Khthonios

By M.M. Kin

Long before Aidoneus Zagreus Khthonios was the mighty ruler of the Underworld, he was the cast-aside offspring of the Devourer. Hades escapes his father's clutches and struggles to find his destiny, one that is far greater than his birthright.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Indigo Toad
• Release date: Oct 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005495541

M.M. Kin

M.M. Kin has been interested in history and mythology since she was young and has been an avid reader for as long as she can remember. As with many other readers (and authors) books were, and are still a refuge.Her other interests include hiking, kayaking, and world domination. Her favorite genres are historical fiction and science fiction, but she also enjoys pretty much any genre of book!

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Khthonios

M.M. Kin

Khthonios Copyright © 2020 by M.M. Kin

ASIN 9781798022474

SW ISBN 9781005495541

All rights reserved

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Cover image and design © 2020 Moranyelie Morales

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This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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A Note of Thanks  I would not be here today, publishing this book, if it were not for the support of my friends and fans, including Rachel, Liz, Theresa, and Madame Thome. When I was little and reading books, I never imagined that I would write my own book, let alone five, but here I am. Writing has been quite a journey for me and I would not have grown and learned so much if it was not for you. Happy reading! :) Special thanks goes to Chelsea for her help in editing this book.  Prologue – Ouranos I II III IV V VI VII VIII VIII.V IX X XI XI.V XII XII.V XIII XIV XV XVI XVI.V XVII XVII.V XVIII XIX XIX.V XIX.LXXV XX XXI XXI.V XXII XXII.XXV XXII.V XXII.LXXV XXIII XXIV XXV XXV.V XXVI XXVI.V XXVII XXVIII XXVIII.V XXIX XXX XXX.V XXXI XXXI.V XXXI.LXXV XXXII XXXIII XXXIII.V XXXIV XXXIV.V XXXV Epilogue – Gaea

o0o

Though Hades is a creature of the darkness, he remembers a time when there was only light. It may be hard to believe that the dread Lord of the Underworld could have ever been anything but. However, Fate decreed that he should not keep his innocence for very long, because of the violent legacy that preceded him.

Ouranos

o0o

No, no. It could not possibly end like this! Facing ruin at the hands of his own family, his offspring! They owed him their very existence! If not for him, Hellas would not exist! How could this happen to him? He was ageless and timeless, a being born of the heavens!

o0o

He was the one who had brought rains to the valleys and fields of this realm, to make things grow to feed gods, beasts, and mortals alike. He’d existed before Hellas was settled, and had witnessed hunter-gatherers settling in the area, attracted by the relatively mild weather and fertile lands that were a result of the warming of the continent as the ice receded to the far north.

Over the centuries, the Hellenes developed a more sustainable way of life, learning to collect seeds from plants and create crops that could feed larger numbers of people instead of relying on gathering from whatever plants they could find within an area. Domestication of animals followed, from chickens to sheep and goats. The humans also kept cats and dogs that were descended from those who fed off the vermin that followed the crops, and those who lived off the scraps left by humans and were trained as guardians and herders.

Weapons and tools of leather, flint, and wood augmented their ability to manipulate the environment around them. In time, these early peoples also started to develop the art of smelting lead and copper, which translated into improved ornaments, tools, and weapons.

The mortals worshiped him as the All-father, the life-giver, the one whose essence seeded the fertile earth to give the humans the sustenance they needed. Sometimes he came down to the land and coupled with a nubile maiden, but his seed never took root, and he was unable to understand why.

Then Gaea came along. The mortals started to worship her as well, thanking her for the bounty that came from the land. He was intrigued by her, and taken by her beauty.

However, she first took his elder brothers as lovers; Tartaros of the dark realms below the earth, and then Pontos of the deep realms of the sea. He watched with envy as she mated with them, and bore them offspring. The mortals revered her as the All-mother and went to her for blessings. His desire for her only grew, and he longed to possess her, but every time he came to her, she turned him away, seeking the embrace of her other lovers.

Finally, she accepted his attentions. In her, his seed took root, and she bore him a dozen children, strong and varied in their talents, and he took pride in them, for his sons were handsome and his daughters beautiful, and Tartaros and Pontos did not even have that many offspring between them.

