A horrible feeling gripped Demeter's heart. Something was wrong, she could feel it. Her motherly intuition jumped into action as she thought of her daughter. Kore, there's something going on with Kore. She immediately abandoned her task and took the form of a falcon and flew as fast as she could towards Nysa.
When she reached the plains, she found a commotion going on. The twenty nymphs she had assigned to accompany Kore had scattered throughout the forest, calling her daughter's name. The horrible feeling inside Demeter's heart intensified.
"Athena! Artemis!" she summoned loudly. The two goddesses immediately appeared before her, kneeling and looking awfully contrite. It wasn't a sight she wanted to see. "Where is Kore?"
"M-my Lady," Artemis stammered. "Please forgive us."
"We cannot find her," Athena said in a level voice though the guilty look on her face became more pronounced as she spoke.
"What do you mean you cannot find her?" Demeter said icily. Passing by them, she called for her daughter in a loud voice. "Kore! Kore, please come here my child!"
"We have been searching for a while now, my lady," Athena said as she stood up. "Please forgive our irresponsibility. We don't know how she vanished under our watch but we'll do our best to find her."
"Where is she then?!" Demeter turned around suddenly, not really listening to the excuses thrown at her. "Where is my daughter?!" A tight feeling gripped her heart. Was it fear, terror, anxiety, an intense foreboding? She didn't like what she was feeling at all. "You only had one thing to do, ONE THING: Look out for her safety! That is all I asked of you, nothing more. And now you tell me that she's missing? And you have no clue where she is or how it happened?"
She was panicking now, her breaths becoming shorter and her heart beating erratically in her chest, and tears starting to form in her eyes. As a goddess, she had an ominous sense that her daughter's absence was not normal. Her daughter, her daughter was gone and she did not know what happened to her. It was completely mind-wrecking. "If something evil had happened to my daughter, I will never forgive you."
She turned and left the two goddesses behind, hysterically looking for her daughter.
888
A knock sounded at the door, waking Kore from her stupor. She wiped her face of tears and stood up from the floor. She looked back at the mocking doorknob with dismay. How was she to open the door? Maybe the person on the other side had a key. Could she escape though? Could she push the person trying to enter and run? Can I do it? She thought. It was worth a shot.
So she cleared her throat and said in an awkward voice, "Come in?"
The doorknob twisted. She braced herself, rehearsing her actions in her mind. Alright, so I push whoever's on the other side and run away. But run where? Never mind. I'll figure it out when I get to that point. But when the door slowly opened and revealed a beautiful enchantress (literally), all her plans went sailing out the window. She couldn't find the strength to push the woman away and not feel guilty about it afterwards. If it were Aidoneus though, she would not have any second thoughts. She pouted at her foiled attempt.
Hecate, the goddess of sorcery, entered the room, bringing five underworld nymphs with her. Of course the doors magically and immediately closed behind her. She bowed to the spring goddess and said, "My Lady, I am Hecate, the chthonic goddess of witchcraft. I was appointed to assist you in preparation for your upcoming wedding."
"I-It's nice to meet you, Lady Hecate," Kore awkwardly curtsied in return, not quite used to such formal greetings. "But please call me Kore."
"Lady Kore then," Hecate smiled. It was the second smile Kore had seen since coming to this place and it comforted her deeply to know that not all people here were mean (unlike a certain someone). "Come, we shall guide you in your pre-wedding rituals."
"Wait please!" Kore said, raising her hands in a gesture for them to stop. "I am quite confused at the moment. Can you please tell me why I am suddenly getting married? And who is Aidoneus exactly? I know he's my alleged husband but I don't actually know who he is…"
"I am truly sorry that you are confused. I thought that the king had explained the situation to you because, truthfully, I also have no idea whatsoever why you are getting married."
Kore frowned. That was not very helpful.
"But to answer your next question, your husband is more widely-known as Lord Hades, god of the Underworld and master of all who lives in it," Hecate said proudly with a hint of sadness in it. "Have I answered all your questions?"
Kore shook her head. Now that she knew who her husband was, the nightmare seemed to have worsened. "I-I don't want to get married to him."
"It is quite common for the bride to be reluctant to marry her husband," Hecate stated mechanically with a distant look as if reading off of an invisible book in front of her. Then she added more kindly, "But feelings of affection tend to grow in time the more you get to know him…"
Kore still shook her head. "I don't want to know him. I don't want anything to do with him. I just want to go home…"
This time, it was Hecate's turn to shake her head and said as gently as possible, "I'm afraid that is not possible. I'm really sorry that you feel this way but the least we can do to ease your sadness is to make you feel comfortable and welcome to our world." She extended a hand to the spring goddess and continued, "Come, we shall prepare you for your wedding."
