Asclepius

Hermes enlists the help of Aphrodite to resurrect Kore.

Aphrodite entered the apartment at Vanderbilt’s School of Medicine in the dead of night.
“I just left the social event of the year to placate your ego Hermes. Someone better be dying!” Aphrodite snaps.
“Someone already has,” Hermes whispers, stepping aside to reveal the ravaged remains of Kore. “Aides sent Cerberus to hunt her down for betraying their arrangement. I believe you know Asclepius.”
“Why haven’t you brought her back?” Aphrodite accuses, horrified.
“The damage is beyond even my healing ability. Kore needs regeneration,” Asclepius replies, defeated. “If you don’t save her, Aphrodite, she’ll be a prisoner of Aides’ underworld forever. He’ll own her soul.”
“Why the concern for Kore’s spirit?” Aphrodite asks, suspicious.
“She left Aides to be with me…I intended to save her. Now, she’s beyond my reach,” Asclepius cries.
“I love her, Aphrodite. Isn’t that enough?” Asclepius pleads.
“You can ask her that yourself, when she rises.”

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Zeus sends Hermes to call off Cerberus’ attack on Kore before it’s too late.

Hermes was not looking forward to calling off this particular dog.

Aides’ tri-headed mutt, Cerberus, was stubborn at best, a glutton at worst.

He tracked the hungry beast to Vanderbilt’s School of Medicine in Nashville. A hellhound set loose in the middle of campus was a logistics nightmare, not to mention the tricky business of finding its intended prey in time.

Then he heard it.

An unearthly growl.

Hermes tore down the sidewalk, praying to Zeus he was not too late.

But his sister, Kore, was already torn between three sets of razor-edged teeth, covered in crimson gore.

Hermes shouted a furious command, banishing the monster back to its lair.

Kore’s injured lover cradled her broken form to his blood-stained chest, his wrenching sobs pierced with agony.

Hermes recognized him as the God of Medicine, Asclepius – ancient enemy of Aides for stealing his souls from the brink of death.

Asclepius can raise the dead.

There’s still hope.

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