#i'll find a less-requested thing to be a kickstarter exclusive

[shanastoryteller]

wow your writing in the gods and monsters series is amazing! i've always loved greek myths and you bring them to life and add a different twist that makes it better than anything i've ever read about mythology!! if you have time, could you do a continuation of the Hades and Kore story? Kore/Persephone is one of my fav goddesses and i can't wait to see where you take her story!

(continuation of: x, x)

The first time Kore throws herself into the River Styx, sheis reckless and stubborn and feels like she has so little left to lose, only anoverbearing mother she yearns to escape.

The first time Kore throws herself into the River Styx, shefights and swims and survives. She is picked up on the shore and carried tosafety in Hades’s arms.

The second time Kore throws herself into the River Styx, sheis reckless and stubborn and feels like she has everything to lose. She letsthe water take her, and she drowns.

The second time Kore throws herself into the River Styx, itkills her.

~

Kore wakes up after falling unconscious while being carriedby the King of the Underworld. Her skin is fully healed, no longer blisteringand burning. She’s naked under the soft blankets, but she was naked when shedove into the river, so she’s not too worried about it.

“I didn’t know you were a goddess,” someone says, and sheturns her head to see a little girl sitting by her bedside with black skin andgrey eyes and hair. She’s glaring at her, “I wouldn’t have tried to kill you ifI’d known. You shouldn’t touch my water – it’s not good for you. It will killyou. It does not care what you are.”

“It did not kill Achilles,” Kore says, pushing herself up sothe blanket falls to her waist.

The young Lady Styx huffs and gets to her feet, pushing openthe long wardrobe on the other side of the room. “It did, actually. What myriver takes, it keeps.” Kore raises an eyebrow. Styx doesn’t explain further,only places a dark blue gown on the bed. “Hecate put some of her old things inhere for you. She’s taller and thinner than you are. But you are a goddess. Youcan make it work.”

“I can,” Kore agrees, amused. She pushes herself out of bed,and her hair falls into her face.

Her hair has been a dark brown her whole life.

She strides over to the wardrobe and pulls it open, starringat herself in the mirror.

Her hair has turned pure, snowy white. The hair on her headof course, but the rest of it too. Her eyebrows, the light hair on her arms andlegs, going down her navel, the hair between her legs – all of it white.

“You’re lucky nothing worse happened,” Styx scolds. “Myriver usually does much worse than that.”

Kore touches one of her new, pale eyebrows. “That is anexcellent point, Lady Styx.”

With some clever magic, Kore pulls on the now perfectlyfitting gown. Hecate doesn’t tend to bother with them, only dresses up ifthere’s some sort of celebration that requires her attendance – something thathasn’t happened in a long time, ever since she irritated Zeus and Poseidon tothe point that they called for her head on a spike. The gown is old, even bytheir standards, but its beautifully crafted, stars plucked from the heavensand sewn into the bodice, waves from the seven seas curling around the longskirt. “This is very valuable,” she says, “Is Hecate sure she would like me tohave it?”

Styx shrugs, “She said it was a young woman’s dress, andhowever she may look, she’s not a young woman any more. It’s my favorite dressof hers – I was quite cross that she gave it to you, but I did almost kill you.So I suppose that’s fair enough.”

“Ah,” Kore says, not quite sure how to respond to that. “Isee.”

Styx grins at her and grabs her hand. The child goddess’sskin is freezing to the touch, but Kore doesn’t flinch back out of fear ofbeing rude. “Come with me now. Hades wants to see you.”

The girl leads her through the twisting hallways to apolished wooden door. It’s not the throne room, where Kore thought that thegirl would take her. She’s seen the grand inner chambers of Poseidon and Zeus’shomes before, of the lesser gods even, and Kore braces herself for somethingjust as grandiose and intimidating.

Styx opens the door and pushes her inside before vanishing.

Kore blinks and looks around.

The room is smaller than she expected. It’s lined withshelves packed with scrolls, and mounted on the opposite wall is large mapthat’s constantly shifting and changing, and it take her almost a full minuteof looking at it to realize it’s a map of the underworld.

“You’re looking better.”

Kore’s eyes snap down, and it’s only then that she noticesthe figure of Hades, King of the Underworld, hunched over his desk. His hairpulled in messy low ponytail, and there are dark bags under his eyes. He’s in asimple black chiffon, one no more presumptuous than any mortal noble wouldwear. He’s the most unassuming, unremarkable thing in already unassuming,unremarkable room.

Suddenly, she feels over-dressed.

