The Annual God Council was in session. This meeting of the gods included all of them - be it Greek, Roman, Christian, Hindu or any other religion. This Council was attended by each and every one of them. You see, this Council was conducted once every year to discuss matters and then have a jolly good time. The gods could catch upon on the stuff they missed. But this year, the Annual God Council was in total chaos. 

"What is wrong with you Indra? Why did to have to flood that poor city?" asked Athena, the Greek Godess of Wisdom.

"Yeah, Indra. What is wrong with you?" asked Poseidon, the Greek God of the Sea, taunting Indra. "So many people lost their homes and lives. Crops were destroyed and people starved."

"Like you're any better Poseidon. When you get angry, you cause hurricanes and earthquakes. How is that any different from the floods I've caused? Actually, it is a lot worse than the floods," Indra, the Hindu God of Rain and Svargaloka, retorted.

"Hey! Don't you try and turn this on me," Poseidon said, pointing his index finger at Indra and narrowing his eyes. "We're talking about your uncontrolled anger here. Besides, I cause them once in a while. You cause floods practically every day."

"Yeah, uh-huh. Sure, I do," Indra said, sarcasm seeping through his words while shaking his said.

"Glad to see we agree," Poseidon smirked.

"Yeah, no we don't. You think you cause your life and property destructing hurricanes and tornadoes and earthquakes and volcanoes once in a while? People have to search for higher ground because of you. And let's not forget about your tsunamis, you life-taking freak!" Indra exclaimed.

"I do not cause volcanoes," Poseidon protested.

"Bullshit! You may not cause them directly but because of the earthquakes happening under sea, the volcanoes become active. So you're not only flooding and blowing people away, but you're also melting them," Indra said, now smirking.

"I don't do that," Poseidon protested.

"Yeah, Uncle P. You kinda do," Hermes, the Greek God of Travellers butted in out of nowhere.

"Shut up, Hermes! At least I don't target same places. Unlike someone I know," Poseidon said, narrowing his eyes at Indra as if accusing him, which he was.

"Again, bullshit! Dude, you target Japan so much and they're always constantly hit because of your tantrums," Indra said, laughing.

"Utter rubbish!" Poseidon protested.

"That's not utter rubbish. Indra has a point and you know it. You know it's true. You have the worst mood tantrums. You need to control them and Indra, you need to take anger management classes," Athena said.

"I do not," Indra started protesting.

"Hush, honey. As your wife, I'm telling you, you do," Indrani said. Being married to the King of Hindu Gods meant that she, obviously, was the Queen of Hindu Gods. She didn't particularly rule over a domain. But hey! When you're the Queen of Hindu Gods, practically everything is taken care of for you.

"Not you too," Indra protested. "You're supposed to be on my side for Us' sake."

And in that moment, Apollo, the Greek God of the Sun made an entrance by coming into the Hall of the Gods by riding a skateboard. "Out of my way, Uncle P. I'm gonna crash. Move, move, move." 

No sooner had Apollo said this than he crashed into a pillar when Poseidon moved out of the way. "You could have told me there was pillar behind you, Uncle P," he pouted.

"You didn't ask," Poseidon shrugged.

"Idiot," Athena muttered. "What are you upto Apollo?"

"Why you always suspicious of me, huh? I did nothing. Yeah. I did nothing.. well, except for a few ufdbffjk," Apollo mumbled the last part. 

"What was that?" the Gods asked.

"I said, expect for a few fsdifhds," Apollo repeated, still mumbling.

"Huh?"

"Except for a few forest fires in California and a drought in some other areas, okay. There. I said it," Apollo shouted.

"Okay, geez! Why you shouting for that, you stupid monkey?" Hermes said, rubbing his ears. "You may have caused me permanent hearing damage."

"If I'm a stupid monkey, then you're a fat gorilla," Apollo retorted. "And, we're gods dude. We can't "get" damaged by such silly things."

"Why you.." Heremes started but was interrupted by Hades, the Greek God of the Underworld.

"Shut up! We are here to discuss matters. Not fight like children. If you want to continue to fight like children, please do head back to Olympus and do so. Not here. Stupid gods acting like children," he said, muttering the last sentence and massaging his forehead as if their bikering was giving him a headache -  which it was.

In case you're wondering where the Roman Gods are, well, since their Greek aspects are here, they can't be in Roman aspects, can they? As for the other gods, there were watching the entertainment happening in the Council.

"Alright!" Indrani said. "If you guys didn't notice, we have company. And Indra, you're most definitely not being like the King of the Hindu Gods. Act like one you fool. Don't sit there and argue about stupid things," reprimanded his wife.

"Yeah, like the time we tied up Zeus. Or when he lost his lightning bolt but turned out, he was sitting on it. Or the time that Aphrodite lost her make-up kit. Or the time.." Hera started. She is the Greek Goddess of Marriage and is married to Zeus.

"Okay, we get it Hera," Zeus shouted. He is the Greek God of the Sky and the King of the Greek Gods.

