Isobel Brandt \\ Persephone (praxidike) wrote in paxletalelogs, @ 2017-03-31 13:08:00 |
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Entry tags: | hades, persephone |
did i hear you scream
Who: Obed [Hades] & Isobel [Persephone].
What: Hades kidnaps Persephone, absconding with his new bride to the underworld; then their vessels' reactions.
Where: Persephone's meadow; then Pax, D3.
When: Ancient times; then middle of the night between March 31 and April 1.
Though the day offered nothing that should make her feel so, Persephone was anxious.
Sunlight was bright, warm on her face; her ladies moved around her, though their chattering and laughter seemed somehow distant, as though a bubble had formed over her ears to block out all other sound. Someone asked her a question; she smiled, reassuring the other that all was well. She looked back down to the bloom she was in the middle of planting; the gaping hole she'd dug, the gentle blue of a daisy reflecting the sky above it lying on its side like a casualty. She picked it up, set it in the hole, and started to smooth dirt into place around the base of its stalk, making sure it was comfortable enough to stand straight and tall.
Once done, she rose up, still seated, wiping her forehead with the back of one hand. She could feel earth smeared over her skin, drenched with sweat, warm, but it felt good.
She did not fully register the trembling of the ground beneath her, her mind writing it away as a misperception. But the sensation did not lessen; instead it grew stronger with each beat of her heart, and in moments its intensity was such that it shook her ladies in waiting to their knees; she tried to stand, to comfort them, but then she too remained low. And then the horizon broke apart.
Four monstrous stallions, sable-black, thundered across the field. Their hooves tore thick clumps of earth from the ground, tossing them up in their wake. Behind them a golden chariot was drawn, its frame embossed with scenes too grim to look upon. And there, calm and immobile astride the chariot, was the black-clad form of Hades, Theon Chthonius. Though he held no hand upon the reins, the horses moved precisely as he willed. They cut a swath of death through the verdant field, their long strides carrying them headlong into the path of the cowering servants. Persephone watched in horror, fear lancing through her every limb and keeping her pinned to where she knelt, helpless to do anything against what was slowly unfolding before her eyes.
Two among the servants were trampled underfoot; the heavy chariot was scarcely jostled in response. Blood shone wet on onyx-black hooves. Fat droplets of gore fell like rain to the grass below, some wetting Persephone's dress and face. The wet, warm feeling of blood across her cheek was a strange contrast to the cold, tight feeling in her gut. Yet the chariot did not stop, only passing Demeter's most prized possession in a blur of black and gold.
Hands cold and hard as granite fitted around the goddess's waist. Despite Persephone's attempts at dissuading him (fragile, white hands pushing ineffectively at his shoulders, his chest, her face that of a ghost's), Hades lifted her onto the chariot, his arm firmly around her as they passed through and away from her field; the chariot jostled her, teeth rattling in her head, hands gripping her transport's sides as she looked down and watched her former home rapidly dwindle from sight. A chasm opened up before them, a black void that yawned wide to welcome them home. The moment they swept through, the pit was gone as quickly as it had come, leaving only bloodstained hoofprints and the deep scars of wheel-ruts behind.
Darkness enveloped them completely. Hades' embrace did not ease until faint lights began to show themselves, deep red winking like dying stars in the blackness around them. Persephone's hands pulsed, her knuckles whitening around the railings of the chariot as her body sought some purchase her mind could wrap itself around. She took a step away from her captor, moving to the far edge of the chariot's platform, watching the dark race past. Then she moved closer to him, taking the devil she knew over the one hiding in the shadows before her.