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Smoke formed in the room before Thanatos stepped from the shadows.
“Looks like part of the problem came to us. We found Minthe at the gate of Tartarus,” Thanatos explained, staring directly at Persephone as he spoke, the room cooling dramatically as shadows began to writhe again in the corners of the room.
Devon moved to her as her entire body became smoke with wisps of blue fire moving in and out of her hazy presence.
“Do calm down, sister,” Amphitrite requested, but Devon watched the smoke that was his wife disappear in an instant.
“Shit,” Thanatos muttered as he looked to Devon. Both of them disappeared to find themselves outside of Tartarus at the same time, near the rocks that covered the gate where they had felt Persephone’s power land.
Devon walked past Thanatos to where the Furies were moving along the riverbank where the River Phlegethon met the River Cocytus. Before he made it out of the boneyard, Thanatos caught up to him and grabbed his arm, stopping him.
“Wait, can you feel that?” Thanatos said right as he pulled Devon out of the path of a rolling cloud of shadows and fire. Persephone stepped out of the haze in all her Underworld glory with Cerberus trailing behind her, looking three times his regular size with his hackles up.
“Where is…” Devon pulled away from Thanatos, making his way towards the shadows where Persephone had emerged.
From the shadows, Persephone’s wraiths glided along the ground towards the riverbed, swirling around the riled Furies and delving into the water. Seeing this, the Furies began to chitter and bounce on the balls of their feet in anticipation.
Breaking the surface, the wraiths pulled the form of a woman from the water and dumped her unceremoniously at the Furies feet.
Persephone moved to the woman, a very weak Minthe, as the Furies restrained and toyed with her, snapping their sharp teeth near her face.
Looking past Persephone, her wings spread out and obscuring his view, he caught sight of the wandering souls of the boneyard as they moved closer and closer to them with every heartbeat. Before Devon could warn Persephone, wraiths diverted from where they swarmed near the Furies to stop the interlopers.
“Tell me, Minthe, how Crius got through my world without being detected…” Persephone was nonplussed, her voice silky and deceiving as she stood over the nymph, shadows moving in tighter around them.
“… didn’t…” Minthe gasped, her voice raspy with disuse and her eyes wide with fear.
Devon tried to feel pity for the woman he had called a friend, sometimes lover, as he watched her gills open and close as if gasping, but the thought that her actions had brought a Titan to the Underworld boiled his blood.
“He tried to trick me!” Minthe yelled, her voice almost a sob. “Crius! He promised that no harm would come to us if he went through the river system. That he would bring my brother back alive.”
The shadows and Furies slowly adjusted Minthe until she was face to face with Persephone, keeping their hold on the nymph tight. He realized Persephone was not allowing Minthe her mortal form, keeping her in as much discomfort as possible in order to get answers from her.
“You have been part of the Underworld and trusted. Given important responsibilities and freedom few others have been bestowed. Yet, it seems I made quite the error in trusting you after your father conferred the mantle of river God upon your brother… and for your greed, you will have nothing.” Persephone’s voice sounded like a hiss as the power thrummed through the air.
“Goddess, no! Please! I did nothing but give him access to the river! This can easily be undone,” she pleaded as she tried to escape, the wraiths only curling tighter around her body.
A Fury pulled Minthe on to her lap, scraping her face with their sharp teeth and lapping up a tiny rivulet of blood.
“You will remain in the dungeon under constant guard until Crius is dealt with.” Persephone’s voice sounded low and threatening.
Devon moved to stand beside her, Minthe not missing what his body language was saying or the presence he presented; a united front. Even in her obsessed mind, he did not know how she could miss the significance of his movement.
His power felt the intruder well before the physical body manifested near them on the banks of the river.
“Let her go, my dear little Goddess,” Crius demanded as he appeared in a burst of starlight. “She is innocent of everything except lack of intelligence.”
“You dare enter my realm again, Crius!” Persephone shouted as Thanatos appeared from the shadows on the other side of her, his skeletal form and wings out, with his hands deceivingly loose at his sides. Devon knew when a person was coiled to strike and the power emanating from Thanatos confirmed that. He was ready to tear Crius apart to keep Persephone safe, and for once, Devon was thankful for the Reaper’s sudden appearance.
Persephone turned to the Furies, and with a wave of her hand, the Furies disappeared to another part of the Underworld with Minthe.
Moving to Persephone’s other side, Devon covered her right as Thanatos covered her left. The aura of an impending battle swallowing them up as they faced Crius. Cerberus let out a low, threatening growl from behind them.
“You think to enter my realm as you please and attempt to release Cronus from his punishment.” Persephone’s voice filled with power as she took step after slow step towards Crius.
Be wary of the water… he heard in his mind. His mother’s voice was in his head all of the sudden, her words repeating over and over.
Choose your path, dark or light.
