#entering Hecate’s cave

[magdalene-spirit]

"Why put them through the danger of the fire? And then, I heard…the voice of the guardian-head: "Each piece must go through the fire. All must go the way that I have gone. Each may crack in the process, as I have cracked. But look, the crack has healed. I did not break. Without the fire, the piece is untested, unlived, raw. Each must go through the fire."

-MARION WOODMAN, LEAVING MY FATHER'S HOUSE: A JOURNEY TO CONSCIOUS FEMININITY

“The feminine journey is about going down deep into soul, healing and reclaiming, while the masculine journey is up and out, to spirit.”

- MAUREEN MURDOCK THE HEROINES JOURNEY

****************************

When it is time to cross over—

Standing at the precipice, the threshold, the cave opening, the crossing—

You enter that liminal, dream-type, hypnagogic, underworld, timeless space.

This is the space where causality can be affected, where you can change the course of things & your life.

The space of vision, spirit & magic.

Few can stay conscious & awake in this realm & often we are dragged along into unconsciousness sleep.

But if you are vigilant in this space (keep vigil) you may hear your archetypal guides speak & lead the way through the death-&-rebirth tunnel. Goddesses Kali, Inanna, Ireshkigal, Persephone & Hecate may come to you as images you feel drawn to. Of destruction of the old & the coming in of the new.

**************************

Stages of the Heroines Journey to a Conscious Soul life—

•Is disillusionment with the Heroes Journey of outer success & disidentification with a false persona that lived for masculine values of success.

•A persistent betrayal wound, betrayal of the feminine Soul gnaws at the edges of consciousness as emptiness, shallowness or hollowness.

•Now the crisis may appear that plunges you into descent & reconnection with the feminine face of consciousness, the Goddess, the Mother. Life-force.

•Henceforth life unfolds from the Heart, not the mind.

•From the Heart you live from insight, knowings & intuition.

The life that is meant for you, finds you.

You can stand strong & full in the roles that are yours for this life.

#marionwoodman #maureenmurdock

[lonewolfel]

Aroace Hunter Week 2022 Day 1: Dragons, Narwhales, and Frogs

@sergeantsporks

Rating: Gen (implied child abuse, rival shipping)

Characters: Hunter, Luz, King

Relationship: mentioned Luz/Amity, Azura/Hecate, Hecate/Malin

Note: In the first part I write out a part of The Good Witch Azula book. I didn't rewatch or reread those parts, cause I agree with Eda. So it may not quite be written how the book is in the show, but I tried. Also, not 100% percent sure this filled the prompt, but it's my first time doing something like this.

It was a quiet day in the Owl House. Luz was sitting on the coach with King laying on her lap. She was reading her Good Witch Azura book out loud. Hunter was sitting on the floor with his back against the coach. He was silently reading a book on wild magic.

"Azura looked forth at the cave that the fierce dragon that had been terrorizing villages. Azura went to enter the cave, when Hecate reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Hecate, I shall slay the dragon and free the village." Azura said.

"I knowth" Hecate said. With that she pulled Azula into a kiss. A kiss of true love. The wind swirled around them." Luz read

Luz stopped reading to squeak as she hugged the open book to her chest.

"Luz, you're being all gushy again." King complained

"I can't help it. This is relationship goals here." Luz said

"Aren't you already with Amity?" King asked

"That doesn't mean I can't have relationship goals, King." Luz said

"Yeah a kiss that controls the wind." King said sarcastically. Luz blushed and looked upset.

"Hunter, what do you think?" Luz asked. Hunter nodded.

"Uhuh...whatever." Hunter said. He didn't even look up from his book.

"He's not even paying attention." King said

"Azura and Hecate did something that Luz finds cute or what she calls "relationship goals". She made a squeaking sound and hugged the book. You called her out for being gushy." Hunter said still not looking up.

"I didn't squeak." Luz said

"Hehe, yes you did." King said laughing. Luz huffed.

"Well none of you understand shipping and relationships." Luz said

"To touchy feely for me." King said

"I don't see what the point of them are." Hunter said. Luz inhaled in shock while putting a hand on her chest. She fell back on the coach.

"How could you say that about shipping?" Luz asked in horror. Hunter finally looked up at the human and demon.

"Why does it matter if two fictional characters enter a romantic relationship or not?" Hunter asked

"Why does it matter?!?" Luz cried. She laid down and put an arm on Hunter's shoulder. He flinched slightly, but no one paid any mind to it which allowed Hunter to relax again.

"It's a waste of time when you could be doing research or completing missions." Hunter said. Luz frowned and propped herself up on her elbow. She looked at the back of Hunter's head in concern.

"You do realize that not everything you do has to be productive?" Luz asked. Hunter turned his head to look at her. He had a look of confusion on his face. Luz felt her heart break for the older teen. "You do realize that it is alright to do something fun and what you want to do once in a while. No one is going to judge you or hurt you for it."

"Right." Hunter muttered.

"Is that why you don't want to be in a relationship?" Luz asked softly. Hunter blushed and turned his head. Now Luz could only see the back of his head.

"No, I just don't want to be in one." Hunter said trying to seem unfazed by the question. Luz nodded her head in understanding even though he couldn't see it.

"Ok." Luz said. King jumped onto Luz's stomach.

"Enough chit chat, keep reading, I need to know about how Azura defeats the dragon." King said in annoyance.

"I have to admit that if I were to do "shipping" I'd say Hecate and Malin would be better than Azura and Hecate." Hunter said. Luz inhaled deeply in horror. King began to laugh seeming to forget about his earlier annoyance.

"You've never even been in a relationship. How would you know what ship is better. You don't even like Good Witch Azura!" Luz cried in horror. Hunter chuckled and picked up another book.

"True, but it gets on your nerves." Hunter said. Luz snapped her mouth shut and huffed. She crossed her arms and glared at the ceiling. King was dying of laughter. Hunter began to read the book. This one was about the human realm. "What's the deal with narwhales?"

[tallpagan]

can you tell me how you connected with goddess hecate? i love your blog ^-^

Hi! Just as a warning, this is a LONG storytime! Grab a drink, some snacks and enjoy reading about the start of my journey with Goddess Hekate!

!! TW: very brief, non detailed mentions of depression and s*icide !!

My journey with Hekate began years ago, unbeknownst to me. When I turned 15 years old and started dabbling in paganism and witchcraft, I was contacted by what I thought was a spirit guide. It started very small for a few years. Once in awhile I would dream of a cloaked woman, see unfamiliar black dogs in my backyard, find random keys on the ground or in my purse. These signs were very few and far between and lasted into my very early twenties.

During these years of my life I was really trying to find myself and discover my own path. Growing up I was raised in a very strict Lutheran-Catholic household. Questioning anything outside of the realm of the christian god/bible was absolutely forbidden. So when I turned 15 and decided christianity wasn't for me, I began learning about all sorts of spiritual pathways. It was all so new to me at the time; I had absolutely no idea of how to decipher visions, messages or spiritual connections.

So after around six years learning about different kinds of pagan religions and expanding my witchcraft, I began noticing Hekate's calling more and more. I had literally no idea who she was...I hadn't even heard of her name before! But the signs gradually showed themselves over the years. Dreams of a cloaked woman entering or exiting a cave, visions of jingling keys or barking black dogs, seeing torches in the weirdest places (when I was 21, I found a necklace on the ground in my driveway of an old styled torch that I had NEVER seen before. None of my family or friends recognized it either.)

I would always feel this very protective presence over me no matter where I was or what I did. Throughout the years I believed it was a guardian or spirit guide. The signs were there and got very very loud, but I was still unsure of my faith and practice.

It was right after my 22nd birthday that I finally met Hekate. I was in a very dark place in my life. Depressed, struggling and suicidal. I had full embraced my pagan and witchcraft path at that point and dabbled in working with a few Gods and Goddesses here and there. I wasn't devoted to any deities at the time because I'd never felt particularly close to any of them (I love the deities I work with, but the connection was centered around my witchcraft and not my religion).

There was an emptiness in me that I'd never experienced before. I felt like there was something missing in my life, but I couldn't put a finger on it. During this low point I was trapped in, the visions, dreams, signs and fervent spiritual pulling was happening almost every single day. At that point I knew it was more than a spiritual guide. I knew these were the signs of a deity calling to me. Yet because of my severe depression, I resisted for awhile.

Now we get to the part nobody really knows. I hadn't even told my closest friends or family about this until just a few months ago:

Just a few days after my 22nd birthday, I met Hekate directly after an almost attempted suicide. I had gone into the mountains behind my house and climbed to a high ledge. She came to me in her physical form about three or four meters away from where I was standing, arms reaching out as if to pull me away from this dangerous place I was in. All she said to me was this: "Come to me, child."

Just as quickly as I saw her, she faded into the trees. I was so shaken up by this! I'd never witnessed anything like it in my entire life.

The second I got home, I began my research and found very quickly that the woman who saved me was Goddess Hekate. After that I poured into learning every single thing about her that I possibly could. I read books and devotionals, watched countless videos and lectures, scoured the internet for weeks, spoke to several Hekatean followers.

After about two months of getting to know Hekate on a historical, religious and personal level, I devoted myself to her. She had chosen me to be one of her children and I was finally ready to begin my lifelong journey with the Goddess of the Crossroads.

It's been almost two years since my devotion to Hekate. She is the Light of my life, the mother I've always wanted, the protector I longed for since I was a child, the guide I will depend on forever.

I am devoted to Hekate for life. She is my Goddess above all else and the one who I will follow until my journey on this earth ends. And when that happens, Hekate will guide me to the next adventure.

Hope you enjoyed this insight of my journey. It feels very vulnerable to write something so personal like this, and yet I'm so willing to share my story. I hope it touches the hearts of anyone curious to know about Hekate.

Hail Hekate! Hail!

[hekatecovenant]

"Hekate’s Rebellious Horde

Hekate is the leader of the horde of restless spirits, and we see the groundswell of rebellion all around us today, from the reclaiming of the sacred feminine to the destruction of toxic masculinity. She is the giver of true medicine, the keeper of the keys to the mysteries of the unseen world, and her torches light the way of the witch. She beckons us back to the wildness that lives in the soul, the realm of true medicine and the religion of the soul. It is natural to be afraid because we have been chained our entire lives. Taught to fear the wild world, the unseen one, and the night in which they roam freely, we can become consumed with hesitancy. For those who brave the dark, Hekate rewards with great wisdom:

“Hecate’s disturbances were fierce, yet not all of the mortals feared them. Some longed to join her. In the dark of the moon small covens awaited Her near drooping willow trees. She appeared suddenly before them with her torch and Her hounds. A nest of snakes writhed in Her hair, sometimes shedding, sometimes renewing. Until the new moon slit the sky, Hecate shared clues to Her secrets. Those who believed understood. They saw that form was not fixed, watched human become animal become tree become human. They witnessed the power of Her favored herbs: black poppy, smilax, mandragora, aconite. Awesome were her skills but always Hecate taught the same lesson: Without death there is no life.”

From “Lost Goddesses of Early Greece.”

Experiencing Hekate is fierce yet comforting. It is the glimmer of her torches and the sound of keys rattling. 

She uses her symbols in our dreams, imaginations, and in synchronicities. We find ourselves in mysterious wild gardens in our dreams, with etheric women bidding us to enter. We feel a frisson on our skin when we speak her name. The word witch reverberates our soul, compelling us to pursue the deeper world despite what could be considerable risks. Yet, we persist because it is our truth, and the way of healing. Hekate calls us into the darkness of her cave for she knows that it is only through the deepest dark that wholeness is found. On the other side of this journey of rebirth awaits Hekate’s temple, the place where we will reign sovereign."

written by Cyndi Brannen, exerpt from her blog Keepingherkeys.

