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The Jewels of Persephone: A Tale in Three Parts i. It was an age earlier, even, than the dawn of time, when the gods, those powerful, yet tempestuous rulers, dwelt amongst the mortals, and life was a grand, ever-unfolding tapestry of myth. Thence lived Persephone, daughter of Demeter, goddess of all growing things. A creature of pure, sun-kissed innocence, she was the very essence of light, wandering the meadows surrounded by a chorus of nymphs and the sweet, dizzying scent of wild-flowers. But the Fates, it seemed, had other designs for our Persephone—those woven in the darkest corners of the loom. Far below, in the realm of perpetual shadow, resided Hades, King of the Underworld. A lonely sovereign, he observed Persephone from afar, through cracks in the bedrock, a winsome, shimmering vision against the starkness of his world. One day, in the very place Persephone stood, the earth opened beneath her, and from that chasm emerged a chariot drawn by night-black steeds—it was Hades, come