DIVINE - A Persephone And Hades Retelling

TWENTY FOUR || Summoning Of A Goddess

Hecate - Goddess of Witchcraft

Hecate had always been described as a goddess dressed in mystery. She was naturally drawn towards lost things, items that could have but never would be. From the very beginning, there had never been any question about her powers. She was to always be the goddess of crossroads, magic, ghosts, and boundaries.

With the power she possessed, she could have claimed power and prestige on Olympus, and for many a century, she did just that. She would use her magic as a tool and would craft beautiful performances, for which she received great approval on Olympus.

But a goddess dressed in half-truths could never feel at home in such comfort.

One day consumed by her own mystery, she vanished from Olympus, never to return. Many whispered, wondering the cause of her disappearance. Asking, guessing, and murmuring that the part of her that was dark had finally consumed her, for she now resigned in the Underworld. A place of death and darkness.

What the gods on Olympus could never understand was the brightness of the smile that traced her face the moment her feet touched the ground of the Underworld. Finally, she felt she could breathe.

Initially, she had been prepared to fight the Lord of the Underworld for a place to call her own. But never had she suspected the God-King to welcome her with open arms. Hades was an Olympian, like the ones she had left, and yet he was nothing like the proud faces she had left behind. It took her years to understand Hades, and even still, she wavered in her confidence in understanding the complicated god. Though he was a god of few words and fewer when it came to his history, through the years, she was able to understand that he, too, had run from Olympus. He, too, understood what it was not to belong amongst the glitz and glamor. A time long before her, he had left the comfort of Olympus to make a home here in the Underworld, just as she had. From then on, she was loyal to the god of the dead, though she would never tell him as much.

-

The white-hot glow from the fireplace lit her path as Persephone paced their bedroom floor. Long after Hades had fallen asleep, she had been kept awake, her mind abuzz. She had been plagued by thoughts of tomorrow. Of what was coming. Of what she had to do if she could not find a solution. She now understood why Hades always seemed so stressed.

Pacing back and forth had not seemed to help her find the answers she was looking for. The way she saw it, she had two choices to pick from. First, she could send Orpheus back to earth without his wife. If she did this, her worry would dissipate, knowing that she and Hades had passed the test and that there would be no one coming to take their thrones. At least not now. But she also knew it would tear her apart to know that the couple was separated by mortality. It would break her heart, and making the choice to do so would change her in all the worst ways.

The only other choice she could think of was to let Orpheus have his wife, Euridice. To give in to her weak heart and let the couple be together despite what it would mean for her own love. This was what she would have already chosen, but her promise to Hades stopped her every time. She had sworn she would not put them in danger for the love of two mortals, and he had trusted her to be true to her word. She could not betray him, no matter the cost. She knew he was right, and if they allowed the laws to be broken for one mortal, then the gods would see it as corruption and a reason to seize more power for themselves. Weakness could never be overlooked, no matter how high the god's statue stood.

She couldn't find it in herself to throw away Hades' crown. He had told her many times that his crown wasn't important to him, but without his crown and power, they would be defenseless. It would be a short time before her mother came and took her away from Hades. It might have been selfish, but she would rather damn the mortal than lose Hades.