19 The Witch's Desire

After the sudden news given by Prometheus, Hades didn't immediately leave for the Underworld with his... he guessed fiance? No, he went towards another place; it was very easy accessing the rumor mill and finding information. Here, it was about a certain goddess of sorcery, Hecate.

He wanted to meet her, partly because he was curious, and partly because he wanted the learn magic, which he didn't deny the existence of. In a world of gods, monsters, and men, why he would deny the possibility that magic existed, he was pretty sure Titans broke many of the laws of physics by simply existing. 'logic' was in very short supply.

Hecate had made her home in a cave. Her magic only worked using the shadows as a conduit, or at least that was what everyone else believed. Now, finding a specific cave that housed a goddess that knew how to hide would have been a very hard thing to do. Fortunately for him, Hecate had not eliminated all of her tracks.

Small traces of divine power here and there, small enough that normal gods wouldn't be able to see it, but Hades was not a normal god, and the tracks that he followed guided him to a place in the middle of nowhere.

From the outside, it was a simple cave in a random forest; it wasn't special at first glance, but looking directly at its mouth one could see that all the light touched it was being consumed and only darkness remained, this would have scared even some gods but Hades did not fear, there were places in the Underworld that were exactly like that, and he had already travelled through them.

The difference here is that it wasn't his home that he was about to enter. So he didn't have a preternatural view of it, but he could use the shadows as focal points so he could see.

But just as he was about to do that, the shadows parted and the light was allowed inside the cave.

'Well, this changes some things' Hades thought. 'Hecate is allowing me to enter her abode, but why?'

He had questions, but the questions would only be answered if he took a step forward, which is exactly what he did. Hades, the eldest Olympian and Ruler of The Underworld, entered the cave of Hecate.

~~~~~~~~

It didn't take long for Hades to find the goddess of sorcery. The tunnels of the cave seemed to be incredibly short and always leading to its heart no matter the direction he took. Magic, he thought, as the answer. Hecate was bending reality to her liking.

After a period of walking, he came face to face with the goddess of sorcery. Her hair was midnight black and her skin was pale as snow, and her eyes were silver like the moon.

"I have been expecting for you a long time Hades"

"You knew I would come for you?" Hades wasn't surprised that she knew his name he hadn't kept an obscure presence, but he was surprised that she knew he would come, it was probably some kind of divination, definitely more acute than Cronos very own methods, which were seeing a bunch of different timelines and searching the one that he wanted to see.

"I knew, even if you fateless self-made it very hard for me to see your future self," Hades' eyebrow rose inside his helmet, what was she talking about? "Oh, you don't know? You are fateless Hades, the strings that surround all of living beings - gods, mortals, and monsters - do not have a hold on you, you can truly say that you are beyond the control of fate and destiny," Hecate chuckled "I wanted to see the fates faces when you were born"

Hecate words shook Hades momentarily before he composed himself. That changed some things. He never liked that his fate was in the control of others because that meant that free will never exist in the grand scheme of things, but it seemed he was the exception.

How did this happen? He didn't know, and he felt the answer would take a while to come to him, but he was immortal. What is a few million years anyway for being that would see the universe end?

"If you knew that I would come here, then you know what I want then?"

"I know, and yes I accept you as my student," Hades found it was too easy "But I need you to return in five days, as I need to gather materials, your training is going to be expensive after all, it isn't every day I teach a god the arcane arts"

"I understand," Hades nodded. "I shall return after five days then"

"Very well" Hecate Nodded back "Go the same path you took to reach here, my shadows will guide you to the exit" Hades nodded, and just like that he was gone, he was gone from Hecate's presence.

But she wasn't alone. There was another in her home.

"Come out Desire" A giggle was heard from across the shadows and a woman appeared, 'she' had skin pale as smoke with eyes tawny and sharp as yellow wine and hair as black as the space between galaxies. "What do you want?"

"You know exactly what I want" The voice of desire was beautiful, and would have driven many mortals and gods mad with the desire to feel they on a more intimate form, Hecate was not enamored even for a single second "It is not always you take a disciple, especially one you fell for even before he was born" 'She' bit her lips "Which is very... exciting"

"That is not true-"

"Oh, but it is," Desire interrupted her, "You tried to see who you would fall for, to see if you ever met true love, and boom! You discover you will, and it will be with your very own student, and as you spend time together, you will get closer and closer, until eventually you confess to him," Desire paused "Oh, wait what I am saying you already saw all of that"

"I will not fall for him," Hecate said, even if a part of her heart cried out against it.

"Ah, you are so frustrating.," Desire frowned. "I help you with finding out if you ever are going to find true love, and when you discover you are going to find that special someone, you try to avoid it. Because come on, that thing about 'ingredients' is a total lie. You hope he will desist, even if it's going to break you"

"If I become broken, it will be because of you! You made experience those memories, those feelings that aren't true!" She shouted at Desire, her frustrations being clear, even if a part wanted nothing more than jump at Hades and touch him, she knew it would be more of an attack than anything else, for him she was a total stranger, and it hurt.

"Oh, but they are true," Desire smirked "Tell me Hecate, you are angry because I made you experience the feelings of your future self, or because you are jealous that it wasn't the current you that didn't get to feel your student's lips on your own"

"Shut up," Hecate quietly whispered.

"But not that, is it? You scared because that are gaps in your vision, you scared that instead of loving you he will simply use and discard you like you never mattered"

"Shutupshutupshutupshutup," Hecate continued to whisper her voice slowly distorting and making it appear that she had three different voices.

"Oh, who I am kidding, even if he did, you would follow him like a good pet, because you know he is only one who remotely cares for you, no matter how he uses you"

"SHUT UP!!!" Hecate roared in three equal yet different voices. She launched a wave of magic that would rip the flesh of dozens of gods before dissipating. Desire felt a slight breeze, causing them to snort.

"Thank you for the breeze I really liked it," Desire mocked "But our time grows short, I have to visit another planet, this one is not interesting yet to me and my siblings, even if your beloved has made quite the ruckus amongst us," And just like they were gone to some unfortunate planet in the present universe.

Hecate sighed and put her hands on her head. She hated Desire, but couldn't deny that she was right about everything. She was jealous that the moment she felt true love was not present; she feared Hades would only use and discard her, and it terrified her that she would allow him to do anything to her, because she loved him.