Page 16 of Hades and Persephone: Crown of Souls

He offers me a clearly forced smile. I relax my head into the crook of the arm that cradles me so that I can see him, even as I mostly remain lying back on his chest.

“The Titans’ rule was not gentle or kind. Keep in mind, humanity has yet to exist. The earth was a volatile place where creatures of violence and bloodthirst roamed, offering, primarily, entertainment to the Titans. They surveyed the beginning and end of era after era before they bore the second generation of Titans.”

“Another generation of Titans?”

“Yes.” Hades gives a sober nod. “Although these Titans undoubtedly inherited the cruelty of their sires, within them formed something new. Consciousness in a way their forefathers did not bear it.” He tightens his hold around me, as though hefears I may attempt an escape. “Prometheus was born in this second generation of Titans.”

“Prometheus,” I whisper.This is a name I know.

“It was from him that humankind first formed. These humans are what you know today as Neanderthals and Denisovans, as well as less popularly, but still documented by modern humans, the Homo erectus, Homo rhodesiensis, Homo luzonensis, Homo naledi, Homo floresiensis, and a few other discovered populations that people today have yet to name or properly acknowledge. Among them, giants. Homo sapiens came much later than many of these populations, but for a while, coexisted with them.”

I interrupt him, “Did you say giants? Like actual giants?”

Hades nods gravely. “I did. There is much evidence of their existence today, although the human governments work tirelessly to hide it.”

“Some believe the Nephilim were giants,” I muse thoughtfully.

“Yes, another piece of history your religion sources from my truth.” He sounds slightly amused, slightly incensed.

I huff. We could debate this endlessly, but for now I am enjoying his story. I invite, “Go on.”

“Like the story of how your Nephilim were formed, the giants that roamed the Earth were the spawn of matings between Titan and human. Again, as depicted in your religion, they were cruel and without remorse. Thankfully, their birth rates were incredibly low, but they lived for thousands of years before the Titans then created the Gods.”

“And you are a God?”

“Yes.”

“You came from the Titans?” If Hades is truly the God of the Underworld and there is bearing to Greek Myth, then he would be the son of…

He answers, “I am the first son of the Titans, Cronus and Rhea.”

My mind flashes back to that moment in the hot tub when Hades had asked who, if a God or Goddess of myth had parented me, would they be. To me, it had been a silly game. But when I’d returned the question, his answer had been immediate.

He’d been giving me truths all along, I realize. I had simply been too stuck within the confines of my mind to notice.

He adds, “I am the last son to be regurgitated by my father.”

We fall into a silence that is cut only by the sounds of revelry in the city below. But my mind is not quiet. Inside my mind, unlimited questions flash one after another after another.

I probe as gently as I can. “How does all that have to do with the myth of Hades and Persephone?”

“Because to understand how I took her, the barbaric ways I claimed her, and the deceitful ways I kept her—you must first understand how I became the God I’d been. It is not an excuse for the way I behaved, the sins I so willingly carried out, but…”

“Tell me,” I beg gently. “I’m listening.”

His chest rises on a deep inhale, but I don’t miss the slight tremor as he exhales. “I was born into a time of Chaos. Creation had occurred with little thought and less planning. Civilizations roamed the planet with beasts.” A chuff of laughter bursts from his chest. “There was nocivilization. Not truly. At that point, humanity had hardly formed enough to live in small familial clusters, much less civilization. They scrapped like animals, but there had been potential. So much potential for them.”

He looks so struck with emotion as he tells me about the ancient humans crafted by Prometheus. There is genuine wonder in the dark cavern of his eyes, where the secrets of an ancient and long forgotten history continue tolive.

He loved them, the humans. He’d loved them deeply.

“Hades.” I try to twist in his arms, but the firm hold he has on me keeps me pinned in place. I don’t struggle for long, settling back instead. “You loved them. The first humans.”

“Yes, very much. They had such short lifespans, but exquisite minds.”

“What happened?”

“Zeus schemed to study under Prometheus in the ways that he crafted humans. It was from him that homo sapiens were introduced into the populations of the globe. It was because of this, because of his agenda, they were infused with his ego. They quickly became the more powerful of the human species, their minds even more brilliant than those who came before.”

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