Painting : Dante & Virgil in The Ninth Circle of Hell by Gustave Doré
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"What a day." Love sighs. She was hoping she'd feel at least sleepy after a long day she had, but around 10 pm, she only got bored and nearly dropped the candles on her altar.
So, she decided to take a long, night walk while writing on her grimoire. Somehow in the back of her mind, the thought of Julian missing nags her over and over again even after attempting to shrug the thought away by thinking of somebody else.
It's around 1 pm when she finally got back to the dormitory building and saw Laurent sitting right outside of her door with a book on his lap. "Hey, Laurie." Love greets, fishing her room's key out of her wallet, "aren't you suppose to be asleep?"
Laurent slowly gets up from the ground. "Aren't you?"
"I'm insomniac, and probably a vampire. I can never sleep." Love chuckles, inserting the key to the hole and rotates. "Interesting thing. Did you know that the vampy community is having some sort of sex party just two blocks away from here?"
Laurie laughs, "yes. I do know that. I was invited by a few, actually. None of that interests me."
"The s-e-x part?"
He nods his head without further explanation. "So, I heard you're going to go astral today."
"How'd you know that?" Love opens the door to the room before removing the key from the slot.
"Intuition, of course. Also, It's a great night to be astral projecting." He shrugs, "where are you headed tonight?"
Love shrugs, resting her side on the doorway. "I'm going to Tartarus. You been there before?"
"Nope. I actually rarely astral project. I don't do one of those work for deities thing." Laurent says, "but I do worship Nyx. My family and I do."
Love eyes him for a bit. Curious, and also surprised that someone as eccentric as Laurent rarely astral projects. "and you have never ever been to Tartarus before?"
"No! It's where Goddess Nyx resides, and honestly? I've never found anyone who, at least, stumbled upon the area. The farthest they have gotten is probably River Styx."
"Ugh." Love gestures for him to come in. Laurent follows her behind, putting his book back into the backpack. "It was horrendous. I was barefoot, and there were so many skulls."
"What else did you see?" Laurent wides his eyes, entertained. He closes the door behind him. "Did you see Charon? ... did you go to Unburied Dead? Did Hekate let you go to Her temple?"
"Unburied Dead? You mean a place for the lost souls?" Love drops her totebag on the ground before collapsing on the bed.
"Yep."
"Why, no. Maybe I should-" Love raises her brows when she notices Hekate's candle is lit. "Huh, I definitely did not leave that on before." She gets up from the bed to approach her altar, "to answer your question, no I did not go to Hekate's temple. She forbids me. But I did meet Charon, he offered me a ride as if his boat is a fucking taxi or something."
"It technically is." Laurent chuckles as he admires Love's altar. "Sorry for dropping by so late at night, by the way. There was a lot of crap going on at school today, and you and Lev were involved in one! Also, it's been feeling kind of strange around here. Like somebody's dying."
"Well, you're right," Love takes the tarot card from the bookshelf and shuffles them. "The Soulless have been wandering around Crimson Cove for a while, I think. They pretended to be a student, used glamours, and well, you know the rest. I think Mrs. Laveau mentioned once that there have been 'mysterious disappearances' as well."
"True. We can be, like, psychic buddies."
"Psychic buddies?" Love chuckles, "okay, I kind of like that. Now help me with something, will you?"
She closes her eyes and draws one card. She shows it to Eden. "Why... do you think I'd read the card?" He asks.
Love sighs, "to understand why the flame is-" she gestures toward the candle, "and you know I do not speak Tarot!"
"All right." He takes the card from her grasp, "there are many interpretations in Tarot. Use these-" he grabs the deck from her grasp as well, "when you truly understand them. One card doesn't have to mean one thing, it could mean multiple things."
"Oh, so, if I get Death, that doesn't mean I am dying?"
"No." He shuffles the card, "not physically, at least. Death symbolizes the end, right? It could be the end of the past emotions that you've been wanting to let go, or maybe a situation! For instance, if you were in a depressed state, something big would happen to you that will also end the phase."
Love raises her brows in amusement. She wishes she understood Tarot sooner. It feels like math for some people, hard to solve and understand. "I do have Elemental study and Tarot tomorrow. Maybe I could ask you when it-"
"It's time, mortal." Hekate cuts her off, startling her away that she forgot what she was going to say. "Where is the other boy? I did not get a chance to communicate with him, and now you are bringing a new one?"
