It’s the year 2025 in a city called Solaria; it’s cold and desolate here. The sun never shines here because the pollution that is created by all the machines blocked it out fifteen years ago. The people are only able to sustain life because they have created a dome over most of the city. The dome creates artificial weather for the people to continue living. Many of the people here are selfish and only care about themselves. Almost everything in this world has been substituted with mechanical things that the humans dub “perfect.” It grates on my nerves how they could change this once beautiful place into nothing but machines; but I’ve found a way to change it back to a beautiful place once again. I’m Hades, the god of the underworld. No I don’t kill people; I just rule over the dead. There is a difference. I live amongst the humans because I’m searching for someone with hidden power, the power of destruction.

I’ve recently been sensing these surges of power; finally, I think I’ve found whose giving them out. There, there she is, the one with the power to destroy this world. Now that I’ve found her, I need to “persuade” her into doing my bidding. As I walked into the library, as I do every Friday, I bumped into someone, “Oh sorry,” I replied.

“No, it’s my fault, sorry,” I said feeling embarrassed that I had bumped into the guy.

I noticed that he had dropped something, and I picked it up and turned to say, “Hey mister you dropped your….” he was gone.
Now, how was I supposed to return his book? Oh well, I wonder what he was reading. I looked at the book that I held in my hands and was shocked. It was an actual book with pages and the written word. Books like this have long been extinct. Ever since hallow graphic books have become available, regular books were transferred to hallow graphic editions and the written books were burned like fire wood. So you can understand why I was more than a little shocked. I looked at the cover and it read Gods of Greek Mythology. I decided I would just come back to the library tomorrow and put the book in the lost and found, but in the meantime I’d read it.
When I got home, the lights were off; and I realized my parents were out again. I ran up stairs and threw my bag to the floor at the foot of my bed. I kicked my shoes off and jumped on my bed with my newly acquired book and started to read. It was around 7:00 p.m. when my parents walked through the door my mother screaming, “Aries Isabella Dagon! Get down here now!”
I bound down the stairs and said, “Yes, what is it mother?”
“Please explain to me why you have an A- in English!” my mother nearly yelled.
“Well you see… I…I turned an assignment in l-late.” I stuttered out. I thought I saw her eyes roll back in her head when she looked at me screaming, “YOU HAVE AN A- BECAUSE YOU TURNED SOMETHING IN LATE!?”
Cowering in her shadow, I mumbled, “Yes mother.”
When I said that, she turned away from me and went upstairs and slammed her bedroom door so loudly I thought she pulled it off its hinges. As I was walking up the stairs my father called to me and said, “Sorry honey, mom’s just not in the best of moods because of something that happened at work. Okay. So, don’t you dare think that she hates you, okay.”
With that he went upstairs to console my mother and most likely make sure that she didn’t break anything valuable. Which made me start thinking, am I that invaluable that in one second she could just scream at me for one little mistake? Well, if I wasn’t, she sure had a weird way of showing it. When I walked in my room, I continued to read the book that the guy had dropped earlier. It was actually very interesting, it talked about gods and about things they ruled over. One in particular caught my eye though. The one called Ares. It wasn’t only because his name was similar to mine. It was because he was the god of war and destruction. I thought about it and found that I somehow do cause tons of trouble for myself and others. I didn’t have any more time to ponder this because as soon as I started to think about it, there was this great flash.
As soon as I was able to see again, I was amazed to see a guy in my room, the same one that I had bumped into earlier. I stared for a few seconds until he snapped me out of my thoughts saying, “So you found my book. What did you think of it?”
“Oh well it was g-great …why? Wait, who are you? Why are you in my room? Holy crap, I’m so going to die because there is this weird guy in my room who looks like he is going to eat me! ” I shakily replied.
“WAIT CALM DOWN. I’M NOT HERE TO HURT YOU!” he screamed trying to get my attention. As soon as I was calm, he asked me, “Hey, why did you keep my book instead of returning it to my library?”
“No! You answer my questions before I tell you anything!” I exclaimed.
“Fine! 1.Because I need your help 2. I’m Hades 3. I’m in your room because again I need your help. There, are you satisfied now. Can we please talk?” he asked winded.
“Wait, so you’re Hades. You mean H-Hades from the book, that Hades? Why do you need my help? It’s not like I’m anything special,” I said sadly.
He looked at me for a second and said, “Yes, I am Hades from the book, and I need your help because you have great power that I could -I mean we could use to take away all of the pollution in the world.”
“Oh yeah, prove it! Show me that you’re actually Hades and that I have this awesome power you’re babbling on about,” I said rudely.
The so called Hades looked at me and smirked. I didn’t like that smirk at all. It reminded me of when my cousin is about to pull a prank on me. He held his hand out to me and gestured for me to grab it. At first, I was reluctant and then grabbed it. As soon as I did, I realized we weren’t in my room any more. We were in this dark place, and Hades was dressed in these black clothes that made him look like royalty. I was convinced. He is Hades from the book. He smiled at me and snapped his fingers. When he did, a mirror appeared in front of me. In an instant he was behind me. He put his hands on my shoulders and whispered in my ear, “If all you want is to be valued, I can give you that. All you have to do is wish for it.”
“What do you mean?” I turned and looked at him and he pointed at the mirror. When I looked at it, I was in a state of shock. I was wearing clothes just as beautiful as a goddess’s and I looked ethereal. I turned to him and asked, “Is that me?”