Artwork by Oryelle Defenestrate Bascule

Shared with the CoH Network by Laurie Bianciotto, Devotee CoH

[naidadiamandis]

Nyx (/nɪks/;[1] Ancient Greek: Νῠ́ξ, Nýx, [nýks], 'Night')[2] is the Greek goddess (or personification) of the night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darkness). Her appearances are sparse in surviving mythology, but reveal her as a figure of such exceptional power and beauty that she is feared by Zeus himself.

In Hesiod's Theogony, Nyx is born of Chaos.[3] With Erebus (Darkness), Nyx gives birth to Aether (Brightness) and Hemera (Day).[4] Later, on her own, Nyx gives birth to Moros (Doom, Destiny), the Keres (Destruction, Death), Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), the Oneiroi (Dreams), Momus (Blame), Oizys (Pain, Distress), the Hesperides, the Moirai (Fates), Nemesis (Indignation, Retribution), Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Friendship), Geras (Old Age), and Eris (Strife).[5] Finally, Nyx bore the ferryman of Hades, Charon.[6]

Roman-era

bronze statuette of Nyx

velificans

or

Selene

(

Getty Villa

)

In his description of Tartarus, Hesiod locates there the home of Nyx,[7] and the homes of her children Hypnos and Thanatos.[8] Hesiod says further that Nyx's daughter Hemera (Day) left Tartarus just as Nyx (Night) entered it; continuing cyclicly, when Hemera returned, Nyx left.[9] This mirrors the portrayal of Ratri (night) in the Rigveda, where she works in close cooperation but also tension with her sister Ushas (dawn).

Homer[

edit

]

At Iliad 14.249–61, Hypnos, the minor deity of sleep, reminds Hera of an old favor after she asks him to put Zeus to sleep. He had once before put Zeus to sleep at the bidding of Hera, allowing her to cause Heracles (who was returning by sea from Laomedon's Troy) great misfortune. Zeus was furious and would have smote Hypnos into the sea if he had not fled to Nyx, his mother, in fear. Homer goes on to say that Zeus, fearing to anger Nyx, held his fury at bay and in this way Hypnos escaped the wrath of Zeus by appealing to his powerful mother. He disturbed Zeus only a few times after that, always fearing Zeus and running back to his mother, Nyx, who would have confronted Zeus with a maternal fury.

Nyx took on an even more important role in several fragmentary poems attributed to Orpheus.[citation needed] In them, Nyx, rather than Chaos, is the first principle from which all creation emerges.[citation needed] Nyx occupies a cave or adyton, in which she gives oracles. Cronus – who is chained within, asleep and drunk on honey – dreams and prophesies. Outside the cave, Adrasteia clashes cymbals and beats upon her tympanon, moving the entire universe in an ecstatic dance to the rhythm of Nyx's chanting. Phanes – the strange, monstrous, hermaphrodite Orphic demiurge – was the child[citation needed] or father of Nyx. Nyx is also the first principle in the opening chorus of Aristophanes' The Birds, which may be Orphic in inspiration. Here she is also the mother of Eros.[10]

The theme of Nyx's cave or mansion, beyond the ocean (as in Hesiod) or somewhere at the edge of the cosmos (as in later Orphism) may be echoed in the philosophical poem of Parmenides. The classical scholar Walter Burkert has speculated that the house of the goddess to which the philosopher is transported is the palace of Nyx; this hypothesis, however, must remain tentative.

In some accounts, the goddess of witchcraft, Hecate was also called the daughter of Night.[11]

There was no known temple dedicated to Nyx, but statues are known to have been made of her and a few cult practices of her are mentioned. According to Pausanias, she had an oracle on the acropolis at Megara.[12] Pausanias wrote :

When you have ascended the citadel [of Megara], which even at the present day is called Karia (Caria) from Kar (Car), son of Phoroneus, you see a temple of Dionysos Nyktelios (Nyctelius, Nocturnal), a sanctuary built to Aphrodite Epistrophia (She who turns men to love), an oracle called that of Nyx (Night) and a temple of Zeus Konios (Cronius, Dusty) without a roof.[13]

More often, Nyx was worshipped in the background of other cults. Thus there was a statue called "Night" in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.[14] The Spartans had a cult of Sleep and Death, conceived of as twins.[15] Cult titles composed of compounds of nyx- are attested for several deities, most notably Dionysus Nyktelios "nocturnal"[16] and Aphrodite Philopannyx "who loves the whole night".[17]

Roman authors mentioned cult practices and wrote hymns in her honor. Ovid wrote: "May 9 Lemuria Nefastus. You ancient rite will be performed, Nox Lemuria; here will be offerings to the mute dead",[18] and she is also mentioned by Statius:

O Nox . . . Ever shall this house throughout the circling periods of the year hold thee high in honour and in worship; black bulls of chosen beauty shall pay thee sacrifice [black animals were sacrificed to the chthonic gods], O goddess! And Vulcanus' [Hephaistos'] fire shall eat the lustral entrails, where-o'er the new milk streams.[19]

[m4gp13]

So I’ve been rereading the sword of Hades as one does and it’s never really explained fully how Ethan got to the underworld. It is implied but I like to be thorough.

I doubt he got there by paying Charon at D.O.A. records because when the gang did that in TLT the gods were still finding it hard to believe (some outright refusing to believe) that Kronos was rising again and were therefore a lot more lose with security but sword of Hades takes place after Kronos’ forces lead a major battle against camp so the underworld would probably be more secure. 

The only times Percy goes to the underworld after TLT is when he has the help of Persephone (Queen of the underworld) and Nico (the ghost king). As far as we can tell the Titan army doesn’t have anyone with as much control over the underworld as Persephone and as much as it pleases me to think of i doubt Ethan is the type to serenade a rock for entrance into hell (we also never see an instrument on him so he didn’t play a song for the rock either).

the other option would be he entered the same way he exited which, although was implied more heavily than the others, still has a host of issues. Melinoe has a habit of mind-fucking anyone who gets close to her cave which Ethan would have to have passed through to make the deal she referenced. The only reason the little three were able to un-mindfuck themselves was because they got help from Percy who was exempt from mind-fuckery by having plot armour  letting go of deaths he’d seen or been affected by but we don’t know if Ethan was as mentally sound as this or if he just didn’t have much experience with death.

Of course, maybe Ethan didn’t get mind-fucked because Kronos sent word ahead to tell Melinoe that he was sending someone to bargain with her or Ethan just got a free pass for being pals with one of Hecate’s kids, i guess we’ll never know because Rick is allergic to giving minor characters content (or at least content where they don’t fucking DIE).

[godlyborn]

wins & losses.

date: january 31, 2021 characters: cyrus rooke, victoria brant, & cora weidemann summary: the final installment trigger warnings: mention of blood (indicated where it is)

Victoria hiked up the hill, the waterfall next to her. "Jesus Christ, how many fucking waterfalls are in this place. It's so damn confusing. Vic turned to look at Cyrus. "Crooke, you coming or did you get your foot stuck in the mud again?"

Cyrus kept glancing over at the falls and it wasn't lost on him how beautiful the scenery around him actually was, but because he was sent here by Hecate... He absolutely hated it. He seethed as he trekked up to their destination. He couldn't stop thinking about how fucked up he let things get. He wasn't brought back to focus on reality until Victoria asked him about the mud. "I'm comin', I'm comin'," Crooke hid a heavy frown and kicked his right combat boot again to see if he could get some more mud off it. He then swiftly joined her up ahead. "I was fuckin' zonin' out," He explained and shook his head. "Sorry," He quickly added and looked up ahead. "How much farther until the next one we can check?" He asked.

“Could tell,” Victoria responded. “I think it’s just up this hill. Fuck, it’s kinda steep. There’s no way she didn’t put it here. It’s definitely here just to spite us,” Victoria said.

"It's gotta be this one. If it's not behind this one, then I'm gonna flip out," Cyrus admitted and sounded annoyed and rightfully so. He kept trekking along. "Nah, she didn't know we were coming. She probably just chose the most menial and irritating quest she could think up off the top of her head," He sighed and when it came upon the next bigger fall, he gestured to it. "—Is that the one?" He double-checked.

Vic nodded. "Looks like there could be something behind there," she replied. "Okay, just before we do this, if something weird happens, just protect yourself, okay? I know we've come all this way for this, but it is not worth losing our lives over. Especially yours, I don't know what I would do. I need you to look after yourself too, because I need you Cyrus." Vic took a moment to sigh, turning her eyes back to the waterfall. "Now that that's over." She looked around for anyone so that she could use her magic. "You don't see anyone right?"

Cyrus was fidgety and frowned at her when she warned him about protecting himself. "Toria, stop," He quipped back but only because it hurt to hear and think about the possibility of her getting hurt because of a situation he put her in. "If something happens and things get tense, I'll look out for myself," He lied but tried to assure her anyways. He glanced around and looked for any signs of other people. "Nobody's around," When he didn't see anyone, he focused on the falls again too. "You're good to go."

Victoria cast the spell, letting the water split so the two could get into the cave behind the waterfall. "Ladies first," she said, looking at Cyrus with a smirk.

Crooke was too hyperfocused on the task at hand, watching the water split, that he couldn't come up with a funny retort. He entered into the space behind the falls, a place others probably never got the chance to see. It was a cooler temperature under there and he glanced around again, only this time for a tablet and that's when he saw four of them sitting in display-like positions almost as if they were at a museum but without the glass protecting them. He began walking up to them and clenched his fists down by his sides. "Fuck, she really wasn't lying about picking the right one," He sighed. "I hate this.." He complained. "Which one do you think it is?"

Victoria followed Cyrus shortly after, letting the water fall once they were in the cave. She looked around, her eyes settling at the tablets before them. She read the Latin on them. "I don't know, the latin on them kind of makes no sense. She really made it hard for someone to take these," she mentioned. "I know a spell that may reveal it. It's worth a shot if you want me to use it?"

"If you don't think you'll exhaust yourself, y'know, usin' magic like this, this much, then," He spoke about all the things she'd been doing to help him through this. He stepped to the side and gestured widely out to the stone tablets. "—Do what you gotta do."

Victoria cast the spell, but her magic was no match for her mother's magic. Victoria could feel herself wear herself out, and she got dizzy for a moment. Vic held onto Cyrus for a moment to keep her balance, breaking the concentration of the spell. She shook her head. "I'm either not doing it right, or Hecate's magic is blocking."

Crooke helped support Victoria when she needed it. He shook his head and huffed in annoyance. "Fuck, fuck," He expressed and then let go of Vic after checking if she could stand on her own. "Okay, well, shit, we gotta take them all then..." He said and started collecting the stone tablets. He stacked them on top of one another after taking them from their places. Once that was achieved he turned to look at Victoria. "All right, let's get the fuck outta here?" He suggested.

"You can say that again," Victoria replied. As they started their way toward the waterfall again, Victoria was ready to perform the spell when she could hear the growling of dogs outside, but she knew better. She knew that it was most likely hellhounds. When they picked up the tablets, they most likely triggered something that sent hellhounds here to defend Hecate's items. Fuck, Hecate. Victoria held out her arm to stop Cyrus from moving forward. "You hear that?" she asked.

The growling of what sounded like dogs met his ears and he instantly looked down and checked the trinket that was hooked to one of his twin daggers. He'd stopped moving. The charm was glowing bright which signalled that monsters were near. "Shit," He exhaled. "—It's hellhounds," He confirmed without even having to see the monsters for himself. "Fuck, they sound close," He didn't want to say his next words but he was preparing for the worst. "...We're gonna fight?" He asked.

