Dirge of Hell | Greek Mythology

34 Elysium

“I was not meant to do this,” Hypnos grumbled to his taciturn companion as he rolled his sleeves to carelessly pick the persimmon from the tree and toss them in the basket on the floor. “It’s not in my job description to farm stupid fruits from barely-alive trees in the middle of cold winter!”

“These trees are alive,” Thanatos replied dryly, coming into the tree’s defense. 

“I call them what I want!” Hypnos snapped. Then realizing who he was barking at, he murmured a demure apology. Turning a pitiful gaze towards his dark twin he lamented, “I can stomach harvesting fruits but you, dear venerable brother, you were not meant to be a…a…a damn fruit detector!” 

“I admit this is completely different from what I normally do but once I’m used to it, honing on life from fruit trees is quite easy. I wouldn’t have bothered you in this quest if I could pick the fruits myself without turning them into ash,” Thanatos explained monotonously, not at all offended of the label.

Hypnos groaned exasperatedly as he threw another persimmon into the basket none too gently. “The things we do to please the king. We should have servants for this.” 

“You will bruise the fruits Hypnos,” Thanatos rebuked stoically. “It is not everyday that his majesty has a request from us.”

The god of sleep scratched his head. “I know that. I just didn’t know that this… this menial labor was included in the fine print when I said I supported their romance! Ugh. Lady Persephone had better appreciate what we do for her!” He continued grousing and talking about servants and servant work under his breath.

“Our servants cannot cross the border to the living, you know that. It is left to us more powerful gods to do it.”

Hypnos wanted to cry but more for his brother’s sake than himself. The primordial god of death, known and feared throughout the four corners of the universe, and prime minister to the king of the dead… farming! It hurt. He could actually feel his heart bleeding!

While his brother was busy complaining for doing labor, Thanatos closed his eyes and tried to make sense of the dead vegetation around him. Plant life felt vastly different from animal and human life but they were lives all the same. All manner of Life and Death were within his domain.

“To the east, a mile from here, there are pomegranates,” the fruit detector stated as he opened his eyes. Dark wings flapped open as he flew ahead of the Sleep god, who merely sighed and carried the fruit basket under his arm. He unfurled his identical black wings and followed his brother. Unlike his brother, whose wings were always folded behind his back when not in use, Hypnos preferred to keep his wings out of sight.

As they flew, Hypnos chanced a glance downward. A shiver ran down his spine when he saw Demeter in her mortal form, trudging across the freshly fallen snow. His wings flapped harder as he quickly grabbed Thanatos’ arm and dragged him down to the shadows of the bare treetops.

“Get low,” he whispered, shifting the basket in his arm and hiding his wings.

Thanatos, whose facial muscles couldn’t convey the surprise he felt, looked to his brother blankly and folded his own, “What is it?”

“Demeter, straight ahead,” Hypnos pointed. He said it in such a way that Demeter and the word ‘danger’ were very much interchangeable.

The death god spotted the mourning goddess clad in black clothes and dark veil. “What about her warrants a disruption from our quest?”

The Sleep god gave his brother a look. “Tsk, you must not be hearing enough from Hermes. She has a great grudge against our king. She refuses to work the earth, which basically means that she’s holding the mortals hostage against everyone, particularly Zeus and our king. If she continues on this path, mortals would die of starvation and worship would decrease. It’s not so different from when Lord Hades had the mortals massacred two hundred years ago.”