AN: I'm so nervous right now, I'm still not sure about this chapter…it was nerve-wrecking to write and I can't seem to be completely sure about it…I'm also sorry for the late update, school has been hell..the chapter is divided in only three parts: the before, during and after
and Oh my god, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your wonderful reviews, I swear to god, you guys are so kind and so encouraging and if I didn't reply to a review or couldn't(the anonymous ones), know that I am infinitely grateful for your very kind words and happy that my story have entertained you
The Queen of the Underworld
Daughter of Jove, almighty and divine,
Come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline:
Only-begotten, Pluto's honored wife,
O venerable Goddess, source of life:
'Tis thine in earth's profundities to dwell,
Fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell:
Jove's holy offspring, of a beauteous mien,
Fatal, with lovely locks, infernal queen…
…O, Vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight,
Sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight:
Whose holy form in budding fruits we view,
Earth's vigorous offspring of a various hue:
Espoused in Autumn: life and death alone
To wretched mortals from thy power is known:
For thine the task according to thy will,
Life to produce, and all that lives to kill.
-excerpts from Hymn to Proserpine by Orpheus
"I can feel it," the goddess of love said, her eyes looking out into the sky.
"What do you feel?"
"Unrest."
"What?"
"A heart is full. It is too intense. It will have to…."
"What is it?"
"..release," she said, eyes never leaving a cloud.
"I will go to her."
"No."
Demeter looked at her, face distressed and strained.
"I have to."
--
"Marpessa!"
The elder goddess seemed stressed, her ancient eyes that have seen a thousand eons looked tired.
"Lady Hecate, what is it you need?"
"Where is Persephone?"
"I do not know my lady."
"Come now, let us find her."
A great crease in her forehead heightened the look of anguish the goddess was having. Marpessa knew something is happening. Something is wrong.
--
She walked the ground that detested her. But still, she walked, glorified, oblivious.
The sun snarled at her form, the wind blew in distaste. The birds screeched at her, the shades grimaced at her mere presence.
And still, she walked.
--
She sat on her grass, crying yet again. She held on to her tree, the trunk softened at her touch.
Why can I not forget? Why does my heart still bleed?
The glorious white leaves fall to her feet, feeling with her, crying with her.
She saw a shadow, not hers. It was looming, still, staring and when she turned around, she saw the reason for everything she feels.
--
A great chill crept up Hermes' spine. He stopped in his tracks.
He looked at the cave leading to the Underworld, saw the skeletal ferryman hesitate and look beyond the darkness as he paddled towards the other end, and his eyes narrowed.
What is this I feel?
--
"Lord Apollo!" a priestess cried in veneration to the figure of the god.
"Lord Apollo, the Oracle, she is bleeding!"
The nearby sound of the laurel leaves rustling confirmed the attention of the god.
Do not worry, it said, it will pass.
"Leave me."
Minthe stood still, motionless.
"Have I not told you that you are forbidden here?"
Angry tears now filled Persephone's eyes.
"Is it not enough that you broke every other rule? Leave, I beg of you, preserve the purity of this place, my place."
Minthe bent down, moving for the first time, leveling her eyes to Persephone.
"You are pathetic," she said coldly.
She looked away, feeling exactly like the nymph said.
"Leave me alone."
"You are cold, stubborn, and complex. Yours is now a wretched existence."
"What do you want from me?"
Minthe stood up, smirking, malicious.
"Everything," she said with amazing intensity, "and I will have it," she added with such certainty.
She looked at the nymph's face, unfit for such a dark personality.
"Why do you torment me?" she said, eyes still wet with tears.
"It is nothing personal Persephone."
"How dare you call me by my name!"
She smiled, feeling triumphant. Persephone clutched her chest.
"I have your husband, even some of your servants, next will be your kingdom," she continued, looking down at the fallen queen with pure bliss.
"My kingdom will never be yours!"
The same smile played on her red lips. "That is what you think. Have you not heard him say it?"
Persephone's eyes widened in realization.
"Stay," he said so eagerly, "stay forever."
"Be my light."
