Daughter of Goddess Demeter and the God Zeus, Queen of the Underworld, known for her naive yet kind nature, as well as her beauty. She caught the eye of Hades, the God of the Underworld, who wanted nothing more than to make the beautiful maiden his...
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Hades had promised her that she would be able to find beauty in the darkness that was the Underworld and if Kore was being honest with herself, she didn't believe him at first. How could a place where the rays of the sun did not reach, could find anything remotely beautiful was beyond the mind of the young goddess. But she was limited to what she saw as beauty as she had only grown up with the tales of what beauty was defined by her mother and the other goddesses. Light, color, and softness were praised, whereas the dark was always something to be feared or avoided altogether.
His tone was confident as he reassured her that she would be able to find something beautiful in the Underworld even if it wasn't in the most traditional sense that she initially thought of. The screams and cries of the trapped souls that resided under his reign caused shivers to run down her spine as she walked alongside him. Her hands gripped his arms tighter as she looked around, wondering how one could remain so calm with the torturous sounds in the background.
"Do the painful cries of others bring you joy?" She questioned him, peering up at the God. He paused for a second, coming to a stop before glancing down at her.
"If it were the painful cries of the innocent, I would weep beside them, but the cries you hear down here, do not belong to the good," he informed her. "Monsters do not exist solely in the form of beasts, but they can appear in man as well. Those who commit horrible acts and crimes are brought down here where they cannot hurt anyone any longer. But for the rest of eternity, they will suffer the pain that they have inflicted on others. Do not pity those who scream down here, they do not deserve it."
Suddenly, the howls and the yells didn't bring about the same eerie feeling to Kore, they had just become the sounds of the well-deserved punishments for those that acted against the peace of the world.
"Did you always wish to be down here?" Kore asked him another question. "Or did you seek the position of Zeus or Poseidon?"
Kore was asking all the daring questions without knowing what Hades' reaction would be, he was the one reigning over the Underworld, one would have to assume there would be some darkness to him. Perhaps he favored the darkness above Zeus and Poseidon, but that didn't seem to be the case as he shook his head.
"Fate had it that I would preside over the Underworld," Hades said, "I did not wish to be down here at first. It seemed highly unfair to be deprived of the light or the beauty of the waters..."
"What has changed your mind?"
"Come, I will show you," he told her, taking her hand and leading her forward. They arrived at the edge of the waters that moved with strength carving the path between the Underworld and the Earth. The River Styx where many had sworn their oaths upon it had a power all of its own and there were many that did not dare to come close to the waters.
There was one, however, who made his living crossing the River Styx with the use of his boat.
"Charon!" Hades called out to the boat in the distance, bringing the man to turn around. Kore sunk back, hiding slightly behind Hades for a moment as she peeked out. The man took on the appearance of a ragged fisherman with the unkempt hair that swirled about like dark smoke. He was dressed in robes of a deep red, an oar in one hand that seemed stained with blood.
