A warning…
My eyes landed on Hades’ robes. The blackest of black, they flowed in a wind that I couldn’t feel. They were soft and light, though somehow dense and dark. As alluring and comforting as they were terrifying and mystifying. I found that I could not look away from the depths of them. They were like a portal to the underworld itself. My vision narrowed, and I pressed back against the power enveloping me. It gave like a swinging door, and I pressed harder in my panic, forcing my way through.
The main room of Alec’s palace faded away.
I had traveled to many moons with my father. Through the universe we’d fly to distant ones unnamed. All of my travels were an instant—just a racing thought. The trip, a blink of an eye. My father had carried me mostly and so I’d never done it myself. Perhaps it wasn’t my body that traveled but my mind.
Either way, it felt the very same now. I blinked, and I was in a field, just before the sun faded. The warmth was ebbing, and I was surrounded by endless, golden wheat that rustled in the breeze---a soothing sound. The trees whispered to me, and the wheat carried their words, “Titanessss….” They hissed. “Daughter of Titussss. Are you losssst?”
The laughter of a young girl brought me spinning around, startled. It had sounded like Cenia’s laughter before she’d realized her own glory.
“Sister?” I asked, and the wheat moved.
A bright head popped out of it, the hair color nearly as the wheat, only brighter, and it was indeed very much like my sisters.
I laughed at the sight despite the strangeness of the situation because she was mussed with twigs tangled in the golden curls. And then I stopped. Cenia would never play in the wheat. She’d not let her hair get mussed in this way, and as the girl moved to face me, I saw that she was not Cenia.
It was Persephone.
A younger, brighter goddess of spring, untainted by the power of the underworld. And she was gathering wheat, happily smiling at the sun and the butterflies and everything near her with tremendous joy.
“Is this a vision?” I asked her. “Are you showing me this?”
But the Persephone in this place could not hear me. Could not see me. She had not invited me here.
I whirled around as the wind grew, searching for the cause. Clouds rolled before the sun, and the day changed to darkness in an instant. Cold replaced the blessed warmth, and Persephone warily began to glance around as well.
She grabbed her basket and made her way to the road where I stood. Each step, she checked over her shoulder as if she knew what would happen next.
The earth rumbled with thunder and lightning flashed. The ground cracked in answer and she screamed.
I reached for her but felt nothing.
From the crack, black smoke spewed forth. The crack widened and a black chariot came bursting from the belly of the earth. The horses were night creatures of smoke, eyes as red as garnets, nostrils flared and manes wild. They galloped for Persephone as if they’d been trained to run her down.
The goddess of spring screamed again, a terrifying sound, dropping her basket.
She ran on the road and the chariot made chase.
At the reins, stood Hades himself.
He appeared to be dressed for battle in armor of obsidian and a cape that unfurled after him at a length that covered the wheat on either side for as far as I could see. He whipped the animals onward.
I hoped for her to escape, but she could not run as fast as the demon horses could fly.
Just when I thought he’d crush the small girl beneath his wheels, I covered my eyes. But when I opened them, he’d turned at the last minute and grabbed her while in motion, forcing her onto the chariot with him, despite her screaming.
Persephone fought then, her hair growing like weeds, wrapping his arms and legs and neck. He held her like a sack of grain, ignoring the efforts.
His animals made a wide arch through the wheat, burning it black in the wake of their hooves.
They flew by my place and towards the opened ground.
“Mother! Mother!” Persephone cried in a heartbreaking appeal until they were gone.
I stood dumbfounded as the ground swallowed them whole and the sun returned.
I waited alone, her basket at my feet, tears filling my eyes.
A deep voice broke the silence, deep as a well, never-ending. “Do you know what happens to those who see too much?”
My vision blurred, and I grabbed my face as pain stabbed my eyes.
Hades did not speak again but my vision was gone, and the ground left me.
