Chapter 5: The Temptation

Persephone could not tell how many days had passed since her abduction. It was always night in the Underworld. Everywhere was dark, dull, and lifeless. She felt suffocated from being confined to her chamber all the time.

The maiden of amaranthine loveliness longed for the sunlight and the warm fresh scent of the earth. She missed her flowers and all the birds and faunas of her home. She grew lonely and terribly bored.

Hades had not come to her chamber since that night. For that, she was grateful. Persephone was still terrified at the prospect of seeing her captor again. She wouldn't know what the fierce goddess would do to her.

Yet she needed to escape this tormenting loneliness that plagued her mind. Quietly, she rose and crept towards the doors of her chamber. To her immense surprise, they were not locked as she had thought. With a pounding heart, she opened the heavy door slowly to peek outside. There were no sentries and no palace maids - nothing but empty hallways lit by green-flamed torches, which hovered eerily in the air.

Persephone gingerly stepped forward and out of the oppressing chamber. She looked around her and found not a single soul, which was strange in a place full of them, she thought.

Suddenly, a red carpet unreeled itself and rolled out to her feet from the dark end of the hallway. She jumped back with a shocked gasp. Persephone waited but nothing else leaped at her. At last, curiosity overcame her fear and she decided to go explore the mystery.

As she began to walk down the hall, her mind was captivated by the august size and splendid masonry of Hades' palace. It was said that after three chief gods had decided their domains, Hades left Olympus and came down to her new kingdom with great disappointment. She immediately set out to build her underworld palace and make it greater, if not brighter, even than Olympus. Persephone couldn't help but agree that the place was strangely beautiful in its own way.

One of the torches had floated ahead of her, lighting the way. From the luminous glow, she could see full battle scenes between the gods and the Titans on the mural walls. Persephone followed the floating torch. It led her through a long winding corridor before stopping suddenly in front of grand double doors. The doors were burnished gold and encrusted with finely cut rubies and quartzes of various colors.

As if on cue, the grand doors opened themselves up soundlessly, revealing a large hall inside. Persephone was hesitant but couldn't stop her legs from moving forward. The doors closed themselves behind her when she stepped into the room. Her heart skipped a beat at that, even though she saw nobody around. The young goddess was even more curious than frightened now.

The torch beside her began to whirl itself then glided away to join the others that latched themselves onto each of the black marble columns. There was a giant bronze brazier at the end of the hall. At least, it burned normal fire. The golden flames glowed and flickered like tongues of manic dragons, lighting up the entire space.

In the center of the room was a long polished dining table with only two crested golden chairs. On the tabletop was an abundance of foods overflowing from one end to the other.

The bright-haired goddess hadn't eaten anything since her arrival. She was instantly lured by the myriad of platters filled with delicacies - seasoned roasted lamb with garlic and herbs plus goat cheese and grilled geese drizzled with olive oil. Persephone circled the table as if in a trance. There were fresh-baked sweetbreads, dripping honeycomb, and lemon cakes dusted with icing sugar. It made Persephone's mouth watered at the sight of them.

However, she had to remind herself to be true to her words. She tried not to notice a thing, not even allowing her nostrils to twitch, although the rich aromas had awoken her hunger. Her throat felt raw from all the crying. Persephone almost wished she could have a glass of cold wine to quench her thirst but she knew she could not permit herself to touch anything in this place.

"Sit down," a familiar voice spoke from the far corner of the room. She turned around and was once again startled by the raven-haired goddess. Persephone realized that darkness had enshrouded itself around Hades all this time.

"You again!" Persephone exclaimed, looking at the tall goddess in acrimonious surprise.

To her amazement, Hades smiled, although the smile seemed rather foreign on her lustrous crimson lips. The Mistress of the Underworld had never smiled but she took advice from the three old hags and tried to do it for the sake of her beloved Persephone.

Hades came forward. As she moved, the folds of her long black tunic rippled like waves about her elegant frame. It seemed like she was floating. Her graceful movement reminded the young goddess of a stealthy serpent. Persephone's breath halted in her throat. She quickly stepped back until her backside was against the table.

Hades finally stopped in front of her. She was standing so close to Persephone that the young maiden could feel her powerful godly aura in the air. It sent a shiver through her bones. Despite her intimidating presence, Persephone couldn't help but notice how the light from the brazier was rolling down Hades's coal-black hair, pouring over her pale skin, and making her radiant like gold.

