by Eva Brandt
Hades didn’t immediately answer, so Snegurka did it in her stead. “Foolish girl. Gods always have a secondary agenda. Your husband is no different.”
Persephone narrowed her eyes at Snegurka, obviously intending to ask the former queen what she meant. Snegurka stopped her before she could speak. “In any case, I don’t have time to deal with your marital problems.” She turned toward Eranthe and sneered. “Little half-breed, if you and your undead soulmates want to get out of here, come with me now. It’s a one-time offer. I won’t ask again.”
“That’s ambitious of you, Snegurka,” Hades said. “You expect me to just let you go?”
“Hades!” Persephone surprisingly snapped. “Stop playing games and being so cryptic. When I ask what is going on, I expect you to provide me with an answer. Tell me the truth. What did you truly intend to do with all this?”
The hell hounds on Hades’s sleep pants cowered in fear at Persephone’s outburst. “Fine, fine,” Hades said, lifting his hands in an attempt to pacify his infuriated spouse. “Don’t get so mad at me, darling. It’s quite simple. Time doesn’t pass the same way in Chronikos as it does here. Our guests have been gone for over half a year. Their respective families aren’t taking it well. They need to return home at once, or else Chronikos might be overrun by the undead.”
Twelve
Epilogue
Eranthe
After everything that had happened, leaving Hades was strangely anticlimactic. Persephone was so infuriated over being deceived that she somehow managed to convince Hades to not stand in our way. It was a little ironic, considering her past insistence for me to take over her throne, but I didn’t question my good fortune.
I didn’t trust Snegurka in the slightest, but I still accepted her offer to help us. All we had to do was touch her, and we were off, swept away by my sister’s nemesis. Apparently, the same demonic skills that had allowed her to nearly kill Cassia gave her the ability to go in and out of the underworld at will. Who knew?
Truth be told, I half-expected her to double-cross us. I had no reason to believe that she had truly come to help us like she claimed.
However, Cassia had told me something about Snegurka once. She was so angry with the world that she very rarely lied. She had not truly lied even when she had been fighting Cassia, trying to gain her body and her throne back.
And there was something else. Despite the fact that I’d been trapped here, I’d felt the urgency to return to my realm. It might have been distant, nowhere near as powerful as the connection I usually had with Tis Ánoixis, but it had been there. The news of my vampires being my soulmates had distracted me from it, but not anymore.
Verifying the truth of Snegurka’s words turned out to be far easier than I’d expected, or even hoped. The moment we stumbled past the entrance into the underworld, I knew. I fell to my knees, touched the grass, and sensed the ground screaming.
“What happened here? What happened here?”
The grass was withered and dying. The magic of Tis Ánoixis stubbornly fought against a dark power that didn’t belong in Chronikos, but without me here to anchor it, my realm was having trouble withstanding the assault. And it was more than just the plants. People had died. The earth told me stories of pointlessly spilled blood, of battles fought in the name of a non-existent cause.
Tears dripped down my cheeks as I took in the results of my weakness. If only I hadn’t doubted myself so much. If only I had been faster and hadn’t fallen for Hades’s scheme. I should have acted sooner, instead of twiddling my thumbs and playing along with Hades’s game.
I furiously wiped my eyes, knowing it was pointless to weep now. My tears would not bring back the dead. A lot of them had probably already passed on into Hades, and the only reason why I hadn’t seen them was because I hadn’t gotten the chance to spend too much time in any other place except The Islands of the Blessed.
My soulmates knelt by my side but didn’t touch me. They were vibrating with tension, and just by looking at them, I could tell they were even more uncertain of their welcome than they had been earlier. I hated that I couldn’t provide them with the same reassurance I’d given them when we’d been in the underworld.
“I’m so sorry, Eranthe,” Adrian whispered. “If we hadn’t come, this never would have happened.”
“Probably not,” I answered, “but that doesn’t make it your fault. The responsibility lies elsewhere and you know it.” I couldn’t allow myself to reach out to them with my magic, but that didn’t mean I would let them blame themselves for this fiasco.
“She’s right,” Snegurka surprisingly said. “You feeling bad about what happened won’t help. The whole point of this plan was for Hades to start a war, large enough to make his realm prosperous again. As you probably noticed, it worked perfectly. We have to start doing damage control.”
In a way, it was humorous that Snegurka of all people had a problem with deities starting wars for their own selfish whims. “I don’t understand you,” I told her. “Why are you helping us?”
Snegurka clenched her jaw and glowered at me. “I might have made mistakes, little half-breed. I might no longer be the same woman who once led The Realm of Eternal Ice. But Chronikos is still my home. If anyone is going to use it or take control of its fate, it’s going to be me, not some self-absorbed death god who’s too smug for his own good. Now get up. Your sisters are probably waiting, keeping the front from falling apart.”
There was a front. How could there not be? This was a war, one that had erupted because of our absence. The mere concept was ridiculous, but great wars had started for stranger reasons.
