The room ahead was dark, with a dizzyingly high ceiling.
The only source of light came from flickering torches on the walls, casting an eerie glow around the Goddesses as they entered. As they walked in, a formidable sight greeted them.
Above them, I was suspended in a cage, dropped by the Harpies. Beneath me lay two thrones, whose occupants were all to familiar to The Goddess of Darkness, and, like icing on the already intimidating cake, the flickering light of the room showed a mound of skulls, upon which the two thrones rested.
The throne on the left was occupied by a tall, thin, haughty-looking woman, who bore a striking resemblance to Pandora.
"This must be Hel," Dawn thought, as she looked up at the woman.
Hades and Hel never attended any meetings, they lived in the shadows. But their reputation preceded them. Dawn struggled to decide if putting a face to the stories made things better, or worse.
Next to Hel, sat the bony figure of Hades. His eyes were shallow and red, seeming to burn and flicker like flames dancing within his irises. The rest of the God's shallow frame seemed so dead, his eyes almost acted as something of a signal, a final sign that this thing might actually be alive.
"Well then, I see you have switched to the losing side, daughter, what a pity for you. Then again, I can't say it surprises me. You always were a failure," Hel said, looking at Pandora with a look of bitter contempt.
She spoke in a soft, deadly voice. It was the type of voice that sends a shiver down your spine and makes the air around you feel cold and miserable all of a sudden.
"Trust me, mother, I don't need your pity. I'm leaving," said Pandora, relishing in the potential freedom.
Hades laughed harshly in response.
"Such a shame to waste your time helping those scum," said The God of Death, turning to Ace and Dawn, looking positively disgusted.
"It's good to see you too, Hades," said Ace, looking positively unabashed.
"It is a disappointment that you picked the wrong side, Astrid. After all, you are a powerful Goddess, we would've been glad of your help, but it's too late for that now," Hel said, looking down at her sister through her narrowed green eyes.
Ace's grin stayed firmly in place, though a slight flash of annoyance seemed to burst across her face. Then, to the surprise of everyone else in the room, the goddess let out a bored yawn, almost as if she was engaged in some tedious work meeting, not a dangerous confrontation.
"Yeah, yeah, you're going to kill us, etc. etc. do we really need the whole villain monologue? It's a little cliché don't you think? And if you were going to insist upon being so tedious... would it kill you to get my name right?" Ace asked before Hades spoke furiously, looking daggers at The Goddess of Chaos.
"Oh, killing you is going to be such a joy... but, perhaps, I will wait. Maybe then, I can give you an end more befitting of your impudence," Hades hissed angrily.
"You mean we can?!" Hel scoffed, to which Hades opened his mouth, then thought better than to argue with her.
However, as Hel opened her mouth to speak again, rather than look terrified and cower behind the others, Ace laughed raucously, disappearing in a crackle of Chaotic energy. A moment later, the goddess appeared behind the two thrones, one foot on each, and blasted Hades and Hel off their perches with a dramatic 'bang!'
"Oh, will you shut up! I have more interesting stuff to do today..." Ace began, dodging a jet of flames from Hel, with a twirl. With nowhere to go, flames to fall straight into Hades who had just got up, only to promptly fall backwards before Ace had the chance to speak again.
"I was planning to watch paint dry for a few hours later, you know!" The Goddess of Chaos said, grinning as she teleported back down to Pandora's side. Dawn's mouth was open in shock as Pandora laughed disbelievingly.
"What, did you want me to wait?" Ace asked, looking round at Pandora.
"No! I've been wanting to do that for years now!" Pandora said, giving Ace a sligsht smirk as Hades and Hel got back up, looking livid.
"Well, I'm certainly not stopping you!" Ace said, grinning as Dawn finally saw me sat in the cage, suspended above the pool of bubbling lava. Something in Dawn's eyes changed as she did, her fists beginning to shake a little, barely visible from my height.
