Persephone - Spring in The Underworld [ Greek Mythology Series #2 ]

Chapter 1

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A pale white shoulder-length black hair man in knight armor with a black cape sat on a throne made of gold atop a podium. He used his left fist to support his head while his right hand grasped the chair's threaded, snake-patterned handle.

"Thanatos," said the man to the black-winged man, who stood facing him.

"Hades," replied Thanatos, bowing in salute, swaying gently his short black hair and a dagger on his waist.

"I heard there was an earthquake in Upper World. Giants were trying to escape from their prison," said Hades, asking for clarification.

Thanatos straightened his posture and draped his giant wings behind his back. "That's right, Mount Etna, where they are locked up, is shaking again."

"Erinyes told me that some human spirits were trying to escape their punishment in Tartaros. Luckily, Kerberos could prevent them from crossing the River Acheron. It would have been a disaster if those criminals had crossed the barrier between the world of the living and the dead," reported Thanatos. "Lethe's nymphs also told me that they got headaches because one of the human spirits managed to avoid being wiped of his memory and caused a commotion by constantly asking for a chance to live again."

"Hmm," King of Underworld tried to find the solutions to those problems. Suddenly, someone knocked from the Upper World before a few drops of blood flowed down from the palace ceiling. Hades faintly smiled while raising his right palm and accepting the offering for him. "A human requested that I give mercy to his mother's spirit. How sweet."

Hades got up from the throne. He grabbed his bident, leaning next to the chair, and said to the God of Death, who was still waiting for orders. "Go and resume your duties. I will check on the state of the Upper World."

Thanatos bowed slightly as a sign of respect. The God of Death in Peace flapped his wings before disappearing. He returned to the Upper World to pick up the human spirits from their bodies.

Hades walked upright on the floor of neatly arranged human bones. His black eyes surveyed the interior of his proud palace. Soulless skeletons became the base of the building, the ceiling, and the walls. A circular staircase led to the upper floor, which consisted of several rooms, including his resting place.

The Underworld was consistently dimly lit, with constant screams of pain and cries from punished spirits in Tartaros.

However, Hades did not mind at all. When a rebellion led by Zeus, his youngest brother, overthrew their parents' cruel rule. Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus drew lots. In which Zeus got the heavens, Poseidon commanded the seas, and Hades happily acquired the rule of the Underworld.

The Lord of the Dead opened the main hall's door where he received guests or gave orders to his subordinates and stepped out into the arid and barren palace courtyard.

*****

Among the thin white mist that faithfully danced in the air of the Underworld, there were thousands of human spirits queuing up, waiting for their fate. They retained their last human appearance and had no different height from the gods or goddesses when the deities were not at war.

Hades walked through the line and approached an extensive table with three silver chairs in the courtyard where the judges sat, making three elderly with similar faces standing up to pay their respects to their master.

"Hades," said the three judges simultaneously.

"Minos," Hades greeted the man in the red robe.

"Rhadamanthus," he turned to the man in blue.