Hades' Daughter

The Secret Garden

If there is any sign of life in Hell, this is the place. Engel brought us to the gate of the secret garden, where my childhood had been. 

"Here it is. I can't venture anywhere further here. It's beyond the boundary of the place I'm allowed to go. Zephir, have a nice trip and I hope you will succeed."

"Thank you Engel. You're just like what your name suggests. See you around" He smiled at Engel. Will they quit it already? It's getting on my nerves. I kicked the door open and ventured in, not bothering to knock. This is after all my place. Zephir, didn't want to be left alone, trailed after me. 

The flowers in the garden are so immortal they have spirits. This place looks the same as twenty years ago. The spirits nodded in acknowledgement of us. This is like Heaven in Hell, but to me it's more than that. This is home. 

"Hell to Skye." Zephir waved his hand in front of my face. That annoying guy just knew no limits.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. We need to start on our quest already I want to leave as soon as possible."

"Aww the little dark witch doesn't like me? You should have said so to my dad. I'd be more than glad to have someone like Engel to accompany me unlike you. All you do is complain."

"Wow I can't believe it took you so long to realise I hate you. I wouldn't be complaining if you're gone. Now before we fight again let's really get on to our quest." His silence is agreement.

A garden of immortal flowers. That is the secret garden.

There lies a gem so clear. I have never heard of any gem.

Unknown to mankind it is hidden. Hidden indeed.

At a place you'll never see. How are we supposed to find it then?

The more you find it, the more it's hidden. Does that mean we should do nothing?

"We should leave it to fate." The wise words of Zephir. Maybe it does work that way. We shouldn't do anything to find it but wait for it to come to us.

I remembered a story that my mother used to tell me.

Long ago when the gods first existed, there were spirits on Earth. The different spirits were said to pose a threat to the gods and thus the gods removed all their powers and sealed them in gemstones and what's left of the spirits became humans. The power of the gems is so great that when the gems combine, the force will impact Earth and make the humans vanish. There is said to be seven gems in existence. Unsealing any one of them can give you immense power of the gem but if the unsealer is not strong enough it will cause death. Not even gods and goddesses are immune to the risk of death. Fire, water, air, earth, mind, light, and darkness. The gems are scattered around in every place possible. No one bothered to seek them, as they are across different realms. No one has also succeeded.

The spirits in the garden grew up with me and saw me through my childhood. I have a very special attactchment to them. Of course, I can't express it. Thinking back, I've never been very nice to people after my mum died. I could not stand staying in hell any longer as it brings back too many bad memories I wish to forget. I have changed, so does everyone and I won't let anyone break my walls again. 

"Hey," his voice broke my trance. "We're gonna be here for a while so let's not fight?" His voice hopeful. Guess he was tired too. I never wanted to fight, seeing him just irritated me so much and made me grow more wary. 

"Okay." I said as I moved away and walked my own path.

"So...what shall we do now?"

"You said to let fate decide so meet here in five days."

"What? Don't leave me here. You're the regular. I might get murdered in my sleep by the spirits."

"Aren't you a god or something? Surely you can help yourself. Besides, they will only kill you if they deem you as someone with bad intentions."

"Uh...can I stay with you?" Really? A few hours ago we were at each others' throats and now we're sticking together? Nope, not a chance.

"It's easier to finish the quest if we split."

"Yea but-" he growled in frustration, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just don't go. Please?"

"Fine. Don't complain when you find me mean and start a fight again." The awkwardness started to settle in and I regretted not strongly rejecting him. He didn't reply and instead stared at a tree. It was no ordinary tree, I recognised it as I used to climb it and pick the silver apples. Its branches were spread out widely and the leaves were close together to provide good shade. Now that's more like the place I would stay at.

Even though the garden is like heaven, it still has its nights. It was starting to get dark soon and we needed to find a place to settle down. Not sure if Zephir had read my thoughts, but he began to walk to the tree and sat down comfortably, resting his head against the tree trunk. Although I'm a goddess, I get tired too. I walked to the opposite side and sat down, keeping my distance from him. I never liked to interact with people much or have physical contact, so I made a point to stay away from him.

"Am I really that bad to be around?" He scooted over. My eyes snapped shut and imagined darkness enveloping me and began to feel comfortable. This was what I needed; a nice long nap to forget all the worries and get rid of my frustrations. Guess he had his answer to that cause he shut up.

I got shaken awake, literally. Apparently the normal hold-by-shoulders-then-shake thing that mortals do don't work on me. Zephir had to grab my arms and pulled me up, still I could not open my eyes. I stumbled and tripped and hit the ground with a loud thud but still barely awake. He muttered a few curse words then proceeded to grab me by the neck and shook hard. Ouch! Though I was immortal I can feel pain. Pretty sure he broke something there. 

"Ah you're awake. Lovely night, isn't it?"

"Why don't you let me sleep." I hissed

"Because," He looked at he like I'm an idiot, "quest."