Prologue
In a place far beneath the earth's surface and the sun's warm rays of light laid a place full of darkness and horror, of suffering, sorrow, and madness. It looked like a never-ending cavern, with screams of pain ripping through the air like a knife.
It was the Underworld, the realm of Hades, Lord of the dead.
Hades, god of the dead. He was at this moment waiting for Hecate to come back with water, he was hot, too hot it was like his body was on fire, but there were no flames. It didn't make sense. Was this what his family went through when they faded? He wondered, he hoped not this was excruciating. And when he could ignore the pain for a bit, boring. He wanted to be able to sit up in his bed, to see his home, the Underworld, see Charon ferry the dead across the Acheron, to see the wicked punished in the Fields of Punishment, see the souls of heroes and the good enjoy the after-life in the Elysian fields. It was so rare to see someone actually enjoy the after-life.
The Elysian fields...they were always her favorite...
His thoughts were cut off by Hecate returning with a bowl and towl, she walked to his bedside, her long purplish-black hair swaying as she walked and sat beside him, setting her bowl and the floor and damping the towl in cool water then brushing it over his face taking some of the burning away for a moment.
"How are you feeling, my lord?" she asked, her voice soft and sad, he could barely hear her over the screams of the dead.
"Weak," he rasped out, his voice was softer than hers was. "I don't have much time left Hecate, I suspect I won't last for an hour more." He reached out grunting in pain as his movement seemed to aggravate the flames, grasping her pale shaking hand he tried to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. Hecate gave a weak chuckle and squeezed his back.
"If this had been a thousand years ago, you would have told me to stop crying and to go away because my tears were an annoyance to you. Persephone really changed you Lord Hades."
"Yes she did, my queen truly was special." Hades gave a weak smile and suddenly the flames grew inside him and nearly took him right then and there he flinched horribly yanking his hand away from Hecate. He groaned, nearly yelled but he did still have his pride, immediately Hecate was hovering over him, trying to help but was useless.
"Ok than, maybe I don't have an hour." Hades said and again grasped Hecate's hand "Now Hecate you know what you must do correct?" he rasped.
"M-m-my Lord, I don't think I can, how do you know I just won't fade after you're"
"We don't know Hecate but we must hope you won't fade like the rest of us. It's all we can do. Now do you remember what we discussed?" Hades demanded to know. "Yes Lord Hades I do."
"When the time is right when you and the others return I must send them, I must send the heroes to awaken your's and the others memories. When and only when the time is right...And when that time will be I have no clue." Hecate muttered the last part under breath
"Yes and have you chosen the heroes?"
"I have chosen Jason, Perseus and Theseus."
"Good those three will do. Ungh." Another wave of pain went through Hades and he knew his time was up now. Hades gave her hand one more squeeze and closed his eyes jus letting the pain go through him now instead of fighting it like he used to. "Do not worry Hecate everything will be fine. You will see all of us again. Persephone, Thanatos, Nyx, you will see us again. And besides Triton, Hestia and Charon haven't faded either-a good sign that we are coming back- they will keep you company. Now take care of the Underworld and to feed Cerberus for me...Goodbye my friend."
Hades disappeared, just like all the other gods did in a sudden burst of fire coming out of his body, leaving behind only gold dust and the sound of someone mourning their now dead friend.
Hecate's sobs echoed all through out the Underworld, The howling of Cerberus soon joining the sobs. Charon continued to ferry the souls of the dead across the river, his hood hiding his face.
If anyone had looked at him directly they would have seen tears of grief slowly find their way down the ferryman's cheeks.
Hi! I hope you made it down this far. If you did I hope you liked it, this is my first time really writing a story and I am super nervous about it. I don't really have much to say but if anyone has a problem with my grammer or anything please ignore or better yet please give me some tips. I've never taken anything like a writing course before, but I plan to when I move back to the States. So this is all just my raw talent, if I have any talent for writing.
Anyway I'll stop boring you with my talking and just please ask that you review, and please come back and read more when I update.
Also any and every idea someone might have for the story will be welcomed with open arms so please share if you have any. Just PM me.