King of flowers and death

Chapter 1

Humans called it Midsommar, or half Summer celebration. They danced, sang, ate, made love and had fun for almost a week, the one of the Summer solstice.

The day before the celebration men and women spent the days in the meadow, collecting beautiful flowers that they would have used to make crowns and decorations for their houses.

He loved watching them, happy humans were beautiful and very entertaining and he almost felt sad for not joining them, he would have loved to feel like them. Happy and part of a community.

Down there he felt so lonely. He wasn't alone, he was always surrounded by souls, but they really didn't like to chat, they usually cried, thinking about the life they left behind or the friends and family they missed.

He couldn't blame them.

The whole world thought that he was a merciless cold god, and that was the character he built and played every day. He had to, he was the god of the underworld, after all, but the truth was that he often felt lonely and sad down there.

He always wondered if it was normal for someone like him to have such feelings.

He couldn't leave his reign, which had been given to him like a gift, but sometimes it felt more like a curse, except for those nights when the veil that divided all the words and realities became thinner.

Midsommar was one of those times.

Humans knew that, they were aware that on certain nights it was better not to be outside, and even if that made him sad because he would have loved to admire them closer, he couldn't blame them. There were gods, and other many creatures, that it was better if humans didn't meet.

If during the day those beautiful meadows were full of people, the more dawn was near, the fewer humans there were, till they were all gone, leaving behind the echoes of their laughs and songs.

Sometimes he heard little kids or young girls, who were sharing their first kisses and touches with their lovers, hidden among the flowers, whining because they didn't want to go back home, and their mothers always told them: " If you stay here, he will take you!"

"Who, mother?"

"The monster who likes to kidnap kids and women to bring them into his world to torture them and eat their souls!"

He once laughed so hard hearing that lie that he was afraid humans heard him.

He collected souls, he took care of them, he didn't eat them, and he would have never dared to touch a human. He was fascinated by them, but he wasn't that interested in them.

That day the souls were far away from being calm. They kept going here and there, some of them even running, whining and crying more than usual, they could feel the veil between worlds became thinner and that was also the reason why everytime there was such a day, that he could use for a walk on earth, he couldn't. He had to stay there and be sure no soul ran away, that was his task, for eternity.

The sun was almost gone, he looked at the humans leaving the meadow, smiling and dancing, with their hands full of flowers, ready to continue the celebration in their houses, and he was pretending to listen to Darab, one of the oldest souls down there. He died during the great battle against the Persian empire, he was a great warrior who loved to talk too much, like in that moment.

Darab loved gossip, sometimes he thought that he knew more about his reign than him. He was now talking about how he caught one of the souls stealing Cerberus's fur to make a coat, a thing that he really didn't care about, when he noticed a thing.

The very last rays of the sun were almost visible anymore, his body was feeling the moon coming, but someone was still in the meadow.

He was sure of it, there, in the middle of the meadow, probably too busy collecting flowers to notice that the sun was gone, there was a boy.

He had curly brown hair and despite it was quite dark, since the sun left, he was sure to see frickles covering his beautiful face. His ears were cute, they reminded him of elves and his eyes were so full of life. He always thought that Darab was tall, but that boy was probably even taller and despite he had the beauty of a god, his arms and shoulders showed a life spent working in fields.

"Beautiful!" he whispered, mesmerized by that view.

"What is beautiful? Cerberus running after a screaming soul? Yeah, i mean, it has its beauty but-"

"I have to go there."

"Where?" asked Darab, confused.

"There", he answered, pointing the finger up.

"Wait, you mean..."

"I need to go on earth."

"You need? Why?"

Because he needed to see that human, just for that.

"I have to", he just answered. The truth was that he was ashamed to say to the soul that he wanted to leave his reign, during a night where the underworld needed him the most, just to have a closer look at a human that he thought to be even more beautiful than gods and goddesses.

"A soul ran away," he lied.

Darab stared at him.

"How is that possible? It never happened before, are you sure? I didn't see anyone being suspicious and leaving!"

"I'm the god of this place, I know if a soul leaves it, or you dare to say I'm lying?" he said, using his big god voice while staring at the soul, who immediately looked down, apologizing.

"I have a task for you, Darab, while I'm away, you need to guard this place. No one can leave and no one can go in, am I clear?"

"Yes, sure, Hades!"

It had been a while since he left his reign to go among humans, and since then, the world changed a lot.

"For being a god, you're stupid", he told himself, while getting ready to go up on earth. All that why? Just to look at a human.

But that human was so beautiful to even make the god of the underworld leave his reign.