Queen Of Hell & Paradise (Immortal gods: Book 1)

Chapter 36- The Void

I promised you guys a chapter in Hades' POV, so here it is! I honestly feel like it's not very good, but hopefully you guys like it! <3

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Hades

The vibration of a rusty gate groaning agape presses me to look up.

As usual, I'm unable to see anything. It's pitch black in the vacant dungeon Zeus emptied me into, making it useless to strain my eyes in an endeavor to unmask my visitor's identity. The chains holding me up by the wrists seem to only add to the already existing discomfort of lifting up my gaze. But on instinct, I find myself looking up anyway.

I immediately regret the decision.

Intense dizziness and nausea crawl their way up my head and throat while I make the small effort. I'd been in the same physical position for days now- or was it weeks? Months? Hours? I couldn't really tell- and my body was beginning to feel the stress. I may be immortal with a higher tolerance for pain, but I can still feel the unpleasant ramifications of maltreatment on my anatomy.

I try craning my neck again, thoroughly aware it was futile to maintain my attempts of peering into the nothingness. All I'll be able to find are the anxiety and dread I've been living with since I was brought here. The uncertainty of what's happening to Samantha and whether she's safe or not are what make being here a sick form of torture.

I know I can always count on the putrid, repugnant smell of vermin's excrement to greet my nose in the morning, and that the stench of rotting carcasses will appear punctually each night like clockwork. Their consistency is what makes them less frightening because I can prepare for their arrival. But the uncertainty -the not knowing of Samantha's well-being - is what is slowly eating me alive and threatening to drive me to aberration.

I can't help all the questions tempting my sanity. It seems that the only thing I now have in abundance is time, making it a challenging task not to dwell on all of my inquiries. Questions like "did Zeus keep his word after calling off his men?" pop up to the surface of my mind. They plague me restless until I can no longer meditate or deliberate on anything else.

Did he send them right back as soon as they constrained my unconscious body? Where is Samantha now? Is she okay? Is she injured? And what about my realm? Have any dead souls wandered their way back into the Underworld? What about Daniel? How is he currently progressing in his assimilation to life in the palace?

I force my eyes shut, bringing my thoughts back to a more conservative place and choose instead to rely on my other senses. I listen closely for the steady and dreadful pace of my company's approaching footsteps. Their heavy gait bounces off the dingy walls with a hollow echo in a sadistic and eerie rhythm. Its solid pace fills me with tension- the song of an executioner and haunting melody of a dying man. It emphasizes the emptiness of this obscure void and the absence of any other prisoners in the surrounding cells.

The entire place is so barren and devoid of anything except asphyxiating silence- that I can't even hear the unfaltering thrum of my heart. The only sound audible is the salient clanking of the chafing iron bounds encircling my wrists. The resonance of their colliding surfaces remains my only comfort as the persistent treading continues to travel its way closer to my spot.

Ugly anticipation of what's to come consumes my insides like corrosive acid. Once again, dread decides to rear its ugly head. And I suppose- that's precisely what all this was intended for.

All effective torture methods involve the infliction of physical suffering- but the most illustrious of tactics include the introduction of emotional manipulation. To instill horror, fear, and dread of being in physical agony is sufficient torment in and of itself.