Jessica

With the final orgasm subsiding within me I placed the dildo into the sink and left the vibrator next to the sink. My body felt so warm and was slick with the sweat of the sexual exertion I had just done. I turned on the shower and let the water flow over my body. I slid down the shower wall and sat in the stream, just taking deep breaths and marveling at what I had just experienced.

After sitting in the shower long enough I got up and cleaned myself up. My body was still sensitive to my touch, but I had work that needed to get done. I got out of the shower and threw on a soft robe that I had hanging in the bathroom. I wrapped my hair in a towel and headed back to my office.

I gathered my notes and had my three possible leads to go on. What were the chances that one of these could be Hades’ first contact with Earth? I wish that I had more to go on or that Persephone could better guide me. It didn’t matter, time was slipping away and every second could prove to be critical.

I sat back at my computer and pulled up a new browser window. Might as well start at the top of the list. I began searching for more information about this man in Louisiana who had the squid god. I soon found some more articles further discussing him and began reading them.

The man was named Harold and was quoted as saying his squid God wanted to save humanity. One of the articles discussed that the man had said that the God had appeared to him in his early twenties. It had taken him many years to come to terms with the responsibility of what this meant for him.

The man went on to tell about how he formed a church and began writing about his God and the salvation it was offering. The article mentioned that it wasn’t until Harold was in his early thirties that he had begun this work. He said that it was a very obscure church but his God gave him faith and he knew his followers would come.

The next article had been written a few years later after the church had experienced some growth. Several people believed in Harold’s preachings and joined. Many of these followers lived in the church itself which had been expanded several times by the work of its followers. According to Harold, the congregation was going strong and he had great faith in its continued growth.

The next article addressed what came next for Harold. Allegations had come forth of abuses and assaults within the church. Harold was arrested shortly after and stood trial. A jury convicted him and he was sent to prison. The church and its followers disbanded immediately following this news.

The final article was about Harold’s death in prison. The article also caught up with several former members of the church. Each member that was spoken with had said what a terrible mistake the church had been. A few gave accounts of their time within the church. None of their accounts in any way resembled Persephone.

So Harold’s crazy cult church was off the list. He was dead and his church didn’t continue in any form after that. If they had been visited by a tentacled creature I couldn’t imagine a world where they wouldn’t have told the reporters about it. The next was the man in Michigan bestowing eternal bliss upon his followers.

I sifted through the knowledge that had been gathered by the many minds that had looked into this. This man was named Steve and he was not a Michigan native. He built his following in his early twenties. A small congregation had formed around him. His followers swore that his mere touch was bestowing heaven upon them.

It turns out that Steve was no more genuine than Harold. I remembered an article discussing Steve’s arrest. He was charged with fraud as well as drugging his followers without their consent. I guess that explains the eternal bliss that he was giving his followers. He was simply slipping them drugs to make them feel amazing. He was currently serving a sentence in prison.

“Persephone, I think we have a problem. The first lead I think is a dud and the second one is currently in prison.”

“Perhaps I can find a solution to that.”

With that Persephone went quiet leaving me to quietly sit in my office alone. I continued reading about Steve hoping to find some more clear information. When Persephone’s voice appeared in my head it startled me.

“This Steve did not have contact with Hades and knows nothing of him.”

“How do you know that so quickly? I can’t find any more information that makes that clear.”

“I went and saw Steve in his cell. There is a mirror on the wall through which I traveled. I formed with his mind in a similar manner as I did yours. Through this process, I was able to ascertain that he has never had any contact with Hades.”

“Shit, that means we are down another lead. That only leaves this blog post from that weird website.”

I had hoped that I would have been lucky with the first lead, but when that didn’t pan out I was hopeful I had gotten it right the second time. Now that was proven incorrect. I now had to pray that my least promising lead would pan out. The problem with that was there was no real information on it that I could find. All that I had to go off of was the link titled “Woodworth Times, MI 2004”.

Maybe that could be enough of a handhold for me to get started. I quickly found the town through an internet search and had the town’s website. It was a pretty sparse website that definitely had not been modernized for quite some time. From the information section of the website, I learned that the town had a population of fewer than one thousand people living there.

