**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...
Each of his footsteps slowed down every heartbeat within the main chamber of the underworld, for they sounded like stabs from a knife, piercing their souls. Steady, deadly, and unseen, Thanatos took all his time when he walked in, making his presence dreaded by everyone.
His blue eyes only darted to savour Keres pressing her lips into a white line, the Moirai hiding themselves behind their warp-weighted loom, and he even caused the Furies to shiver. Only the three judges of hell stood on their guards, but behind their shielding bodies was a taste of pain at the back of their throats.
Thanatos ceased his march when he stood in front of Persephone with in his hands a thick old grimoire, through which he mindlessly flicked the pages.
"Where is the king?"
That was his first question—naked of any expression of politeness—and he caused Persephone to clear her throat before delivering her answer. Yet, her voice could only sound croaky, "he," as if Thanatos' hands were on her neck, strangling her from the distance. She paused, stroking her chest to soothe her sudden ache. "He left for an urgent matter in the mortal world; he should be back anytime soon. May I know who I am speaking to?"
Clicking his tongue in answer, Thanatos didn't even bother to answer or raise his eyes at her. He simply pointed one of his fingers to his vacant seat, where his name was written. Fear hit Persephone instantly upon reading it, and suddenly everything around her made sense. This was Thanatos; the god Hades himself had once forbidden her to walk into the house.
Shutting his grimoire loudly, Thanatos caused every single one of them to jolt from their chairs. "Why is this woman answering to me? Is there no higher authority than her in that whole chamber?" His eyebrows knitted together in displeasure before he shook his head, darting his attention toward Keres. "Come on, Keres, you are far better than any Mycenaean goddess." Left unanswered, Thanatos swallowed down his taunt and took another step closer to Persephone. "Fine, why are you in charge of this place, woman?"
Fear was a weakness. Fear was what paralysed her.
Fear shouldn't be her enemy, and Persephone held on tighter to her pearl necklace. With a snort, she stood up from her seat and narrowed her eyes at Thanatos, reducing his size without being able to reduce his threat. "In the absence of my husband, Hades, I, his consort Persephone, had been granted the right to act as his substitute."
"Since when?"
"Before he left, he gave me the full charge of the underworld until his return."
At her sentence, Thanatos let out a loud laugh. "My poor Queen, you should know promises during lovemaking from any males are just words in the air."
Persephone's chin quivered at his insult, but fear wouldn't possess her, and she tightened her fists until the pearl necklace burst within her hands. "Lord Hades is my husband, and he entrusted me with our kingdom."
"Your husband entrusted you so much, my queen, that he never took the time to write down this law in any of our books." His done was dead, but anger boiled in the veins thickening on the side of his forehead, and Thanatos flung the heavy grimoire to Persephone's feet. Hurting her and catching her in this dread expression created another ugly laugh out of his mouth.
Flaring his nostrils, Thanatos yelled, "So now any Olympian goddesses with whom the king became infatuated can pretend to own this realm."
He would let it all out, rushing his steps to Persephone until she fell back helplessly to her throne. Thanatos leaned down to her, smelling the fear on her face. "Let's make it by the law of the underworld; you want this land, my queen; you will have to fight for it over my deathless body."
The entire chamber froze for a moment. Thanatos' suggestion was obvious to them all except to the newcomer, Persephone. In one breath, fear took her whole. She became smaller than a rat, no bigger than a cockroach, drowning in a seat too large for her shoulders.
With another grin and a new stroke over her pallid face, Thanatos enjoyed every sign of danger he created on Persephone until he slammed his hands on the arm of her chair. Her heart nearly leaped out of her chest, and that became the perfect moment for him to teach her the Daemon's Law. "I challenged you to a duel with me for my father's kingdom!"
Hades wouldn't fear, and so wouldn't she.
Persephone slowly readjusted her position in her seat. She crawled back up to straighten her posture—a hair higher than Thanatos—and she mustered all her courage to say it.
"I accept."
Her decision made all the eyes roll within the underworld's court, but all Persephone cared about was the same key of Erebus belonging to Hades hanging over Thanatos' chest.
Why did he have it?
Thanatos didn't allow her gaze to linger on it, and he hastened to step down from her throne, turning his back on her and distracting her with the cracking sound of his knuckles and neck. "I give you one day to get yourself ready, then let's meet at the Field of Punishment."
As Thanatos disappeared from the room with his last bit of shadow, Persephone suddenly shook uncontrollably, collapsing on her throne of misfortune and grasping for air. The Furies rushed to her help, but she chased them away with her arms to cry.
The cry in an expression of fear. The cry she was holding in for so long, And for every drop of tears streaming down her face, they burned.
Keres let out a gasp and left her seat to grab Persephone by the shoulders. The blue of her eyes was another reminder of Hades, but Keres was a daemoness and one of the strongest ones, and she shared her strength with Persephone. "You should leave right away and get ready, my queen. My brother Thanatos is knowledgeable and skilled in the art of fighting. No one had ever defeated him, not even Hades."
The haughty, childish voice of Keres, combined with her warning, made Persephone vomit on the spot. Keres brushed the residue off her shoulders and stood up to walk back to her seat. Time slowed down when Persephone wiped her mouth, pinned into the throne of Hades with her blank eyes lost in concern.
Believe me, Persephone, I need you. I need you more than ever... Only you were once the other owner of the underworld's key, and only you can rule the underworld in my absence. Hades
The ghost of his voice lingered and resounded in her ears. Persephone couldn't let Hades down—this realm was everything to him, to them. She only sniffed once before handing the judgement of the souls to Minos; Hades would have wanted it that way.
Her feet then dragged her heavy body towards the field of punishment, where one after one, each of her monarch symbols peeled off her body to fall to the floor until she was left with nothing more than her white dress on.
The white of pristine, the colour of purity and innocence, and Persephone would have to win this duel no matter what.
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