Chapter Text
Long ago, in ancient times, the goddess of harvest and agriculture, Demeter, and the god of gods, lightning, and thunder, Zeus, gave birth to the goddess Persephone. Persephone became the goddess of spring and of the earth. Her father, Zeus, appointed her as the Guardian of the Earth, tasked with protecting it alongside her 88 knights. For this reason, she was destined to reincarnate every nine hundred years. Persephone was a beautiful young woman who drew the desire of many men, but her mother, Demeter, wished for her daughter to remain a maiden for all eternity. One day, while she was walking in her sanctuary near a waterfall, Persephone began to play in the water. Her laughter caught the attention of a god passing by in his chariot drawn by black horses. The god approached the waterfall and saw the goddess. As he tried to get closer, he stepped on a dry branch. Startled, Persephone reacted by creating vines to defend herself as she turned to confront the intruder. To her surprise, she found herself face to face with the God of the Underworld — Hades. At that very moment, Eros, the God of Love, struck them both with his arrow, and they fell in love instantly. Hades loved the goddess deeply and asked Zeus for her hand in marriage. Seeing, for the first time, the sincere love his brother held for his daughter, Zeus accepted and blessed their union. Only Demeter refused to give her consent to her daughter’s marriage with the God of Death. Despite her refusal, Persephone and Hades were wed. Thus, Persephone became the Goddess of the Underworld and Queen of the Otherworld. However, Zeus decreed that for six months each year, his daughter must return to Earth to fulfill her duties as Guardian of the Earth — protecting it from malevolent gods — and spend the other six months beside her husband in the Underworld. Because Persephone reincarnated every nine hundred years, Hades decided to reincarnate every eight hundred years as well, so that he could wait for her and watch over her from afar. Through the centuries, they lived happily, despite the many battles Persephone fought against evil gods and goddesses, aided by her knights. Sometimes, the God of the Underworld would visit his wife on the surface to spend time with her. Unfortunately, their happiness was shattered by a jealous god who coveted Persephone — Saturn, the God of Time and Evil. He kidnapped her when she was alone. When Hades learned of Persephone’s abduction, he set out to rescue her, aided by his specters and his wife’s knights. When they finally clashed, Hades defeated Saturn, who bowed before the Lord of the Dead. Hades retrieved Persephone, and she rejoiced at being reunited with her husband and her warriors. But just as they were about to leave, Saturn, refusing to accept defeat, unleashed a lightning strike toward Hades. Seeing the attack, Persephone stepped in front of her husband to protect him. Hades destroyed Saturn in a fury but was devastated by his wife’s death and took his own life soon after. Their love was so pure that even the Fates were moved. Zeus believed their deaths had disrupted the balance of the universe, but the Fates reassured him that the two gods would continue their cycle of reincarnation — though, unfortunately, so would Saturn, the god of time and evil. Saturn entered a deep stasis, vowing to make Hades pay for humiliating him and to finally claim Persephone for himself. His spirit wandered his temple, waiting for the next cycle of the two lovers’ rebirths. Centuries later, a child was born in Batavia and placed in his mother’s arms. Her husband, believing the baby to be his, was overjoyed, and the mother kissed the infant’s forehead. Ten years later, the child grew and revealed his sorcerer’s mark — eyes shaped like a cat’s. His mother and stepfather realized then that the boy was the son of a demon. The mother hanged herself in the family barn, and the stepfather attempted to kill the boy. In that moment, the child’s magical powers awakened — he killed his stepfather, buried both bodies, and began wandering the streets of his village. One day, a well-dressed man carrying a cane approached him.
- I am your real father, I came to get you my son, smiled the man showing his cat-like eyes similar to the child.
The child was happy to find his biological father, and the demon took him with him to Edom. Meanwhile, the child's awakening magic attracted two gods. The gods smiled and sought out the child's aura. For three months, the child was trained in magic by his demon father, who was a prince of the underworld. The father was proud of his heir. A few days later, the demon felt two presences in his castle.
"Who dares enter my home without permission?" the demon growled in a gloomy voice.
“We found him!” declared a powerful voice.
The demon saw two people who looked like two drops of each other, the only difference being that one had black hair and the other blond hair, and two stars shone from their foreheads. The one with black hair had a black star and the other had an unfilled star. The prince gritted his teeth when he saw them.
- Who are you? asked the demon.
"We are the twin gods, we have come for our lord Hades, you poor cheap demon that you are!" mocked the black-haired god.
- Me, a poor demon? You'll see what you'll see! growled the demon.