His happiness ended when Gaea bore children on her own, using no man's seed. Giants that could dig and plow with their hands, and creatures with one eye that while not as powerful as their larger brothers, made up for it with nimbleness. She'd formed them from the earth, breathed into them her essence, causing a new sort of life than what usually grew from the soil.

Life was supposed to spring from the union between male and female, an intractable truth from the lowest of animals to the mightiest of gods. A woman was not meant to create life on her own, and he could only see Gaea’s creations as abominations.

He cast them away, refusing to bear the sight of them or acknowledge their existence. He ignored Gaea’s tears and anger, and banished his brothers’ children as well. Hellas was his, and he would have no one, not even Gaea, defy his authority!

As more and more people worshiped Gaea, his jealousy and ire grew. He turned his wrath upon them, demanding that they worship him and him alone, above all else. Hellas was his first, and it would remain so. He would not allow his mate or children to usurp the adulation he so rightfully deserved.

o0o

His children rose against him, calling him arrogant and cruel, accusing him of not being a good father or ruler. He cursed them and his lover, and lashed out at them, attempting to put them in their place. He had existed for millennia, and would not see his rule ended! He repelled his offspring, admonishing them, causing the heavens itself to shake with his wrath.

Unfortunately, Kronos proved more crafty than his siblings or mother by pretending to surrender, bending the knee and swearing fealty to his sire. Kronos had always been his favorite child, for he saw the most of himself in his youngest son than any of his other sons or daughters. Ouranos blessed his son with his power, and Kronos used it to keep his siblings obedient.

He did not realize Kronos’s true intentions until it was too late. When he tried to use his power against his son, Kronos simply laughed, wrapping his hands around his father’s neck, Ouranos tried to struggle, but Kronos did something that horrified him.

His son had been bestowed with a Gift that his father had never imagined anyone could possess. It was the power to drain someone else of their essence. Never in his many centuries of existence had the All-father felt so helpless. His children surrounded him, and Iapetos handed the ill-fated sickle to Kronos.

The blade came down, slicing his flesh. He recognized Gaea’s magic in the weapon, and the cuts seared into his very being. He tried to fight, to summon the strength of the heavens, to make the skies lash out at his wayward offspring, but his life and power drained from him with every slash of the sickle.

He looked up at Kronos, who had eyes exactly like his own. He might no longer have the power to actively bring down those who had betrayed him, but he could still curse them, and so he did.

Hear this, son of mine! he managed to gasp out as blood filled his lungs from the puncture wounds to his chest, energy sapping from him as his body tried to heal itself. For the unforgivable act of betraying your father, you will suffer the same fate! Fear your children, and forever rue the day that you brought about my demise!

His son laughed at him as Ouranos felt the blade slice through his neck, but he saw the tiniest flick of fear in Kronos’s eyes before the darkness engulfed him.

I

o0o

The first memory Hades had was of running through a garden, the soles of his bare feet slapping the blades of grass. He couldn’t have been older than three, possibly four summers, but he vividly remembered the sunlight on his face, and the laughter of his older sister as she chased after him.

In due time, Hestia caught him and scooped him up, causing him to squeal and flail his arms as she spun him around. He was set back down but before she let him go, Hestia tickled him, poking his sides and making him giggle and squirm as he tried to escape his playful tormentor.

As he looked up, he saw a man looking back at him from the shadows under the eaves at the edge of the clearing, and the laughter died in his throat. Although the man made no aggressive move or issued any threat, the boy-god felt a sense of foreboding, a terrifying feeling for one so young.

Kronos was a tall and broad-shouldered man with wavy black hair and a thick beard. Hades had few memories of him since he did not spend much time around his children, so this incidence stood out in his memory, even centuries later.

Father! Will you play with us? Hestia asked cheerfully. Kronos stared at his young children for several moments before he turned away.

Hades looked up at her older sister with confusion. Hestia did not yet need two whole hands to count her summers, but the resemblance between her and their mother was clear. Her dark auburn hair was pulled back in a loose braid, several wisps having worked their way free. She looked down at him, and though she was smiling, Hades could see the sadness in her eyes.

o0o

If Father was a distant parent, Mother was the opposite. Rhea doted on her children, and Hades did not doubt that he was very much loved. She was wife to the king of the Titans, but she took her role as mother more seriously than she did her crown, and it would not be until much later that Hades or Hestia would realize how much she had shielded them from her husband and his dark moods.

