Waking up, seeing his bed empty and noticing that beautiful bouquet of withered and dried narcissus, caused a series of sensations never felt before in Hades, it seemed that he had taken a very strong blow to the head, because it throbbed, he became dizzy, his vision became blurred, his chest sank, the intense beating of his heart made breathing difficult, it was panic taking over. 

Was she gone, was she dead? 

Still upset by the strange sensations, he blinked several times, even rubbed his eyes to make sure that his vision was not deceiving him. Suddenly, the bouquet that was completely dead, bloomed vibrantly again. This calmed his heart a little, normalizing his breathing, but his chest was still tight, after all, where was Persephone? 

There was no news of his beloved anywhere, Zeus refused to help, because his lightning had disappeared and somehow he could not find him, Demeter seemed even more desperate than Hades himself and came to accuse him of having broken the agreement made earlier and having kidnapped his daughter so that she would never leave the Kingdom of the dead. All that remained to him was sadness and longing. 

The King of the Underworld had spent thousands of years alone and never felt so empty. Before he met Persephone his routine was pleasant and satisfying, he had never made a point of anyone's company and had never missed anyone, how could he miss something he never had as his? However, he had met the beautiful young woman, fallen in love with her and married her. He had become accustomed to the warmth of her body in bed, to her smell, to her smile first thing in the morning, to her hoarse voice when she woke up, and even to her habit of filling the house with flowers. 

Although Persephone's company only lasted six months a year, after he had tasted her sweet essence, he could no longer get used to her absence. Every time they said goodbye his heart tightened with consuming longing, but he knew that she would return, he knew that six months later his queen would rule by his side, but this time it was different. 

The disappearance during the winter was unusual, which made Hades very worried, even more so in a period when the gods were fading and the flowers that were connected to her essence had died and revived. There was a possibility that she had reincarnated without even going through the Underworld, so the search for Persephone took several years. 

With the gods getting weaker and weaker, he couldn't count on anyone's help, yet, one day, Hades finally found out that she had reincarnated as a sweet human. Every day the powerful God of the underworld would appreciate the beauty of his beloved, but he didn't know how he could approach a human without scaring her, it wasn't like he could kidnap her, even though she still had some remnants of her powers, she was an ordinary human and wouldn't be able to survive long in the realm of the dead. 

The former goddess of Spring was now part of a humble family. Keeping a safe distance, Hades watched Persephone's new life blossom and just like in her previous life, she was an adorable child that filled the space with joy wherever she went with her easy laugh. Being able to watch her grow up, learning to walk and talk, was the King of the Underworld's newest hobby.

One time, when little Persephone was walking in the market with her mother, Hades disguised himself as a merchant and gave her an ugly rag doll. She fell in love at first sight, the little girl no longer let go of her newest adventure companion, slept and woke up with her every single day, leaving a very pleasant warmth in the frozen heart of the King of the Underworld.

That was the only interaction they had for many years, until Persephone reached her 15th birthday and, after a silly fight with her mother, she wandered aimlessly through the forest and ended up getting lost. Alone in the dark, cold and gloomy night, the young girl cried, hugging her ugly doll, until a young boy from her village found her. It was the beginning of a great friendship, Hades pretending to be a young neighbor, became friends with his beloved.

The days were quiet and passed slowly, Hades found himself more and more in love with Persephone, he did not even know that this was possible, the truth is that her essence was the same as before, all the reasons that led to loving her so intensely were part of the mortal version of the Goddess of spring, the only problem was her age, she was too young, too immature, so Hades decided to wait until she turned 18 to declare herself, but the fate that awaited them was not as favorable as he imagined.

After spending the day with his beloved, planning the festivities for her 18th birthday in the next day, Hades slept and dreamed of the long-awaited declaration and at the moment the last stroke of the clock marked midnight, while in his dreams the couple in love shared a sweet kiss, in the harsh reality, Persephone's old house burned to the ground. The young girl burned to death clinging to her ugly doll as she screamed for help.

Sweet dreams permeated Hades ' mind all night long only to wake up and face his worst nightmare, the bouquet had withered again. With a heavy heart and unceasing tears, he ran to Persephone's House and found everything in ashes, his face turned pale, his hands began to shake, and his heart felt like it was being twisted so hard. Once again he had lost his beloved. 

In utter despair, Hades sought out Charon and handed him a handful of coins, asking him to let Persephone pass. Since she had been burned, there would be no way to make a proper burial and surely she would not have the payment for the ferry with her. 