"You will pay for that!" Hel spat at Ace, whose grin seemed wider than the Atlantic Ocean now.
"Oh, I take that you still believe you're going to win. I guess nobody warned you that you'll have to go through us," Ace said, gesturing at her friends as she spoke.
It was Hel's turn to laugh this time, a derisive laugh that echoed through the large stone chamber as she spoke. "YOU? Your ego is bigger than any threat you pose, it's about time somebody taught you that," said Hel, bitterly.
It was then, that Dawn finally gave up waiting, her eyes moving away from me as she stormed up to the Thrones, pulling an unsuspecting Hades to his feet and pushing her nose right up to his. The Goddess of Light was blazing with anger as Hades gave her a long stare, a slight smirk growing at the corner of his mouth. Then, just as Hel was about to throw a jet of Dark Magic at Dawn, Pandora teleported up to where her mother stood, knocking her flying with a brilliant roundhouse kick. A kick which Hel had, ironically, taught her daughter herself.
"How dare you?! Threatening to kill an innocent person just to get your way! She has nothing to do with this!" Dawn said angrily as Pandora spotted her mother sneaking up on Dawn and drew a dagger from her boot, blocking her mother's path. Hel pulled out her own, larger, dagger in response, and Pandora took a step back, fire blazing from one hand as a duel began.
In a moment of distraction from Dawn, Hades blasted her with a jet of Dark Magic. The sheer force of the Magic sent the goddess falling backwards, clutching her stomach. But, even as Ace looked ready to go and help her, Dawn met the goddess' eyes and then turned, nodding at me and flicking her hand towards Hades who collapsed backwards into his Throne. This gave the goddess the time she needed to get back up. So, while Dawn fought Hades and Pandora fought Hel, Ace teleported to the other side of the platform, closer to the cage. She closed her eyes, her hands shaking with effort, as she melted two of the cage bars and teleported in, grabbing me and quickly setting me down in a corner of the room. For a second, Ace looked ready to run off again, only to turn around, and wave her hand, creating a sunshine yellow forcefield around me.
"I would've done that earlier, but I have to be in the same room as the person I'm protecting, sorry," Ace said apologetically.
"It's fine. Good luck," I said, smiling at her, unsure what else to say. She smiled back, nodded and teleported away to join the fight.
Ace emerged next to Dawn, who nodded at her as the two began fighting Hades together.
"That. Was. Brilliant," said Ace, grinning at Dawn, who looked puzzled as Ace casually caused an avalanche of bones to fall down, sending a malevolent Hades crashing to the bottom of the pile.
"What was brilliant?" Dawn asked.
"You going up against The God of Death on your own!" said Ace, with a laugh.
"They've gone too far. First Pandora, now this," said Dawn, sounding far more serious than Ace's out of place humour.
"Hey I'm not complaining," Ace replied as the two pulled off a rather impressive trick, Dawn throwing a jet of light at Hades, with Ace sending several skulls through the light, striking the blinded god and sending him flying backwards once more. After recovering Hades heaved in anger, bringing his sword down hard on Ace's staff which threw the sword off its smooth frame with a blast of stunning yellow light.
"This thing's got a mind of its own you know!" said Ace, laughing in the face of Hades' confused fury.
"So you are the big rescue party for the Realms, then? Good to see you're as hopeless as I'd expected," Hel spat, suddenly throwing Pandora backwards with significant force as she tried to return to the others.
As Pandora landed near the bottom of the mound of bones, Harpies converged on her, the goddess' yells of pain echoing around the intimidating chamber, clashing with the screeches of the Harpies. At this, Ace's face fell, for a second, then darkened dangerously, and she made to rush to Pandora's side when Dawn, who was closer to the goddess, said,
"You deal with Hades, I'll get Pandora."
Ace looked unsure but nodded, albeit curtly, and turned back to Hades, as Hel ran after Dawn.