Over the years, Kronos had become increasingly paranoid and cruel, towards mortals and Titans alike. At first, his rule had been a golden age, a welcome respite from Ouranos’s tyranny, but like his father, his apparent benevolence was nothing more than fertile ground for his wickedness to ferment. Like a seed that no one knew was planted, the dark aspect of Kronos had ample time to grow before others took notice of it.

In the safety and comfort of their father’s palace, Kronos’s children were shielded from the realities of the outside world, but the truth manifested itself in subtle ways. Prometheus, once a regular visitor and a close friend of their mother’s, suddenly stopped visiting them. Hestia would ask after him, and Rhea would tell her that he was simply occupied with this or that, not wishing to tell a young child that Kronos had caught Prometheus giving fire to the mortals and was now being punished savagely for it.

Others were now suffering as well. The Cyclopes, who had once been Kronos's friends, were shunned and then imprisoned by him, and even his own brothers were becoming alienated from him, but Kronos had been blessed with a devastating Gift, one that made it folly to challenge him directly. So his rule continued, and his madness and cruelty increased.

o0o

Despite their mother's best attempts to shelter them, Hestia and Hades were still aware of something wrong in their lives. Most children were afraid of the dark, but Hades sensed something far more sinister than the shadows that filled the house even on the sunniest of days.

Then it happened.

Mother was singing to them, holding them close, one arm around each child as they rested their heads on her breasts, feeling her fingers stroke their hair. He remembered the gentle feeling of Mother's fingernails sliding along his scalp, letting the thick strands of black hair run through her fingers.

The peace was shattered when Kronos snatched the pair of children and carried them away, Mother's screams filling the air as she begged him to return her children to her. She fought her husband, trying to pull her children away, but Kronos was far too powerful and determined to avoid the fate that had been foretold for him with Ouranos's dying breath.

II

o0o.

The children were cast into a dark chamber, dropped into it as unceremoniously by their sire much as he would toss bones away from the table when he finished his meals. And the dark god had indeed made a meal of them, stopping himself just in time to leave both his children with the barest spark of life.

As young as he was, Hades would never forget the feel of his father's fingers wrapped around his neck and torso, and the darkness that overtook his consciousness. He and his sister woke to a different kind of darkness.

There were no lamps, but here the first of Hades’ Gifts made itself apparent. He’d always been able to see well at night, but now he could see in complete darkness. They were somewhere under the earth, that much he was able to deduce. The ground and walls were made of crystal, but not the natural kind he’d seen before when Prometheus brought quartz and other crystals to show his nephew and niece.

These crystals were impossibly hard, and it was unthinkable that a grown man should be able to break through them, much less two young children, and they felt cold to the touch, making him feel ill and weak.

At first, he thought he was being punished, and so did Hestia. For what, they could not surmise. Time passed by, and they waited. No one came for them, and there was no way out.

Days went by, then weeks and months. He cried for his mother, and Hestia did her best to comfort him, but then she would cry as well. They would scream and beg to be let out, but no one ever responded to their cries for help.

Gods don’t die when they’re without food, but a god is still made of flesh, and the flesh, mortal or not, has needs. After a while, he simply stopped feeling hungry or thirsty, and ceased talking.

o0o

After what seemed like almost forever, another child was thrown in, a girl with wavy hair the color of ripe wheat, something Hades barely remembered after his time in the darkness. He did not speak, but Hestia did, her voice barely a whisper after being silent for so long.

Demeter was inconsolable at first, missing her mother and frightened of the darkness. But in time, like her older siblings, she fell silent, withering like a flower denied sunlight.

o0o

Poseidon was next, and then Hera. The emptiness drained each newcomer as it had Hestia and Hades, and there were times that he was not even sure if he was still alive.

