“Kore”: a Greek goddess, pomegranates, and old crones // StayHomeWriMo Day 2

Hey everyone!

Welcome to Day Three of the StayHomeWriMo challenge. If you want to join, you can find the info here.

I prefer to write with prompts, so I usually search them up on the internet and use those XD.

Prompt: write a short story about a Greek god/goddess.

Normally Persephone would enjoy a warm summer day with her mother on land, frolicking through fields of tall golden grass, but today was different.

Today, she wanted to try something new.

Persephone usually didn’t take a mortal form to hang out with the normal people here; even though she was only sixteen, they all knew and loved her. She even had best friends, Attica and Icaria, the two most beautiful twins in the towns nearby. Their beauty paled in comparison to hers, she knew. Rumor had it that even Aphrodite was jealous of her.

But today, Persephone wanted to go somewhere without being recognized. Everyone knew her from her long, luscious brown curls, golden-brown skin, and bright violet eyes that shone from a mile away. She always had bright flowers woven into her hair in an intricate braid and flower crown, and her lavender dress clung to her body, hugging her curves.

Today, she wanted to be ordinary, to blend in.

Closing her eyes and concentrating, Persephone could feel her body rippling and her clothes loosening as she changed forms. When she opened her eyes, she was a completely different person.

Now Persephone had light skin, peach as the fruit in her hands, with freckles and moles like anyone else. She had a mane of wildly curly blonde hair in kinks and folds that framed her face. Her eyes were a normal brown; nothing to draw attention to herself, even her everyday mortal clothes.

Persephone hefted her hardy dress, walking through the sea of wheat, as she headed to the town, where the market was bustling.

“Hello, miss! Come, try our specialty crab cakes! Nowhere else in this market or this entire town will you find them!”

“INTRODUCING… THE FIRST CEREAL IN THE WORLD! DEMETER’S FINEST!”

“Beautiful young woman, don’t walk away! If you’re looking for knowledge, try olives, blessed by Athena herself!”

Persephone ignored all of them and kept wading through the crowd until she stopped at a curious tent with dark golden flaps and rich purple hangings.

“Hello?” she asked, heading inside. “Is anyone here?”

An old woman popped her head out of seemingly nowhere, startling Persephone. “Yes, yes, wait a moment.” She disappeared before suddenly being in front of Persephone.

“What is your name, little lady?”

Persephone found herself stumbling. She never had needed to come up with an alias and she could barely think straight.

“K-Kore,” she tried, tripping over her words. At least she’d be able to respond to the name Kore; it was her mother’s pet name for her and even Attica and Icaria called her that sometimes.

The woman studied her, then laughed loudly, her chuckle turning into a hacking cough. “Yes, yes, of course, your name is Kore.”

Persephone tried to steady her heartbeat. “Yes, it is. My name is Kore,” she insisted.

“Well, Kore, what are you here for?”

“I- I didn’t come here for anything. I just walked in because the tent was intriguing.”

The old woman smirked. “That’s what they all say, young one. No one ever leaves this tent empty-handed.”

Persephone- Kore- took a deep breath. “Well, not me. I’m not here for anything, ma’am.”

“Then why are you here?”

Somehow, she couldn’t find an answer to that. Why was she here? What had called her to this tent.

“Maybe I am here for a reason,” she amended. “I just don’t know what. I wanted to escape, I wanted to leave my home and be someone else for some time.”

The woman pointed a wrinkled finger at her. “Now you’re onto something, little one. I can help you with that.”

The crone led Persephone to the back room. The walls had shelves filled with potions in vials and steaming pots set to a boil.

“Now, choose a potion, Kore, any potion that calls to you.”

Persephone found herself in a dream-like trance, her hands jumping to a small vial filled with a chilly purple liquid.

It was unlike anything she could imagine herself picking; she should have picked the bubbly pink liquid on the upper shelf, the one that was warm with golden glitter on it, yet she didn’t. This purple was a dark, almost black color with a thin consistency and the only things decorating it were a few lonely bubbles.

The woman cackled again. “Interesting, interesting. An intriguing potion that shows the future. Perfect for Kore, the girl with an… intriguing future.”

What did she mean by that? Persephone tried to push back the chills that erupted inside of her and rubbed her arms, trying to get rid of the goosebumps.

“Take the potion, young one. Drink it. Drink every last drop of it,” the old woman crooned. “Sip up the bubbles and the flecks of darkness or it’ll all go wrong.”

Persephone’s heart raced, but she picked up the vial, spilling the contents into her mouth.

It tasted like pomegranates.

I hope you enjoyed this piece!

Who is your favorite greek god/goddess? How do you picture Persephone? What do you think the potion was foreshadowing? :O