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“Must all souls walk through these gates?”
“Yes. It is the journey they must take to accept their death. Believe it or not, it was once more frightening than this.”
She looked at him. “I did not mean that it was frightening.”
He touched her, drawing his thumb over her lips. “And yet you tremble.”
“I tremble because it is cold. Not out of fear. It is very beautiful here, but it is also…overwhelming. I can feel your power here, stronger than anywhere else in the Underworld.”
“Perhaps that is because this is the oldest part of the Underworld,” he said, summoning a cloak that he draped around her shoulders. “Better?”
“Yes,” she said, pulling it closed.
Hades sensed the arrival of Hermes and Thanatos, who appeared, peeling their wings away from their bodies to reveal several souls, all of various ages. It was not so surprising and yet never easy to see the young among the dead.
“Lord Hades, Lady Persephone,” Thanatos said, bowing. “We…will return.”
“There are more?” There was surprise in Persephone’s voice, and the fact that she thought this was all made him feel guilty, as if he had been the one who summoned the storm.
“It’s all right, Sephy,” Hermes said. “Just focus on making them feel welcome.”
He and Thanatos vanished.
A man who stood with his daughter fell to his knees.
“Please. Take me, but do not take my daughter! She is too young!”
“You have arrived at the Gates of the Underworld,” Hades said. “I am afraid I cannot change your fate.”
He worried over his words, wondered whether they would strike anger in Persephone’s heart. For those who lived outside his realm, death was hard to accept, and so were his limitations, given that he was a god.
The man scowled. “You are a liar! You are the God of the Dead! You can change her fate!”
“Lord Hades may be God of the Dead, but he is not the weaver of your thread,” Persephone said. “Do not fear, mortal father, and be brave for your daughter. Your existence here will be peaceful.”
Then Hades watched as she knelt before the young girl.
“Hi. My name is Persephone. What’s your name?”
The girl was shy, but she smiled at Persephone and answered, “Lola.”
“Lola, I am glad you are here and with your father too. That is lucky. Would you like to see some magic?”
The girl nodded, and Hades felt a rush of Persephone’s power as she manifested a single white flower, which she placed in the girl’s hair.
“You are very brave,” she said. “Will you be brave for your father too?”
The little girl nodded and went to her dad, taking his hand, and the man seemed to calm.
It wasn’t long after that more souls arrived, and despite the growing numbers, Persephone never wavered in herdedication to greet everyone with the same kindness and enthusiasm. Hades marveled at how comfortable she seemed despite how distraught she had been when she’d first come to him about the accident. There was a part of him that knew she was still disturbed, that this experience would leave her changed forever, but she did not let her distress show and carried herself like a queen.
He took her hand as the gates began to open and drew her toward them.
“Welcome to the Underworld.”
They led the souls through the gates, and beneath the Dreaming Tree, everything they had hoped and dreamed from their life above was drawn from their mind.
“Think of it as a release,” he said, squeezing Persephone’s hand. “They will no longer be burdened with regret.”
