51 Lost memories

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Time stopped at that moment and Hades' consciousness left his body and travelled beyond reality, beyond the vast void that encompassed it all and became so fast that the friction seemingly made him dissolve into nothingness.

When he opened his eyes, he was in a dimly lit room, sitting on a comfortable chair and across him sat someone whose features he couldn't make out. 

.

"Welcome ... Adrien. It has been a while."

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Hades widened his eyes. He had never told anyone his name!! The name he had left behind. He started to panic. If this being knew who he was then ...

"Calm down. You should be able to remember me now."

"I ... I'm not sure... my memories are hasty when looking at you."

"That is understandable. No one should be capable of perceiving me. The fact that you can, shows your magnificent talent."

"Talent? Just because I can see you? ...Who are you?"

"I am the one who gave you this chance. The one who made you what you are. I made you Hades."

!!!

Hades remembered. It all started to fall back into place. The missing memories, which he never realised had been missing. He had met this 'person' before and had forgotten all about it. 

"Why am I here? Did I cross some lines?"

"Nothing like that no. You are here because you have achieved something so rare, that it might as well be impossible. You have comprehended something 'impossible'."

"I did? What was- ..."

"Yeah you understand, don't you?"

"The Sixth Note?"

"Correct. The Sixth Note is not something that is only found in the DC Multiverse. Something like the Sixth Note can be found in all the Multiverses and they are always mentioned somewhere. 

But it is never obvious. It is something small, something that you might know about, but not enough is known and therefore it gets forgotten."

"But ... what is it?"

"It is as you realised. The Sixth Note is the cosmic force beyond imagination and is unlocked when the impossible is glimpsed. The Sixth Note is the manifestation of Socrates' saying: I know that I know nothing. 

You only need to glimpse at the impossible to unlock it. And by understanding that, you have reached something that should not be possible. Freedom."

"... What?"

"Haha, explaining it can be confusing. Let me make it easier for you. You chose three wishes. The first was to gain the extra divinity of boundaries. The second was to be immune to anything and everything that you would consider harmful to yourself. The third is to be a singularity and therefore be every Hades in each of the worlds you go to.

However no matter how strong you become, no matter how many limits you remove with your power, you will never truly be able to remove or break the last limit. The final of all limits. The limit that stops you from reaching ... my position.

The reason for that is because you can never grow more powerful than me, as I gave you your abilities and powers. 

... However ... you have achieved something that no one else has. You have understood the Sixth Note. You have therefore gotten the free ticket, the clear path to truly unlimited heights. 

You are now truly free from all limits that exist and don't exist. You will one day ... surpass me. And then I can finally rest and leave all the things to you."

.

.

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"That means that something like the Sixth Note exists in every universe?"

"Yes."

"But because no one glimpsed at the impossible, no one ever could reach your level of power."

"Correct again."

"So I was not yet truly free before?"

"No. But you are now and that means you have free reign now. The Omniverse is open for you."

"I don't know what to say. I enjoy being Hades. I don't want to leave that behind."

"And who said you must do that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just because you will surpass me doesn't mean you can just do that now or in the next millennia. You have a long way to go before you reach my position of power. And even if the time comes where you have made it ... if you don't want to take my position or stay here all the time ... then don't. 

It is essentially your decision and you can decide what to do with it. Just remember that you can't go being lazy and think that you'll eventually reach this position. It needs you to continue growing otherwise you'll never make it."

"Then do you think I was lucky because of my wishes?"

"You made some wonderful wishes and the fact that you combined your first and second wish together, was a stroke of genius. The third wish was essentially useless and you could have wished for something else, but it was your decision."

.

"What should I do now?"

"What do you want to do?"

"Well, I was thinking of going to Bleach world or making a quick stop in another world like One Piece, to learn some Haki. Could be useful when dealing with Kyoka Suigetsu."

"Haha ... you are still thinking very small. You have the power of boundary manipulation and have just now gained true and absolute freedom. There is nothing that can bind or capture you unless you wish to make things interesting. 

Be that a prison, trap, illusion or anything really. But I understand if you want to have some fun and not use the power to its fullest."

"Well, I was thinking. Can I just have the power to be a passive that lets me have limitless potential, true limitless potential?"

"Yes. Then you wouldn't have to focus on it all the time. A good idea."

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"Well, then I think I'll head back. It is nice to know that I will one day surpass the being who stands at the pinnacle of everything, but I rather enjoy myself at the moment. It's always fun to learn new things. 

If I know everything, I'll get bored very fast and then have nothing else to do. And it is good to know that the ladder is truly the only thing there is."

"Haha. It seems Petyr Baelish was quite clever. To understand that with his human mind. A remarkable fellow."

"Yeah, he was quite the character. I liked the soundtrack."

Hades stood up and looked at the beginning one last time. They would likely not see each other again for millions of years. 

"Thank you for telling me. I'll see you later."

"It was good to see you again, Hades. All of this was simply to inform you. Nothing has changed except your final destination many years from now. enjoy your new life as you have been since. I'm looking forward to seeing you again."

And with that, Hades left the place. 

***

To explain what had happened. Hades used to be called Adrian. When he died he was offered the chance to isekai and he took it. When he was asked about his three wishes he chose the ones he did and that turned out to be a very good choice. 

Hades made life easy for himself with the first two wishes. Had he not chosen these two, he would not have been able to understand the Sixth Note so fast. 

Why? Because in every Multiverse/Universe the one who stands at the top, tries to find the way that allows him to grow stronger and reach the pinnacle. Therefore they conceal certain things to hinder others from understanding it before they do.

