The sound of cheers and laughter filled the hall, currently occupied by several godly figures. They sat around a long table made out of white marble. It was massive enough to easily fit a hundred guests, side by side. The hall was lined by giant marble pillars, holding up the roof. Every inch of available space on it was covered in paintings, depicting the heroic deeds of the greek pantheon.
At the head of the table sat Zeus, the god of sky and thunder, as well as the current King of the gods. He wore a pristine white toga, revealing his rippling muscles underneath, as he slammed his hand on the table repeatedly in laughter. His shoulder-length, curly white hair flowed freely as he threw his head back in mirth.
He was surrounded by eight of his sons and daughters. To his left, Athena, Dionysus, Aphrodite and Ares were seated. To his right sat Hephaestus, Apollo, and Artemis. Standing behind him, wearing a fancy black suit with a red tie, was Hermes. He was holding a clipboard, furiously writing on it.
Except for Hermes, everyone's attention was on a sphere that sat on the table. Its width was roughly one yard across, and it was held up by a bronze statue of the Titan Atlas. The sphere was currently functioning as a mirror to another dimension, allowing the gods to observe what was happening on the other side.
It showed a black and white pony, as it fell into a mass of water with a huge splash. The clear fluid around it was soon tainted a deep crimson, as it resurfaced and started to gently bob downstream the conversation continued.
“So how’s it looking Hermes?” Zeus’s booming voice asked.
“Pretty good I’d say, Father.” As he finished his writing he looked up to make eye contact with Zeus. “The only one betting on the mortal dying within his first fourteen days awake, was Hades. So while we’ll have to pay him a generous sum, we made a big profit ourselves.”
Betting was something the gods had picked up from the Humans. Even though they didn’t actually need money in their plane of existence, it was just another source of entertainment for them. The more money one had, the better his standing within the pantheon got. If for some reason a god went bankrupt, a harsh punishment was delivered before giving out a starting capital to re-enter the fun.
As the God of Trade, Hermes was assigned the duty of keeping track of how each god ranked. The ones currently with him in the hall had nothing to worry about. While others such as Heracles or Hestia, were getting dangerously close to bankruptcy.
“Excellent!” Zeus exclaimed. “Be sure to inform everyone on this new development. Show them the recording too! The way he fell was hilarious!”
“Yes, Father.” Hermes replied.
Hermes also held the position of messenger within the pantheon, so he wasn’t just keeping track of the standings, the duty to inform the other gods on their entertainment also fell to him. He calmly strode across the hall, and exited through a massive extensively decorated oaken gate.
When Hermes left, Zeus spoke up once again.
“Well, the mortal will most likely be out of it for at least a day. Shall we go and have ourselves a feast to celebrate this turn of events?” He asked.
Everybody agreed fervently, Dionysus most of all, being the god of wine.
“A feast it is then!” Zeus shouted jovially.
They got up and followed Hermes out the gate, with the feasting grounds set as their destination. As they left, silence fell upon the room. The sphere, now forgotten, continued to show the grey pony, peacefully drifting downstream.
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Alex awoke slowly. His senses started up one after another, giving him an idea of where he might be. First, his sense of touch returned to him. He felt a hard, jagged surface underneath him. His hearing returned shortly after, the sound of gentle waves caressing his ears, as well as the rhythmic plops of water droplets hitting the ground. When his sense of smell came back, he could taste the humidity in the air, and smell the earthy aroma of moss associated with caves.
Alex concluded that he was lying inside of an alcove, close to a body of water. When he felt awake enough, he slowly sat up before opening his eyes. The cold was seeping through his clothes, so he used his hands to rub his legs, creating friction and warmth.
It was only after a few seconds of doing this, he actually noticed that he was using hands. He furrowed his brow, and began to inspect the rest of his body. No matter how he looked at it, he was back in his human form.
“Was all of that just my imagination?” He asked himself.
Maybe he had an accident, and what he thought was real, was just a fever dream. He took a closer look around inspecting his surroundings. All around him was black rock, creating a cave with no apparent entrance to it. To his right, an old rickety boat gently rocked upon a small lake. The body of water had an eerie green glow to it, and Alex could’ve sworn he saw something slither around within its depths.
His confusion was mounting with each passing second, that’s when a voice cut through the darkness of the cave.
“So you’re finally awake.” A masculine voice called to him.
Alex looked around to find the source of it. After a few seconds of searching he came up with nothing, nobody seemed to be around. Steps started to echo throughout the cave, and Alex turned his head towards its source. A shadowy figure detached itself from the wall to Alex’s left, revealing a tall and muscular man.
He wore a dark purple toga, and held a golden bident in his right hand. His hair was long and black, complimented by a magnificent full beard. The stranger walked up to Alex and offered him his free hand.
Perplexed, Alex took it, and he was given a boost to stand up. He wobbled slightly, not being as used to bipedal locomotion anymore, but managed to stay upright.
The stranger walked over to the lone boat and got in. He lit a lantern hanging from it’s front and sat down on one of two available spaces.
“If you want answers, come.” He said.
The way he said it wasn’t an order, indicating that Alex had a choice in whether or not he actually trusted the new arrival or not. Having nothing better to do, and seeing no other available options, Alex decided to join the stranger on the small vessel.
After Alex had sat down, the other passenger tapped his bident twice on the wooden floorboards and the boat started to move on it’s own. Now that he had a better view of the lake, Alex took a peek over the side of their vessel.