Kore reluctantly took her hand and gave the dark-robed goddess her child-like trust. Hecate patiently explained the wedding rituals of the world above to the naïve goddess. In truth, Hecate only recently had to learn said wedding rituals herself. She had no idea why, but Hades had requested her to learn them and to perform them. He said something about rules but she didn't truly understand it until she read the Athenian Marriage scroll. Memorizing and cramming all the words in that scroll in her head in approximately four hours should be considered one of her feats.
She guided Kore into making her childhood sacrifices such as her flower crown and white tunic. She had been very reluctant to part with them but Hecate explained the necessity and meaning of it, which was to welcome her change of status from girl to a woman, and was able to eventually convince her. Though as the flower crown burned in the hearth of her (now that she was calm enough to notice) really grand, expensive-looking room, she began to dislike both Hades and Zeus more and more. They had conspired against her and forced her into something she didn't want. But then she wholly understood that she was only a minor goddess, a daughter, no, a mere property of Zeus. He had the full right to give her to Hades if he wished. But what would someone like the king of the Underworld want with her anyway?
The second pre-wedding ritual was the purifying bath. It was the longest, most luxurious bath Kore ever had in her life. Her room apparently, was connected to a hall leading to a whole other room called the bathroom. It was a gilded bathroom with a large golden tub the size of a pond. A dolphin-shaped fountain attached to the wall poured steaming water on the pond of a bathtub. Now that she noticed it, the bathroom was also ocean themed. Shell-shaped marble columns lined the walls and fishes made of sapphire gems were used as décor.
Hecate opened a small bottle of the most fragrant oil Kore ever smelled and poured all its contents on the warm water. Kore soaked in the sweet-smelling water until her fingers started to look like prunes. When she got up, Hecate asked her to lie on a lounge chair and instructed the nymphs to massage more oils onto her hair and body.
After that was done, Hecate led her to the adjacent large room filled with drapes arranged by color hanging from ceiling to floor. All the cloths contained some hand-embroidery! Truly a wealthy person's clothes. They stopped in front of the yellow section with Hecate asking her to pick two saffron yellow drapes to be her peplos and himation. There must have been about a hundred different yellow clothes on the rack, each one beautiful and elegant but she chose the one with the simplest gold embroidery of spring flowers bordering the seams. The nymphs arranged her peplos and himation to fully showcase her womanly figure, pinning the drapes in place with gold flower-shaped fibulae and tying a golden girdle around the waist in a crisscross manner, which emphasized her waist and breast really well.
After she had chosen her clothing, she was led again to a separate room filled with boxes. The boxes revealed an array of jewelry, once again arranged by color. Hecate led her to the rubies and fastened a gold ruby-amethyst necklace around her neck. On her fingers, she placed ruby and amethyst rings, and on her feet, golden-stringed sandals with the same stones. She was about to attach earrings on her too only to find out that she didn't have piercings and so casually disregarded the pieces.
Lastly, she was led into a room where her hair was fixed and arranged intricately by a nymph. A golden chaplet with pomegranate and narcissus flowers metal art held her hair in place. With the placement of a silvery tissue nuptial veil, Hecate declared her finished and turned her to a very large elegantly carved mirror.
Kore almost didn't recognize her own face until she touched it and watch as her reflection did the same. She didn't see the goddess of spring reflected in the mirror. She saw someone else. Sure, she looked very beautiful, every man's dream... (And very golden. There was like 'gold-with-a-hint-of-Kore' going on. The jewelry also felt very heavy and unnatural. And the girdle was digging on her sides)
…but she didn't feel beautiful.
In fact, as she was being prepared, she felt like a cattle being led to slaughter. With every step done, she felt closer and closer to her doom. With every gem fixed on her, she felt like a roast being basted before a feast. The more she looked at her reflection, the more she saw herself as a golden trophy to be displayed for all to see.
