one more chance.

Eris was the goddess of strife, discord, contention, and rivalry. She was often represented specifically as the daimon of the strife of war, who haunted the battlefield and delighted in human bloodshed. Because of Eris’s disagreeable nature, she was the only goddess not to be invited to the weeding of Peleus and Thetis. When she turned up anyway, she was refused admittance, and in a rage, she threw a golden apple among the goddesses inscribed, “To the fairest.” Three goddesses laid claim, and the goddess’ rivalry brought about the events which led to the Trojan War.

In ancient Greek mythology, Acheron was known as the river of woe, and was one of the five rivers of the Greek underworld. In the Homeric poems the Acheron was described as a river of Hades, into which Cocytus and Phlegethon both flowed.

Cocytus or Kokytos, meaning “the river of wailing” (from the Greek Κωκυτός, “lamentation”), is a river in the underworld in Greek mythology. Cocytus flows into the river Acheron, across which is the underworld, the mythological abode of the dead.

The shades of the dead were required to drink the waters of the Lethe in order to forget their earthly life. In the Aeneid, Virgil writes that it is only when the dead have had their memories erased by the Lethe that they may be reincarnated

Plato describes Plegethon as “a stream of fire, which coils round the earth and flows into the depths of Tartarus. It was parallel to the river Styx. It is said that the goddess Styx was in love with Phlegethon, but she was consumed by his flames and sent to Hades. Eventually when Hades allowed her river to flow through, they reunited.

The gods were bound by the Styx and swore oaths on it. The reason for this is during the Titan war, Styx, the goddess of the river Styx, sided with Zeus. After the war, Zeus promised every oath be sworn upon her. Zeus swore to give Semele whatever she wanted and was then obliged to follow through when he realized to his horror that her request would lead to her death. Helios similarly promised his son Phaëton whatever he desired, also resulting in the boy’s death. According to some versions, Styx had miraculous powers and could make someone invulnerable. According to one tradition, Achilles was dipped in it in his childhood, acquiring invulnerability, with exception of his heel, by which his mother held him. This is the source of the expression Achilles’ heel, a metaphor for a vulnerable spot.

the laughter of a hundred souls echo empty in the halls
beauty they say, beauty and wisdom and music,
are the temptations of existence
why then do a thousand fireflies not illuminate the void?
the roads and white and airy, there’s no room for that lonely child
hollow and broken; shunted aside
lonely with everlasting whispers ringing in his ears
how could he, cold and shivering, feel the heat of heavenly light,
pressed against the translucence of his skin?
and yet, and yet, not a trace of discourtesy graces his lips
for there is music in the silent wind swaying,
privy to the darkest secrets unbeknownst to the beholder,
filling the ghost king’s shadow-woven soul.
he is the morning mist; he aches for a final taste of dawn,
ethereal and insubstantial in the quest for sunlight