With a cry, I fell. Down and down I went, until finally I stood in a place that was cold and wet and smelled of sulphur and death. My heartbeat fast as a human’s.
“What….what happens to them?” I asked Hades, fearing the worst.
“They wander the underworld, blind forever.”
“Freya?” Alec said, and I gasped, seeing once more the palace’s main room. Alec stood at my side, muttering my name as though he’d done it already several times.
Cenia was even more pale than before, glaring at me.
What had I done in the time I’d been in the vision? What had I said?
An awkward silence descended until Cenia laughed as if someone said something funny to break the tension. Forcing her anger down, she murmured something about needing to get fresh air, bowed, and fled.
Hades stood in the same spot as before, but a simmering fury sparked through him.
My mouth hung open with unspoken words. I wanted to apologize. To forget what I had seen. He could have punished me, and he gave me a pass, but seemed to regret it already.
Persephone must have felt mercy for me when she saw the trapped rabbit expression because she decided to draw away from her husband and to my side. “Come, let us speak together.” She pulled on my arm and drew me away from his wrath, maybe just in time.
Perhaps she saved my life in that moment, I would never know.
My spine sagged when there was distance between me and that dark power.
Alec was speaking with one of the twins. Thanatos or Hypnos, of which I was unsure. When he glanced at me, I saw profound disappointment there.
I had failed some sort of test and I hadn’t even been prepared to face it.
Persephone chided me, gaining my attention. “Ignore that,” she said. “Alec’s always brooding, isn’t he?” She spoke of Alec as if she knew him well. I suppose she had with him being from the Underworld himself. “I remember that confused feeling when I was first introduced to them all.” Her face softened but I stiffened at her words.
“Introduced,” I hissed in a whisper. “You mean stolen from your home?”
“Yes,” she said mildly. “I suppose that’s the story.”
I swallowed my comments. I’d seen it with my own eyes, but I didn’t know if Hades would tell her that. Or be angrier if I did.
“Those of the underworld are…a special breed, aren’t we?”
My throat was dry. “What will he do to me?’
She smiled and sighed. “He is very fair, Freya. Just. If he’d been the one to rule Olympus…” She waved the thought off and she smiled at me. “Once you get past the glowering, he can be very kind.”
She laughed a throaty sound. “You look absolutely terrified and I wonder now, is that how I looked?”
I nodded. She had looked terrified. I whispered, “He abducted you.”
As if I could save her. As if I could release her now.
She sighed, wistfully. “Alec told me that your sister is going to marry a human. But what about you?”
I smiled down at her, for the queen of the underworld was a head shorter than myself.
Again, I was taken by how beautiful she was, but also, how she’d once been a goddess of spring and though dark, I still saw that in her. She was bright and shadows. An impossible task.
“I’m not sure I have a future.”
She laughed, as if me being thrown into Tartarus by her husband was something to
laugh about. “You do sound like me. In a similar situation too. Some strange dark king holding you hostage.”
I didn’t bother to correct her. Alec held me no more than my father held me at arm’s length in abandonment. He held my sister more than me. I had nowhere else to goit was as simple as that.
And as sad.
Unexpectedly, emotions threatened to overwhelm me. I fought tears and embarrassment. If I cried, right here in front of the queen of the underworld, I would never gain anything but pity.
I needed more than that.
Persephone cocked her head, seeming to want to impart wisdom to me. “Beware the dark ones, my mother had said to me once upon a time.” She gazed unseeing. “She never knew the truth. Never understood it.”
“What?”
She met my eyes with her darker ones rimmed with gold. “That the bright ones could be so much worse.”
I turned to watch the gods and goddesses mingle. They danced, and a few sang, and some played harps and others frolicked with nymphs. Some sat at the feet of Aphrodite, quoting poetry. Apollo’s golden head was tossed back on a laugh, something Cenia had said brought him great joy. But when he looked at my sister, I saw a tightness to his expression.
I did not fit in with these immortals.
