Bows & Beauty

Chapter 15

"You have come for my child?" The female voice thundered throughout the dim cave.

"Y-yes." Joy answered with slight difficulty as her body was draped in an invisible force, along with Seulgi as they were being pulled inside the cave.

"For what reasons?" The unseen owner uttered once more with an intriguing tone, "Are you one of those demigods who are trying to threaten him again?"

"No, we came here to ask for help, from Hypnos."Seulgi replied, while wriggling throughout the force.

"Help?" The voice paused, before a deep chuckle echoes horridly throughout the cave, "Help? That was what the other boy request too."

"Who?" Joy questions as she eyed the whole cave, before gasping, as the invisible bind release them to the earthy ground with a thud.

Both Seulgi and Joy grunt before hoisting themselves up just to see a cloud of black gathering 30 metres away from them. Gushes of dead leaves and tiny bits of sand scatter around as a sudden rush of wind blow. Darkness has consume the surrounding and taken its stranglehold. Seulgi felt like her life is being squeezed and memories being consumed, turning them into forgotten lost dreams.

But in the dark, Seulgi could make out a figure – standing nearby, draping in a long, black cloak. Dark black hair cascades under white skin. The shock and the contrast only serve to make her all the more ghostly, all the more haunting. The deity gaze upon them with grey, cold, metallic eyes, which send a small shiver running down from the back of her spine.

"Nyx?" Seulgi managed to utter.

"Yes, it is I, Nyx, Goddess of The Night, Speaker of the Oracle, Bearer to Sleep and Death," the Goddess spoke with her deep voice. "And you, child of Hermes, what was your query?

Joy gulps before looking at Seulgi, giving a nudge, indicating for Seulgi to answer, which she responded back to the Goddess. "Can we know who, exactly, was the person who asked for Hypnos's help?"

"But you did not came here to inquire about the person am I right? You came here – for my son. True?"

A twinge of annoyance sprung in Seulgi's mind. Nyx knows that they are here for Hypnos, but why is she still holding them back and asking this pointless question. "Yes, that is our main purpose. Your other son, Thanatos is being put to sleep by Hypnos. I don't know why Hypnos agreed to put Thanatos to sleep but we think someone is plotting to let the monsters out from the door Thanatos is guarding. That is why we are here, to seek help from Hypnos to re-awake his brother. So can we please meet him?"

With a smirk like smile, Nyx simply said, "Very well. Follow me."

Joy quickly look at Seulgi incredulously, "That easy?"

Flaming torches hung by the uneven walls of the cave, sparked to life as they walk further in. An orange glow against the quiet darkness as they followed Nyx who has not spoken a word since she asked the two to follow her.

"This might be a trap," Joy whispers as they step upon small, loose stones, littered on the ground. "This cave is damn too quiet."

"It is a cave after all," Seulgi whispers back, eyes wandering around for anything unusual. "And this is the only way for us to meet Hypnos—"

"—through his mother," Joy intercepts.

"Let's just trust on her at the moment," Seulgi utters.

They suddenly stop at a smaller jagged entrance. Further ahead, was a descending of rutted steps and sounds of water could be heard. But weird thing is there were red poppies and other Gods know what plants arranged nearby the entrance.