Aphrodite's Flame

15. Inferno

Spring is well on its way, green leaves are forming a large canopy of foliage, offering a dance of shade and light. I am sitting in the grass behind the cabin, keeping busy with making myself a new summer dress, when I hear shouting in the distance. I look up and put my things away, curious as to where the sounds are coming from. They can't be from Adonis or his friends, he is out fishing. The creek is definitely the other way.

From the woods erupt more screams, clearly sounding like calls for help. I'm already on my feet and peer through the trees. My legs are moving on their own, steadily faster, in the direction of the men. 

'It's Adonis!' cries one of the men when he sees me, and I start running. I follow them, pushing my feet into the soft earth and veering back up, my strides faster and longer than those of mortals. I quickly overtake them and keep running, following my instinct. I know where he is. 

Abruptly I stop at the edge of a clearing. Before me are Adonis and two friends, who are desperately trying to stop the bleeding. They look up for a second, only to continue their pressure on Adonis' wounds. Blood is soaking through their clothes and fingers.

It is clear to me that Adonis is dead. There is nothing that can be done. 

Slowly I sink to my knees, incapable of understanding what I see before me. I was to have sixteen years of him. That was the deal. He can't be dead. Granted you keep him alive, he will be Up for thirty-two years after that. Wails of hurt and grief escape me, but I cannot look away from the dead body amidst the numerous white roses. The blood that is leaving his body spills over the roses, colouring them a deep red. His face is still as handsome as this morning. 

'There was a boar,' one of the men sobs, 'it was bigger than any I had ever seen!'

'Please stop talking, fool.' I squeeze the words out of my throat. 

'He thought he could take it, but it was angry and -' The earth starts to rumble and shake and I look up to the men, who distract me from the one thing I want to look at most.

'I said, stop talking.' My voice rumbles like Zeus' does when he is angry. It sounds like a thunderous storm is approaching, and there is. Shaking with fear, the men scramble to their feet. They are looking at something I'm not looking at. It could be the boar, it could be a bear - it could be anything at all and I wouldn't care. My love is dead. He didn't listen to me, he got reckless and now he is dead.

'I am terribly sorry for your loss,' a deep, calm voice says. I look up at Hades, who I haven't seen since he took off to his kingdom, right after the Titanomachy. 

'No,' I whimper, realising why he is here. 'Don't take him with you. Leave him with me.' He smiles the most sorrowful smile, and I start crying. Normally Thanatos comes for the dead. Why would Hades himself come Up to collect Adonis' soul? Is it because of the sixteen years he spent Down with the boy? Do they have a bond I never got to ask about? 

'It hasn't even been a year!' I cry out, 'please, have pity. Take anyone, not my Adonis.' I throw myself at Hades' feet, and he kneels beside me. 

'I cannot allow his soul to stay here,' he says in that damned soothing voice of his. 'He has the right to be at peace.' He did have the right to be at peace, after having spent thirty two years with me! I would have been ready to let him go then! 

'Where is that damned wife of yours!' I now scream. Something behind Hades moves, and slowly Persephone comes out of the shadows of the woods. She looks at me with sorrow and pity. I hate her more than ever. She doesn't get to pity me!

'You knew this would happen!' I bellow, 'that is why you added conditions to your proposal! You tricked me!'

'I did not know this would happen. Honestly, Aphrodite, that is his thread of life. I do not wield the scissors.'

'Then take me to the ones who do!' Hades looks over his shoulder to his wife. They exchange meaningful glances and I hate their connection, the one I never got to have.

'Aphrodite, you get the chance to say goodbye. He can still hear you. But his soul is in agony. He needs to let go of this world.'

'Fuck you and your riddles.' I snap my head back to the young man lying among the red roses. Sobbing I crawl over to his body, taking his hand in mine, squeezing his fingers. I kiss his lips, his cheeks, his eyes. 

'Please, come back to me,' I whisper. 'Please, don't leave me.' But I already feel my heart breaking under the pressure of having to say goodbye. Mortality is a curse, immortality a sin. I cannot be without him for the remainder of my existence. I can't believe not three months ago I was born beside him and now my soul died with his.

Slowly I back away from his cold body, my fingertips gliding among the red roses. From now on they are my favourite. I had never seen a red rose in my life, but now I shall flood the earth with them so everyone can remember Adonis.

'Zeus!' I cry out. 'Aphrodite, goddess of Love and Beauty, calls on thee! Grant the world to witness your neverending power!' Hades closes his eyes for a second, Persephone takes his hand in his. I will not let this go without a fight. I will not let him go without a fight.