Hell Is An Empty Heart (Book One of The Triple Moon's Chronicles)

26 | Only Might Make Right ***

Warning for mention of gore and rape in a crime's list. One of the worst soul alive and here will be his fate, watch out and enjoy the reading.

To the distant gaze, it glowed like an inflamed scarlet ring, with fire billowing at its head and red lava saliva from Tartarus' mouth devouring its feet. It was a token for the sick and a hope for the damned—a delicatessen that could only be appreciated in its most extreme form. The Field of Punishment, the redoubtable Kallimarmaro of infliction on the souls, the imposition of Hades, was a masterpiece of its own.

It stood tall on four stories, with stories of its own between two empty slots of a statue, depicting the suffering inflicted on the most devilish mortals. The cringing visage of a genuine prisoner emerged occasionally from between the bands of sculpted arches.

This poor soul was there, agonising for all the time.

Weeping, like the wretched man imprisoned within the wall, set Persephone free after her body hit the ground upon Hades' guards leaving her there. She twitched in shock when Cerberus crept from behind, her hand clenched over her chest.

He then saw her tears.

Averting his many eyes, Cerberus made his guilt apparent, but Persephone, too, shared the same feelings. She put her hands over her face to disguise her embarrassment at her failed escape attempt, but she couldn't hide the weight of her culpability for betraying her only friend.

Seeing her sorrow, Cerberus cleared his voice, and Persephone slowly placed her hands down on either side of her body as he wagged his tail in excitement. "It's not that bad for the work of a dog." His question made her head tilt to the side with curiosity. This was, though, the beginning of his endless description of the building until she silenced him off with the most pertinent of all the observations.

"He is a god; why can he just drop them off at Tartarus?"

Her words choked one of his head, while another rolled his pairs of eyes, leaving the last one's mouth to fall open with his tongue hanging out. His paw pushed it back as he shook that one same head of his, answering, "I knew you'll ask that question." He chortled. "It's because, as a god, anyone is equal to him, so they may all challenge his authority here."

"Anyone except me?" She drew out a breath in frustration between two suppressed laughs, remembering how Hades cursed her when he took her as his possession and forced her to live in his realm against her will. Her voice thickened when she carried on, "If I was his equal, I would have the choice to be his bride or not."

With a click of his three tongues altogether, Cerberus created an echo that put weight on his argument. "That's where you've got it all wrong." His chorused affirmation came as a shock to all his heads, but it raised suspicions within Persephone. One of them tapped his chest and said, "I think it's all the contrary; master has taken you to be his equal." Only an uncertain look on Persephone's face answered him, making Cerberus sit down and scratch behind one of his ears. "Look, what I meant is your mother would never have allowed you to be anything but the shadow of her splendour if you were still with her."

Was the loyal Hound right?
Or was he wrong?

As they approached the doors, blood rained down onto Persephone's shoulder, but she only brushed it away to turn to face the sky. The liquid had leaked off from one of the many impaled heads in the crown of the Fields of Punishment—an unforgiving headpiece made of high-rusted metal thorns. Each of them had a skull or a face that was still alive but punctured. The dreadful feature should dissuade anyone who was thinking of appealing their decision.

Unperturbed, Persephone just walked in with a smile that curled on one end before her body drowned into the shadow. Cerberus saw nothing as he was barking at the heads to hold their dribbles before following her trail.