“Thank you,” she says, not knowing what else to say. Shefeels – awkward, almost, in front of him, which isn’t something she’s ever feltwith anyone. She wants to climb into his lap and rest her head against hisshoulder. She wants to force him into some proper clothes for a king. She wantsto put him to bed and make him sleep until he loses those bruises under hiseyes.

She’s never wanted to do any of those things for anyonebefore. She doesn’t even know him.

Although – she knows he came for her. That he found an intruderinto his realm and picked her up and soothed her, carried her to safety andwashed her of the corrosive water of the Styx. He placed her in his palace anddid not touch her as so many other men would have touched her.

So perhaps she does know him. At least a little.

He rests his chin on his hand while he looks at her. “Hermescame with a message from your mother, demanding your return.” She doesn’t evenhave the time to panic before he continues, “I denied her. If she wishes tospeak to me in person, I told her she is welcome to step into my realmherself.”

“She won’t do that,” Kore says, “She fears your realm. Shefears how her power means nothing in your domain.”

Kore had never known her mother to fear anything – exceptthe land of the dead. She’d grown up thinking Hades must be a hulking, formidablefigure to pull fear from her mother’s breast, but that’s clearly not the case.

He smiles, and it’s the first hint of sharpness she’s seenfrom him. “I know. There will be consequences, of course. But those are myconcern. You are a guest of my realm, Goddess of Spring. Walk where you please,and do as you please. No one will stop you.”

He’s already looking back down at his papers, eyebrowsdrawing together as he scratches out a series of numbers and rewrites them.It’s a clear dismissal, but Kore can’t bring herself to move.

She’s never met this man before. Yet he stands against hermother, yet he welcomes her to his realm, yet he permits unrestricted access tohis home, yet he grants her every freedom he’s able.

“Thank you,” she says again. He gives an absent nod, alreadyreaching for another scroll.

She leaves as quietly as she came.

~

Hades in unsurprised when the first wave of deaths occur.Charon is run ragged in his efforts to ferry them across the river. It’s madeall the harder because Styx keeps her river churning at a fast pace to dissuadeany of the impatient souls from attempting to swim across.

“This is only the beginning,” he warns them. Styx pulls onCharon’s robe, and the ferryman lifts her and settles her onto his hip eventhough his arms are shaking from navigating the boat across her river.“Demeter’s wrath is – far reaching.”

“Is the girl worth all this trouble?” Charon grumbles.

Hades smiles and tugs on the hood of the man’s robe. “Youwere.”

Styx yawns and snuggles into Charon’s side. “I like her.We’ll keep up, don’t worry.”

Hades can’t help but worry. Styx and Charon are young yet,and he hates to do this to them. He won’t go and confront Demeter, however –that’s not his battle to fight. For now, the best thing he can do for Kore isweather the storm of her mother’s anger.

The best thing he can do for Kore is give her time.So that’s exactly what he’ll do.

He goes to Hecate after, a map clenched in his fist. “Timeto expand?” she asks when she sees him.

“It will be,” he says grimly. “it’s better if we can getahead of it.”

Hecate doesn’t disagree. They spend the next three daysplanning it, and a week hence they’ll pull the edges of his realm wider. Ifthey do it right, it will almost double the size of the underworld. If they doit wrong – well, it’s best that they don’t.

He returns to the castle exhausted. He wants to go straightto bed, but he should review the lists of the dead so that they can all be sentto the right parts, to the areas of his realm that will fit them best. If heleaves them in the waiting area too long, not only will they get restless, butit will fill up, especially with the volume they’re going through. A fullwaiting area tends to end in disaster, restless souls causing disasters evenwhen they don’t mean to.

He walks through his palace, souls and other beingsinclining their heads as he passes. He’s already resigned himself to fallingasleep as his desk when he pushes open the door and sees a head of white curlsbent over his desk. “Lady Kore,” he says, surprised. He’d given her access toall parts of his realm. He still hadn’t expected to find her in his office. “Issomething wrong?”

She’s got ink smudges on her cheek and her dark purple dressis wrinkled. “I’m nearly finished,” she says, eyes unfocused. “You’ll want tocheck it over, of course. But I’m a quick study. I’m quite certain I’ve gottenit right.”

Hades doesn’t understand. He walks over to her, and spreadacross his desk are the new names of the dead, and Kore has written a numbernext to each name. The numbers are the same that flash across the map hung onthe wall – each one corresponding to a sector of his realm. There are scrollsand scrolls of names that are the product of Demeter’s temper tantrum, onesthat had built up while Hades had worked with Hecate to ensure that there wasenough room for everyone.