Love places her hand on her chest, "I will introduce you to my friend here Laurent as soon as we are able to cross to the astral plane." She says, grabbing a lighter from the pencil case and light up all four candles.
"You are communicating with who now?" Laurie puts the card back on the bookshelf. "You are speaking instead of using telepathy?... or the candles?"
"Yes." Love raises her brows, "Hekate's here, by the way. She says hi."
"I do not." Says Hekate.
Love chuckles. Laurent grabs a new set of jar, a mortar and some ingredients. "I am coming with you." Laurent says, "we need to create protection wards, because both of us have no idea what the hell is in Tartarus. One of the souls there could throw hex us for life, or worse, follow us." He sits on the ground, starts mixing up the black salt, pepper, mugwort and lavender. "Here, give me the one necklace that you always wear."
"Um, what are you going to do with it?"
Love turns to take the metallic bead necklace from Mark Antony's head. "Just a simple protection incantation to ward off evil spirits of your bedroom." Love gives the necklace to him.
Laurent begins to sprinkle the powder in big circle while mumbling a spell under his breath, Love grimaces when it hits the carpet by her bed. "We wish to be protected from unknown entities that wish nothing but harm upon us..." Love catches only few bits of the spell, but she is amused.
"Smart man." Persephone suddenly appears out of thin air. Love turns to look at the candle and see three of the flames are standing tall. "Oh, yes, the French men have always been attractive and intelligent."
"Dear, I am in the same room as you." Hades chirps in, "I know of when you speak greatly of another men. It is disrupting my thoughts."
"You're French?" Love asks Laurent.
Laurent looks up at her. He was halfway through drawing a symbol in the middle of her necklace. A symbol of star and moon, or the symbol that he resonates with the most.
He shushes her, and Love steps back to let him do his job.
"Yes, you are." Love chuckles softly.
"Where is the other boy? The one of Latin background?" Persephone finally asks.
"He's... sleeping."
"Of course he is. Will you find him in his dream and take him to astral as well?"
"No, I will not."
Love fiddles with her fingers, thinking about taking Nik to a dangerous place is just as disturbing as going there herself. "I would not want you to make the same mistake I do, child," Hades says, "I took my wife with me to Underworld out of her consent. It caused many problems on my side as She was a mortal, and I was not. Of course I was forced by Zeus himself to do so, as it would be the only way to make her my wife."
Love sighs. "I am not bringing Nik to Underworld with me, nor I would make him my husband."
"Nik?!" Laurent, who is hanging the necklace on the door knob, shrieks. "You are seeing our President of School?"
"No! I mean, not yet." Love protests, "just leave it be. I am not kidnapping and bringing him to Tartarus."
"Who the hell said that?"
"Me." Persephone's flame dances wildly. Laurent notices, "it is a harmless invitation, if he loves you, he wouldn't mind getting taken."
Love runs her fingers through her hair, "nope. I'm not going to scare him away just yet. Too early to show my true colors."
"You have been drinking your mind off with him, child, even bringing him flowers. You have shown your true colors to him." Hekate says. Love wides her eyes in shock. "He is well aware now that you are a romantic."
"Shall we speak to Aphrodite about her?" Persephone asks, "Eros would probably love to have a talk with her as well. Bring the love out between the two."
Love shakes her head. She takes Laurent by hand and slowly approach the circle. "Let's. If we are not going any sooner, they are going to grill me about Nik even more!"
"Not just them," Laurent grins, "I will be grilling you about him too."
"Just-" she frustratingly gets into the circle, "get your ass here before I serve you as a meal for Kronos!"
"Please do not do that." Hades says.
Love sighs, sitting down on the circle to prepare. "I am so sorry to have brought such traumatic memories back, Hades."
"Hades is here too?!" Laurent wides his eyes in horror.
"Yes. Now come on, I owe him an apology and we should try to leave as quick as possible before witching hour ends."
They both sit across from one and another. Love grabs a lavender essential oil bottle from her bedside, put three drops of it on her fingers, before rubbing it inbetween her brows: "my third eye will be strenghtened for the sake of survival. My psychic abilities will be improved for the sake of survival. Laurent and I will go back to our bodies stronger than before."
