Sweet Pomegranate

Chapter 1

Carla, Goddess of Harvest, was loved by all humans for her gift of soil and gentle, mild weather to grow their crops. They worshipped her for her caring and kindness. She was very much a 'hands on' and 'happy to help' sort of Goddess. Eren was Carla's only child. Like his mother, he was kind and caring, with a happy nature and the most dazzling smile. He was the sort of person who spread light and happiness wherever she went and so, naturally, he was loved by everyone but most especially by his mother.

Carla liked nothing more than to spend hours in the company of her delightful son, chatting and laughing, watching him grow into a handsome young man and seeing the way he enchanted those around him. So you can imagine how distraught Carla was when her beloved son disappeared one day.

Unbeknown to Eren, Levi, mighty ruler of the Underworld, had spied him on one of his trips to the world above. He was dazzled by his beauty, his elegance and his charm. He decided that he must have him as his wife. Knowing that Carla would never agree to her son living with him in his gloomy world of the dead, he decided to visit his brother, Erwin, to discuss the matter.

"Erwin."

"Levi. What brings you to me?"

"Eren."

"Carla's son?"

"Yes, I wish to make him my wife."

"Carla would never agree."

"That's why I need your help."

"What are you thinking?"

"That's what I need your help with."

Erwin thought for a bit. "We lure him in with something he could never resist, then you open up the entrance to the underworld and take him with you."

Levi smirked. "Sounds perfect. I have just the thing to lure him in." Levi concocted a narcissus flower. "Nobody can resist the pull of the narcissus flower." Erwin nodded.

"I'll have Hanji plant it." Erwin called for Hanji and she arrived.

"Whatcha need?" Erwin gestured towards Levi. "Plant this flower in the path of Eren Yeager." Levi handed her the flower. "Will do!" Hanji left and planted the flower.

Eren was wandering with Armin and Mikasa in the meadows gathering flowers for Carla. He moved happily through the grass, picking fragrant blooms. Wafting on the gentle breeze, the most exquisite perfume caught his attention.

"My mother would love this." He thought and followed the delicious scent as it led him away from his friends. Then he spied the narcissus and knelt to savour its perfume in full.

Eren glanced up from the magical bloom and noticed little birds anxiously twittering and fluttering like trapped moths in a spider's web. The sky began to turn grey and then darkened still further until it was black. There was a deep rumble that seemed to shake the very air around him and the ground began to shift and shudder. A crack suddenly appeared in the surface of the earth and, as Eren watched in fear, in awe, a great chasm opened up before him.

With a deafening boom, a hiss of steam and clouds of inky-black, billowing smoke Levi appeared, driving his horse drawn chariot of black and gold. Eren froze in shock, the freshly picked flowers spilling from his fingers. Levi leant from the chariot, scooped him up and turned his horses back towards the opening.

At last Eren screamed, "Mother! Help me!" as down, deep down, into the widening crack in the earth the chariot plunged. Cavernous rocks split apart to make way. It was a world of sparse light; all black and grey. Levi had led a sad and lonely life in the depths below. But now, enlivened and enchanted by the fair Eren, could the dark lord of the underworld really be in love?