All but the one currently spread out on his desk iscomplete.

“You must have been working on this for days,” he saysblankly. “You didn’t need to do that.”

She smiles at him. She has such a pretty smile. “You didn’tneed to let me stay, or shield me from my mother.”

“That’s not the same thing,” he says. He had decided he wasgoing to help her. That didn’t mean she needed to help him in return.

Kore reaches up, her fingertips lightly dragging against thedelicate skin beneath his eyes. “You’re exhausted. Go to sleep. I’ll finishthis up.”

“You don’t need to,” he says again, and he can’t stoplooking at her. He doesn’t know why.

She tucks his hair behind his ear and says, “I want to. Getsome sleep.”

He walks back to his room, but all he can think of is Kore’sfingertips on his skin.

~

The weeks drag into months, and the death toll grows everhigher. Throughout it all, Kore is there.

She’s at the river’s edge to help unload the new souls fromCharon’s boat. She’s there when Styx falls into an exhausted sleep, letting thegirl rest with her head pillowed on Kore’s lap. She’s there, every day, byHades’s side, effortlessly shouldering half the work to keep his realm running,to keep everything smooth.

“You know,” Hecate says, sitting across from Kore as shepours over the map of the realm and the population counts of different area,“this is the most successful seduction attempt of Hades I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m not seducing him, I’m helping,” she says absently, thenlook up at her, “Wait, is he seduced? Because I could be. If he’s interested.”

Kore hadn’t known she could want someone beforeHades. The thought of touching Hermes or Apollo curdles her stomach, but Hades– that excites her. She’s never felt this way before. But she didn’t thinkHades felt the same. He doesn’t touch her, doesn’t look at her. They spendalmost every minute of every day together, and not once has he sent her acovetous glance.

Then again, if he were the type of man to covet her, shewouldn’t love him.

Because she does love him. She’s known that since thebeginning.

Hecate laughs and taps her on the nose. “My dear, he’swalking on clouds, even as your very presence threatens to plunge this realminto ruin. I would consider him quite thoroughly seduced.”

“Does he love me?” she asks, and she sounds young, and it isa childish question. But it’s important. If Hades loves her, she has a plan. It’sa plan that’s been lurking in the back of her mind since that very first day,since Styx let something slip that Kore is sure she didn’t mean to. But – shewon’t do it if Hades doesn’t love her. She won’t repay his kindness withbetrayal if he won’t forgive her for it.

Hecate is silent for a long time. She sounds surprised whenshe says, “You know, Kore, I think he does.”

Hades loves her.

She loves him.

There is a marriage in her future, if she does this right.But it will be no gilded cage – she’s tired of looking to other people to saveher, looking to Apollo, to Hermes, to Hades.

She’s going to save herself.

~

Kore hasn’t used her powers here, unsure of how spring wouldconflict with death.

She does it now, in the middle of the night, when Hadesslumbers.

There’s no life in the earth surrounding the palace, but itdoes not worry her. She is the daughter of Demeter, she is the Goddess ofSpring. Life from death is what she does best.

She takes off her shoes and digs her feet into the ground,closes her eyes, and uses every ounce of her power to turn this barren landinto – something else.

The trees are first, great towering things that fill theedges of the courtyard. Then grass, then flowers in every color she canimagine, all in full bloom. Shrubs and rose bushes, delicate ivy crawling upthe sides of Hades’s palace. She covers it all in fauna, in life. Then shefalls to her knees, pushes her hands into the earth, and makes something new.

It’s small, but it’s there. She rejects all that her motherhas made, and, for the first time, makes something completely on her own. It’sbarely a tree, barely as tall as she is. It blooms red, and as she forces it toage, the blossoms grow into heavy, round fruits, just as red as the blossoms. Itis only a single tree, in the middle of the courtyard. She hopes it will beenough.

“Lady Styx,” she says, “I need you.”

The child goddess appears before her, rubbing at her eyes.Her yawn cuts off midway through as she gapes at the lush garden that nowexists where before there was only barren earth. “Did you do this?” she asks,looking down at the kneeling goddess.

Kore holds out her dirt covered hands. They’re trembling.She’s parched and dizzy with the effort it took to make a garden in a placewhere living things aren’t meant to thrive, to exist at all really. Styx takesthem in her own cool hands. “Do you trust me, Lady Styx?”

The child goddess nods.