This seems like a really small place for Hades to try and conquer our world from. I explored more of the website but there was nothing more to glean from it. Most of the information was out-of-date and hadn’t been updated for a while. It was more than likely that a town that small didn’t need a website. It had probably been set up when the internet was getting big and found out later that it wasn’t needed.

I was able to find the number for the town hall easily enough. I typed the number into my cell and placed my phone against my ear. The line rang several times but did not go to a voicemail. Of course, this town wouldn’t have a voicemail. I was about to give up when an answer came from the other end of the line.

“Hello?”

“Hi. My name is Jessica and I was just calling about a question.”

“Alright, what’s your question?”

“I am doing some research and I was hoping that you might be able to help me. I am looking for an article that was in your local newspaper. Do you keep copies of them or have an electronic copy?”

“Yeah, we have copies of them on microfilm as well as a print copy here in storage.”

“That’s great news! Could you put me in contact with someone who could help with that?”

“I can help you. What are you looking for specifically?”

Shit, I hadn’t planned this far ahead. I didn’t have anything other than the name of the local newspaper and the year it would have been published.

“Um, so I don’t have a lot of specifics but it would have been an article published in 2004.”

There was no answer on the line. The silence continued to stretch on. I finally decided to say something.

“Hello? Are you still there?”

“Yes, we don’t have papers from that time. There was a fire and they are gone. I am sorry that I couldn’t be of more help.”

With that, the line went dead. I pulled my phone from my head trying to figure out if I had just been hung up on or lost the connection. I hit redial and put the phone back to my ear. The line rang, but no one answered. The line continued to ring. After a few minutes, I hung up the call.

So she hung up on me. That was strange. The worse news was that it would appear that a fire had destroyed those copies of the newspaper that I would need. We were back to square one without any leads. Or were we?

I heard the front door open and that meant Thomas was back home. I knew what I needed to do but I had to figure out how to tell him. I made my way downstairs to greet Thomas as he was taking his shoes off at the front door. I could feel the worry in my stomach at trying to figure out how to talk with him about what I needed to do.

“Hey honey, can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, something wrong?” Thomas responded with looking slightly worried.

“No, nothing is wrong. I just need to take a trip real quick. I know this is coming out of nowhere, but I need you to trust me and not ask any questions.”

The worry became more evident on his face as he heard me.

“Is something wrong? Why can’t you tell me about this?”

“I know how this sounds, but I need to take care of this and I can’t begin to tell you now. I promise that when I get home I will tell you all about it. I just can’t right now.”

The worry in my stomach had been replaced with a sense of growing sadness. I wanted to tell Thomas about all this crazy shit that was going on but I couldn’t even begin anywhere without sounding completely crazy. All I could hope for would be that Persephone and I could save everyone and that Thomas would understand.

“I’m not going to lie to you and say that I like any of this, but I love you and trust you. As long as you explain yourself when you get home I am okay with this, even though I don’t like it. Oh, you also have to promise me that you are going to be safe.”

“I promise you I will be safe.”

I gave him a deep kiss and he held me in his arms. I don’t know how I ever became so lucky to have such an amazing husband. I finally broke off his hug and made my way back upstairs to quickly pack a suitcase and book a flight.

—

The wheels of the plane hitting the runway in Maine woke me from my slumber. Having caught the first flight I could meant that I had flown in during the night and spent most of it sleeping, or as best I could. After deplaning, making my way through the airport, and getting my luggage I finally rented a car.

I put the town’s name into my phone’s GPS app and started my drive. It would take a few hours to get there. I started a playlist on my phone and watched as the airport began fading into the distance. I had no idea what we would find when we got there, but hopefully, it would be something that could help Persephone.

—

As I neared Woodworth I began to realize how isolated this town was. I had been driving for quite a while without seeing anything other than what seemed like an endless forest and no other roads. The only sign that I was getting close to or was even near civilization was the top corner of a large building visible above the tree line to the left of me ahead. The road curved away from that building and disappeared into the tree line again.

A few more minutes passed before I began pulling into a small town that my phone said was Woodworth. It was an isolated community nestled deep into the forests of Maine. The road that I had driven in on was clearly their Main Street splitting the center of the town. Buildings were clustered along its length, which I quickly traversed.

