Contents
5. The Initiation Massacre
Overview
Hades commences the initiation massacre, unleashing black fog that drives brutal hand-to-hand combat. Alexis survives the chaos, aided briefly by Nyx and an unseen Chthonic initiate, Drex. After ten finalists remain, mentors are assigned: Alexis receives the feared Chthonic Crimson Duo, Patro and Achilles, who claim ownership and teleport her away.
Summary
In a rain-soaked coliseum, Hades and Persephone appear as Hades announces the initiation massacre. Hades’s black fog spills into the arena, carrying screams and terror, and forbids weapons. The fog chills and disorients the initiates, turning the fight into a brutal, chaotic melee.
Alexis is attacked repeatedly, freezing at first when grabbed, then fighting back while Nyx’s venom incapacitates assailants. The fog drives some to madness; Alexis witnesses a horned boy self-destruct under its influence. Badly injured and reeling, Alexis flees through blood and sand as Hades announces dwindling numbers.
Three boys target Alexis, taunting her as an abandoned mutt, and knock Nyx unconscious, triggering Alexis’s feral rage. As they beat her, a pale initiate in the fog unleashes Chthonic power, torturing the attackers to death. The massacre ends with ten survivors as the fog retracts; Alexis reunites weakly with Nyx and fixates on hating Hades.
Zeus introduces mentors. An elderly violet-eyed registrar forces Alexis to state her name and hints at Fate’s favor. Drex Chen, the Chthonic boy, is assigned to Theros of Zeus. Alexis, announced as the first female mutt in centuries, is assigned two mentors due to “special circumstances”: Patro of Aphrodite and Achilles of Ares—the Crimson Duo—who openly loathe and threaten her.
Amid public ceremony and promises of immortality for survivors of the year-long crucible, Patro and Achilles flank Alexis, demand she smile, and assert control. Zeus outlines training with mentors. At dismissal, Patro grips Alexis, utters “Domus,” and teleports her away in searing pain. She collapses and faints in their home.
Who Appears
- Alexis HertInitiate and narrator; battles through Hades’s massacre, reunites with injured Nyx, is assigned to Patro and Achilles.
- HadesChthonic leader; unleashes terrorizing black fog, oversees the massacre, ends it when ten remain.
- ZeusOlympian leader; emcees results, assigns mentors, proclaims the crucible and immortality rhetoric.
- NyxAlexis’s invisible serpent companion; bites attackers, is knocked out, later recovers weakly.
- Drex ChenPale initiate; secretly uses Chthonic power to kill Alexis’s attackers; assigned to Theros.
- PatroChthonic mentor of Aphrodite’s House; domineering, threatens Alexis, teleports her home.
- AchillesChthonic mentor of Ares’s House; muzzled, menacing protector of Patro, helps claim Alexis.
- PersephoneHades’s partner; present at the ceremony, noted for her rare heiress status and influence over him.
- TherosHeir to Zeus; publicly mentors Drex, masking discomfort with a crowd-pleasing smile.
- Elderly violet-eyed registrarMysterious official; compels Alexis to state her name, hints at Fate’s backing, eyes briefly turn blue.