The prince of hell sent a fireball at the two gods; he smiled before stopping his smile seeing no damage had any impact on them.
- You think you're going to scare us with this pathetic attack you're bringing out, mocked the blond god.
"That's a real attack!" sneered the black-haired god.
The black-haired god concentrated showing an aura blacker than the demon's, he stretched his arms out in front of him.
- BY TERRIBLE PROVIDENCE! cried the black-haired god.
A blast carried the demon away, making him hit the ceiling before falling to the ground, causing a hole in the floor. The demon had difficulty revealing himself due to the powerful blow from the god.
- Well, demon, you don't get up again? mocked the black-haired god.
"Who are you?" asked the demon, spitting out black blood.
"We're not going to answer to a demon like you, we're gods," the blond-haired god sneered.
The black-haired god kicked the demon to the ground, crushing its head with his foot, and rubbed his foot through the demon's hair.
"Did you really think a pathetic demon like you would be a match for gods like us?" the black-haired god sneered.
They felt a violent divine energy; they turned to face the child who had sea green eyes.
- THANATOS HYPNOS, THAT'S ENOUGH! cried the child in a dark voice.
- This cosmos, it can only be… choked Thanatos.
The two gods bowed to the child; a dark shadow appeared above the child whose eyes had turned blue.
"Master Hades, we are pleased to see you again!" Hypnos rejoiced, bowing to him with his twin.
- Me too, my dear advisors, smiled Hades.
The demon straightened up a little to see his son being possessed by a spirit, the child fixed his blue gaze on him with deep disdain.
- Who are you? Leave my son's body! ordered the demon.
“I am your son, I have awakened as Hades, the god of the underworld, the emperor of darkness,” the child introduced himself, smiling coldly.
“You can’t be him,” the demon objected.
“You demons think you’re above everything, but I’m superior to you,” Hades said, stepping forward.
"My lord, what did you want us to do?" Thanatos asked.
“I am still too young at the moment, but in the centuries to come I will have time to regain my strength. All I can do now is awaken my 108 evil stars,” declared Hades.
The child stepped forward, illuminating his index finger and pointing it toward the fiery sky. A beam of energy shot across the sky.
- WAKE UP MY 108 EVIL STARS AND RETURN TO YOUR MASTER! declared Hades.
The beam streaked across the sky and struck an ancient temple in the sky. The temple shuddered and shattered. Luminous filaments streaked across the sky. Hades lowered his arm, smiling coldly.
“Now that the 108 specters will soon be here, I will put hell back as it once was,” Hades decreed.
"Master Hades, regarding Her Highness Queen Persephone. Did you want us to go looking for her?" Hypnos asked.
The child had a soft look upon hearing his queen's name, he turned towards his two advisors.
"Don't do anything, let her reincarnate. I'll see then," Hades declared.
“Very well,” the duo agreed.
The child sat on the demon's throne and unleashed his power, restoring Hell to its former glory. Gradually, the dimension returned to the appearance of Hell in its golden age. Eight hundred years later, Maryse was giving birth to her child, her husband nearby, cheering her on.
- Go ahead Maryse, your child is going to come into the world, encouraged the midwife.
- YOU THINK I CAN'T FEEL HIS FACE RUBBING MY VAGINA, ROBERT YOU DAMN USELESS HUSBAND GO TAKE YOUR SON OUT OF MY VAGINA OR ELSE I SWEAR I'LL CUT YOUR THREE-PIECE SERVICE! threatened Maryse.
The midwife is doing it, Robert reminded, frightened.
- POOR, USELESS ASSHOLE, YOU'D BETTER BE SURE TO PROVIDE THE BOTTLES, threatened Maryse, pushing with all her might.
The hunter screamed in pain before gasping again at her husband's encouragement. Soon they heard a baby cry. The midwife placed the baby on Maryse's stomach and wrapped it in a clean towel.
“My son,” Maryse cried.
“Our son!” Robert smiled with tears in his eyes.
Several days later, they held their son's christening ceremony, inviting their friends from the circle and those from the enclave. A blond man and a red-haired woman approached them, and the redhead cooed over the newborn.
- Oh Maryse, he's so cute, complimented the redhead.
- Thanks Jocelyn, you'll have one soon with Valentin, Maryse smiles.
- What's this little one's name? asked Valentin.
“His name is Alexander Gideon Lightwood,” Robert replied, stroking his son’s head.
At the same time, men entered the Idris barrier, following the divine aura they had sensed. They located the aura in the Lightwood manor, they slipped inside. The silent brother placed the protective barrier in the mind of Alec, his parents were ecstatic when they heard snickers. They all saw men coming out of the shadows, they wore armor that was almost orange and others that were black with a purple crystal within the armor.
