epilogue
THE GOLDEN KINGDOM was especially bright in the spring, anyone within a 77 mile radius could see the phenomenal town. When one would set their eyes upon the realm they couldn't help but think it belonged to the sun. It was as if a piece of the sun had fallen and landed on earth, only to take the form of an adamantine kingdom. Ruins was a speck of gold calling for war, death, and victory. Not one citizen was hesitant about the wars that were to be fought, how could they? We lived in a kingdom made of gold what was there to fear? We wore gold silk, drank the finest wine, bathed in our rivals blood, and held grand ebony swords. Again, I say, what was there to fear?
Oh, but of course she was the kingdoms goddess, she was all that was pure and all that was sin. Her beauty intimidated Aphrodite and her gold sword cut Athenas cheek without endeavor. Persephone's blood was the finest wine that spilled onto earth, it would taint the world with pomegranate juice, saints, and angel tears. She would make the devil and god become allies.
Spring and winter would come to an agreement.
Her inky hair fell over her shoulders stopping at her waist while snakes wrapped around her arms. The night was in her eyes and the day was in her hands, she was the ultimate creation. So, she stays on the gold speck we call home with one foot in winter and the other in spring. But whether she's in one season or the other her presence is always with me–it's all I could ask of her.
Nothing was the same after I came back but everything was exactly the same she made sure of that. The crown, applause, respect, praise, and the title were all mere additions to the new life but without her it would all fall, the kingdom would become rubble.
—
There were tears in her eyes that were on the verge of spilling. Her head was on my chest while her arms were wrapped around my torso. It was too early for glossy eyes or anything else for that matter but Persephone was an anytime of day person. So her tears spilled onto my chest only they weren't tears of fear or pain. She was jovial, her smile was pressed on my ribs, and a laugh escaped from her lips and echoed in the room. Persephone wasn't one to hide her emotions in fact she only did so when it was beneficial for her.
Feelings didn't scare her which scared others. So the tears running down her cheeks were normal–healthy–there was nothing to worry about. Her laughter ceased shortly after her tears did and she tilted her head to look at me.
"I still get to be on the front line tomorrow, right?" War was all that was on her mind the past few months. It would be the first war she would be apart of after many years so, naturally, she couldn't stop thinking about it.
"Of course! Anything you want my love. Anything for you." She was not mine to mandate, quite the opposite actually, yet she always asked me for reassurance.
She spoke again, "Did you know this will be our first war together? Blood will be on both of our your hands but gold will be on our necks. The fleece that we leave with will become greater when we arrive back home. War will be something different years from now because of us. It's child's play today but tomorrow it's the devils game. Aren't you excited?"
I couldn't help but chuckle at the words that came out of her mouth. Persephone was absolutely infatuated with war and everything else that surrounds it. She could go for days talking about war tactics, strategies, and weapons and I loved her for that. I looked at her face and couldn't help but lean down and kiss her. It was a small peck of the lips yet it was all that was needed. "Gold will never leave us we'll make sure of that. As long as we're both on the front line blood will fall from our rivals hearts and wine will fall from ours."
Her grip tightened around my body and she smiled at me once more before she spoke again. "Make the devil sing for me?"
—
We sat on our horses next to each other our eyes looking straight forwards. Everyone by our sides had red capes on–they had replaced the purple ones. Gold designs were on the capes of the ones in the first two rows while the others had black designs. The ground had began to shake before we knew it but the war would make it crack. Laughter had left Persephone's mouth–it was sadistic, it was Persephone.
After a minute of waiting we saw the first horses coming close to the battlefield. With every second that passed the horses and the people on them got closer. When they were 30 feet away I turned over to look at Persephone only to find her staring at me already. She had a grin on her face and it only grew when one appeared on my face as well.
The steps of the horses were much more thunderous than before.
We each had our hands settled on our sides ready to pull out our swords. The town we had been waiting for was finally here and we couldn't be more eager to kill.
One.
Our faces were still looking at each other ready for the next step. There was no place else for us to be. "The time has come for cries to spill but not for us. War is here, only today it's a game, but don't tell that to the ones coming for us. For war is our game and only we could cheat. Ready!" There was no emotion in my voice, it had become sharp and cold, my men had set there hands on their swords.
Two.
My eyes were still on Persephone only they darkened when I saw that her brown eyes had turned into pools of blood, war was here. "Ready!" Her voice was seas of red wine.
They were now 15 feet away, the ground was rumbling louder than ever. We gave each other one last smile and pulled out our swords.
Three.
not edited.
woooooowwww it's over! hades is officially done! i can't believe it, I'm gonna miss this book soooo much. i really hope you enjoyed the book and the epilogue, cause it was fun writing it. thank you to everyone that has voted and commented it really means a lot! <3 so this is goodbye for this book.
if you'd like to read more of my work I have three other books for you to read so please go check those out (or don't) I'd really appreciate it. thank you again to those who took the time to read this mediocre book, it's the first thing I've completed so...hope it turned out okay.
edit 2
sequel is out now! pls go read it :)
