"Weeeekekek! As you wish, my lady – wekek!" The three of them heard from behind the door.
"Quick, quick, return to the pillar, stat! Hag's about to leave!" Rexis said in a hurried whisper after hearing the sound of uneven footsteps moving against the ebony floor of the dark corridor leading to the Chamber of Hades. Aside from the Fury's loud voice, they couldn't really hear the conversation inside. Their voices are almost completely muted by the acoustics of the room.
The trio then scampered behind their previous hiding place, to stay away from the Fury who exited the room with a gleeful expression. Few feet from there, she extended her leathery wings and flew to somewhere far beyond their reach. They all let out the remaining breath they had, and then Corinna said, "Shall we?"
Julius is still unsure, but whatever – now is the opportunity they've all been waiting for. There are no signs of Hades, and they finally know the location of Persephone. What's left for them to do is drag her away with them and save the problem of their escape for later.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He then created in his mind a vivid imagery of what he saw inside the throne room. Jewel-encrusted iron black throne, velvety crimson carpet similar to that of blood, extravagant chandelier, Doric pillars coated with shadows, Persephone. 'Here goes nothing', Julius thought.
He was dreading for this to happen, but at the same time, he's also very eager to save Demeter's daughter from being forced to rule the Underworld with the Lord of the Dead. This motivated him more to finish this mission. After few more seconds of concentration, they finally felt that tight feeling in their stomachs, and the next thing they knew, they already tore through the fabric of space that was just inside the center of the throne room. When they opened their eyes, they immediately knew they're fucked.
"Shit." Julius could only say.
--
"My mother….I wish to see…my mother." Persephone said.
Hades could not bear to see the crying face of his beloved, but he is torn between granting her this wish and seeing her taken away by his sister, or being selfish and keep her from coming back to the mortal realm and make her his Queen here by showing her his affection.
Before he could even answer, the space just in front of them began to shimmer, and suddenly, bodies of three mortals appeared in front of them – their looks cannot mask the surprise of being caught immediately.
'So, they finally showed themselves.' Hades thought as he grimaced upon their entrance. Actually, he knew that they were lurking somewhere near the throne room because he felt their presence from afar. He is, after all, the Master of this Realm of Darkness, so the shadows all over the place whispered into him and warned him about the mortals who got inside uninvited. He was just waiting for them to reveal themselves, and as he thought, here they are.
One of them quickly got into a defensive position while the other still had the look of utter disbelief painted in their faces. Hades brought his left hand to the side and all the shadows in the room caught the limbs of the three uninvited mortals and bounded them to restrict their movement. They were lifted off the ground.
Wait…three? He remembered that only two of them got themselves carried along with his chariot. Why is there a third individual? 'Could it be during that time?' Hades recalled the slight anomaly he felt earlier too. It was as if someone else opened another portal to his domain. 'But how is that even possible?'
Contrary to popular belief, gods are not omniscient – meaning, they don't know everything. This baffled Hades a lot as he could not think of any possible logical explanation to what he felt earlier. 'Could it be that one of these three mortals have the power to manipulate shadows and darkness like I do?' He considered this possibility for now, because the evidence in front of him is overwhelming.
Meanwhile, Persephone gasped as she stood up from her seat, and said, "It's you! From the meadows!" and pointed her finger at Julius.
Julius, Rexis and Corinna all struggled to get themselves off these shadow binds, but even them could tell the difference in power and control of this magic from what they experienced earlier with the guy from the River Phlegethon. It was stronger and more relaxed. 'So this is Hades!'
They all looked at the God who was effortlessly commanding the shadows with very defined movements in only one hand. The black orbs in his eyes seem to be an endless void, and his sharp features, with his mop of dark, long hair and pointed trimmed beard, scream the presence of a perfectly higher being apart from theirs. He donned on a dark themed himation, and he was wearing a chlamys that swirls with different faces of the damned, all whispering inside their thoughts and calling for 'help.'
They also noted that Hades looked angry and frustrated over something – probably Persephone, since they saw the tray brought in by the Fury earlier with food that is completely untouched.
"How dare you show yourselves here?" His voice seethed with absolute pure disgust.
Since the binds only restricted their movement, and not really overtook their bodies nor paralyzed them, Julius was able to brave an answer to that intimidating question by the Lord of the Underworld.
"We're here to – to save Persephone!" Though he stuttered a bit from his nerves.
"Save Persephone? Do you think I am capable of hurting her?!" Hades fired back at him, his voice becoming more deadly as it boomed throughout the chamber.
'Shut up, pedophile!' Julius wanted to say, but he also remembered how Hades indeed revered to Persephone in the myths. In the modern times, he can be compared to that of a husband completely overpowered by his wife. Among all Gods, Hades was the one whom he never heard of being affiliated to some other mortal.
In other words, he had it so bad for her. Love. He's terribly whipped.
"But Lady Demeter is grieving over Persephone's disappearance and is destroying everything in the surface as we speak!" Julius said instead. "You didn't even ask for her blessings in taking in her daughter, that's not how it's done, dude! Come on!" He might've overstepped a little on that, however.
He realized too late what he just uttered. 'Oh crap, how do I get away from this?'
Persephone, who heard the entire thing, only looked more troubled. Her mother is currently destroying everything because of her? She must stop her! She didn't notice more tears were streaming out from her eyes after hearing such news. "Is she – really…?" She could not finish her question.
Of course Julius didn't really hear this 'news', he just knew it, from the myths. He had no idea where the Goddess currently is, but he trusts his friends enough to be able to catch up to her and tell her that her daughter will come back in one piece. He couldn't care less about the myth of the origin of the seasons.
Hades haven't been streaming in the Vision Incognito recently so he had no idea if what the man is saying is true or not. But even if it's true, it will not stop him from making Persephone his Queen.
"Tell me, stranger, where did you hear that rumor and how did you manage to get inside this room?"
His tone is very cold and demanding, enough to send Julius and his friends in cold sweat, with their minds thinking at a velocity of 100 kph for 101-ways-to-get-away-from-this-situation. Sadly, they could not come up with a good lie. Shall they tell him the truth? Is it worth the risk?
Their heavy train of thought was interrupted by sudden three knocks from the door behind them, then a voice of a new Fury rang in their ears.
"Reeeekekek! A Messenger from Olympus has arrived and requested an audience with you, My Lord – rekek!"