She looks at Laurent one more time, he's already on his own position, he has a labradorite on one hand and tourmaline on the other. Love knows crystals don't work on her as strong as herself does, so, she finally gets into her position. Cross-legged, hands on each side of her knees, facing up, back straightened up for more comfort for the muscles. She radiates all of her energy toward her index and middle fingers as they touch.
Two, and three minutes into banishing her worries and thoughts, Love begins to feel her soul floats out of her body calmly. Her mind feels as if it's being pulled upward. Though she has done astral projections countless of times, yet the feeling of being pushed out of her own body is still somehow unfamiliar.
5 minutes in, and Love opens her eyes to see herself sitting cross-legged on a circle of protection ward with Laurent. She chuckles to herself, before closes her eyes to focus even more. The world around her becomes much more colorful... So many shapes, colors, it's like a fantasy world that-
Love opens her eyes, and stumbles back in shock when the figure infront of her is a giant three-headed dog, that is almost as tall as the mountain all around her. Love bumps into someone. Laurent is also standing there, eyes wide in shock, and his mouth gape open.
"Holy-"
"It is fine, children. They are safe." Hades steps infront of Cerberus whose multi-heads each look at different directions. Hades is now wearing an all-black suit with, of course, a black chest plate armor.
"Okay. That's- that's definitely Cerberus. No need to panic." Laurent mumbles to himself, "and that must be Hades. I'm perfectly calm."
Love presses her hand on his back, realizing that Laurent looks like a whole different person now. Taller, his skin is pale purple, ears jutted out, his pupils are orange, and he has a white tribal-like lines across his face and chest.
"Laurent?!" Love steps back in shock.
"Do not worry. Mortals tend to shape shift however their spiritual guide like when entering a different reality." Hades approaches them, "it is to protect them from any kinds of heinous entities to memorize how they actually look like."
"For the love of Nyx, Love, how do I look like?" Laurent asks, eyes widening in shock.
"You've never seen your spirit guide before?"
"No."
"Then, you look peachy." Love grins, "how do I look like? Am I shape shifting as well?"
Laurent looks at her weirdly. "No... You are still you. Less bruised." He says before turning to look at Hades. "Your Majesty. It is my pleasure to have an opportunity to be invited here to your home. This is not exactly how I imagined Underworld is like."
Love eyes Cerberus curiously. They don't seem to care, but the middle head seems to be watching Hades cautiously. "And I want to say I am sorry for bringing up a sensitive topic before about Kronos." Love turns to look at Hades' surprisingly kind eyes. "I will bring you something from Tartarus, if you'd like."
"It is very kind for the two of you. But I can travel to Tartarus by myself."
"Indeed He can." An unfamiliar voice appears. Love and Laurent turns to see a new face. No, not Hekate or Persephone.
Goddess of the Night Herself has arrived, with black veil dragged across the ground where there are skulls and bloody muds. She has a giant crown that looks like they are made of the claws of dragons. Her hair is black and long, nearly touching the ground. She has a sinister smile on Her face.
"Welcome." She lifts her chin a little, showing off her shark-like, white porcelain teeth. "Laurent, how very pleasant it is that you would come see me in my residence."
Love nudges Laurent who is still in shock. "My Goddess." He finally bows his head a little. Nyx stares at him with pure admiration before holding a hand out to him, presenting a green, glow-in-the-dark butterfly.
"My creation." She leans down a little to reach Laurent.
The Gods and Goddess even in their human forms are almost 8 feet tall, bigger than mortals.
"Oh, thank- thank you." Laurent says, accepting the gift immediately. The glowing butterfly flies over to Laurent.
Love grins. First time astral projection, especially the first time meeting the Gods or Goddesses they worship is truly a magickal moment.
"Now, I promised a tour of Tartarus, didn't I?" Nyx says with a big smile on her face, "I hope you both are prepared enough to face what is within."
Love looks over at Hades with fear in her eyes. "Please make sure I escape, I have a date." She tells him.
"We all are with you, Love. You and Laurent."
She looks over at Cerberus who's sitting by a skyline-like gate, just not far ahead, she could see the Styx. Her biggest nightmare.
"Come on, Love! This is fun!" Laurent is already halfway ahead, walking with Nyx who floats.
"Where is Hekate?" She asks, looking around.
"Do not worry about that, mortal. She will be with you."
