"Calm yourself." Hades's voice was level, yet carried undeniable majesty.
He extended his pale fingers and pointed them towards the giantess's abdomen.
His power spread silently, tracing back to the source of this sudden miracle of life.
The divine power pierced through the veil of time, returning to the night she had slept in the cave.
The scene rapidly rewound in Hades's mind—the calm, sleeping face of the giantess, the primordial darkness and silence within the cave, and then... time continued forward, and the scene froze just before the giantess fell asleep.
A... human male. A warrior of the Bronze Age, apparently separated from his group during a hunt or battle.
He had wandered into the vast 'cave'.
The cold and solitude of the night, and perhaps the residual excitement of battle and the fear of death, mingled with an inexplicable restlessness.
In the dark cave, the man was drawn by the power of Eros, but had nowhere to release it.
In the end, he used his hands to perform an instinctive, primitive act...
And then the human left.
The giantess continued to sleep here.
Her powerful life force, closely connected to the earth, combined with the remnants in the cave, and unknowingly, began to conceive.
Hades: "..."
He couldn't help but fall silent for a moment after 'witnessing' the entire absurd conception process with great clarity and precision.
This was no miracle, no curse, not even a conspiracy.
It was simply a series of extremely coincidental and... logical happenstances.
An improbable, almost comical accident.
The giantess looked silently at Hades, even more frightened, tears welling up in her eyes: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty... In the end... What was the cause? Am I going to die?"
Hades looked at the inexplicably pregnant giantess, crying like a lost child, and felt a rare... emotion akin to 'speechlessness'.
This feeling was not related to negativity, but rather a pure perception of the world's absurdity.
"You need not be afraid; it is neither illness nor a curse." Hades's voice was still calm, but if one listened closely, it seemed to hold an extremely subtle, barely perceptible pause compared to usual.
"You simply... passively absorbed some... human..."
He chose a relatively euphemistic, but factual, statement.
The giantess blinked her single eye in the void: "Human... race? That... then the child in my belly..."
"It will be a hybrid giant," Hades stated.
"Possessing some human characteristics, as well as your giant blood. Its future depends on its own choices and creation."
The giantess seemed somewhat relieved, but was still puzzled: "A demigod... But how could a human make me..."
"There is no need to delve into the details," Hades interrupted her potential pursuit of the question; it was too complicated to explain the process in detail to the ignorant giantess.
"Since life has been conceived, it has become part of the world's cycle. If you wish to enter the underworld system, you may report to Thanatos or Hypnos."
With these words, Hades did not stay.
His figure slowly vanished on the spot, leaving behind the giantess, who was still somewhat ignorant but, at least, no longer afraid and crying, alone to digest the shocking news that 'she was about to become the mother of a demigod, and its father might be a human she had never met'.
Leaving the valley, Hades continued his wandering.
The salty sea breeze blew over the cliffs, accompanied by the endless roar of the tide.
Hades's figure appeared on this boundary, completely different from Hades and full of dynamic vitality.
His gaze fell upon the beach.
Poseidon, his brother, the lord of the sea, stood with his back to him, crouched at the meeting point of the wet sand and the waves.
The trident, symbolizing sea power and might, was casually stuck in the sand beside him, like a forgotten ordinary harpoon.
Poseidon was not using divine power; he was absorbed in using his hands to shape the water that surged onto the shore.
The clear water, under the delicate control of his divine power, no longer followed the natural tides, but intertwined and swirled in the air, painting complex and ever-changing patterns—sometimes like blooming flowers, sometimes like seabirds spreading their wings.
They refracted magnificent rainbow colors in the sun.
He radiated an aura of peace, even 'immersion', different from the ambitious and unruly brother in Hades's memory.
Hades paused for a moment, but Poseidon seemed completely absorbed in his artistic world, unaware of his arrival, or in other words, indifferent.
Finally, Hades took a step and quietly passed near Poseidon, the corners of his black robe brushing against the boulders polished smooth by the waves.
"Poseidon," Hades's voice was level, like the stagnant water in the depths of Hades.
Poseidon's movements paused slightly, and the silhouette of a dolphin formed by the seawater in the air scattered with a crash and rejoined the wave.
He slowly raised his head, and those sea-blue eyes, which should have been wild as a storm, were now calm like shallow waters in a gentle breeze, with a hint of confusion that had not yet faded from his creation.
"Oh, it's big brother." Poseidon's tone was very casual, even with a slight impatience at being disturbed. He patted the sand grains off his hands and didn't intend to stand up and salute.
"Why are you free to come to my noisy beach? Isn't Hades busy enough for you?"
His gaze slid over Hades's emotionless face, then fell back to the churning waves, as if seeking inspiration for his next creation.
"Just passing by," Hades replied, his violet eyes gliding over the 'ignored' trident and returning to Poseidon.
"It seems you have found a new... amusement."
Poseidon chuckled, with a hint of self-mockery and slight relief. With a wave of his hand, a wave rose up, transforming into a spinning crystal ball in his palm.
"Amusement? I suppose so. It's better than spending all day thinking about how to overturn Zeus's broken throne, or..." He paused and cast a meaningful glance at Hades.
"...thinking about how to get a slice of the pie in your bottomless Underworld."
He stood up, his figure still strong and majestic, but inexplicably slightly less oppressive. He looked at the boundless sea, and his voice seemed a little elusive in the sea breeze:
"I see. Fighting? What's there to fight over? Whether it's thunder, the ocean, or even your... heh heh... In the end, aren't they all part of this world? Zeus likes to sit atop the mountain and issue orders, so let him sit. You are willing to bear this heavy world, and I respect your will."
He turned his head to Hades, showing his white teeth, a pure, almost lazy smile on his face.
"And me? I found myself in fiddling with these waters, making them dance as I wished, and watching the sunlight pass through them and refract into many colors... This is much more interesting than ruling them. At least they won't betray, won't scheme; they'll only show fleeting perfection according to my heart."
He leaned down, scooped up a handful of wet sand from his feet, and deftly pinched it with his fingers. Soon, a small seahorse made of sediment appeared in his palm.
He gently placed it on a reef and let the next wave gently engulf and carry it away.
"See? Born, exist, disappear. This cycle continues endlessly, without judgment and without cost. This is my 'kingdom', big brother."
Poseidon clapped his hands and looked at Hades, his eyes calm.
"Compared to your Hades, which needs careful balancing, and Olympus, where Zeus must constantly be wary of betrayal, my ocean is much freer."
Hades listened in silence. He felt the sincerity in Poseidon's words.
This brother seemed to have truly stepped out of the vortex of power struggles and found inner peace in the creation of art.
"Very well... a hobby." Hades finally gave a neutral assessment in his mind.
Poseidon laughed heartily, his loud laughter resonating with the noise of the waves.
"Yes, a hobby! Gods live forever, why shouldn't they have some fun?" He stopped looking at Hades and turned his attention back to the sea, beginning to shape the waves into a miniature, crystal-clear palace.
"You can go on your way, big brother. I won't entertain you with this 'artistic creation'."
He was once again immersed in his own world, as if Hades were just an insignificant being passing by by chance.
Hades stood motionless for a moment, looking at his brother, who was focused on 'fiddling with the sea and mud', and his figure slowly dissolved into the shadows, as if he had never been there.
Only the sea breeze, the sound of the tide, and the art of water flowing through Poseidon's fingers were still eternally perceived on this coast.