22 We Get New Toys...

Hades POV:

The silence after Zeus' question stopped short of being incredibly awkward. After a few hours of negotiation, we finally had their support. Overall, It didn't take much to convince the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkeires to join our rebellion; after Kronos' betrayal and several thousand years of torture, to say our monstrous uncles wanted a bit of payback was an understatement.

Once a deal had finally been made, including an oath not to imprison them once the war was over like our father had done and a promise to travel freely between the realms, it was time to begin our ascent back out of Tartraus. 

After all, while we had yet to run into the Protogenoi of the Abyss, the more time we spent here, the more likely Tartarus would decide we had overstayed our welcome...

Using my ingrained navigational skills over the Greek Underworld, our journey back to Gaea was uneventful. Most of our time was spent catching up with our uncles. Poseidon especially seemed to get on with our Cyclope uncles. Their mutual love of both Sea and Storm gave life to mutual respect and friendship. The Hekatonkeires, however, were far more challenging to connect with, being far less intelligent than their Cyclope brothers.

After we breached the surface world, our uncles seemed to be stuck, almost blind by the light of Helios as they gazed off with glassy eyes. A few thousand years spent in the Pit would adversely affect immortal beings like our uncles, so it was no surprise they took a minute to readjust to the clean atmosphere of Gaea after breathing in the toxic fumes of Tartarus for so long.

Unfortunately for our uncles, the entrance to the Underworld was situated deep in the depths of Titan territory, so we didn't have much time to waste, allowing them their readjustment. With a few curt nods, my brothers disappeared in a burst of wind and sea salt, respectively, while I teleported our uncles and me to Crete using my ability to shadow travel.

I had used shadow travel excessively during the war, so I was more than used to the sickly feeling. That came with near-instant teleportation; my uncles, however, did not if the loud sounds of retching were anything to go by. After taking a moment to regain their bearings, my uncles regained enough strength to give me mild glares, which I could only answer with a smirk.

Before my colossal uncles could respond with what I assume would have been very heated words, they were cut off by the booming sound of Zeus: "Welcome honored Uncles to the great island of Crete, capital of the Olympian rebellion!" Considering the size of our uncle's ears, I was unsure why my brother needed to amplify his voice with thunder, but I suppose this was just one of Zeus' many quirks.

Now, the Island of Crete was vast and the perfect base of operations if one was attempting to invade the Greek mainland like we were; what it wasn't, however, was capable of holding three Hekatonkeires that were as tall as Mount Ida and Three Elder cyclopes that were just under half that size but until we were ready to assault the Titan forces it would be wise to keep our uncles out of view, the constant storm that surrounded the Island courtesy of Poseidon and Zeus and the veil of darkness that I had placed around said the storm would ensure that no Titan not even father would be able to see our monstrous uncles until we wanted them to.

However, our uncles gazed at the island with eyes of wonder. Everyday views that I had taken for granted during my stay on Crete caused my uncles to gape in awe, a steady reminder that they had been imprisoned from birth and hadn't been able to view the land that should have been their birthright as the Eldest non-protogenoi sons of Gaea. At that moment, I felt a sense of Kinmanship with our uncles due to our similar experiences.

Sadly, while I sympathized with our uncle's plight, the Titanomachy waited for no one, and part of the deal we made with our uncles was that they would forge symbols of power for the six children of Rhea and Kronos.

However, even the legendary craftsmanship of the Cyclopes couldn't create symbols of power out of nothing, so using my limited control over the Earth, I made a forge out of pure molten rock, calling upon the magma that lay beneath Gaea to fill the forge, as the God of Riches I held dominion over all metals and material that lay beneath the Earth so our uncles would have no shortage of divine metals to use.

While the Hekatonkeires began exploring their temporary home, the Cyclopes were pulled out of their reverie of Crete to acquaint themselves with their new forge. It didn't take long for the Cyclopes to gain familiarity with their new workstation, as after barely an hour, they summoned us to begin the forging process.

It was decided that our sisters would be the first to receive their symbols of power. Hestia was first up. She would receive an illustrious clay pot engraved in gold imagery of all her family members; with the pot, she would be able to amplify the emotions of those around her, inspiring hope in the hopeless as well as being able to essentially act as a battery to empower those who considered her family. She was pretty happy if the content smile on her face was anything to go by.

Demeter followed Hestia, receiving a sickle of pure imperial gold similar to the Kronos scythe. The sickle could attack an immortal essence on a direct level, however, to a far lesser degree. The smile that lit up on her face upon first holding the sickle was nearly deranged, leaving me slightly concerned about how the Titanomachy affected my sister's personality.