He nodded, and I asked, “How in the world could you make that me and how would that make people value me?”
“Well,” he replied, “I am Hades and you are a goddess reborn, so I can give you the power of the goddess you once were. That in itself would make your family and friends value you much more, but if I were to give you this gift, you would have to return the favor. Understood?” he said looking at me. I nodded and thought about it I could have this great power and be valued for once in my life or not be a goddess and be undervalued as always. I was leaning more towards being a goddess, but of course, there was a catch so I asked, “If I were to agree to your deal what would you ask of me in return?” I asked.
“For a complete world revolution. A world with no pollution and real rain instead of an artificial climate,” he responded seriously.
I thought about it for a second and realized what he wanted wasn’t bad so why not, “I agree to your deal then.”
That eerie smirk was back, and again he held out his hand once more. This time I grabbed his hand full force, and when I realized we were back in my room, he said, “I’ll give you a few days to get use to the powers I gave you.”
With that he left, and I was left to ponder what happened. I was so confused; I mean I didn’t feel any different. I guess it was just a big ruse, smoke and mirrors stuff. I went to bed and found sleep easily. The next morning I woke up and found I had slept in; I freaked out and ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth. That was finished in .2 seconds flat. Wait … that’s not normal usually it takes me at least five minutes to do that. I passed it off as just an adrenalin rush and went about getting ready for school. For some reason, when I got back to my room, it said that only five minutes had passed, but when I woke up, it was 5:50 a.m. That was impossible. My clock had to be broken; at least ten had to have passed. I didn’t question it and ran down stairs to speak to my parents they were there drinking coffee. My mother was about to turn to me and yell when I held up my hand and said, “Look, mother, I don’t want to here it.”
She turned back around and continued to drink her coffee. I couldn’t believe I just did that. I’m surprised that she hasn’t come to slap me. I blew it off and ran to school. When I got there, school felt like it went by so fast I didn’t even notice. The week flew by exactly the same, and that’s when I realized that all the weird things that happened to me were godly; two weeks had passed. By then my family and friends basically worshipped me, and it was kind of getting on my nerves. While I was in the library, someone came up behind me and whispered, “Hey there, Aries, cooked up any good wars in the past two weeks?”
I turned and saw Hades standing there with a smug look on his face. I replied, “No, I have not. So why are you here?”
“You’re telling me you forgot all ready?” He raised an eyebrow at me. I looked him straight in the eyes and finally it hit me. He wanted his favor. I sighed and said, “Okay so how do I make the world unpolluted?”
He smiled and said, “All you have to do is start a war.”
I looked at him like he had two heads and yelled, “What no, I won’t do that! It’s wrong and inhuman!”
“You’re not human anymore so why do you care,” he said calmly as he watched my every move. Then, he continued saying, “You promised that you would do it, and now you have to stand by your word.”
All I could do was look at him and think he was right. Unshed tears started to fill my eyes, and he for some odd reason, embraced me and tried his best to comfort me. I looked up and sobbed out, “Why a-are you …trying to con-console me?”
He smiled a sad smile and said, “Well, because I’m sorry I really don’t want to cause you pain because you remind me of my love, Ares the god of war that came before you. I’m truly sorry to ask this of you, but this world should not have to go through such misery.”
I looked at him, tears falling freely now, and thought he may be the god of the underworld, but he sure doesn’t seem like it. I only wished that there was a way to save the world with out making people destroy each other. I burst into tears and dropped to my knees and just cried, not only for the fact that I might have to hurt people I care about but for this world that was so pure and some how ended up being polluted and destroyed. I didn’t know what to do.
I didn’t understand her; I gave her the power she wanted; her family and friends valued her; and she wasn’t happy. She was sitting here crying, and I could do nothing. I didn’t like seeing my Ares cry, and I sure as hell didn’t like to see this Aries cry. So I embraced her and tried to make the sobbing stop. I could feel my shirt getting soaked and thought everything will be fine once the world is pure again. I don’t know what happened because for some reason I was enveloped in a bright white light. When I opened my eyes I saw my Ares standing before me. I was ecstatic I embraced her full force into my arms and said, “Ares, I can’t believe you’re here. Why did you leave? I was lonely.”
She looked at me and smiled that sweet warm smile she always did and said, “Hades, I’m gone; my body died a long time ago, but my light was reborn in Aries. She has my light, and she can revolutionize the world; however, you are going about it in the wrong way. She is still too young to be able to control the power you have awakened in her. I see your good will to want the world pure again, and so I will grant your wish but in return you must care for my descendent and watch over her. Can you handle that?”
“Yes, I can.” never once doubting what I said. Another flash of light and I was now in a field of flowers with Aries in my arms sound asleep. She stirred and woke up and looked at me with golden eyes and said, “What happened, where are we?”
“My wish has been granted as long as I agreed to take care of you.”
“So you mean my family and friends are gone?” she asked frightened.
“No, they’re over there you see? Look they are waiting for you,” I answered.
She sighed and said, “As long as they are okay, I’m okay. So since you have to watch over me, does that mean …”
“Yes, that means you are mine, and I am yours in this Heaven on Earth.”