Hades

I’m back here again. Well, not exactly the same place as before. The end of the tunnel is pitch black. A voice calls out.

“Thanks for your delivery. I’ll take it from here.” The woman’s voice is chipper than one should expect for being in a dark tunnel. I turn around, but the woman speaks again. This time more ominously. “You have a friend waiting for you at the end of the tunnel. He’ll show you around.”

Not eager to hang around, I left and was back at the fiery lines of people.

Behind a couple of lines was a large door. One said Elysium and the other said Asphodel. The wind rushed behind me. I turned around to see an incredibly skinny man in a deep red suit standing behind me. His cloak covered his face in shadows.

“Hello, Hades. I’m your delightful tour guide, Thanatos, otherwise known as Death.”

Suddenly the pizza from earlier isn’t sitting right in my stomach. “Am I dead?”

Thanatos chuckled deeply. “Not yet, young Hades. This is the Underworld. Your new home and realm.” He quickly passed the lines, pointing absentmindedly at them. “Elysium for the good, and Asphodel for the beings that are just okay.” He led me up a long winding staircase that reached a large manor I’d teleported to before. What was this place? Gargoyles stood on dark pillars along the roof of the manor.

“The House of the Dead,” Thanatos whispered in my ear. I recoiled at the smell of decay and something utterly vile. He chuckled at my clear disgust. “My signature musk: death.”

We stood at the large doors while the man (who had faded more into a shadow) looked at me expectantly. I crossed my arms as he let out a sharp laugh.

You have to embrace who you are, he whispered in my mind. Embrace who I am? I responded skeptically. A god of death? Unloved? A monster?

The doors groaned as they swung open. I turned around to face Thanatos, but the shadow was already walking into the manor. I’ve found out that I’m some God of the Underworld, and I have to hope some creepy, abandoned-looking manor is safe, on the same day.

***

The fireplace groaned brightly as Thanatos made himself at home, getting comfortable on the black leather couch.

Cerberus ran over to me, in his smaller form, tongue flopping out of his mouth. When he passed the shadowy Thanatos on the couch, he paused, giving him a low growl. Thanatos barked at him, sending a whimpering Cerberus my way.

“Don’t scare him,” I scold. How is it that now I’m in a position to be scolding Death?

“It’s strange for the Lord of the Underworld to be so protective over a monster, innit?”

“Leave my Cerberus alone,” I snap. Other than my brothers and the others, I’ve never really cared about anyone much. Except for Cerberus. I’ve always been the weak one that they had to watch over, though. Well, almost always.

***

I had been sitting in the corner, my nose in a book. I was biding time because this was just another group home. I wasn’t going to be here for much longer. Zeus and Poseidon were somewhere, off doing arm wrestling or bragging about who could eat the most food the fastest.

“Hey, creep,” Charles said, kicking my leg roughly. I didn’t bother giving that loser the attention that he so desperately craved, which might have been the wrong choice.

He hoisted me onto my feet by grabbing my collar with his meaty hands. He smiled crookedly at me.

“You’re a freak, and soon you’ll wish you and your brothers had never been born.” He swung and punched my nose. His fist was bloody when he pulled away. I remember Zeus always bothering me about controlling my temper, but it’s not like I ever listened to him.

I tackled Charles, clawing at him. We tossed and turned until he was on top of me. With each punch, his sickening grin grew wider. The other kids, including my brothers, watched as he punched away any sort of resistance left inside of me.

My jaw hurt more than anything I’ve ever felt before. He kicked me until every part of my body was sore, numb, or stinging. My brothers watched as I writhed in pain. I wished for them to pull him off me, but they didn’t. When it became too much for me, I passed out. That day I learned something I’d never forgotten.

You can’t rely on others to fight your battles.

***

Thanatos eagerly jumped off the leather couch. He left the room, and whether he’d meant for me to follow behind him or not, was irrelevant because I did, with Cerberus at my feet.

Thanatos was standing in front of an old elevator that looked like it was shut down (or needed to be shut down). A small ding sounded and then the doors opened. Cerberus eagerly jumped in after Thanatos. I’ve had just enough of that dog.

I watched the doors close, trapping us in this metal cage.

“I’m glad I got my tetanus shot,” I muttered. Cerberus jumped into my arms just as the elevator dropped three stories down.

Thanatos clapped his hands. “I’m surprised how well you handled that.” He grinned. “Humans are really annoying sometimes, talking about ‘falling to their deaths,’ or how ‘rats are disgusting vermin,’ or that the elevator is hazardous.”

I fake-laughed with him, but frankly, I’m pretty sure that those were three really valid points.

In the center of this strange, poorly lit room was where five different rivers connected. Thanatos said that the golden yellow river was River Lethe. If the newly dead drank from the river, they would lose their memory almost instantly.

Acheron was bright red. It was the river of sorrow and despair.

Cocytus was the river of wailing. It is a mesmerizing dark blue.

Phlegethon was the river of fire that flowed all the way down to Tartarus.

The river Styx separated Earth and the Underworld. It was the river of unbreakable oaths. Thanatos wouldn’t have to tell me not to touch any of the rivers.

“Now,” Thanatos began. “You have the river Styx down here that could take you back to your pitiful world, or even Olympus. The third option is you could stay here for a little while.”

I turned my back on him. I’m sure nobody’s missing me up there. A couple more hours down here couldn’t hurt anyone, right? It might even be nice.

“Sure,” I agreed.