The King of Darkness

Chapter 14

The water was scorching hot and the hands that gripped onto my arms, pulled me further down into the river. I grabbed hold of the hands that gripped me and pried their hands off of  me. I swam quickly to the surface but just to be dragged down again. I looked at my ankle and the soul that had my ankle was horrifying. 

The face of the soul was molding away and you could see their jaw bone. The souls skin was wrinkly from being in  the water for so long and the skin was ash grey. I was kicking away from the creature and finally its hold on my ankle got weak and I swam up to the surface as quick as possible, swimming to the shore. I crawled my way up to the shore and turned onto my back and was taking in deep and heavy breaths. 

"Fuck the Underworld," I cussed and raised my middle finger to the red sky and hoped that Hades saw it. I slowly sat up and looked at the river and saw  the souls swimming under the burning water. 

I stood up on shaky legs and saw that my hair and clothes were  dry. That shows that it is boiling hot down here. I still needed to find what Hades has hidden and that shadow man pointed to the river but it made no sense because I nearly died down there. I walked closer to the river and but too close and looked down. There at the bottom of the river, something was shining and it looked like a box. I looked away at the river and tried to find something long to reach the box but unfortunately there was nothing but burning trees and smoke. 

"You got to be kidding me."I said and sighed as I realized that I had to swim down into the river and retrieve the box. 

I looked around me for a weapon and could only find a rock. I grabbed the rock and stood into the river but what was strange was there was nothing grabbing me down. I looked around me and saw that the souls have stopped moving, as if they fell asleep. I took in a deep breath and submerged myself once again into the water. The water was murky and boiling hot but I had to retrieve that box. I swam slowly towards the box and the souls were still not moving but I had a bad feeling about this. 

I swam zig-zag through the souls, doing my best not to swim close to them and not to disturb them. I finally reached the box and as soon as I reached out for it, there was a screech, I looked up and there was souls waking up and looking down at me. I wanted  to cuss but I couldn't afford to waste any air. I quickly grabbed the box and swam as fast as I could to the surface. 

The souls viciously swam after me and clawed at my skin. I finally got to the surface and got onto the shore. The scratches on my skin was deep and agonizingly painful. 

As I was lying on the bank of the river and everything was starting to cool down. I heard Hades voice saying that the competition is over and that the two finalists have been choosing. I closed my eyes and allowed the darkness to take me into a deep slumber. 

.............................................................................................................

I awoke in my bed and looked at my body, that was bandaged up and I was lying there in my underwear. 

"You put up a fight and that was very impressive." A voice said and it was Zeus. I quickly covered myself from him and he stood at the door way with a smirk on his face. 

"Does anyone know the meaning of knocking in this place?", I asked and Zeus just smiled. 

"I do apologize for my tardiness but when I heard that you are in the top 2, I had to come and see you", he said and he walked slowly towards the bed and sat himself down. 

"Why? Where you worried that I have died?" I said. He just sat there and grabbed my hand. 

"One scratch from those creatures in the river, causes the body to be poisoned and the person with a soul is lost forever and their soul can never be recovered again." he said but he said it in such a serious manner. 

"Wow. Good thing I am a stubborn soul." I joked about the situation but Zeus didn't crack a smile. 

"Violet this isn't a game nor is it a joke." he said but he sounded worried. 

"It is a game, Zeus because Hades wants to find a wife like this but he can't find a wife in a normal manner." I said and I felt a sting in my heart when I remembered that day, when Hades was with Tiffany. 

"He doesn't know how to love anymore, not since he lost his wife and he was never the same again." Zeus said.

"Persephone decided to leave Hades for a Mortal. So I can understand why he doesn't know how to love anymore," I said and Zeus kept quiet for a while.

The silence was broken by the doors crashing open and in came Hades. He looked pissed and worried at the same time.

"My dear brother, so nice to see you again." Zeus said with sarcasm.

"Leave us." Hades commanded and Zeus was stunned.

"I beg your par-"

"Leave us now!", Hades yeld and Zeus quickly left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Hades glared at me and I was confused to the way he was acting.

"Can I help you with something?", I asked, to break the uncomfortable silence.

"What are you?", Hades whispered.

"I'm human, well not fully human but you get the idea.", I said.

"You were suppose to be dead. One scratch from those creatures, your soul is taken away from you and you will belong to them forever.", he said and he sat down on the bed.

"Well, why did you put that hidden object in that fucking river? If you knew that I would die.", I asked.

He sat there and he just stared into the distance.

"I didn't put it there and you weren't suppose to retrieve that object anyways because you were never suppose to arrive at that destination", he said. "What you retrieved belonged to Persephone and she threw it into that river, so that I could never have it again."

In his hands, he held the box and I sat up quickly. The blanket fell off of me and showed my bandaged torso. Hades stared at my wounds and I retrieved the blanket quickly to hide my body.

" What's in the box?", I asked and the box was just sitting there in his hands. Hades hesitated to give me the box but he put it on my lap. I looked at him in shock and with a questionable look.

"You must open it. If I try to open it, whatever inside will kill me because I wasn't the one that found it." he said and he left the room, not uttering another word.

I was left alone in the room and it was quiet. The box on my lap felt heavy, even if it was a small jewelry box and it probably ways as much as a book.
I stared at it and remembered that I nearly died trying to get this.
I took the box in my hand and threw it against the wall.
All of a sudden I was on the floor, gripping my ears because of the piercing scream and the sound was making my vision blurry. I felt like passing out. Eventually the sound stopped but my head was still ringing and my nose started bleeding.

My breathing was quick and shallow. The door to my room burst open and Hades rushed to my side.

"Violet!" he exclaimed and my breathing was slowly going back to normal but it was still shallow.
I calmed my breathing and took in a deep breath.

"Persephone is here." I rushed out and everything once again went dark.

..............................................................
Thanks for reading and being patient. I do apologize for the extremely late update.
Please comment and vote.