Pluto sat on his obsidian and bone throne. Before him stood his generals, all dead; purely skeletons, with skin stretched across their bones. The leader stepped forward.
"My lord, we have a lock on where we think the Arias are. But we don't know where their lair is."
Arias. Nature's little joke. It had the front bottom half of a horse, the back half of a lion, a viper for a tail, large russet brown wings, and the torso of a werewolf. To add to the horror, it had foot long claws, needle sharp teeth, and drooled acid, all of it black. It also had black eyes that looked more like pits. They were extremely fast, and extremely vicious. They drank the blood of their victims, then stripped the flesh off their bones. Charming.
Lately, the Arias had been gathering, threatening Pluto, and all his subjects. He could expect no help from the other gods. He remembered that fateful day when Jupiter and Neptune had left him nothing but the Underworld and gemstones to control.
Jupiter had gathered his two brothers and had them choose what they wanted their domain to be. They had drawn straws, Jupiter getting the longest, Pluto getting the shortest. Jupiter had taken the sky, Neptune got the sea. Pluto had gotten shafted and left with the Underworld.
Sure, controlling the dead was okay, and his palace was kind of cool. And he was immensely wealthy. But he was alone. Isolated from the sun, and in charge of making sure everything went smoothly. When something went wrong, the other gods glared at him for causing a mess, then scorned him when he asked for help.
Sometimes he went up to the surface. The sunshine hurt his eyes, and made him unbearably hot. But he enjoyed being free from responsibilities. He loved the smell of the flowers, the pine, even the herbs.
But it was only for a short time. He always had to go back down. No aboveground plants could grow there, and his only company was the dead, not including a host of demons he had to constantly slay.
That's when he had first seen HER. He had watched Proserpine, admiring her grace, determination, and wit. She was lithe, speedy, and was gracefully curved in all the right places. Her knockout looks were a plus.
And knockout was meant literally. She was incredibly strong, though you wouldn't know it. Pluto had watched her fell the Erymanthian boar with a single blow to its chin. She was also brilliant at archery, though none rivaled Apollo and Diana.
Pluto tried to get near her, to try to talk to her or invite her to his palace, but not only did his courage fail, but she was never alone. And when she was… yeah, not going to bother her THERE. Pluto replayed the previous day's events in his head as the warriors disappeared from view.
He had gone to see Jupiter, and like an idiot, confessed that he liked Proserpine. Jupiter had the brilliant idea for Pluto to kidnap Proserpine. Because that ALWAYS helps men get a girl.
But Jupiter tricked Proserpine into wandering away, and got her distracted by a bush, allowing Pluto to take her. So now, Pluto sat on his throne, doing what he was always doing before Proserpine, except now he could feel her hatred radiating out from everything as scorching as the sun.
He sighed and stood. He would try to talk to her. Again. Maybe he would have better luck this time. After all, everybody loves guys who come from the Underworld to kidnap them.