Cult of The Moon (Completed)

Chapter 19

Eden woke up naked in a hot dimly lit bath. Her eyes fluttered open as she took in her surroundings, a small white bathroom with a beautiful tall African-American woman with large curly brown hair and dark freckles, and bared a strong resemblance to Eden was standing by the door at the exit of the bath. The bath itself had a vertices half pane of glass that covered half of the front side, to the back was a solid white wall. Eden tried to stand up but realized that she was too weak.

"Help..." Eden weakly whispered to the woman.

"Not yet, dear, it's not your time." The woman answered in a smooth warm tone. Eden peered through the steam and studied the woman. Her warm brown eyes watched Eden back, a look of pity crossing the woman's face.

"Who..?" Eden softly asked. The woman softly laughed and shushed Eden. Eden's body temperature began to rise as the milky water grew hotter. Eden began to drop silent tears as the scorching water burned her skin without showing any physical signs. Eden's mind fogged over as her senses began to fade. She cried out in pain as the mystery woman just watched somberly.

"Please!" Eden cried again as she curled herself into a ball, pressing her thighs to her chest and holding her legs. Eden tried to fall asleep but she couldn't, she was so tired but something was keeping her awake. She sat in the bath for hours until she realized that the water was draining from the tub and cool air was rushing into the room. Eden slowly regained her senses and stood up.

"Welcome home Eden." The woman said softly. Eden looked at her suddenly making the connection.

"Grandma..?" Eden asked softly, recognizing the woman from a picture that Eden's mother had shown her. But that can't be... She died long before I was born.

"Here I am called Persephone," Persephone explained. She offered Eden a clean dark purple dress, in the old greek style. Eden put it on and followed Persephone out of the bathroom and into a flat gray stone hallway. It was empty except the wooden torches that lined the walls every hundred feet or so. They walked silently, both barefoot until they reached a large black stone door.

"Eden, before you meet him I need to tell you something. As you know Gods don't see human relationships in the same way that humans do." Persephone said.

"What are you saying? Who is he? And where the hell are we?" Eden demanded.

"Eden... You died, don't you remember? This is the underworld, specifically Hades' palace." Persephone explained as her eyebrows scrunched closer together.

"Then why do I need to know about Gods and humans?" Eden asked.

"Because Hades is your father, Eden. That's why Hecate took care of you because she was following Hades' request." Persephone said gently. Eden stumbled backward, hitting the stone behind her. It was all a lie. She never thought that I was special, she was just taking care of her boss's bastard child.

"Eden darling..." Persephone said calmingly. Eden ignored her and pushed open the doors, ready to give Hades a piece of her mind.

"Eden!" A loud male voice boomed as Eden entered the throne room. The grand room was entirely black, gray, and white with green accents. The slick gray stone walls were mostly bare except the giant black chandelier with green-flamed candles and the tapestries depicting violent scenes of pain and death. The main attraction at the far end of the room with a red carpet leading to it was the giant throne of bones. This carpet was not a bright red but the color of blood like it was soaked in the liquid. The throne of bones, however, held a thin pale man, he was one a beautiful man but the centuries had worn him down into a hollow shell of himself. Hades. My father... How?