Hadeia

To think that I, the ruler of the underworld, am running away like a fox during hunting season!

I should be fuming with rage. What humiliation could be worse! Who could imagine the queen of all wealth beneath the earth, the ruler of death herself, fleeing and hiding? 

It wouldn’t even work as a joke. Especially when the one I’m avoiding is barely more than a child who has just lost his first flower.

“It’s quite noisy up there.”

“Speak plainly, Thanatos. Talking in circles isn’t your specialty, and I don’t have the energy to humor it.”

Thanatos glanced sideways at me. He seemed to want to say it was unfair.

“Up there, I mean. The ceiling of our underworld. Things seem busy. The earth’s surface cracking somewhere, drying up like bone dust ready to collapse into sand, sudden influxes of starvation victims pouring in by the dozens, that sort of thing.”

“…Starvation victims?”

I took my eyes off the western sector. Thanatos raised both palms, feigning innocence.

“That can’t be. Harvest time is just around the corner. There’s no reason for starvation deaths to increase.”

“Normally, yes. Unless, perhaps, the goddess of grain is so enraged that she’s destroying all the land and crops.”

D*mn it. I completely abandoned the western sector and pressed my forehead.

“From what old Charon tells me, all the dead are saying the same thing. The goddess who lost her only daughter—”

“Enough. I get it.”

“She swore on the Styx that not a single grain would enter the mouths of the living until she finds her daughter. My, how frightening! Even gods can’t take back oaths sworn on the Styx. She must be quite desperate to find her daughter.”

Thanatos showed no sign of stopping. Rather, he seemed to have been waiting for my resistance and now eagerly tried to pour the news of the dead into my ears.

“Oh, and there’s chaos on Olympus too. Unable to find her daughter despite withering the land, she’s apparently stirred up the sea and finally ascended to the heavens. They say she’s seeking advice from Hera and pestering Zeus. Though the details are unclear, it’s not entirely baseless. Something similar must be happening.”

“Do you think I don’t want to send him back? Everyone everywhere is making my life miserable!”

I rose from my desk. I was already irritated by the unfamiliar furniture.

What a situation! We had abandoned our excellently organized office and were now handling official business in a gloomy, remote wing of the palace. All to keep Persephius at bay. 

He had been pestering me persistently, like a stork. Although he kept quiet when I was working, during council meetings, or receiving visitors, it wasn’t much help. His mere presence drew all my attention. So this was our only option.

Persephius shone like the sun in this underworld. Those vivid golden locks and blue eyes! 

It was strange. The more his chiton became soiled with bone dust, the taller and broader-shouldered he appeared. The more precariously the leather straps of his sandals threatened to break, the more noticeable his long legs became, muscled like a king’s warhorse. 

Not just me but even my attendants who needed to focus on their duties kept glancing at him, their attention divided.

With my hands on my hips, I said:

“My position on him has been consistent. I’ve given him no room for hope. He must be excited, feeling like a man for the first time in his life. Leave him be. He’ll calm down soon enough and give up.”

“He’ll certainly calm down. From my memory, that daffodil youth hasn’t been calm even once since arriving in the underworld.”

“Then what? What do you suggest? Should we bundle him up and toss him back to the surface, just like you said before?”

“That would have been wonderful. But now even I can’t lay a hand on him.”

“Suddenly so humble?”

“How could a subordinate touch what the Underworld Queen possesses? That would be clear treason.”

“Possesses!”

Instead of replying, Thanatos pursed his lips, looking equally frustrated. He resembled a bull snorting in irritation. I too gave up continuing the conversation.

Just then, there was a knock at the firmly closed door. Thanatos and I locked eyes. Had Persephius found us even here?

The knocking quickly abandoned courtesy and grew more insistent, like someone pounding on their chest in frustration.

“Lord Hades, it’s Momus! Open this damned door!”

Thankfully, the visitor was Momus. As soon as Thanatos heard Momus’s curse, he immediately went to unlock and open the door.

Momus was breathing heavily. Whether from hurrying or from his natural tendency to overflow with complaints, we would soon find out.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh, don’t even get me started.”

