*Elentari* Tanz came to my room to wake me up as I had forgotten to set an alarm. I rubbed my eyes and yawned, still sleepy. It amazed me how tired I had been the last few days. It felt like I could never get enough sleep. The pixie was humming a pleasant tune. It made me smile as I watched her buzz around, getting things set out for me. My mind wandered to the events in the dream state and I sighed internally. “My Princess, your outfit for dinner.” The announcement startled me out of my thoughts. My eyes landed on a deep plum almost black gothic steampunk dress with a pickup type skirt. It had a deep plunging sweetheart neckline and a matching bolero. It was my style to a “t”. On the other hanger was a corset with silver skull clasps in the same deep plum. Black shiny Mary Jane heels finished off the outfit. The shoes had a bow on the toe and a satin strap that wrapped around the ankle multiple times before it could be tied in a bow. The cloth material matched the rest of the outfit.

*Elentari* The door to the room burst open and a man with hair like Selene’s entered. “Pardon my intrusion, Majesties of Faerl, but I could not ignore such a large family gather.” He took the empty chair that Lucinda would have occupied if she weren’t within me. “How have the children of my sister been?” His eyes landed on each person around the room. I shivered a bit, but Stacie shivered more. “We are just peachy, uncle.” The outspoken one answered him. ‘Elentari?’ Stacie mind-linked me. ‘I feel weird, like I’m being drawn to that man. I don’t like it.’ fear laced her sentence. ‘Fuck.’ I heard Selene mutter. ‘I never gave that playboy a mate, nonetheless a mortal teenager.’ I let out a long, deep exhale. “Who are you?” I asked. “You’ll have to forgive me, history has never been my strong suit.” It was Selene’s turn to be annoyed. ‘You realize you just gave him a chance to brag about himself? You could have just asked me.’ she retreated to the back of my consciousness, presuma

*Aranelda* Suddenly I was no longer under ground. I was in a strange place that reminded me of my life above ground, before Hades. The sun was kissing my skin, but blinding my eyes. Panic filled my heart as I had no idea where I was. I had no idea who I could trust or if I should trust anyone. Persephone told me to think of something happy, so I thought of the little girl singing her song. Would I find her? There were houses in rows greeting my eyes. Outside one of the houses was a girl about my age. She had the same color hair as me, and I assumed I would have the same skin tone if I hadn’t spent years in the dark. As I walked closer I could see her eyes were sapphire blue, just like mine. My heart started beating wildly, I thought my ears were playing tricks on me. She was singing that song. Absentmindedly I started singing along with her. Her eyes looked up as the song ended. “Hi!” She cheerfully greeted me. “Wanna play?” Her hand was extended to me. I was hesitant. “I promise i

*Elentari* This was beginning to be a habit. Meal time, new news, my vision goes blurry, I wake up on the floor. I blinked a few times, trying to gain my bearings, hoping to be able to speak soon. My throat was dry as I gasped for air, tears pooling as I realized what, and who, I just saw. I tried to sit up, but I wasn’t allowed to. “Oh no, Princess, you lay yourself back down.” a velvet voice filled my ears. Where was I? I wasn’t on the floor, this is too soft. I moved my hand a bit and realized there was a blanket over me. “You’ve been through a lot. I do apologize for your lack of strength at the moment. I needed to talk to my sister and figure out what was going on, what you had seen. Saying Hades can mean a lot of things, and she was able to tell me more than you could.” He patted my shoulder gently. “Now that you’ve woken, though, I will leave you in the capable care of your assistant and the rest of our family. I have a situation to remedy.” The imposing figure stood and made

*Aranelda* I walked the room, slowly, looking at each weapon upon the wall. Each one had the mark of a Deity on them. Some Greek, some Roman, others Egyptian. There were even marks of the Orisha and Celtic Deities. I wondered if this was the training place of all the Gods and Goddesses. It would seem unbelievable that they would be able to coexist in such a space without feeling the need to battle for superiority. I jumped a bit as Helios laughed a bit. It was still very odd to hear others in my head and identify them as something other than imaginary beings or creations of insanity. ‘I wonder what we’re looking for.’ My fingers ran over many hilts, none seeming to have the right… connection with me. I traced my fingers over all the symbols until I found a set of swords marked with a blazing sun and my body felt a shiver. I couldn’t help but smile. ‘These are the weapons you want, huh?’ I studied them, one was a very long sword with a handle meant for both hands. The next was a set