I watched her leave, saying nothing more.
‘surely she was not going to hurt me .... right?????!!’ I thought as she disappeared into thin air.
“i really need a breath of fresh air.
I made my way out of the chamber and straight to the gardens. Space
It did not make much of a difference but at least, I had a safe space
I tilled the soil till i could no longer fill my bones.
“my lady” Natalie called, looking at me like she would rather be anywhere than near me. She looked damned nervous. “Sire has instructed that you don’t stay out for long.” She said bowing her head.
She seemed strange. Normally she talked to me like I was a long time friend of hers, but now.
“Are you good? Is something the ...”
“Don’t worry about me, I just... I am not feeling to well. Must be the air.” She said, ignoring my call. “here, drink this, you must be perched.” I noticed how her hands shook but I knew she was not going to say anything
“Thank you” I took it from her. “You know, you remind me so much of my friend when I was alive. I miss her sometimes” I don’t know why but the more she served me. The more she seemed more and more like Natalie.
A hard exterior and a gentle heart.
I took in the drink greedily, realising that I was indeed thirsty
“Thank you, I did not realise that I actually needed this.”
“I am not as nice as you think me to be. My lady” she said looking at me with unblinking eyes.
“Huh?” I felt a bit of discomfort in my throat. But I ignored it. It was probably as a result of me drinking the lemonade a bit too fast. “What are you talking about? I don’t... I don’t understand”
“I have never been your friend my lady, I hope that you would forgive me.”
“I still...”
“you are the daughter of the Marquis. You were forced to marry a man that did not have to worry about what his next meal would be. Do you really think I was your friend willingly? Every day i stayed by your side I hoped that you would at least be able to give me basics
A new dress, a hot meal. But I was met with more and more complains. ‘help me hide from my father. I don’t want to get married... my mother beat me today... even now! You’re given the better end of the stick while I am made to serve you!” she looked pissed. I had never seen her act like that before.
I felt a bit of tired. suddenly, every step i took towards her felt like a burden, my limbs weighed down as if I were moving through water.
I looked at her, ‘surely the drink she had given me.... it could not.... there was no way....
She was helping me, right?
I felt worse as the moments went by.
, the headaches that grew from a dull throb to a sharp, stabbing pain, and the way my vision would blur without warning. “I asked you the first day we met. If you were who I thought you were and shrugged it off. If you had told me that you were...”
“why? So you could mock me? Is it not enough that I died and yet again have to serve you?” she was filled with spite even though it had nothing to do with me.
“Natalie,” I said, my voice trembling,
“At least now, you are to die, Sire would see that you are nothing but an ordinary soul and then see that you are indeed nothing special.
I blinked, “so, You’ve been poisoning me” I said, confirming what I saved not let myself think of.
For a moment, just a moment, I saw it. The mask slipped, and there was something dark and cold in her eyes. But then it was gone, replaced by the stoic face she wore each and every time.
I closed my eyes, focusing on levelling my breath and passing out.
“Sire has gone to the surface, before he comes back, it should have done it’s work. I am not sorry that you have to end this way. But I do feel pity for you that you thought us friends all along.”
“you know Hades is not going to let this slide, yes?” I said, blinking my eyes rapidly to clear the black dots that covered my vision.
“but he would never find me. With lady Aphrodite’s reward for taking your life, I would have a second chance at life, a better life. A smoother one. One where I do not have to serve you.
I opened my mouth to say something but it was too late. I felt myself falling to the ground, the dirt embracing me as I fell to it
So this was it? This was how I was going to die.
Hades
His face crossed my mind. I did not get to even see him smile. I thought. The past memories Flooded my mind as I thought of the times I saw him smile. The times *I* made him smile.
Would I come back again?
Would this be my last time? Was this going to be the end?
I felt the darkness swallow me, whole.
--
I should have felt something—fear, panic,.... But there was nothing, just a calm detachment as I looked down at myself, as though I were a stranger watching someone else’s struggle. The world around me was soft, the edges blurred, and the colors seemed muted, like the world had been drained of all its vibrancy.
And then I felt it. A pull, gentle but insistent, drawing me away from my body, away from the garden. I didn’t resist. I couldn’t. It was as if I had no will of my own, just the urge to follow, to let myself be carried by the current that was sweeping me along.
I found myself standing on the bank of a river. The water was dark, impossibly still, and thick, as if it were made of something other than water. Shadows moved beneath its surface, shapes that I couldn’t quite make out, and the air was heavy with the scent of something ancient and powerful.
I knew where I was before the name even formed in my mind. The River Styx. The boundary between life and death, where souls came to cross over permanently.
This was it. I either because a corrupted soul or....
Otherwise’ I sighed as I thought of the last part.
“Wait,” a voice called out, stopping me in my tracks.
I turned, and there, standing beside me, was another figure. Not the man the boat, not one of the corrupt souls drifting aimlessly along the banks, but a woman. She was beautiful in a cold, ethereal way, with skin as pale as the moon and eyes that glittered like stars. Her hair was long and dark, flowing around her like a living shadow. She looked at me with an expression that was both pitying and stern.
“Why are you here?” she asked, her voice echoing like the whisper of wind through a graveyard. “You do not belong in this place”
She seemed to understand, even without words. She reached out, her cold hand brushing against my cheek. “You are not meant to cross the Styx, Valerie,” she said, her voice softer now. “You can not be here. Hades would make us suffer if i let you pass.”
“Go back,” she urged, her hand now resting on my shoulder. “Return to your body before he gets back..”
I made my way back to the garden, seeming more in control of my body.
I could feel the eerieness of the place a bit more as I passed along.
I walked into the garden, prepared to walk back into my body but there stood Hades and ...
If I was in my body. I definitely would have shit my pants.