888
The judgment hall didn't look like a judgment hall anymore. The giant gold and diamond chandeliers were lit brightly by blue flames – for the first time in a long while but still not as bright as Olympus – bringing some illumination to the austere black marble walls; and elegant red and black drapes hung from the two hundred foot high ceiling. Gone were the thrones of the jury (at least temporarily). Instead, fixed on the dais of the king, were two elegant thrones – the original throne of Hades and the smaller, similar-looking throne for the queen. All the gods and goddesses of Hades were gathered in the hall by order (not to mention threatened) of the two most prominent primordial gods. They were also ordered to wear their finest clothes so they wore their finest black robes. Instead of a wedding, it looked like a funeral. It was a happy funeral though, if there were such a thing…
Hades sat on his throne with a stern expression as he waited for his bride. For his own wedding, he wore a dark purple, almost black chiton (he was in no way wearing white) with a deep red himation adorned with gold embroidery. On his head was a black metal wreath, on his arms were onyx armbands embellished with rubies and a golden pendant hung on his neck. For some strange reason, he also opted to wear his mask.
Everyone looked at their king with curiosity. The last time they were arranging a wedding, they remember him smiling and being a lot more enthusiastic but it seemed like he wasn't even going to try to look the least bit happy, which was alright they guessed (…who knew anything about marriage except Nyx and Erebus anyway?).
In a far corner of the room, out of the king's earshot, three primordial deities argued. Nyx had apparently coaxed out everything from Hypnos and decided to confront her brothers about it.
"Are you telling me," Nyx said, massaging her temples. "That you arranged Aidon's wedding without me?!"
Erebus nodded. "We thought you would have disapproved, which is why we hid it from you." By this time his face looked like, 'Stab me! Maim me if you wish! I'm ready to die with honor! But please do it gently, preferably less painfully and quickly…'
Nyx's lower lip trembled as tears formed in her eyes. "I can't believe you…I can't believe this. I feel so deeply slighted."
Her husband gaped and brought his hands up, not quite sure what to do with them or where to put them on her person but somehow motioning her to stop crying. In his panic, his mouth stopped working but his face was definitely saying, 'Stab me! Torture me! Do it as painfully as you wish! Anything is better than your tears…Please. Stop. Crying!' Behold, even Tartarus seemed flustered by her actions though not as pronounced as her husband.
"I can't believe you hid something from mother either." Hypnos whispered, looking at the god of darkness with disgust as if the god had cheated on his wife. He also thought that arranging a kidnap was also so despicable that it was such a…
"Had you included me, I would have fully supported this!"
…wonderful, well-thought plan to achieve true love. The utter brilliance of it!
"Even kidnapping Aidon's bride?" Tartarus asked with a raised eyebrow a smile starting to form on his mouth.
"Of course!" Nyx affirmed angrily.
"Then there really is no harm done!" Tartarus concluded. But the look of dissatisfaction still graced Nyx's face. And though Erebus immediately noted that she was planning something…sinister (being married to Nyx and all), he was just glad the abominable things called tears stopped forming. Hopefully the festivities would distract her. If that didn't work, then he had to hide and luckily the god of darkness could never run out of hiding places (being married to Nyx and all). A small silence prevailed amongst the group as they looked toward the door, waiting for the bride to enter.
"Well I'm just glad the king is marrying her," Hypnos tried making more small talk, smiling as he glanced towards the throne.
"Why? Because he's marrying for love?" Tartarus scoffed. He still disliked the fact that Eros got to his nephew. That sly chicken.
"The king is in love with her?" Hypnos asked, pleasantly surprised. True love, he thought with a wishful look. He had tried finding true love in vain but then he would look at his parents and envy the solidarity of their relationship, wishing he also had a lifelong companion for his own. But if his majesty had indeed found true love with this woman, coupled with her possession of a part of him, then his majesty was truly the luckiest. "That's even better." He smiled and had unwittingly just dug his own grave.
The three ancient gods slowly looked at Hypnos with suspicion written on their eyes. The Pit god narrowed his eyes as he said, "Why do you sound like you know something that we don't?"
"Hypnos?" Erebus asked drawling his name warningly.
Hypnos' eyes shifted nervously amongst the three and stammered for an excuse when the doors opened and the bride entered. He sighed in relief as all attention was stolen by Kore marching towards the dais of the king.
Though her face was covered by a thin veil, she still looked so stunningly beautiful (and it was not because she was the only splash of bright color in a sea of black). The crowd gave her a wide berth straight to the dais where Hades stood up and walked down the stairs to meet her. When she almost reached him, he proffered his hand. Kore stared at it for a minute before finally taking it with trembling fingers and then he brought her hand to his lips and gently placed a kiss on her knuckles.
