Kore opened her eyes, but she was not sure she actually did. All around her was darkness. Save for the wind hitting her face and the faint whinnying of the horses, she might as well be floating in the Chaos, before the world was made.
And his breath. It was a thin sound, always the same, relaxed, confident, and utterly terrifying. The tall figure of the person who had taken her did not speak.
Maybe he waited for her to say something? But what if she said something wrong?
Yet, Kore needed to know.
"Who are you?"
Silence.
Then, the answer, soft like silk, and yet unrelenting as a mountain.
"Your future husband."
It was his voice, for sure. The Newcomer. The Elder King. He had come for her.
"W-where?" Kore began anew, but she steeled herself. She would not appear weak in front of anyone, lest before the Unseen One.
Even if he could probably not see her in the dark.
Then again, could he? Ananke knew what he was capable of.
What else, that is.
"Where are we?"
This time the answer was quicker.
"We are passing below the earth. We will reach the Door of the Night soon, and will proceed hence."
"Proceed?" She did not want to proceed.
She wanted to go back! To go back to the sun, to her quiet, predictable, boring life.
Kore's hands gripped her clothes.
Oh, Mother…
"Proceed where?" She asked again.
"To your new kingdom." Was the answer.
And he said nothing more.
The journey proceeded in tense silence. Or at least Kore was tense. The other one, the Newcomer, the Unseen, seemed utterly at ease.
Only when a faint, far-away light appeared in the distance, Kore dared to take a look upon him.
He was tall, that was a given, but so close now he looked taller than Mother's trees. And broader, built not of sinew and bones and ichor, but of some different substance, stronger than the foundations of the earth.
He smelled of burnt metal, and beneath it, a strange dampness that Kore could not place. Or maybe that was her own fear.
Her new kingdom. What could he… and future husband?
Husband was such a foreign word to Kore. She tried it in her mouth, silently, just to see its shape, how it rolled on the tongue. Like a new kind of food, and she could not decide whether she liked the taste.
Mother might be able to tell her how it tasted. Mother would be able to help her.
A hand touched her shoulder. It was large and strong, and yet soft as a feather.
"Your mother is not here," he said. His voice was a low as always, and yet had a comforting note to it, no matter the words. "Your mother is not here, and she will not come again. Please understand. Your old world is gone, now. The new one awaits."
The milk-like light became stronger and stronger. They reached a mountain, or maybe the side of an old ravine, a wrinkle in the structure of the world. There awaited another figure. Kore could not see well.
And in fact, she did not want to. The moment they reached this place, she would just ask, kindly and gently, to be brought back home. Mother had taught her good manners open every door, after all, did she not?
Oh, Fates, did she miss Mother.
The chariot slowed down, leaned forward, and stopped on the grey grass that covered the marble slab where they descended. The other one, the Elder King, stepped down before her, turned around and extended a hand, inviting her to step down as well.
"I…" Kore hesitated. But could she truly refuse? Alone?
Her word did not count in the world above, she had been taught how to stay silent and composed and use kind words, how could that help her now?
How could it help her with… him?
He flexed slightly his fingers, not with impatience, but a reminder.
Kore took the hand.
Stepped down from the chariot.
Touched the grey grass. She was still barefoot, and the grass was damp and cold.
"I want to go home," she pleaded.
"Precisely," was the answer.
"I… no, please, I beg of you! I want to come back to Mother."
"That is not possible anymore," he explained. His voice was as firm and patient as always, like Athena when she tried to explain some difficult concept, or Mother when she reprimanded her. Being gentle and kind had worked with her in the past. It had worked with Hecate.
Oh, where was Hecate? Why was she not here?
"I want to go back! I am scared! Please!"
Kore dropped on her knees, and could no longer hold her tears. This was a place she did not know. And it was not vibrant, colorful and peaceful like her home, or like Olympus, or the shores of the lake Triton. It was cold, and unresponsive, and there was a kind of thickness in the air she breathed. Or maybe it was her breath itself, now, ragged.
"Please bring me back. Please bring me back!"
Hard-learned lessons tore like thin clouds in front of this trial, the first real trial she had faced in her young life. Why did kind words not work anymore? They had until now. It was like she was speaking a different language. Why did he did not understand?
And if kind words did not work, why not tears?
Tears had worked with Hecate.
"Please! Bring me back! Please!"
"That is no reason to cry."
He turned, crouched on one knee. He was now in front of her, covering her completely in his shadow. No smile was on his face, but his eyes were deep and black and Kore could see the kindness in them. He took the hem of his black clothes and with it he passed it over her cheeks and under her eyes, drying them. The cloth was so soft.
He withdrew the cloth, and this time he did smile. Just a hint.
"There. Is that not better? A clean face, instead of one covered in tears. Fates know I have seen enough crying."
"Please," Kore begged once more.
"Now. I want you to calm down," he said, brushing a finger against her cheek, where one last tear descended. "I want you to draw a deep breath. Can you do that for me? Draw a deep breath. We will do that together."
He opened his mouth.
Began to breathe in, and Kore, for Fates know what reason, followed.
Maybe it was her fear. Maybe it was the manners Mother had drilled deep into her.
Maybe it was something else, the beginning of a force older than Zeus himself, making itself known.
Kore breathed in. Breathed in until she felt her mouth fill, and then her neck and then her lungs.
She held it for a moment.
And then let out.
Let it all out.
In one long, rolling breath.
"Excellent." He said. "No more tears. You are about to be a queen, and what a queen. Do tears suit a queen?"
Kore blinked.
This was a straightforward question she did not seem to know how to answer.
But it was a simple one, was it?
Do tears suit a queen?
She supposed they didn't.
"No," she answered.
"You are getting good at this," he praised her, that thin smile spreading just the tiniest bit, shining like lost light upon silver. "Now, come. And no more tears."
He took her hand once again.
The other figure stepped in. Until then he had stood silent. He bowed his head at the sight of the Elder King.
"Welcome back, your lordship," he said. "You… are not alone."
"No, Thanatos, I am not. You are getting better at stating the obvious."
The other one shuffled on his sandaled feet at the rebuke. He was tall, though not as tall as the Elder King, and looked a lot more Kore could have imagined the Lord of the Sunless lands: two large wings sprouting on each side, four in total, a dignified, bearded face, and deep blue eyes. He seemed concerned.
"I dare to hope nothing went awry during my brief absence," the Elder King said. Kore saw the hint of a dangerous light in his eyes. The other, Thanatos, recoiled, as if stung.
"Ah. No. Nothing, your lordship."
"Most satisfying. Keep your post."
The Elder King lifted a hand, and in front of them the tall black door opened. From inside came a rush of wind and the echoes of faint voices, the same Kore had heard that day.
Kore looked up to him, one last plea.
"I am scared," she whispered.
His other hand came down, brushed a blonde lock away.
"Then hold onto me, and be brave."
Kore hold on.