AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The string that had been cut.
She was holding Clothos’ string in her right hand, her grip tight like it was a lifeline. It was
pulled taut, as if attached to something nearby.
Walking in the direction the string led her to, Persephone turned a corner and saw where it disappeared through a door.
Since the string was not of this world, it did not have to heed the barriers of the mortal realm.
Only she, as an otherworldly being herself, could see the string or even hold it in her hand.
As she neared the room, Thanatos suddenly stepped out through the wooden door and into the hall. In his spectral form, his Reaper’s body flickered with power.
“The soul is not calling to me, but I sensed your presence,” he said without greeting.
“It’s good you’re here,” she told him. Her tone darkened when she added, “The Moirai sent me here. And let’s just say it lacked finesse.”
Thanatos shook his head and muttered something about ancient, meddlesome biddies. Although he was in his unearthly form, Thanatos was not in his full Reaper regalia. No dusty robes to be found. Instead, he wore jeans and a t-shirt with a cartoon reaper holding up his skeletal middle fingers.
He and Hecate seemed to shop together for annoying shirts that half the time made no sense to Persephone. She was not typically concerned with the cultural fashions of the current era, and sadly, the fabric monstrosities had been darkening her door for a year now.
“Dress for the job you want, I suppose,” she mumbled, and Thanatos looked down at his t-shirt as if he had forgotten what he wore.
“Levity in the Underworld is the only role Hecate and I take seriously,” he stated, bowing like a gallant knight of old. He’d never been a knight, even when the metal-armored men had lived and rattled across the mortal realm.
Persephone closed her eyes, sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Robes,” she growled. She opened her eyes just as his robes settled over his shoulders, as if sentient themselves.
His true form was what mortals always referred to as the Grim Reaper, a skeletal and foreboding wraith, but humans in the past had been confused on who Thanatos exactly was. Yes, he was the Reaper, but he was also known as Hermes when in his mortal form. Both Hermes and Thanatos had been worshiped as Psychopomps, but humans had over time separated the trickster God from death incarnate.
Truly, Thanatos was a mixture. He embodied the lightness that could be found in death, as well as its cruel unpredictability.
Even now, his human form flickered across his Reaper form, as if the familiar icy blue eyes and olive skin were transposed onto the bones of the Reaper. His black wings tucked firmly against his back, but she noticed a shake of irritation in the feathers.
At least she wasn’t the only one perturbed by the Moirai’s antics. That raised her spirits a little
bit.
Thanatos caught sight of the string Persephone held and frowned.
“They bound you to this mortal.” His voice was not the smooth bass she was used to, but something gravelly and as ancient as he was. As much as Thanatos joked with her, he was quick to find his serious persona when the situation called for it.
Especially if it could cause an issue for his friends, Hecate and Persephone, or his realm, the Underworld.
“Apparently so. Why, I do not know. Clothos made a nice string,” she stated the last few words in a mocking tone as she held up the almost transparent string. “Which means I get to play tour guide to the Underworld today.”
Thanatos simply made a hmm noise from his throat.
“He is full of death,” he muttered absently, speaking as much to the surrounding hallway as he was to her.
“Most dead people are,” she deadpanned, her eyebrow arching at her friend’s skeletal form.
He snorted at her comment, which sounded like wind through a tunnel without his physical nose.
“His soul is stained with the blood of others. He is one who has kept me very busy.”
Now Persephone found herself intrigued. If Thanatos felt that, then this soul had spent a lifetime killing. She thought maybe that was why the Moirai had sent her. She could always use another reaper in case of a catastrophic event. It would help move the souls through quicker, leading to fewer lost souls haunting the riverbanks. Even one lost soul was too much for Persephone.