Victoria looked at him. “Yes we’re going to fight, what do you think we’re going to do? Let them just eat us or something?”

"Fuck no, I meant, we could try and run?" He gripped one of his daggers in his hands and the other cradled the tablets. "But, let's take 'em out." He said and gestured his head to the waterfall to signal to Victoria that he was ready to head out of the cave and face their opponents. "I'm ready."

Victoria nodded at him. "Cover me for a minute?" she asked. Victoria took a deep breath, before muttering the spell to split the waterfall so they could exit the cave, hoping not to be overpowered by hellhounds right away.

Cyrus moved to stand right next to the waterfall and, when it split in half, he rushed out and was ready for anything. He heard the growls again, but this time much, much closer. He turned and saw a hellhound only a few feet away. There was a few trailing behind. Crooke ran to meet it and dipped own into a low attack so he could slice at the hound's legs. When his attack landed, the dog yelped and recoiled as Cyrus tumbled away.

Victoria soon followed Cyrus out of the cave. He beat her to one fo the hellhounds, and she quickly unsheathed one of her daggers. When the hellhound lunged again after Cyrus' attack. She sliced at his throat, the hellhound soon turning to gold dust. Victoria looked behind her shoulder at Cyrus now, watching another lunge at him. Victoria said a quick spell, sending the hellhound tumbling back. "Run, now?"

With the hellhound he had attacked now gold dust by his side, Cyrus was thankful for Victoria even more-so than he was before. He prepared for another quick lunge out of the way of the next oncoming hellhound. But, Victoria cast it away with magic and much to his approval. He nodded at her question. "Yes, let's go." He said quickly and picked himself up. He surveyed the state of the tablets in his hand, began sprinting away and up the falls, away from the monsters that we're still on their heels.

Victoria sprinted side by side with Cyrus, but the hellhounds were catching up to them, and fast. Victoria, unsheathed another one her throwing knives, knowing she could sacrifice this one. She whipped it at one of the hellhounds, piercing it's body, it sticking within the hellhound's chest. It stumbled back before turning to dust.

The falls were tricky enough to navigate before finding the cave. Now that they had hellhounds on their heels and Crooke had one arm cradling a few stone tablets, it was much more difficult. He felt relieved that another hound had burst into dust but that relief was temporary as he lost his footing on the rocks and they gave way under him. He lunged to the side but it was futile as he lost hold of the tablets. They were sent flying and he was brought to the ground by gravity. "Fuck!" Crooke yelped and immediately had to roll out of the way of a oncoming hellhound. Luckily, he still had one of his daggers in his hand. He fought off a hellhound and turned it to gold dust. He then stood up and desperately looked for Victoria.

"No!" Victoria screamed as she watched Cyrus tripped and the tablets went flying. As Cyrus fought off the hellhound that caught up to him, Victoria dove to catch the tablets. She slid near the cliff of the waterfall, she would not let these tablets disappear, her and Cyrus have come so far. She managed to catch one, but the other three fell down and into the water. She winced slightly from the impact of diving for them.

In the moment of quiet between one attack and the next, several more hellhounds appeared from the shadows. They took advantage of how distracted the demigods were and lept forward, teeth bared and claws out. Before they could even reach Cyrus and Victoria, though, arrows soared from the treetops, landing neatly in one, then the next and the next. Little puffs of gold dust sparkled in the air as Cora dropped neatly out of a tree, her bow at the ready. She glanced toward Cyrus, flashed a smile and waved as she jogged closer. "Helloooo! I'm here to help you! Go find those tablets, yeah?" she shouted airily, then pulled at an arrow in her quiver and took aim at the next monster.

Cyrus was surprised to see somebody emerge from the tree top and drop down into the fray. He was thankful for the fact she took down so many of these pesky hellhounds. He nodded at Cora and took off to the edge of the falls where Victoria was at. Once he looked over the edge, searching for the tablets, he realized that he couldn't see any that of the tablets that fell over. "What the fuck, I can't see any of 'em." He complained loudly and with force and then looked at Toria. This was when he then realized she was holding one of them. "—What the hell are you doin'?" He asked and shook his head angrily and like he couldn't believe it. "You're not supposed to touch them!" He claimed. He felt like everything was going to shit and was beginning to get scared he wasn't going to be able to lift this curse.

The tablet started glowing the minute that Victoria held it, and as it glowed brighter, Victoria felt weaker. "The fuck was I supposed to do? Lose all of them? At least we have a chance with this one. I'll be fine. If we lost them, you won't. Besides it's too late, and it's glowing, that must mean something." Finally, Victoria stood, she was about to hand over the tablet to her best friend, when she was overcome with a dizzy spell, and stumbling to her knees on the ground again. She let go of the tablet, as if she knew that's what was causing her to feel weak. She took a breath, looking up at Cyrus again. "Let's just do what she says, find the tablets, or at least try to."

While Cyrus turned around, Cora released her arrow, creating a brand new plume of dust. But the final two closed in on her, too close for shooting. Cora jumped back a few feet while she slapped her bow against her arm— the weapon shrank back down to a metal band that circled her upper arm. In the same fluid motion, she pulled at her wristbands, transforming them into long daggers. She slashed, dodged, and dug her blade into fur until she was standing alone, lightly dusted in gold. "Woo!" she cheered, putting her attention onto the others. She waved again, blades still in hand so it looked like she was brandishing it into the air. "Hello demigods!" she called out, then paused, noticing their distress. "What's wrong? More beasties in the water?"

Crooke watched as the tablet glowed while in Victoria's grasp. It must mean something, he mentally confirmed to himself. She had a point. It still weighed on his mind what possible horrible scenarios could come from Victoria touching what she was warned not to. When she dropped to her knees, he lunged forward to try and catch her but she was already down. He did what he could and, when Cora came over, he sighed loudly. "No, I think that's all of 'em," He observed and scooped up the tablet that Toria wasn't holding anymore. "But, I lost some of what we came here for. They went into the falls." He confessed to the stranger and sounded bitter and tired.

Victoria finally stood, when the world was spinning less than before. Without the tablet in her hands, she felt a little better, but she kept that to herself. She took a few more deep breaths to compose herself. Victoria smacked Crooke's arm when he had a bitter tone to his voice toward the girl. "Don't be an ass, she literally just saved our lives," she told him. She turned her attention on the other girl. "Who are you? How'd you know we were here?"

Cora leaned forward, keeping her blades behind her back and out of the way, squinting at the tablet that was now in Cyrus's hands. "My name is Cora," she replied, glancing up to smile at Victoria. "I'm a Huntress! I've been at New Athens, but Artemis and Chiron asked me to make sure you were making it home okay. Good thing I am here, yes? No offense! You were very impressive. But it's been a long journey, so I can ease the burden. There were more of these?" she asked, gesturing to the stone with her chin. "Shall we search?"

Cyrus listened as Cora explained the reason for her being there and he was silent. He clenched his jaw for a moment and then sighed. "Yeah, there's two others. We aren't for sure which ones we needed so we took all of 'em," He explained and looked at the tablet in his hands. He swallowed hard. "Yea, we search," He agreed. "This one might be the one we need, but if we can, I want to try and find the others..." He sighed and turned but then stopped. He looked back at Cora. "—Thank you." He finally said and then began finding a way down and closer to the water.

"Yeah, good thing," Victoria answered, then added, "I wasn't really supposed to touch any of them." Victoria started to follow Cyrus. She pointed to the stream the waterfall poured into. "This one has a stronger current, it could've been taken a little down stream," she pointed out.

Cora's smile widened and she nodded enthusiastically. She pressed her daggers to her wrists until they morphed back into wristbands, then skipped over to the edge of the nearest waterfall. "Is there any magic that can find them?"

"I doubt it." Crooke responded as he started the search through the falls to find the missing tablets. He didn't even bother to glance over at Toria to check if his reply was true or not. At this point, he was pessimistic but it felt warranted because of everything they'd been through.

"I can try," Victoria said. "I know a spell, but magic didn't work on the tablets beforehand, I doubt they will now."

“Hm.” Cora peeked over the edge, squinting as if she could see what lies below. She kneeled down and stuck her hand in the water, feeling the current run over her palm. “By the speed of the water....” she mused, “I have no idea where they could be by now. Alas.” Cora stood and shook the water from her hand. “Let’s move downstream quickly, then!”

Cyrus looked around the area where the tablets had fallen in and wasn't seeing them anywhere. Upon hearing Cora's instruction, he sighed and then eventually nodded. "All right, right behind you..." He gestured.

Victoria followed her best friend and the huntress downstream, still feeling weird from beforehand, but she didn't bring attention to it, knowing this trip was for Cyrus. "I mean like the one I grabbed glowed that's gotta mean something, right?" she said. "If we don't find the others."

Cora bounced down the side of the stream, keeping her eyes fixated on the water as they walked. She nodded in response to Victoria, though she was unsure if the question was aimed at her. "Probably. Glowing usually means something. Though sometimes that something is a trick."

"I don't know. Fuckin' hell, this is bullshit." He complained as he stopped walking. He looked down and began inspecting the tablet in his hand. He frowned deeply at it. "I usually know when things are tricks." He stated. "I knew it was a trick when Hecate told us that there were going to be many stones to choose from..." He cursed, not at Victoria but was still facing her as he was focused on the tablet. "I thought we were pullin' one over on her by grabbin' them all, y'know?" He asked, looking at Toria now. "None of the other ones glowed though..." He mused and shook his head with his eyes closed. "Maybe we do have the right one...?" He thought about fate as he said these words.

"It's worth a shot. I feel like we're not exactly getting anywhere digging through water to find magical tablets," Victoria replied, "When honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they were all the same, and she just wanted to pull a fast one on us and act like they were all different."

"Very likely!" Cora chirped, her eyes still glued to the water. The sun was starting to fade fast, and she lightly tugged at one of the bands around her arm until her bow reappeared. "I'm afraid we may have to take a gamble on this one, then, as the light is going away." Finally, she looked back toward the demigods, her expression a touch more serious. "You have a gut feeling that this is the one?"

Crooke took it all in, the situation, the tablet, everything... And then he nodded with conviction. "Yeah, this has to be the right one."

Victoria nodded at the other. "Okay, let's get to the car. I want to get this shit over with."

Cora’s grin returned and she nodded. “Then I believe in your guts! Let us go. I can guard us on the way.”

"Fuckin' hell," He groans under his breath but mostly at Hecate's antics. He frowned but nodded. "All right, let's get outta here." He agreed.

------------------------- time skip ---------------------------

 Victoria set up the candles, the Lavender, and Garlic again. She drizzled the honey over it. Just like before, she looked over to Cyrus. Then she looked at the huntress. "Ready?"

Cora's eyes were bouncing all over, from object to object, place to place. "I am going to remain quiet," she announced. She'd put her bow away out of respect for the goddess they were about to meet, but she was still on high alert for monsters. "But I am here to help, so let me know if you need me to step in. Maybe a little tug at your ear?" She mimicked this motion, pulling lightly on her earlobe. "But yes, I am ready."

"Yeah, that works," He agreed to Cora but still sounded exhausted and a bit annoyed. He then looked at Victoria. He sighed. "Yeah. Go for it. Summon her ass here," He said. "It's now or never." He complained.

( tw blood ) Victoria opened the book, reciting the latin that she did not too long ago. Except this was different, and she could feel it. It was like she was saying the words, but the magic wasn't happening. When she was done with the spell, nothing happened, she felt something drip from her nose, bringing her hand up to it only to be met with blood. She was silent for a moment, before she finally said, "What the fuck?"

She kept to her word to stay quiet and out of the way, but the surprising lack of magic (and Victoria's panicked response) put Cora a little on edge. She didn't sense anything nearby, but her hand was at her arm anyway, fingers hooked on the metal band there. She turned slightly as her eyes continued to glance around, ready for a fight if one were to come.

