“No one will notice if it’s just for a moment. I’ll go with you. We can make up an excuse.”

“What kind of trick is this? Did my mother tell you to test me?”

“Oh, absolutely not!”

Anthousai laughed brightly.

“I’m not offering to help you escape across the sea. I’m just offering to show you a cave deep in the valley near the daffodil fields.”

“My mother wouldn’t see the difference.”

“But you’re depressed now, Lady Persephone. Mental illness can be very dangerous. And you know well that your mother’s temple and the daffodil fields are too bright for resting. Day or night. If you rest briefly in the Acherusia Cave… you’ll feel much better. Isn’t that the place you’ve been looking for?”

“Since when have you been so interested in me?”

“Don’t say that. We always care only about you, Lady Persephone.”

It might have been a trap. But I couldn’t refuse.

I was fascinated by darkness. Day or night, awake or asleep, my mind was occupied only with darkness and the black palace.

And everyone probably noticed, but the cave exploration ended in failure. In a terribly unexpected direction.

Yes, it was a challenge that could never succeed from the start. How could I, who had spent my entire life among flowers, and a delicate hyacinth nymph explore Acherusia? Doesn’t it sound illogical just hearing about it? 

If even animals avoid a place rumored to connect to the underworld, it must be considerably dangerous, so how could we possibly go for a walk there? 

Right. I should have suspected Anthousai’s intentions for deliberately trying to lure me there. But I was Kore. Demeter’s virgin daughter. What could I know?

Since failure was inevitable, I won’t explain in detail how I got lost in Acherusia. I’ll just tell you how terrifying Acherusia was. 

After walking for a while through the forest, you come to an increasingly steep slope, and if you descend carefully to avoid slipping, you reach a shallow ravine where there are no trees or grass, only stone graves. 

Gray and mouse-colored stones with scattered black dots lay in sharp chunks at the bottom of the valley, filled with silence. The Acherusia Cave was a massive darkness pierced into the deepest part of the valley, at the corner where the ravine began. 

The cave entrance looked like a terrified man with his mouth wide open, and around it, even the birdsong and rustling commonly heard in the undergrowth had completely disappeared, creating a strange feeling.

Needless to say, not a speck of light could be found inside the cave. Not even a sense of vitality could be felt. 

None of the natural responses you would expect in an ordinary cave existed: no damp stream, no traces of bat droppings, no sounds of blind insects with many legs. 

Only silence and stillness, with an ominous atmosphere filling the air. Was Acherusia truly an entrance to another world?

My heart was racing, perhaps from fear. Just three steps in, it was so completely dark that it was difficult to move my feet. Moreover, the surface of the floor was pitted here and there, lurking like traps. 

Although I was fascinated by darkness, I wasn’t a fool who didn’t value my life. I would never have gone deeper than the point where the entrance was still visible. If only Anthousai hadn’t taken out the glowing pebbles.

“I can’t go any further. My feet will slip.”

When I grumbled, Anthousai opened a small silk pouch seemingly waiting for this moment. Inside were several small stones that sparkled with a pale blue color like dawn.

“I got them from Pan. I played with him for a while. Aren’t they fascinating?”

Pan? I frowned. My mother detested Pan and absolutely forbade him from approaching the fields where I stayed. Because of that, I had never seen him directly, but I knew he was a dissolute and mischievous being. 

My mother wouldn’t want a nymph who played with Pan near me. But Anthousai just smiled slyly.

“Since they glow in the dark, if we drop them one by one, we can find our way back later. Let’s go a bit deeper.”

It sounded quite plausible. Until I realized that the stones fell faster than expected and, in fact, weren’t permanent.

“But why are you suddenly drawn to darkness?”

Anthousai asked. I glanced at the glowing pebbles and replied.

“I’m not sure myself. Mother says it’s because I haven’t fully recovered from my illness yet…”

“So you don’t believe what Lady Demeter says?”

The passage we took at several forks in the road became increasingly narrow. At first, it seemed wide enough for a four-horse chariot to fly through, but now it was just spacious enough for two people to walk comfortably. 

Instead of answering, I walked while checking the ground beneath my feet.

The darkness, soft like silk, wrapped around me and then broke apart. Its density increased gradually until I couldn’t distinguish whether I was breathing in air or darkness. 

Was this the sensation I had been longing for? But it didn’t feel perfect. It was different from my dreams. 

In my dreams, I was completely alone in a grand and desolate palace, but now I had a nymph and Pan’s strange stones with me.

Despite my silence, Anthousai didn’t give up. She walked close beside me and chatted cheerfully.

“It’s really dark, isn’t it? I’ve never seen such a dark place even in my dreams.”

I was surprised when dreams suddenly came up as a topic.

“Do nymphs dream too?”

“Of course, everyone dreams. Morpheus works diligently.”

“Morpheus…”

“He’s a servant of the Underworld ruler. They say he decides whether dreams are real or false.”

The name was strangely familiar. Though I had never heard it before.

Anthousai, encouraged that I was participating in the conversation, persistently continued.

“They say dreams that are oddly memorable or troubling are hints planted by Morpheus. They could be prophecies or past events.”

After saying this, she suddenly linked her arm with mine and asked in a lowered voice.

“Seeing how you’re drawn to the story of Morpheus, you must be having dreams lately? What kind of dreams? Please tell me. I might be able to help.”

“It’s a strange dream. I don’t think talking to you about it would help.”

I pulled my arm out of Anthousai’s embrace irritably. It felt strangely unpleasant. It was like mud splashing on a new garment. 

