The Veiled Legacy | PJO - Book Two

eight

GOD OF SLEEP

Ariana's mother led her to back to the gates of Elysium, ensuring that she exited safely.

Ariana appreciated the gesture, and before she left she once more reassured her that she would hopefully see her again shortly.

"Oh and Ariana!" Her mother called as Ariana began to walk away.

Ariana stopped walking and looked over her shoulder. "Yeah?"

Grinning, her mother said. "Top tip, if a god or goddess ever says no to you, just say that they owe it to me."

"Why?" Ariana laughed.

"Let's just say, each of them still owe me some favours I never got to hand in." Her mother spoke, still smiling profusely. "Feel free to use them."

"Thanks!"

Then her mother must've remembered something. "Oh!"

She began taking off her necklace and threw it to Ariana, who caught it using one hand. The girl looked down at it in confusion, it was silver and at the end had a silver trident.

"Double click the trident." Her mother told her.

Doing as she was told, Ariana double clicked the trident.

The silver trident instantly transformed. The jewel in the middle widened, forming into a longer, larger fork. A trident.

"What's going on?" Ariana asked, looking to her mother.

"The necklace is magic." she replied, a hint of a smile on her face. "Like your rings."

"It's a transformation necklace, it was a gift from my father, your grandfather. I don't have much of a use for it now." she continued.

Ariana looked down at the now transformed trident necklace in awe and curiosity. She looked up at her mother, who was grinning like a mad man.

"Thank you."

Within the past fifteen minutes Ariana felt as though she had repeated those words so many times but every single time she truly meant it.

And the girl was glad that she got to actually get to know a-bit about her mother personally, she was growing tired of only knowing things from stories about her.

Ariana placed the necklace around her neck, letting it dangle slightly; without another glance, Ariana continued leaving Elysium.

As she left Elysium, Ariana got a better idea of the landscape of the underworld. Elysium was the most beautiful corner in this part of the land of the dead, but even Elysium had its dark side.

As a place of rebirth, all of the souls within Elysium had a hope of life, a hope that Ariana had never felt before.

She was sure to remember the location and directions to return to the land of the blessed gods, but for now she decided to continue her quest.

As she continued along the Lethe, Ariana was surprised to discover that even this river had a certain darkness to it.

She couldn't deny that the river was beautiful, flowing through a beautiful valley with golden flowers and the occasional rainbow of bubbles that floated up to the surface.

The river itself was silver and calm, almost making the whole place seem perfect. But Ariana couldn't help but notice the dark, foreboding vibes that seemed to follow her down this river.

Maybe it was because of the river's connection to death and sleep. Maybe it was something else altogether.

Ariana kept travelling along the river, looking all around her for anything remarkable. The river Lethe was beautiful to look at and walk along, but nothing in particular seemed to stand out.