Page 174 of Hekate: The Witch

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But it was no use.

His stubbornness was legendary.

He turned away from me

and walked towards his home.

I glared at his retreating back.

I would see no more daughters

separated from their mothers

on the whims of callous Gods.

If I was to help Kore,

I would have to defy him

and all of his realms.

So be it.

So be it.

The Search

I looked everywhere for her. I searched for what the mortals would call years. The Underworld was no small place, it was a realm of lands within lands. So I used my notes on cartography to seek her out. I visited the midnights of the Realm of Night. I walked through the lavender of the Asphodel Meadows. I even visited the torrid volcanos of Tartarus. None of the banks of the five rivers nor the Elysian Fields had seen her – but I found Hecuba in the Elysian Fields, after she had met with her oldest child, Hector. She did not leave my side, which buoyed my spirits on my fruitless quest. Neither Hades’ palace nor orchards revealed anything to me. So it made sense, by the end of this long, exhausting search, that the only place she could be was the Forest of Silence, but I could not enter there without careful planning. When I finally returned to my home, tired and weary, I found Thanatos and Charon waiting for me. I knew by the looks on their faces that they brought with them terrible news.

‘What Happened?’

I asked a question

I did not want

to know the answer to.

Neither of them spoke at first.

Thanatos used his staff

to make a crystal orb in the air.

In it I saw nothing.

And then… snow.

Villages once brimming

with life full of cold,

dying mortals.

Fields once full of crops

frozen over and lakes

where animals drank

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