I could not muster the energy for their games.
Those from the underworld were more somber, having quiet conversation, their strange darkness bleeding out the merriment from the other side of the room. If Hades did not approve of me, then it would be best avoiding them altogether.
“What was I thinking coming to this?” I said on a sigh. “There is no place for me here.”
Persephone nodded sagely. “Then make one. Perhaps….a word of advice…?”
“Yes, please.”
"Choose who you will be, and do it quickly."
I mulled over what Persephone had said as I waded through the powerful, beautiful, and mighty.
At Cenia’s side, I felt as low as a servant bothering its mistress. She watched me haughtily and when Apollo asked my name she gladly said, “Freya the Fallen” once more. A chorus of laughter from the nymphs became a millstone about my neck. The weight of Hades’ gaze pressed against my back wherever I went in the room.
Alec had left me to my fate, it seemed. I’d failed him in some way, not even knowing how.
I had stumbled upon the past in the worst, raw and truthful way, exposing the underlord as a desperate and greedy immortal who had to steal an innocent maiden from her home for a companion.
And now I’d be punished for that knowledge, I knew.
Never shame one so powerful. Their own guilt and pain will forcedly be shared.
Hermes appeared by my side as if by magic, his full lips suppressing mirth. “Just what did you do to infuriate the one you most needed to impress? If you had even one of them on your side, all would be well, young titan.”
By them, he meant one of the three brothers. I knew if I answered his question that tears might find a way out in my desperation, and so I merely stared at him, waiting for him to leave me as everyone else had.
That only seemed to make him more interested. “Ah, now, you can’t avoid speaking to us for forever. Or can you? If Hades takes your tongue, I suppose you can go into eternity avoiding my questions.” He put a succulent piece of orange fruit into his mouth, laughing long and hard.
I watched the fruit bobbing on his tongue, before he bit down, the juice filling his mouth to overflow onto his lips in a sticky sweetness. The drops hung there in temptation. It was a vulgar party trick, perhaps entrancing to the lust-filled nymphs who scoured the place for a body of power to climb. I pictured their lithe limbs draped across Hermes in adoration as they fed him fruits and wine.
The sight of him nude came to me unbidden, and I knew then that he toyed with me like a mouse. My face heated and more images came to me of his nightly trysts, his body writhing, muscles tight with passion, until I forced them out.
He moved, bending at the waist to put his face near my ear. “Do you enjoy watching me in the throes of ecstasy, titan-blood? Does your chaste body awaken? Perhaps the rest are afraid to invite you to their bed. The chances are high that they’d wake up with an enchanted dagger in their heart.” His lips touched the edge of my ear, and I flinched. His voice was like honey warmed by the sun. I swayed closer. “But I’m not afraid, Freya. I’ve never been more intrigued. I could teach you everything you need to know. What would it be like to embrace your female charms, to have kings and queens begging for your favor as they do with Aphrodite?”
My gaze pulled towards the beautiful goddess. Certainly, a halo of light emanated from her glowing features and her skin and form nearly made one weep to stare. At her feet, what could only be Eros, playing a harp. His young, handsome face, framed by brown curls, was upturned in adoration and my pulse raced at the power she wielded. It would be a lie to pretend that I did not wish to wield my wares with such grace.
Hermes’ power ebbed through my limbs, easing the fear, replacing it with a sensation of pleasure. It was as if his fingers lightly stroked my skin.
The messenger was tall. Like all of the Olympians, he was large, but I was tall as well, and when he stood straight, my eyes were at his nose. We were unbelievably close.
“You’re not afraid of me?” I asked him.
His eyebrows raised and dropped twice in great surprise, and he smiled, his teeth the whitest pearls. Hermes was like my sister. Not as golden, more of a varnished bronze, but equal in beauty. But he was also equally a fool.
“You should be,” I found myself saying before I brushed past him and then went out onto the front steps to flee into the night.
