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Phichit was, by nature, a very curious boy. Everyone knew him for the flowers that sprang up around him, the way birds would perch on his shoulder or hand and sing for him, the warmth he radiated without ever being too hot, and his very protective mother. He was rarely allowed to go anywhere without an escort, but he hated being confined in his home. It was a nice home. Flowers everywhere, lots of small cuddly animals to play with… but no one he could talk to. Well, no one he could talk to who would talk back to him, anyway.
When the mysterious hole in the ground opened up, Phichit didn’t hesitate. He had to explore it. He tied a rope to a nearby tree and climbed down, where he found a path leading forward. It was big enough that he could walk standing up, and the flowers would guide him back when he was ready to go, so he set out forward.
It was a straightforward path – lots of twists and turns, but no branches, no decision points that he’d have to remember. All the while, it was downhill. He enjoyed the walk, even as he dreaded the uphill climb back. Oh well, that was the future’s problem. It wasn’t like he’d get lost on the way back up, so he could stop to rest when he needed to.
He emerged into a cave deep underground, and for the first time in his life, Phichit felt cold. He’d never seen anything like this cave, with its oppressive cold and darkness and the slight growl of machinery. He should turn around and go back up, but he was too curious about this new environment. He’d made it halfway to the river he saw flowing through the cave before he realized – there was no trail of flowers behind him. He could faintly see the flowers in the tunnel down, but once in the cave – nothing. Interesting.
When he got to the riverbank, a louder growl caught his attention, and he looked up to see a giant three-headed dog on the other side of the river. While he stood there, trying to figure out how to get across the river – Phichit could swim, but the river current was fast and there were a lot of rocks so he didn’t think swimming was a good idea – the dog paced and growled until a man showed up.
Phichit stared at the man. He was beautiful, though not like the people he was used to up on the surface. The man stared back with quite a bit of shock in his green eyes. Then, suddenly, the river went still, and the man motioned for him to come across.
Phichit took a hesitant step into the water, to find it was onto the water. He walked across the river, mesmerized by the strange man that he was walking to. “Hello! Who are you?”
“Celestino. How did you get down here, Phichit?”
“Through the…” Phichit turned to point out the tunnel he’d come through, but it was gone. Not just too far away to see; the entire wall of the cave was solid earth. “There was a tunnel I followed down. I swear it was just there.”
“Hmm. Your mother must be frantic by now.” Celestino rolled his eyes. “Sawat’s probably going to blame me for kidnapping you. Come on, you must be tired if you walked all the way down here. Get some rest and then I’ll take you home.”
“I don’t want to go home.” Phichit looked up at Celestino. “How do you know who I am?”
Celestino stared at him. “You… have no idea who I am, do you.”
“Well, you’ve told me your name, and clearly you’re one of the gods if you can freeze a river enough for someone to walk across…”
“This is the realm of the dead, and I’m its king. Everything down here obeys my will.”
Phichit stopped. “How come I’ve never met you? I’ve met all the others…”
Celestino smiled grimly. “I don’t get along with the others very well. Therefore, I rarely leave my domain.”
“Oh.” Phichit reached out and took Celestino’s hand. “That sounds like it must get lonely.”
Celestino stared at their joined hands. “…It does, sometimes, but it’s better this way than constantly fighting with the others. When Yakov and I get going at each other, everyone runs for the hills.”
When they got to the castle, Celestino took Phichit to a bedroom. “Get some rest. I’m going to let your mother know you’re here and that I’ll be bringing you home once you’re rested. Yakov says she’s throwing a temper tantrum about you being lost.”
“Mom’s ridiculous. It’s so boring up there! She never lets me go anywhere or do anything unless I’m heavily escorted and protected, which means coming down here is the most fun I’ve had in years.”
“I’m sorry. Yakov would kill me if I didn’t send you back, though.”
“Yeah, I know.” Phichit stretched out on the bed and sighed. “Thank you for the adventure, at least.”
When he woke up, Celestino was gone, but someone had left a pomegranate beside the bed. Phichit reached for it – now that someone mentioned it, he was hungry. The door slammed open as he plucked out the first seed. “Don’t!”
Phichit hesitated with the seed inches from his lips at Celestino’s outburst. “Why not? Is it poisoned?”
“No, but if you eat or drink anything down here, you’re trapped. I can bend the rules a little, but I can’t just break them, and your mother…”
“My mother can go to…” Phichit stopped and reconsidered. Technically, he was the one who’d gone to Hell. Very slowly, every motion deliberate, Phichit popped that seed and five others into his mouth, never breaking eye contact with Celestino. “There. Six seeds for six months. You said you can bend the rules, does that work?”
“Your mother is not going to be happy.” From the way Celestino’s eyes sparkled, though, Phichit thought he was. “Where did you even get a pomegranate?”
“I don’t know, it was just here when I woke up. I thought you left it for me.”
“Wasn’t me. I’ll have to look into it. Come on, your mom’s waiting for you.”
“But you’re bringing me back, right?”
“Six months in my realm for the six seeds you ate,” Celestino said. “Then you’re free.”
Once again, Phichit took Celestino’s hand as they walked out. It was a much shorter walk this time, as Celestino warped the ground around them to get them to the surface quickly. Yakov was waiting there with Phichit’s mother, and he scowled. “Phichit. Have you been hurt?”
“Nope. I left on my own, and when I go back, it’s my own doing.”
“What do you mean when you go back?” Sawat snapped. “You aren’t going anywhere!”
Yakov reached out and put a hand to Phichit’s face. “He has to. He ate.”
Sawat whirled on Celestino and slapped him. “How dare you steal my son from me like this? Yakov, if Phichit doesn’t come home, nothing will grow. The earth will be barren. No crops, no trees, no food for the animals. No sacrifices for the gods. Is that what you want?”
“No, of course not, but what choice is there? He ate the food of the dead; his place is in the underworld now.”
Celestino cleared his throat. “Six seeds of a pomegranate, eaten of his own informed free will. He’ll be with me for six months, Sawat, then he’s free to return home.”
“And for those six months, the world will suffer,” Sawat promised.
"Six months in the Underworld, six months on the Earth." Yakov scowled at Sawat. "The humans and animals will adapt."
Phichit and Celestino looked at each other. They'd both assumed that the six months was a one-time deal. Phichit squeezed Celestino's hand; he was not going to argue with Yakov. Celestino nodded. "A fair compromise. We'll see you in six months, Sawat."
"You'd better not even be a single day late," she pouted. "Phichit, be careful down there."