The Minoan Rhapsody

The Nekromanteion

Demeter stood in the middle of an empty hall.  Its floor was a bottomless abyss  giving no feel on her feet as she walked on it. Bordering the featureless space, a row of glistening white columns made up of souls standing on each other's shoulders rose from the darkness of the abyss towards a ceiling of dark thunderclouds in constant motion.

          "Why have you brought me here?" She asked.

          "We couldn't really talk back at Olympus," Hades appeared behind her. His robe no longer black was now a glowing white.

          "There is nothing for us to talk about.  I don't know where Persephone is."

          "You've always complained the realm of the dead is no place for your daughter." As he leaned to seat, a throne made of dark smoke materialized for him. He crossed his legs.  "Yet you've never visited me. Would you like to sit?"

          "There is nowhere for me to sit.  Besides, I'm not staying."

          "There is always a seat for you here if you wish it. I assure you our thrones are far more comfortable than those stone and metal monoliths you all sit on at the main hall." He leaned forward and raised the eyebrow above his grey eye. "You do know you can't leave unless I wish it, don't you? " He leaned back. "Suit yourself. Stand."

          Demeter crossed her arms and walked from side to side.  Her steps made no sounds.  Their voices had no echoes.  "Is this your chamber?  Is this where you keep my daughter?  A room of endless darkness and silence – utter loneliness?"

          "Loneliness?  There is no loneliness here.  Your fear blinds you to your surroundings." He bragged behind a smile hidden by his thick grey beard. As he waived his hands, countless ghosts revealed themselves.  Children playing, lovers loving, workers working, elderly holding hands – all in random directions, up, down and from all sides.  From the bottom of the abyss to the thunderclouds above, the low indistinct chatter of their eternal conversations and laughter suddenly filled the room.

          Demeter looked around her. The souls walked right through her as if she weren't there. Her eyes wanted to flee out of their sockets. "Is this what you call company?  Lost, lamenting souls?"

          "You must be confused.  This is the house of the dead, not the Fields of Mourning." As Hades stood, his throne disappeared, and the ghosts turned invisible once more. "Come, walk with me." 

          Demeter reluctantly followed her brother's lead through the endless hall lit up by the soul columns.

          He continued, "You think existing in a world barren of light and hope is unpleasant, but the dead don't need light, or hope.  Where there is no light, shadows don't lurk.  Contempt fills the void of hope. There is nothing to fear, no nightmares-"

          "You know this isn't true."

          Hades stopped.  In front of him, a brazen door stone behind iron gates within a threshold of bronze materialized.  Two Giants with a hundred arms each, stood guard. They acknowledged Hades presence.

          Cold creeped out Demeter's skin.

"Tartarus," The Dark One said. "This is where dread is imprisoned, not in my house."

The gates faded in the darkness.  They stood on a Pavilion, overlooking the underworld.

"I thought your dungeon was made of gold," Demeter said while looking at the dark silhouette of Hades palace hiding behind a veil of thick haze. 

"The Nekromanteion can be anything you want it to be: gold, ivory or stone." His palace changed appearance with his every word. "Persephone is not a prisoner here.  She is free to roam anywhere she likes within my realm," he said as he escorted his sister to the edge of the Pavilion.  Waiving his hand once more, a clear view of the underworld opened to Demeter's eyes.

Underneath a glowing, rippling ceiling of souls, bordered by cliffs encrusted with precious metals and stones, a vast landscape spread as far as the eye could see.  Meadows were crisscrossed by rivers, gardens, orchards, and trails lined with cypress trees. Elysium's golden grain fields lay at the center, like an island that all rivers encircled. Flocks of black sheep resembled speckles on a golden canvas. Souls tended to their chosen chores before rising to the ceiling while others descended.  Each taking turns to either light the land from above or to care for it from below. The gloomy distance pointed towards the Asphodel Meadows, were wasted lives who served no purpose roamed in hopeless search of redemption.  Further away, darkness followed a river of fire – the path towards Tartarus. Edging the underworld, a river of silver fed cascades of molten rock which flowed up the cliffs, past the ceiling.

"There is no chaos, no needs, no despair. All is in its rightful order." With a wave of his hand they stood in the middle of the Elysium Fields.

A man and a woman were picking up pomegranates from a nearby tree. When they saw the Gods, they smiled and walked towards them.

"Kadmos, Harmonia. I'm glad to see you are back to your old selves," Hades greeted with a smile.

"It is good to see you too, Hades," Harmonia replied.

"You must be Demeter," Kadmos guessed.

"How would you know?" The Goddess asked.

"No one else would wear a veil in Elysium," Harmonia pointed out as she offered a pomegranate to Hades.

"It is good to see you both.  Can you give us a moment?  We are talking godly things," Hades winked at them while grabbing the fruit.

"Of course." Kadmos embraced him, while Harmonia kissed him on the cheek. They picked up the basket they filled with fruit and walked away, holding hands.

"Why would this not be a place suitable for your daughter?" Hades asked while offering the pomegranate to Demeter.

She took the fruit and paused, staring at it.

"It's taste is so sweet, nothing will ever be the same again for you," Hades tempted.

The hoot of a black owl perching within the branches of the pomegranate tree startled her.

She scowled and dejectedly threw the fruit to the ground. "Why do you try to deceive me? Your charms didn't work on me before.  They will not now. The grudge you still hold against me because I rejected you is what drives your obsession for my daughter. We both know Persephone is a tool in your revenge." Demeter leaned back and a smoke throne materialized for her to seat on.  She crossed her legs.

Hades frowned and waived his hand.  They were back in the hall of the Nekromanteion. "You've always spent eternity dwelling in the past."

Demeter smirked as she raised her eyebrow. "Says the one who roams among the dead."

Hades, The Dark One turned somber.  "I wouldn't have been by Persephone's side this long, faithfully, if I didn't care for her. I want her back, not because I wish to perpetuate your punishment, but because she is my peace, my smile, my eternity."

"Is this the way you ask for my consent after this long? You are not having it."

Hades sighed and stepped back.

The smoke from the throne Demeter was sitting on wrapped her, immobilizing the Goddess.

"You can't do this!" She yelled while struggling to get free. "It is forbidden! I am one of the twelve!"

Hades semblance drew heavy as he sat in his throne.  "You forget, I am one of the three and you are in my realm."

Low deep growls drew chills on Demeter's spine.  She stopped resisting upon seeing the hulk of Cerberus, Hades' three-headed dog, approaching her from behind. As it passed by the Goddess, one of its heads turned and stared at her with its piercing, unblinking ruby eyes. It showed her its onyx teeth as she smelled its rancid breath. Past Demeter, the snake that was its tail kept looking lifelessly at her, its tongue licking her scent off the air.

Cerberus sat by Hades side, who allowed the snakes from the dog's manes to nip at the fingers of his left hand. An obsidian bident with black diamond tips materialized in his right hand.  His robe lit up in black fire. Upon his command Grief, Anxiety, Old Age, Need, Agony and Guilt materialized and bowed to him.  They turned and faced Demeter.

"Greet your fears," the Dark One said. "They are here for you," he crossed his legs. "Now, where is Persephone?"