Part Five
“Kore don’t be disobedient. Come now.” Zeus said. Gods he was so scary, I looked at Zoe fearfully.
“What do I do?” I asked her quietly.
“Don’t make your father repeat himself” blue eyes warned. Somehow his voice was even more scary yet magnetic than my fathers.
“Just go,” Zoe said to me.
“I don’t want to die” I said to her, Zoe just winked at me.
“Happy birthday Kore, good luck.” she said, pecking me on the cheek.
This was quickly becoming a night of horror.
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“Kore, follow me.” my father commanded.
I followed obediently behind my father and the mysterious man through several halls. After that we climbed several staircases. I knew exactly where I was going, but how did my father? I often forgot how he and my mother used to be desperately in love. He had spent so much time here before I was born, and then according to my mother disappeared at Heras threat of divorce.
Sometimes I wished he had stayed with us. I had missed my father so much growing up. I used to constantly daydream about what my life would have been like if he had left Hera for us. We could have been a cute family here in my mothers palace. My father could have watched me grow up, taught me my lessons, and played with me in the orchards.
I suddenly felt a wave of guilt imagining a life like that. I hated myself for being selfish, and to be completely honest my mother however had given me the world. Having Demeter for a mother was incredible. Was she strict? Yes, incredibly strict but also very loving, caring and kind. She had raised me to have discipline and strong morals, and not to mention how to fight.
“Are you enjoying your party Kore?” my father asked me.
“Yes father” I said to him.
“Kore is an excellent goddess. Her mother has been training her powers for so long now. She has tremendous potential.” Zeus said to me.
Was my father…selling me to this man? My mother had always warned me not to go off alone with my father, but he wouldn't harm me, right? Not on my birthday of all days.
“Thank you father,” I said to Zeus. I was very confused by his sudden interest in my potential.
We had arrived at our destination. We were in a smaller but still large stone garden of my mothers. It was circular and surrounded by roses. It was actually one of my favorite places on her estate.
“Kore, I’d like you to show us some of what you’ve been learning the last few years,” Zeus said to me.
“Ah” I said in relief. Zeus was showcasing my powers, not my body. Thank the gods.
“Of course,” I said to him.
In a short burst of power from the earth, I grew a perfect orchid for my father and dropped it into his hand.
“Beautiful,” he said with praise.
I then grew small floral vines that wrapped around perfectly into a sweet floral crown for my father, and then one for his guest as well.
“Thank you Kore” blue eyes said to me.
“Kore is being modest, her mothers favorite quality. Stop with the flowers Kore, show us your power with the earth,” Zeus said. I began to realize what was happening. My father was testing me. For what purpose? Was he considering making me an olympian?
“Yes father” I said.
"Look there." I said, pointing to a mountain a couple of miles away. I stared at it with concentration and pulled it higher from the ground.
"Are you kidding me?" The blue eyed man said as I caused a small earthquake from the mountain.
"Tectonic plates sir." I addressed the blue eyed man, looking down at the ground. I was happy I impressed him but wanted to remain humble.
"And the wind," my father said. Nothing was ever quite impressive enough for him.
"Above" I pointed to a cloud.
I pulled wind in harshly and shot it strongly at the clouds. The gods watched in awe as I reshaped the large clouds above, poking holes with gusts that would surely sink a ship or kill a man.
“Very impressive” blue eyes commented. My father still looked far from pleased.
“And life” my father said to me. The final test. It was my fathers greatest wish that I could create life. It was something that he always secretly wished for me to do. I just still to this day could not tell if he seeked to take advantage of my special power.
“Of course father” I said to him, approaching both the men and holding my hands together. I concentrated for a brief moment and then felt a flutter in my hand. I opened my hand to reveal a white butterfly. Blue eyes locked eyes with me in amazement. It felt like he wanted to say something but he just…wouldn’t.
In a blink the all too familiar feeling of my fathers electricity broke a piece of my soul. He had murdered the butterfly. I switched my gaze to my father.
I looked at my father with heartbreak.
“I-I haven’t yet been able to revive the dead father” I said to him, knowing he would be so disappointed to hear this.
"Try" my father commanded. I hated this sickening command.
My father had visited me before in my youth. I flashed back to when I was just six years old. My father had given me a small pet for my birthday, a bunny. In horror he had killed it in front of me. He then pushed me to save its life but I was so emotional I could not. Similar events continued to happen my entire life. My father wanted me more than anything to be able to revive the dead.
Once my father had even kept me locked up in Mount Olympus for days. He forced me to push my powers until they almost broke me. When my mother found out she was furious, but more importantly, I was furious.
I had a big secret. I actually did truly have the ability to revive the butterfly, but I didn’t want my father knowing this. In fact, I had had the ability to bring back the dead for years now. Athena, my trusted advisor, had witnessed me save a dead deer years ago. I remembered her warning to hide it from our father. To keep the power to myself. To this day I have successfully done just that.
“Try,” Zeus said to me again. I gulped. Blue eyes stared intensely at me, almost like, he felt sorry for me?
I held the small butterfly in my hand, desperate to conceal my true powers to my father. I pretended to make an effort. Squeezing my eyebrows together and looking although I was failing.
Luckily my mother suddenly appeared with Athena and her other close friends.
“Zeus, what on earth are you doing?” She asked my father, and so began the mind numbing bickering that had only ever resulted in my mother and father being in the same room for too long. As my mother whisked my father away I softly clenched my hand around the butterfly and released it casually at the side of my dress.
I brushed my hands off and began to walk back towards the party. However a casual, tall figure had been watching me.
“Who are you?” I half whispered to the man.
“Did you save the butterfly?” He asked me, my eyes went wide.
“Of course not,” I said to him, trying to walk around him. However he then casually moved and blocked my path.
“Lying to Zeus about a butterfly, hm.” blue eyes said to me,
“Well I highly doubt your ‘gambling brawl’ with Eros was truly the reason you two were fighting” I said back to him. Blue eyes bit his tongue.
“Would you create a lotus for me?” he asked me, opening his large hands to me. I looked down at his empty cupped hands and then back into his eyes. I found myself unable to speak of his captivating beauty. I slowly nodded and picked up my hands to cup his.
My hands were so incredibly small compared to his. I looked right into his eyes as I grew a white lotus flower into his large palms.
I watched in horror as the white flower turned black. He was killing it. As he saw my face dip into sadness he extended one of his hands and placed it on my cheek. He cupped my face and nodded to me.
“It’s okay, you can show me,” he said softly. I looked to the dead flower and then back to him. My face burned at his touch in such a strange, white hot way.
At that moment I decided, strangely, to trust him. A jolt of life from the earth to my feet to my fingertips healed the flower. Instead this time I pushed a faint blue glow into it. The flower was now not only alive again, but immortal. It would never die.
Blue eyes took a step back.
“How did you do that?” The blue eyed man asked me,
"Did you just-pull immortality? Did you draw from the underworld?" He asked me. I was happy I had impressed him.
“I did what you asked, now it’s time you answer my question” I said to him,
“No seriously, Kore, how did you-” blue eyes was cut off by my father, who by the looks of it, was not happy.
“Hades! Let’s go”
My jaw dropped.
Hades, the death.
I never thought he would do that to me after I learned his identity.
What I didn't realize at the time was that I couldn't even go home for a long time, but living with him.
If I had known what was waiting for me next, I would have rejected him in the first place. Maybe I would stay away from my father in the first place, maybe...
It doesn't matter anymore.
Hades never had any intention of letting me leave.
I can never truly leave the underworld...
But at that moment I didn't realize.