How Hades Came To Be
By Josh
An argument sprung from the underworld, where the afterlife thrived, and the deep blue seas along the coast of Olympia, Olympus. Of course, Hades started this conflict, for he wanted control of the water and oceans which Poseidon held power of.
Long before this argument, Cronus the father of the gods crazily ate Zeus’ siblings, so the brave Zeus attacked and killed his father to save his brothers and sisters. All of the gods praised Zeus for his deed. Because of the greatness Zeus had, he made a game of poker that gave the gods powers. Zeus was the one who killed Kronus therefore he got first pick on his power and he picked to be the ruler of all the gods. Then, Hades was winning the game of poker with a royal flush. Poseidon, however, took a peek at the hand of cards and backed off leaving Hades with only a few chips.
Hades quickly stated, “NO! You cheater,” Zeus took a devilish glance and Hades muffled, “Never mind”. The next round, Hades had won, and he chose the underworld to rule, in his anger. His extreme anger at Poseidon caused his head to grow horns and his body to turn so red that it could be confused with black.
Hades roared, “POSEIDON, you will PAY!” He screamed this with enough force to demolish a man, but man was not on Earth yet. Poseidon heard Hades, and so did Zeus, and so did all the gods.
Zeus rode his Pegasus to Hades and asked, “What’s the matter with you? Keep it quiet.”
“Poseidon cheated! I swear he took a glance at my cards on that royal flush,” Hades then added to be safe, “Zeus I’m on your side.”
“Well… You know, we can do a vote on who gets the sea,” Poseidon said confidently with a voice of superior power over the waves of the Spring tides. Rocket speed dolphins swam around Poseidon doing tricks no average dolphin could do.
A few days later, two votes from the messenger god, Hermes, and Apollo, the god of the sun, were towards Hades, yet only one vote, from Demeter, the god of harvest, was for Poseidon. All the other gods truly did not care at all because water was not of their interest. Although there were thousands of gods, Zeus expected less votes than three. A small meeting was held in a large grass field while a slight breeze brushed the grass up against the trees.
“Thy mighty Hades, god of the underworld, shall be announced for now until eternity unless of complaints or resign, you, Hades, are now named god of the underworld and the sea. You, Poseidon, are now announced guardian of the sea and if anything happens please notify me,” declared Zeus, “You are all dismissed.”
Hades and Poseidon both left with a rather devilish grin and an angry look of dissatisfaction.
In the world of the dead, the reign of Hades was even more hideous. He was enslaving his warriors to have them transport the water down to a ditch excavated to contain the water. However, Hades could’ve used his god powers to instantly teleport the water to the ditch, but Hades wanted his soldiers to be tortured. Slowly, every skeleton warrior, each with their death marks, marched on with a rather high attitude. Hades wasn’t the only one overjoyed for the water to fill up the ditch. The dead wanted water too because they hated the blood in the Styx River. Soon enough, the whole ditch filled up. And then it went over the ditch into the Styx River. Water and blood mixed. It mixed like lemonade.
Poseidon, observing, zoomed towards Zeus. He knew this was his only chance to get his control of water back. On the way to Zeus, he memorized what he would recite. The top of Olympus was growing larger and larger as Poseidon went. This moment would change history. Zeus saw Poseidon coming, and he dressed himself for a meeting. Poseidon arrived excited to tattle tale on Hades.
Poseidon spoke, “Oh mighty Zeus, I have come to inform you of the water. Evil Hades has...well he has managed to pollute the water with blood. Hundreds of fish have died and more to come. And worst of all, the oceans by the gorgeous bay of Olympus are only halfway full.”
Zeus stood up, “Hmm… Let’s see what the rule book of Zeus says. Oh, right here it says: send Hermes to see if it is truth and if it is see the List of Hades’ most Terrible Punishments. Hermes, may you see if it is truth of what Poseidon says?”
“Yeah, I’m uhh... gonna go to the underworld now,” Hermes responded.
Only seconds later, Hermes was back and said all of it was truth with a small, saddening face because he voted for Hades.
Zeus roared, “HADES!”
Hades rushed with fear of his life up the treacherous mountain to get to Zeus quickly.
Zeus, raging with anger, demanded, “How did you mess up so badly? Know what? Don’t even answer me. I’m going to throw you down the deepest pit in the universe! Ahh… I’m just kidding you. I got you good.”
Hades responded with a chuckle, “Oh Zeus. How funny of you. But I have one question. Why am I here?”
“Oh yes, back to work. I need you to bring every fish you killed back to life and clean the blood out of the water. Yes, I know you can’t clear the blood,” Zeus winked to the nearest city called Wazington, “maybe Claroph, the dustpan fairy, could help you. And remember, if you don’t finish what you started, I will throw you right in the center of that pit I was talking about before.”
Hades commanded his army of the dead to bring the fish back to life, but he would need Claroph to lean the blood. Hades needed her because the blood could not be removed from the water by any god other than the cleaning god. In Modern America, we call Claroph the cleaning fairy, but the gods call her the dustpan fairy. Hades needed Claroph’s powerful touch that cleans anything to take out the blood from the water.
At Wazington, Claroph was met by Hades, her arch-rival. Claroph had always wanted to be the queen of the underworld, but Hades got it first. Now she was stuck with the worst god power ever. Hades knew she would only do the cleaning if she traded powers with Hades. This was the exact moment Hades thought about his choices. Should he be thrown in a pit and fall forever or become the cleaning fairy? After lots of thinking, the decision became clear to Hades.
Hades traded being king of the underworld for being the cleaning fairy. If he didn’t do this, Zeus would have thrown him into the deepest pit in the universe. Because Hades made this trade, he could clear away the blood in the water.
