(Words: 3175)
The Underworld.
A black raven cut through the drifting layers of death fog and arrived at a pitch black temple located at the border of Tartarus.
At the sound of faint wing beats, Hades, who was trimming the branches of a potted plant, looked up at the little creature that landed on the table before him and reached out to take a golden branch from its loosened claws.
His gaze swept over a line of secret text carved into the golden branch as Hades paused slightly.
After carefully confirming the content several times, the Underworld King's gloomy face erupted with sudden wild delight.
He immediately dropped the scissors, changed into a fresh set of clothing, then transformed into a stream of black smoke that wrapped around the raven on the table and flew toward that lush, vibrant garden.
It took barely a quarter of an hour for Hades to reach his destination.
His mist form body returned to its original shape and landed at the garden's outer perimeter.
As though sensing a visitor's arrival, the hedges and flowers in the garden automatically parted to form a clear path leading straight into the garden's depths.
Hades restrained his excitement, smoothed down his clothing several times to confirm there was not a single wrinkle, and then followed the path's guidance forward.
Through layered groves and winding fragrant grass, Hades turned through several bends before the scenery before him suddenly opened up.
An elegant and exquisite courtyard came into view.
Murmuring water played a clear and pleasant melody, as though capable of washing away the fatigue of body and mind.
Carefully tended flowers and plants lined both sides of the path, competing in brilliance.
And before the wide open doors of the sleeping chamber, Persephone, in a long trailing dress, stood on the steps and beckoned to him.
"You came?"
"Oh. Oh yes."
Persephone taking the initiative to speak first was something completely out of the ordinary, leaving Hades's mind unable to quite keep up as he gave a wooden nod and stood rooted to the spot.
Seeing her husband's dazed reaction, the Queen of the Underworld let out a sigh and proactively stepped forward, reached out to take Hades's arm, and spoke quietly.
"Come. Let us go inside and sit first."
Feeling the softness in his arm and breathing in the fragrant breeze drifting from beside him, Hades, long accustomed to cold treatment, felt somewhat overwhelmed by this favor and was led inside the room by the Queen of the Underworld like a puppet on strings.
The moment they entered, a rich aroma of food and dishes rushed into his nostrils as over a dozen fragrant, beautiful, delicious dishes covered the table, creating a warm and grand atmosphere.
"Soup is ready!"
Accompanied by a raised announcement, a certain silver haired, violet eyed young man carried a pot of chicken soup out of the kitchen with a beaming smile.
Seeing that unexpected figure, the Hades who had been stuck in a crashed state finally came back online.
"Lorne? You are here too?"
"I came to deliver a message."
Lorne nodded, set the chicken soup on the table, and continued explaining. "Melinoe has been away from home for some time now and has been missing you both a great deal.
So I made a special trip down to the Underworld this time to bring some news related to her, so you would know how she is doing and not have to worry."
Hearing that sincere explanation, several threads of warmth entered Hades's gaze.
Not bad.
The boy still remembered to think of the family.
At least entrusting his daughter to this young man was not a wasted effort.
Then the Underworld King, in somewhat better spirits, looked at the table full of dishes.
"You made these?"
"Most of it was made by Under..." Under Persephone's slightly reproachful gaze, Lorne hurriedly corrected himself. "...by Mother.
I mainly helped out."
Hades looked at his wife to one side with surprise upon hearing this.
'She personally cooked today of all days. And she invited him?'
"Melinoe is your daughter.
You naturally have every right to know about her affairs. So Lorne hoped you would be present as well."
Persephone spoke lightly and directly offered up the mastermind.
Hades, upon hearing this, felt deep pleasure and moved emotion rise in the look he turned on the person across from him.
'Excellent. This son was not taken in for nothing. When something comes up, he truly does think of this foster father of his!'
"Enough talking. The food is going cold. Let us all sit down and eat first."
At this point, Lorne very obediently pulled out chairs for Hades and Persephone, ushering the two of them to sit down like a dutiful and responsible eldest son.
