By Riariti no Iru-jon

Resources: Edith Hamilton’s Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes .

Persephone, the spunky Maiden of Spring and Goddess of Rebirth, has stumbled upon a portal to present-day Earth. While she explores the modern mortal world and makes some new friends, the Gods race against Hades to find her.

A retelling of the Persephone myth with some not very mythological twists…

The Narcissus of Enna

The sunlight kissed Persephone’s face as she walked amidst the meadow with her head angled upward. Blissful giggling sprouted from the maidens that accompanied her, but she held her silence in awe. Despite the many times she had been to the vale of Enna, its beauty never ceased to amaze and captivate her. Besides, something about that day was special – she couldn’t pinpoint what, but she could sense it in the air.

A smooth hand captured her arm, causing her to startle, but only for a moment. The honey eyes of her closest friend regarded her gently and laughed softly. “You dropped your basket, Kore.”

She flushed with embarrassment, but winced just a tad at being addressed as she was. “Thank you,” she said, receiving the basket from the female companion, keeping her manners in check. Occasionally she wished they would simply call her Persephone, which she preferred strongly to Kore. Her mother, Demeter, adored the short name, however, she decided against being rebellious while mingling with her friends.

Persephone was a lovely young Goddess and no one was shy about reminding her of that. That was why Enna was so alluring to her – it was highly doubtful the flowers would coo over her appearance. Perhaps she was a gorgeous girl, but that wasn’t just what – or who – she was.

She was a strong individual. Independent, bold and charming, with a dash of stubbornness when called for… But the meadows washed away her need to defend her state of being. When the endless giggling became an annoyance – which it would, without a doubt, at some point – she felt no hesitation to wander just out of sight of the other maidens. With a cleansing breath, she could lower her defenses and admire nature as she was.

She did hesitate when she reached down to pluck a blossom from the lush carpet of vegetation. For a moment, it seemed like a sin to take away from Enna’s beauty. She reminded herself that her mother, the Goddess of the Harvest, insisted she pick as many flowers as she desired and bring them home to display proudly.

Persephone found an iris that stood out from the others and carefully pulled it from the earth. Her hand glided up, and she tucked it behind her right ear. She had been told before that the flower complimented her heather eyes, although she was confident the blossom was much more lovely than herself.

She gingerly knelt down onto her knees, placing the basket at her side. She pushed her chocolate brown cascades, tinged with rich mahogany red, of hair away from her face to search the ground more thoroughly. She selected the blossoms that caught her attention and laid them gently in the woven container, with no particular arrangement at that time.

Once satisfied with her collection, she rose up, smoothing the wrinkles of her chiton with care. She cradled the basket to her stomach and took to lazily strolling the meadow; quiet so not to alert her companions that she was purposefully going away from them.

She paused in her steps; head cocked to the side as she considered the possible sight her eyes fell upon. It was something much more radiant than the plants she normally found on Enna. Perplexed but greatly intrigued, she glanced cautiously over her shoulder to confirm no one had noticed her absence, and when finding no soul closing in, she hastened in her pace to reach what she had spotted.

She gasped in wonder once she discovered the exact flower that had drawn her attention away. Its purple skin was streaked with silver veins and it glowed with its own magical aura. She stood a fair distance away, intimidated by its beauty, and her grip on her basket weakened to the point where she almost dropped it on her feet. She struggled to compose herself, silently thanking the Gods for creating such a jewel in Enna that she was to encounter.

Persephone advanced step by step, taking her time although she felt a burning desire to touch the blossom. Her fair feet crossed the ground warily, and where they touched, a lush green shine followed in her wake.

The flower had entranced her, and she only figured that out when her toes scraped against a protruding rock. She bit her lip to restrain a cry of pain – and exasperation. It was almost as if the Fates were tempting her and making it difficult to reach the pretty bloom.

She ran a toe over the rock and was disturbed to find it much larger than she supposed. She bent down and examined it, something odd about its shape. She picked it up, observing the ragged edges of the top-most part of it. Making sure not to hurt her, she turned it over in shock – the back was smooth with minute etchings, which she caressed with her thumb. As she continued to rub it, fragments began to wear off, crumbling and falling away, as if it were merely a shell for something within it.

Placing her basket to the side, she watched, as the edges broke from the rock, shattering into tiny shards. Soon, a new surface and material was revealed, something much more dense than rock, and luster like a metal. Brushing the dust away, she was now faced with an oval object. She turned it over and over, unable to decide what is was and what it was used for.

The Goddess eyed the blossom before her with suspicion, and then at the item in her hand. Clutching it tightly, she scrutinized the plant, noticing an odd area of ground beneath it. It appeared disheveled and false, gritty instead of fertile. She wiped her free hand over it and pushed aside upturned earth that had not settled after being handled.

Her suspicions escalated when something cold and hard scraped her palm. It was a surface similar to the oval object and relatively small in diameter. As she uncovered it, a jolt of electricity bit her hand. She withdrew it at once with a hiss, glaring at a small depression in the surface of the strange material.

Something was amiss in the vale of Enna, yet curiosity held her fast. The peculiar flower was something she never found before, and the metal indeed was out of place. She turned the item over in her hand one last time and held it between thumb and finger. A strange energy was pulsing from it, she could tell because of the slight sting her skin that was against it felt.

A burning sensation replaced the sting and she let it fall from her grasp. As if drawn by a magnet, the object dragged itself across the ground toward the depression, and after watching it a good thirty seconds, it finally snapped into it.

She was struck with a throbbing pain at her temples, so great that a whimper escaped from her lips, which she feared would betray her location to her companions. She doubled over, bracing a hand against the ground – against the metal surface.

Her skin began to burn much more and she tried to yank her hand away, but some invisible force held it firm. Eyes widening in panic, the item glowed mercilessly into her face and overwhelmed her senses – regardless of immortality. A trickle of blood leaked from her nose, and her vision failed, sinking into unconsciousness.

When her friends caught sight of a flash of light and realized Persephone wasn’t with them, they hurried to the site and found only the gorgeous flower. Frantic, they returned to Olympus to report what they had seen – and hadn’t seen.

Right after they departed, the earth trembled under an unknown pressure and a chasm snaked around in the vicinity of the narcissus bloom. With a groan, the fissure split open wide and out flew the Lord of the Underworld aloft his chariot. However, the Maiden of Spring was nowhere to be found, as his dark eyes scoured Enna. Furious, he directed the black steeds leading the chariot back down the chasm, to return to Tartarus.