The sound of high heels echoed through the halls, creating an eerie atmosphere. The gates of Tartarus hadn't fully closed in years... Many things had happened, and well...
"Lady Persephone..." A demon bowed quickly, recognizing the woman before him, now in a completely new human form.
"Any news?" she inquired, but the demon could only shake his head. After all, it had been years since
he
had vanished.
"I see... I will be going to Olympus temporarily. I shall return soon," Persephone said before vanishing before the servant's eyes.
"Phew... That crazy woman gives me the creeps!" the demon muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow.
The heavy silence of Olympus seemed endless...
Each step Persephone took on the cold marble floor echoed like a reminder that she was stepping into enemy territory.
Her eyes scanned the towering columns, and for a fleeting moment, she recalled how familiar this place once was... Now, however, it felt like a distant land.
"So you've returned... Persephone," a male voice echoed through the hall, laden with authority.
Zeus. Always him.
Persephone lifted her gaze, meeting the imposing figure of the king of the gods, his expression stern. He descended the steps of the throne slowly, the sound of his leather sandals against the marble matching each calculated step.
"Any news of him?" he asked, though the answer was already clear.
Persephone sighed, keeping her posture firm. "Nothing... yet."
Zeus huffed in disbelief, but before he could say more, a presence approached swiftly. Hermes, ever hurried and eager, appeared. He bowed quickly, barely acknowledging the tension in the air.
"My lady, a message..." Hermes handed her a scroll, sealed with the emblem of the underworld.
Persephone took the scroll without hesitation, her heart racing... Something was about to happen, she could feel it.
Closing her eyes for a moment, she tried to connect the dots. Memories began to surface. Recently, she had crossed paths with a strange creature. A dragon, but unlike any other she had ever encountered. It had an aura so dense, so intense, that simply being near it made her uneasy.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
"Strax..."
The name escaped her lips as a whisper. That dragon she encountered stealing Hellfire... the one that seemed to have such a powerful yet enigmatic presence... it was him. He was the demonic dragon mentioned by Hades. The rebirth everyone feared... and now, he was within her reach.
Persephone clenched the parchment in her hands, the paper crumpling under the pressure of her fingers. Her gaze hardened, but inside her, a storm of emotions raged. Hades had given her the task of protecting the dragon.
But Strax... he wasn't someone easy to control. He wasn't just a creature, but a being with his own desires, strengths, and secrets.
Above all, what troubled her the most was the fact that Hades believed he might be dead. If it were true, if Hades truly did not return... what would that mean for her? For Olympus? For the Underworld?
"Screw Hades," she muttered, almost spitting the words, her voice dripping with frustration.
He had left her in the dark for far too long. Always acting alone, always vanishing with his secrets and unexplained disappearances. And now this? A simple message, as if she were just another piece on his board, a resource to be used when convenient.
"He disappears, leaves me alone for years, and now he drops this bomb on me?" Persephone spoke to herself, her voice rising with a crescendo of irritation. "I held everything together while he was gone. I kept the Underworld stable, kept the monsters under control... and he just vanishes. And now he expects me to take care of this dragon like it's just another errand?"
She stepped forward, her heels echoing more forcefully through the hall. Her presence radiated barely-contained fury, something she rarely let show. But that letter had been the last straw. The Underworld was as much hers as it was his. Maybe even more, after all these years. And now he expected her to wait patiently for another year before finally declaring him dead?
"No. No more," Persephone spoke firmly. "I will no longer live in his shadow."
She knew she had a decision to make. This wasn't just about Hades or the responsibility of caring for the demonic dragon. It was about her own autonomy. About the power she truly possessed, which she often chose not to use to avoid conflict. But now, there was something different in the air. She felt this was her chance to finally take control of her destiny.
"Strax..." The name reverberated in her mind once again.
This dragon wasn't just another danger; he was the key to something far greater. If Hades believed Strax was important, then he definitely was. But she wouldn't do this for Hades. She would do it for herself. Persephone had her own plans. She wasn't about to wait a year for the return of someone who might not even be alive. And if he was, he would need much more than a weak excuse to justify all of this.
With a simple gesture, she opened a portal, her eyes blazing with determination. The destination? The place where she would find Strax. She wouldn't hunt him like a shadow sent by Hades. She would find him as Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. No longer a piece in someone else's game. Now, she played her own game.
"Whatever it is you want me to do, Hades," she whispered into the void, "I'll do it my way."
And with that, she disappeared, heading to... the Mortal World.