Page 90 of His in the Dark

What foolish spell has been cast to betray me?

I halt, reigning in anger as I still and wait for the world to show me the truth.

Once my mind has settled, I vow to myself that I will not loosen my grip until Olympus is saved. Until the realms are once again in balance. Life requires Death and cycles come and go. We will mourn and as they do I will hold their hand. This though… this lowly place and threat of destruction… this warrants a great threat.

I must remain in balance myself. I must look toward the future and see it with clear eyes, no matter how harrowing it looks.

“Demeter,” I call, drawing my robes close to my body and standing up straight against the wind. The flames of my torch blow and my hounds gather, one on each side of me. I can withstand it. I can withstand anything. “Come to me!”

Her cries meet my ears, but they are too legible to be spoken on Olympus. The lightning is too loud. The wind rages. She’s speaking to me as if in prayer, and every word rings in my ears. It is a prayer sent directly to my heart, and I could not ignore it even if I wanted to.

They will all freeze,she cries.

I am listening,I think, in the pause she takes for breath.I hear you, Demeter. I know it must feel that way.

If all the mortals have perished, they will all freeze, and we will freeze with them.

We are all woven together,I think. If she cannot hear my words, perhaps she can sense the emotion behind them.

Gods will fight among themselves. They will tear us apart.

Not if we stop this! I think.You must stop this.I command her.

Demeter speaks again—prays again—so quickly I know she has not heard.We will all tear each other apart. It will be war. Prepare for war.

“Demeter,” I shout again, but her cries turn to more wretching sobs. “Demeter, it does not need to be this way!”

She does not listen. Sorrow has made her deaf to reason. You cannot listen if you do not wish to hear and she does not. A chill runs through me as I search again for her, quickening my pace.

It does not need to come to death and destruction. It does not need to come to fire and brimstone and buildings collapsing and lives being snuffed out. The Fates do not need to cut so many threads at once.

Whatever I think at Demeter, she must not hear me. She continues to cry. To wail. Her anger has already been unleashed.

Oh, whereisshe? I need to see her. To speak to her. To reason. She has lost, but there is much to gain.

It will not be easy. It may, in fact, be the most difficult thing Demeter ever has to do. She may hate me for it in the end, but I will make that sacrifice.

I must.

Demeter does not come at my call.

Is there anywhere I havenotsearched?

The courtyard.

I skirted the courtyard when I ran through the halls, traveling around it, but not into it. Her voice had echoed in those smaller spaces. Maybe it was echoing from the courtyard itself. Maybe she is there, summoning life from the heart of Olympus.

I rush toward the courtyard as fast as my legs will carry me and my hounds run beside me. I will catch her when she falls. I will hold her as she needs to be held. For she is a just andrighteous Goddess. What pain brings her here will wane. So mote it be.

It is in just as much disarray as the rest of Olympus. Petals have been torn from flowers and fly through the air. Delicate trees lay on their sides, the roots stretched to the breaking point. Branches snap and spear across the courtyard, carried by the wind.

Demeter is not here.

The only God standing in the courtyard is Zeus.

He has his back to me, staff in hand and his toga draped recklessly. Wine spills from an overturned glass as he unleashes another bolt from his staff. I know with a single glance that this is Demeter’s threat coming true. Absolutely true. She will not stop it now, and calling to her will do no good. Demeter is not in any position to listen.

I had held out hope.

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