Trusting him, she nods and runs after Laurent and Nyx. When Love catches up to them, Nyx flicks her wrist and her veil bucks up- causing the atmosphere and wind all around them gets stronger.
Both Laurent and Love got caught under her veil, and in a minute, they are both teleported into a whole new place where the temperature is much, much hotter than Underworld. When the veil unfolds, Love gasps out a breath, falling down to her knees.
Laurent also does the same next to her. She covers her ears when the voices begin to get louder and louder; moans of pain, screams of despair, even the roars of a monster that shakes the ground beneath them.
"Laurie!" Love yells out when she looks up. She reaches for Laurent who's still clawing at his chest as if in pain. "Laurie, you are okay. We cannot be harmed."
They are infront of a huge gate. There is a bridge that overlooks a sea of lava underneath, also lava coming out of the hard edges of the black rocky hills. It endlessly pours down. Love notices people are chained to each other from their wrists down to their ankles and connected to their mates by demonic entities as they are forced to walk the ledges of the hills. If they slip, the demons would instantly cut their stomach open, and force their mates to eat the intestines.
"Shit, shit," Laurie wides his eyes in shock when he stares before the gate where chaos is happening.
Soul after soul climbed their way out from the ground, some of them are getting crushed under the feet of panicked souls that attempted to find an escape way out of Tartarus. Love opens the slot and pushes the gate forward with all her might. The poor souls are getting chased, burned, and eaten by all kinds of half-demon, half-animal creatures. They are all teeth, their skins are prickly and scaly-sometimes their stomachs open up to vomit out the souls they have eaten.
Love takes Laurie's arm, pulling him in to the gate. The sea of lava underneath them scorches. Love grabs a torch from the wall by the gate, still holding Laurie's arm.
"We have got to keep moving, okay?" Love asks, "if we don't, we are going to end up like them!" She points to the ledges of the mountain where people are already chained and hung on to, and demons made sure they are awake by cutting off their private parts.
"This is a bad idea!" Laurent yells.
"I know! You should have stayed back in Crimson Cove."
Laurie holds on to Love's arm for dear life as they both slowly cross the bridge. Love looks down on the sea of lava, seeing a silhouette of pythons with horns swimming and eating organ by organ floating on the surface of the lava as a snack. She shivers, holding her stomach to keep herself from vomiting.
When they finally crossed the bridge, they are met by a garden. The trees look dead, the stems are black as if cursed, reminding Love straight away of her dark stained fingertips. But what strikes her the most is how soul after soul are bewitched into walking on to a garden of thorny vines that grew out of the ground. Each souls are instantly wrapped in the vines, their screams of agony can be heard, as well as the loud cracks of bones when the vines crushed them, like a snake does their prey. The vines then swallow them into the ground.
"I am officially traumatized." Laurent says, his breathing labored.
And when he looks up toward the castle which is above the steep hills, his eyes widen in shock. A gigantic eye is staring down at them from the sky, the edges of the whites are red, and the pupils are blown.
"Unknown entity, unknown entity." He diverts his gaze away.
Love holds the torch tighter when she looks toward the burning, inferno sky and sees the eye is still staring at them. A skeleton-like figures also appear, standing up straight among the mountain, dark myst floats all around them, as it reaches out for a a row of souls that are still walking by the ledges toward their destination. The skeleton takes the end of the chain, pulls them up to the sky, opens its very wide and fanged mouth and long thin tongue, and swallows the chained souls all together.
"Gods, we are so dead." Love says to him.
"Don't you fucking say shit like that." He smacks her side, causing her to yelp. "We are truly in Tartarus. I mean, whose eye is that?"
"I don't know. Just do not ever look at it again. I feel like it's going to eat me."
They continue to walk upward and toward the castle using the only path exist while the situation on both their sides are filled with nothing but punishments and the stench of their sins.
Love stops by a dead tree, looking closer, only to see human by human face appears, merged together with the stem. One of them desperately opens their mouth, only to moan out: "H.... elp. Us."
Laurent pulls her away from the tree. She nearly burns the whole thing down with the torch. "I'm pretty sure my eyes are deceiving me." She cries, though her eyes are dry.
"Let's just make a run for it." Laurie suggests.
"We need to be careful! Otherwise we'd get trapped in one of those punishment devices." Love is now the one holding on to Laurent's arm for dear life.
Well, they are holding on to each other for dear life.
