Conquest of the Dark Lord

Chapter 2: The Divine Realm

As the dark lord and Hermes crossed the field, they came across a herd of large red cattle with a man walking among them.

"Hey Apollo," Hermes called out. The man turned towards them and waved.

"Hey Hermes," he said. "What's the word?"

"Nothing much," Hermes responded. "I'm just taking this guy (he pointed at the dark lord) to the castle of the gods."

Apollo froze when he saw the dark lord floating slightly above the grass. This lasted for only a second though and he regained his composure quickly.

"So," he said, dropping the friendliness he had shown to Hermes. "This is the dark lord I've heard so much about." He gave the dark lord a furious look as he exclaimed, "Do you know how much of a hard time you've been giving me with flying the sun chariot through the sky?! Do you know how many grass fields you have destroyed? My babies can't even graze in the lower realm now. You know why? Because you and your troops have tainted the entire world." He looked past the dark lord at the Pegasi he had rode in on. "And you even have the audacity to bring black Pegasi into our realm. How disgraceful."

The dark lord showed no indication that he heard the rantings of Apollo. This made Apollo even more furious. He stuck a finger in the dark lord's face and yelled, "Get down on the ground you coward, and I'll show you the true meaning of despair!"

"I'd rather not," the dark lord said warningly

"And why not?!" Apollo asked.

"This is why," the dark lord answered, beginning to descend. Right when he touched the ground, the grass began wilting, creating a circle around him.

The red cows, noticing this wilting grass, moo-ed in fear and ran.

"Wait!" Apollo yelled after them. When they didn't listen, he shot one last look of indignation at the dark lord before running off.

The dark lord rose a few feet back into the air watching Apollo fruitlessly chase his cows and attempt to calm them down; Although, before rising, he did create a fifty-foot circle of wilted grass around the spot he had landed. Hermes was astonished by the massive amount of black magic surrounding the dark lord.

"Moving on," Hermes said as he continued walking towards the city.

The dark lord followed. Finally arriving at the city, he descended back to the ground and looked around, observing the scene around him. It was beautiful, with flowers blooming on every windowsill and along the cobblestone path, marble columned buildings which were clean and shone brightly as if imbued with magic. Many pedestrians walked the streets waving merrily at each other and they too shone with beauty. The dark lord had read in books describing the divine realm that these people walking around were all lesser gods with their own special powers. Hermes and himself continued up the street, and as they did so, they attracted looks from the many lesser gods around them. Most of their attention was focused on the dark lord as they pointed and whispered. Some shot him disgusted looks while others looked scared as he passed them. It could've been the evil aura that surrounded him that attracted their attention, but as he scanned the crowd, the dark lord also noted that it may also be his attire. He wore a complete black cloak with a slight silver lining, black pants, and black boots, while the crowd around him wore togas of pink, yellow, lime, teal, or, most commonly, white. There wasn't a single cool shaded color among them. Anyways, they made their way through the city and scaled the stairs leading to the giant palace of the gods.

When they made it up to the top, their eyes met those of a gray-eyed woman's. She glared at the dark lord which for some unexplained reason made the picture of an owl flash through his mind.