Had Hades not chosen the second wish, the Presence, would have noticed him coming close to understanding the Sixth Note and stopped him from doing that. 

But his second wish stopped the Presence from being able to do anything that Hades would see as harmful to himself. So all the attempts of the Presence to stop Hades from comprehending the Sixth Note were fruitless.

.

What had changed for Hades then?

In truth nothing much. The only thing that changed is that Hades could now one day surpass the very existence that brought him here. He now had the potential to truly reach new heights. Something that was not possible for him before.

Something that is not possible for anyone else in the Multiverse.

.

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Hades was back in the END where he was before he left. He looked around and noticed everything was destroyed. There was nothing left. He would have to rebuild. 

And so he got to work. He constructed his base and the END palace as well as the future family housing. He was having a good time when he got notified of someone searching for him. 

He had added something of a bell in the palace located in the Underworld to reach here. Otherwise, he would not even notice how the time would pass. 

He stopped and wished to get back to the Underworld. He disappeared from the END and appeared back in the palace located in the Underworld. 

Standing before him was Hecate. She looked worried, angry and confused. Why though?

"Hecate? What's-"

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN????"

"What do-"

"YOU WERE GONE FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR!!!!!"

"WHAT? A year? But how is that possible?"

Hades thought about it. It felt like an hour at most, maybe two. But a year? That seemed impossible. The time difference really messed him up.

"What happened while I was gone Hecate?"

"I managed to deal with most problems that came up and stall the Olympians. Thankfully your reputation of not caring about them has helped us and no one has noticed your absence. 

But I can't do anything about them anymore. All the stalling is over now. You should go and show yourself. Otherwise, they might get greedy and take a piece of the Underworld.

You WILL tell me where you were. I can only thank you for making the Underworld near self-functioning. You truly designed it so you don't have to do anything, did you?"

"Well yeah. I wanted to be able to take some time off whenever I wanted to. But what is the problem that I need to see?"

"Prometheus has created man. And not only that he also gave them fire. Now it went very well and the humans prospered. That in turn made Zeus mad and he took fire away from them again. 

Prometheus however, seemingly loving his creation too much, decided to steal the flame of the hearth from Olympus and give it to the humans. Zeus punished him and now he gets his liver eaten every day by an eagle."

"I see. And now Zeus is probably planning on punishing the humans as well."

"Yes. I believe it to be almost ready."

"Alright. I will leave right away. Thank you for taking care of everything Hecate. I owe you one."

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Hades teleported to Olympus and found everyone there sitting in their seats. In the middle of the room stood Zeus with a young woman. To the side of the woman stood two people whom Hades knew very well.

Nyx and her husband Erebus were there and they didn't look happy.

When Hades appeared everyone looked at him and Nyx and Erebus made the biggest eyes. 

"Hades? What are you doing here?"

"I came to tell you not to do it."

"I will punish the humans and that is non-negotiable. They have disrespected us and must be punished."

"Is that so? You are still the sad little boy that you were the day I met you. You haven't matured at all. You are disgusting and an embarrassment to us all."

"You will stop disrespecting me!"

"I will do no such thing. You are a joke. Look at you, punishing humans for something Prometheus did."

Zeus unleashed his aura. The entirety of Olympus could feel it and it put pressure on all who resided there. 

Hades responded in kind. This much was nothing for him. But he was getting angry. His anger started to boil and he was about to stop holding his power back when a hand touched him on the shoulder. 

He looked back only to see Nyx looking at him with a sad look on her face. Hades sighed and stopped himself from wreaking havoc. He focused his power on Zeus and increased the pressure knocking the air out of him.

Hades turned to Nyx and asked her.

"Why did you stop me?"

"This has to happen Hades. That is what they exist for. Humans will have to learn to live with it. It is fate. Please don't go against this ... I know you could, but we would suffer for it."

"Then I shall visit the fates and kill them myself.", Hades said. He was angry right now. And things were not looking good for Zeus right now. Hades was ready to unleash horrors upon Olympus and bring it down, but Nyx didn't seem to want him to do that. 

He could only sigh.

"This time ... I will listen to you, this one time. After that, I will take things into my own hands. Not even the fates will stop me and neither will a primordial."

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Hades walked towards Pandora who was holding on to her box. She was shivering, that's how scared she was. He looked with fear as Hades approached her. 

Hades put a calm smile on his face. His anger vanished and was replaced with empathy for the girl that had been created, just to have all the terrors spread in the world. She would go crazy out of gilt. But not on his watch. 

He walked to her and knelt on the ground. 

"Hello there."

"...hello..."

"Your name is Pandora, right?"

"y-yes."

"It is a beautiful name."

Hades put his hands on her head and spoke.

"Listen, Pandora, I will give you something that shall prove essential for you and others, I will give you the will to survive, the will to overcome bad situations and setbacks, I give you willpower. And from this day on, your willpower shall be known in the world as the strongest one can achieve, an unbreakable will and perseverance.

That shall be Pandora's will."

Reality shifted and turned, bending to Hades' words and will. Pandora's will was now and in the future known as the strongest one could have. It was the definition of unbreakable and unbendable will. 

And in the future, there will be some humans who will inherit this will and help humanity in their times of need.

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Well, there we have it. Hades was just about to kill or enslave Zeus when Nyx stopped him. She understands fate and the things that Zeus will have to do. But this is not over yet. You'll see.

And this time someone will have to pay someway. A simple curse of Damokles won't do anymore. But that is in the future.

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