Unused to a man's touch, Kore felt very, very uncomfortable with this stranger's kiss. She felt even more uncomfortable when he looked at her briefly with his smoldering eyes behind his mask, those orbs swirling with shadows and boring straight into hers. She couldn't place what feelings his look conveyed but they were very intense feelings nonetheless. It felt like a thick mixture of emotions trying to smother her with the heat of his gaze. She felt a hidden threat behind his dangerous scrutiny yet at the same time she could see a hint of something else. She didn't know what it was but it was not a negative emotion. But before she could discern anything else, it was gone and replaced with cold indifference.
Hades gazed at her, revealing a glimpse of his heart. He knew not what compelled him to do it but he immediately brought his guard up again. Her touch was…electrifying, burning, no, scorching and yet no matter his instinct to pull away, her gentle, soft hands allow him to hold on. It was so confusing! She was so very dangerous and yet beckons so powerfully, luring him…like a siren. She was exactly like a Siren! She confused him and brought chaos to his order. He felt threatened by her and, if he were being honest with himself, he feared her. Yet at the same time, he revered her, adored her. Something about her captivated him like no other. But that was an understatement. It would have been fine if she only captivated him and took his attention but not if, for example, the closer she got, the more his sense, his mind was torn asunder.
He felt like an idiot.
And he didn't like it.
Gathering his senses, or what's left of it, he led her towards her throne, faced her to the crowd and then declared, "My people, I present to you your new sovereign, Queen of the Underworld, Ko —"
"Hold your tongue, Aidoneus!" the Three Sisters of Fates suddenly materialized beside him and boomed out, surprising the king as he jumped and grasped his chest, indicating his startled heart. To be fair he wasn't the only one startled – everyone was. The Fates were late but they made quite an entrance. Although chastising the groom being the first thing to do when attending a wedding felt vaguely inappropriate… (But then again, who knew anything about marriage and weddings?)
"A name blessed by Aether is not appropriate in the realm below…"
"A name blessed by Hades opens your purpose, opens your door…"
"A proper call, a proper power, a proper name, now and forever…"
They raised their hands over Kore's head, as if blessing her, their eyes disappearing and turning into shining light, and all chanted ceremoniously, "From this day forth, We, the Sisters of Fates, christen you with your true name, Chthonia Hagne Persephone Soteira Praxidice, Wife and Queen of Hades. You will always carry this name, whether you choose to be or not to be, to embrace or to disgrace, to stand or to fall, to be the sword or the shield."
And just as they suddenly appeared, they vanished like the wind.
No one bothered deciphering what the last sentence meant or mention that her new name was so ironic and contradictory. To the sane chthonic immortal mind, 'Holy Slayer, Savior and Exacter of Justice' didn't make sense (except the slayer part but especially the savior part). Oh well, the Fates never made sense until whatever they prophesized about happened or was about to happen anyway.
Afterwards the crowd was caught in an unpleasant silence. Everyone looked at their monarchs with blank faces. The events – ranging from the threats (from Tartarus), to the chariot fiasco, to the threats (again from the same god), to the wedding and now the Fates – were becoming weirder and weirder by the minute and they were just waiting for the next weird thing to happen.
"There you go then," Hades said simply as he motioned for Kore, no, Persephone now to sit on her throne before he did himself. She immediately plopped down and bowed her head, keeping her eyes locked on her fisted hands on her lap, trying not to fidget, and also making herself seem smaller because the intent stares of the ancient gods and goddesses were making her uncomfortable. Hades also took his seat but with more grace than his queen. But he also shared her feelings of discomfort when the surrounding silence and expectant stares became too prolonged to bear. So he cleared his throat and continued, "Well then, let the merrymaking commence!"
Things began to take a turn for the worse. This may as well have gone down as the most awkward wedding celebration in history. Why? No one, absolutely no one knew the meaning of the word merrymaking; including Hades – he just recited off of a scroll (it was a new word drunkenly invented by Zeus). This was the next weird thing all the subjects had been waiting for. However it was their turn to feel inept. It's as if their king had suddenly commanded them to do something in a different language. So the awkward silence became even more awkward and tensed as they just stood around, shifting their weights, looking at each other, and waiting desperately for someone to do something.
Of course, the wedding coordinator had to step up and claim the attention of everyone to save the day.
"People!" Tartarus called, clapping his hands and effectively turning every set of eyes towards him — way over to the back of the room. "Our king has ordered us to do 'merrymaking', which logically means we must tell each other what makes us happy! Right?"
Hades nodded in confirmation. Probably.