"I think Lord Saturn will be pleased to see what we found," the man sneered, eyeing the baby.
- We'll definitely move up in rank, his companion smiled.
“Who are you?” Valentine asked, taking his seraphic sword in hand.
"We are Saturnians, we serve His Majesty Saturn, God of time and evil. All we want is the baby you're holding, wife. Hand it over and no harm will come," the man laughed.
“I’ll never give you my baby,” Maryse refused, hugging Alec.
- Too bad for you, then, sneered the second Saturnian.
Valentin and the men attacked them when they were quickly waltzed by a blast from the two men, the two Saturnians approached Maryse to take Alec.
"Are you lost, gentlemen?" asked a male voice.
They turned to see a man in Chinese clothes with a straw hat on his head, he was holding a golden box with the pattern of the scale on it. Another came eating from a plate, he had short blue hair.
- Hey Dohko, the food isn't great here, complimented the man.
“I’ve already eaten,” Dohko reassured.
- Well, now that I've eaten, a little exercise will do me good, the man smiled.
- Do you think you can compete with us? asked the first Saturnian.
The blue-haired man smiled and raised his index finger, which lit up with a golden light. A golden box appeared with the pattern of a crab. The box opened, revealing a golden armor in the shape of a crab. The armor shattered and covered the man. Dohko did the same thing, but he had a golden armor in the shape of a scale that dressed on him.
"I am Manigoldo, Knight of Cancer, but you are already dead. BY THE WAVES OF HADES!" the man cried.
- As for me, I am Dohko, Knight of the Scales. BY THE WRATH OF THE DRAGON OF ROZAN, cried Dohko.
They combined their attacks and attacked the two Saturnians who flew away and fell to the ground with their armor destroyed, their purple crystals shattered into a thousand pieces.
- Ah, really, those two are weak, Manigoldo grumbled.
- I remind you that we came on a mission, Dohko reminded.
- I wonder why the great priest sent us to the capital of the Nephilim, it must be the heavy metals, concluded Manigoldo.
Robert and the others were amazed to see them, the consul who had been warned went to the manor to see the two knights present.
- Who are you? How did you get through the barrier of the Adamas Towers? asked the consul.
“This little barrier of nothing at all is nothing to us,” Manigoldo sneered.
"We came here because we were seeking the divine aura of our goddess who led us here, our goddess Persephone, the guardian of the earth. She is the goddess of spring and the earth, and she reincarnates every nine hundred years on earth to fight the evil that tries to impose itself on the earth," Dohko explained.
- She is also the head of the order of 88 knights in her service, of which Dohko and I are a part, Manigoldo added.
"How are we going to believe your story?" Valentin spat.
The two knights were about to respond when their armor sparkled with a golden glow, and the towers of Adamas radiated an angelic light. Not everyone understood what was happening.
“My armor is resonating,” Dohko remarked.
- There is a very powerful cosmos, it is almost equal to that of a God, deduced Manigoldo.
Stars and galaxies suddenly appeared in the room, and the hunters present were amazed by the phenomenon. The stars and galaxies were sucked into the baby, and the two knights felt the cosmos coming from the baby. They removed their helmets and bowed before Maryse and the baby.
“Goddess Persephone, we are with you. We pledge our loyalty to you,” Dohko declared.
Maryse and Robert were amazed that their son was the reincarnation of a Goddess.
“By the almighty angel, that means we have a goddess among us,” declared the consul.
“I propose that Alec be raised as a king,” Valentine declared, attracted by Alec’s divine power.
"There's no way my son is being taken away from me," Maryse objected.
- Maryse, your son is the reincarnation of the goddess Persephone, he must be placed in a palace in her divine image, decreed the consul.
They heard a laugh coming from the Knight of Cancer, the Knight of Libra started to smile.
“The goddess Persephone already has a sanctuary, and if you allow, your son will be raised there,” Dohko suggested.
- No way, I'm his mother! replied Maryse.
“You could talk about it with the high priest, the representative of the goddess,” Manigoldo decreed.
Maryse watched her husband, who nodded. They agreed to leave with the two knights. The five of them went to Greece. As soon as they entered, all the knights felt the cosmos of their goddess, who had returned after nine hundred years of absence. They went to the audience. Alec's parents met a man with long green hair, a mask that hid his face, and a golden helmet on his head.
- I am the Grand Pope, I am the representative of the goddess Persephone, the Grand Pope introduced himself.
