Hades

Preface

Hi everyone!

Thank you for reading. This story is also written in Spanish.

Spanish is my native language NOT English, that's why maybe I there is some grammar mistakes. Sorry!

:))

-M

....

For the ancient Greeks, Kore, godess of spring and daughter  of  the god of lightning Zeus and the godess of agricultura Demeter, was picking lilies with several nymphs who where looking after her when suddenly the ground opened in two, a hand grabbed her ankle and pulled her inside into the Earth's heart. Hades, god and king of the Underworld, kidnapped her in order to marry her and thus, she became the queen of the Underworld and changed her name to Persephone, which means 'she who brings death'. Her mother Demeter, desperate for her daughter's disappearance punished the nymphs by turning them into mermaids and looked for her in every corner, neglecting her duties and causing an endless winter. Mortals were unable to harvest and an era of great famine and mortality began. Due to this, Zeus, who was the king of the Olympus, ordered his brother Hades to let Persephone return to her mother, but the godess was already in love with him and ate six pomegranate seeds, which bound her to the Realm of the Dead. Persephone would spend six months with Hades, one for each seed she had eaten, and six with her mother. When Persephone was with Demeter, her mother was filled with joy, the plants grew and the weather was warm. However, when she returned to the Underworld, Demeter could not bear the pain, the weather became icy and it was impossible to grow anything, almost every harvest died. With this myth, the ancient Greeks explained the different seasons. 

Well, you know the myth, now I'll tell you the truth. 

It all started twenty years ago...

The sky was roaring furiously, the thunderstorm the city was victim of was such great strom that almost seemed as if the buildings were shaking with every clap of thunder; so much so that the authorities had advised the citizents not to leave their home except for reasons of force majeure, due to the high danger. However, the streets were not completely deserted because, at about four o'clock in the morning, a young woman of no more that thirty years old was running, trying to hide in the shadow, looking over her shoulder before turning every courner, keeping a completely alert attitude, as if she was afraid of being captured. She wore a black trench coat and pressed against her chest a small bundle wrapped in a blanket of the same dark color. A deafening clap of thunder almost knocked her over with the roar and she looked up the sky in fear.

"He's close, I can feel him." She whispered to herself and, soaked by the rain, continued running through the alleys of the city. She tried to increased her speed, but she felt already too weak and needed to save her strenght until she was safe.

"I'm so sorry, my flower, I have no more time left." She whispered as if she feared that, despite being all alone, she would be overheard.

The woman finally reached her destination: an avenue with a row of semi-detached houses. She approached the third of them. She had been watching the couple who owned the house, for months. A black gate prevented access to the front door. The woman moved a few meters away and ran towards enclosure at high speed until she almost reached the gate, then she took impulse and jumped, raising thirteen feet in the air. She landed gracefully on the owner's freshly mowed lawn and walked toward the door. The woman pulled back the blanket revealing a small body. Two large, light violet eyes blinked.

The woman rested her hand on the forehead of the baby in her arms and whispered a word in ancient Greek: ἀφανής ('hide').

The child's body lit up for an instant, but nothing else happened. The woman sobbed, she had been running away all night, trying to cover her tracks with magic, which had almost completely consumed her. The spell to hide was complex and required a lot of concentration and energy to actually work well. Despite her fatigue, she had to try one more time...