I pulled to the side of the road and parked my car at the edge of town, which couldn’t have been more than two miles from where I first drove in. Looking around I saw that the few people that were out and about were staring at my car and by extension me. I was guessing that they didn’t get many visitors from outside of town based on the level of attention I was attracting.

“Okay Persephone, we’ve got this,” I said more to reassure myself than anything else.

I got out of my rental car and followed the GPS app on my phone to the Town Hall. It was a small two-story building that looks like it could have been built at the beginning of the 20th century. I pushed open one of the solid wood front doors and entered the lobby.

A nice middle-aged woman sat behind the desk reading a hardcover book. She glanced in my direction and was surprised that I was someone other than a citizen of the town. She put her book down and put a warm smile on her face.

“Hello, welcome to City Hall. My name is Emma, is there something that I can help you with?”

I recognized Emma’s voice, it had been the same as the person who had answered the phone when I had called. I wasn’t sure if she would remember me or if it was a bad idea to mention it.

“Hi, I’m looking to take a peek at some of the old newspapers you might have in storage here.”

The woman eyed me, suspicion clear across her face. I was pretty sure that I had every legal right to view public records, but if this woman pushed back I wasn’t sure what I would do.

“I’m sorry I must have missed your name,” she says.

“I’m, uh, Julie” I lied, hoping that it would be convincing.

“Uh huh, well we keep those records in the basement of the building. I could take you down there if you would like. Is there something in particular that you are looking for?”

“No, um, nothing really specific. Just doing some background research for a project that I can’t really discuss in detail.”

At least my knowledge of PR was helping me out. I was just hoping that this would be enough for Emma to accept.

“Right this way then,” she said as she pushed back from her desk and started heading towards the back of the building. Somewhat surprised that my excuse had worked I quickly followed behind her. She led me to a door in the back corner of the building, which she unlocked with a key from a key ring she had in her pocket.

“The basement of the building was originally made as an emergency shelter, so it’s a bit deeper than a normal basement.”

I followed her down the steps that I would have guessed were between ten and twenty feet below the Town Hall floor. With the flick of a switch, several hanging lights came on dimly lighting the basement space. There were wooden rafters twelve feet up crossing the ceiling, bathed in darkness since the lights hung low and did not shine up there. One-half of the space was set behind a cage that had a locked door for its entrance. On the caged and uncaged side sat rows of filing cabinets and racks with boxes of paper.

“The filing cabinets to the back right in the non-caged area are where newspapers would be stored as well as any microfiche if it exists. There is a machine to view the microfiche over here, I will show you how to operate it.”

Emma led me to a small desk with what looked like a large ancient computer monitor. She turned the machine on and the screen lit up but was blank. Emma quickly walked me through how to use the machine.

“Do you have any other questions?”

“No, I should be good. Thank you for your help.”

“Hm, Town Hall closes at 4 so I need you to be up and out of here by then.”

“Won’t be a problem. Thank you again.”

With that Emma turned on her heel and headed back up the stairs leaving me alone in the basement. Once she had gone, the enormity of the task at hand struck me. There were so many filing cabinets and boxes on shelves that it would likely take me days to work through all of it.

I began walking down one row of filing cabinets looking at the labeling on them. The labeling system seemed simple enough. How could one little town have so much paperwork and records? In the next row, I chose a filing cabinet at random and pulled open the drawer. Inside were some kind of public land records, definitely not what I needed. I continued searching the various drawers and boxes for another two hours.

Finally, I had come upon the collection of newspapers. The town had a surprisingly thorough record of the newspapers going back for at least a hundred years if the box labels were to be believed. The strange thing was that there were boxes for 2004 with newspapers within them. I could have sworn that Emma had said on the phone that they had been burned and didn’t exist.

I began going through newspaper after newspaper searching for any hint or acknowledgment of Hades’ presence here in this town. I had made it through May of 2004 but the June collection of newspapers was missing. The next collection began in July 2004 and continued without any other omissions. That certainly seemed strange to me.

I grabbed the corresponding microfiche for 2004 and found the same thing. June 2004 had no records in the newspapers from that period. Why would only a single month be missing from what otherwise seemed like a pretty complete and well-cataloged collection? I searched the surrounding boxed and cabinets thinking that perhaps someone had simply put it in the incorrect drawer, but had no luck in locating it.

