Chapitre 40: Origins: Persephone's Choice

The body of Cadmus slowly vanished in a trail of smoky shadows, leaving behind dark ashes on the floor of the Underworld Arena. While Julius was glad that he emerged victorious from this recent bout, the pain from all the injuries he took also began to register in his system and take a toll on his body, so when he tried to straighten up, he lost his balance and was about to topple down the ground.

Just before impact, he felt that his body was supported by another person. When he looked, he realized it was Hermes. The Messenger God leapt from the corner using his winged sandals, and carried him back to his friends. Rexis caught him to support his weight.

"Julius!" Corinna and him were now free from the shadow reins of Hades and hurried over to his side.

Rexis: "Y-you look awfully scary back there. Can you manage to remain conscious?"

Corinna: "We must get you somewhere safer where your wounds can be tended."

Julius: "If it wasn't for my enhanced stamina and strength, I might've been a goner by now."

True enough, the pain from his arm burned like crazy. The wound looked serious, and he almost can't bear to look at the hole created by the spear, where his blood was gushed out. Looks like his spiking career will be over if this injury won't be fixed. He can't even bring his arm up.

Then, an ominous shadow loomed over his vision, and he caught sight of Hades who was looking at him with the most obvious murder intent. The endless black orbs of the Lord of the Underworld bore into him as if seeing through the depths of his soul. But since he was feeling giddy from actually winning against the Cadmus, he did not let himself be looked down by this proud deity.

"Piece of cake." He said with a chuckle. He ain't kicking the bucket yet.

Hades lifted his hand – prepared to strike him with his Stygian Iron blade, but both Hermes and Persephone stopped him. The two looked at Hades disdainfully for his inappropriate behavior.

"Hahaha – " Julius knew he shouldn't be laughing, but he can't help it. The God refuses to accept his defeat.

"You know what people from where I came from say? 'One should be gracious in defeat and humble in victory.' And look – I won against your Cadmus. Payback time, Lord Hades." Julius said this with utmost sarcasm that it only provoked Hades more.

However, the God refuses to take another L and humiliate himself further in this situation, so he exercised prudence and took one deep, long breath, before saying, "You have won."

Julius grinned despite almost feeling like blacking out. "Indeed."

"I expect you to fulfill the end of your bargain, uncle." Hermes stepped in to the conversation and flashed a grin at Hades too. "We shall take Persephone back home now. Let's go, cousin."

Hermes took Persephone's hand, but Hades continued to hold on to the other. In his most crestfallen tone, he uttered the words, "No. Don't go."

Persephone looked like she was about to cry from hearing those words. 'Woman! Seriously?!' Julius thought, getting frustrated over the possibility that his struggle with Cadmus had been in vain.

Hermes: "Uncle, you swore upon Styx."

Hades: "I know."

Hermes: "Surely, you must know of the consequences of your actions."

Hades: "I do."

Hermes: "Yet you do not wish to let my cousin go?"

Hades: "I won't."

Tension filled the air as the two Olympians glared at each other. Julius thought that the sight is rather peculiar, for he never heard of a story from the Greek myths about Hades and Hermes getting into each other's nerves. He reckons, however, that if a battle ensues between the two, Hades got the upper hand.

Even Julius himself, admired the Lord of the Underworld from the myths. Unlike the other gods, he was faithful to Persephone. Also, he did not have lots of disturbing tales to tell, since he was an aloof god who keeps his peace within his Domain. There aren't a lot of works by artists that are attributed to him, but his Realm alone inspired plenty of imaginations to poets like Ovid and Dante. Aside from the fact that he also got cool powers, Hades was also a respectable god through and through – except for the fact that he abducted Persephone in order to make her his Queen. That isn't one of his redeeming qualities.

"S-stop this." Persephone suddenly said, her voice breaking. "I need to go."

'Good.' Now Julius internally sighed in relief.

Persephone added, "I must talk to my mother, and tell her to return her blessings to humanity. The mortals need not to suffer from this – this – thing." She finished in between sobs.

"See? Even my cousin wants to see her mother again. Ah – it must be a long time now, in the mortal world." Hermes stressed each syllable that he uttered, probably to entail urgency that they must be going back now. "And I will bring the mortals back to the surface too. They don't belong here in the Realm of the Dead – that's a violation in the Code of Olympus – no man alive may enter the Underworld, unless otherwise provided."

Persephone once more instigated some tension. "But I need to go back in the throne room before I leave."

Julius, Rexis, Corinna and Hermes: "???!"

"There is something I need to do before I go." She looked at Hades with her pleading eyes.

Of course, the God wasn't able to resist. "As you wish, my dear."