He couldn’t see the bottom, there also was no discerning source of the soft glow it seemed to emit. He furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes when he detected movement once again. Below them, semi transparent forms drifted away from the direction they were currently heading. He had just noticed that they were vaguely human shaped when the stranger spoke up once again.
“Allow me to introduce myself.” He started. “I am Hades, King of the underworld.”
Upon hearing the stranger's name, Alex immediately connected the dots. Everything that happened was real. His turning into a pony, Vibrant Colors, Harvest, Crimson. His own death. He sat next to Hades, which meant the lake they were currently on would most likely be connected to the river Styx.
“I see you’re a sharp one.” Hades said. “You’ve already realized where you are. Good. That saves me some time.”
Alex turned to face Hades, a questioning look in his eyes. “You mentioned something about answers before. What was that all about?” He asked.
“I have the answers you desire. About why you’re here, and what has happened to you.” Hades stated. “There’s a lot more to it than you were lead to believe.”
Hades now had Alex’s undivided attention. “I’m all ears.”
“Then I shall tell you.” Hades replied while they were passing into a smaller tunnel, the lake thinning out into a gently flowing river.
“But first a question. Are you aware who the titan Atlas was? The one whose very name you bear?”
Alex thought for a moment trying to scrape together what little information he had about the subject.
“Atlas was the Titan condemned by Zeus to hold up the skies for all eternity.” He said.
Hades nodded. “Very good. But for you to understand, I will have to go into more detail.” He said. “The stories about Atlas that you humans possess are slightly fabricated from the real tale. Forged by Zeus and his offspring to withhold the truth.”
“When Heracles was on his journey to complete his twelve labors, Atlas tricked him into holding up the skies permanently. Contrary to your depiction of the events, which say it was Heracles who tricked Atlas.” He continued. “Of course Zeus was outraged by this. He freed Heracles from his unjust imprisonment and tracked down Atlas. A fearsome battle broke out between the two, but alas, Atlas was already weakened from his long imprisonment and it only took a matter of time for the Titan to fall.”
Alex listened to Hades’ tale, taking in every detail he could.
“Zeus realized that if he imprisoned Atlas again, he would just escape the next chance he got. So he slayed him on the spot.” Hades explained.
“But before Atlas died, he split off part of his soul. As much as he could, before he met his doom. His soul fragment travelled to the mortal plane, and sought shelter inside a human vessel.”
“Since then, the piece of Atlas’s soul has been passed down for generations. The mortals instinctively gave the name ‘Atlas’ to the child that would bare the soul. Until eventually, it was passed down to you, young Alexander.”
For the first time since meeting him, Hades made eye contact with Alex. The latter was now confused greatly, a question on the tip of his tongue.
“So you’re telling me, that inside of me is a part of Atlas’s soul?” He asked. “Like, THE Atlas, the Titan?” Alex adopted an incredulous look as he stared down Hades for answers.
“Exactly.” Hades responded. “This more or less makes you a demigod. As well as a danger to Zeus’s reign over Olympus.”
Now it was really beginning to be too much for Alex. Everytime he met a god, a shitload of information was dumped on him, changing his outlook on life drastically. Hades continued on undisturbed.
“He is afraid of what slumbers within you.” He said. “So he sought to confine you. To bring you under his control. He let Hermes approach you, under the guise of ‘fulfilling a wish’ as they called it. He subsequently succeeded in putting you in a jail, albeit an unconventional one.”
“The fact that they made you immortal was nothing more than a lie as well. They simply awakened Atlas’s soul within you, so you couldn’t pass it on. You see, they’ve tried to kill previous hosts before. But every time they did, the soul fragment just switched hosts. So they concocted a plan to activate the fragment in an environment they deemed safe, and wait for it to merge with its host’s soul. When that would come to be, they would finally be able to destroy the fragment once and for all.”
“Because the soul is now in an active state within you, the only thing that can kill you is another god. And I assure you Zeus will do everything in his power so that doesn’t happen, not until the fusion is complete.”
Alex gave up. His life was nothing but crazy throughout the last week or so, he decided he could just as well roll with it.
“Yeah sure, ok.” Alex said. “That’s all nice and dandy, but why tell me?”
Hades’s face took a dour expression.
“Some of us gods aren’t happy with how Zeus does things anymore.” Hades said grimly. “Especially Atlas’s offspring, as well as some other choice few.”
Alex nodded in understanding.
“In the distant future, a war will break out once again. It is inevitable.” He added. “And you might just have a role to play in it.”
Silence fell over the two, while Alex let this information sink in. As he did, the boat arrived at a shore running aground shortly before being stopped. Hades got out, and beckoned for Alex to follow. They walked for a short distance, until they stood before a foggy gate.
“Try to process all of this once you’re back.” Hades said. “I’ll repeat it again, you are now a proper demigod. What you do with this power is entirely up to you. Although it may take a long time for yours and Atlas’s soul to fully merge with each other, it will happen eventually. You should ready yourself for when that day comes, because Zeus and the other gods won't be far behind.”
Alex didn’t say anything.
“Whenever you die, we’ll be able to converse like this. While you’re dead I can pull your soul into my realm. Just walk through this gate, and your soul will return to it’s body.”
Alex did as he was told, not making a big fuss about it. Once he was back he really needed to sleep on all of this. Preferably for a very, very long time. He stepped into the fog, white dominating his vision. A mighty pull dragged him at a high speed through an empty void, until he felt like he crashed into something, and everything went black once again.