I glanced in the direction of the stairs to make sure the door was still closed and made my way over to the caged side of the basement. I began walking the length of the cage looking through the chain link fencing that made up the cage. The labeling was the same style as what I had seen but with different titles, likely meaning private information.

I was about to give up and return to the newspapers that I at least had access to when a single filing cabinet caught my eye. It was nestled in the corner behind another large rack in a way that would be very easy to miss it. That in and of itself wasn’t enough to catch my attention. The fact that it was the only unlabeled item in this basement is what caught my attention along with the large lock on it.

“Persephone, I would bet you that what we are looking for might be hidden in that filing cabinet there. I don’t have any way of reaching it though.”

“I can retrieve its contents for you.”

With that, the locket around my neck unclasped, and from the small mirror inside came one of Persephone’s tentacles. I had decided that the safest and easiest way to “bring” Persephone with me was with this locket that I had. She could use it as needed and it was looking like this was a good idea on my part.

Her tentacle extended through one of the holes in the cage reaching to that far back corner. Soon she was at the filing cabinet and her appendage split into many thin fibers which entered the lock’s opening. Within a second or two I heard the soft click of the lock releasing. Persephone withdrew the fibers, forming them back into one appendage, and pulled open the drawers.

From where I stood against the cage I could not see what was contained within the drawers. Persephone reached into one of them and pulled out a microfiche canister. Her tentacle carried it back to the cage wall and passed it through one of the chain link holes to me. Once she had checked the remaining drawers and came back with nothing else she withdrew back to the locket.

How very strange that they would have a locked cabinet hidden away and the only thing that was inside of it was this single canister. I made my way back to the viewing machine and loaded the roll. As I had suspected, the newspapers from June of 2004 were contained within this microfiche. This was all so very strange, why did any of this need to be hidden?

I started at the beginning of the roll and read through every article it contained. So far the newspaper was exactly what you would expect from a small town, not much other than local happenings and more national news. Was this going to turn out to be a dead end as well?

As I was beginning to lose faith I came across an article that stood out to me. “Charlotte opens new church surprising Woodworth” catches my eye. Why would a new church being opened in any way be surprising to such a small town? How would they not know about it as it was being built?

Reading further on in the article I learned that the church was nestled within the forest a few miles from town. Judging by my drive into town it must be a pretty secluded spot. The article mentions that all the townspeople are welcome to join. One-on-one introductory sessions are required for each new member before they can join. That seemed very strange to me.

I began to scour the rest of the microfiche for any mentions of this church or Charlotte. Another article I found mentioned that the church was beginning to gain several followers surprising the local priest. The next article was an anonymous opinion piece about how so many people were spending so much time at this church and how the town has seemed so empty lately. It also mentioned the near-constant assault of the church members trying to convert the townspeople who hadn’t yet.

Then there was no more mention of Charlotte or the church on the roll. Only a few weeks after that last article was published there were no more published papers until the beginning of December 2004. It was like the newspaper simply stopped writing anything for that entire stretch of time.

“Jessica, it would be beneficial if I could feed now. My last exertion was a little taxing for me.”

Persephone’s voice in my head brought me back to the real world from the mystery of the newspaper. I knew my next step and what I thought I needed to do.

“Okay, you can come out and feed. Just let me get back to one of the filing cabinets, I think I know where something is that I need.”

I made my way to one of the filing cabinets that were in a row in the middle of the uncaged area. Persephone pushed open the locket hanging from my neck as she extended from within. I found the drawer I wanted as one of the tendrils slowly began stroking my cheek leaving a thin trail of slime on it.

My cheek began to become warm and tingle, which I think was a mixture of the slime and me possibly blushing. I pulled open the drawer I needed and began rifling through the many labeled manilla folders. As I did the tentacle traveled along the back of my neck before curving down into the modest cleavage my top allowed. The tentacle made its way under my bra and loosely wrapped itself around my right breast giving a gentle squeeze.

A soft gasp escaped my lips before I could silence it. I had to be more careful or I could alert Emma to what was going on. As I read the labels on the folders I reached down and unbuttoned my jeans and let them fall to my knees. I had to somewhat focus but that was the last thing I wanted to do in this instance.

