"Didn't Hades kidnap his wife?" I had a feeling that my trust towards Wikipedia was going to tragically change.
"That is far from the truth." He shook his head, and with a patronizing smile pinched my nose. "Judging from your expression, No, Hades didn't get kidnapped."He soon laughed imagining the scenario as I did."Then? Is it confidential? If it is, you don't have to tell me." He looked at me pointedly, his brows forming crescent moons. "That was the formality part. If you don't tell me you would have to deal with puppy faces."From his replying smile, I somehow felt that I looked like three-year-old ready to hear her bedtime sorry. By the way, I like my milk with cookies."Let's sit somewhere shall we?"I nodded happily and skipped up the stairs that Will lead me by to a balcony. The moment we came through the doors, winter-like wind cocooned us. But the chills of the cold breezes were forgotten by the view of the river it opened to.The river was like a sleeping cobra. It laid across the land in smooth curves, beautiful in the light, calm and innocuous.Standing by me as I stood marveling the enormous river, Will said. "That's river Acheron, the river of sorrows." After taking my fill of magical view I sat down on the marble slab alongside Will."Welcome to your first class on Greek Gods." He fixed his invisible glasses over his nose."Good morning teacher.""Persephone is the goddess of spring and vegetation which she inherited from her mother, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture.""The events which lead to the feud between her and Hades happened centuries ago. She isn't part of the twelve main gods, and she felt that she wasn't receiving enough praise and worship from humans. In her pursuit to satisfy her greed, she decided to sed..."Will abruptly paused before reconstructing his sentence. "She decided to marry one of the major Gods. Her options were very limited.""Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder, is married to Hera who herself is one of the twelve and is infamous for her intolerance for her husband's lovers." Watching the smile form on his face as he explained made me ask."What does she do to them?"Will shrugged. "She loves turning them into animals, sometimes kills them or irritate their children.""Continuing, Poseidon the God of sea and earthquakes is married and so is Hephaestus the god of fire and metal work. He is married to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, who in turn is in love with Ares the God of war which makes him unavailable too. Then there is the unmarried Hermes, Apollo, and Dionysus. Lord Apollo and Hermes have countless lovers, but the former only has his heart set on one and Hermes isn't the marrying type. Dionysus due to his controversial birth of having a mortal mother mustn't have appeased her."Talk about drama. They should star in a British silver screen series."This only left Hades, the most refined and dignified ruler of them all. Even though Hades refused her advances, she did not back down and claimed to had fallen in love with him.""Hades even barred her from the Underworld and announced his disinterest before the council of Gods, but this only made her change her tactics. She stopped the growth of all vegetation and threatened to disrupt rebirth if Hades does not present himself to her and apologize.""Fortunately, her madness was put to an end by Zeus, and her mother. This time too, it seemed that her greed had only increased. And so she targeted something small, something that wouldn't affect the world as a whole, but only Hades. She kidnapped the one Hades cared most of, and she was only a helpless demigod, a daughter of Apollo.""She was a mother figure to Hades, and he considered her nothing less.""She was about thirty when they met when she somehow managed to enter the Underworld and demand him to give back her late husband. Hades refused and asked her to leave, but she did not back down. Her visits became regular and they grew very close to each other, she even began to scold him." Will chuckled, seemingly lost in a warm memory.So he was there at that time."But Persephone kidnapped her leading to Hades' fury knowing no bounds. He searched for her from hell to heaven, but when he found her, she had already passed. Lost in hatred of knowing how Hades cared for a mere demigod, Persephone she had starved her till she was only skin and bones when Hades found her.""Fearing Hades' wrath, Persephone went into hiding, and even when he discovered her, he couldn't take any action, as the other Gods stopped him in the fear of tipping the world off balance with her absence. They themselves found it hard to forgive but found no other choice.""After the incident, Hades has only visited Olympus thrice and passed by centuries in his palace, never leaving even to visit to the world of the mortals. He has hence distanced himself from every soul. That's what I thought until....""Elie, don't cry," Will said stopping halfway and came over to my side."Sorry." I apologized, seeing his flustered self. "I shouldn't have reminded him of those times." The guilt stopped my eyes from drying."Don't apologize it's my fault for telling you about it." He ran his hands through his air as he got to his feet. "Do you want...water?""Coffee maybe?" He paced around me, his helplessness showing by the creases in his forehead and he soothed my hair."I am okay." It came out in sync with the words of the soldier that walked in. "Your presence is needed, commander."Will looked back at the armed soldier whose eyes depicted the urgency of the matter. "I will be right back." He halted turning back to me. "I can't leave you like this."I shooed him away with my hands. "I am fine, you have to get back to your duty." Our positions were reversed, and finally, he left with a guard stationed with the job to ensure my safety and another to call Olivia to give me company."As I rested my face on my palms, sketching the river in my mind, a warm breeze softly caressed my cheek and took away with it the last of the tears, like the tip of a thump wiping it away.Will Hades forgive me?Olivia had rushed over but did not question the sudden summon or my tear-stained face. By the time Will was back, I had already suffered internal injuries laughing at her "What the hell?" jokes.When being informed at the arrangement of transport, Olivia hugged me goodbye."Do you think Hades will let me come back here, I am willing to apologize a hundred times." Will suddenly stopped walking and made me face him by my shoulders."You are misunderstanding, Hades isn't angry at you, get it into your head, or should I go round asking for a driller to get it past your thick skull."I shook my head, trying to believe him as I did. "Hades, he's complicated, you know being an unfeeling, ancient...""Stone." I finished when he searched for an alternative to God. "Exactly, I am going to keep that." He grinned, but his face sank when the floor we stood on shook, vibrations brought crack to the walls and the lights and lamp shook violently flickering.At first, my brain was unable to make sense