Cyrus stood there with his arms crossed as Toria tried to cast her spell. Seeing the blood drip from her nose surprised him and he didn't know what was happening. He knew it wasn't good and stepped closer to Toria with unfurled arms. "Shit, are you okay?" He questioned and his brows were still tense but his tone was worried. He knew but blood meant something bad. "Is it overexertion from all the spells you've had to cast?" He questioned and hoped that was all it was as he stood close by.

Victoria shook her head, as her heart sank thinking back to her mother’s warning about the tablets. This was wrong and she was nervous that maybe this was her punishment. She shook her head at Cyrus. “I don’t know,” she told him. “Something’s wrong. It’s like it’s not even working.” 

“Just, let me concentrate,” Vic said, standing up. Victoria closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, focusing on the wind, trying to hear anything that showed Hecate was coming. She began the spell again, but it was the same as last, nothing felt like it was working. 

 Now, Victoria was angry. No, fuming. Her mother had taken so much, this was not going to be ruined either. She threw the book to the ground, looking up at the sky, tears in her eyes. “We did what you wanted!” she screamed, hoping that wherever Hecate was she could hear her. “Everything you asked, we did it. So you better get your bitch ass here!” Victoria was crying now, they had gotten this far, it couldn’t just be over.  Victoria was met with silence. Victoria lowered to the ground, her knees meeting with the pavement, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Please,” she begged, her voice in a whisper.

Crooke was prepared for the spell to work but, with the way things were turning to shit, what was left of his optimism was deflated. He almost encouraged his best friend but he couldn't bring himself to speak any encouraging words. 

By now, he had pieced together what the consequences were. Victoria's magic had been taken away as soon as she had touched the tablet. He listened to her scream and shout. It was almost like he was watching the scene from above himself. Victoria's words were sharp and made his head ache. When she broke into a crying whisper, so did his heart. 

Cyrus stepped forward as it seemed like Victoria was going to need consoling. A quick spark of a spell made his stomach drop because he now saw who had materialized before the trio. "You should know that I was busy, so make this quick." Hecate spoke and it sounded like a demand. "Thanks for the show too, I really enjoyed it," Hecate continued, as if she was here the whole time, watching her daughter break to pieces. 

Victoria looked up when she heard her mother, her eyes meeting the cold eyes of the other, tears streaming down her face now. She put together at this point that this was her punishment. "It's up to you now, we got your tablet," she snapped at Hecate. 

Hecate raised her eyebrows, "Now that's no way to talk to someone who is doing you a favor." Hecate tilted Victoria's chin up, and Victoria flinched away from her, turning her face. Hecate smirked, like she achieved something. "You touched the tablet, didn't you?"

"Of course she fuckin' touched the tablet. You set us up! If it wasn't for your damn hellhounds, then she wouldn't have!" Cyrus barked up from behind. His hands were fists and anger coursed through him like electricity. Facing the problem head on, he stood next to Toria now.

Hecate rolled her eyes at the child of Hermes, almost bored, though she was quite amused by his antics. "You're ridiculous, just like your father. They were protecting my tablets." 

"You could've warned us," Victoria replied. 

Hecate let out a laugh, as if what Vic had said was absolute nonsense. "Warn you? Where's the fun in that? I raise kids that are strong, that can handle themselves against hellhounds." 

Victoria practically growled at Hecate. "You didn't raise me, you're just an egg donor, or whatever the heck you do to reproduce." 

Hecate raised her eyebrows. "Oh Little Witch, you are much more like me than you realize, despite that tablet taking your magic." Victoria's heart dropped at that statement. She never thought of herself as anything close to Hecate, even with her magic. Hecate not only scared her about that, but also confirmed her fears of the punishment of the tablet. Hecate held out her hand, impatiently. "Speaking of, are you going to hand it over, or no?"

Cora's mild expression slowly morphed into a frown as she watched the exchange with the goddess. She held her weapon behind her back and stepped a little closer, dipping her head respectfully. "If they give it over, you will lift the curses, yes?" She smiled. "I would hate to report to Artemis that this was a long, meandering waste of time against demigods that you swore to stop harassing."

Hecate wasn't nervous, she spent years paying for her actions, plus these demigods sought her out. Hecate rolled her eyes once more, brushing the young huntress off. "Do not threaten me child," she said. "I already said I would lift the curses, no?"

"Then take your bullshit tablet and lift all of the curses you cast on me. Do it already." Cyrus said through clenched teeth and had a strong sense of what he should in the moment. It varied from how he wanted things to go. He wished he could just beat her ass like any other demigod. This made him even more bitter towards the entire pantheon as a whole. 

"You really need to learn how to hold your tongue." Hecate said with a pointed yet calm tone. She now held the tablet in her hands. She held out the fabric of the long cloak she was wearing and she tucked it away; disappearing into the darkness. 

"Trust me, I am." Cyrus replied. She composed herself and focused on him again. She did some sort of freaky hand motion and a sigil unfamiliar to him glowed brightly in front of Victoria and him. Also, he wasn't sure if this correlated but all of a sudden his headache was gone too. 

The sigil disappeared. "They are all gone now," Hecate confirmed with a godly nod of her head. "Now, I did say I was busy, didn't I?" She turned and dematerialised just as she had done to arrive. The air shifted and Crooke felt like he could take a breath.

Victoria looked over at Cyrus, finally standing up. "Did it work? Was that it?" she questioned. All that for Hecate to do some hand motion with a sigil? What the fuck? "You don't think it's a trick do you?"

"Um, no," His brows were brought together and he faced her. He didn't know what it was that made him think this, but he replied anyways. "I think she was telling the truth..." Cyrus sighed again and, although he looked rough, he felt a little bit better. "For once."

"I also think she was telling the truth," Cora said. She looked at the spot where Hecate stood. "She bluffs, but the gods keep a close eye on her after what she did. Especially Artemis, and our father." This last part she directed to Cyrus only. "If she was using some sort of trickery, then there could be... trouble. I doubt she wants that."

"Our father?" Victoria said, catching on to what Cora just said. "You're a child of Hermes?"

Cyrus heard what Cora had said and he tried to muster up his usual energy when getting to meet a new sibling. "Uh— What? Wait, whoa, why didn't you say anything earlier?" He asked. "Good to know Hermes always makes bad-asses." He remarked with a little smirk.

"Oh." Cora put a hand to her forehead. "Right! We are siblings, yes. I forgot to say so. Technically, I am a child of his Roman counterpart, but it's close enough." She smiled at him. "He does! You are quite badass, Cyrus. And you, too, Victoria." Cora put her hands on her hips. "And now I can escort you two badasses home."

Victoria had already started to pack up the stuff around them. As much as she just wanted to leave all of it here, she couldn't do that. She just wanted to forget about what happened, she wanted to fall asleep and hope this was all just some bad dream. She was happy for Cyrus, but she couldn't help but feel lost about what happened. She gave a soft smile at Cora, trying to cover all the pain she was feeling. "So like me and Jordan," she told Cyrus. "Yes, let's go home."

[corinthbayrpg]

"Dark veil’d Leto, much invoked queen, twin-bearing Goddess, of a noble mien; hear me, O Goddess, with propitious mind, and end these holy rites, with aspect kind.”

Anastasia lost the love of her life. Katerina, the departed Alpha of the Argos Pack was cruelly murdered by Hektor in the caves below the now-ruined Delphi Hotel. In her grief, she turned to her magic, how could she protect the ones she loved most? How could she save her precious Coven from suffering as she now suffered? The only children she would ever know. The former Oracle called upon the powers of Divination once more and beseeched Hecate for the answer to her query, for once, the Goddess replied: Apaturia. 

It would not be enough to call on the Goddess herself, the Coven would need to use the power of the festival to their advantage, and to call on Leto, patron Goddess of Motherhood, the Titan whose prayers went answered.

On the second night of Apaturia, Anastasia assembled the Delphi Coven within the Temple of Apollo and led them through the ritual that was intended to make offering to the Titan in an effort to gain Leto’s favour; unaware, that under cover of darkness, they were followed. 

Dionysus also wished to have a hand in the witches’ ritual, for the first time since he had summoned his kobaloi to Corinth, he gave them another directive: trick the witches, spill innocent blood. The pair of kobaloi wove their illusions over the witches as they cast their spell, too consumed by her magic, Anastasia did not notice the presence of the stealthy intruders until it was too late.

While she had intended for her coven to make humble offerings indicative of the harvest season, instead the blood of an innocent, Phoibe, spilled onto their alter and with Leto and Hecate’s gaze drawn upon them, instead of their favour, the Delphi instead earned their ire. 

Too late or too indifferent to interfere, the reapers of Corinth arrived just in time to shepherd the lost soul from this world and to the next. They parted with the coin that would allow the innocent to pass over the river Styx and be taken to Elysium. 

The day had officially passed from the twelfth to the thirteenth, and the Goddesses together reached across the veil and used their power to weave a curse across the auspicious day. Tuesday the thirteenth had long been the unluckiest day in the Grecian calendar, and that misfortune would only fester and spread. Each member of the coven was cursed with Mati, an evil eye. But that was not enough, any phoenix who had imparted their luck on another soul would have that luck reversed, and the person who had received the phoenix’s blessing over the last year would also receive the evil eye.

Typically annoyed by his brother’s interference, Ares, too, decided to enter the fray. For so long as the Mati was in effect, his sphinxes would have the answer on how to reverse it, but, this boon did not come without a catch. The sphinxes riddle still needed to be answered, but the answers had turned nonsensical, meaning, there was no true answer, and while the sphinxes of Corinth were at their own discretion on whom they should help, they alone hold the secret on how to lift the Mati.

ooc info/effects: All species. except for rifts, who have come into contact with a phoenix will receive the evil eye, the luck that they were given will be reversed tenfold. This can manifest in vastly different ways - physical illness, psychologically unwell, or an inability to control or use their magic properly. 

Souls are being drawn to the torn veil from all over the world, species that are able to see magic will be able to see the lost souls that are unable to cross over.

Phoenixes: Anyone they come into physical contact with will be given the evil eye. They will be unable to heal anyone as a result without inadvertently causing them great misfortune.

Sphinx: The only species who know how to reverse the evil eye.

Reapers: Were automatically given the evil eye for their involvement and are unable to bring souls to the Underworld. Souls of the dead/spirits will flock to them with nowhere to go.

Kobaloi: Were automatically given the evil eye for their involvement.

Cubi: The evil eye will cause them to lose their ‘natural charm,’ and make them less alluring to others.

[wildwitch-artandmagick]

She is the darkness. She is the cry of "enough." She is the sigil written in stone. She is the silent walking away of the betrayed. She is the lonely raising arms to the moon. She is the lie told to live the truth. She is the secret circle drawing down her moon. She is the poison that heals. She is the bold stare into the future. She is the blood shed to bring rebirth. She is all those who dare to become. She is the power that is our right. She is the Dark Mother. She has returned. To answer her call is to embark on a mission of personal upheaval. It is the undoing of years of programming from the lies, subtle and bold, that train us to deny our true nature. She has led us to a crossroads, where we face the choice of entering her cave, or turning back on what we know wasn’t working for us. Sometimes we veer onto what we perceive as easier roads in an attempt to bypass the strong medicine of the journey ahead, yet those off-ramps inevitably lead us right back here. Our tales of the Dark Mother are unique, yet there is often commonality in our experience. The Dark Mother requires that we honor these tales, holding them above dogma or rigid views of her. She cares little for the definitions in which men try to constrain her. From “Tales of the Dark Mother” salon and medicine circle held in the Keeping Her Keys Coven on November 20, 2020. Join at keepingherkeys.com to watch the two hour workshop. Jean Shinoda Bolen writes how Hekate is the intuition that calls us to the juncture between the lie and the truth, and the initiation of her crossroads in “Goddesses in Older Women: Archetypes in Women Over Fifty:” “Let us go to the god of the sun, who was overhead. He saw what happened to Persephone and can tell us,” were Hecate’s words to Demeter. To seek the truth rather than stay in ignorance or denial or speak the truth rather than remain silent are critical at-the-crossroad decisions. Whenever you tell the truth to someone else, especially if that truth shakes a premise, this moment becomes a fork in the road.” Image licensed from Adobe #keepingherkeys #hekate #hecate #darkgoddess #healing #goddess

[parthenopehasnograve]

Lake Avernus (Lago d’Averno) and the Cave of the Sibyl, Naples, Campania, Italy.

