Underworld

"She's not on the list, my lord," A man wearing a black cloak stated as he scanned his eyes on a scroll. "Not on the living, and not on the dead."

Thanatos, the death himself glanced at his King with a bored gaze. He slowly motioned his hand to magically hide the scrolls of both the living and the dead.

The underworld is always busy.

And Thanatos is always overworked.

Every day, Thanatos had to harvest the souls of the dead and bring them to the afterlife. It's the same cycle every day, but what he hates the most is when an unforeseen issue occurs.

For example...

This new unregistered soul.

A nymph.

"Does it mean that her soul doesn't belong to this world?" Hades, the god of the underworld replied to Death.

Thanatos nodded his head.

"That could be true," he replied.

Hades tapped his pale fingers on his throne. He remained silent for a moment as he tried to assess this information.

"Strangely, we didn't notice it earlier," Hades replied.

"My lord, it's not strange because we were always stressed and overworked," Thanatos boldly replied. "Especially if we had to deal with billions of these souls."

Thanatos gave a side eye on the souls that were silently waiting for Hades' judgment. Some of them looked stressed, angry, scared, and mostly bored.

Hades couldn't help but to agree with death. It wasn't impossible to miss something if they had to deal with tons of these souls.

"I get it, I get it," Hades replied.

Thanatos nodded his head.

"So what should we do about this Nymph, My Lord?" Thanatos replied. "Shall I bring her here for an investigation?"

"Do it, I want this problem to be resolved quickly," Hades replied with a sigh. "Do you know her location?"

Thanatos became silent for a moment.

"She's with Hephaestus, Zeus's and Hera's son," Thanatos raised his eyes to his master. "I heard that Hera is looking for her too. Hermes told me that Hera fought with Zeus because of her."

Hades rolled his eyes.

"It's always Zeus and Hera," Hades cuts him off as he boredly rests his chin on his hand. "It's entertaining to watch their qualms, but I don't want to get involved with another olympian issue."

Hades stands up before pointing at Thanatos.

"However, that nymph is a different story," Hades took a deep sigh. "Bring that nymph into the underworld. Her existence could cause a great problem for us."

Thanatos bowed his head before he disappeared into thin air.

"Yes, My Lord."

•••••••••

Asche suddenly felt a chill as she walked on her way home.

"It's colder than usual," she mumbled to herself.

As soon as she entered the house, she suddenly saw Hephaestus who was silently waiting for her. He was sitting on a wooden chair while holding a sea shell in his hand.

Hephaestus glanced at the nymph when he heard the door creaked. He raised his brows before placing the sea shell on the table.

"Aphrodite came earlier than you," He said with a slight frown. "I told you to come back before sunset."

Asche laughed nervously before walking towards Hephaestus.

"I went to admire the sea?" Asche replied while scratching her hair. "Cone on, I'm not a kid."

Hephaestus glanced at her as if he heard a joke.

It's not like she came home really late, why is he nagging her?

Hephaestus took a deep sigh, he motioned his hand to the chair next to him.

"Sit, we both need to talk."

"About Aphrodite?" She asked curiously. The nymph sat on the chair beside the Deity. "We talked with each other a while ago. I think she is--"

Hephaestus grunted.

"No, it is not about her," He mumbled with a sigh. "It's about you, your return to Artemis."

Asche raised her gaze as soon as she heard it. She glanced at Hephaestus with wide eyes.

Her return to Artemis?

It was the equivalent of returning her to Hera.

"My return? You are returning me to them?" She asked carefully as she stared at him intently. The Nymph waited for his response. "To Artemis? To... Hera?"

Asche knew that she had already tried to talk him into being returned a couple of times, but seeing that he tried to open this topic by himself was a bit surprising.

Asche quickly fixed her posture and listened to his words properly.

Her heart pounded when he carefully nodded his head. At last, he was finally going to talk about it.

Seeing her reaction, Hephaestus sighed as he rested his back on his chair. A slight smile appeared on his lips before he crossed his arms.

"But don't be too excited, we will just talk about it, I will not send you them immediately," Hephaestus mumbled as he took a glance at Asche's bracelet.

It really looks good against her skin...

"Okay, okay, but it's still good news, I am listening to you," The Nymph responded attentively. "So what about my return?"

Hephaestus paused and stopped looking at her bracelet. He quietly raised his to stare at Asche's eyes.

"I am planning to return after we solve our problem with Aphrodite," He mumbled. "I believe that any day from now, Aphrodite will awaken her real Goddess form, thus, it will draw more attention to her, but it also means that she'll be able to protect and judge everything by herself."

Asche quietly listened to Hephaestus.

While listening to Hephaestus, Asche raised her head when she realized something.

"Are you saying that once she awakened her true Goddess form, she can go to the Olympus?" Asche asked. "What if it starts a war? The reason why we are hiding her was to hold back those Gods from coveting her..."

Asche paused when she noticed Hephaestus staring at her.

Ah, right...

She forgot that Aphrodite was not an ordinary child-- no, she's not an ordinary Goddess.

"Aphrodite has her own judgment and own power," He mumbled. "Her beauty will surely cause war, but if the foolish men realize that they won't be able to covet her, they will stop."

Asche stares at him with a serious face.

Her lips turned into a curve of smile.

"Right, I almost forgot that Aphrodite is not a normal Goddess. I'm sure she won't let those scummy men covet her," Asche said proudly. "But I wonder if she will willingly go to Olympus?"

Hephaestus raised his brows.

"What do you mean?"

Asche sighed as she began to tell Hephaestus about her conversation with Aphrodite a while ago. Hephaestus listened carefully while the little nymph was speaking...

Listening was not the only right word, to be precise, he was looking at her, observing her every manner while she told him the story.

He wondered if he could really return this Nymph to her real home...

CLAP!

Haphaestus woke up from his thoughts when Asche suddenly held his hand.

"That's why I'm proposing that the three of us will return to Olympus!" Asche happily said. "In that way, we can clear what happened to Aphrodite, tell them that it was us-- no, you! who protected her, and of course, to return me to Artemis!"

Hephaestus was caught off guard when Asche reacted excitedly.

He was caught off guard that he could only reply "Yes..." to her...

"Don't worry, I will always invite you to my home after you return me. We can always see each other, correct?" Asche smiled at him. "They will accept you in Olympus, if they not! I'll take responsibility of you!"

Hephaestus laughed loudly after hearing her joke. Watching how Hephaestus laughed at her statement, Asche couldn't help but to laugh with him.

Hephaestus was sure that he won't be able to face Hera or Zeus properly yet...

He despises them.

But maybe if it's for her...

•••••••

That night, both of them finally had an agreement to go back to Olympus as soon as Aphrodite awakens her real Goddess form.

It was such a peaceful conversation.

Nothing could go wrong, right?

Nothing could go wrong...

If only Asche's body didn't become a cold body in the morning.

Thanatos had taken her soul away.

"Raise your head, Nymph," Hades mumbled while staring at the nervous Nymph.

Asche raised her head in panic.

'Ackkk, Am I dead?!'

•••••••

Yayyyy, I finally updated✨