A total blackout similar to earlier happened again, and after a few more seconds, their vision returned to normal and they were back in the Chamber of Hades.

The next thing that happened was far from what everyone else thought. Persephone betrayed all of their expectations when she walked towards the tray with the Pomegranate dishes, and announced to everyone who was present:

"I, Persephone, the Goddess of Spring and Summer, promise to thee, Hades, Lord of the Underworld, that I shall return to thy Realm after my faithful talk with my mother aboveground."

Hades' eyed widened. 'WTF?!' Julius wanted to shout but Persephone rambled on.

"With these hands, I will lift your sorrows. I know full well that consuming one of these food will bind part of my soul to your Kingdom. This consequence, I fully accept. Your Domain will never be empty, for I will be your Queen who will rule with you the moment I return." Then she picked a Pomegranate tart from the tray with the Underworld-ly food, and took a bite of it.

'This selfish bitch!' Julius badly wanna curse at her.

For a while nothing happened, but then Persephone held her guts and lost her balance, feeling dizzy. Her skin began to pale, and dark circles formed around her eyes, as if she haven't slept in a millennia. He lips became blue like she was frozen to death. In the end, she turned into a icy, deathly maiden – alive but devoid of life.

She must've regained her senses, and now walked over to Hermes and said, "Shall we go, cousin?" Even the tone of her voice changed – it became colder, hoarse and dry.

Hades looked down – he was glad regardless of how things turned out. "I will escort your way out."

They shadow-travelled again until they found themselves in front of a shadow portal created by the God himself. The three heads of Cerberus barked madly at them, but Hades said, "Stay, boi." And the dog settled down. His growl reduced its decibels significantly.

"This is where we part. I will message you on whatever is the result of our talk with Aunt Demeter." Hermes bade the God farewell. Persephone didn't say another word, but only looked at Hades and communicated with him through his thoughts. They crossed the boundary between life and death, and the next thing they knew, they were being ferried by a boatman through a river of pure black. Hades was nowhere to be found.

'Charon, the boatman.' Both Julius and Rexis thought. Why didn't the God just transport them directly outside? He had no idea, but Charon looked unhappy in servicing them. He was muttering under his breath.

"Non-paying customers. Tch."

But Julius' thoughts wandered away from the boatman's ridiculous complaints. He knew this from the myths – Persephone's youthful and lively look will only return when she's out of the Underworld. Everytime she's within the Realm, she will look like this. If she's on Earth, the seasons will be Summer and Spring. When she returns to Hades, the season will be winter. 2/3 of the year, she's with her mother. The remainder will be her numbered days as the Queen of the Underworld. This is the myth on the Origin of Seasons.

He then remembered what his father told him before. "You know the thing about destiny? You cannot change its bigger picture. However, you can alter its details. Because that's how we rebel against fate."

Pandora… and now this…. the ending is the same…. he only altered the details. So for HIS own destiny…. what if….what is his prophecy will….

"I assume you young ones wanted to meet your friends aboveground? We're still not completely outside the Underworld – ah that uncle of mine. If you want, I can send them a message. It's the least I can do after you made this possible." Hermes interrupted his thoughts.

"Like how? We don't have Viber or WhatsApp." Rexis inquired.

"I have no idea what you mean, but you got Messenger." Hermes replied with a smirk.

Though still in shock from Persephone's choice, Julius managed to chug out, "We've got to send a message to Sayo and Tobias. We have to meet them where Demeter can be found."

The twin serpent of Hermes climbed up and coiled themselves around their master's staff. One of them spoke. "The Goddessssss Demeter, isssss currently mourning inssssside her temple at Eleusssssisssss."

"You must be wondering, this girl right here is in charge of gathering the latest gossips and news in the Mortal Realm. She's also assigned in my logistics." Hermes said, referring to the snake.

"Then we've got to inform them that that's where we're going." Julius muttered. His vision is already blurring, and he's sure he's about to pass out any minute from now.

"Consider it done." A small white orb then glowed in front of Hermes and it disappeared when the God said, "Steilete."

Julius understood the word as 'send'. He sure hopes that the two will get his message.

"Oh yes – that was an Instant Message. They're probably reading it by now." Hermes answered his unspoken question.

Several minutes later, Charon halted and decked his boat inland. He pointed to the light at the end of a narrow tunnel. "See that light? That's yer way out. Now go, I ain't expecting a tip from ya."

Hermes threw him a ruby though, and his scowl disappeared. They followed the light, and finally, they saw the outside world. As expected, it was barren.

"Oh my –" Persephone gasped. Hermes clapped his hands, and soon enough, his chariot descended from the heavens.

"We should hurry before it's too late."