'Two tokens.'
A box appeared in front of me, the lid open. It was the seed box, and inside were another two pomegranate seeds. I stared down at them, then back up at the judges. How could they not see that these didn't matter? I'd just stabbed a man who had accused me murdering his wife, and these maniacs were handing out fucking pomegranate seeds?
'Give me my memories back,' I said, my voice louder and clearer than I expected.
Minos gave me a small smile, and the three judges faded away.
'There you have it folks! It's the end of Round One of the Hades Trials and Persephone is not only still alive, but she has more tokens that the current leader did at the end of the first round. Who would have guessed! We'll be visiting a new realm for Round Two, and I know you're going to love it!' The commentator vanished and Athena stepped forward.
'Hades, you may deal with your intruder.'
'Wait-' I started to say, but suddenly the temperature plummeted and I was skidding across the room on my knees, along with everything else in Hades' path.
Pure terror gripped me as swirling smoke moved towards the injured man. Screaming started in the back of mind and the now familiar smell of blood filled my nostrils, churning my already empty stomach.
'Stop!' I tried to cry the word but nothing came out. I was pinned against the wall of the ballroom, and tears spilled from my eyes as Hades reached the bleeding man. With a hiss, he threw his smoky arms in the air, and the man flew up, blood spraying from his wound. My skin was so cold I could hardly feel it, and I was vaguely aware that everyone else in the room was shrinking away, melting into the walls as best they could. Everyone except Hecate.
'Hades-' she called, but the King of the Underworld roared, and the man screamed.
'You dare enter my realm, and try to kill her?' His voice carried so much power, so much terror, so much danger, that my limbs collapsed. 'You dare to try to take her from me?' The man whimpered as he hovered in the air, and black spots danced in front of my eyes as the screaming in my head grew louder, and flames began to obscure my vision.
'Please,' I said, but the word didn't make a sound. There was a cracking noise, and the world swam as the man shrieked in pain. His arms and legs went completely taut, then began to pull away form his torso. Nausea rolled through me, followed swiftly by dizziness so intense my head lolled to one side.
'Hades, stop!' It was Hecate's voice, but I couldn't see her any more. I could only see the man I'd almost killed, and fire.
'She deserves to die,' croaked the man's hoarse voice, and black erupted through the room. In slow motion, I watched as the man's body exploded, his head and limbs flying through the air, blood spraying the very solid form of Hades. But it wasn't the Hades I'd thrown myself at that evening. This... this was something that would haunt my nightmares as long as I lived. Massive and hulking, the monster before me had onyx, soulless eyes, and as I stared, blue waves of light rolled off his enormous armor-covered body, solidifying on the ground as corpses. Corpses that were burning. Corpses that were screaming.
I couldn't breathe. I didn't deserve to breathe. Fear like I'd never, ever known was crushing me to death, and I deserved it. I had to die.