A mythic tale.

A Mythic Story
By: Natalie Shinn
One beautiful day on the ancient Greek Island of Crete, a happily married couple walked through an ordinary village not to far from the coast. They were blinded by their love for one another.
One thing that they were oblivious to was that they were being protected and watched by Psyche the minor goddess of soul mates. The woman for which Psyche's attention was held was Theama, a skilled artisan who wouldn't harm a soul.She had silky, wavy, hair of auburn, pale skin, and wore a equally pale tunic. Her husband was Cloytus, a blacksmith and her opposite.He had light hair, tan skin, and wore a darker tunic. Cloytus had killed his father out of hate at the age of twelve. Years later he found Theama and abandoned his evil ways to be forever by her side.
Before they could ever realize what had happened clouds gathered and a spontaneous bolt of lightening was hurtled from the heavens and struck the tree that the couple were walking under. They were dead.
Thanatos, death personified, swooped down and captured the couples souls with an evil chuckle. He took then them to the banks of the River Achron. Soon Psyche cried in outrage at the loss of her charges. "How dare Zeus and Death take away my two of my charges!" Psyche shouted. A pair of cherub like wings floated by her.
"Don't fret pet. There will be other patrons to worship you." Her husband Eros said playfully.
"These were special. They'd endured much together. They had no one but each other," Psyche replied.
Psyche then vowed she would do everything in her power to help their mortal souls. From atop Mount Olympus, where she and Eros resided with her step mother Aphrodite, she materialized down to the spot where they had died beneath the lightning struck tree.
"What a tremendous waste," She sighed. Since they had no one else but one another she would be the one to provide for their proper burial. They died unjustly at the hand of a God for no other reason than amusement. She would now do her patron a favor of sorts. Magically she opened two parallel beds in the earth. Then placing two bronze coins under their lifeless tongues, Psyche laid them to rest in the soothing soil.
"I shall hence forth grant you both but three moments of help. When you are in need you need not but call my name," Psyche whispered before leaving to materialize atop her home on Olympus.

Suddenly Cloytus and Theama appeared as transparent beings side-by-side on the banks of the River Achron, or the river of woes. They hugged one another once they realized what had happened to them. A thin pale man in rags rowed ashore in a gondola shaped boat.
"All aboard the one way express to the Underworld," The sickly man laughed larger than he appeared he would. Like a giant, not a withered old man.
"That must be Charon, the ferryman." Theama whispered to her ever present companion.
Cloytus took the coin out from under his tongue and was about to hand it to Charon when Theama shouted.
"Don't!" and slapped his hand away from the old man who was inching closer."If you give it to him now he'll leave you on these banks to wander for all eternity. Do not give thy coin to him until you are ready to step off again or you will be left in the river of woes to feel everyone's worries and rot forever,"
Cloytus nodded and stepped aboard, then helped his wife onto the boat. "Thank you," he whispered to her once they started to move. Not long did it take them to reach the other side of the river that never seemed to end.
They gave their coins to the man just before stepping away and retreated down an endless amount of horrid dark corridors hand-in-hand.
Elation filled their bodies once they reached the Elysian fields, a place comparable to paradise. Soon after they arrived was Cloytus escorted to Tartarus. He kicked and fought and screamed as much as he could but they over powered him and took him away from his wife and sanity to a horrible place very far from paradise, where his soul would be tortured until the end of days and beyond.
Theama cried on end for days for her husband to come back to her. She could never enjoy the splendors of paradise if she were away from Cloytus. But they were destined to be apart. Or were they?
"Psyche," She whispered. Then before her eyes was the goddess herself appeared sporting her husband on her arm.
"What is it that you want child?" Psyche asked in wonder.
"My husband and I to be reunited,"
"That will be a difficult task indeed, little one," Psyche said gently. "We will have to partition Hades in his hall if we are to ever see the man free of the horrors of Tartarus."
"Please. I'll do anything for him." Theama cried.
"Very well, my child."
So then they found their way to Hades' Great Hall to partition him for Cloytus' soul.
"What will I receive in return?" He asked once they approached him with there want of Cloytus' soul.
"I have nothing to offer sire but myself," Theama said while looking submissively at her feet.
"And you he shall not have." Both Psyche and Persephone, his much adored wife, the goddess of spring, said in unison." You already know it is torture to be away from the one you love after being alone for those six months a year. Let them have the peace of the River Lethe so they may be reborn and be reunited once more." His wife swayed him with her words. The dark Hades and the cheerful Persephone had much in common with Theama and Cloytus. They were both contradictory, but also loved each other passionately. Both Persephone and Hades had sympathy for their situation.
Cloytus and Theama were allowed to drink from Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, and once again be reborn.
In the next life they found one another as soul-mates should. Psyche smiled upon them with tender eyes as they found peace within each other all over again.
THE END