Pho's Scythe

Pho's eyes glistened with tears, her irises like frozen wheat pressed by glass.

"Mother, please!" she begged, her chiton swishing around her knees, the blush color the perfect match to her cheeks and the blossoms messily placed in her hair. " I wish to go have a walk in the flower fields, wouldn't that be nice?"

Her mother gave her a cold stare in return, her basket overflowing with freshly harvested wheat.

" No, Pho. I don't want you going who knows where walking into danger!" she said shortly, placing her basket down, her scythe ready to chop more wheat in the fields. She walked, tall and regal, her daughter scurrying behind her, the moist dirt padding her pale feet. Her mother continued, her forearms were tanned and strong from years of labor and work.

" What if something happens, like a hydra, or a-"

" a lion, or a mortal, I know, I know, you say this every time!" She argued, a bunch of thorned plants popped out of the ground around her. She reddened and jumped out, the plants leaning towards her hungrily as if begging for attention.

" Mother, I'm almost eighteen, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I'm a goddess for Olympus sakes!" Her mother sighed.

"Very well, you have a point. I'll allow it, but you need to take the nymphs with you, and come straight back before the sun sets-"

"Thank you Mother!" she kissed her mother's forehead, having to reach on the tips of her toes to reach, and bounded off, her dress fading to a cheerful yellow, along with the blossoms blooming into large sunflowers.

Her hands flew at her sides, brushing the plants in the garden, all of them blooming and grow to larger sizes, the colors more vivid and rich the more her essence pored over the terrace.

The nymphs were somewhat shocked by the minor goddess' unusual manner, who wasn't known to be that cheerful. She was more calm and soft-spoken, with what little words she spoke regardless.

They all chatted, the nymphs charmed by the thoughts of this young maiden who seemed more than what met the eye, yet too shy to let them out.

She exclaimed about how blue the sky was, showing the nymphs how a particular one looked like a hydra. She commented on how a particular flower looked very lonely and decided to talk with it, quietly whispering to the nymphs that ' Emphasis ' was very humorous, and waved goodbye as they walked along.

As they sat in the grass, playing with bunnies they had found in delight. Pho gently held a sleeping ball of soft fur in her gentle hands, the paws delicately kneading her skin in its sleep.

She gently placed it in the wrapped bundle of her cloak and looked around, her sunflowers now shrinking back to bunches of lavender and daffodils. The nymphs chatted excitedly as their bunnies hopped around, jumping off their knees.

She wanted to explore, but the nymphs reminded her that they had to be with her, and they didn't want to explore. She looked quietly in her cloak pockets, searching for something she had received from her best friend, Hecate. She had made a sleeping tea, whoever drank it would fall in a unwakable sleep for one hour, and one hour only.

She offered to make the tea and carefully poured the draught in their cups, making sure to leave one plain, for herself. She shakily handed each clay cup, the risk of them discovering her evidently showing, yet they didn't catch on, and one by one, they all fell asleep, their heads bubbling to the grass.

She got up quietly as a snake, then ran down the hill, and threw herself on the ground, giggling as she rolled down, not caring that her hair was beginning to get twigs and dirt in or that her chiton was now dirty with grass stains. She got up and fell over something warm, that exclaimed as they both rolled down together.

She spat out weeds and frowned at herself.

" Hey, you should have watched where you were going." an amused voice brought her to whip around. A boy around her age with wavy onyx black hair and curious blue eyes stared intently at her. His face blushed attractively, and she suddenly felt shy, her flowers in her hair turning to shy rosebuds in an icy purple, contrasting against her warm rust-colored mantle. She smiled.

"Hello, what's your-" they both screamed as the earth erupted, a loud roar echoing in the earth. The boy shouted something in greek, and a three-headed dog bounded from the shadows at her side protectively.

A huge hydra roars from the ground. Pho's irises and the whites of her eyes turned an angry red and a scythe like her mother's but covered in red flowers. The boy pulled a blackened spear out of his cloak, and they both charged, yelling a battle cry that the hydra was intimidated.

Pho's eyes widened as the hydra span venomous liquid, and she tackled the boy as it shot over their heads.

" We need to get under it!" The boy shouted. The dog barked, and ran around it. A perfect distraction, she thought. The boy sliced one of its heads, and Pho dived under it.

She gagged as acid burnt her hair. She used her scythe to drive it up, and twisted it satisfyingly as it roared in pain. A new power erupted in her blood flow, and she shoved her hand in the wound, and thorned flowers grew inside, killing the hydra.

The dog barked happily and went back from where it came from. The two looked at each other, and laughed as they saw each other covered in blood and hydra acid.

" I guess we haven't been introduced." Pho laughed, wiping her face, leaving a mark on her face. " I'm Pho." her eyes cleared and her scythe disappeared.

The boy smiled and used his cloak to wipe her face, Pho blushing pleasantly while doing so. " I'm Hades."

A loud neigh was heard over them, and Pho's mother rode furiously in a chariot. Hades noticed Pho's fear and quickly grabbed her hand. He whispered a spell in her ear.

" Fear begins, and fly like a dart,

courage comes, be brave of heart,"

A warm tingly feeling overcame through Pho, and she didn't feel scared of her mother's wrath. He smiled, handed her a small book, and waved, disappearing in the shadows.

She looked at the book as her mother landed. It was a small spellbook, and a note showing a map to a garden. He wrote in scrawled handwriting, asking to meet her again in a moon. He also left a small crushed flower, which she clipped to her chiton pocket.

She smiled. She couldn't wait to see him again.