When I opened my eyes, I found myself amongst the giants whose roots hugged the earth, and the streams and birds who sung a never-ending song. The richness of the life that dwelled in this forest made me feel at ease, enough to make me forget the knife that was held to my throat when I subconsciously stepped forward."I don't think so kid," Greene whispered into my ear.Now's my chance.I stopped thrashing and pretended to have fainted which made him support my weight. And am no feather.I whipped my head back taking advantage of his startled self and following the sickening sound of bones cracking, his iron-grip loosened. With an easy shrug, I stepped away leaving him on his knees clutching his now bleeding nose. I maneuvered a jump-spin-hook-kick to knock him out cold before he could regain composure.But due to my unrivaled bad luck, all that did not happen.My attempt had utterly failed due to the failure of my head making contact with his nose; it had instead hit him across the c
"Aedees." Cold amber orbs locked with mine, They softened before regaining their double-edged sharpness.Darkness hung over him like a tailored made cloak as storm clouds blocked away the sun's light. The still rational part of my brain warned me that I wasn't the one going to fall prey to his fit of range when I realized Greene's hand was still around my neck frozen.From a certain angle, it would seem like he was chocking me.I drew back, but it was too late, Greene was no longer there. Listening to the screams, I turned back to see him suspended up in the air while clawing at the invisible hands crushing his windpipes. Judging from the height he was raised to, I couldn't bring him down even on my toes.So I wobbled towards Hades who didn't seem to able to hear me. And as the power that he emitted threw me down each time I got up, I knew he was beyond the planes of rationality. In the last effort, I lunged forward and held on by his clothes and I tugged at then as I shouted his nam
Zach's POV.On regaining consciousness, I first processed the little bunny hopping over, and then the God left behind frustrated and fuming. I could the difficulty when she tried to sit down without putting too much body weight on her sprained ankle which had swollen up to the size of a baseball.Finally settling in with one leg stretched and the other folded, she took hold of my hand in her small ones. With willful concentration she checked my pulse, evidently losing count twice or thrice.Completing the examination with a triumph smile her hands reached up to my neck, obviously not in its best state when her childlike face morphed with concern.I obliged to turn my neck to the side when she motioned me to do so and was yelled into stopping when I winced. I snuffled my chuckles while she decided whether to ask me to turn it back or just let it remain the same, facing away.Taking pity, I turned my face back to her keeping the pain from revealing through my expression. No longer wanti
My eyes flew open when I distinctly heard Olivia's screech. Blinking away the dizziness, I waved to find her in a startled trance as he realized who exactly was carrying me. I pushed back from the person's chest making him tighten his grip."Hades?" Tilting my head I tried to recollect the past incidents, but my head pounded as if it had a heart of its own.His fingers draped around the nape of my neck and lead me to rest on his shoulder. "Sleep." It seemed the best option, but I remembered Olivia was round.As I searched for her in the dimly lit halls, I felt fear surge forth by instincts when he an amber-eyed predator whispered to my ears. "Sleep Elia."........................................................................................The next time I opened my eyes was in the comfort of my bed. Fighting off the covers that seemed to be super glued to my clothes I searched for my phone under the pillow, to notice my ankle neatly bandaged and...Ahh? A banana? I threw off all th
With my hair plastered across my face, and clothes soaked wet I glared at a certain smiling God. I felt something warm wrap around my ankle as I got down. Smoky black shoes that resembled the pair I had on, left me feeling like walking on cotton. The limp I had sported eased out into steady steps.I would have thanked him if it weren't for the trick he played and that cocky face of triumph. Imitating the infamous Titanic pose and walked towards him with an overly sweet smile.He wasn't getting away this time.But he was like a dragonfly, each time I came within the range for a hug, he would disappear and reappears centimeters away with the same sly smile. After a series of failed attempts, I stormed away to the palace pouting."Ahh." I tripped only to be brought back to my feet by my brooding patient. I have to say, I had my doubts, but he fell for it.The hands that held onto him for support coiled around him, bringing him into a bear hug. When the realization of being played hit, he
"Will, take me to him." He bowed deeply with amusement. "Yes milady. This way please.""Yuck." I scrunched my nose and he laughed throwing back his head.To make sure we out of earshot, I sneaked a peek back to find only the soldiers with matching dumbfounded expression and Hades nowhere in sight. I looked up at Will to meet his clever eyes."So, answers please." Taken aback by the request, he rubbed his neck asking. "What do you want to know?"I shrug. "Everything.""Okay, then let's start with the easy one." I nodded. "My name is William Isherwood""Cool name Mr. Isherwood.""Thank you and I like your name too. Especially your middle name, Rain, rarely heard of." Suddenly we were girls back in high school restrooms throwing compliments at each other."Well, I am twenty-three...for some time." "Very, very." I offered the correction.He sighed turning slightly red as he said. "For a very, very long time. It's been five centuries till date.""Wow. Go on." I promoted having an evil
The only possible route of escape sealed with the heavy wooden doors closing without a creek. Not knowing what I was supposed to so, I waved in a frantic manner, my voice showing my nervousness as I said. "Hey."With his languid unwavering expression he only stared, making me feel more awkward. Maybe he wasn't actually angry and it was just me over thinking things. Reassuring myself that it was indeed the case, I took slow calculated steps towards him.Coming to a stop at arm's distance, in quick movements of hand, touched his forehead and retreated it back. "You have a slight fever." Judging from the warm sensation my palm felt I informed him, still unable to look him in the eye for some reason. I also feared that I wouldn't be able to withdraw when it came to those amber eyes. Shaking my head off the image, I turned to place my bag on the table and take out the necessary to tackle the symptoms. In the short while of unzipping the bag, I was unable to hold myself back from looking