CHAPTER 15

“You have come for my child?” The female voice thundered throughout the dim cave.

“Y-yes.” Joy answered with slight difficulty as her body was draped in an invisible force, along with Seulgi as they were being pulled inside the cave.

“For what reasons?” The unseen owner uttered once more with an intriguing tone, “Are you one of those demigods who are trying to threaten him again?”

“No, we came here to ask for help, from Hypnos.”Seulgi replied, while wriggling throughout the force.

“Help?” The voice paused, before a deep chuckle echoes horridly throughout the cave, “Help? That was what the other boy request too.”

“Who?” Joy questions as she eyed the whole cave, before gasping, as the invisible bind release them to the earthy ground with a thud.

Both Seulgi and Joy grunt before hoisting themselves up just to see a cloud of black gathering 30 metres away from them. Gushes of dead leaves and tiny bits of sand scatter around as a sudden rush of wind blow. Darkness has consume the surrounding and taken its stranglehold. Seulgi felt like her life is being squeezed and memories being consumed, turning them into forgotten lost dreams.

But in the dark, Seulgi could make out a figure – standing nearby, draping in a long, black cloak. Dark black hair cascades under white skin. The shock and the contrast only serve to make her all the more ghostly, all the more haunting. The deity gaze upon them with grey, cold, metallic eyes, which send a small shiver running down from the back of her spine.

“Nyx?” Seulgi managed to utter.

“Yes, it is I, Nyx, Goddess of The Night, Speaker of the Oracle, Bearer to Sleep and Death,” the Goddess spoke with her deep voice. “And you, child of Hermes, what was your query?

Joy gulps before looking at Seulgi, giving a nudge, indicating for Seulgi to answer, which she responded back to the Goddess. “Can we know who, exactly, was the person who asked for Hypnos’s help?”

“But you did not came here to inquire about the person am I right? You came here – for my son. True?”

A twinge of annoyance sprung in Seulgi’s mind. Nyx knows that they are here for Hypnos, but why is she still holding them back and asking this pointless question. “Yes, that is our main purpose. Your other son, Thanatos is being put to sleep by Hypnos. I don’t know why Hypnos agreed to put Thanatos to sleep but we think someone is plotting to let the monsters out from the door Thanatos is guarding. That is why we are here, to seek help from Hypnos to re-awake his brother. So can we please meet him?”

With a smirk like smile, Nyx simply said, “Very well. Follow me.”

Joy quickly look at Seulgi incredulously, “That easy?”

Flaming torches hung by the uneven walls of the cave, sparked to life as they walk further in. An orange glow against the quiet darkness as they followed Nyx who has not spoken a word since she asked the two to follow her.

“This might be a trap,” Joy whispers as they step upon small, loose stones, littered on the ground. “This cave is damn too quiet.”

“It is a cave after all,” Seulgi whispers back, eyes wandering around for anything unusual. “And this is the only way for us to meet Hypnos—“

“—through his mother,” Joy intercepts.

“Let’s just trust on her at the moment,” Seulgi utters.

They suddenly stop at a smaller jagged entrance. Further ahead, was a descending of rutted steps and sounds of water could be heard. But weird thing is there were red poppies and other Gods know what plants arranged nearby the entrance.

“Lovely isn’t it?” Nyx indicates on the rows of poppies. “Hypnos loves these flowers a lot.”

“Isn’t this use for memorials?” Seulgi asked looking slightly sceptic.

“Yes, but their scent is one of the most pleasurable.” Nyx highlights.

Both Seulgi and Joy sniff a little and Seulgi kind of thought that it smells favourably nice. She remembered how Irene smelled like, a mixture of rose and vanilla, very sweet and yearning while this plant, poppy, had a tad bit of mysterious allure to it, sweet yet slightly minty.

“Not bad.” Joy taking a whiff, “This could be made to one of those perfume products. I think I could recommend this to my clan.”

Nyx merely smile before saying, “Hypnos is waiting. I shall leave you with him.”

Seulgi was a bit uncertain on how Nyx is acting but she pushed those thoughts away. “Thank you, Goddess of Night.”

Nyx gave them her smirk-like smile. “Watch out for the steps. They are a bit uneven.” And with that, Nyx vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving both Seulgi and Joy surrounded by red poppies, other unknown plants, and another shady cave entrance.

They descended deeper within the cave and the deeper they were in; Seulgi could only help but gasp for fresh air. The thick air was moisture with sweat lingering in the air and the walls closing in. The darkness was overwhelming. And the rows of weird plants and its scent definitely did not help. It felt suffocating.

“Wait,” Joy staggered behind, taking a deep breath. “This…I—I feel… I feel weir—“

Joy slumbered down at the ground, completely knock out. Seulgi was about to rushed to Joy but her nostrils were too intoxicated with the scents and somehow it makes her dizzy. Her mind was spinning as she took one step at a time towards Joy, but in the end, she ended up like the latter.

The grass has been mown so short the ground shows through. The moss is scuffed, rolling away from the soil like a carpet, its once strong greens yellowing in the heat. It seems that the workers really maintain this park. Last time Irene came here was during 5th grade where she had a picnic with her three cousins from her dad’s side. They played Simon says and ironically her three cousins did everything she told them to.

“Do you reckon its somewhere up there?” Wendy pointed at a small hill ahead.

The three of them were at the grassy opening, detecting hidden signs and trying to sense for the smell of monsters but to no avail. They’ve been frantically searching for the entrance for quite a time now, even with Wendy’s quick-witted brain and Yeri’s lively suggestions, they were met with nothing.

They mounted the small hill, hoping to have a slight upturn into things but they were only met with another field of grasses and bushes. They sat for a moment under a huge oak tree, contemplating whether they should go back to the place they promised to meet back.

“The people didn’t preserve this part as much as the other field,” Yeri said, as she pulled out the dead looking grass. Instead of brown and yellowish in colour, the grasses they sat on were blotches of black instead.

“Maybe people usually play on the other side rather than here,” Wendy suggested, “but why did the colour turned black though? Aren’t dead grass supposed to be br—“

“Wait!” Irene stood up immediately, as she scans around them to see that they were sitting on a sloppy trail of black blotchy grass. Why did I just saw this? Irene mentally cursed herself. The other two also stood up and skim through the grass.

The black trail was leading into a set of bushes – dead black bushes – and both Irene and Wendy exchanged a knowing look as they follow the trace.