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“And do you see me as a threat?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” The darkness in Shadow’s eyes receded, although his skepticism remained. “It’s most unusual for a mortal to want to stay in this town.”
Zoe lifted her chin defiantly, and held his gaze. “Well, perhaps I’m not like most mortals.”
Shadow’s eyes narrowed, while his lips curled into a smile. “Perhaps...”
Silence descended between the pair, until a scattering of snow drifted through the air. The snowflakes danced around their bodies like a storm of confetti, glittering in the moonlight like diamonds. But despite the beautiful sight, they glanced at one another distrustfully.
A merry bark broke the silence, until Cerberus bounded from the darkness towards his master. Shadow groaned in despair as the dog approached, clenching a bone in each of its three jaws.
“Please don’t tell me you’ve gone digging in the graveyard again?”
Cerberus dropped the object at his master’s feet, before he peered at Zoe with a whine. Shadow sighed in exasperation, before he nodded reluctantly.
“Fine. The mortal can join us.” Shadow turned his back to Zoe and marched along the cliff top. “Follow me.”
“To where?”
“To the Throne of the Underworld.” Shadow pointed to a steep incline on the cliff edge, where the cliff curled inwards, like the point of a witch’s hat. “Metaphorically speaking, of course. It’s the best view in all the Underworld.”
With a bark of excitement, Cerberus bounded towards Zoe, before he excitedly nudged her in his master’s direction. She stumbled after Shadow, weaving her way between snow-covered brambles and dead undergrowth as she followed him into the gloom. As the three of them climbed to the cliff top, Zoe couldn’t help but shake her head in bewilderment. Of all the things she expected to do this evening, going for a midnight dog walk with the King of the Underworld hadn’t been one of them.
“We’re here.”
Shadow parted the branches of the undergrowth to reveal a clearing bathed in moonlight. Zoe gasped as she marveled at the panorama of the Underworld. Hundreds of stars shone brightly in the skies above, illuminating the snow-covered expanse of the canyons and cliffs, while in the distance, the lights of the Underworld Motel glowed brightly.
“It’s beautiful…” Zoe gazed at the night sky in awe, where the Arctic winds danced in a heavenly spectacle of lights. “I’ve never seen so many stars.”
“One for every lost soul we’ve saved.” But Shadow’s smile faded. “But like everything here, they’ve lost the shine they once held.”
Zoe followed his gaze to the barren landscape of brambles and frost-tipped trees. “I suppose it is a little… sparse.”
“It wasn’t always this way. Once, this landscape teemed with life. It was a true paradise.” Shadow’s eyes glistened as he gazed at the panorama, before he approached a nearby tree perched on the hilltop. “And these were the jewel in our crown.”
Zoe looked at the deadened tree in surprise. With its gnarled trunk, bare branches and warped appearance, it looked less like a jewel, and more like an eyesore. But her breath caught in her throat as its trunk emitted a soft golden glow, that traveled all the way down into its roots. A glow that was the very same as she’d seen in the center of the maze.
“I can’t say I’ve seen a tree like this before.” Zoe peered at the small ruby-colored buds that perched on its white branches, forever frozen in time within the wintry wastelands. “Although it looks like it’s seen better days.”
“They’re pomegranate trees, sown from the seeds of Persephone’s Tree.” At seeing Zoe’s lack of comprehension, Shadow continued. “The Queen of the Underworld. She had a bit of a green-thumb. Although I suppose that’s to be expected, given her mother was the Goddess of Nature.”
“And what exactly was a green-thumbed goddess doing down here?”
“It’s a long story. A story of abduction, meddling Gods, and love blooming in the most unexpected of places. When it comes to relationships, nothing with the Olympians was simple. Trust me.” Shadow’s eyes narrowed shrewdly. “The pomegranate was a symbol of Persephone and Hades’ love. A magic that brought life to the realm of the dead. And in planting her tree, Persephone brought life to the Underworld.”
Shadow gazed across the valley, reliving the magic that had once existed within the landscape. But a mournful look filled his eyes, until his gentle smile faded.
“So, what happened?”
Shadow looked at Zoe warily, his inner shields raised at the thought of opening up to an outsider. But a bark of encouragement from Cerberus pulled him from his doubts, until he spoke once more.
“The Underworld has seen many changes in its time, but one thing has always remained the same. Charon. The Ferryman of the Underworld, responsible for bringing lost souls to our lands, so that they may move on. He was like a father to me, and I trusted him in life and death. Until the day he betrayed me.”
An icy wind tore through the canyon, until the sparse overgrowth shuddered from its touch. Shadow studied the barren landscape with eyes of flint, his gaze as cold as his wintry surroundings.
“Charon always expected a payment for ferrying lost souls to our lands. It was Ancient Greek custom for the dead to be buried with a coin, meant for his service. But over time, his appetite for payment turned to greed. A thirst for power. And he planned to betray us all, by stealing the magic of the Underworld.” Shadow’s hands balled into fists as he spoke. “When I discovered what he’d planned, I had no choice but to banish him from the Underworld. I was forced to build our walls, and hide our existence from the world. And without a messenger to ferry lost souls to our lands, our magic waned, until the eternal winter descended. A winter where nothing can bloom, where our rivers freeze, and where life slumbers forevermore.”
Shadow’s eyes burned with a dark flame, fueled by the hurt of Charon’s betrayal. Zoe followed his gaze to the frozen landscape, until her gaze lingered on the faint lights of the city far in the distance.