My left hand returned to the drawers flicking folder after folder forward so that I could read the labels as my right hand began caressing the areas around my sex. The soft fabric of my panties rubbed against my nub. I closed my eyes and lost myself in the moment of the pleasure slowly building within me. Then I felt another tentacle extend from the locket and pushed itself between my breasts as it made its way to my toned stomach.

I knew what was coming but the sensation was still as exciting as the first time. I felt the tip of Persephone’s appendage push itself between my mound and my panties. I let my right hand follow her length downwards to my eager hole. My palm lay against her slick member, the slime coating it. I gasped as I felt her tip begin to prod my entrance, making sure that I was ready before she entered me.

I pressed my lips together trying my best to keep the sound to an absolute minimum. She pressed upwards and my lips eagerly parted allowing her to enter me. As she filled me, I took my right hand which had been coated in the slime, and rubbed some of it on my clit as I began to rub it. I leaned more heavily against the filing cabinet as I struggled to continue searching for what I needed.

One of Persephone’s tentacles came to rest on top of the hand that was rubbing my nub. I could feel the warmth coming from her appendage as it held on to me. This wasn’t sexual though, it was more of an embrace. She was holding my hand as best she could in this situation.

I found the folder that I needed as Persephone had found a nice rhythm between massaging my breast and slowly pumping the tentacle into me. A few of the buttons on my top had come undone leaving more of my chest exposed. I grabbed the folder with my left hand as I heard the click of the basement door opening.

The pure moment of panic as I realized that someone was coming downstairs sent chills of horror down my spine but also an exciting electric shock. I completely froze, caught between the surprise and pleasure I was receiving. The footfalls seemed to echo so loudly in those moments.

I had no idea what was happening but all of a sudden my body began to move upwards. It was all too much as Persephone was still pumping her tentacle into me. The moan that began in my throat would have been loud enough for whoever was coming down the stairs. Persephone without even the slightest delay pushed a tentacle into my mouth right as the moan was about to escape.

The thick appendage filled my mouth, muffling the noise from my uncontrolled verbal acknowledgment of my bliss. I instinctively began sucking on the member in my mouth, my tongue lapping away at the slime that coated it. If I wasn’t so lost in what was happening I would have likely found my muscle memory in this situation quite funny.

When my senses finally returned I realized that I was staring down at the floor below me, but I was no longer contacting it. I quickly understood what Persephone had done. She had used some of her tentacles to lift me into the rafters above us. Hiding us in the deep shadows that the lack of lights created.

The microfiche machine, I had forgotten to turn off the screen when we had started. If the person coming down the stairs sees it they will know I had somehow gotten the hidden roll. Shit, this was not going to end well.

Hearing my thoughts of panic fire through my brain Persephone quickly acted. One of her thin white tentacles shot down from our hiding place and quickly hit the power button on the machine. The screen went dark as Emma emerged from the stairs. The tentacle shot back up to our hiding place above and I could feel the panic and arousal the situation was causing me.

Emma quickly glanced around at the base of the stairs looking for me, but when she clearly could not see me she began to walk in our direction. The tentacle in my mouth was helping to keep me quiet but I wanted nothing more than to let my screams out. Emma walked parallel to the rows of filing cabinets looking for me but didn’t see me.

A look of confusion covered her face as she began to walk through each row trying to figure out where I was. I knew she wouldn’t find me which would cause a problem. She just had to not look up because if she did I wouldn’t have any idea what I would do. I couldn’t imagine her taking it well seeing me suspended by tentacles above her with some of them sexually pleasing me.

“Jessica, your heart rate and arousal are spiking. Are you alright? Do you want me to stop? I believe that you have fed me enough for now.”

“I’m more than alright. I don’t want you to stop at all. I want you to talk to me while you fuck me, tell me what you feel.”

A long moment of silence passed and I had begun to think that my request would go unfulfilled.

“Your body feels so warm against me. Feeling your heartbeat as I explore you excites me.”

I relaxed my body as she spoke to me. Letting go of everything, allowing myself to be consumed by the pleasure and intimacy. I had completely forgotten that I was suspended from the ceiling of a basement hiding at that moment.

