very different from "and for once I didn't look back", but it still fills you with warmth and the feeling that even though it's over, it's okay.

I'm just really emotional, this is all I can think about, but you bet I'm gonna add more when I remember