"You did," Minthe confirmed as she saw Persephone's reaction.
Persephone still clutched at her aching chest, the tears flowing more than before, the pain in her head beginning to grow.
"Do you know why?" Minthe asked.
She held on to the grass, everything was aching, everything. All of her begged to relax, to rest from all this anxiety.
"I am nobler of form," Minthe said, bending down once again to hold strands of Persephone's hair and then trace the circles around her swollen eyes, "I am now more excellent in beauty," she touched Persephone's pale face and damp cheeks.
She looked directly into her eyes. Blue orbs met emerald eyes. The nymph's fingers circled around the queen's neck.
"He will have me and banish you from his halls."
"Minthe."
Minthe's head snapped to the voice. It was cold authority and unhidden disappointment. It was Hades and his noble form was stiff and tense.
"You insolent lowlife!" another voice cut in before Minthe opened her mouth to explain herself.
The Goddess of Grain has arrived.
"You shall not talk to my daughter like that!"
Hades restrained Demeter who, he was sure, was about to trample on Minthe at that time and Minthe almost smiled until she looked at Hades' face and remembered. She saw nothing but cold, hard steeliness that made her almost cower in fear.
"Lord Hades," she murmured as she tried to reach for his arm. But his cold gaze remained and he stepped back and avoided Minthe's touch.
It was all a blur now, Persephone felt pain all over. "Hades, mother," she said softly. Everybody was too busy to notice her. Everybody else looked at Minthe and Hades' interaction to hear.
Then all the pain went away and slowly, slowly, rage filled up her vision and her own feet pulled her up. The rush of supremacy brought some pain but she can tolerate such miniscule pain and all she could feel was the burning rage and the accumulating divinity, royalty and surge of power that came with her title. It was power she rarely utilized and when she did, she did not know of it.
She knew of it now. She understood now why she had the world ion the palm of her hands. Hades was not lying when he told her that she was the Hera of the Underworld.
She walked to Minthe, each step withering the grass of Elysium and stopped when everybody suddenly looked at her. Minthe looked at her, ready to lash until she took a strong tug at Minthe's golden locks and looked directly in her eyes. Hades did not move, Demeter just looked on.
"I cannot forgive you," she said with venom, her voice colder than has ever been," how dare you even breathe the air of Elysium."
As if by command, the air around turned suffocating and cold. Her eyes filled of all the pent-up rage and all the hurt she felt.
"You have taken my love away."
Hades' heart dropped, his downcast eyes represented the impact of his wife's words.
"You cannot take my kingdom."
Demeter started to cry. Her daughter has felt all this torment all along and she could not do anything to help her. Because all was done and her daughter has released everything she felt. She could not even identify the gentle Kore she knew, her green eyes were darker than they usually were and her face was filled with so much wrath.
Minthe's eyes still held pride but her knees were buckling and her head ached as she felt her hair ripping.
"I have made everyone suffer as I have. I did not touch you for him," she spat. The grass at Minthe's feet grew and coiled around her ankles.
Hecate and Marpessa ran to the source of great emotion, Hecate nauseated by the air full of hatred.
They stood beside the dark lord, looked around and were surprised to see Demeter, crying. They looked at the horrid picture before them and even as they breathed in the air of hatred, they cannot reel their emotions in as they saw it in action.
"You will now feel every bit of pain I have," Persephone continued, oblivious to everything else.
And Hades, Demeter, Hecate, Marpessa-they cannot do anything as Persephone flung Minthe to the ground and trampled on her. Divine ichor(1) marked her pretty form as Persephone did not stop to hesitate. Minthe's eyes filled with horror, her face contorted to anguish. She tried to block what was thrown at her. Her usually composed face was wet with tears.
But Persephone trampled on her and her clothes tore and her hair tangled. Her face bruised and her arms bled more ichor. She writhed in pain in the ground as Persephone let it all out.
Elysium did not disappoint. It conformed to its mistress' silent command. The grass continued to coil around her. The sun burned her already flaming scars, the wind intensified the burn and the shades looked at her and their eyes told her she deserved it. Even the birds sang songs of victory and the smell of the flowers stung to Minthe.