“I want to raise my son, he was born as a Shadowhunter,” Maryse retorted.
- I understand your concern, because you are his mother, I accept that he be raised among your kind, but I propose that every three months he must perform his function as a goddess, proposed the great priest.
- We accept, Robert agreed.
- Robert! Maryse choked.
"You can accompany him if you wish; you are his parents. Especially as his mother, you will be considered the goddess Demeter, Persephone's mother," the high priest informed her.
Maryse accepted the deal, they spent a week for all the knights to swear an oath to their son. A year later, Maryse and Robert accompanied their son to the sanctuary to exercise his goddess duties. Later, Robert learned of Valentine's plot to kill him and Maryse to be Alec's legal guardian, thus manipulating him and using him to dominate the world. The two parents went to the Enclave to protect their child. The Enclave forgave them their misdeeds and sent them to the New York Institute thanks to Alec's divine status. They helped the Enclave against their former comrades in the Circle, and welcomed their old friend Hodge. In the meantime, Maryse gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Isabelle Sophia Lightwood. Years later, the matriarch gave birth to a son named Maxwell Joseph Lightwood. Alec had begun his Shadowhunter training, but after three months he had to go to the sanctuary to exercise his role as guardian of the land as a goddess. When he was eight, his parents had stopped coming, thinking he was grown up now, they trusted him. Sometimes Isabelle accompanied him and went to train with the female knights. Alec, having completed his tasks and revised his runes, crossed the houses that were guarded by each golden knight of the twelve signs of the zodiac. He crossed that of the virgin who had her scepter, he walked on tiptoe.
“Goddess Persephone, have you finished your tasks for the day?” a male voice asked.
“Shaka,” Alec grimaced, turning to the golden knight.
Shaka was a golden knight who was in the lotus position, he was blond and had closed eyes. Alec approached him and sat down in front of the knight.
“I finished them,” Alec smiled.
"Then why do I detect the lie in your voice, Your Highness?" Shaka asked.
- I'm bored in front of the Pope's lectures, I don't know what the cosmos is, and I'm a shadow hunter, revealed Alec, pouting.
The knight smiled and opened his eyes which were sky blue, he stood up from his position and invited the child with him and took him inside where little Lightwood saw a garden with two rose bushes.
“Wow, that’s beautiful,” Alec complimented.
- Thank you, this is Sara's garden where Buddha died. I wanted to show you this place to show you what the cosmos is, the cosmos is the result of the Big Bang. The result of a galactic explosion, we all have this fragment within us. With this fragment that we have within us, we can break all the atoms at once, explained Shaka.
Alec watched as the knight concentrated, showing a golden aura, he closed his fist to launch a wave of explosions, making the flowers that made up the garden fly.
- That's the cosmos, but for you are much more powerful than me, goddess Persephone, explained Shaka.
- I understand better now, your lessons are simpler than the great priest's, Alec smiled.
- ALEC! Isabelle called.
"It's Izzy, ah Shaka, actually you're not boring and uptight like Manigoldo said. See you later," Alec greeted as he ran.
Shaka twitched and promised himself revenge on the Cancer Knight, Alec found his little sister who was coming out of her training. After three months, they returned to New York, when Alec was ten years old his parents adopted a child who was the son of Robert Jace's parabatai. The blond got along very quickly with them; they became brother and sister. Jace did not yet know about Alec's divine status, he was confused that he had to go to Greece. He understood the day Alec was attacked by a Saturnian, he wanted to fight against them, but he was quickly swept away.
“Leave Jace alone,” Alec ordered, unleashing his divine power.
Vines sprouted from the ground, wrapping around the Saturnian and throwing him to the ground, digging a hole. Jace saw Alec's godlike power.
- EXCALIBUR! cried a male voice.
The blond turned his head to see a golden knight; the latter took his cape and bowed to Alec.
- I, Shura of Capricorn, implore you to forgive my delay, Goddess Persephone, apologized the knight.
“Jace is hurt and needs treatment,” Alec warned.
The blond realized that his brother was the reincarnation of the goddess Persephone. He had offered to be a knight to protect him, but the High Pope refused. In exchange, Alec offered to become his parabatai. When Alec was sixteen, he and Jace became parabatai. Meanwhile, Hades was in a loft drinking alcohol.
“Tell me!” Hades asked, turning to one of his ghosts.
"I, Valentine the Harpy, am at your service, Lord Hades. I have come to inform you that Her Highness Persephone has been reincarnated. At the moment she is a boy, his name is Alexander Gideon Lightwood," the spectre informed him.
- Good! Hades smiled, his cat eyes shining.