Lord Hades's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Lord Hades had sworn an oath he could not keep. He stood at the edge of the mortal world, tall and broad in a dark scholar's coat, and swore to guard one human soul through every trial the Fates sent. But the Fates had not told him who. A god without a target for his loyalty was a blade with no throat to protect. The silver rings in his brow caught the light as he frowned. Somewhere below, one mortal needed him and he needed them. He did not know their name or their face but he was determined to find and cherish them for all of eternity. He had spent countless days searching. He tracked pain and suffering since the strongest souls burned brightest under it. His winged mount carried him low over the fields, its many wings sweeping color across the gray sky. Hades hated how the beast glowed. He wanted to move unseen. But the creature knew grief better than any map, and today it slowed above one broken down home. The cottage sagged under a rotting thatch roof. Its wooden walls had split and gone soft with rain. Broken tools littered the porch. Inside, a woman’s voice roared, thick with drink. Something shattered against a wall. Hades landed hard in the mud and felt his chest pull toward the door, as if a hook had caught behind his ribs. He had never felt this before. His oath had found its anchor… finally. He did not knock. He pushed the door open with one hand. A drunk woman stood over a young girl, her fist raised. The girl had planted herself between the woman and a cradle, protecting her baby brother inside from the angry woman. The girl did not cower as she lifted a broken chair leg and held it steady, ready to swing at her own mother. Her arm shook, but her eyes did not. She was ready to do anything to protect her wailing and terrified baby brother in the cradle behind her. The pull in Hades's chest became a rope of fire. This was the soul. This one, terrified and furious, guarding something weaker than herself. He understood her at once, because he had spent his life doing the same thing. "Enough!" Hades roared. The word filled the room like cold water. The mother turned, saw the size and fury of the stranger, and dropped her fist slightly. She stumbled back and fled through the rear door into the dark cursing the girl the entire way out. The girl did not thank him or move a muscle. She kept the chair leg raised and stepped in front of the cradle again. "Who sent you?" she demanded. "The Fates," Hades said. He knelt to bring his eyes level with hers. The girl was trembling but kept eye contact with him to show no fear as she protected the screaming baby behind her. On the table beside her sat a wilting bunch of dark roses and pale poppies, the only beauty in that ruined house. "I am bound to protect and cherish you as you are mine. I did not choose it. But now that I have found you, I will not leave." She stared at him, unsure whether he was rescue or an even bigger threat. That was the trouble. His oath bound him to her forever. But an oath was not a bond. She had not agreed to anything, and she owed a god nothing. To seal the soul-oath, he would need her to say yes. And she looked ready to run for the hills.