Ahomana's POV
WHY I DECIDED to willingly walk into an endless expanse of tortured people, I have no idea. The fact that I wanted so desperately to leave was a good indication that Hades' bident was probably somewhere here.
"Why couldn't it be in Elysium?" I muttered, trudging down a musty pathway. The place was soaked with a thick red liquid that I suspected was blood from a nearby punishment where a guy was being continually skinned, and then the skin would be down back onto his body.
I shuddered as my boots squelched and left bloody footprints.
I let my eyes wander around the Fields, avoiding any particularly gruesome punishments. I scoured as much as I could, but Hades' bident was no where to be seen.
Until a very unwelcome hand tapped me on the shoulder.
I spun around and reached over my shoulder for my spear. But I stopped as I saw who'd asked for my attention.
It was a little girl.
She looked no older than seven, and had curly platinum blonde hair that she'd tried to put in a ponytail. The pony was messy and came out at the top of her head, a little to the left, so her luscious curly hair fell across one side of her face. Her eyes were a pale shade of blue, and her babyish face was sprinkled with freckles.
She wore an Ancient Greek style peplos, a women's dress, with a golden rope as a belt. She had no shoes, and her small feet were splattered with the blood from the pathways.
I had the sudden urge to pick her up and cover her eyes. A child shouldn't have to see these horrors.
But then I realised, she was probably here for a reason. She didn't look like an escaped soul from the Fields of Asphodel.
I eyes her suspiciously. "What's your name?"
"Adrasteia." She giggled, "Who're you?"
"My names Mana." I told her, crouching down so I was at her level. I was careful to not let anything touch her or the ground. "Why are you here?"
"I was naughty." Adrasteia gave me a sad smile, "I wasn't nice to that mean old man who wanted to be my Daddy."
I swallowed the lump in my throat. What kind of crimes did a little kid have to do to land her in this dreadful place.
"Why are you here?" She chirped.
"I'm looking for something." I suddenly had an idea, "A weapon. It looks like a fork. Lord Hades hid it somewhere. Have you seen it?"
A grin spread across Adrasteia's face. "A Kindly One came flying over here an hour ago with a huge fork."
Kindly One - a Fury.
"Could you take me to where she went?" I asked her.
"Sure!" She grabbed my hand and started to skip down the pathway. I stumbled from my quitting position and tried not to touch the ground.
Adrasteia pulled me along at a fast pace. I bit my lip as I realised we were moving towards the worst part of the Fields.
Gods, this kid really was cursed. But why was she walking around and not in a punishment of her own? I asked her the question in a watered down way.
"I don't know." She said, "They just told me I have a day off."
I didn't answer, and let the little girl guide me through the maze of horror.
Some of the punishments I recognised. I saw a guy rolling a gigantic boulder up s hill. As I watched, he almost reached the top, but he lost control of the boulder and it went sailing back down the hill. King Sisyphus.
I saw a guy standing in a lake with a beautiful apple tree overhanging him. Each time he tried to eat or drink either of them, they would move out of this way. King Tantalus.
I hoped I'd never do anything to end up in the Fields of Punishment.
"We're here!" Adrasteia chirped, pulling me from my thoughts. "The River Styx."
I realised where we were, and I started to wish I'd never come here. The sight made me blush and stare at the ground.
There was a large group of beautiful, half naked women rushing frantically from the dark waters of the River Styx, carrying buckets of the stuff. They poured the water into a huge, cracked vase that sprayed and leaked the water back out again. I realised that their punishment was to fill the leaky vase.
Something about them was familiar. I knew their story. But I just couldn't put my finger on it.
How'd they get here again?
One of the girls stopped her work and looked at me with a long, sad glance.
"This is where the Fu-Kindly One took the fork?" I asked Adrasteia. The platinum blonde seven year old nodded.
The girl who had stopped started walking towards us, and I felt my face become a living tomato. The girl, like the rest of them, was wearing a Greek style dress that hung off one shoulder and wrapped around her body. Unfortunately, it didn't cover both breasts.
And her long dark hair fell over her back, leaving her completely on show.
"Hello, stranger." The girl greeted. Her voice was soft and very feminine. Her foreign, probably Greek, accent and the way she spoke told me English wasn't her first language.
"Hey - uh-" I swallowed and blinked, "Um, what's your name?"
"Ah my name." She smiled grimly, "I have forgotten over the time. What year is it?"
I awkwardly told her the year, and wasn't surprised when her jaw fell opens and her eyes widened.
"What should I call you then?" I asked.
"I do remember what they called us." Her expression fell, "They called us the Danaides."
The name rung a bell in my head. It was on the top of my tongue. And yet I couldn't seem to remember.
"Well, I came wondering if you'd seen a Fury with a bident-" The Danaide recoiled in shock, "-what?"
"It's you!" She hissed.
I reached for my spear. "What did I do?"
"Nothing. But our father commanded us to kill once. He had done it again."
"What?" I frowned. My pointed my spear at her. But I suspected Demeter's plant magic wouldn't work here.
"How thick are you?" The Danaide spat. The other girls started to gather. A few snickered. Most just dropped their buckets and drew knives.
"We've been commanded to kill you."