"Alright, I'll start," the Pit god cleared his throat ceremoniously, looking like he was about to say an important speech as he introduced the first ever merrymaking to the chthonic gods and goddesses. Erebus and Nyx immediately plugged their ears, the god of darkness also plugging the ears of the unknowing innocent bride. "What would make me really happy right now would be to hack off someone's (censored) with a (censored) then I'll (censored) that exposed juicy (censored) repeatedly. Of course after that I'd have to (censored, censored, censored) him, driving a (censored) through him, making sure he's in so much agony before I (censored) him off with a (censored), feeding him (censored) before feeding him to a (censored) and passing him through my (censored). And then I'll finish him off with an (CENSORED)! Ahh… and the beauty of an immortal soul is that I can do that all over again and again and again..."
He looked wistfully to the direction of his layer. Then he suddenly hugged himself, grasping tightly on his arms as closed his eyes and became lost in his fantasies. "Ahh…I'm getting…excited. Just thinking about it makes me so happy…ah!" He licked his lips and smiled sadistically; unaware of all the frightened looks he was receiving from the other deities. "I'll have to remember to do all that later…" he muttered to himself, visibly trying to control himself from bursting out of the hall and rushing towards his immortal victims in his lair with a fiery flail.
And as if he had an attack that passed, he nonchalantly straightened up, shifted back to his ceremonial mood like he had just finished a rousing speech, and declared in a louder voice, "That people is merrymaking! Next turn – what about you Icelos?"
At first there was silence as the crowd was once again reminded why Tartarus was the most feared god in the Universe. And then gradually the look of enlightenment and relief washed over the crowd as they recovered (their faces turning from paler to pale). Oh so that's merrymaking. It was something familiar amidst the bizarre, the oasis to their arctic, and the sliver of sanity in the sea of lunacy. And the task seemed clear and easy enough: outdo each other on the gruesome – a piece of cake.
Icelos, the lilac-haired, handsome-in-an-effeminate-kind-of-way (like the rest of his 'dreamboat' brothers) god of nightmares, suddenly looked up. Everyone's eyes were on him waiting for him to say something. Tartarus set the standard so he had to come up with something relatively up to par (no one – even the river god of pain or the Erinyes – could actually top Tartarus even if they tried). He glanced at his brothers by his side, Morpheus and Phantasos, smiled his usual charming smile and said, "Oh the usual – giving children nightmares of their dead relatives and hearing their glorious screams when they wake – the perfect psychological abuse."
One of the uninvited nymphs, who was all this time silently watching the wedding through the large, uncovered windows, couldn't contain herself and squealed and waved fanatically at Icelos, startling most of the deities inside (to explain, Icelos was fifth place in the popularity poll). Even the nymphs wouldn't miss such an event as the gathering of all the gods and goddesses. Seldom do they see all the objects of their fantasies in one room. "Lord Icelos! You're so cool Lord Icelos!" she screamed, setting off a domino effect.
Not to be outdone, the fans of different gods began screaming the names of their own idols such as, "Lord Thanatos you're the best!" or "Lord Hypnos, I'll bear you another Oneiroi!" or "Lord Morpheus, you can invade my dreams tonight!" causing a large racket outside the palace.
Hades was about to order them to be quiet but Icelos turned to the females, winked flirtatiously and blew them a kiss. The nymphs became even more hysterical. All of a sudden though, they started dropping like flies on the floor, silent. Hypnos and Morpheus slowly let their arms down and looked scathingly at Icelos.
"What are you doing, encouraging them?" Morpheus whispered angrily.
He held up his hands and replied indifferently, "Fine." He then looked back to the crowd and, smiling towards the Keres, said, "How about the Keres sisters?"
The three goddesses of violent death were lounging on one corner and drinking chalices of something that was too thick and bright red to be wine. To be clear, there were thousands of Keres sisters however only three were invited to represent their sisterhood in the wedding (just like the Oneiroi tribe). One of the women in the group smirked evilly, raised her glass and replied, "Decapitation."
"No, that is far too quick and common," a sister disagreed. "I'd say slitting a mortal's abdomen open, grabbing his entrails and making him eat it. It's more tasteful don't you agree?" she was met with applause and laughter by her other sisters (Yes even though this is quite gruesome, it doesn't deserve censoring because, compared to the standard marker, it's relatively mild). "What say you Moros…?"
Horror stories. On a wedding day. That was the Underworld's idea of fun…but then again, who knew anything about marriage, weddings and merrymakings?