Zeus relaxed for eternity in satisfaction. Poseidon was glad he was god of the sea again, and Claroph became the god of the underworld.
Yep, Hades became the cleaning fairy!
The Battle of Night and Day
By Emma T.
An arrow flew across the dark woods hitting a deer. A slim and swift woman in a black skirt and navy blue tank top crept out from behind a charcoal tree, her hair as red as fire from the depths of Hades, and her yellow eyes glancing around every tree. She looked up to the sky, as a handsome young man in an orange toga with a golden wreath around his blonde hair descended from the sky to her.
“Hey, sis!” He yelled waving at her. She never thought her brother would come down to visit, of course she never wanted him to.
“Long time no see, brother,” she said in a dishonorable tone.
“C’mon Artemis, can’t you lighten up a little bit?” Amazing Apollo said sympathetically.
“Why should I?” Artemis mumbled under her breath. Apollo was at a loss for words. Artemis was tired of her brother, even if it was for five seconds, so she swiftly ran away.
The truth was, she was jealous of her older brother; he always got to be in the sky, on his golden chariot. He even had a house up there; she had to bring him down. Just then, an idea popped into her head.
“I can’t do this alone,” apprehensive Artemis whispered to herself. “I’ll find a companion to help.” She was walking through the woods enjoying the cold, crisp breeze gently blowing around her when she came upon a wolf pup. It was desperately hurt, but she saw potential in the pup, so she gently picked it up, ruffled fur and all, and she dubbed the little pup her companion. The pup stood up and changed into a strong, muscular female wolf, immortal and magical. Artemis decided to call her Twilight.
Eventually, Artemis and Twilight had taken over half of the sky. Apollo was getting concerned, as he knew his sister was not one to be persuaded to stop, so he had no choice but to use force, or so he thought. So he made his own companion, a lion, resembling his own strength and truth. He named the lion Ignite.
Apollo approached Artemis, she was petting her wolf. They both stood on clouds, one black, one white, companions beside them. “Why sister,” Apollo said disappointed, “I thought you were ok with me in the sky.” Artemis saw the disappointment in his eyes, she refused to speak, because she had a plan,
“Apollo, don’t you see?” Artemis said shedding crocodile tears, “all of Greece needs the night, for sleep.”
“Fine then, they won’t get sleep,” Apollo said childishly “because I’m staying up here.”
“Then I’ll keep fighting for the sky,” Artemis shot back,
They both fought like children for a few minutes, until they came to an agreement. They both would choose a warrior to battle against each other in one arena, whoever’s warrior wins declares that him or her get the sky first, whoever’s warrior loses declares they get the sky second, but the mortals would never see them again.
After weeks of searching, they found their warriors, Artemis found Odysseus, a sly man with a lot of tricks up his sleeve for battle. He had just come back from ten years at sea, only smelling crisp, salty air, and ten years battling the Trojans, seeing all his dearest friends die. Apollo chose Orpheus. He had to ask Hades for Orpheus back for a day since he died at the foot of the passage from the underworld to the over world. Orpheus was excellent at playing the Lyre and could sooth any living creature, even a human. Artemis had a trick up her sleeve as well as a warrior, she had gotten Athena to guide her warrior to victory.
It was finally tournament day, and the seats in the coliseum were filled to the brim for this battle, the only sound anyone could hear was the chatter of Greeks. Both Artemis and Apollo were awaiting a victory. They sat on the top edge of the coliseum, and Athena had changed herself into a mortal so she would blend in with the crowd.
The players stepped out, Odysseus blowing kisses to the crowd, Orpheus calmly walking out to the middle. The battle began. Odysseus was the first one to strike with his bronze sword heading straight for Orpheus’ head, Orpheus blocked it easily with his silver shield. As this was going on, Ignite and Twilight appeared next to their friends, and they both sensed Athena. Ignite growled, but didn’t move. The battle continued with Odysseus continuously slashing at Orpheus. With swords and shields continuously clashing, Orpheus was taking many hits, he couldn’t block them all, he back out a bit so he’d have time to pull out his lyre. Odysseus was in mid swing, about to hit Orpheus in the knee and claim his prize, but Orpheus’ music and singing lured him away from victory, and to peace, something he hadn’t felt since he had gone to war with the Trojans. He stopped, his sword escaped his hand, and he hugged Orpheus.
Artemis was outraged from what happened, “You cheated!” She screamed, “You used a musician!”
“So?” Apollo said shrugging, “everyone’s a warrior, whether musician, citizen, or a part of the army.”
Ignite jumped down from the top of the coliseum taking a physical form, he roared and leaped for Athena. She tried to escape, but the lion caught her and threw her to Apollo. He caught Athena, and she turned into her godlike form and hung her head sadly.
“Wait till I tell Zeus about what you did Athena,” Apollo tisked.
“Artemis said she would give me an animal too!” she blurted out, and immediately covered her mouth. Artemis’ face went flank in fear.
Apollo glared at her sister, fire in his eyes, “You cheated, not me!” yelled Apollo pointing at his sister, and “you tried to use Athena to win!”
“No I didn’t!” Artemis pushed Apollo,
“Yes you did!” Apollo shot back,
They rambled on like children, pushing and yelling, until Artemis gave up,
“Fine, I will never show my face!” she shot, “not even to you”
“Fine then!” Apollo yelled. After that, hey felt better. The yelling took out some anger both of them were holding in.
Years later, they made up and both decided to let their companions go, but with immortality, never to pass over to Hades which both Twilight and Ignite appreciated. Artemis and Apollo took their rightful places in the sky. Artemis will forever be a loner, but she was ok with it, for she always was, and for Apollo, he got his house and chariot back. Artemis got one half of the day cycle and Apollo got the other, and that was fine with them.
The End
Kinard Mythology Anthology Page 18