the palace of this new Hades,
if it would be seen as nothing short
of treason in his increasingly
paranoid eyes.
And this was only the first
of my many, many hurdles.
The Gods in Grey
The Underworld echoed with old stories.
Many of these stories were simply rumours
but it was difficult to tell the difference
between legend and lore.
But this one? This legend made sense.
You see, it was a straight path
from the lavender-dipped
Asphodel Meadows,
through the orchard of dark fruit
that belonged to Hades,
beyond which lay
his palace.
But what protected Hades’ palace
were beings so unfathomably brutal
we only knew them as
the Gods in Grey.
It was said that
they were manifestations
of shadows and evil thoughts,
dark deeds and cruelty.
Once these things terrorized
the Gods and mortals so much
that they were imprisoned