When playing tag with nymphs or dancing in circles holding hands, physical contact was natural and I had never been conscious of it. But this time was different.

Come to think of it, I had become sensitive to contact with my mother and the nymphs after losing my memory. Could all of this be a coincidence?

“Don’t touch me freely. I’m a grown man, not a child or a puppy.”

When I snapped in anger, Anthousai’s eyes widened in surprise. I was Persephone, the virgin daughter of the great Demeter. 

No one was supposed to say that Persephone was a man. Even if it was Persephone himself.

“Oh my! Lady Persephone, you know you shouldn’t say such things.”

“What do I care? You’re the one who said this is a place my mother doesn’t know about. What harm could come from saying what I want in an empty cave without even a single bat?”

“My goodness, you’ve really changed. Someone who was once as happy and cheerful as a daffodil now acts prickly like a hungry bull. That dream must have done something to you, hasn’t it?”

I kept my mouth shut and continued walking. Almost believing that if I went deeper into the darkness, even Anthousai would disappear from sight.

“Could you at least tell me who appears in it? Please? I brought you all the way here, didn’t I? Consider it my reward.”

“I don’t know either!”

I replied curtly.

“You don’t know? You mean someone you don’t know appears in your dream?”

“Yes. That’s why I don’t want to talk about it. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It’s all I think about these days.”

After hearing my answer, Anthousai took out a stone and bounced it on the floor. She giggled as she did so.

“Why are you laughing?”

“You’re right, Lady Persephone. You really have grown into a man. Even the sweetest boy, honey-like, eventually dreams such dreams and becomes a man.”

“You’re a nymph. What do you know about men?”

“There are ways to know.”

Ah, irritation surged to the tips of my hair. I had just warned her not to treat me like a child, and as soon as those words ended, she treated me like an idiot again! 

I almost snapped that she was fortunate not to serve under Artemis, but I held back.

“I’m not a fool. Don’t act so smart.”

“When you speak like that, you sound even more manly.”

“Let’s just stop talking.”

I shook my head.

The path was getting narrower. Even the direction we had chosen at the recent three-way fork was vague. And I had no recollection of which way we had turned before that. I couldn’t even gauge how much time had passed. 

I should have just borrowed the pebbles and told Anthousai to wait outside the cave! 

My teeth clenched with regret. As long as another person was by my side, I would never have the luxury of being immersed in complete darkness to ruminate on my dreams.

And when the path actually ended, the end was full of unfortunate skulls. Perhaps they were curious like me, or had entered with the determination to starve to death in darkness due to a change of heart. 

A healthy deer in its right mind would never come this far. Oh, how chilling it was!

I stepped on something beneath my feet. It was a long white bone, over a foot in length. I swallowed dryly and looked at Anthousai.

“Let’s go back.”

And at that moment, the blue light that had sparsely illuminated our path went out playfully.

In the blocked cave underground where bones were scattered, there was nothing but suffocating darkness.

“What? What’s happening? Why did the lights go out?”

I jumped up. I knelt down and groped with my hands trying to find the pebbles, but I couldn’t distinguish well between bones and the original stones of the cave. I was frantically searching the floor.

Something was strange.

“You, did you know about this?”

Anthousai was too quiet. She wasn’t surprised or frightened like me. She was just calmly standing in one place. Almost like she had expected this.

I slowly stood up. With my hands full of bones and stone fragments.

“Anthousai. What have you done?”

In the artificially quiet moment, I could hear the nymph’s breathing. It was a hot and moist sound.

“Don’t worry. They’ll glow again in half a day.”

I instinctively took a step back. It gave me chills to think that Anthousai could also hear my breathing.

“You… you deliberately deceived me.”

“Lady Persephone, we’ll be safe. After half a day passes, we can return safely.”

“You want me to stay here for half a day?”

“Don’t be angry, Lady Persephone. You were looking for a dark place, weren’t you? You said you were tired of bright places.”

“Yes, but I didn’t want to be trapped in a place where I don’t know the way! Especially not with you!”

My whole body trembled with anger and helplessness. I felt like smashing my head against the stone wall and dying right there.

Why couldn’t I be the master of my own life? Because I was Persephone? Because I was called by the ridiculous excuse of Kore? Is that why I wasn’t respected? 

Yes, my mother didn’t respect me, so now even a mere nymph could toy with me at will. What was the point of living like this?

My chest felt like it would burst. My heart was beating so fast that I couldn’t breathe properly. I fumbled at my chest and grabbed my clothes, almost believing that would make breathing a little easier. 

But I couldn’t even properly put strength into my fist. Whether due to my rapid breathing, I just stupidly trembled. Look at this! 

I couldn’t even control my own limbs, so it was fitting that I was treated like a doll, disrespected by my mother and the nymphs all my life! My eyes grew hot. But I couldn’t cry.

Wasn’t Acherusia connected to the underworld? I thought it might be better to throw myself in there. At least I could choose death purely by my own will.

I am neither my mother’s daughter nor the nymphs’ toy. I am certainly not the beautiful spring maiden Kore. I didn’t want to live like that anymore.

I was Persephius.

The moment someone called me Persephius, I swore I would never live as Persephone again.

It was at that moment.

In the darkness without a speck of light, a flame suddenly rose that seemed to burn the eyes. Like a phoenix flying in from somewhere, red and yellow heat bloomed, illuminating the surroundings.

It was fiercely burning from the tip of the bone I was holding. Like an oil-soaked torch.

“What is this?”

I was utterly dumbfounded. I stared blankly at the torch.

“You’ve performed a miracle.”

Anthousai said in a cracked voice.

“Lady Persephone, you’ve gained power!”