Love wraps an arm around his shoulder, while Laurent wraps an arm around her waist. They watch their feet, the demonic entities all around them, and most importantly, the tortured souls.
They stop right before the entrance of the castle. The eye in the sky is still staring down at them, this time, the whites are the same color of blood, turning the sky even redder. Love and Laurent watch as a demon crushes someone's head between two heavy rocks, and eat the remainings.
"Oh, god, I am of-"
"Who - who are you?"
Love was cut off by someone standing in front of the entrance way. A naked, thin man, with featherless wings.
"We are here to, uh, to speak with the Goddess." Love answers, "who are you? What happened to your wings?"
He steps forward. Love and Laurie take two steps back, avoiding the man. "My father - he, has he said anything?" He asks, despair in his eyes, "I remembered... I remembered the sun, and falling."
Love looks over at Laurie, they are both widing their eyes in surprise. Of course they recognize who he is. The infamous Icarus himself has fallen to Underworld and became the prisoner of Tartarus for his selfishness.
At least, it is the side of tale people rarely told to younger generations or simply to mortals.
"He named a land after you, called Ikaria." Laurie answers, "have you been staying here long?"
"Ikaria... Ikaria... Ikaria." He mutters the name a few times. "Where am I? Why am I here?"
"We are honestly not sure. But we've heard tales about you." He says calmly.
"Tell me... please, young children. I have suffered long enough." Icarus stammers, "they... They do not know what my wings are capable of."
"They are manmade wings. They can do nothing in this realm." Love points out, "you wanted to escape Crete with your father, only that you used the wings to fly further up close to the sun."
Realization hits him. Love pulls Laurie even further from the man. "I... I have died." He says, "I remember that I found out I was dead, before-"
The ground he was standing on splits in two, causing him to nearly fall had he not caught the edge. Love and Laurie quickly made their way toward him, having the urge to help him up- but something within the ledge caught Love's eyes. The sinister creature with burned horns and claws that simply caught Icarus' ankle and deliberately dragged him down the sides of the rocky walls, causing him to scream in agony and bleed to death.
Love stumbles back, grabbing Laurie with her. They are both still holding each other in fear when the ground sticks together again, looking liek it hadn't just split in two!
"Oh, gods, oh, gods. We need to go, we need to go!" Love scrambles.
They are running toward the entrance, not caring that the flame in the torch has already gone out. Love and Laurie made it safely onto the front entrance of the castle, panting hard from both exhaustion and fear.
Hekate's appearance caused Love to scream and fall back to the ground. "No!" She yells, pulling her arms up in defense.
"It is me, child!" Hekate assures, "you both have made it safely to Us."
Love opens her eyes, seeing Hekate in her human form instead of just a voice really comforts her to her bones. She wishes she could hug Her. "Oh, thank all the Gods and Goddesses in the sky." She sighs in relief, placing her hand on to her chest. "I... We just met Icarus." Love tells Her.
"Correct. He is one of the prisoners here." Hekate smiles, watching as Love gets up to her feet. She holds out a hand for Laurie who's still starstruck by Hekate's presence.
"He was swallowed to the ground. Was that Baphomet?"
"Incorrect. Baphomet is a deity, not an executioner of the dead." Hekate explains, "his name do not matter, Love. Bring yourself and your friend in. It is about time you spoke to Nyx."
Love pulls Laurie up to his feet. "And whose eye is it in the sky?" Love asks as she begins to walk alongside Hekate.
"Hades' heinous father, of course."
"Kronos?" Laurie asks, trying to hide his shock away. "Why... His eye alone is almost as big as the moon."
"The Moon is sacred, Kronos is not." Hekate says calmly. "He cries every night knowing he is forever imprisoned in the sky."
"And he cries blood?"
"Yes."
Love looks at Laurie. Though they are still scarred, they feel a lot safer now Hekate is here to protect them. "Is the Hydra still alive?" Laurie suddenly chirps in. Love facepalms.
"Why, no, child. Hydra has died a long, long time ago in Herakles' hand."
"Oh. I heard many perspectives of the story, not sure which one to believe."
"The one coming from the witness, of course." Hekate smiles warmly.
The three of them walk through a long hallway. Love finds a window and peeks her head out to see what is exactly beyond the castle, and she immediately regrets it. Piles of human's disentangled bodies are used to keep the castle in tact. Weird serpent-like creatures with a lady's head, mostly their mouths are wide open, nearly touching the ground.
