Page 67 of Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1)

Kokytos

It was a sound so full of despair,

so profoundly mournful

that I wanted to cover my ears.

What could make such a noise?

I squinted my eyes to see another river,

this one cut between a smooth floor.

So perfectly shaped,

I almost didn’t think of it

as a river at all.

All around it walked spirits,

translucent, barely there,

threads of mourning connecting them.

Every now and then

they would stop to drink

from the waters of this river,

and as they lifted their heads

they would wail and mourn,

all over again.

‘This is Kokytos,’ Styx whispered,

‘The river of lamentation.

Every soul who drinks these waters

feels a mourning so deep they cry out.

But the river’s water is addictive

and they cannot stop drinking it.’