Melinoe

Mel walked with hard steps through the corridors of the sumptuous palace. Being pale as a ghost, she knew her face was red with all the blood rushing to her head. She was angry, but also wanted to cry and she wasn't going to give Mac the satisfaction of seeing that.

She ran outside, looking out over the underground city. At first glance it might look like a nocturnal metropolis with a starry sky, however, with a little more attention, it was possible to realize that the stars were nothing more than precious stones trapped in the ceiling of the underworld.

Dozens of skyscrapers covered the city with strange motorized vehicles traveling through it. Carts with bronze wheels without the need for any animal pulling. In addition to the jewels above, there were several lights in the city from the various spirits and daemons that made up the small population considered alive in the underworld.

The young woman ran through the huge front garden of the palace, a green area full of fruit trees. A fifteen-year-old boy was tending the orchard and smiled when he saw Mel. He was shorter than her and had messy green hair.

“Good morning, miss,” said the young man who was promptly ignored with Mel's departure.

She walked and walked without caring who was around her. She imagined judgmental looks from those who saw the king's daughter walking unaccompanied through the region, but that was not her problem. She reached the edge of town and saw an unpleasant sight.

A huge red field, with dead and crooked trees adorning the various souls tortured for eternity. She walked around that place without feeling uncomfortable. The ghosts that suffered there had committed serious crimes and were now receiving divine punishment. Besides, it was the place Hades least wanted her to be.

She walked up a steep hill and found who she was looking for. Climbing up a few meters to a huge circular boulder being pushed up by a muscular man. This man's skin was grayish and slightly translucent, his face showed an expression of exhaustion from the work he was doing.

With relentless agility, Mel leapt onto the boulder, nearly twice her height, and sat looking down into the soul.

“Another hard day's work, Sí?”

“Like all the others, Lady Melione,” replied the dead man, “you shouldn't have been here the last time the Erinyes found you…”

“I don't have anywhere else to go.”

Sisyphus would have made a pitying expression if he hadn't been expending all his strength pushing on the boulder.

“I'm sure any other dead company would be more interesting than mine.”

“I like you Si. And I like that he cheated death so many times. There are some immortals who can't get out of here and you've stayed away for years.”

The dead man looked to the heavens looking for something, when he saw nothing, he released the rock that rolled down the hill. Mel managed to jump to the man's side in time. He took a long breath and lay down on the floor.

“There aren't any Erinyes around here, I think it’s time for a break.”

Mel lay down next to him looking up at the sky. Even though it was the same underworld, the sky here was different. Red clouds hung over the fields and the whole atmosphere was more tense.

“Aren't you going to get hurt when they find you?”

Sisyphus shrugged.

“It's all inconsequential. I will be here suffering forever. This is my destiny.”

The man's speech left the girl introspective, thinking about her own destiny.

“Why didn't you go to Hecate's house? That's where you'd like to be, isn't it?”

“It's the first place my father will look for me.”

When the word 'father' left her mouth she felt a chill run down her spine. Even knowing that she was not Hades' biological daughter, she was raised by him her whole life. She knew that Hades was her real father, but the blood that flowed in her veins seemed to trap her in a torture as bad as that of Sisyphus.

There was a huge crack in the distance and the dead man got up quickly.

“They're coming. I need to get back to my work.”

He ran down the hill in search of the boulder while Mel wondered if indeed everything was inconsequential in the underworld. The young woman also got up and something in the distance caught her eye.

An orange flame glowed at the edge of the punishment fields. Its color was artificial in a magical way and attracted Mel. She had seen strange things in her life, the spirits of huge monsters killed by heroes, the personification of the rivers of the underworld and her dog had three heads. Even so, that flame looked like something completely different.

She went towards the light without fear, she completely trusted her father's security and would accept any excuse not to resume his existential crises.

The flame seemed to distance itself as she ran, always staying the same distance. She went through all the punishment fields until she left for the uninhabited area of ​​Hades. Soon she could no longer see the red clouds or the star-jewels in the sky, everything was taken over by the darkness of the night, except for the orange flame.