I stood up and straightened my back. My soulmates hovered awkwardly by my side and I shot them a quick, encouraging smile. “All right. I know you’ve had a busy day, but are you in the mood of joining me for a campaign of ‘what in the name of the gods are you doing’, possibly directed at your families?”
My words drew a small smile out of my vampires. “I’m always up for kicking the asses of certain presumptuous idiots in The Voievodat,” Baltasar said. “Just point me in the right direction, my queen.”
It was the first time any of them had called me that. I wasn’t supposed to be their queen. They had their own leaders, the same ones who had sent them here to investigate Snegurka’s escape.
But things had changed, for all of us. We were not the same people we had been the day before. Six months back? The day we’d met, anyway.
“I won’t need to give you directions. I’ll be right there with you, remember?”
The words came out a little stilted, not quite able to convey everything I felt. My vampires didn’t seem to blame me for it. Instead, Cezar took my hand and kissed the air above it in a way I found almost excruciatingly gentle and charming.
Snegurka rolled her eyes at us but mercifully stayed silent. I still got the message and extracted my hand from Cezar’s grip. Closing my eyes, I reached into the earth one more time and found the answers to the question that plagued me.
When I turned away and launched myself in the air once again, my vampires followed. I didn’t know where our journey would take us, but at that moment, having the certainty of their help and proximity anchored me.
I would fix this. In the name of every single person that had suffered or had been killed because of this unjustified conflict, I would fix this, or I would die trying.
Soulmates of Seasons Index
Chronikos (The Land of Time)
Tou Cheimóna, The Realm of Eternal Ice
Ruler: Cheimon (Cassia), Lady of Winter.
Preceded by: Snegurka – a character originated from Russian fairytales, depicted as the granddaughter and helper of Ded Moroz; here, adapted as his daughter
Lieutenants:
First Lieutenant: December
Second Lieutenant: January
Third Lieutenant, Ambassador Winter-Spring: February
Other inhabitants:
Yeti – ape-like creature originating from t
he culture of Nepal
Ded Moroz - East Slavic figure very similar to Santa Claus. Literal translation of name is Grandfather Frost.
Nisse – in Scandinavian folklore, a type of friendly brownie that inhabits farmsteads
Barbegazi – a type of gnome heralding from French/Swiss mythology, resembling a small white-furred man with enormous feet
Yuki-Onna – a type of spirit from Japanese mythology that shows up during snow storms as an inhumanly beautiful woman and may prey on lost travelers
Amarok – in Inuit mythology, a gigantic wolf that stalks and devours anyone who hunts alone at night
Jack Frost – In several cultures, many of them Anglo-Saxon, the embodiment of winter, ice and snow
Wendigo – man-eating monster that originates from the consumption of human flesh during a harsh winter; originates from Algonquian folklore
Akhlut – a wolf-orca hybrid creature originating from Inuit mythology
Tis Ánoixis, The Realm of Eternal Youth
Ruler: Eiar (Eranthe), Lady of Spring
Preceded by King Jarylo – Slavic god of vegetation, fertility and springtime
Interim ruler: Fufluns – Etruscan god of plant life, happiness and growth, sometimes seen as associated with the underworld
Inhabitants:
Nymphs – in Greek mythology, minor nature deities associated with particular locations or geographical formations; can be of different types
The Green Man -- a kind of carving, drawing, painting or representation of any kind which shows a head or face surrounded by, or made from, leaves. Depicted here as a tree-shaped nature spirit.
Anthousai – in Greek myth, the nymphs of flowers
Unicorn – legendary equine creature with a single horn spiraling from its forehead
Dryads – in Greek mythology, the nymphs of trees
Gumyōchō – in Japanese lore, a beautiful two headed bird that lives in the realm of paradise. One of its heads is named Karuda and the other Upakaruda.
Iele – in Romanian myth, the nymphs of the woods, springs, and meadows. They enjoy dancing and in the areas where they dance, the grass disappears and the earth remains burnt. Dangerous if angered.
Leprechaun – in Irish folklore, a type of fairy depicted as little bearded men who partake in mischief. They are sometimes associated with Hungry Grass (or Fairy Grass), a type of cursed plant that induces a state of perpetual weakness and insatiable hunger.
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary – a legendary zoophyte of Central Asia, believed to be both a true animal and a living plant. It was said to be able to grow sheep the way trees grow fruit. Depicted here as able to separate itself from the earth.
Kapre – in Philippine mythology, a type of tree demon described as a brown, hairy male with a beard. He inhabits big trees and is usually spotted smoking.
Each-uisge – Scottish water spirit that can take both the form of a horse and that of a man. In horse form, it lures humans to ride it and kills them if they approach any water.
Tou Kalokairioú, The Realm of Eternal Sunlight
Ruler: Theros (Tarasia), Lady of Summer
Preceded by: Queen Bast, goddess in ancient Egyptian mythology, depicted with the head of a cat/lioness. Mentioned here in her solar deity role.