Avernus is a volcanic lake sited in the Phlegraean Fields and whose name derives from the Greek “άορνος” (without birds) because in Greek mythology the waters of the lake exhaled gases harmful to avian life. This deep lake (213 ft / 60 m deep) was seen as the gateway to the underworld and associated with hell, Hades, in Roman mythology. Even the great poet Virgil, in the Aeneid, identifies the lake as the entrance from which the fearless Aeneas must go to enter hell.

Not far from the lake there is the Cave of the Sibyl, an ancient cave where the Cuman Sibyl, oracle and priestess of Apollo and Hecate (Greek gods of the sun and moon respectively), exercised its divination activities in Magna Graecia.

[fyeahwonderbat]

Keyword #4

Theme: Tension Rating: PG / T Word Count: 1,808 words NOTE: I imagined Tonia Sotiropoulou as the face claim for this chapter, but feel free to imagine whomever you’d like!

Diana didn’t know how to greet the witch she had been sent to meet. A cluster of fireflies floated around the head of the woman in the cell and, in a state of shock after stepping through Zatanna’s portal, the only thing she could think to do was remain silent. The witch snickered, the lines of her face caught in the shadows that the fireflies couldn’t reach. “And who might you two be?” 

Taking a step forward, Diana decided to take charge of the conversation and oblige the witch first. “I am Diana, daughter of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons.”

“What!?” screeched the woman as she leapt out of her corner. “You can’t be… A daughter to the queen? You lie!”

“You know my mother?” Diana rebutted her accusation with a question of her own. 

The woman’s voice felt much like a snake slithering around her, the echo of the cell giving her a haunting awareness of the danger both she and Bruce were currently in. There had been no other way to enter the Underworld, and it might have landed them in the lap of one of her mother’s enemies. “Know her? She tried to save me from this hell I’m living in. If I had only listened, I wouldn't have had to endure being overtaken by that sow, Persephone!”

Hearing that description provided Diana with all of the necessary clues she needed to identify the witch-- no, the goddess before her. With belated excitement, she blurted out the name she knew belonged to her, “Hecate!?”

“Who?” Bruce whispered from behind her.

However, her attention belonged to the goddess of witchcraft whom she’d always wanted to meet, ever since she was a little girl. Slowly but surely, she watched the horde of fireflies float towards her in an almost ghostly way. Their weakened glow began to reveal the unruly curls of hair that curtained her beautiful face, yet a pair of striking eyes peered through the messy strands with evident scrutiny. “How do you know my name?”

“My mother told me about you. She told me how you were betrothed to Hades, how she dressed you for your wedding in her chambers and walked you through the gate to the Underworld, how--”

“It must be you!” gushed Hecate as she flew around her with unbridled glee before reaching out to grab both of her hands. The imprisoned deity looked incredibly honored to meet her. “I was unaware that Hippolyta had a child! It’s such an honour to meet you, my darling girl. Oh, you’re so beautiful.” 

The way that Hecate showed her affection felt incredibly nostalgic for the Amazon who once grew up on an island of Greek women. Hand holding and pet names were luxuries she hadn’t realized she missed until that very moment, in a rock-made cave in the depths of the Underworld. She savoured the sincerity for a moment longer before reminding herself that they were only in hell for a particular reason. “As are you. Had I known--”

“You expected anything less?” scoffed Hecate, amused by her courtesy. “My magic may be restricted in this gods-forsaken place, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself.”

“Which explains why you summoned us here, to help you escape.” Came the cold voice of the Batman from over Diana’s shoulder, sarcastic as ever. It was just as embarrassing as it was infuriating for her to hear her companion address a goddess in such a cold fashion. Despite the poor lighting of the cell, she made sure to glare at the Dark Knight as if he could see her fury like a beacon of rage in the darkness. 

She felt Hecate’s hands slip away from hers while she giggled fiendishly. “I see. Well, I can tell you have the same taste in men as your mother.” 

“We’re here to stop Hades,” Diana specified in order to bypass any small talk as she cautiously observed the way Hecate drifted towards Bruce. “We were hunting these demons that we believe he is creating, and it led us to you.”

There was a heavy pause after she finished speaking. With her back to Diana, she couldn’t make out which emotion the goddess was presenting. However, knowing Bruce as well as she did, she noticed the way his frown lifted into a solid straight line which could only mean that he was witnessing a rather solemn expression on her face. So moved was he, that he spoke to her with the respect he owed her from the very beginning when he asked, “Why did you bring us here?”

That question pulled the goddess out of her daze and helped her to regain her plucky attitude, much to Diana’s delight. With a renewed focus, Hecate justified her actions, “Because I’ve been meditating for months now trying to find a mind powerful enough to help me escape from this cell and your witch sent me you two. Honestly, who is this man, Diana?”

Trying to stifle her amusement, she replied, “This is Batman. He is a very successful detective, as well as a warrior.”

“Hmph, I guess I shouldn’t expect the standard of human intelligence to be the same as the gods.” 

Her eccentricities had officially worn out Bruce’s patience. In that deep bellow that even resonated inside of the centuries old Amazon, he brushed past her taunting and pressed the witch who could turn him into a literal bat for an immediate answer, “Do you know what the hell is going on down here at all?”

“Hecate,” Diana called to her in the hopes of distracting her from exacting her wrath on the tactless man. “Tell me: how are you even alive?”

The question shocked the goddess like a bolt of lightning, as if she had inherited her father’s power over electricity. “What do you mean by that?” Hecate inquired, seemingly stunned.

“I was led to believe that all of the gods died in their battle against Ares.” Diana replied.

Her answer made the goddess recoil with much less dignity than she most likely would have wanted. “When was this?”

“Long before I killed him.” Was her sharp response. 

Again, Hecate took a moment before answering her. This time, the air in the cell became heavy as her voice grew deeper. “When was this war?”

Judging by the determination she heard in that once cheery voice, Diana feared for the worst. She remembered that Hecate claimed to be searching for someone to free her months on end, but it was becoming increasingly more obvious that her sentence wasn’t as small as she once thought. “Many millennia ago.”

The truth managed to make the world stand still. One by one, the fireflies around her head shriveled up like autumn leaves and fell to the ground, dead. As the only source of light began to wither away, Diana braced herself for whatever sort of reaction Hecate would have, and she heard the way Bruce’s boots dragged along the stony ground as he did the same. As the pitch-black darkness surrounded them, they could do nothing more than wait for her to react to the news of her stolen time.

“AAAUUUGGGHHH!” Hecate screamed at the ceiling with all of her might. “I’ve been here for all that time!? HADEEESSSS!” 

The screech of her cry was so strong, it forced Diana to slap her hands over her ears as a meager attempt to protect her from the sound. Her head began to throb from the pressure of her voice to the point that it hurt to open her eyes. Nevertheless, she did her best to squint in order to see if she could spy Hecate and grab a hold of her. If she could shake some sense into the wailing goddess.

Until she spotted the reverberating columns that acted as the stone-made blockade that kept them all trapped inside of the cell.

Diana watched them rattle under the influence of Hecate’s voice, and it dawned on her that the goddess of witchcraft should have been able to spring free from Hades’ captivity. However, she realized in that moment that it might have required the skill of an Olympian god to dismantle the prison made by another Olympian god.

Though her head was splitting the instant she released her ear, Diana dropped her hand onto the hilt of her sword and gripped it tight. Her feet stomped their way over to the thin pillars with a murderous look in her eyes. Leaning into her desperation to escape the pain in her head, she swung her blade at the shaking stone-made bars and watched them shatter against the sharp edge of steel. It took only one swipe at them to destroy what felt to her as seven columns. The vibrations on her sound made the metal sing and it somehow outlasted the yells of a disgruntled witch.

When Hecate swallowed her rage along with a deep, deep breath of air, she muttered, “Y-You… You did it. You broke through the cell.”

“We did.” Diana pointed out happily. 

But to her dismay, her relief about being free was short lived when she heard the sound of galloping coming from somewhere in the distance. The unmistakable sprinting of a horde was growing louder and louder, filling her heard with absolute dread. The monsters were coming, there was no doubt about it, and they were intending to decimate the lot of them. 

“Hecate,” Diana had a request to make, even though it sounded much more like a command. “Can you transport Batman out of here?” “What!?” Bruce growled. “No!”

“Gladly.” Was the goddess’ reply a second before she snapped her fingers. Diana could have sworn she heard Bruce attempt to argue his case, however, all she truly heard was a phantom-like wail immediately after. 

She knew he would be furious with her, and rightfully so. This had been his mission from the start and she had given him - for lack of a better word - hell for tackling something much bigger than himself without a structured plan. He told her just minutes ago that he trusted no one and Diana imagined that she had officially shattered his trust in her. Nevertheless, she couldn’t guarantee that Bruce would survive the horde of self-mutilating demons that were charging at them.

And she refused to allow him to take the chance.

She removed her shield from her back and prepared herself for battle. “Let’s go find Hades.” 

Giggling like a child in a candy store, Hecate’s eerie amusement managed to fuel her with confidence as she sang in her ear, “Now those are some magic words.”

Diana had to believe her.

If the goddess of witchcraft commended her willpower as spellbinding, then it must be true.

Yes, and if she completed his mission, surely Bruce would have no choice but to forgive her.

[tipsycad147]

Thresholds to the Spirit World and How to Enter the Spirit World

Some people believe the spirit world is a parallel dimension to ours. That it lies directly on top of ours, fully functioning in its own way all around us without us ever knowing. But some of us know. Some of us experience spirits our entire lives while others don’t see or experience a single thing. But the question remains – are there doors to the spirit world? Our ancient ancestors believed there were thresholds to the spirit world. These thresholds are all around us, sometimes in very obvious places. Learn about the thresholds to the spirit world and how to enter the spirit world. Proceed with caution.

DISCLOSURE: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you information about the paranormal and paganism.

Thresholds to the Spirit World

Caves

Since prehistoric times, caves were thought to be an entrance to the land of the dead – the Underworld. Our prehistoric ancestors left their markings on cave walls. One of the most famous cave paintings is located near Montignac, France. The Aztecs feature caves in their myths as being the place of creation, namely the seven caves of Chicomoztoc. The ancient peoples revered caves, not only for comfort in winter months, but for what caves represented – the womb of the earth. From the earth we come and to the earth we return; therefore, caves are thought to be an entrance to the spirit world…if one travels deep enough into a cave one will reach the spirit world.

Cemeteries

One of the more obvious thresholds to the spirit world is the cemetery. Is it because the dead are buried in cemeteries? Or is there more to it? A cemetery is not only a resting place for the dead, it is ground that has been blessed by a religious clergymen, and also a place where people gather in emotional moments to recognise love and loss. These things come together in a whirlwind of energy to provide a definitive threshold for spirits to come through from the other side. There are spirits that are still attached to their bodies, as well as guardians of cemeteries who were either once human spirits or are angels. When you cross the cemetery gates, you cross over a threshold guarding the outside world from the land of the dead. The gates of cemeteries are often iron to keep the spirits from getting out.