“Good,” Kore sighs, nearly drooping in relief. “I need youto do me a favor. I’m going to jump in your river.”

“You can’t!” Styx says immediately, grey eyes wide. “You’retoo weak! It will kill you!”

Kore smiles.

“Yes. It will.”

~

Hades is pulled from his bed and thrown against the stonewall with such force that, if he were not who he is, he would be dizzy from it.He blinks up at Hermes towering over him. Charon shimmers into existence behindthe messenger god, scythe raised to behead him. “Don’t,” Hades said.

“You dare tell me what to do after what you’ve done?” Hermeshisses.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he says, and points.

Hermes turns. Charon still has the scythe raised. “Whydidn’t you stop her? What is the pointof you if you simply let her die?” Hermes reaches out a hand – Hades doesn’tknow what Hermes is planning to do, and he’s not interested in finding out.

He’s up in an instant, grabbing Hermes’s wrist before he cantouch Charon and holding it just tight enough that his bones creak in protest.“None of that now,” he says mildly. “What’s all the fuss about?”

“You need to come to the river,” Charon says. “The rest ofthe twelve gods are there. They are angry.”

“Demeter as well?” he asks. He’s surprised. He didn’t thinkanything could entice Demeter to face him once more.

Hermes tries to pull his arm back, but Hades doesn’t lethim. Charon is still standing within hitting distance. “Of course she’s here!Her daughter is dead!”

He stares. “What are you talking about? Kore is fine. She’shere.”

“My lord,” Charon says quietly, and this is impossible, evenif Kore had died she would simply end up here,there is no true death unless he wills it.

Unless –

“STYX!” he roars.

She doesn’t come. For the first time, Styx does not comewhen he calls.

“Come with me,” Charon begs, “Please, my lord. Come withme.”

Hades goes. They go through the courtyard, and he’s soastounded by the changes that his legs forget to move at the sight of it all.There’s a garden in the land of the dead. Flowers bloom. Tree branches hang lowwith heavy fruit. But he’s drawn to something else – there’s a small tree rightin the center that looks almost as if it’s glowing. He reaches out and touchesone of the round red fruits that he’s never seen before, and as soon as hisfingers press against the firm skin it drops into his hand.

Charon tugs at his arm, desperate, “Please, my lord, wedon’t have time.”

He nods, absently tucking the fruit in a pocket of his robe,and following Charon to the edge of the river.

Hermes, as the messenger god, is the only one able to enterhis realm without his permission. Across the grey and angrily churning riverstand all the others – Apollo, Artemis, Hestia, Athena, Hera, Poseidon,Hephaestus, Aphrodite, then at the end stand Zeus and Demeter. Hermes next toApollo, arms crossed.

“What have you done?” Demeter spits, and Hades is sure thatZeus’s hand on her arm is all that prevents the goddess from attempting to leapacross the river and tear his head from his neck. “What did you do to her?’

“Hades,” Hestia says quietly, “she – we all felt it. How didshe die?”

Demeter howls and leaps at Hestia. Poseidon stands betweenthem and holds her back, an utterly bored look on his face. “Brother, anexplanation, if you please. Some of us have our own realms to attend to.”

“Lady Styx,” he says, forcing a calmness he doesn’t feelinto his voice. “Please come here.”

There’s a moment when nothing happens, and if she makes himto track her down within his own realm, he will be cross with her. But then she appears in front of him, shoulderhunched nearly to her ears, and her grey eyes wet. “I only did as she asked!Don’t be mad at me!” she hiccups and says, quieter, “Please don’t be mad atme.”

All at once, the entirety of the fury that had been buildingin Hades’s chest leaves him. The sorrow is just as strong, but no matter what,getting angry at Styx will solve nothing. He bends down on his knee and reachesout to touch her shoulders. She flinches away from him, and he pauses. “LadyStyx,” he says softly, “I would never hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”

She nods, a quick, sharp motion. He slowly holds out hishands, waiting, and doesn’t bother to hide his relief when she places her cold,trembling hands in his.

“Did Kore jump in your river?”

Styx nods.

It’s what Hades expected, but he has to close his eyesagainst the tidal wave of grief that threatens to overwhelm him. The River Styxis the barrier between life in death, and as such it is neither. Those who diein the river do not go to the underworld. They are simply unmade, their bodiesdissolved and their souls broken into a thousand lost pieces. “Why?”

“She said it was the only way,” Styx look anxiously into thedepths of her river, “She’s running out of time. I told her she didn’t have alot of time, that she had to do it quickly, that I would not be able to helpher.”