“The way that your body twists and moves to my touch is a beautiful display. Knowing that my caress can bring you such pleasure fills me with joy and arousal. Entering you is an experience, your warmth surrounding me as I fill your most private space.”

My legs shake and my body shivers as an orgasm rolls through my body. Moaning uncontrollably into Persephone's tentacle in my mouth, somehow blocking all sound from escaping. Which is extremely lucky since Emma was passing directly below us as I came.

“Do you wish she would look up and see your gorgeous body held within my limbs? So that she could see the pure bliss that I am giving you? To know that you are someone special to me and I want to give this to you?”

All I could manage was to nod my head.

“When I first met you in your bathroom I thought you were a gorgeous specimen of your species. The first time I connected with you was an overwhelming surge of emotions that I have come to miss. Having you here now with me is making me so happy.”

Persephone continued to push her body into mine. I realized it was more than just her simply using my body to feed. There was a tenderness and care to how she touched me. A passionate methodology to how she entered me and pleased me. It wasn’t carnal lust if she has a concept of that, it was something more to her.

“I can feel so alive through you. I can feel each beat of your heart, every expansion, and contraction of your veins throughout your body. The electrical impulses firing through your brain excite me nearly as much as they excite you.”

Emma gave one more look around the basement and headed for the stairs pulling her phone out of her back pocket as she went. She dialed a phone number and began climbing the stairs. I could only hear the first statement she made to someone on the other line.

“Hey, something might be up.” before the basement door closed behind her.

I came again loudly moaning into the appendage in my mouth. My body shook within Persephone’s hold as she brought me to another perfect orgasm. Once I had caught my breath I was lowered to the ground where I quickly fixed my clothing and righted myself as best I could.

I took the folder and placed it in the waistband of my pants and covered it with my top. Feeling that was hidden well enough I made my way to the stairs. I slowly made my way up the stairs pausing on any step that creaked hoping that Emma would not hear me and catch me trying to sneak out.

When I made it to the top of the stairs I opened the door an inch checking to make sure that the coast was clear. I couldn’t see Emma or anyone else. I opened the door further and still didn’t see or hear anything. This was as good a chance as any I thought to myself as I quickly made my way across the building to the front doors.

I pushed through them and keep a brisk pace until I made it to my car. I unlocked the doors well before I got to it and quickly got inside locking the doors once I was. There must be some answers waiting for me.

I put my car in gear and drive away, making it further into the town. When I was a good distance from the City Hall I pulled over and went over the contents of the folder I had grabbed. As I was reading through the forms I noticed that two men were walking by talking to each other, but their attention was completely on me. This town is starting to give me the creeps.

I find what I am looking for inside the folder containing forms and enter an address into my phone. The GPS plots a course for me and I pull away from the curb, driving deeper into this mystery.

I drive for a few minutes before I am on a road that is going through a thickly forested area. The road winds back and forth taking me deeper and deeper. I hit the brakes hard as I come to a section of the road that appears to have been destroyed. Chunks of asphalt lie in piles and are discarded. Nature had begun to overtake the remaining section of the road reclaiming it as its own.

My car was definitely not meant for this but I wasn’t going to go walking through a forest on my own. I take my foot off the brake and slowly accelerate my car forward onto the destroyed road. The car was jumping all over the place as I pushed the car’s suspension to its limits. My body shook with each rock, chunk of asphalt, or small crater my car went over.

I finally, thankfully for my car, reached a large clearing in the forest. This had been where the road had originally ended when it had been built and maintained. I got out of my car and felt my heart sink as I looked out at the clearing. All that stood there were a few structural pieces of wood and some sections of the wall. They were badly burned and were all that remained of Charlotte’s church.

I approached the burnt remains of the church walking up the steps wishing the railing hadn’t burned away. I stood on the threshold of the church my right hand resting on the remains of the wall section there. The church was nothing more than a collection of ash, burnt wood, and encroaching plants.

I walked down the center aisle feeling all of my hope evaporate with each step. I stood in the center of the church and there were no remaining traces of what had existed before the fire that must have caused this. I kicked a charred section of what I figured was at one point a support beam for the roof.

I continued walking up the aisle towards what must have at one point been the pulpit for the church. Climbing the two small steps up to the pulpit I now stood behind the remains of the pulpit. I looked around the church for anything that I could have missed or overlooked but there was nothing. I let my head hang low feeling a sense of failure.

