Rise Of Hades' Hellborn: Trumpets Of The Damned

The Verdict Of Power

President Maverick Maddox stood alone in the glass-walled war chamber at the heart of the Paragon headquarters, his arms crossed behind his back. The city below looked almost peaceful—rows of glowing towers gleaming like distant stars against the midnight sky. But He knew better.

Peace was an illusion. And illusions cracked.

Behind him, the briefing table blinked to life with blue holograms—dossiers, video feeds, and heartbeat analytics. All centered around one name:

Myles.

He exhaled slowly, the weight of her title pressing on her shoulders like a steel mantle. This wasn’t just a choice between justice and mercy.

It was a choice between survival and annihilation.

The doors hissed open behind her.

“Sir,” said General Harlow, stepping into the room, boots crisp on the polished floor. “The council’s final proposal just came through. It’s unanimous.”

He didn’t turn to look at him.

“Let me guess,” He said quietly. “Termination.”

Harlow paused. “They believe Myles is too unstable. Too dangerous. After the Paragon HQ incident …”

“Two blocks melted into obsidian,” she whispered.

“Yes, sir. And the bodies… fused with the wreckage. Autopsy teams couldn't even extract DNA.”

Maverick Maddox closed his eyes.

And still—he hadn’t meant to.

Harlow took a step closer. “There are calls from every nation-state in the Accord. Public trust in Paragon is eroding fast. They’re calling him the ‘Second Kaelin.’ Some even say he’s Hades incarnate.”

“He is,” she murmured.

That silenced the room.

Harlow's brow furrowed. “Excuse me?”

He turned finally, eyes cold as arctic glass. “He’s Hades’ Avatar. We ran the scans. The signature matched the ancient seals. He’s not just linked to the Underworld—he hosts it. And worse—he remembers everything from his past life.”

General Harlow's jaw tightened. “Then that settles it. A kill order is necessary. Before he—”

“No.” Her voice cut like a blade.

He blinked. “Sir?”

“I said no. We’re not killing him.”

A long silence passed between them, broken only by the soft buzz of the table’s holograms.

“Maverick,” Harlow said, dropping the formalities. “I’ve stood with you through two presidencies, three wars, and a dozen near-extinction events. But this—keeping him alive—this might end us all.”

He stepped toward the table, gesturing at a feed showing Myles in his isolation cell. He sat cross-legged, head bowed, a faint aura of purple still flickering beneath his skin. Suppressor bands wrapped tightly around his wrists, humming constantly to dampen his powers.

“You think I don’t know that?” He said. “Every hour, I wonder if I’m feeding a bomb instead of a soldier.”

Harlow frowned. “Then why take the risk?”

“Because I’ve seen what’s coming.”

He tapped a button. The feed changed to a grainy satellite scan—a ruin beneath the Arctic Circle, long hidden beneath glacial ice. Carved into the frost-covered stone was a symbol: seven horns surrounding a burning gate.

“The Seventh Trumpet Protocol,” He said. “A demonic ritual designed to bring the walls between the realms crashing down.”

Harlow leaned in. “We thought that was myth.”

“It’s not.” He tapped again.

The screen showed images from classified black-ops missions. Burned villages. Ritual circles. Possessed civilians tearing each other apart. The work of something older than the devil himself.

And written in blood across one wall: ‘The Avatar must fall for the Gates to rise.’

He looked him dead in the eye.

“They’re not afraid of Myles because he’s dangerous. They’re afraid because he’s the key. He’s a threat to their plans. If Kaelin—or whatever’s pulling the strings—wants him dead, then we’d be idiots to make their job easier.”

Harlow went silent.

Maverick pressed on, his voice steel-wrapped fire. “Myles didn’t choose this. He didn’t ask to become the host of a god. But he is. And the only thing more dangerous than a god… is a god with a conscience.”

Harlow looked down at the table. “And if he loses that conscience?”

Maverick didn’t blink. “Then I’ll be the one to put him down.”

A long pause.

The general nodded slowly. “Then I suggest we prepare for both outcomes.”

“Agreed.”

---

Down in the surveillance control wing, Anna stood behind a one-way window, watching Myles in his containment cell.

He hadn’t moved in hours.

His head remained bowed. His breathing steady. Like someone deep in meditation—or penance.

“Still human,” she muttered

Dr. Winfield stood beside her, arms folded. “Barely. The suppressors are working overtime just to contain his passive energy. If he flinches too hard, he could rupture half the facility.”

“But he doesn’t,” Anna replied. “That’s the point. He’s not fighting the suppressors. He’s cooperating.”

Winfield narrowed his eyes. “For now.”

Anna glanced sideways at her. “You don’t trust him?”

“I trust patterns. And this one ends in ash.”

Anna stepped closer to the glass.

She remembered the look in his eyes the night the first trumpet was triggered—The way he’d looked relieved when she'd shot him. The way he had died to save her.

He hadn’t changed.

He’d just… evolved.

The ghost of her own guilt haunted her thoughts. You were supposed to back him up that night. And instead… you froze.

She hadn’t spoken to him since he woke.

She hadn’t had the courage.

But that would change soon.

---

Back in the upper chamber, President Maddox stared down at the order before him. A single keystroke and it would be done.

Myles—designated as “Level Black Entity”—would be neutralized permanently.

His finger hovered.

Then lowered.

He typed a new directive.

REVOKE TERMINATION. CLASSIFY SUBJECT: CRITICAL ASSET. INITIATE PHASE II REINTEGRATION.

He leaned back in her chair, exhaling like he hadn’t in weeks.

“God help us all,” He whispered.

---

Two floors down, alarms clicked softly as the containment field dimmed.

In his cell, Myles looked up.

His eyes glowed faintly in the dark.

A whisper curled from his lips.

“…She chose right.”

Meanwhile…

Director Sandlers had been in his chambers waiting for the announcement, he'd heard that the president had arrived at the subaquatic base and was pensive all day.

He finally heaved a sigh of relief when he saw her final decision. “ He chose right… God help us all”