Sister [Descendants 3]

3.5

Hedith quickly rode Mavros to the castle after receiving a message from her sister. The meeting with the kingdoms is to be held today in the Auradon council room and she just slept through the morning. She regrets eating too much pomegranate jams last night.

"I'm here!" She announces herself before the servants can.

Inside sat all the rulers of the kingdoms under Auradon. Ben sits in the far end of the long elongated table and on the other end is a vacant seat for her. She saw some old heroes and some that had already succeeded their parents like Audrey. When King Philip's health started diminishing, Audrey took the role of Crowned Princess and with the help of her mother, she started ruling over their kingdom.

There was also Hercules who despite his age, still looks healthy enough for a couple more years of reign.

"Sorry I'm late."

"Aren't you always?" King Florian said to her with spite in his voice. But Hedith learned to ignore that. King Florian is one...peculiar person. Despite his wife forgiving Evie's mom for what she had done to her in the past, King Florian still harbors skepticism to some people of Villain blood.

Ben saved the atmosphere by clearing his throat and starting the meeting with the kingdoms.

"The first agenda this session is the concerns from the King of the Underworld which will be explained and discussed by his heir and representative, Princess Hedith," he said, urging Hedith to start.

After years of diplomat training, she got used to the eyes burning through her body. That's saying something since one of the most common people who would watch her orations would the god of Fire himself.

"Good morning to all of you," she greeted as she stands up, "My father, King Hades of the Underworld, had a predicament over the past weeks of missing souls. At first we thought it were just late delivery by Thanatos, the god of Death, but he didn't know what happened to the souls. Neither does the Messenger god of Olympus."

"Was this what Zeus was talking about?" Hercules asked, "He was having a talk with Hades about the imbalance in life and death lately."

"How does that concerns us, exactly?" King Florian scowls.

"I'm getting there. As for the imbalance, it is our kingdom's job to keep that delicate balance in check so I ventured to the mortal domain to seek help. It's not just the Underworld that the missing souls will affect, more so does the mortal realm."

"Could it be that there are people cheating death?" Queen Anna asked, concern painted in her face.

"There is no way to cheat death. The only reasonable explanation is that someone is hiding and stealing those souls from Death. And possibly to perform a resurrection ritual," Hedith answered and took the book she borrowed from Dr Facilier and opened it to the page that shows the illustration of the ritual.

"The ritual needs nine souls as sacrifice. Someone is trying to resurrect a person that had already crossed the River Styx and went into the Underworld. They had already took six. At this very moment, we don't know if the perpetrator had already added new victims," she said and the rulers stares at the illustration.

"Where is the exact place of the killings, Hedith?" Audrey asked. The issue is too big to pass out.

"That's the tricky thing. The stolen souls are located all over the Auradon, not just a specific kingdom. Although, I was able to find a pattern in the perpetrator's tracks, I am still not sure if the next place is what I think it is."

"Who could they possibly be resurrecting?" Hercules asked.

"Probably just someone they missed and love," King Florian said, dismissively.