Crossroads

I once saw a woman state in a FaceBook group the crossroads is a metaphorical place not a literal place of spirits. I’ll bet this woman never sat at a crossroads after sunset. In many traditions all over the world, the crossroads was a place where spirits congregated and could be met with ease. This is why many gods and goddesses are associated with the crossroads: Hecate, Papa Legba, the Devil, and more. It is a junction where two roads converge – a liminal place that’s neither here nor there. Spirits tend to like those kinds of places. If you decide to work with spirits of the crossroads, be warned – some can be tricksters as they guard the door to the spirit world and only let those through whom they feel worthy.

Doors

In the older days, our ancestors believed spirits lingered in doorways and windowsills. Just as a door or window protects the household inhabitants from the physical world outside, they also protect us from harmful spirits. Spirits were thought to be attracted to the living, be it their loved ones or enemies, and were thought to try to enter the home but sometimes get stuck on the threshold for one reason or another. This is why it’s said to be bad luck to step on a threshold – to always step over it. It is possible to step through a door into the world of spirits, just as we step through a door into a building or to the outside world.

Edge of the Woods

Why would the edge of a forest be a threshold to the spirit world? Corners, edges, doorways, all of these things have a common factor – they mark the perimeter of a place. The edge of the woods marks the beginning or end of a massive group of trees, plants, and animals of all kinds. The wild places left in this world no doubt are teeming with spirits of nature – fairies, tree spirits, forest guardians, the Green Man, and more! So when you cross the edge of the woods, you cross into the realm of forest spirits. We’ve all heard stories of people getting lost in the woods and experiencing creepy things, haven’t we? Is this because the trees all look the same or because the forest spirits don’t want that person there?

Fairs & Festivals

This one seems odd – why would spirits be somewhere lots of humans gather like a fair or festival? I believe it’s a common misconception that spirits are to be found in quiet places away from society. In fact, many spirits gather in places where there’s lots of human activity for a few reasons. One reason is they are attracted to the energy that living human beings give off. Another reason is because they might think they are still alive and go about doing things they once did. Yet another reason is because some spirits feed off the energy produced by large crowds of the living. In Judika Illes’ Encyclopedia of Spirits, she says spirits “enjoy them as much as we do.”

Groves

Groves are, simply put, groups of trees. There are oak groves, pine groves, sequoia groves, cedar groves, willow groves, just about any tree that groups together could be considered a grove. Groves were the meeting places of the Celtic priesthood – the Druids. They worshipped the trees and therefore their most sacred sanctuary was the grove. Groves house the ancient tree spirits and land guardians, and therefore are another threshold to the spirit world.

Hedgerows

Back in older times, the hedgerow was a row of bushes that guarded one’s property from the wild. It kept animals and intruders out. The hedgerow itself was a threshold between the family’s property and the wilderness and therefore was known to be a liminal place where spirits gathered. Once again – a place that’s neither here nor there but in between much like a door to the spirit world. This is where the term “crossing the hedge” comes from – it means to cross the threshold of our world in to the spirit world.

Mirrors

Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all? To quote the Evil Queen from the famous fairy tale. Mirrors have long been regarded as powerful tools – tools that not only reflect our images back at us but also seem to be another of the thresholds to the spirit world. There are many superstitions about mirrors for this reason. You might have heard of people covering mirrors after someone in the family dies – this is to prevent the soul from getting trapped or lost between this world and the next. I’ve read online people refuse to keep mirrors in their bedrooms because they “freak them out” (side note, I have 3+ mirrors in my bedroom and have never had a problem). There are stories of haunted mirrors, like the mirror of the Myrtles Plantation, and superstitions about breaking mirrors and bad luck. Still others use mirrors to “scry” or see into the other world. Mirrors are a powerful tool to peer in to the realm of spirits. Use them wisely.

Seashore

The seashore is a liminal place – bridging the gap between the earth and the ocean. It is another powerful threshold to the spirit world. In ancient times, the ocean was thought to be a realm of the spirits or that spirits lived under the ocean. Water is a conduit for spirits which adds to the sacredness of the seashore. Elemental spirits gather at the seashore and are more active during a Full Moon. Ever heard of ghosts along a seashore? It’s no wonder spirits are often seen walking down the beach.

How to Enter the Spirit World

There are different ways to enter the spirit world, and all take great practice and caution. Other ways to enter the spirit world include walking over or through a threshold to the spirit world combined with entering an alpha state of mind. You can do this physically by entering a cemetery or sitting at the crossroads and opening your mind and senses to the spirits around you. Offerings to the spirits are helpful in creating trust between you and the spirits and also in protecting you against evil-doing spirits. Always cover your head and back of your neck with a scarf, bandana, hat, etc. when physically travelling to spirit thresholds – this keeps spirits from attaching to you.

Some people enter the spirit world naturally, sometimes without even knowing. I believe sleepwalkers are natural spirit world wanderers. If you’re a sleepwalker, you’ve probably entered the spirit world during one of your episodes. Astral projection also takes you into the spirit world while asleep. Another effective way to enter the spirit world without even leaving your home is through guided meditation. Look up meditations on shamanic journeying and travelling up or down the World Tree. Before performing such powerful meditations, it’s best to cleanse your space and yourself through smudging and spiritual cleansing baths. When you come out of the meditation, be sure to close out your session with the spirit world by grounding your energy and sternly stating out loud that no spirits are to follow you into this realm – the door to the spirit world is closed. Another cleansing is advised to rid yourself and space of negative energy/spirits.

Spirit World Entry Tips

Cover your head and back of neck when going to spirit thresholds and crossroads

Cleanse yourself and/or space before entering the spirit world

Cleanse yourself and/or space after spirit world contact

Ground your energy after spirit world meditations

Offerings to the spirits at thresholds and crossroads are crucial!

Practice third eye opening meditations to aid in seeing spirits

For forest entry – carry iron, pull pockets inside out, or wear clothes inside out

https://otherworldlyoracle.com/thresholds-to-the-spirit-world/

[overheard-totally-correct-pjo]

First part of my distracting little side project. More of an introduction than anything as of right now, but I have some plans for it. Inspired via a tumblr post by @demigodgooglesearches. Enjoy part one!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Perseus Brian Jackson hated his life, thank you very much.

He entered the life of gods and monsters at the tender age of twelve. The “deal” was that he would help the gods out in the Big Prophecy that was (probably) about him. If he reached sixteen he’d be out of this life, as much as his godly blood would allow.

Four months later he had been kidnapped by Hera and woke up after half a year of sleeping, without any of his memories. He was forced into another Great Prophecy. He went to Tartarus. He was so very beyond done.

He was going to go to college with his girlfriend in a city that would keep them safe from the monsters, and the legion would take care of any quests. Retired at seventeen.

Then came the Roman Emperors that never actually died, and have been festering under the surface for hundreds of years.

The third war Percy lived through dragged on until he turned twenty-three. He didn’t finish college, though Annabeth did. He didn’t see the point--he just wanted to go home to his mom and little sister.  He’d help with CHB, probably. Annabeth was with him. He was...he was going to be fine. Eventually.

And, for awhile, he was. He and Annabeth got married. They had a pregnancy scare. He helped kids get to-and-from camp and their families for the holidays, or for the school year, or for the first journey to camp. He cleaned the rivers and oceans for nonprofits and charities. He hung out with friends and loved his sisters (a set of twins named Lily and Kendra Andrews turned up at age eleven, three years younger than Estelle).

Estelle took over for Rachel right around that point, becoming the new Oracle of Delphi, and he was visiting her in her little den-space in the cave when...it happened.

It was a curse, of some kind, dredged up by a group of campers excavating an underground tunnel, connected to Bunker 9. Whatever the specifics were he was never told and didn’t really feel like asking, but the most basic run down was zombies.

Estelle with her lack of training didn’t stand a chance, no matter how hard Percy tried to protect her.

He didn’t go back to camp for a long time after that.

He only returned, six years later, to meet his newest half-brother Dylan Fisher.

Chaos himself then decided to fuck with everything.

Now Percy was forty-two.

His baby sister was dead, and so were a lot of his friends. His mother’s heart had given out not too long ago. Annabeth had died in a minor quest for information, three months ago, a mere errand that Hecate could have done herself.

He was expecting to die during this war. He was ready for it, whether it came from the swirly-thing that was currently dragging him from the couch or if it came in some epic final battle.

Percy Jackson was done.

~~~

Perseus Jackson was bewildered at the sharp left turn his life had taken.

His mom was killed by the minotaur--the very same minotaur from Ancient Greece--and his dad is a god, and his best friend is half-goat. The cam he was at was full of other demigod children of the Greek gods. Zeus blamed him for the thievery of his master bolt. Percy wasn’t even supposed to have been born.

He wasn’t able to sleep in the big, empty cabin after nearly dying from a hellhound and being claimed by Poseidon only a few hours before.

That was when a swirling...something appeared in the middle of the room, very quickly pulling him towards it.

Percy grabbed onto the sheets, trying to grab something heavier, but being unable before he was pulled in.

~~~

Persephone Jackson was extremely irritated at the newest (most likely) godly interference in her life.

She’d done her time--first with the Titans, and then with the giants. Her plans include finishing high school and going to college with her girlfriend, not this black-hole thing in her bedroom.

“Annabeth!” she cried out, desperately reaching for her across the bed.

“Perci-” Annabeth called back, waking abruptly.

The last thing she saw was Paul and her mother throwing open her bedroom door, and Annabeth’s outstretched hand. 

She was really fed up with all this godly stuff.

~~~

Delora Jackson wasn’t quite ready the newest adventure standing in her way.

Not that she had terribly many quests, like Thalia and Luke and Beckendorf and Katie and even the mortal Oracle of Delphi Samantha. The largest claim to fame Lora had was that her best friend was part of the Argo II quest, and that she had been a key player in a few of the battles with the Roman Emperors.

Her mom--that was, her “godly” (she was technically a nereid, not a goddess) mom--had invited her to the bottom of the ocean for a party of some kind. Lora had just finished hailing good-bye to her (technical stepfather) Uncle Poseidon, and kissed her mom’s cheek at the door when the portal opened up.

Her mother reached for her with the strength of the entire ocean, and Lora reached back. For a moment she thought her mother would save her. The next she was gone.

~~~

Percy Jackson was not ready to be on his very own quest, despite how much he acted like he might be.

It was easy to put on a front like he knew what he was doing. That was kinda the whole point of being a mortal that could see through the Mist, especially one that became the first known male Oracle of Delphi and the first living one since WWII.

He had actually only had a total of three lessons (two in archery, by Apollo himself, and one in swords) in weapons training. The closest he came to actually fighting came when he threw a half-empty water bottle at the Titan Lord Kronos.

In honesty, he probably was taking the news of Greek gods, and the subsequent war with the titans, and the appointment of Oracle, and being handed a baby girl only a few weeks later by Apollo who Percy knows he never slept with because he was the Oracle and wasn’t allowed.

He was somewhat managing.

A five-month-old was a lot to deal with but he honest-to-gods was. His mom and step-dad helped a lot, as well as a lot of the demigod campers. He loved Clara with all his heart, even when he was only getting to bed at who-knows-it’s-dark o’clock.

That’s when a portal-thing opened in front of him.