His tunic kept slipping off one shoulder, which probably added to his irritation. Momus continuously adjusted it as he entered the room.

“That troublesome pretty boy has finally gone into the treasure vault. He wouldn’t listen when you told him to take whatever he wanted!”

“Persephius opened my vault?”

“Yes. Well, we don’t exactly post guards in front of it. Who in the underworld would dare touch what belongs to Lord Hades? But this fellow… or rather, this person is different and quite concerning.”

This isn’t something Momus needed to rush here panting to tattle about. The treasure vault, hmm. He must be getting bored after losing track of me. 

Besides, Persephius was born with an honest nature, incapable of shadows. Petty theft or sinister greed were far from his character. And wasn’t it I who told him he could enter my vault and take whatever he wanted? 

I saw no potential problem. 

However, I didn’t share my assessment with Momus, not wanting to disappoint him.

“So, did he finish admiring my treasures and leave?”

“No, that’s why I’ve come to tell you. He’s still holed up in there! Has been for quite a while! Eris asked him what he was doing from outside, but he didn’t even respond. Who knows what he’s plotting!”

Momus said, frantically waving both hands. I got the impression he hadn’t yet come to his main point.

‘He wants me to personally drag that handsome mouse out. His complaint is justified, since someone not belonging to the underworld is rummaging through Plutus’s treasures alone. But since both the treasure vault and the mouse have passed through my hands, he can’t quite bring himself to ask directly.’

I glanced at Thanatos. His face revealed an intense conflict. 

He seemed torn between wanting to immediately capture Persephius and drag him out, and the fact that this would ultimately require me to face Persephius. Thanatos had absolutely no immunity to the childlike courtship Persephius showered on me.

Nothing is easy. I sighed.

“Let’s go. If he’s found a treasure he likes, I’ll have to try persuading him again.”

One advantage of being both Hades and Plutus is that all minerals buried underground, all gold and silver and gems of every color, belong to me. 

Consequently, the treasure vault located in the deepest basement of the palace was so vast that even I couldn’t be certain of its dimensions. 

It would be more accurate to say that they found a space suitable for piling up the Underworld Queen’s treasures and then built the palace on top of it.

A door made of black iron was attached to a cave deeply carved with stalactites and marble. It was a massive double door, so tall one had to crane one’s neck to see the top. 

Not as beautiful as the gates of Olympus made of clouds, ivory, and gold, but functional. It was incredibly heavy, and enchanted so that even thousands of people couldn’t push it open unless they had divinity with ichor flowing in their veins.

There were no sentries guarding the front. Only two large braziers, the size of iron cauldrons, stood on either side. This demonstrated Hades’ power. 

It showed that among gods great and small, no one would dare touch what was his, that even coveting it was forbidden. No one wanted to incur the wrath of the goddess of death.

I stopped in front of the vault. The black iron door was open just enough for one person to enter.

“I’ll go in alone.”

I said to Momus, who had eagerly followed. Thanatos, who had been accompanying me like a cow being led to sl*ughter, quickly vanished at my words. 

Momus looked displeased but couldn’t defy me. In the end, with a face like a bloated fish, he bowed and retreated.

Now I was alone.

I took a moment to compose myself. I mentally rehearsed what to say when facing Persephius. Then, maintaining the dignity befitting the Queen of Death, I entered the vault.

I headed toward the section filled with chariots and armor made of gold. It was a place where a young man obsessed with adventure and heroism might want to stay forever. 

But all I found there was silence. The sword with an ivory blade and a pearl scabbard decorated with diamonds and emeralds appeared untouched. 

The same was true for the crescent blade that shone like silver. A gigantic spear that only a Titan could wield was wedged into the rough surface of the cave, proudly standing like a decoration. 

Horse armor inlaid with gold and jade was piled near a saddle embroidered with silver thread. Each item alone could buy a small kingdom.

Persephius was nowhere to be seen. There wasn’t even a trace of him touching anything.

‘If not here, then where could he be?’

Anxiety overwhelmed me. Didn’t they say Eris called from outside the vault but received no answer? What if he had slipped and fallen somewhere in this vast pile of treasures? What if he was hurt?

“Hadeia!”