Persephone: Leonidas' Domina

επίλογος

It had been eighteen years since the war had come to an end.

Since rumours and rumours about what had caused it appeared.

They said that the citizens of Renatus had disobeyed the gods and had been punished adequately for their sins.

That the god Zeus had been killed but had resurrected eventually.

That Olympus had gone into chaos because demons from the Underworld escaped and possessed some people, mainly the Ares Familias (which they said was highly easy considering the fact they barely had a brain to think for themselves and that their souls were easy to corrupt)

But the strongest rumour had been about a Pharmakis.

Though most did not know her name, the few that did barely spoke it. They said that the god who ruled the dead lost his wife and used his dark magic to raise her, the darkness corrupting her and when the Council of Renatus punished her for her crimes, she cursed the land and started the war singlehandedly, or perhaps with her husband's help.

However, her name was only used to scare children to disobedience and it was said her name was only called by people who used dark magik, or wanted doing dark deeds.

The Pharmakis' strongest rumour had been the fact she had bewitched the now Ruler of Renatus, Lord Leonidas Aetos and he had only survived by his Father sacrificing himself to free his son from her clutches.

Still, with all the dark stories surrounding the kingdom, they thrived better than they had in centuries.

Villagers worked hand in hand with citizens of Renatus and paid adequate taxes till they became legal citizens of the country, the Hestia and Hermes Familias worked under the Poseidon Familias, learning how trade worked and also, giving them quater of the coins they earned, Lord Sadik Diamandis, Lord of Castle Apollo, making sure no one was cheated.

Renatus was perfect.

Or perhaps, near perfection.

Cause inadvertently, no matter what happened, people never changed.

A male with a hood over his head walked closer to another stall, his bow and arrows under his tunic though he never had any use for them in public had his eyes on the soft bread the man was selling and though he had coins to afford it, he knew he could not waste it on something so trivial.

The Poseidon Familia however noticed this particular customer lingered too long and was ready to send him away before the man said, "I bid you greetings kind man, but I must say that I feel a bad omen coming from your stall."

The fat bloated looking man, did not buy it. "I know your type. Villagers who do not want to live by honest means and come to steal with lies."

Now, Ishmael was many things.

But he was not a liar.

"Then I must prove my worth," Ishmael said, brandishing a small smile on his face before he moved to the center of the market, ignoring the looks people were giving him as he sat comfortably on the dust filled road, bringing out a flute and playing it.

The tune was melodious, drawing people around him as they wondered what it was up to before they gasped as a snake came out of the stall that the Poseidon Familia owned.

Snakes, were said to be what Pharmakis' kept as pets, and were usually taken away by skilled spiritual men who were afterwards paid for their work.

The last people who had snakes were the Eliades Family, but the Ares Familias were barely existing as it was and the Eliades Family, after the suicide of their Lord and disappearance of his wife, lived somewhere else, far away from the anger and hate of the Citizens of Renatus.