He fervently prayed to Apollo that he wouldn’t let anything happen to their little girl while Percy was gone.

~~~

Bianca di Angelo did not need anything else adding to the current quest that she was on.

There was the Greek campers trying to kill her, Nico, Hazel, Gleeson, Dina, Elanor, and Robert. There were Roman campers after Eleanor and Robert for deserting. The Greeks and Romans were going after each other. When the gods weren’t incapacitated by the migraines, most tried to kill the two children of Hades in a vain attempt to postpone the war. Kronos was possessing Margery and gathering his forces.

The portal that began pulling her in while she sat watch with Dina was really unwelcomed. There was nothing she could do to stop it, even as she twisted for her spear.

Damn her luck.

~~~

Peter Johnson had a fairly regular life that he was personally very happy with.

He was a marine biologist, his wife was a wonderful scuba diving instructor named Sabrina, and he had two kids. He wasn’t religious, though his father came from a heavily Lutheran background. He had a mortgage and a bichon.

A bichon dog that, in the middle of the night, woke him and Sabrina up by flipping out for seemingly no reason.

Well, no reason until what Peter could only describe as multiple portals opened up and dumped people into the room. About five or six, from what Peter could tell between all the yelling, barking, and salt-water pouring out from one of the...things.

That was one way to wake up, he supposed.

[kabhi-haath-pakad-k-tu-mera]

And Death Sees No Justice

Theseus is sent on a quest to retrieve Thanatos, but it proves to be harder than he had thought. IWSC Round 5. Harry Potter and Greek mythology crossover.

————

     

l.

Most of Theseus’s existence in the underworld has been spent in the Fields of Asphodel, weaving through crowds of lonely, sad souls that bemoan their existence. It is disconcerting at first, it had been to him when he had died a few centuries (a millennium?) ago, but you learn to ignore them with the passing of time. You have to if you value your sanity, especially if you can understand them. He wonders sometimes if this ability that has been given to him by The Unseen One really is for his benefit. It certainly feels like a curse. So many souls, millions of them, all filled with regret that has rendered them insane. Sometimes he feels like he is one of them. He probably is, he muses. Like them, all he does now is regret the decisions he had made, and wonders if things could have been different.

 Except the Lord likes to shake him out of his reverie from time to time. Once every few centuries, he is taken to The Court of The Dead by the Erinyes themselves and dropped before Hades by whom he is given a Quest. It could be anything that The Unseen One fancies—bringing a mortal’s soul, a golden apple from The Garden of Hesperides or some artefact from the mortal world that holds power. Theseus cannot fail the quest that he is given, not because he fears for his life—he already is dead, after all. He knows, however, that he would be sent to the fields of punishment for eternity if he were to fail. He shudders involuntarily upon the thought of what the Lord Hades would do to him upon failure, and he also knows that he is waiting for him to slip, simply waiting for him to give up, and thus is his punishment for trying to abduct his Queen Persephone, and thus is his punishment for being naive enough to go along with everything that Prithous had told him, everything that has brought him to this point.

It still startles him to find himself suddenly airborne in the claws of one of the Furies no matter how many times he experiences experience it. He notices not for the first time that it is Tisiphone who carries him every time, only Tisiphone, and wonders if it has it a more sinister meaning. The Lord Hades is perched on his throne while the throne beside his is empty, meaning that the mortal world is now facing the warmer months. The court is empty, apart from The Lord. Even the Furies have now left. Theseus stands silently as The Lord considers him. It is a while before he speaks.

“Theseus, son of Poseidon, you have been summoned here for a great purpose.” his voice is quiet, but it carries over in the empty court “The underworld is in need of help. I would like to ask for your help, for you to take on a quest.” 

The demigod seethes internally at the polite, honeyed words spilling from The Lord’s mouth. As if he has a choice. Hades’s face splits into a smile and Theseus knows he that he has read his mind. A moment later his smile drops and he sits up straight, looking at him with fire in his eyes. 

He speaks again, “The underworld has lost one of its most loyal subjects—Death. I need you to find him and bring him back here by hook or by crook, demigod.” The Lord leans forward at this point. “Find him, leave no stone unturned. If word gets around that Thanatos has gone missing … The consequences could be destructive.”

It takes Theseus perhaps a second to realize the implications. The Doors of Death are now unguarded. Any soul could escape into the mortal world, not only from Erebus, but also from Tartarus. He feels a chill pass up his spine thinking of Tartarus and the spirits that reside there. From the brief moments of proximity to the place he had had, he knows that the beings there are not to be taken lightly, and if they got released into the mortal world they would wreak havoc. No wonder The Unseen One is so worried. 

“Does anyone know where he is?” The demigod speaks for the first time. There are, after all, some who know plenty about the going ons in the mortal and immortal world, like the Grey sisters, the Furies or…

“The Oracle.” the answer is short and to the point. There is no way around it. “You will be led to Delphi by the Labyrinth. I have pulled in a … favour from an old acquaintance of yours. You will be guided by the thread.”

An image of Princess Ariadne of Crete, Mistress of the Labyrinth passes through his thoughts. Is she dead? Theseus hasn't thought of her in a long time. He feels a sudden pang of guilt. Had she died on Naxos? He does not voice this thought however, he doesn’t get a chance—Tisiphone and her sisters have appeared again and he finds himself airborne, flying over the fields of punishment and towards the fields of Asphodel. Tisiphone drops him onto a flat plain that overlooks the river Styx, and then the Erinyes disappear. He gets up with some effort, trying to get his bearings and looks around. The spool of thread is instantly noticeable—golden fibre a stark contrast against the dark backdrop of the underworld. He picks it up and feels the wall behind it for a Delta, which glows a faint blue upon contact and opens a hole inches from his feet. He has no way of knowing how deep it is, it's too dark to see. He jumps in anyway.

————

II. 

The opening closes as soon as he jumps in, and torches that light up along the wall reveal that he is in some sort of a dungeon. He looks around and his eyes land upon the sword immediately. It is stuck inside a fissure in the wall. It does not surprise him when he pulls it out that it bears the Athenian crest. His sword—his father’s sword—comes to him whenever he is sent on a quest. Another pang of guilt wrecks through his body, followed by a surge of anger. What kind of a ruler had he been? What kind of a son? What kind of a father and husband? How is it that he had got to this? He shakes his head and sets off towards the oracle. 

Navigating the Labyrinth is not an easy task. He knows that he needs to keep his eyes peeled and be ready for anything that it sends his way—the labyrinth is evil, meant to misguide you—but he doesn’t, because he knows that it remains unresponsive to him. He also knows that Hades has something to do with it—another clever way to remind him of the life that he had lived, the glory he had had. He lets out a breath. The gods are all sadists. He takes the first right he gets to and starts dropping the thread. 

It isn't too long before he finds himself in a cave near the sea, right in the middle of it. He can hear the sound of waves crashing—the call of the sea. He feels more powerful than he has in a long, long time. This is his domain. He contemplates for a moment staying here forever. What were the odds? Thanatos is missing, he could perhaps live as a fugitive the way Dedalus did. He discards the thought almost immediately. The Furies would haunt him wherever he hid. He emerges from the cave into warm sunlight falling upon the Island of Delphi. His eyes rake across the sea for a few moments and he basks in the strength he feels—the power of the sea. Finally he starts scanning the horizon for the volcano in which the priestess resides. 

He sets off towards a mountain covered in green from which fumes are rising. He has always wondered how the priestess’ manage to live inside the volcano—an active volcano—where the corpse of Pythos rots. If he is being honest, Theseus doesn't think that Pythos is down there anymore. It had to have been millennia since he had been slaughtered. Monsters always reform, even if heroes don't. 

When he is at the mouth of the cave that would lead him inside he hesitates. He has always been wary of oracles and their prophecies. Going to one is sheer stupidity, always has been, but now neither he nor countless other demigods have a choice, since the others keep moving so. He still stands there for a few moments. There are mortals around, some with strange contraptions in their hands, but they do not seem to notice him—Hecate’s mist envelops him. He wonders if they can see him at all.

 He steels himself, finally, and enters the cave quietly. The heat is sweltering, and the toxic fumes have dried his throat before he finds the High Priestess of Apollo—the Oracle—in the right cavern. Unlike the others, this cavern is somehow cool and free of the vapours released by Python’s allegedly rotting body. The Priestess is sitting on a Tripod seat with a laurel branch in her hand, looking in his direction without any trace of surprise, as if Heroes from the Bronze Age come to her every other day. For all he knows, they probably do. The mounds of offerings scattered around make him realize that has forgotten to bring offerings himself. The Oracle doesn't seem to be bothered by this however, and motions him to sit before her, which he does. Even though the Priestess is seemingly human, looking at her sends chills up Theseus’s spine. Her aura is … eerie. 

“Ask, hero, what you must,” The oracle speaks, and her voice sounds far away, even though it is coming from the woman sat before him.

He draws in a breath and asks shakily, “Where is Thanatos? What am I to do?”

The Oracle gives a ghosty smile and somehow a mist, or perhaps it is the fumes, settles over them so that Theseus cannot see the Oracle clearly. All he knows in that moment is that the mist is forming images—a woman and a man … sitting on a throne, another woman standing a little off, and another man on the other side. The images get more clear and he realizes that he is looking at his parents, his mortal parents—Aethra and Aegeus—and the woman is the Lady of the Labyrinth Ariadne and the man standing away from the throne is Pirithous.

The voice comes from Aegeus first, “You shall move up North to the Albion’s land,”

Ariadne moves towards him and speaks, “You shall find the ones taken by an undead hand,”

Pirithous turns to look at him, “You shall befriend the one who has mastered death,”

It is his mother who speaks in the end, “And you shall fall down again when it all ends.”

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the mist disappears and Theseus is left looking again at the Priestess, his heart racing and his ears ringing. He draws in a shaky breath and gets up, nodding at the Oracle. He turns around to leave, half expecting the Oracle to call after him. She doesn't, and he hurries out towards the Labyrinth.

————

III.

The rush of adrenaline that had flowed through his body when he had heard the prophecy has still not died when he is safely inside the labyrinth. Safely inside the labyrinth. Theseus snorts. The underworld has finally been successful if driving him insane. He sits down right there and then, exhausted. 

‘You shall move up North to the Albion’s land,

You shall find the ones taken by an undead hand,

You shall befriend the one who has mastered death,

And you shall fall down again when it all ends.’

Albion’s land was where the white people lived, in the North-West, beyond even the Gaul. ‘The one who has mastered death…’ Death probably meant Thanatos. And ‘you shall fall down again with the taken's final breath.’ That was reassuring. So he had to go to Albion and find people taken by an undead hand. What was an undead hand? Someone who had already escaped from The Underworld? And one of these people had mastered Death, which was probably why Thanatos was not responding to Hades’s calls. If he had to travel so fast, it was probably best that he was travelling by the Labyrinth. But which way was he to go? He sighs, staring at the rocky walls of the labyrinth, and feels his eyes get heavy with every passing second until he finally lets them shut. 

He has a dream. This in itself isn’t unusual, but this particular dream is one of those dreams. The ones that bring messages. He hasn't had one of those in ages but he knows. He can feel it. He is on an island that he has been to before, but he cannot quite place it’s name or it’s whereabouts. There is a woman lying a little away, and this woman he does recognize. He is on Naxos. Ariadne turns towards him as if she were expecting him, but how? He had thought only Gods had the ability to call upon a hero’s soul unless … unless Ariadne had ascended to Olympus? 

She considers him for a moment then says, “Theseus, we meet again.” She grimaces. “I was told of your quest. You're on the way to find Thanatos, yes?” 

Theseus nods, only barely.

“You don’t have enough time to travel all the way to Britain—to Albion,” she continues, “It’ll be too late by then. The souls have already begun stirring in the search of the doors, they might have all escaped by the time you are able to locate his whereabouts,” She says and stops for a moment, scrutinizing him, then says, “The Labyrinth will guide you. Begin the way you always have, forward and right, and keep on towards the north. You will be led right to your destination.” She looks him over one last time. “Do what needs to be done, Theseus. Goodbye.”

