Valentine.

The Land of the Dead.

For full experience, readers are strongly encouraged to read with the music.

My eyes are squeezed shut and my body is frozen in an overwhelming rush of fear. Once I feel the environment becoming steady again, I finally open them. The residual nausea combined with the shock of what greets my vision, prompt me to retch all over the black stone beneath me. I pant and heave as my hands clasp over my aching stomach. My gaze remains fixated on my bare feet resting against the cool, now tainted floor.

"Pitiful" spits Hades, having finally released his hold over my body and mind. Though my vision has done a much better job at adjusting to the newfound dark-lit surroundings, the foyer still spins. I refuse to believe where I am. I simply refuse. Hades had been banished to the Underworld long-ago. A place I had promised myself never to end up. A place I now find myself standing in with no idea how I was to escape. Leaving the Underworld wasn't as simple as leaving Olympus. Once you were in the realm of lost souls, you needed express permission from its ruler, to leave. Something even Hades had been prohibited from granting himself when his father died.

I sob defeated, as the cooling sensation of the hard stone sends tingles into the bottoms of my feet and all the way up my spine. He takes a step closer, and plants his feet together right in front of me. My lips quiver as I try to process how it is that we were standing here. He should not have been able to step foot on Olympus. One can't simply teleport from the Underworld. That was impossible. Even of a god. That kind of power was only afforded to the Lord of the Sky.

My mind is rushing a thousand miles per hour as I take in the large, concave slabs of stone surrounding us. Every crook in sight is doused in a somber midnight hue, save for the glowing red torches adorning the dark-crystal walls. The grandiose, tinted windows give view to a large, steel gate which completely surrounds the entire building.

The underworld was nothing like Olympus. Nothing. Its hollowing corridors and arching pillars make me wish I were back in the cerulean cage I had so dreaded. Back in Valentine's castle. Though lively, black clouds hover above, contrasting against an ashen sky. No green trees sprouted from large grass fields here. All forms of plant life in the Underworld bore the same dark-grey layer of permanent soot.

Knights upon knights march about in unison, all wearing the same dark armor Hades had worn when he'd abducted me. No semi-friendly sentinels with differing glares like in the sky palace. No distinguishable faces, for they were all hooded and masked to the brim with near-obsidian grade metal. The sight makes me want to cry some more, but I must concentrate. I needed find a way out of here, or there was no way I was going to survive. Plus, I couldn't let him use me to destroy Valentine. I needed to think.

I turn a pleading glance over to Hades, his hands resting in his pockets. His armor had been exchanged for black slacks and a black dress-shirt, which remained unbuttoned at the collar. His muscular frame stood tall and firm, and a faint white aurora outlined his body- just like all the other lords. Just like Valentine. The thought of him brings more tears to the brim of my eyes, and I have to fight down the urge to break down again. I need to be strong. Not just for my sake, but for his. If Hades were to get his hands on the crown...

"You underestimate me, my queen" he mocks interrupting my nebulous cloud of thoughts. As he lets out a deep breath, his silvery gaze turns distant and serious. "Do you know, Lillith, what it feels like to be stripped of your dignity and honor?" He takes another very slow step towards me, his hands still stuffed in his pockets. "To be shunned and exiled? To be locked away?" he continues motioning around him, my gaze following along the haunting paintings adorning the dark walls. All portraits. Sad portraits made in nothing but greyscale to complement the midnight-black stone they wistfully hung from.