My sister came to find me in the palace gardens, a place that I had not been before. With my grandmother’s glow lighting the walkways, as well as the burning torches, I strolled in leisure as I meditated on my own thoughts.
I was in awe of the gardens that were overflowing with exotic flowers and trees. I had only been to two kingdoms in all of the human world. The strange star-leaves, multi-colored fruit, and flowers that ate insects reminded me that I was very ignorant to many things and I would have to search the books in my room to find out more.
Alec’s brother had said Alec managed the orchards of the underworld, and I wondered if Alec maintained this garden himself. It truly did look like a labor of love.
I was taken by one tree in particular, gnarled and sprawling, the height of my balcony that overlooked the sea on the other side of the palace. There was a face in the trunk, one twisted with agony, and I was struck by how lifelike it was.
“The night air is lovely,” Cenia said, joining me.
“It is.”
“Will you not return? Apollo says…”
I cut her off with a hand. “I care little of what Apollo says.”
Cenia’s anger heated the space, and she snorted her derision like a pig. “Unbelievable.”
I turned to face her with a frown. “What?” My own anger beat at me from all sides. I was close to losing control of myself with her. “Unbelievable that I don’t want to hear what an Olympian that you’ve known for two hours has to say? That I don’t value his opinion of us whatsoever? That I don’t need advice from those…donkeys in there!”
Her eyes widened. “Keep your voice down,” she hissed, her fists balled at her sides.
“Why? Because Hades might hear me and strike me down? He might do that anyway and what then, Cenia? You’ll be married to a human and fat with children. You’ll forget all about me.”
It wasn’t a statement; it came out a question.
I thought for one second my sister might be kind. That she might tell me that she couldn’t live without me as I couldn’t live without her.
Instead, she said, “I won’t marry a human,” with acid.
My shoulders fell. “Enough,” I said. “Let’s not quarrel.”
“No,” Cenia said, shaking with frustration. “Freya, you have done…something. You�
��ve marked us somehow and…I’m lucky that Apollo will even stand next to me, sister.”
Her eyes nearly glowed red with the hatred that was swirling within them.
“Ahah! So, I suppose you should kiss his feet then?”
“Maybe you should.”
I choked on a laugh or a sob or the moment that would change my life forever. “You would watch me beg from our enemies? You would?”
She spun around to make sure we were alone. Then she pulled me by the arm, deep into a small alcove that had a bench. It was perfect for two lovers hiding their ardor, but also, it cloaked two sisters away from the Olympians so that one might rip out the heart of the other unseen. “Yes,” she hissed in a whisper. “Apollo says you should go inside and beg…beg the king of the underworld with all of your heart for Hades to champion us. To give us passage into Olympus. Do you understand what that would mean? We could leave this island and take our place in the sky. Humans would make sacrifices in our honor, create statues.”
Her eyes were wild with greed, and I imagined mine had looked the same when I’d watched Aphrodite before. Only, there was one difference between Cenia and me. I had shaken off what I could not tame. Cenia had let it claim her and she continued to pinch my arm angrily as she went on. “You could crawl before Hades and grovel. You could tell him we want nothing more than to bear their children and be their wives, mistresses, whatever they so need. Give me this one thing, Freya. Make it right. Whatever you’ve done, what father’s done. Hand over your pride. Make it right!”
I pulled my arm away and saw us as children once more. I saw Cenia gazing at me with love and wishing to be like me, and then I saw her again, watching me weep my apologies at the feet of Hades, our enemy, for a slight that I had performed only by accident.
Persephone’s words floated on the breeze to me. Choose what you will be.
“No,” I said, horrified. “I will not. Once I am a beggar, forever I will be a beggar in their eyes.”
She lifted her hands and they were curled into claws. She let them fall. “Same as you always were, Freya,” she said with her beautiful golden eyes narrowed.
Beware the Fallen: Young Adult Mythology (Banished Divinity Book 1) Page 7
