It has been nearly two long divine days and twenty-four longer mortal days since Hades left his kingdom to take back the soul of the impious Sisyphus.
Persephone took her pain with patience.
She was as strong as her promise to Hades, and she did all his duties without complaint. Persephone fought the daring souls at the Field of Punishment without saying a single word to them. She had also spent countless hours in the main chamber deliberating with her subjects about the souls violating the ground of Elysium and the thousand more who came to her by the minutes to be judged for their lives.
In her few spare seconds, though, she never failed to cast a look at the Gate of Horn and Ivory, hoping to see the shadow of Hades coming back. Even though each time it was just Charon waving at her.
Falling back on Hades' seat with a heavy golden crown in the weight of his armour, Persephone was now reigning over the Underworld in the solitude that he was used to.
It felt cold being a ruler; colder was the breeze of air blown over her face, and even colder were the army of gods surrounding her. Persephone was this frozen reflection with a diadem of a skull pinned to her head. Inside of it glowed a narcissus—a reminder of Hades' love, but still a mortuary headdress in wealth of pomegranate diamond seeds, curtaining over her eyes and tall spikes to reach the sky—her duality in symbol.
Her coffin was on that throne, and she sat on it with only a long pearl necklace on her hands that she used to count repeatedly the beads.
An occupied mind was the easiest way for her not to mourn Hades' absence until the guard brought to her a young woman as the next soul to be judged. Her stature was poor, her gown was worn off, and her eyes were staring at the floor, not even at the ones before her.
After clearing her voice, Persephone said, "I'm listening." Her new tone sounded rough on the syllables, heavy, and wore off on the ears as if she wanted to run away from this place.
"My name is Agathangelos. I died a few days ago, killed by some kings hunting for my divine child."
"Divine child!" Persephone chuckled at the affirmation. Standing up from her seat, she spread her arms and shouted even louder, "Who among my kins impregnated you, Agathangelos? And who also among the mortals has dared to hunt for your divine child?"
Agathangelos shook her head, her eyes still locked on the floor. "I do not know the name of the God who impregnated me, but he has wings like your kind as he came down to me in a dream with a blurry face; however, he gifted me and my husband with a strong son. He gathered the men and women by his wisdom and guided them to a new way of life." She sniffed. "He did no harm in his deed, but some jealous kings sent people to kill him because of his preaching. I protected him with my life, offering mine so he could help our people for another day."
Doubt cast its shadow over the minds of all the gods in the room, with Persephone pressing her lips together into a fine line. Those were heavy accusations thrown on their kind. The Moirai got tangled into their ward-weighted loom, searching for the beginning to the end of Agathangelos' thread of life with no sign of any divine child's name or god.
Scratching his head, Minos was about to speak when Persephone raised her hand towards him. As the Queen, her duty was to interrogate the soul before anybody else could, and her words were law. "If what you said is true, what is your request to me?"
"As I saved the life of your own bloodline, I request in exchange for my soul to be graced and elevated among yours to heaven." Agathangelos finally bowed down to them while Minos let out a nod to Persephone—a voiceless message to confirm the lie thrown at them.
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Hell Is An Empty Body (Book Two of The Triple Moon's Chronicles)
Fantasy**CURRENTLY ON HIATUS UNTIL SEPTEMBER** In this reimagining of the Myth of Sisyphus, the King of the Underworld is trapped in the mortal realm, leaving the world in an unprecedented predicament; only his queen will do whatever it takes to free him f...