And just like that he is waking up, and when he is fully awake he sends a quick prayer to Ariadne. He starts forward like he had been instructed, and goes right when he gets to the intersection. He wanders into tunnels occasionally, to check his direction and his location, and keeps moving for three days until he finally reaches a tunnel on the right that leads him into what appears to be a cupboard. 

There are people outside who are speaking in a different tongue, although he does catch a few words now and then, and he is sure that Thanatos is there somewhere around here because he can feel the energy that is radiating off him—energy that reads death. He accidentally knocks over a vial of a dark, muddy liquid and he can hear people coming towards the cabinet. The door of the cabinet is thrown open and the light, although rather dim, blinds him temporarily. When his eyes have adapted to the sudden brightness, they are looking into a young, bright green pair looking at him in bewilderment. 

————

IV. 

He realizes in a few more moments that he is inside a shop in Albion, in the company of two young people of about Sixteen years of age and a few older men. The mist does not seem to be working on them for they can very clearly see him and feel his presence. All of them spring into action at the same time, hauling him out the cupboard and drawing what look like wooden sticks while speaking in a foreign tongue, some of which is directed at him. He realizes along the way that these are all wizards, like circe. It is the young girl with long, bushy hair that finally speaks in a tongue familiar to his, if a little rusty.

“Who are you?! What were you doing in there?”

“Theseus.” is his only reply. 

He doesn't answer her other question, because what is the point? He cannot tell her that he is here looking for the God of Death—they would have him strapped into a bed in a mental asylum before he could say ‘Hades’. At his name the girl’s stick lowers and she regards him. She turns towards the others and says something to them that makes them drop their sticks too, and somehow it makes him feel a little braver. He trains his eyes over all of the people present, until his eyes stop over the man with green eyes that had let him out of the cupboard. He has a scar on his forehead, and his eyes too, tragic and haunted, are trained on him. 

He notices this look in all eyes that he has gotten the chance of looking into, although in the brunette boy it is a lot more intense. He wonders what has happened to these people. The girl then says something to the boy upon which the others seem to protest but they are all ignored. The girl motions to Theseus to follow them, which he does. They get out of the shop whose sign is written in a foreign language. She takes hold of his hand and turns, and he feels like he is being forced in and then out of a very thin pipe. He falls onto his knees when the squashing sensation stops, heaving.

They are in a sort of a lounge, a royal lounge. The two sit down and ask him to sit down also, their gazes trained at him. 

“I am called Hermione,” the girl says, “and this is Harry Potter.” She stops for a moment and stares at him long enough that Theseus starts to get uncomfortable. "Are you really Theseus?” 

He nods. “I am, Hermione, and I am here on a quest.”

“How are you still alive?” This question is asked by Harry.

“I am not. I have been sent from the Underworld by the Lord Hades to find Death. You wouldn’t happen to know about it?” 

Harry and Hermione exchange quick looks and look back at him. Neither of them are surprised.   Hermione is about to speak but Theseus cuts her off.

“I know that he is here somewhere, Wizards. I need to know where.”

Harry gets up and walks towards a set of windows and looks towards him from there. “What if he was? What would you do then? And what of the souls he was supposed to have taken? Where would they go?”

Theseus is more than a little surprised at the question. The answer is obvious. They would be taken. He says as much. Harry’s eyes flash dangerously, or maybe it is just the sunlight falling on the glasses that make him feel so. He heads towards where Hermione is sitting and sits back down, and his eyes do not leave Theuses’s. Quite suddenly, Theseus can see why such young children look mature beyond their age.

They have battle scars of their own, embedded in the skin from being made to participate in a war neither of them had wanted to fight. A demonic soul for whom even the worst punishments in the field of punishment would be insufficient, who had ruined much of these children’s childhood by trying to kill them. There had been a battle, so many lives had been lost, even if they had won the war... how many families torn apart? How many lovers estranged? How many children orphaned? And then Thanatos had come to him, to serve him, for he was now his master, the holder of the deathly hallows, and they had all come back to life. A lover, a dear friend, his closest parental figure all came back. He wouldn't let them all go away now, won’t give back Thanatos. 

It is at that moment that a Redheaded boy the same age as his companions enters the room and Theseus can tell that this boy has had life restored into him. As has Hermione. The redheaded boy stops in the doorway, looking at him. Harry and Hermione look at him too, their resolves steeled, their mouths set into firm lines. He can still feel Thanatos’s presence from the green eyed wizard but now he doesn't feel so sure about completing this quest. Hades could easily employ any creature to guard the Doors of Death. How was the death of so many who were sucked into the vortex of war justifiable? How was the death of these two, who had helped this world’s saviour win the war justifiable? How was the Undead one’s killing so many justifiable? There was no revenge for them. No revenge that could ever be possibly extracted from anyone would ever balance out this. Does he really want to take Thanatos back?

————

V.

He has stopped again for some shuteye when he feels the power of the Lord Hades summoning him. He cannot resist against it if he tries, and he is not foolish enough to do so. He finds himself back in the company of Harry and Hermione and a number of others which he assumes are wizards, a number of them resurrected. He sees Thanatos too, as beautiful as ever, dark and dangerous as he had been when he had delivered him on the banks of the Styx. The Unseen One is there also, with his eyes—literally filled with fire—looking, staring, glaring at him. He is sure that he has crossed the line this time. He would go to The Fields of Punishment now. It’d be worth it if these wizards are allowed to live, after all that they have been through. 

The Unseen One speaks finally after some time, “Theseus, son of Poseidon, you have willingly forsaken your quest and ignored direct orders from me to bring Thanatos to The Underworld. You shall be dealt with accordingly, but now…”

He is beconking Thanatos forward, who is trying to resist even though he too is a servant to the Underworld—to Hades. He finally does step forward and with him, the resurrected begin fading. The Unseen One is gone in a flash of blinding light and Theseus too feels himself being called back. There is no Justice done here he knows, and now until eternity, there will never be.

————

A/N: There are a few things that I feel the need to Point out, please bear with me.

*Hades in this story is referred to as ‘The Lord’ (as he rules the Underworld) and as ‘The Unseen One’ (which is the literal translation of his name). 

*The Erinyes are the Furies. Tisiphone’s name means ‘vengeful destruction’.

*The sword shown here is the same sword that Aegeus had left behind in Troezen for Theseus.

*Albion’s land is what the Greeks called the British Isles during the Bronze Age.

*Gaul is what France was called by the Greeks during and before the Bronze Age.

[raphpanda21]

Karma’s a Bitch

Minthe sat at her desk angrily stabbing her store bought salad. Hades was ignoring her. She had texted him with no response. That hadn’t made her angry though. What made her angry was when she finally caved and decided to call him he screened her call after two rings sending it straight to voice mail. The reality of the situation was that Minthe was finally getting a taste of her own medicine and she wasn’t a fan. As much as she hated to admit it perhaps Hecate was right and she would have to figure out someway to get back in his good graces regarding the fleabag situation. As if the furries themselves had heard her disparaging thoughts retribution came swiftly as her fork found its mark. Stabbing an overripe cherry tomato it squirted out hitting her work blouse a few stray seeds sliding down the now ruined silk blouses front.

Minthe took a deep calming breath counting to ten in her mind as she stood picked up what was left of the salad and carried it to the break room. She tossed the remains in the bin with a little more force than was necessary. Heading back to her desk she logged everything off before grabbing her coat and purse. She was done. This day had been an absolute shit show and the tomato was the the cherry on top.

She needed advice from a pro as much as her pride hurt to admit it. Making her way downstairs she pressed three on her speed dial and waited.

Thetis: Hey Bitch, calling me before clocking out time it must be serious .

Minthe: Cut the crap Thetis I called cause I needed some advice.

Thetis: Really? Well I don’t give anything for free soooo?

Minthe: You are such a bitch. Fine I will buy you those heels you have been whining about on fatesbook.

Thetis: Deal, so what have you done now? I thought you had just weasled back into his favor.

Minthe: Uggh, he is just being sensitive. His stupid dog has run off probably just chasing some tail but he flipped out when I told him that.

Thetis: Ah, you know sometimes it amazes me how you have made it this far. When it comes to the wife, the family , or the pets you need to remember these things. You never bring up the wife when he is with you because he is coming to you to get away from her. Only talk about family if he brings it up period! Then last but not least, always I repeat always be as into the pets as he is. If he hates them you hate them and vice versa.

Minthe: Well fuck! This isn’t something I can really fix with some crocodile tears is it?

Thetis: Nope you are going to have to get off that fat ass of yours and put in some work this time. I suggest print off a ton of flyers and find him. Sure you know you could care less but your actions will imply otherwise.

Minthe sighed knowing Thetis was right but not really having the desire or energy to traipse around to find a dog that would most likely eat her given the chance. Seeing a copy shop across the street it seemed her destination was set. Checking to make sure the road was clear she jaywalked across the street to the copy shop.

Minthe: Fine, but I am not going anywhere until I go home and change. I ruined my favorite blouse because of all of this .

Thetis: You do you, but my advice is the more disheveled you look in this situation the better. Gives you that concerned upset look that you are oh so terrible at faking. Any look would be better than your usual polished ice queen gimmick.

Minthe: Whatever whore, I have to go. Try not to get replaced you are getting to be a rather old model after all.

Minthe hangs up before Thetis can come back with a nasty comment. Going to fatesbook app on her cell she pulled up Hades page quickly scrolling through his photos until she found a decent one of Cerberus. Walking to the counter she slid the phone across to the clerk.

Minthe: I need you to make 200 Lost dog flyers with this mutts photo.

Store clerk: Sure thing just write down the contact number and if there is a reward what it will be.

The clerk slides a pad and pen towards Minthe. Minthe’s ears flattened back with annoyance. Damn she hadn’t thought about what Hades might pay to get this mutt back. Seeing the clerk waiting she grabbed the pen and pad and scribbled down Hades number writing beneath it reward offered upon safe return.

Minthe: I will let him negotiate the terms. How long will this take?

The clerk took the pad and quickly began to type the information into his screen before he picked up her cell and sent the photo to the stores email. Done with the cell he slid it back to her

Store Clerk: About 5 - 8 mins. How would you like to pay?

Minthe was already absorbed in her phone trying to locate Hades cell signal. It wasn’t creepy that she had engaged a phone tracker on him. It was a security measure.

Minthe: Just charge it to the Corporate account.

The clerk glanced at her employee badge and shrugged entering the payment information and moving back to the printer.

Finally his cell pinged a tower. He wasn’t terribly far away yet. It looked like he was only about 5 neighborhoods over from his own which actually placed him closer to her current location. Going back to her apps she quickly pulled up her Charioteer app and arranged for a pickup.

Less then ten minutes later she was in the car flyers in hand and headed Hades way. Looking at herself in the driver rearview mirror she remembered Thetis’ words. Disheveled is better. Setting aside the flyers she reached up and quickly rustled up her hair making it look unkempt as if she had been running our caught in a maelstrom. Regarding herself in the mirror she frowned. It didn’t look enough to her despite what Thetis said. Maybe a little ruined mascara would give it the real effect. Tilting her head back Minthe willed herself to cry. It took a few minutes but soon they were flowing leaving her eyes nice and puffy and with just a hint of running mascara. Cutting off her tears she smiled at the effect in the mirror .

Minthe: Perfection.

Minthe might have thought she looked perfect for the role she was about to play but her driver was genuinely worried he had picked up another loon. Why were the hot ones always crazy? The Gods were cruel.