𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐫 ,, 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜. 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤

icicle

idfk who made the og pic, probs game concept art

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"There it is, Etna, Forge of Hephaestus." I said, with wonder and shock. Wind howling right after I uttered those words.

It used to be bumbling with activity and fire. The one and only Klytotékhnēs created great equipment for the gods and their children here. He has created things such as Hermes' helmet and sandals, Achilles' armour & even Helios' sun chariot. Having the sons of Poseidon by his side, Brontes. Steropes & Arges, forging all powerful weapons like Zeus' Lighting Bolt. He could create all-mighty equipment and weapons which could wipe out any mortal within a second. With the great mountain having sparks fly out anytime the cyclops or the blacksmith himself would forge anything. It was a place full of beauty, fire, wonder and creation.

Now it lies as a cold, barren wasteland. Nothing like what the legends would tell. Rather there being sparks flying out of the volcano and ground quaking to show that the god and the sons were at work, there was a cold, dead gust of wind blowing on my face. There were icicles and sharp ice spikes growing out every part of the mountain, with the face of Hephaestus in the entrance of the now-cave.

"Leon..." I turned my head to look at my partner. "Are you sure about this?". I sighed and gave her a warm smile, "We're going to be alright, Ari", she fiddled with the tassels at the end of her red cape. "How can you be so sure? What if we get hurt and one of us dies and we aren't able to-", I stopped her from continuing by giving her a hug.

"We've been training for almost the whole year. I promise that I can and will protect you and myself" She sighed and said "And I'll protect you and myself as well". "Come on, lets go" I let go of her and started to walk towards the bridge, putting my hood over myself, Alice following behind.

Soon we were at the front of the entrance. The bridge wasn't difficult to get through, just a bit slippery. We turned our faces to each other and gave a nod of reassurance. We entered the cave with my axe at the ready and Alice holding her bow and arrow.

We explored the cave for a bit with caution. Seeing all those frozen workbenches, tools & equipment saddened me. This was all of Hephaestus' and the brother's hard work frozen, gone to waste. It's difficult to witness yours or others' work get left behind just like that.

"Leon, come here" Alice called and I walked to where she was. I looked up and saw the brothers, frozen with fear on their faces. They were holding their weapons in the air, seemingly ready to attack. "Guess they didn't have much time to do much before getting turned into ice statues" I said.

Suddenly I heard a loud whoosh behind me and my partner. We immediately got our weapons at the ready. There was a chuckle, a dark chuckle. I could recognize who it was. I uttered...

"Hades."

He appeared right in front of us in a cloud of grey and blue mist. He had a stoic face, yet you could sense the egocentric aura from it. He then had a small smirk on his face and said "Tsk, they send a bunch of lowly mortals to fight me. How cliché."

"You know that we were blessed with the powers from the Gods" Alice retaliated. "Gods?? My word, you humour me! I know you only got the blessings from the children, the Demigods." He started to hum for a second. "Let me guess, the girl has the powers of Atalanta and the other one has the powers of Orpheus, correct?". We glared at him, gripping our weapons even harder. We couldn't attack yet, he needs to be off his guard.

He chuckled again with pride. I spoke up "Why are you like this? You know that you were better than the whole entire Parthenon!". Hades quickly turned to me. "Sweet human, you don't even know? We ancient ones were the embodiment of everything that was wrong with civilization that worshipped us. Did you think I'd be different because I was the God of the Underworld? Foolish."

We were silent, we didn't know what to say. He was unfortunately right.

He sighed. "I don't want to stop the fun. Let's fight, cowardly beings" He said with a sly smirk.

Alice quickly grabbed the fire potion from her satchel and poured it all in her quiver. She grabbed one of her arrows at the ready, now the tips burning with fire, embers surrounding it.

"You attack, I'll try my best to defend!" I said to her before she jumped along the walls. Hades swirled his fingers creating a whole mini-ice mist version of Cerberus. He howled as Alice shot one of her bows while saying a spell. The arrow stopped mid-air and transformed into a boar with embers around it. Hades' eyes turned into a dark pool of black and blue and the crystal on his forehead glowing, while Alice's turned into a mix of blue and yellow. The boar was supposed to have part of her soul in it, the boar got hurt, so would she, but she couldn't die and the same applied to Hades and his Cerberus.

The animals started fighting on their own. With each person shouting different moves and maneuvers in Greek. They did go off to fight on their own. Hades would throw spikes at her and she would shoot her arrows. My axe turned into a shield in which I would protect Alice from wild attacks, as I promised.

We fought like never before, so very different from our training. Out of breath yet adrenaline and the power from the blessings pumping through our blood, fueling us.

Soon Hades was caught up. Alice and I would never show any signs of weakness or instability which threw him off considering that we were lowly mortals. He was stressed out and he didn't even try to hide it. I have to admit it was kind of amusing.

"Argh!" He yelled. "How come these humans are beating me!?". He would get scars on his body from the wild boar beating Cerberus as well as burn marks from Alice's arrows. He was getting weaker, so we might be able to attack soon. Just then, Alice's boar ripped off the heads of Cerberus, the rest of the headless dog's body withering away. Hades' eyes turn back to normal as blood starts dripping from his neck, not necessarily killing him but weakening him.

I grabbed my shield and it turned into an axe. I threw it at his neck, decapitating Hades. His body and head dropped towards the ground. I grabbed his head and popped off the crystal. The crystal emanated a dark, gloomy energy yet had a soft, nature-like one too. I dropped his head onto the ground as the body faded away, similar to the mini-Cerberus.

"You have the crystal now?" Alice asked me. I responded by saying a simple yes. We put on our hoods and left the cave.

"With this, we'll be able to get to Persephone now" I said. Alice shushed me and reminded me to only use her other names. "The story isn't over yet, you know," She said. "I mean yes, we still have to fight Kore-" She cut me off by saying "I know. Hades is still not defeated though, he's only temporarily weakened. Who knows how long it'll be before he has his full powers and strength back". I nodded.

"The story isn't over yet, it seems"

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another picture prompt for schoollll. this one was made last year so its a bit choppy ig. i might make more stories abt the lore of alice and leon, maybe some oc/lore tidbits and info <3

see ya babes