To the King of the Underworld surprise, upon reaching his room where he would wait for Persephone's arrival, the narcissus were alive again and, once more, he began his search for his beloved reincarnation. 

For the second time he found a human, followed her growth, approached her as a friend and waited until she was 18 years old. And for the second time a tragedy claimed  Persephone's life, this time in front of Hades himself and even though he was a God, he could not do anything to stop.

Seeing his beloved lifeless body lose its color and warmth in his arms made Hades even more desperate and, in the midst of pain all he could think was that next time he would save her, that in the next life he would find her and keep her alive and healthy, the next time he would be able to confess his love…

Life was hard, Hades knew that he just did not expect this cycle to repeat itself every time. It was always the same, Hades looked for Persephone until he found her, he approached her and waited until she was of age to woo her, but every time she turned 18, a tragic death struck her and soon after, she was reborn again. 

Hades tried every possible way to save her, but it was useless, an inevitable tragedy always happened in which even the God of the underworld himself could not avoid her death. How was it possible that he, Hades, the one who dominated everything about death, did not know how or why Persephone always died a tragic death, always at the age of 18, just to be reborn soon after? 

It felt like some kind of curse. 

It was a very cruel fate. The King of the Underworld had to watch his beloved die painfully several times, over and over again, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to change that. Every time, it felt like a thousand needles pierced his body at once, yet, he would not give up on saving her, even if she no longer wanted him, even if she was no longer the Queen of the underworld and his wife, he needed to get her out of that cycle of endless suffering.

As the King of the dead, Hades had already seen a lot of misfortune ravage the world, had already witnessed terrible things, he knew what mortal and immortal people were capable of. He himself was not one of the best deities, ever seen as cruel and merciless. Would this be what they call karma? Was his beloved paying for his sins in his place? Would this explain why this brutality happens in an increasingly gory and violent way?

Each time Hades failed to save his beloved he tortured himself, physically and psychologically, as a form of punishment for putting her through it countless times, the pain of what he inflicted on himself was nowhere near what Persephone went through, nowhere near the pain of losing her, his failure meant much more than a simple death for the Goddess of spring, it meant the absence of a future for her and for them. 

With the death of all Olympus Gods and the growth of Christianity, Hades abandoned the underworld and gave up the reign to Lucifer to rule, now they called it Hell, and the Elysium was given to an almighty God who named it Heaven or Paradise. Then he could devote himself to finding a concrete way to save Persephone. 

Two thousand years passed and Hades saw his beloved die in a variety of ways, and all those times he was always unable to save her. He tried to distance himself, tried to appeal to other gods, tried to exchange his life for hers, but it all failed, after all, he was the only truly immortal God, as all his strength and power came from deaths that never ceased, but something extremely powerful blocked him whenever he tried to save her. 

After much research and pilgrimage around the world he discovered the origin of this force, a curse of Loki, he discovered the whole plan of the Nordic God who had made Persephone steal the Lightning from Zeus and ended up killing her in the process, but the original plan was to send her to Hel, the place where those who died without glory spent eternity, so Hades would have no dominion over her soul. However, the God of Lies changed his mind at the last minute and decided that she would be reborn as a mortal, live for 18 years to die again and be reborn soon after. 

For Loki, it seemed like a funny way to deceive Despina and Arion, Persephone's envious brothers, who made the original deal, promising to get the Lightning from Zeus and in return he would have to kill Persephone. But seeing that woman begging for someone else's safety, he had a brief moment of compassion, so he made her revive and enter this chaotic and endless cycle. 

Perhaps it was because of this careless act of his that Odin discovered his plan and ended up confiscating Zeus' Thunderbolt, handing it over to the dwarves who forged the Mjölnir he gave to Thor, making Loki even more resentful, which led him to help create Ragnarok.

The soul of the God of lies after his death, lived in what remained of Niflheim, while the soul of the God of gods, Odin, lived in what remained of Valhalla the two never made up. Hades, then, promised Loki that he would make Odin recognize his worth and, in return, he would have to lift the curse from Persephone. 

The agreement was made and fulfilled. Hades used his powers over the dead to visit and talk to Odin, using all his smooth-talk until he convinced him to recognize Loki's worth. Then, he brought them together for some brief minutes, where they exchanged a few words, but that was more than enough, after all, what Loki wanted was his father's approval. 

The Curse of Persephone was then lifted, but the God of Lies could not help but play one last trick in the process.