Elysian Fields

CHAPTER 10

The hallway leading to the Reckoning Chamber was hot and humid. The rancid smells of eucalyptus and tea tree wafted beneath the door at the end of the corridor, assaulting Hades' senses. Each step brought him closer to the room where yet another woman's fate would be sealed. He reached the door, taking a customary pause and four deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth before nodding to the guard in cerulean guarding the door. It always bothered Hades that the guards' robes were the exact same shade as his own eyes. It seemed wrong...too planned out. He hated it. With a nod, the door swung open and the Reckoning officially began.

A fire roared in the center of the chamber, the heat oppressive and suffocating. He felt it in his mouth when he breathed, his eyes immediately growing parched and raw from the smoke billowing through the room. Five priestesses in mauve slunk around the edge of the flames, waving handfuls of burning sage, while five priestesses in gray slunk around those in mauve, waving branches of burning eucalyptus leaves. Menthol snaked into Hades' nostrils and settled in his lungs - the acrid fog of guilt filling his chest. To his right stood a lavish dais with two ornate thrones, a crown of braided laurel and eucalyptus leaves perched on the seat of each. He'd never sat on that dais and had no desire to do so today.

The priestesses continued their orbits around the solar pure, each allowing their eyes to meet Hades' momentarily before glancing away, though whether it was out of respect or fear, he was never quite certain. Each priestess's expression danced with the knowledge of secrets Hades was not privy to, though it seemed that there was an electric excitement in the air, one not common at these rituals.

Beginning his movements forward, the priestesses stopped their revolutions, coming to a halt. The flames around the pyre began to recede, revealing the shape of the woman selected as an offering; the same woman he would be sending to her death upon his refusal of marriage. Laying on a bed of leaves, her body was unmoving save for the faintest rise and fall of her chest. Auburn hair framed her face, which glowed in the flickering light. Cheeks smudged with ashes and reddened with heat, it took Hades a moment to realize he knew her; he'd seen her before.

"Kore," he breathed, clearing his throat and saying louder, "Kore!" The attempt to wake her and ask her to fight back against the reckoning was futile. She was either heavily sedated or already on the brink of death, but surely if they both refused...

The priestesses began chanting her name, soft whispers growing in volume with each passing repetition.

"Kore...Kore...Kore..." Voices rose in a symphony, her beautiful name beginning to sound like the squawking of birds, their talons scraping against the branches on which they perch. "Kore...Kore...Kore..."

Head swimming, Hades squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the voices of the priestesses, the roaring of the flames, the pungent burning herbs. There had to be a way to stop this. He'd met her before, he had a connection to her. He couldn't kill her; not the way he'd killed others, other's he'd never met before. The thought of picking up her limp body and running from the chamber crossed his mind, but before he could move from his place, the door beside the dais opened, revealing Zeus walking in, a cruel smile curling his lips.

"Kore...Kore...Kore..."

Any air left in the room was sucked out immediately upon the entrance of Zeus, his icy eyes and languid movements propelled him forward past the dais and to the edge of the circle of priestesses. The chants of Kore's name began to lose volume, settling at a low, ceaseless hum.

"Kore...Kore...Kore..."

Holding his hands aloft, Hades' brother chuckled, his too-white teeth gleaming in the fire's glow. Each priestess dropped to kneel in place, lifting their burning herbs above their head - an offering and a show of respect.

"Once more," Zeus boomed, his voice filling the space from every angle, "we have reached the Reckoning. As the moon waxes nostalgic for her darkened half on this, the night of the crescent moon, the fate of one shall be determined by another. Either a soul shall be harvested and given to the Underworld or she shall be given new life."

"Kore...Kore...Kore..."

Hades' inner voice battled with himself as he listened to his brother, trying to decipher his motives. Surely, he must have known that Hades knew Kore - he spoke of her highly after their first encounter. He spoke highly of many women after they'd met, yet Zeus had never brought another acquaintance in for the Reckoning before, and that knowledge made Hades's blood run cold.

If the goal was for Hades to end up in a marriage similar to Zeus', then surely he knew that Hades would have to lay down a reckoning of the Harvest. But if his goal was to save Kore, then he must lay down a reckoning of Rebirth. Each of these fell in Zeus' favor, but neither truly fell into Hades'.

Hades began to realize now, during his one-hundred-and-forty-fifth Reckoning that it never mattered what he decided. Zeus was always in control and that was all he ever cared about.

"Kore...Kore...Kore..."

"MY BROTHER!"

The flames rose higher around Kore's body.

"Kore...Kore...Kore..."

Hades stepped forward, one hand clenched at his side. He knew the question that was coming next, and though his answer would differ from what he had spoken countless times past, he was still filled with a sense of defeat.

"HOW-"

One step forward.

"Kore...Kore...Kore..."

"DO-"

Her skin was illuminated against the flames.

"Kore...Kore...Kore..."

"YOU-"

I'm sorry...

"Kore...Kore...Kore..."

"RECKON?"

I'm so, so sorry.

"Kore...Kore...Kore..."

The flames parted before Hades and as he stepped into the circle, flush against the pyre, the flames enclosed him and Kore. He glanced down at her, dew drops of sweat delicately beaded on her forehead. The flames drowned out the chanting and silence, deafening and all-consuming, fell over the pair. Hades peered at his brother through the flames, meeting his eyes.

"Rebirth," he breathed, eyes drifting back down to Kore.

"Rebirth!" Zeus echoed. "Are you certain?" His lips twitched almost imperceptibly and Hades couldn't decipher whether it was of approval or disappointment.

"Yes," Hades stated, finding confidence in his choice. "Rebirth!"

Zeus nodded and the flames parted once more. He gestured at Hades, beckoning him out of the circle and Hades' eyes lingered on Kore's face for a moment before following orders.

He'd never chosen rebirth before. Each Reckoning, when asked how he Reckoned, he'd muttered "Harvest" and then stepped away and closed his eyes against the sight of the woman's body burning silently on the pyre. Ashes to ashes, her physical form would disappear and her soul would haunt Hades in the Underworld forever - a punishment for refusing to take a wife.

As the circle completed itself once more, the priestesses began to move once again, throwing their herbs into the flames and chanting once more.

"Rebirth...Kore...Rebirth...Kore...Rebirth..." The chanting grew louder and louder, the flames beginning to die down. Zeus waved a hand and Kore's eyes snapped open. Before Hades could even move a muscle, the flames roared again, rising and engulfing her body.

Blood curdling screams erupted from Kore's chest, tearing out of her body as she writhed upon the pyre.

"HELP! HELP! PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE!"

The screams continued and bile rose in Hades' throat.

What the Hell have I done?