With this lubricant applied, the long frozen marital relationship between the Underworld King and Queen gradually thawed into warmth.
In this harmonious atmosphere, Lorne also sat down and, while continuing to warm the atmosphere under the banner of a family dinner, seized upon Hades and lavished him with praise, inadvertently revealing the Underworld King's silent efforts behind the scenes.
Persephone, hearing that Hades had actually been investigating the secrets of Elysium behind the scenes and had privately released Lorne and her precious daughter, could not help taking several extra looks at her taciturn husband.
Warmth rose in waves through her eyes as she reached across and piled several dishes into Hades's plate, speaking quietly.
"I made these. Eat more."
Hearing the gentleness and unmistakable intimacy in his wife's words, the overwhelmed Hades nearly shed tears on the spot.
And Lorne, witnessing all of this, quietly commented to himself.
Whether to call this deep devotion or hopeless infatuation was hard to say.
But at this rate, without me supporting things along, this man would likely struggle to hold his head up in front of his wife for the rest of his life.
In fact, the change in Persephone's view of Hades was not something that formed easily from a single dinner.
Lorne put in considerable work behind the scenes.
Ever since he took Melinoe away, he not only taught that troublesome little sister to write letters home and put on a well behaved act to make Persephone happy, but he also repeatedly spoke well of Hades in those letters, attaching labels like "deeply devoted," "family minded," and "honest and loyal" to this foster father of his.
In a subtle, gradual way, Persephone's view of Hades slowly shifted.
Lorne was not surprised by this at all.
After all, speaking fairly, although Hades was not a qualified lover, he was still a qualified husband.
All these years, he treated Persephone well, one could even say to the point of indulgence.
His only stain was the unsavory method he used when pursuing Persephone long ago.
But in Greece, examples of the use of force were everywhere.
It could hardly be called an unforgivable crime, and washing it clean was not difficult at all.
Besides, a certain Olympian God king was the one pulling the strings behind the whole affair.
At the time, Persephone had just suffered the grief of losing a child.
To ease her heart, she went with nymph companions to gather flowers in the fields of Enna.
The Earth Goddess Gaia, with Zeus's tacit approval, caused a narcissus to bloom from the earth.
In the process of gathering flowers, Persephone unknowingly drifted away from her friends, and just as she reached for that seemingly harmless narcissus, the earth split open.
Four black horses pulled Hades's chariot into view, and he forcibly took Persephone onto the chariot, driving back to the Underworld.
Hades had long loved her and only carried out this plan with Zeus's tacit consent and assistance.
Precisely because of this, the Underworld King was content to remain in the sunless Underworld, resolutely supporting Zeus's rule and never reaching for Olympus's royal authority.
Her son was killed without a clear cause, she herself was used, and then handed off to an outsider as a tool for winning someone's allegiance.
Even if Persephone had grievances and resentment, under a certain seasoned master's guidance, she would redirect that resentment toward the true culprit.
And with Lorne periodically bringing up the examples of Hera and the Sea Queen for comparison, the contrast made Hades's honest and devoted character appear all the more rare and precious among his brothers.
But this foster father truly deserved his reputation as a top tier man of few words.
Even when Lorne's assists were practically smoking with effort, Hades maintained an attitude of quietly giving without asking anything in return, not once mentioning to his wife that he investigated Elysium or let their daughter go.
Right up until today, Lorne had finally had the opportunity, through this family dinner, to credit his foster father formally.
And the results were plainly visible. Persephone not only maintained a warm expression toward Hades throughout, but she also, for the first time, kept piling food and refilling his bowl, leaving the Underworld King surrounded by such intense happiness that he almost suspected he was dreaming.
Seeing the relationship between the two completely broken through its ice, Lorne, the matchmaker, finally let out a breath of relief and brought up Melinoe's recent situation at the dinner table.
Speaking of it, this Goddess of Scheming's days on the War God Mountain were rather comfortable indeed.
