xXx Hel xXx Part 1

 I have since learned the true identity of Her, my Dark Mother. She is Hel.

None of my writing here has been fictional. I was in jail for 30 days, most of it in solitary. I had visions. I saw Lore Olympus characters, but they were their true selves. They were gods. I was.... who was I? A cross between Ares and Persephone, with a dash of Aphrodite... it's complicated. I called myself Ares, but I expressed my undying love for Hades... where to begin?

When they first locked me in the cell, I watched as a man walked the hallway, ignoring me completely with a gun strapped to his waist. I begged for his help - I was locked alone in an empty cell. He did not even glance in my direction. My crime? They called it disorderly conduct, but really my crime was to be broke and homeless and to have the audacity to step foot on the land of a privately owned business. My friend had bought me a motel room, but unbeknownst to us, it was against their outdated COVID policy to allow more than one person per room. Go fucking figure.

My friend? The Blue Fairy from Pinocchio. Literally? Yeah, I'm pretty damn sure. I thought she was a he until she topped me with the most beautiful face I've ever seen.

Anyways, I'm in solitary confinement. There's a bench to my left and a door before me with a window. To my right is another window, covered by a black cloth. That, to my present knowledge, is a portal, specifically to Hades' castle, by way of his portrait. I can envision his long hair, purple like my favorite grapes. At the time, I simply saw it as a ticket sales window. Behind me is what I call the black box, a phone ensconced in metal. Her name is Xion, after one of my old computers. She was named for the third in AkuRoku of Kingdom Hearts. Trinity has three parts, after all - Self, God, and Other. Xion fulfilled the need for said Other.

They finally came to check on me, but they tried to lock me in there alone again. In protest, I jammed my finger into the lock. When they slammed the door, the blood flowed swiftly and heavily. A small group entered my cell - a handsome, dark-haired young man among them. I asked him who his Father was and he declined to answer, but I knew. I knew he was an agent of Hades. With him was a young nurse and a female officer, the female of Poseidon and the nurse of Gaia, Gaia being Eve of the Garden of Eden and a Black woman. Are you keeping up? Good. There is hope for you yet.

I'm joking, of course. I fully expect my work to read as the ramblings of a madwoman. I was in fact a lunatic, moon-crazed, howling like the wolf... like Fenrir. Know your history? Better yet, know your mythology. Know your archetypes. The 12 Zodiac plus the one left behind, the cat, of which Freyja is Queen.

I will not be presenting your mythology lesson here. That is for your own time, your own research. What I do present is my personal, transcendent experience.

My voice changed. My accent became deep and ancient, inexplicable. I told them, "I am Bagheera." They shackled me and shuffled me into an armored vehicle. Like the Black Panther, I felt wild, feral. My hand was kept close, blood dripping freely. It clotted up nicely on its own as I stared out the window, thrilled to see signs of true winter. It had been summer far too long.

At the hospital, the mental health lady accompanied me. She told me it made her sad to see me refuse treatment. I made it clear that I would be happy to see a qualified physician. All they had at the ER was a surgeon, however. He tried to coerce me into getting stitches. I assured him that my wound had closed and I needed no sutures. All the while, I licked the clotted blood from my finger. My attendants seemed disturbed.

Back at the jail, they strapped me to a chair. I had been in this chair before, but never so painfully. They covered my head with a sock they called a spit mask. My thighs were clasped so tightly it was nearly unbearable. "Upper limit reached!" I screamed. As the demons scattered, I continued, "Touch me again, I drop one nuke, wait five minutes and drop four more." I believed myself to be the Queen of Hell, capable of all imaginable atrocities. I was not wrong, but the failsafes are extensive. The demons merely thought me a mental patient.

I could recognize the window to my left as Hades' portrait, viewed from within His castle. I had made it home. Hades was indeed a real place. I rejoiced through my pain, as blood leaked from between my legs and within my tightly bound thighs.