One day – after who knew how many days had already passed – a clod of hard earth joined them in their exile. Hades could see that it had the appearance of a swaddled baby, but it made no noise, and the children were afraid to approach it. After many days, Demeter finally examined it, and the desiccated earth fell apart in her hands.

o0o

Despite being stunted by their lack of food and sunlight, they managed to grow. Hestia was the first to develop a Gift that was able to bring her fellow prisoners some comfort. It would signify her future position as Goddess of the Hearth, her ability to produce a flame, and from this, light. Hades already knew what everyone else looked like because of his ability to see in the darkness, but for the others, it was their first time seeing one another.

Like his older brother, Poseidon had black hair, like his father and older brother. However, his eyes were sea-blue, not black. Hera had dark brown hair, like freshly-turned earth, and her eyes the same rich brown as their mother’s. Demeter’s eyes were green like grass, and Hestia had eyes the color of dark gold. They all blinked rapidly at the first light they’d seen in years.

A flame normally did not take much power to create, but for Hestia, it took much of what little strength she managed to conserve after the long years of her captivity. She was unable to keep it going all the time, but even intermittent respites from the darkness are welcome, and the small light filled them with hope.

o0o

Hades learned that he could feel things in the shadows. His hearing wasn’t quite as acute as the others’ because he was able to see in the darkness and didn’t come to rely on his hearing to the degree that his siblings had to. However, when he closed his eyes, he realized he could still tell where the others were, his senses expanding into the void of darkness, the shadows becoming almost an extension of himself, as palpable and receptive as the nerves under his skin.

o0o

Demeter was the next one to manifest her Gift. Where Hades was able to see and use the darkness, his sister did almost the opposite. At first, the life-energy came to them as sparingly as a drop of rain in the desert, but Demeter became more adept in the use of her Gift. The drips become a trickle as Demeter became able to sense and pull in more life-energy from the world above them. Hestia's flame appeared more often, and more strongly.

When Poseidon sensed water under their prison, Hades managed to control the shadows enough to create a crack in the floor, bringing the water to them and giving them the first material nourishment they have had since they were thrown into the pit.

Hades became blissfully aware that if he was able to accomplish this feat, he should in time be able to free himself and his siblings, although it would take time for him to build up enough strength to do so. The crystal proved an effective barrier to full use of their powers, or recovery from their ordeal, but in recent years, as Kronos turned his attention elsewhere, the vigilance he had kept on his children faltered.

o0o

Hera sometimes had strange dreams, visions of their parents, and the world that they were cut off from. She also saw things that have never occurred, like Hades sitting on a dark throne surrounded by ethereal beings, Demeter in the sunlight, surrounded by a sea that shared the same dark golden hue of her hair, or Poseidon riding the waves, with the wind blowing against a healthy, tanned face.

Hestia had her visions through flame. When she looked into her fire, she was sometimes able to see other things, through the flames on the surface world, mortals praying and making sacrifices, begging for mercy and kindness, for justice and peace. Through bits and pieces, the offspring of Kronos were able to put together a picture of the world, and the state that their father had put it in. The other Titans were cowed before him, some of them prisoners as well.

o0o

Thanks to the nourishment that his siblings gave him, Hades finally gained enough strength to break through the confines that Kronos would have kept them in forever, They scrambled past crystal and through the earth that seemed velvety soft after all their time on a cold, hard surface. The sunlight nearly blinded them all, and the fresh air almost felt like it was burning their lungs.

Though they wanted to take refuge in the nearest spot that seemed safe, Hera insisted that they continue searching until she was satisfied. They were almost like babies, being curious and mystified about this and that, tasting vegetables and roots and berries for the first time in years. Demeter’s Gift especially flourished when she learned that she could command plants to grow rapidly, providing them with the food they needed so long as they could find the appropriate seeds.

It took them time to speak, and they learned to talk in gestures and expressions, which helped keep them hidden from those that would hurt them.

In time, a few nymphs started coming to their aid after sensing Demeter’s use of her Gift. They taught her the secrets of Nature, and took great risks in hiding them and moving them from place to place, telling them of their father’s cruelty, how he was a feared and despised ruler. His power was terrifying, and all of Hellas lived in fear that he might one day go so far as to destroy it all. Even his own mother was unable to stop him. If mighty Gaea could not end his rule, what hope was there?

o0o

Years went by in hiding, with each of the siblings coming into