On one hand, free from Hecate's management and without Hades and Persephone hovering over her, she could run wild to her heart's content in the vibrant human world.
The freedom was indescribable.
On the other hand, through shared temperament, she befriended Stheno, Euryale, and the terrible witch Circe.
The four of them spent their days going out in groups to torment passersby, or sneaking into the Athens Academy to cause trouble, earning themselves the title of "Athens's Four Pests."
Although each time they were caught, Hestia and Athena inevitably grabbed them for a thorough beating, they remained thoroughly undeterred and seemed to greatly enjoy this lively kind of life.
With the War God Mountain's food being excellent on top of it all, the thoroughly having forgotten home, Melinoe put on several pounds.
Of course, out of consideration for Hades and Persephone's feelings, and for Melinoe's sake, some things still deserved some beautification.
For instance, Melinoe missed them both very much and often talked about her parents in the Underworld, hoping to reunite with them as soon as possible one day.
Hades and Persephone felt both comforted and saddened upon hearing this.
As parents, how could they not wish to keep their daughter nearby and enjoy warm family days together?
But with that Hecate present, for the sake of their daughter's safety, they could only keep that wish buried in their hearts.
"Actually, a family reunion is not without a way."
After working his way around in a great circle and warming the atmosphere to the right degree, Lorne's eyes flickered at this moment as he produced the blade from behind the map.
"As long as Hecate can be driven out of the Underworld, no one will be able to disturb your peaceful life with Mother and your little sister anymore."
"Drive her away? How is that possible?"
Hades was somewhat unconvinced.
Knowing that Underworld Moon Goddess's cunning and strength well, he naturally harbored deep skepticism toward this wildly ambitious plan.
"How do you know if you never try?" Lorne spoke with gravity, then pulled open his outer clothing to reveal the increasingly active Wheel of Hecate on his chest and spoke with complete sincerity.
"This concerns not only whether Melinoe can be reunited with you and Mother, but also whether I myself can break free of this shackle. So I will do absolutely everything I can!"
Driving Hecate out of the Underworld would cut off her foundation.
Dealing with her would be far easier than here.
Hades understood Lorne's intention and, after a moment of thought, spoke slowly.
"Speak then. What do you need us to do?"
Lorne drew a deep breath and answered in a measured voice.
"I want to make another trip to Elysium to verify some guesses.
If successful, the plan should have an eight in ten chance of working."
Hades gave a slight nod upon hearing this.
"Good. Tomorrow I will send Hecate away under the pretense of a banquet."
"I will come along too."
The Queen of the Underworld, beside them, spoke quietly and, under the table, gripped her husband's somewhat rough, large hand tightly.
Her soft gaze looked at the foster son across the table as a sense of peace settled over her heart.
At this moment, she already regarded the two men before her as her complete support and was willing to be the pillar behind them both.
Lorne caught his foster mother's small movement under the table, gave a light cough, and proactively rose to take his leave.
"Time is pressing, so let me go make preparations first."
As he said this, he waved farewell to Hades and Persephone and walked toward the garden outside.
And just before leaving, he remembered to look back and gave Hades at the doorway a wink, his face full of teasing.
'This rascal!'
The Underworld King gave a quiet inward laugh and curse before turning to look at the Persephone beside him.
In the faint flickering of the glowstone lamp, his wife, who was once cold as frost, revealed a rare, tender softness, her beauty radiant as peach blossoms and enough to make the heart leap.
Her graceful upper body already completely leaned into his embrace.
Hades immediately understood and, at once swept his beloved wife up in his arms, turned and stepped into the sleeping chamber as the door behind them quietly closed.
The following day.
In the dim Arimaspian Cavern, a golden branch stuck into the ground flickered with alternating light and dark.
Sensing the special frequency of resonance, Lorne in meditation snapped his eyes open.
'It's time!'
Then, following his usual routine, he tossed the divine nectar wine and honey cakes he carried to Cerberus waiting at the cave entrance to keep him occupied, stepped out of the cave, and quietly set off toward Elysium.