It was then that she became concerned. The night was the territory of ancient gods, theoretically allied with her father, but the relationship was more complicated than that. And she knew that if the flame went out, she would be lost in the dark, perhaps forever.

She looked back and, since she couldn't see anything either, her only option was to follow the light.

So she ran and ran, even though she wasn't the most physically prepared among her sisters, she still had divine blood running through her veins and she couldn't stop anymore.

The awful feeling of being trapped in the night forever numbed the way Mac had treated her before. The two were raised together since babies and how could she talk to me like that? Doesn't she know that I spend my entire day thinking my existence is cursed?

Her fear passed quickly with the flood of feelings hurting her mind. She felt tears forming in her eyes and wanted to scream to let them out.

Before being able to do that, however, she collided with someone and both fell to the ground. Mel was still confused by her thoughts and it took her a while to understand what was going on.

The flame no longer existed, at least not in the same form. On the floor beside her there was a girl her age, her hair was orange and spiky, like the flames she saw before. Her skin was black, with a blue tint that seemed to emit a glow of its own. She wore a black tunic with purple details and carried a lantern with a smaller version of the flame from before.

The mysterious girl seemed hurt and Mel quickly helped her to get up, she still hadn't recovered, however she didn't like to have hurt someone. As the two stood, they exchanged suspicious glances at each other.

“Who are you?” asked the flame-girl.

“I'm Mel. You are a Lampad, aren't you?”

The girl looked at Mel suspiciously.

“I am, but... your name doesn't help, I want to know who you are. What are you doing here?”

Usually revealing herself to be one of the princesses of the underworld made everyone treat her differently and she was very excited to find a nymph of Hecate in the middle of nowhere. As if it were fate.

“I… work at the palace. I was walking around, saw a fire and went after it.”

The Lampad watched Mel with more attention every moment.

“And you decided to follow a mysterious flame into the Night?”

Mel realized that sounded stupid and tried to think fast

“I didn't know you were coming until the Night. When I realized I was already here.”

The mystery companion sighed and held her hand out to Mel.

“Let's get out of here. My name is Rete by the way.”

Mel greeted the girl, but she started pulling Mel in the direction they came from. The princess did not expect this and felt the warmth of Rete's hand emanating into her body. It wasn't ordinary heat, it was a force that stirred Mel in a way she couldn't explain.

“What are you doing?” Mel asked sheepishly.

“Taking you back. The Night is a dangerous place, lucky for you my magic will get us to safety.”

Rete held her lantern in the other hand and, even though she couldn't see more than ten feet ahead, she walked confidently. Many questions crossed Mel's mind.

“What was the fire I saw?”

“I don't know,” Rete replied, “magic is weird. Things happen because they must happen. I certainly wasn't thinking about attracting any girls to me. Not like this, at least.”

Mel didn't know what to say after that and let her partner lead the way. The two continued in silence in the middle of the darkness for a few more minutes, until they saw the jewels shining in the sky again. Soon the city of Hades was within reach and Mel felt safe again.

“Thanks for that. By the way, what were you doing in the Night alone?” Mel asked.

“A ritual from the house of Hecate. I think it's silly if you ask me, but it's tradition. Now I'm going to have to go back and do it all over again.”

The princess noticed Rete's disappointment and felt guilty about it, that's when she realized that they were still holding hands and became embarrassed again.

“You can let go of me now,” Mel said, looking down.

Rete smiled at her and released her hand.

“If that's what you want. Well, I'm going back to the infinite darkness. You should stop by Hecate's afterward. I want to know more about the crazy princess who followed the magical fire into the Night.”

And just as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared back into the Night. Mel jumped at the girl's words, after all, at no time did she say she was a princess.

She took a few minutes for himself, breathed and tried to assimilate everything that had happened since she woke up. It wasn't even lunchtime yet and Mel had already been through the spectrum of emotions of a whole week.

She decided to go back to the palace, lock herself in her room and spend the rest of the day listening to music and thinking about the mysterious girl she had just met.