Once Demeter had fled with her new blade, probably to cut some wheat or grass with it, Hera stood before the far larger Cyclopes with all the grace of a proud queen. Our uncles took one look at Hera's regal posture before turning back to their forge, creating a beautiful staff of imperial gold that had a lotus forming at the tip made of various jewels; the staff gave Hera the ability to imbue a temporary state of madness into whoever she struck.

After all my sisters had received their weapons, it was time for me and my brothers to gain our own. As the one who defeated Kampe and was our defacto leader, it seemed only fair that Zeus was the first of us brothers to receive his symbol of power.

Using the power they received from their father Ouranos, the Cyclopes created a celestial bronze bar in the shape of cartoon lightning; as soon as the bar touched Zeus' hands, sparks of electricity danced across the bar before beginning to move over Zeus' skin the thunderclouds above sparked with lightning for the first time as the once mighty power of Ouranos' lightning returned to the world.

A giddy smile came upon Zeus' face before he hurled the bolt at a gigantic boulder; once the lightning made contact with the boulder, an explosion that would have wiped out an entire street block in my past life vaporized the rock, leaving not even ash in its wake. Turning to us with a goofy smile, Zeus began to wave his new symbol of power around, causing the lightning above to follow his movement.

This appeared too much for Poseidon, who quickly marched up to the cyclopes, disregarding Zeus' gloating. The cyclopes once more turned to the forge, this time using their connection to Gaea to make a trident made of celestial bronze; as soon as Poseidon took hold of the trident, he struck the Earth with a mighty blow, piercing the sand below and unleashed a spring of sea-water the shockwaves from the attack caused the very Earth itself to begin to shake only stopping once Poseidon withdrew his trident.

Of course, rather than being in awe of their new powers, my brothers instead decided to argue about which of their symbols of power was stronger. With a sigh of pure suffering, I began to go to my Cyclopes' uncles.

Now, the thoughts of what symbol of power I wanted to have had been plaguing me since we first began our journey into Tartarus, and the only conclusion I had come to was that I didn't wish to the Helm of Darkness like the original Hades did, after all, while being undetectable and imbuing fear sounded cool as the God of The Dead and a manipulator of Erebus all of those traits were pointless.

During the war, I experimented with various weapons and artifacts, swords, spears, and even a shield, but the most natural feeling weapon was by far the bident. I didn't know if maybe I was being affected by depictions of canon Hades or not, but having the ability to pierce twice and pin opponents just seemed natural. 

However, having a symbol of power that wasn't inferior to that of my brothers was imperative. Hence, when we were moving through the Underworld, I decided to strike a few deals with the rulers of the five rivers of the Underworld in exchange for a few positions in my future court, as well as taking some of their divine children under my banner I was allowed the ability to take a sample of their rivers.

During the forging process, I had the Cyclopes temper the weapon with the samples from the rivers, causing the bident to gain properties from the rivers; from the river Phlegethon, I could summon the fiery waters, allowing me to heal people at the cost of giving them extraordinary pain, from the river Cocytus I gained the power to fill someone's thoughts with sadness, the river Acheron allowed me to control the amount of pain felt by the bident, the river Lethe allowed me to purge memories, and the river Styx made me temporary invulnerable upon first summoning the bident.

The bident itself was made up entirely of crude black stygian iron; the power of the Underworld radiated from the metal with a vibrant purplish glow, and the blades of the bident were alight with flames from the river Phlegethon.

Because of the properties of Stygian iron, I had to be the one holding the metal during the forging process, but once the work was done and I felt the weight of the bident in my hands, it was all worth it. The overwhelming power that filled my being upon holding the blade was intoxicating; the world itself appeared to distort around the blades of the bident as if all five rivers of the Underworld uniting were too much for the world to handle.

I wasn't typically one for showing off. But, watching my siblings with all their new weapons as well as the influx of power, I felt that the bident just had to be released, so with a mighty thrust, I pierced the Earth below, calling upon the river Phlegethon as a burst of fiery water surrounded my form as the total weight of the Underworld descended upon Gaea with an intoxicating feeling of death and hopelessness that caused even my powerful siblings to stagger under it's weight.

My eyes blazed with red hellfire as a smile of pure bloodlust filled my face. I had underestimated just how powerful being able to call upon the five rivers of the Underworld would make my symbol of power, not that I was complaining. Knowing how many people would fall to my bident didn't take my powers as God of Divination.

In conclusion, the trip to save my uncles from Tartarus was worth it as with my new symbol of power, I knew few Immortals in all of existence would be able to stand against me, and once we threw my father down from his throne, that list would get even shorter...