The Damned

Chapter 6

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It was 8:00 p.m that same night and Onyx knew her parents had gone to the city as they did every Friday night for their date nights. They always kept their room locked but with with Dimitras' powers running through her, she knew she would likely be able to manipulate and summon objects as her mother could.

She stood outside of their door and opened her hand flat before her. She snapped her fingers, but nothing happened. She tried desperately to remember the instructions her mother had given her when using this power and tried again. She pictured the item she was wanting to summon clearly in her mind and snapped her fingers again, and a skeleton key suddenly appeared in her hand.

She entered their room and went to her mother's desk, she knew her spell book had to be around somewhere. She looked for over an hour but was unable to find it. She suddenly noticed a tile on the back wall of the inside of their fireplace and realized it looked slightly different than the others. It was larger and was perfectly shaped like a square, unlike the rectangle shape the other tiles held.

She approached the elaborate fireplace and placed her hand on the tile which immediately made a clicking noise as the tile moved back a few inches then moved to the side behind the others. Onyx saw the familiar book and smiled. She grabbed it and scanned through it, looking for anything that could possibly have to do with summoning Hades. Towards the back of the book, she found the restricted spells and knew she was on the right track.

As she flipped through the pages, a header suddenly caught her eyes. "Aδης" it read.

"Hades," Onyx said to herself. The goddess' name was followed by endless warnings and documentation which included supporting depictions of accounts where the summoning spell had been used but ended by the user being coaxed and brought back to the underworld as prisoners of Hades. She learned that people had summoned her with intentions of making a deal with her, wanting to become thinner or stronger, or even wanting to bring loved ones back from the dead. She also learned that if Hades were to be killed, the one who killed her must take her place as ruler of the underworld, the god of the dead.

Onyx contemplated her idea, she didn't want to take her job and be stuck in the underworld like Hades. She would have preferred to keep Hades there if possible but still wanted to see if she could come to an agreement with her. She tore out the page containing the summoning spell and put the book back where she found it. She went back to the clearing she had found earlier in the day in the woods.

Once she arrived, she placed her bag on the ground and pulled five candles out of it. She placed them in a circle as instructed on the folded piece of parchment that that was now folded in her pocket. Once the candles were lit, she pulled the spell from her pocket and took a deep breath. She stood on the edge of the circle and read the spell aloud.

Black smoke began to form and circulate in the middle of the pentagram, causing fallen leaves to fly around the candles in a circular motion. Onyx squinted her eyes as she watched a figure form in the center. It was Hades. She knew if she stayed on the outside of the circle, Hades wouldn't be able to reach her since she wasn't allowed to step foot on the land of the living unless she was invited, and could only stay within the pentagram.
The smoke cleared and Hades stood with her arms folded in front of her, a gleam of evil was present behind her gaze.

"Ahh, Onyx. I told you I'd be seeing you soon." The goddess said, stepping as close to Onyx as she was able. Onyx took a step back and clenched her fists.

"You know why I called you here. I'm ready to make a deal." Onyx said, trying to stay calm and composed. "I'm not afraid of you. I know I could kill you if I wanted, I could kill you right here. I've seen the powers I contain and I understand why you want them." Onyx stated. "I have a proposition for you." She added.

"Yes, you want to make a deal with the devil. Been there, done that. Let's get to the good part." Hades said as she pulled a cigarette from the smooth metal case in her pocket and placed it between her lips, lighting it with the snap of her fingers.

"I'll give you my powers, my hybrid powers. They are too powerful for me to handle anyways and I don't want that responsibility any longer. But let me live, leave me with my newfound powers passed down to me from my mother Dimitras." Onyx bartered, knowing very well that the powers she had gained from Dimitras were actually the stronger of the two.

Hades brought her finger tips to her jaw as she considered the girl's proposal. "Alright." Hades said. She snapped her fingers and a signed document appeared between her and Onyx, it was the agreement her parents had signed before Onyx was born. "Give me your hybrid powers, and I will destroy the contract." Hades added. "Is it a deal?"

Onyx hesitated for a moment as she wondered if any repercussions would follow, or if she and her family would finally be free. "You'll leave my family alone? And all other mystics and hybrids for that matter?" Onyx asked. Hades rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, I'll leave them alone. Now do we have a deal?" Hades asked again.

"Yes, we have a deal." Onyx decided. Hades burned the contract in front of her and a smirk suddenly appeared on her lips. Onyx gasped as she began to rise from the ground, the next thing she remembered was fading into darkness as Hades drained her of her hybrid powers. Once she had taken them from her, Onyx fell to the ground, gasping for air. She looked at Hades whose eyes were green, and green sparks were shooting from her fingertips like lighting as the goddess laughed.

Once Hades'newly gained powers had subsided, Onyx stood.

"I'm not sure if you know this, Onyx. Scratch that, I'm not sure if anyone knows this. But I had taken Dimitras' godly powers on her eighteenth birthday at her mother's request. She wanted me to rid Dimitras of her pure, godly powers because she too knew how much of a burden they were, so I agreed happily as taking her powers only benefited me. I didn't even ask her for anything in return. Clearly, those powers seem to have skipped a generation and were passed down to you as well" Hades admitted.

"I had godly powers like hers once before, you see, but the moment I was banished to the underworld, my pure powers turned dark, I was gifted dirty magic. From there, I used my darkened powers to show humans how to steal powers from the gods, creating the mystic powers you see today." She added.

"Now, thanks to your hybrid powers, I now contain each of the three tiers of power. Maybe the twelve Olympians, my own brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood, will respect me now. Maybe they'll regret discarding me like a piece of trash, damning me to this hell of a life I live." Hades continued. She sighed and looked down, tears had formed in her eyes.

"People think I want these powers to be the strongest and baddest god alive but all I've ever really wanted was to be accepted. To receive the respect I know I deserve. I don't want to be the butt of the joke any longer, and thanks to you, I won't be. You may not understand now, but I will never forget this act of kindness. Thank you Onyx." Hades finished with a smile, before disappearing amongst the leaves in the wind.

Onyx found herself feeling bad for Hades. She didn't realize the goddess had been through so much pain and was severely misunderstood. The actions of her own family had caused her to stoop so low just to get their attention and prove that she was as great as they were. Onyx packed the candles back into her bag and made it back to her room before her parents returned from the city.