Valeria- Damien Wayne

Acharon

I was exhausted, confused and in a very dark place. And not to mention very annoyed. When i woke it was to the sound of water slapping across a shore which was lined with bowls of fire. Everything was still pretty dark but there was something in my mouth. It was a gold drachma. My heart started racing as my mind seemed to finally figure out what was happening. I am in the underworld. Which means I'm dead. I started to sit up when I realized how much my body ached, if i'm dead why am i sore?

“Because your not.” a voice boomed through the darkness and I saw him. He was tall, even hunched over, with broad shoulders and a barely there waist making him seem old and ragged, his thin body draped by black cloth. A large hammer placed on his shoulder and a boat that reached up to his knee. He was speaking again with his commanding voice, he had an aura of power around him i couldn't describe.

“Come on. His highness wants to see you.”

So I peeled myself off of the sand and allowed the tall man to guide me to his ferry, it's not like i had much of a choice. My body was too sore to even walk on it's own. I hadn't even thought of what I had been through today, first flirting with damien, then fighting off an army of demons, then fighting with the justice league, and now this. I'm stuck in the underworld and I'm apparently not dead but the king wants to see me. I wonder how damiens doing right about now?

“Your love is mourning you.” 

“What?” how would he know that unless my thoughts are not private in this world.

“they are not.”

“Well then who are you and how am I not dead and where exactly are we?”

“We are crossing the river of acheron. You are not dead because the king willed it to be so.”

“And why would he do that?”

“ I do not know. But you have something of mine and your time with me will soon be over.” he said clearly wanting the drachma. So I silently handed it off to him and soon enough he docked the boat at the shoreline of a beautiful palace. 

The obsidian palace shone against the flames that surrounded it and went up for what seemed like forever. It was nothing like I had imagined, as there were flowers spilling off the edges to the balconies and stained glass windows that seemed to glow from the inside with golden metal bars at the gate and an ornate door, covered with etchings of a story. It was beautiful. 

“Go on, child. The king wants to see you.” Charon prodded me with his oar to get a move on, so i did with heavy limbs i moved forward and the gates opened. A beautiful garden filled with strange flowers that seemed to glow with every step I took and more plants began to sprout as I moved forward with gold for a pathway decorated the distance between the gates and the palace. I kept going. After all, I had a king waiting for me. The heavy looking door slammed open and the plants around me seemed to shudder as the flames that lit the place up danced.my body seemed to be moving on auto pilot because next thing i know i'm in a throne room and there are 2 regal looking thrones ahead of me.

“Vale? Is that you?” my head snapped over to a woman, she had beautiful caramel skin and wild curls framing her face and honey green eyes. Her feet were bare and the plants at the window seemed to be reaching out to her. Her aura was warm and reminded me of summer camp with Wally. I could smell her from here, she smelled like lavender, rain water and mint. She was inhumanely beautiful, it seemed like she was glowing. Like the sun would.

“How do you know me?” as much as wanted to give into the urge of trusting this woman, I couldn’t, not if i wanted to get back to damien and the team.