For Persephone - Chapter 25 – A Surprise Visit

The inside of the palace was full of cold, damp air just like any time before.

Jewels, gold, paintings, and works of art, which even the richest kings and queens on earth would envy, lose their shine due to the rigorous air. Standing in front of his bedroom, Hades scanned the inside. Slowly, as if navigating.

Everything was just as he had left, but there was a big difference: The girl was gone.

Only cold air greeted the king.

She was nowhere to be found in the palace. The same was true even when he looked inside and outside the brass fence where the living swamp crawled and the bug-infested dead bodies roamed.

‘Did she lose her way again?’

Crossing the river that barely came up to his waist, he searched the Lette River basin but couldn’t find the girl. Even though he searched the Plegeton River basin, not a single strand of her hair was seen. He ordered Kelberos to find her.

The huge three-headed guard dog, who chased after anything living or dead, bolted out into the garden. But not too long after, Kelberos returned only dragging its tail behind. When Hades crossed over three rivers to ask Karon of Acheron, he was only met with, ‘I haven’t seen her.’

-King, the girl you’re searching for hasn’t crossed here. Why?

Hades looked up at the chilly sky with his head cocked back. The girl was nowhere to be seen under the hazy white moon—as if she had never existed to begin with.

*

A dark cave. The wick of a small lamp set her body on fire in silence.

Persephone, who lifted her body, sat up against the wall while sliding her hands over it. She was in a daze like she still hadn’t wakened up. She returned to Hades’ bedroom, patiently waiting for his return. The night felt short as if it had been cut off.

Persephone, who stretched out her palm, stared in confusion at the fine ornament she was holding. It was hanging next to the Cap of Invisibility and looked like a thin bracelet. Staring at it, she threw it without thinking and raised the hem of her robe.

It still felt like a dream, so she groped between her legs and gently pouted her lips. As always, there was no trace of what had happened to her just a few while ago.

She asked ‘her,’ ‘Am I still Kore, the virgin?’

No answer.

Persephone pressed down on her racing chest. ‘Kore’ was murdered while she was gasping like a fish out of water against Hade’s bare body. That woman died. She thought rebelliously to herself.

All her life, she was controlled. It needed to end now.

While grabbing the wall to stand up, she glanced at the bed and smiled faintly. She hung the lamp, where plenty of embers still remained, on her wrist and headed out of the cave, out of Hade’s infamous world.

*

If the morning had begun, she had to go home and put off a good night’s sleep. But it was odd. The outside was much darker than normal. A salty draft stuck to her skin.

Clearly she was outside—

Persephone’s eyes saw the sky over the open mouth of the cave as she stepped out.

It was still night.

For what reason? Hurriedly, she inched her way back into the cave. There wasn’t a door, so she ran out of the cave again in an ominous premonition. Climbing up the cliff and swiping away the sharp leaves, she ran fast through the tangled bushes and dark forest paths with her chest pounding like crazy.

Light leaked out of a log cabin’s window in the forest that should’ve been pitch black. Persephone stopped in front of the fence, panting for breath. Around this time when everyone was supposed to be sleeping, there were nymphs out in the front yard.

Persephone felt guilty like she would be choked to death. Niasis, Keane, Aratusa; they were all there.

“I apologize, Goddess Demeter. I’ll go look right now…”

“Kore!”

Keane was delighted. The young woman wrapped in a golden robe lifted her chin and stared at Persephone.

‘Oh…’

She missed her every day. Why did they visit the island when they were busy during the harvest season? All of her thoughts stopped. She wiggled her fingers endlessly to shake off the fear that was eating at her. Demeter approached her with open arms.

“My Kore.”

Persephone, who was overwhelmed, jumped into her arms.

“Mother… I missed you.”