Eris glanced at the two most important people in her world one last time before her form disassembled Into a dark fog which began to rise up into the underealm skies, heading to the overealm above.
After she was gone, Nyx lightly pinched Adam's cheek.
"Ow." He said as he rubbed his cheek. "What was that for?"
Nyx smiled mischievously. "I'm feeling so happy that I had to pinch you. Not everyone gets everything they ever wanted.
The daughter I thought I had lost forever was returned to me.
And it's all because of you . . .you who is everything I ever dreamed of and more. Tell me, just what should I do with the overflowing joy in my heart?"
Adam fet touched by her words as he returned lovestruck gaze. She was clearly eons old and yet the way she expressed joy was almost childlike. Adam smiled warmly, before his expression became solemn.
"Nyx, if it's no trouble can you tell me about our world . . . For example, things about the underealm we are in right now." Up until now, Adam still barely knew anything about the world he was living in. This was as good a chance as any to find out a bit more.
Nyx was curious about how he could lack such basic knowledge. But since he had not taken the initiative to tell her, she didn't probe and simply nodded before narrating:
As you know, the realm we inhabit is the underealm, and there are two other realms, namely: The earth, and the overealm.
Eons ago, light, and life were split from chaos and darkness for the first time, causing the birth of the first sentient creatures.
The heavens gave birth to first gods of light, gods of peace and prosperity, gods of balance.
Whiles the great pit, what we call Tartarus, gave birth to the first gods of darkness; gods of death, gods of chaos, giants, the Hundredhanded ones, and the Titans themsleves.
We were born to oppose eachother and maintain a crucial balance between the two primal forces: life and death, light and dark, order and chaos.
I, Nyx have ruled the Doman of darkness since beginningless time. Others like me have governed over death and chaos alike, all while the gods above brought life and prosperity to the earth, creating a great many mortal creatures, and maintaining the balance of the elements.
And once this balance was successfully preserved by us the first, and mortal spirits filled the earth above, several other gods were born to govern the numerous aspects of the expanding earth: energy, sound, color, rain, fire, wind, and even the more abstract concepts mortals brought about like justice, peace, and love.
But we primordials are the firsts— the strongest, and as are the gods who inherit our domains.
All other realms and pantheons of gods were born this way: The Aesir and Vanir gods versus the evil giants. Ra and his heavenly armies versus Apophis and the forces of chaos.
They all reflect the nature of the two primal forces; eternally at war with eachother.
The underealm always exist at the lowest point of every realm, and my domain. . . is merely one out of several. The realm of death is governed by Hades and the realm of chaos was taken over by my dear daughter, though she seems reluctant to to stay here.
"I understand." Adam nodded simply before asking. "And how powerful is our pantheon of gods compared to the others you mentioned."
Nyx flashed a childishly cocky grin as she responded. "Very!
Several dozen Pantheons have come into being at this point in time, but the Greek Pantheon surpasses most of them. The only Pantheons ahead of us are the Egyptian and Norse Pantheons, with the Norse being by far the strongest."
"The Norse Pantheon. . ." Adam repeated after Nyx, a strong impression of them forming in his heart.
Then Adam took a good look at Nyx's domain. The first time he'd come here his vision was clouded and murky, and so he was unable to see much within the dark realm, but after recovering his Artificial god body, his sight had fully recovered, and so the underealm came into full view.
Dark jagged spires, and black volcanic sand stretched for as far as the eyes could see. Strange ink black rivers snaked across the terrain, an odd glittering mist curled above the dark water.
Far inland for about three hundred miles the ground connected to the base of a high obsidian wall, which gaurded a grand palace— the palace of Nyx.
The palace was definitely beautiful and ornate in its own right, but being from the future, Adam had seen palaces far more remarkable than it.
Several spirits flitted in and out of the various palace structures. They were different from the spirits Adam had seen before. Long elf- like ears. Dark jet black skin that lightened into a dark blue at the face and the extremities of the limbs, and completely pitch black eyes with no whites. Within these eyes, several neon white dots sparkled. It was as jarring as it was beautiful. Adam intuitively knew that they were night spirits.
Overall the entire realm was extremely tranquil, just like the night itself. Adam was in awe at it.
"Your realm is quite peaceful. " Adam complimented as he sat down on the ledge to better enjoy the view.
Nyx laughed once then sat down besides him, her expression becoming grim as she remembered something. "It wasn't always this way though. . ."
"I told you how the gods came about, but the specific way it happens is different across each Pantheon, as are the entities that come into being.
For us, Uranus and Gaia came first, before Tartarus(the underealm) made himself known.
Uranus was primordial deity of the sky (oroverealm) and Gaia was the deity of the earth.
As the only two deities at that particular point into time, they both longed for the other's company and as such, became husband and wife.
Their union spawned the twelve original titans; six male and six female: Cronus, Oceanus, Iapetus, Hyperion, Crius, and Coeus.
And the females: Rhea, Tethys, Theia, Themis, Mnemosyne, and Phoebe.
And not longer after, the Titans had children of their own. Some radiated power differently and became the divine subspecies known as gods, but others . . .
A son of Crius and Eurybia, became the titan god of destruction: and his name was Perses.
Even as child he was cruel and vile, for he was touched by the darkest of the primal forces: The anti-life:
The Pre-Existential Primordial force that embodies the Chaos, Evil, Impurity, Darkness, and Antimatter.
It is independent of the two primal forces of the universe as it only exist to bring an end to everything that is. It is pure energy of unmaking.
And though it twisted his mind beyond repair and destroyed all of his humanity, it made Perses strong; strong enough to conquer the entire underealm in under a thousand years, bringing all of its gods, myself included, under his heel.
My soul trembles whenever I remember what his rule was like. . ." And true to her words, Nyx shivered every so slightly as she exhaled a cold breath.
Adam was alarmed as well. For someone as powerful as Nyx to be so traumatized by his rule, just how dreadful was he?
"How did his rule end?" Adam asked finally.
His great power, and his cruel disposition caused even the other Titankind to be afraid of him. But perhaps they would have left him alone, had he not eventually murdered his own father Crius, one of the twelve original Titans, in a fit of uncontrolled rage.
After winessing such a vile deed, the other Titans were incensed. No longer able to sit still, they bound Perses in chains that ate way at his strength and locked him in the deepest pit in Tartarus. Free from his Tyranny, the underealm was finally able to become what you see today."
Adam gently tucked a strand of her ink black hair behind her ear."I can only imagine how difficult it was for you."
"It wasn't so bad. Asteria and the others always supported me through the conflicts with. And now it's all in the past."
"And yet I sense that a different matter now weighs heavily on you now . . ."
"Yes. . ."
Before Nyx could say anything else, a sudden flash of silver light blinded the two of them. And anxious Asteria hurried over, and knelt before Nyx, speaking hurriedly. "Master the emissary from Olympus has arrived. And this time, it is even worse than we feared!"
"Why? Who did that animal Zeus send?" Nyx asked as her expression rapidly darkned. She had not been too worried about the visit initially, but Asteria's sudden hysteria caused her to be wary.
"Hmph!" Nyx snorted. "From the way you're behaving, I can only assume that he sent one of the twelve Olympians. But that should not be enough to frighten you this much!"
"Yes my master. The one leading the group is Athena, the Olympian goddess of wisdom. But master . . .
The other strong presence amongst then belongs to . . .it belongs to . . ."