Hades doesn’t understand.

“What is she talking about?” Apollo demands.

Hephaestus rubs his wrists, “Styx, are you saying – that’simpossible, she wouldn’t have enough time – she wouldn’t even be able to think to do it.”

Just then, cutting across the air: “I hadn’t expected anaudience quite this large.”

Everyone turns toward the voice.

It’s Kore.

Her eyes are now as white as her hair, and she’s almosttransparent. Across her body are tiny cracks of pulsating grey – places whereshe’s used the clay of the river to push her soul back together again. “You didit!” Styx cries, running to the edge of the river.

“Thanks to you,” she smiles, “Your river tore me apart, asit must, but you did a very good job of making sure enough of me stayedtogether so that I could find all my own pieces.”

“What are you playing at?” Demeter snaps, eyes wild. “Getout of that river, this instant!”

“She can’t,” Hades says, heart clenching in his chest. “Sheisn’t alive. Not really. She is simply of the river – if she leaves it, shewill be of nothing.”

Is a cursed river spirit the only escape she could see? Itis a clever one. Demeter won’t dare touch her, can’t touch her, for all that bound Kore to her mother died alongwith her, but – but it is not a life.

She walks across the surface of the river until she’s almostclose enough for Demeter to touch. “I am Kore no longer,” she says, faceimpassive. “I am of your body no longer, my power is not from you any longer. Iam not something you can control anylonger.”

“No,” Demeter snarls, “Now you are dead. Is it worth it?”

The woman who used to be Kore smiles. “Yes.” She turns andwalks back across the river, to Hades. She holds out her hands. “Did you bringit?”

“Bring what?’ he asks, mystified.

Styx pushes into his side and digs into his pocket. He letsher, and she pulls out the strange red fruit he’d taken from the equallystrange tree. “Here!” She tears it in half. In the fruit are bright seeds thecolor and shine of blood.

She meets his eyes, and her smile softens. “Sorry aboutthis. You’re going to have to learn to share.”

“What are you talking about?” he asks. He hasn’t felt thishopelessly confused in several millennia.

The woman who used to be Kore takes one of the fruit halvesfrom Styx. “I am the Goddess of Spring. Life from death is all I know.”

She bites into the fruit, and the juice drips down her chinlike blood. Her eyes are the first to change, no longer a terrifying white buta warm brown. Her skin darkens and color bleeds into her hair again, her curlsturning the same bright red as the fruit. The grey clay flecks off her skin,and it’s whole and unblemished.

She steps from the river onto the shore. She does notcrumple. She does not dissolve into dust.

She tosses her hair over her shoulder, and with a twist ofher wrist a red gown covers her body. She lifts her skirt and stamps her feetinto the ground, laughing. Trees sprout up around them. Flowers bloom alongwater’s edge.

There is nothing that happens in this realm without hispermission. But he couldn’t stop this if he tried.

“I am Persephone!” she declares, eyes bright. “I am Queen ofthe Underworld.”

Her power is now tied up within his realm, the roots of thetrees she grew are far reaching. She’s twisted the rules of her power and his,and stolen part of his realm out from under him, found every loophole andescaped her mother’s grasp by becoming something she could never touch orunderstand, by becoming something that was already a part of her all along.

If he hadn’t fallen in love with her already, he would now.

“Might you need a king?” he murmurs, stepping closer. Theother gods are yelling from across the river, but he can’t bring himself tocare. “Ruler of the underworld is such a heavy burden to bear alone.”

She grins, all teeth, and when he gets close enough shereaches a hand around the back of his neck and pulls him down until she cancover his mouth with her mouth.

His arm curls around her waist, and she lets him support herweight as he continues kissing her, as she continues kissing him, as they beginthe rest of their lives as King and Queen of the Underworld.

Half of the gods across the river are laughing, and theother half are furious, but Hades and Persephone are unconcerned.

They’re gods. There’s no need for them to stop and breath –they can continue standing on the river’s edge and kissing until everyone getsbored and leaves.

No matter how long it takes.

Hades thinks this is a most excellent beginning.

~

Later, she agrees to spend half the year with her mother tocool her temper. But her grin doesn’t leave – it is her choice, it is a decisionshe makes that neither her mother nor Hades can go against.

She is Persephone, daughter of Demeter, Queen of the Underworld,wife of Hades, Goddess of Spring.

She is Persephone.

All the choices she makes are her own.

gods and monsters series, part xxiv

read more of the gods and monster series here