Love gasps and walks alongside Hekate and Laurie again.
And before they know it, they have arrived in a big hall. Dining tables are set with black lace cloths, red and black roses in a crystal vase. Drinks are served on a giant table as well as a feast-filled table that Love and Laurent definitely avoids. Even if they all look alluring to eat.
The cakes, the salads, and chickens that must be sent from heaven. If heaven exists, is all.
"This is... Wow." Laurent looks around, his eyes wide. His form is now back to his real self. "It doesn't even feel like we are in Tartarus."
"True. I do like my properties beautiful." Nyx glides in to the hall, with the same sinister smile on Her face. "Do sit, children. You both have endured such a long journey."
Love and Laurent sit while Hekate grabs Herself a flute of bubbly champagne. "Now, why in Nine Hells is Icarus still here?" Hekate asks Her.
"You do know of the answer, dear." Nyx flicks her wrist and in instant, their plates are filled with food, and hands grasp a glass of red wine. "A selfish young man." Nyx adds, "now, to the business. Shall we?"
Love tenses up. She doesn't know what kind of task Nyx will assign her with. "Right, business," she sips the wine calmly. "I wonder why you chose me to do whatever this business is."
Nyx sits across from them. Hekate hovers, not even sitting down, just casually drinking her champagne.
"I saw a vision of a young woman taming Fenrir who currently resides in Gardenia," She explains, "Fenrir was desperate for help. He could not reach out to the Queen due to blood magick planted in the land as well as Artemis' mind." Even Nyx's fierce figure shudders in horror, "as you two know, there were tales of how mortals present their flesh and blood as a way to get an easier way in life. They decide to work with evil entities to please their carnal desires."
Love and Laurent nod their heads. Love reaching out for the donut on her plate to distract herself.
"Fenrir is entrapped underground, among other creatures. For all His life, He seek for peace and love, only to be taken away again." Nyx continues, "Artemis is in danger. So are The Gardenians if the magick weren't reversed as quick as possible."
"And the source...? Who's the culprit?"
"Why, the dark practitioners, of course." Nyx says calmly. Love eats the rest of the donut in one bite, not even caring what is in it. Only that it tastes like heaven. "They invaded the lycanthropes' caves on Earth, forced one of them into creating a portal into the Four Lands."
Love nearly chokes in the donut. Suddenly, an image of Julian pops in her head. "These wolves - they know how to create a portal?" Laurent asks.
"Yes. The wolves, they know everything."
"But I thought the only portal was through The Ancient." Love raises her brows. Ideas begin to form in her head. She thinks of going back home to find some answers.
"No, there are plenty of ways to go through realities." Nyx tells, "and that is what I want you to do, Love. I ask you to go to Gardenia through a portal, reverse the spell by obliterating the dark practitioner, and save the Queen."
Love wides her eyes, sipping the wine as calm as she can, even though she begins to waver. "I.. You want me to save Gardenia from extinction?"
"Artemis will save Gardenia. All you need to do, is to not be seen, hide behind glamour, and break the blood magick."
She looks over at Hekate who nods Her head reassuringly. "And I should just kill the dark witch? How... I cannot murder someone!"
"Yes. I saw you reverse the necromancer's spell. Practice all you can. We will be of your assistance."
Love wides her eyes, sipping the rest of the delicious wine, "you mean to tell me I'm going to finally learn how to reverse blood magick with you?"
"Mostly me." Hekate says.
"Mm-hm. You told me once you could summon the dead, you need to tell me all about the reversing spell I did today."
"A necromancy."
Laurent nearly chokes. "It was necromancy?"
"Dark practitioners summoned the dead from the ground and controlled them to the point they are able to cast a curse to those they thought were a danger." Hekate explains, "it was all necromancy."
"Yes. I am pretty sure you are one of the main reasons why I can cast the spell."
"It was all you, Love. I merely gave you a push."
Love places the glass of wine on the table, and in instant, the glass is filled again with red wine. "I... I don't know how I feel about that."
"You do. You will use your power to save Artemis." Nyx's tone is demanding which scares and amuses Love at the same time.
"And what do I get out of this?"
Without hesitation, Nyx says: "I will be your greatest ally. For many more fights ahead, you will not only have me, but also Artemis' eternal gratitude."