Inhabitants:
Sphinx – a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a person. In Egyptian mythology, it was seen as a guardian against evil forces, whereas Greek lore depicted it mostly as a threatening being with the propensity to devour anyone who did not answer its riddles.
Cat Sìth – in Celtic mythology, a type of fairy that takes the form of a black cat with a white spot on its chest
Sanziene – in Romanian myth, benevolent fairies that bless people, strengthens marriages and like to dance and sing until dawn. Related to the iele, who are more dangerous and violent.
Encantado – in Brazilian myth, dolphin-shifters that inhabit the Amazon. On festive days, they turn into young men to seduce, kidnap and impregnate women.
Tou Fthinopórou, The Realm of Eternal Bounties
Ruler: Phthinoporon (Pandora), Lady of Autumn
Preceded by: King Fufluns – Etruscan god of plant life, happiness, wine, health, and growth
Inhabitants
Gnome – small humanoid being said to live underground; a type of earth elemental
Hydra – multi-headed serpentine monster originating from Greek mythology
Nymph
Satyr – in Greek mythology, a nature spirit depicted as either having horse-like tails and ears and an exaggerated erection or the lower half of a goat
Bigfoot – in North American tales, an ape-like creature that dwells in the wilderness
Tengu – in Japanese lore, a type of Shinto god or yōkai (supernatural being) with both human and avian characteristics. They are usually depicted with reddish skin and an inhumanly long nose.
Terra Dracones (The Land of Dragons)
Provinces
Talamh Na Dragain
Inhabitants: Wyvern – type of dragon with two legs and a barbed tail
Land der Drachen
Inhabitants: Firedrake – a type of dragon originating mainly from Germanic mythology; depicted here as possessing four limbs and breathing fire
Ryū no Kuni
Inhabitants: Ryū – Japanese dragon; wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet, associated with bodies of water
Other: Hydra
Lóng – Chinese dragon; similar to the Japanese version, most commonly depicted with serpentine bodies and four legs
Amphiptere – type of dragon described as a legless, feathered winged serpent; depending on species variation, their wings may be bat-like, moth-like or bird-like, and their feathers may cover their whole bodies, instead of just their wings
Basilisk – reptilian mythological creature with the ability to turn creatures into stone through its gaze; depicted here in their cockatrice form, as winged, two-legged dragons with a rooster’s head
Wyrm – huge, wingless, limbless serpent; presented here as a simpler, inferior species. The term ‘wyrmed’ is used pejoratively for another type of dragon who was born with the ability to fly, but lost his limbs/wings to injury
Notable mentions: Fafnir – former dwarf turned into a wyrm through a curse
The Immortuos Voievodat (The Voivodeship of the Undead)
Ruler: Emperor Octavian of the House of Aeternalis
Secondary ruler: Grand Lich
Dhampir – in Slavic lore, a living creature that is the offspring of a vampire and a mortal
Lich – skeletal, undead creature most often portrayed as an incredibly powerful sorcerer
Lamia – ancient Greek vampiric monster that fed exclusively on the blood and flesh of children
Banshee – in Irish mythology, a female ghosts that heralds the death of family members with her screeches
Strigoi – undead creature from Romanian mythology. It can be of two different types, living or dead. The dead strigoi are the souls of the risen dead come back from the grave, whereas the living strigoi are a form of sorcerer that practices vampiric arts while still alive.
The Underworld (Hades)
Rulers: King Hades and Queen Persephone
Inhabitants:
Cerberus – multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld, the offspring of Typhoeus and Echidna. The number of his heads vary depending on the source of each description.
Orthrus – giant two-headed dog and Cerberus’s sibling. Depicted in Greek mythology as owned by the giant Geryon, but depicted here as possessing a deeper affiliation to Hades.
Charon – ferryman of Hades who takes the souls of the dead across the rivers of Hades (in some accounts, the Styx, in others, the Acheron)
Hypnos – in Greek mythology, the personification of sleep
Centaurs – in Greek mythology, a race of part-horse, part-man creatures, known for their drunken and amorous habits, as well as their savage charact
er
Chimera - in Greek mythology, a monster depicted having a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail.
Harpy – in Greek lore, a half-human, half-bird female monster
Hecatoncheires – in Greek mythology, three giants with a hundred hands and fifty heads that helped overthrow the Titans and became the guardians of Tartarus
Other realms:
Ton Daímon (The Land of Demons)
Inhabitants: Gargoyles – mythological monster inspired by the architectural gargoyle element, usually made out of animated stone; depicted here as possessing the ability to turn living tissue into stone.
Ton Angélon (The Land of Angels)
Terra Bestias (The Land of Animals)
Tír na nÓg (The Land of the Fair Folk)
Other mentions:
The Messengers of Hermes: Hierax and Daidalon. Young men Hermes transformed into hawks. Used here as his messengers.
THE END
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Once upon a time, a firedrake, a ryu and a wyvern melted a snow queen’s heart and learned to love and be loved in the process. But before they were her soulmates, they were bitter rivals. What secrets does their past hold?