Ace's blazing yellow eyes met Hades' flickering red ones and their fight synchronised, both sending out attacks at the same time. Ace's was a jet of crackling yellow light, Hades' attack a jet of Darkness, the two of which collided with a crash of black and yellow sparks like a magnificent fireworks display.
"So, that whole time, that was you helping her?!" Hades demanded staring into Ace's flickering eyes with lines of malice drawn across his face.
"Ah, so you heard our conversation? Gods, you must be utterly furious, I bet your blood's boiling under there, that you got tricked for all those years..." Ace started, the two Immortals circling each other.
"How long?! How long were you helping her?!" Hades yelled, looking furiously at the little trickster.
"Ohh ages, I can't even remember the total amount, time flies you know," said Ace, delighting in the shock on Hades' face. A shock that quickly morphed into a storm of wrath as she disappeared just as a huge ball of Dark Magic left Hades' hands, hurling right towards where the goddess had stood. Then, as Hades turned, lifting his sword and ready to strike again, Ace opened a glowing portal beneath him, sending him back onto his throne from a high height. The sheer force of the fall left The God of Death slumped on his throne and distracted for the tiniest of seconds.
In that minuscule, but nonetheless important space of time, Ace stared at Hades' Throne, her eyes burning a bright canary yellow as her powers blazed, her mind focused. Just, as Hades began to get up, the throne collapsed into a pile of rubble leaving Hades in the centre of it- looking like he wanted nothing more than to kill Ace and her annoying cronies, whether one of them was his daughter or not. Slowly, the two started circling each other once again like two cats waiting to strike.
Hades moved first.
He lunged towards Ace, now armed with his swords, pointing straight at her heart. However, when the swords should've pierced Ace's heart, Hades found himself falling through bright yellow smoke- as the illusion disappeared- the god only just managing to save himself from falling off of the platform around, much to the delight of the Goddess standing behind him. Hades whipped round, his face gaunter than ever his eyes two circles of flaming fury. Standing on the rubble of his destroyed throne was Ace, her freckly face lit up by a wide grin.
"Must you be so theatrical?" Hades asked between gritted teeth, drawing closer to the goddess who hopped off the rubble with a grin of mock outrage on her face.
"Oh! Me? I'm overly theatrical? So to get this right- you, the guy who is wearing a necklace of bones, sweeping black robes and who announces himself as 'Hades God of Death, King of the Underworld and bringer of Darkness?'- is telling me that I'm overly theatrical? Oh give me a break!" Ace said, chuckling, as she dodged attack after attack. But her cocky laughter was eventually snuffed out by a heavy blow to her nose. Ace's nose was fairly swollen now, a trail of golden dried blood under her right nostril. Pain for which Hades received a hard prod in the back from Ace's staff.
"I don't think you realise what you've done. You could have left this place alive, or not even been here at all, so, I'm going to take pity on you Ace," began Hades, his eyes narrowing as Ace blinked innocently, like she'd stumbled into this whole story entirely by accident.
"Take pity on me? Aww, that's adorable Hades," Ace said, laughter ringing through her voice.
"What's adorable exactly? Hades snapped angrily.
"You thinking that I need your pity! Hades, if anyone needs pity right now, it's you!" said the little goddess, laughing in the face of death.
Hades however, did not look happy, and, after a tense second, he grabbed the Goddess' wrist shoving his face close to hers, even more furious to see that there was still an inexplicable grin on Ace's freckled face.
"You don't know what you're dealing with. You think you're so smart for hoodwinking us all these years, well don't think you've done anything. You should know- even if Pandora leaves, one will accept her, no will believe that she's anything more than what she is- a 'villain' as they like to call it. And if you think they'll believe you over me, well then, you're more deluded than I thought."
Ace paused for a minute, staring Hades right in the blazing eyes as she finally spoke,
"And, if you think I care about that, then you are the deluded one my factious little friend."
