(Check my account for V1 😼)

It happened too fast to make sense. One moment, the battlefield was fire and chaos — the crack of lightning, the sting of metal, the crash of waves. Screams swallowed by thunder. Then nothing.

No pain. No weight. Just… silence.

When they opened their eyes, they were no longer standing on scorched ground. The air was cool here, almost damp, carrying the faint echo of voices that weren’t there. A velvet curtain loomed ahead, drawn across a stage they hadn’t noticed until now. The floorboards beneath their feet gleamed black, polished to a shine, and overhead a single spotlight burned, too bright to ignore.

Jason blinked, his hand going instinctively to his weapon. It wasn’t there. Hazel whispered, voice shaking, “Where are we?” Will pushed up from the ground, pale, scanning the empty rows of seats beyond the stage. “What… happened?”

No one answered.

They all turned slowly, drawn by the weight of a gaze. At the edge of the stage, lounging in the shadows as though he’d been waiting for this exact moment, was Hades. Dark robes curled around him like smoke, a faint, smug smile playing across his face. His eyes glinted with something that wasn’t quite warmth, wasn’t quite cruelty.

Finally, he stood, stepping into the light like an actor taking the stage. “Well,” he said, his voice smooth, almost amused, “you died.”

The words landed like a stone in their stomachs. No one moved. No one breathed.

“You fought bravely,” Hades continued, pacing slow, deliberate circles around them, “but in the end, even heroes fall. And now…” He stopped, spreading his arms wide, “…you find yourselves here. My stage. My rules.”

The velvet curtain behind him shuddered, the faint sound of unseen applause rising from nowhere.

“You may think death is an ending. It isn’t. Not yet. Not for you.” His smile sharpened. “Consider this… a competition. A chance to prove yourselves once more. A chance to earn what others only dream of: a second life.”

Annabeth’s fists curled at her sides, but she stayed silent. Percy’s jaw clenched, his eyes locked on Hades with quiet fury.

Hades leaned closer, lowering his voice, each syllable deliberate. “Only one of you will walk out of here alive. The rest…” He tilted his head, his expression smooth, cruelly calm. “…will stay.”

The spotlight flickered. The stage creaked.

And the game began.

“How do we go back..?” Leo asked.

“You sing.”