Devil's Awakening: A Dark Whispers Novel -book 1-

Chapter 1: Sodalis Vitae

Chapter 1: Sodalis Vitae

Dangerous

That is how mothers would explain the underworld. They said it was full of death and suffering. Every child knew of the stories of the Greek gods. It was who we were, a culture of people steeped in religious beliefs. That is all we knew, all we could fathom.

Mother would tell their children of the horrible fate of every living soul. That once it is taken you can never get it back. It's sucked out of you and your life force is taken away. Forever to be oppressed by the darkness of the underworld.

There was always a light at the end of the tunnel though. Some would say if you lived a good life your soul would go to Olympia and live amongst the immortals. It now seemed to be wishful thinking. There was never hope of mercy for mortals. We were a grotesque lot. We destroyed the beauty around us. It seemed that its all we were good at.

Yet, in the midst of suffering there was always moments of hope. A small glimmer of something beautiful blooming. It was always tarnished by the shadows of hate though. Man was killing our earth and we just sat around and watched.

These are the stories my own mother would tell me as a child. At a young age we were taught that not all things had happy endings. Not all damsels are rescued by her true love, and if you wanted something you had to fight for it. My brother and I always believed in the stories our mother told us. It was foolish not too, these stories were our history.

They made up our very identity and religion. Not many believed in the supernatural. The days of sacrificing to the gods seemed dim in comparison to our present day. Yet we still lived in a world dominated by ritual and religious beliefs. They were apart of our society. However, the mass majority of our small seaside village didn't bother to honor the gods with gifts anymore. The idea of gods was still present, yet many didn't believe they did us any good. Not like they use too, not anymore.

My family however, always kept true to tradition. Our lineage of simple fisherman kept true to the belief in the gods. We lived our lives in reference to the gods. Well, that is what my mother expected of us.

It was always a fleeting thought though. We lived our lives day in and day out, without the help of the gods. Or so we thought.

It's a strange thing to give gifts to entities unseen and never heard from. Only in stories do we follow their lives. In these stories, the beginning of time was told and the making of creation bloomed. Every god had their place. A season to control, a kingdom to command. The stories were endless.

However, there was always one story my mother would stress more than the others. It was the story of the 600 Year Solstice. A time of great jubilation and fear.

The Solstice happens every six hundreds years on the first night of summer. We celebrate this time because of the coming harvest. Everything will be blessed and rich with bounty. Yet our village also fears this day because of the prophecy that follows. It is said that every six hundred years, Hades, the god of the underworld, awakens from his immortal sleep to enter the human realm and find his Sodalise Vitae. This means his soulmate or life companion.

Every god has a soulmate chosen for them by The Fates. No god can choose their companion, yet there is no limit to whome The Fates may choose. Mortal or immortal. What better time for a wedding than summer...

Every year our village holds a festival for the coming of summer. We also give gifts of the latter harvest to appease the gods.
It is our villages small attempts at keeping Hades out of our humble bay.

It is unsure if our prayers are heard and our gift received. If there is such a clan of gods listening.

This year however, is the 600 hundredth summer since the last Solstice. It is our most bountiful harvest yet, and the most dreaded day of our lifetime.

With just a few hours before the sun sets on our last day of spring, we all pray that the gods have heard our pleas, and that the devil himself stays where he belongs.