Nichole looked at the book and mimicked the old man's words in a form of a question, "Book of the Dead?" She turned her head to ask more about the book when suddenly there was a flash of lightning, causing the poor girl to fall backwards in surprise. She sat up on the dusty, wooden floor, brushing the dust off of her clothes that seemed to puff around her in a cloud. When she looked towards the elderly man he was gone, as if he vanished with the lightning. Nichole jumped up to her feet, surveying the room with no sign of the owner.
"Umm... Hello?" She called out, her voice echoing eerily with in the ancient store. When she received no response, the girl gave out a sigh, speaking quietly to herself, "Where did that old man go?" Seeing as the gentleman was nowhere to be found, Nichole turned her attention over to the book. Approaching it slowly she once again mimicked the owners words, "Book of the Dead, huh?" The young student ran her hand across the cover of the book, it felt like it was brand new, quite contrary to it's looks. She picked it up looking around the store once more, shrugging, "Well, he did say I could have it for free." With that she left the store and headed home, the book enclosed in her arms and pressed against her chest.
The foreign girls house was quite small, which was something she like about the house, and it was on the outskirts of town making it not very noticeable to most of the townsfolk. She walked up to the front door, taking out a small crown shaped key that shined in the suns rays, and unlocked the door, entering the house and closing the door behind her. Nichole placed the keys in a small bowl on top an old, wooden table just next to the front door. Walking into her room she sat on her bed, still messy from getting up in the morning and let the book drop onto her lap. After a few moments of staring at the book, the student slowly opened it, the stiff rustling of the pages could be heard as she stared at the first page. The words in the book at first were in the same language as the ones on the cover, but in just a few moments, the words seemed to shift and change into the familiar looking English language.
She shook her head in disbelief, but was taken in by what the book told of that she just looked past the strange happening. The book told about the ancient god, Hades, king of the underworld and husband to Persephone. The stories with in the pages seemed like a fairy tale, so surreal, but at the same time charming and interesting. As Nichole keep reading she learned about the history of the Underworld and eventually read about the death god Thanatos. That name pulled most of the girls interest than the rest, but she was unsure as to why. Finally she reached the last page, which was covered only with some sort of incantation that seemed to be a way of summoning the Death god. The student recalled the old owners words, but chuckled a bit, "Please, what could this silly incantation really do?" With that she spoke the words of the spell, but it seemed to have no effect. Nichole shrugged, happy to have proven herself right, until suddenly something smashed through the wall, sending pieces of wood and dust flying everywhere and scattering all of the girls possessions across the room.
After the dust settled, the young foreign girl looked up, seeing the devastation and destroyed state of her room. A large hole opened the room to the outside world, the sun beaming though it. Nichole's eyes widened seeing all of this and she gasped seeing a figure lying in here room and appearing to be in a lot of pain. Her voice was small and quivering, "U-Um, H-Hel-Hello?"
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Hades sat in one of the many chairs in the Olympus Council room. This was the place where the gods usually held meeting. Each seat inside the room was decorated with the different motifs of each god, allowing everyone to know where to sit. Poseidon sat in his chair, tapping his fingers on his leg.
"Where is Zeus?!" The sea gods voice boomed, shaking the room slightly.
"How am I suppose to know you imbecile?" Hades snapped back at him, the death kings words dripping with venom. Suddenly a flash of lightning appeared as did Zeus who, upon arrival, sat in his council seat. "Nice of you to finally show up, brother." Hades growled, "Now what did you summon me up here for?"
Zeus chuckled, his broad uncovered chest raising and dropping heavily with his laugh, "It's good to see you too, Hades. How's the Underworld?"
"It's to die for, Zeus. Now can we get back to bui..." Hades was cut off by a bird chirping at him urgently. He took the message from the bird and read it. The gods anger rose as he slammed a fist on the arm of his chair, crumbling the message in his hand. "You'll have to excuse me, your highness," He addressed his brother with sarcasm, "But I have a problem I must deal with that is much more important then this petty meeting." With that he vanished in a cloud of black smoke.
When Hades arrived in the Underworld, his expression was of pure rage. He yelled so loud that anyone, or anything, in the Underworld could hear him, "Who the hell, summoned Thanatos?!" An aura of fire burst around him as he stormed to the throne room in search of his wife, "I do not have time for this! Cerberus!!!" At his call a large three headed, black hound, the size of a small house, ran up to him. "I want you to find out who summoned Thanatos now!" With a monstrous bark from the three heads, Cerberus turned and ran to search for the one who did this. The furious god slumped down into his throne, rubbing his temple slightly and letting out a deep sigh.
Jangel13