"Yes, dear," Indra said.

"Good," Indrani nodded her head.

And so, the Annual Council began... 

The gods discussed about matters of importance, held debates, ate nicely and were about to leave the room when Shiva, the Hindu Lord of Dharma or Moksha, pointed out something that widened everyone's eyes and made room turn silent. "There is darkness looming over the Legelf Grove districts."

"How is that possible?" shouted Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of Wisdom. "That cannot be possible. It was charmed by powerful magic. It is charmed."

"It may be charmed, but I can feel darkness growing there. It's a powerful kind of darkness. It's darker than time the Titans ruled," Shiva noted.

"No way. That cannot be possible. I don't even want to imagine those times again. And if this is more powerful.." Demeter, the Greek Goddess of Agriculture, trailed.

"Oh, but it is," Shiva said. "Do you remember, while charming those lands, we let a small defect happen. We over-looked it then, but now.. Now, we can't afford to do so."

"But the districts are protected by the Shadows," Demeter argued.

"That's where you're wrong, my dear," Brama, the Hindu God of Creation said in a tone of wisdom. "The Shadows merely predict things that may or may not happen in the future. Their predictions are not stable. The predictions of the Shadows give the people a warning of what is about to come. They do not protect them."

"Aren't they supernatural creatures?" asked Hestia, Greek Goddess of Hearth.

"Again, just because they're supernatural creatures doesn't mean that they're not vulnerable. They may be immortal but that is only in certain aspects. They can get hurt. They can die in battle. There is a limit to their immortality like there is to ours. No one, super-being or not, cannot be fully immortal. Not even us," Brahma said.

"What do you propose we do?" Jesus asked.

"These are shadows - but not the ones in Legelf Grove. These shadows are tainted with some death. It's like these are a mix of ghosts, shadows and corpses. Maybe more. They have a rotten smell and anywhere they go, they're causing death. It's like a plague but much worse. But you see, the thing is, while they cause death, as soon as they leave that place, life is magically restored in to the things that were dead when there were in that place. Also, these "revived" people began to act like rabid dogs," Shiva gave more information.

"Something doesn't add up," Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess of Wealth and Fortune said.

"That's what I'm thinking. There is something going on there and we must get to the bottom of this before it's too late," Athena proposed.

"We can't directly interfere. It's sucking the life force and giving it back in some other way. This process is what there's something wrong with. If the life force has been sucked away, souldn't Yama or Thanatos, the gods of death, have taken it to the underworld?" Shiva asked.

"They should have. Where are they anyway?" Sarawati asked, looking around.

"Who knows? They hardly ever attend this meeting," Vishnu shrugged. 

This was the gods' first mistake.

"Someone propose something please. This must be stopped before it gets out of hand. We cannot endanger the people of Legelf Grove because of the small defect that occured when we charmed the place," Lakshmi pleaded.

"Since we cannot interfere directly, we will create heroes for that very purpose," Saraswati suggested. "Think about it."

"That's actually a good idea," all the gods murmured in agreement.

"So it is decided then. Few heroes will be created for this very purpose. Who will do the honors?" asked Hera.

"All of us will," said Zeus.

And so began the preparation for the arrival of heores to save the Legelf Grove district.

***

"We are going to have a bit fun here," Apollo declared. "We are to going to give the girl a mate. Both of them should annoy the hell out of each other. She should be a sarcasm queen and he should be a sassy fellow. They will know their mates at the normal age but should still annoy each other. He should get jealous.. like really jealous. Both of them will love each other inspite all these."

"That's a good idea," everyone murmured in agreement.

"Done," Brahma said. "They are born."

"Awesome," Poseidon cheered. "We should also give them a few friends. One girl should be half and half of the main girl and the other one should be fun and sarcastic. The last should be sophisticated yet kind and charming. For the boys, one should be a flirt. Always flirting with the main girl and annoying her mate. The other one should be serious yet cool. The last one should be very fun, jumpy, and full of life."

"Yup," once again, murmurs of agreement could be heard.

"Done," Brahma said. "They will be born."

"Are they going to be born on the same day?" asked Hermes.

"Of course not. But they will be connected with each other from birth. And yes Apollo, the three boys are the mates of the three girls," Brahma said, already knowing Apollo's question.

Apollo grinned and gave a thumbs up.

"We will guide them, right?" asked Saraswati. "We are putting them in danger and making them do our dirty work for us. So, it's only fair that we help them."

"Yes, yes. We will help them. Not directly but most definitely indirectly. Above all, we must make sure that they don't come into his contact until they're ready," declared Shiva.

"Alright," agreed the gods.

... And so, Icilia Winters, Fayth Pierre, Sanya Patel, Princess Vanessa Sterling, Zoran Summers, Darin Price, Treznor Heard and Regi Lennox were born. Not on same days, well except for Icilia and Zoran, but on different days, all connected with each other before they could even start crying.

They had an important part to play. But what part is it? And can they overcome the struggles and problems along their way?