That was when I noticed that there was a line in the wooden floor beneath the pulpit that the ash and dirt had fallen through. I bent down running my hand across the line watching as the debris I moved with my hand fall through the crack that I had noticed. Looking at the other sections of the floor around me I could see that there was a difference between this line and some of the others.

I stood up, a sense of hope rising in me. I leaned my shoulder against the side of the pulpit that remained and planted my feet firmly. I pushed as hard as I could against it. At first, it did not budge even slightly, but as I continued to push I could feel the edge begin to shift and lift. I gave one final push and the pulpit lifted off the ground and fell with a resounding thud against the church floor in front of it.

With the floor now cleared before me, I could see a rectangle free of debris. One on edge of the rectangle I could see a recessed handle. I knelt and grabbed the handle pulling it towards me. It slowly opened with some difficulty but soon a hole in the ground lay before me, consumed by darkness.

I pulled out my phone and turned on its flashlight feature, shining it into the hole. Before me was a set of stairs descending into the earth. I was frozen with fear and anxiety, my mind screaming to leave and that nothing good could come from this. Sadly, I did not have the luxury of being able to listen to a sensible voice. I had to continue and try and learn all that I can.

Steeling myself I took the first step down and began my short journey. At the end of the stairs was a small landing with a red metal door framing the end of the space. It looked very strong from afar and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get past it since I could see a lock cylinder in the door. My worry was quickly shown to be unfounded as I stood before the door I could see that the handle and lock portion of the door looked like it had been beaten in by a battering ram. The metal door was bent and bulging inward.

I pushed the door open and crossed its threshold, stepping into a new room. As soon as I entered the room I heard a crunching beneath my feet drawing my attention down. The floor beneath me was shining and reflected my light at me in thousands of spots. As I raised my eyes from the ground I also brought my camera light with me. When I looked ahead of me my blood ran cold and I screamed as a figure was standing before me.

Out of pure fear I dropped my phone onto the ground, it's light shining around the room as if I had turned on a disco ball. It fell with the light facing down so that I was now surrounded by darkness. I dropped to my knees as quickly as I could and ran my hand across the ground searching for my phone. Slicing pain immediately erupted in my hand but I couldn’t stop until I had my phone.

My hand bumped the phone and I wrapped my fingers around it and pulled it up to illuminate the room and the person who was in the room with me. There was no one there, I was completely alone. What I had thought was another person was my reflection in a mirror on the wall in front of me. Shining my light around the room I suddenly realized why the floor crunched when I walked in, why my light shone all over the room and why my hand was hurt and bleeding.

The entire room at one point had been covered by mirrors. Glancing back at the door behind me I saw a small switch on the wall which I hit. The lights in the room came to life bathing it in a weak light. Looking down at my hand I could see the blood and cuts on the hand. The mirrors that had covered this room were smashed and destroyed.

Glass from the mirrors covered the ground of the room. Some parts of the mirrors still held onto their holdings on the wall. I loudly walked my way over to the nearest panel and looked at the destroyed mirror there. On the wall behind the mirror were clusters of small holes spread out forming rough circles. Running my hand across the holes I realized that these were bullet holes. Someone had shot some of these mirrors. Others had thin five-inch gashes in the walls, possibly caused by an axe.

Something horrible must have happened here. The destruction of this room and the fire that had consumed the church above made it clear that someone wanted all of this destroyed. I had found the right place, this was where Hades had entered our world.

“This is the place Persephone, isn’t it? Now we have to find out what happened here and how they stopped Hades.”

“Yes, this would appear to be the location where Hades had tried to take your world from. Although based upon the destruction here I am not certain that there will be anyone who can tell us much about what happened.”

“I fear that you might be right,” I responded as I turned off the lights and began climbing the stairs back up.

As I reached the top of the stairs and stepped back into the church an ear-shattering noise erupted. A chunk of wood that had remained on a wall two feet above my head exploded into wooden shrapnel. I didn’t even have time to think as I instinctively dropped down low to the ground turning as I did and covering my ears. Now looking at the entrance of the church I could see where the noise had come from. My eyes grew wide with fear and I was instantly filled with horror.