"Love," Laurent nudges her side. She turns her head to look at him in horror. "You must accept, or I will."
"I don't... I don't know."
"You get to befriend Fenrir!"
"Oh, yeah, like that's going to make me go. Did you not see Cerberus? How am I suppose to befriend a gigantic wolf, let alone one that plays a role in Ragnarok? I can't even befriend the tiny, familiar Sushi!"
"Take the Cryptozoology!"
"Laurie, Fenrir is the son of Loki and Angrboða! Not some supernatural animals that the scholars already study of!"
Laurent rolls his eyes, "we do study mythology creatures as well."
"Do not worry about Fenrir, Love." Nyx cuts off their bickering in instant. "He, very much, has no intention to bring Ragnarok upon us as soon as possible."
"He's a Giant."
"And so was I, a Titaness." Hekate smiles warmly, "you never have any problem with that before. Except that Fenrir is a Giant wolf, an animal at heart. And I do believe every animals are gentle."
"If He eats me..."
"He has no desire of eating small creatures." Nyx answers.
"Good." Love sighs heavily, grabbing Laurent's arm for support. "And if I successfully went to Gardenia? What would happen?"
"Find the dark witch. They might be hiding behind a glamour, but of course, that is not a problem for you."
Love gulps down the wine to calm her nerves even more. Laurent pats her arm to make sure she knows that she's got his support. "Whatever you choose, Love." He says.
Tempting offer. Saving a land is a big responsibility, but Love loves the idea of being able to strengthen her necromancy ability with her patron Goddess. Also, the fact that Nyx and Artemis will become her allies.
That's got to be useful, right?
Remembering how she reversed the spell in the classroom, she sighs heavily. What the hell am I? Why am I able to reverse the spell that I wasn't familiar with? She thought to herself.
"Can I give this a thought?" Love asks softly. "I will need to have more than a day to go to Gardenia, and I have classes to attend to. I'd need to be more than ready."
"Of course. Go with your own pace." Nyx nods Her head.
"Also, Gardenia has been closed for weeks now." Laurent adds before turning to Love, "you need to expect the unexpected."
"I know." Love grimaces, "how am I suppose to tell Levi? Oh, my, what about parents? They are going to ground me for life!"
"You are an individual. Your father and mother are no matter." Hekate says, "to be prepared is to accept that whatever will happen in Gardenia, you can face with fierce."
Love nods, unsure of what to say to that. She loves the idea of going on an adventure, to make up for the lifetime she has spent cornered in her bedroom with nothing but sadness and sleep deprivation.
"Okay, I think this is enough." Love nudges Laurent who is in the middle of eating a strawberry cake, "or not. I'll wait until you finish."
"Why don't you give the castle a tour?" Nyx offers.
Love, beginning to tire even more than usual, shakes her head. "I think I am going to wait outside."
"Love, if you return without me, I will never speak to you ever again." Laurent grabs her hand. Love only chuckles, shrugging him off.
"Okay, jeez. I just want to see the chaos happening outside again."
"I will be there for you in about 3 minutes."
So, off she goes. Love makes sure to thank Nyx for welcoming her and Laurent in her home before walking out of the hall with Hekate. She fiddles with her fingers, thinking of all the possibilities that will happen if she goes to Gardenia all by herself.
When she walks out of the castle, the heat from hellish fire and lava leaking from the mountains make it harder to breathe. The stench of death, the graveyard fills all her senses, causing her to close her eyes and count from one to three. The sound of people screaming for help, for mercy, can be heard all around her.
It feels like the end of times. When humans are met with natural disasters, they scream just as loud as the poor, tortured souls.
"Mark Antony," Love turns to look at Hekate who watches over the land of fire and punishment before her. "Where is he?"
Hekate looks at her with eyes as dark as the night sky, "he isn't here."
"No? But he killed himself, that's... Considered a violent act, right?"
"Oh, he is somewhere in hell. But not Tartarus."
Love sighs, looking down at her barefeet. She realizes she is wearing a white dress that reaches her knees. There is a bulge of her switchblade in the pocket, she takes it out and amazes it for a moment.
"If only he was here," she shrugs, "I'd ask him to teach me how to fight with a sword."