"Don't take this lightly. You may not be scared of me, but you should be," said Hades, practically hissing now.
But Ace only smiled up at Hades bitterly, as he kept a hold of her wrist.
"Oh Hades, you want to know if I'm scared of you? Here's my response!" and, with that, The Goddess of Chaos brought up her boot, kicking Hades hard in the shins, making him drop her wrist and buckle over with a groan of pained irritation.
Before Hades could reach Ace again, she teleported out his way, appearing behind the god and laughing her head off as she dodged his attacks.
While all this was going on, Pandora and Dawn were still dealing with Hel and the Harpies at the bottom of the bony mound.
Dawn was facing the Harpies, blinding them with flashes of bright light to prevent them getting close to them. Pandora was facing her mother, their pincer sharp daggers clashing with noises as clear and sharp as the blade itself.
"So, you were sneaking out all that time? You ungrateful little brat, you have so much here and yet you chose to go behind our backs with that little freak, pathetic," spat Hel.
Pandora swiped her dagger more fiercely with every word that left her mother's mouth, practically giving up on her weapon as she threw balls of fire towards her mother as well, no rhyme or reason to her attacks.
"UNGRATEFUL?! Ungrateful for what?! What have you given me that I actually wanted?! Heck, what have you given me, full stop?! If anyone is pathetic, it's you! You just can't understand that I am not just a pawn in your stupid game!! I'm done just playing along!!!" said Pandora, angrily dodging her mother's attacks.
"You will do as you are told! You have a legacy to protect!" yelled Hel.
"Well. Consider. That. Legacy. Fucked." said Pandora, in-between swipes, before hitting her mother with a blast of Dark Magic so powerful it knocked her off her feet.
"You're more like us than you think," Hel said, coughing in-between her harsh laughs. "She's nothing like you," said Dawn, slipping her hand around Pandora's clenched fist and flicking Hel's sword away from her with a quick repellent force-field, her eyes still focused on Pandora's strikingly green ones.
Back at the the platform, Ace- a extra streak of golden blood escaping her slightly swollen nose and making its way steadily down her pale face towards her mouth -spoke loudly and clearly towards Hades.
"So, while we're here, why don't you enlighten us all with knowledge of how you and your wife fooled most of the Godlands into believing that it was your daughter who was the problem? Because I assume you had to persuade some people, a little bribe there, a little favour there, right? And knowing you, you were doing all that with your fingers crossed behind your back," finished the goddess, swerving out of the way of attack, after attack, teleporting lazily away and getting a good few attacks in herself as she did.
"Well, you are a smart little sorcerer, aren't you?" Hades said, sarcastically. "Oh not necessarily smart, just not content to sit and ignore the world falling apart around me because somebody else assures me it'll be just fine," Ace said, dodging an attack from Hades and giving him a further kick in the shins while Pandora and Dawn headed up the hill, fighting Hel as they did. On top of this all, the Harpies flew off, battered and bruised, out of the chamber with shrieks of defiance and defeat.
"You think you're the hero. You think the world revolves around you. I hope I'm there to see the day your ego comes crashing down," said Hades, menacingly, to which Ace only smirked.
"Come back here you useless birds!" Hel yelled towards the retreating Harpies, who paid no attention to the furious goddess. As he made to get up, Ace put a foot on Hades' chest holding him down, much to his indignance. Pandora stopped her mother mid attack, wrapping her arms in Jotunn Iron chains, inhibiting her powers, as Ace did the same to Hades, just in time. But, in the midst of the surprised relief, Hel looked up at the three friends in fury, spitting out a last threat as she did.
"You know we may be 'Immortals', but there are plenty of ways that we can kill all of you. And we will."
"Not where you're going," said Pandora, her fists clenched and her eyes glistening, Dawn getting leading me back as Ace clicked her fingers, sending us all into a momentary void.
The Underworld enchantments that had been inhibiting our escape had vanished.