Familiar ground and well worn paths.
All the way through without a single obstruction.
Lorne spent only half the time it took before, successfully slipping into Elysium and finding the ivory gate leading to the Dream of Truth.
Then, following Hades's instructions, he activated the Mark of the Dead on the back of his right hand and pressed the God seal flickering at its special frequency against the ivory gate.
A moment later, the white ivory gate rippled open like water disturbed by a stone, and a brilliantly strange dreamscape landscape appeared within it.
Preparations complete, Lorne drew a deep breath and stepped through the ivory gate.
After a familiar sensation of resistance, he was already standing on the dreamscape beach from his previous visit.
Only this time, there was no enthusiastic welcome from the Demon Ancestor Typhon.
Lorne swept a glance at the calm sea surface, a subtle smile rising on his face as he reached into his magical formation and took out a golden chalice, slowly tilting it.
A thread of golden red God blood poured down onto the sand and seawater at his feet, spreading and dyeing them as it went.
In an instant, the previously calm sea surface erupted in great crashing waves.
The typhoon in beast form gathered and roared.
The blue sky split with lightning and thunder as star formed eyes sent gazes of attention downward.
The ground beneath trembled with continuous rumbling as mountain peaks shaped like giants began violently shaking.
The entire deathly still world seemed to come alive in a single instant.
Faced with these omens arriving one after another, Lorne smiled with playful curiosity, tilted the golden chalice slightly to reveal the swirling golden red God blood within, and spoke with unhurried ease.
"Do you want this?"
In an instant, typhoon winds raised furious waves, star clouds tore through the heavens, the earth cracked open with fissures.
Different omens expressing the same inexpressible yearning.
Seeing this intense reaction, the conjecture in Lorne's heart was confirmed.
Just as he suspected, he and Hecate both carried the same source Possibility.
What Hecate could do, in theory so could he.
Such as waking these old Gods from their slumber and bestowing upon them the chance to return to the mortal world.
And precisely because of this special nature, he was targeted by the not yet sleeping Typhon the very moment he first set foot in the dreamscape world.
Now, as that God blood containing chance scattered down, one prisoner after another sensing this aura grew excited and agitated, surging madly toward Lorne on the beach.
"No need to rush. Hecate is still here. Even if you swallowed me whole it would do no good. And whether you could even manage that is another question."
Hearing that Warden God's name and the well reasoned analysis, the various consciousnesses that were just stirring up commotion settled down somewhat, though thick unwillingness still gathered and boiled throughout the entire dreamscape world.
"How about this. Lend me some of your power and divinity, and I will find a way to deal with her for you, rescuing you from your predicament."
One old God after another with barely any self awareness left collectively fell into silence.
Seeing this, Lorne pulled open his outer clothing as though feeling insulted, revealed the blazing Wheel of Hecate on his chest, and declared indignantly to prove himself.
"Do not trust me? I have a grudge against her too!"
However, the old Gods still gave no response, clearly not fully convinced of the other party's credibility or capability.
After these consecutive setbacks, Lorne steeled his heart and finally made his fierce declaration.
"Fine then. I will guarantee it with my own soul. That should be enough.
I hereby swear on the River Styx that I will do everything in my power to rescue you all.
Should I fail to keep my promise, or should I die along the way, my soul and all the divinity on my body belong entirely to you!"
"HUM! HUM! HUM! HUM!"
In an instant, the dreamscape world that was dead silent a moment before boiled with life once more.
One old God after another, now seeing hope, rushed to make their stance clear, competing to form a pact with the intruder before them.
If he succeeded, they could break free from this endless, unceasing dream.
If he failed, they could still obtain that thread of Possibility capable of freeing them from their trap.
No matter how they calculated it, they could not lose.
Agreed!
Looking at the excited old predecessors competing to come forward and extend him credit,
Lorne raised his hand and pressed it downward, his handsome face full of warm and radiant smiles.
"No need to rush. One at a time. There is enough for everyone."
(End of Chapter)