Chapter 4: The Confession

In a dark room furnished with splendid tapestries and silk curtains, Persephone lay sobbing by herself. Her mind still relived the terrible journey down into the strange unpleasant world. She remembered flying on the beaten gold chariot across the black rivers and the innumerable moving shades lingered by a massive gate. She saw a gigantic beast with three bobbing heads, barking in a fit of excitement.

The frightened maiden cried and tried to wriggle herself free, but the strong grip that held her was unshakable. Her pleas and protests went unheard. All she saw from the black-robed woman, who had taken her against her will, was the same pale mask-like face. And when those sparkling black eyes turned to her, they pierced through her soul with such intensity she almost fainted. Persephone felt a gripping chill in her body, and everything else passed by in a blur.

The next thing she reckoned, she was in this great chamber all alone.

Persephone had questioned what she did to warrant being subjected to such cruelty but she found no mistake in her past nor had she remembered having offended the Mistress of Soul. So why did this dreadful goddess take her down to the Underworld? Her mother would be worried sick and frantic when she did not return home. Persephone now longed for the comfort of her mother's ample bosom. The whole time she wept, thinking of the earth goddess and her nymph companions. She missed how they would please her moods and cheer her heart by teasing her with many a quip and jest to make her smile and laugh.

The distraught goddess went on weeping by the side of the bronze brazier, which burned bright purple flames. Its light only made the room gloomier. It wasn't long until the grieving maiden finally fell asleep from exhaustion.

While she was sleeping, the door opened soundlessly and then entered a robust, graceful figure in an impossibly long black tunic that dragged across the floor.

Hades's shadow loomed over the unconscious maiden. She watched her for a moment before she knelt beside Persephone. The goddess reached her hand out to touch that tear-stained cheek. Hades felt an unfamiliar pang of pity for the girl, but she knew this was the only way she could have her.

Persephone's skin was warm against her cold fingers, so warm and soft that Hades who was afraid of no one became terrified of spoiling such a delicate thing. The goddess felt her heart quicken inside her chest. The beats were loud and unsettling in her ears. She withdrew her hand from the sleeping girl then stood up. A few moments passed in silence, then Hades tore her ardent gaze away from the maiden and left the chamber.

After the first few days of haste and strangeness, Persephone began to feel even sadder. She found herself unable to cry despite the unkind reality. She finally realized she hardly had any tear left.

During her unwilling stay, Persephone was attended to by the maids in Hades's Palace. They were the Underworld nymphs and daughters of the river Styx, Cocytus, or Acheron. Though they had intriguing beauty, Persephone found them strange and different from the nymphs in her mother's wood. They rarely spoke, let alone gossip or sing. The young goddess could learn nothing from them.

Each morning, the bath was already prepared for her in the next chamber. It had an indoor pool, which filled with fragrant warm water. Fleecy towels, a jeweled comb, and a flask of perfumed oil were laid out ready along with dresses spun in gold and silver threads.

The nymphs also brought to her chamber the most delicious foods, but Persephone made herself difficult to please. She would neither eat nor drink. She was also waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. Persephone waited and waited until she nearly lost her mind to anxiety and silence.

Then on the fourth night, while she was asleep in her grandiose bed, a strange chill came over her. She stirred but did not wake. She heard a lovely voice speaking in her ear -a resonant golden voice speaking so softly that she thought she was dreaming.

"You are Persephone, the most beautiful maiden in all the world. Beautiful enough to make even the goddess of love grow jealous. I have longed for you so much I do not know what to do."

Persephone slowly opened her heavy-lidded eyes yet she saw no one in the room. As she drifted back to sleep, she felt a weight of warm softness pressing upon her. There was a tranquil feeling coursing through her body and she sighed. In the dream-like state, she felt a soft fluttering upon her chest then up her exposed throat and warm cheek. It was like wet cotton or the belly of fat bees pressing upon her skins and as if cold lips were moving in passion. Her whole being burned hot underneath the thin silk gown. At last, she realized something was moving stealthily atop her, pleasuring her.

A sudden fear recoiled like a snake in the pit of her stomach and Persephone snapped wide awake. Her hands instinctively pushed the invisible weight off of her and she sat up. Her brilliant eyes opened and looked straight at the pair of obsidian ones that she could not see.

"Who's that?" Persephone cried.

She could hear another heavy breathing and the thumping of heart as quickly as her own. In the deep silence, right in front of her eyes, a radiant face revealed itself, first the elegant narrow jaw then the proud cheekbones and the pair of shimmering eyes as black as the river Styx. Silken strands of raven hair unraveled and flowed heavily over a set of slender shoulders.

Hades finally appeared from the dark as she removed the Helm of Invisibility from her head.

Persephone gasped at the sight of the goddess and she quickly backed herself away in fright.

"Your unexpected coldness towards me," Hades began to speak, eyes piercing, "has shown me how fruitless my patience is with you."

Persephone was too shocked to speak. She kept looking at the goddess fearfully. This only led Hades to her own distress, but she tried to act tenderly to ease the maiden's dread.

"Don't be afraid of me," she said again, her voice softened even more. "You know not the power which impelled me to do what I have done."

Just so, Persephone was reminded of the cruel way Hades had frightened her when she came charging out of that hole in the ground in her golden chariot. She finally found her voice and spoke to the dark mistress in disdain.

"Why did you bring me here? Take me back now! I wish to go home."

"This is your home now, Persephone," Hades said. "You can have everything that is mine-everything you ever wanted. Now that the gods know of our meeting in this way, I shall take this opportunity to confess my affection to you. Stay here with me, sweet Persephone, and be my queen."

"No! My mother is waiting for me. I have flowers to tend to. Here is not the world I long to be!" Persephone began to cry, large tears rolled down her cheeks like sparkling diamonds. "If you don't return me to my beloved mother, I shall starve and die of sorrow and refuse to succumb to your oppression. When my body withers, and thus be blown off by the wind, you will know you are the cause that draws me to my doom!"

Hades frowned deeply at the maiden's declaration. Her vermillion lips pressed into a hard line in distaste.

"I began to feel a strange passion since the day I met you," the goddess said. "It torments my heart even more now that you're so stubborn. I shall risk the wrath of your mother and make you mine anyway."

"No! No! I just want to go home!" Persephone covered her face in her hands and cried harder. She could sense, too, that Hades was furious but she kept on weeping. The dark goddess then rose from the bed.

"Cry all you want but you will remain here with me forever and always," the dark goddess said in an exasperated voice and stormed out of the room. After the heavy doors slammed shut, Persephone could hear Hades's angry voice lingering by the entrance.

"She's like a baby! Always crying," Hades spoke to someone outside, "She won't listen to me. The gods be damned!"

Another voice replied in a shilling, high-pitch tone, "Give her time, good Hades. Soon, she will learn to appreciate your company."

"I do hope so, or this will surely bring madness upon me!"

Persephone listened as their footsteps echoed down the hall and faded into the still air. She curled herself into a ball, and soon her pillows were drenched from soaking up tears of her despair.