"I feared that you would never come out of your chamber ever," the tall woman said softly, "I know your hunger bothers you greatly. I have asked the cook to prepare the most delicious meals for you. Come and join me."

As if Hades's divinity wasn't bad enough, her mellow voice merely sent Persephone's heart galloping even more. The dark goddess leaned over and reached out her hand. Persephone flinched, but Hades only went for a goblet of wine behind her. She then held it up and offered it to the maiden with an encouraging smile.

"Here, have a drink, Persephone," she said.

Persephone looked at the swirling red juice with its liquid sparkling invitingly under the light. She could imagine the taste of that cold sweetness in her mouth but she knew that anyone who had eaten the food in the Underworld would remain there forever. She had vowed she would starve herself to death unless Hades agreed to return her to earth. No, Hades was trying to tempt her.

The daughter of the earth goddess reigned in her jumble of emotions and roughly swatted Hades's hand away. The goblet of crystal shells smashed into myriad pieces on the floor, splattering the wine like red blood.

"No!" Persephone snapped in bold discord, holding her head up with all her goddess dignity. "I will not eat a thing from your world. You're tempting me to stay but you will never succeed. Soon my mother will come and rescue me from this dark cruel prison of yours and you will never have me."

Hades's eyes flickered like black diamonds as she stared back at Persephone. Her effort to be gentle with the girl was all in vain. The goddess clenched her jaw and then like a fierce lioness, grabbed Persephone, wrapped her arms around her waist, and pressed her delicate body against hers. The maiden gasped out loud and was caught off guard by the monarch's sudden change of mood.

"No one coming to my Underworld could ever leave, Persephone - not even you!" She growled, "I will make sure that you stay here with me for the rest of your immortality."

"No! You can't do that. Let me go!" Persephone cried, struggling to push the dark goddess away, "This is no home of mine! My mother will be livid if she knows you have treated me so unkindly."

"Persephone, you cannot fathom the feeling I have for you," Hades said vehemently, "You would believe my sincerity if you knew the longing of my heart."

"Curse you, Hades! You are as terrible as they all told me!"

"True!" The goddess snarled back. "And I can be even more so until you no longer resist my passion!"

Hades' cold hands took hold of Persephone's blushed face and she mashed her lips onto hers in ardency. Persephone revolted against Hades' fierce kiss, but the dark goddess merely proceeded to force her ravenous tongue into her mouth. She felt it wagging and slithering hungrily against her own, pushing all her thoughts astray. Try as she might, Persephone could not break free from Hades's vise-like grip. Tears sprang to her eyes as she whimpered for the taller woman to stop.

Instead, Hades reached behind the girl's buttocks and hoisted her body onto the table. The platters of untouched food were sent to the floor as she laid Persephone onto her back and held her down.

"Stop!" The frightened maiden cried, struggling to escape yet to no avail. Hades's ears turned deaf by lust and her eyes were blinded by passion. She ran her hot lips over Persephone's smooth neck, tasting her delicious fragrant skin in her craving mouth. Then Persephone felt Hades' hands rip the front fabric of her dress all the way down to her stomach, revealing her delicate maiden's breasts.

"No!" Persephone screamed as tears streamed down her face. More tears were shed, and all she could do was crying and begging.

After a moment, she realized there was no more kissing and touching. She opened her tear-burned eyes again. Persephone found the dark goddess standing back and looking at her with a flash of remorse and shame on her face.

Persephone quickly got up from the table and gathered her tattered dress to cover her nakedness. Hades's heart sank at the way Persephone gazed back at her. It was the most wounded look she had ever seen.

"Persephone..." Hades wanted to apologize, but she did not know how to phrase it. She never felt the need to console someone like this before.

Persephone bit her bottom lip to curb her pain and boiling anger. She rose up and quickly dashed out of the room.

When Persephone was gone, Hades felt rising anguish and rage in her chest.

She resented herself for ruining everything. Her meager hope for Persephone's affection all went up in smoke. In a mad fury, the goddess paced then whirled around and hurled the dining table to its side, sending everything to the floor. The brazier and torches burst into a bright frenzy of flames.

After a while, the fire all went out one by one, leaving Hades alone in the dark empty gloom.