She flips open the blade, and suddenly, instead of a small knife, it turns into a half-broken sword. She shrieks in surprise, from the sudden transformation, and how heavy it weighs.
Love throws the sword to the ground, before places her hand on her chest to contain her surprise. "Why him specifically? When others fight better than him?" Hekate asks. "You have the sword of Phoenix, and you decide to let Mark Antony teach you how to fight?"
".... yes?" Love grimaces, bending over to take the hilt of the sword from the ground. "Have you ever fought in a war before?"
"Yes. The fight of the Titans."
"Right." Love swings the heavy sword around carefully, getting used to the size. "Did you use a sword?"
"No. I used my torches and daggers."
"Fun!" Love drops the sword again, and an earthquake suddenly shakes the ground beneath her; causing her to wobble around. "No! What is happening?" She falls to her knees to take the sword.
"The mountain will erupt," Hekate informs her, "alarming everyone that all monstrous creatures will be let out before imprisoned again."
"What?! Like lunch break?"
"I... Exactly."
Love wides her eyes. She grabs the sword, pressing a small button until it transforms back into a switchblade. "For the love of-"
One of the mountains erupt. The loud blast of the eruption shakes the entire Tartarus, as well as the screams of the monsters that crawl their way out of the volcanic mountain. Love watches as a giant grabs the edge, pulling himself out of the mountain. His enraged and painful scream as he emerges from the lava makes Love cover her ears.
She realizes the monster has only one eye, and his body is almost as big as the mountain. The clouds of ashes begin to hover, lava spills out of the head of the mountain, obliterating every bodies and every souls kept there.
"Love!" Laurent yells out from inside of the castle. "We need to go n-"
A light approaches him, embracing him and instantly pulling him out of Tartarus before he could even reach Love. Hekate raises a hand to stop the clouds of ash and destruction from approaching the castle.
Love hurries to her feet, pocketing the switchblade and the brightlight that always guides her out appears and takes her hand.
In a second, the stench, the view, and the castle are all gone. Both Love and Laurent are back in a world where they face their own realities. Love opens her eyes, still fearful of what she saw.
Laurent places his hand over his heart as he attempts to calm his labored breaths.
"Are you okay?" Love asks, instantly stretch out her legs and clutch on whatever it is in her palm. A stone. "It's fine. We are far, far away from Tartarus."
Except that the images are still carved in their brains. The tortured souls, monsters, hellish fire, the heat that felt as if it could melt their whole body with a droplet, and the eye in the sky.
"I'm.. I'm okay." Laurie breathes in and out calmly, closing his eyes. "Just have a lot to paint and write. That was a hell of an experience."
Love chuckles. Despite still terrified, they both burst out into giggles. Love crawls over to hug Laurent tightly, grateful that he was there to witness such horrendous sight with her.
"Thank you." She sighs.
Laurent smiles, patting her back, "we are psychic buddies, aren't we? I've got your back."
"I've got yours as well." Love pulls away, still grinning. "Will you paint us?"
"Hell yes." He raises his brows, "just you wait until I sent you an original one day."
Love hugs him again, laughing. "I will make sure you get to paint Fenrir as well."
This time, Laurent pulls away. Confused. "You are going to Gardenia?"
"Yeah," she chuckles softly. "Why the hell not? If I can go through Tartarus without getting my soul snatched, I can go through Gardenia."
"Yes. But you will also be facing a dark witch who practically casts a spell throughout the whole land."
"And I will reverse the spell. At least, I'll try to."
"Necromancy is dangerous, Love."
"Where's the energy you had in Tartarus?" She raises her brows, mocking him, "I will talk to Laveau about this trip. And well, Lev. Oh, I should definitely tell Nik. He's going to be ecstatic. Alsoooo, I'd tell Kali about Tartarus!"
"Yeah, and you need to get some rest." Laurent pats her shoulder, "so do I, honestly. Jeez. What time is it?"
"Late." Love chuckles, opening up her palm to see Obsidian stone is laying there.
It definitely goes to my collection. Love thought to herself, smiling.
"I'll help you clean up. You also need to think through everything before going to Gardenia. You don't know what's in there." Laurent gets up to his feet.
Love nods her head. She blinks a few times when an image of Cyclopes appears in her head multiple times. Among the time she crawled out of the volcanic mountain. Adrenaline still overpowers her as well as fear, hence why she begins to create a distraction by cleaning the room.