"Lord Hades," she cried feebly. And Hades' cold face dropped a little.
"Persephone," Hades pleaded, slightly terrified, not of what was happening but of what he had done to his…wife.
But Persephone could not be stopped.
Demeter stared in awe.
Hades was mortified.
Marpessa felt no pity.
Hecate narrowed her eyes, she had anticipated this.
The grass still lashed at Minthe. The sun did nothing to help her. The birds' songs could not drown her shrieks of pain. The wind felt like daggers through her skin. The shades did not move. Elysium joined in the release of its mistress' pain and anger and frustration and misery.
Then it all stopped. The rush of power exhausted her and the burning sensation in her heart crept slowly back. Persephone fell down, the ground itself, cushioning her fall. Nobody moved. Minthe's form stayed still.
Marpessa's eyes narrowed in slight satisfaction. Hades still held Demeter and they were both looking at the now fallen Persephone and the still ichor-laden Minthe.
It is over, Hecate thought as she ran to Persephone.
Aphrodite sat up, wrapping her arms around her.
"What is it?"
"Something terrible."
"What could be more terrible than what you have seen me do in the battlefield," the proud god of war asked in curiosity.
"It is all the same, with Daphne, with Pytis with Syrinx, with Klytie, with Otus and Ephialtes, with every other (2)," she replied with controlled alarm.
"What is it," he persisted.
Aphrodite's arms gripped Ares' wrist.
"The demise of a divine being," she said with pity.
--
Hermes' head snapped to the direction of the Underworld. He saw Charon looking too.
There was this feeling again. One of his kind is put to rest.
--
The laurel leaves rustled furiously as the oracle stopped bleeding.
It has passed, the wind whispered.
--
They both looked outside and stopped arguing.
"What has happened," Zeus asked as Hera ignored him and walked to the balcony.
"A goddess, something happened."
Hera gestured for Zeus to be silent as she strained her eyes and her ears.
"This has not occurred for a long time," she said after a moment of silence," a nymph is gone."
Zeus looked slightly bewildered. Hera closed her eyes in contemplation.
"Has she scorned one of my children," he asked with indifference.
"Yes," Hera replied as she lingered in her place, then she finally opened her eyes and to Zeus' surprise, a small, almost imperceptible smirk graced her lips. Zeus frowned; a smile like that meant his wife was pleased and few things pleased Hera- few are reasonable, fewer are good and most are wicked.
Hera continued as if a long pause had not taken place. "And you'll never believe which child of yours."
--
Artemis stopped her chase. Something was strange.
She strained to think of it as she remembered. She remembered the feeling when her brother had his urgent pursue of a nymph.
I wonder what will spring of it, she thought with twisted humor.
--
Alseids. Auloniads. Leimoniads. Heleads. Dryads. Oreads. Oceanids. Nereids. Naiads.
They felt something in the air.
Mortals witnessed a rare spectacle as they passed through groves, mountain, woods, fens, rivers, spring.
The nymphs were about.
If the mortals knew better, they would see eyes of mourning among those divine beings.
--
Liasa looked up to the sky.
"Liasa, no snow will be falling anymore, right," Iste asked, "you were with Lady Persephone when she stopped it, right?"
"Yes."
"Why are looking up to the heavens?"
"Minthe," she said softly.
"What about Minthe," Belytia asked with distaste.
Vysis arrived from collecting food.
"Can you not feel it," she asked them.
Naesi stood up, leaving her embroidery behind.
"Something in the wind tells me about Minthe," Liasa said.
Naesi went back to her work as Vysis too followed; they joined Iste and Belytia as they sat on the ground.
"We all knew it was bound to happen," Naesi said darkly.
Liasa walked back, her face sad. All their faces were grim.
AN: the notes for this chapter will be posted on my LJ (be ready for some short stories, but I promise they will be really short); you don't have to read the notes but this chapter will be more understandable if you do, maybe I'll post a preview too
… so how was it? Please say so in your review…thanks very much!!
Next chapter will be posted as soon as possible!! Thanks again