Chapter 10: Captured
Ares growled. Things had suddenly gone downhill. It had to find the others. The eagle screeched. It flew off to find Argentum. Once it found the Cerberus, it turned back into a wolf.
"They have your kid. They weren't after your wife. And they took Articulos too. If he stays near Mars too long, he'll turn back to his side. We need to find them!" he said, looking down at Argentum and Athena.
The Cerberus began to growl, which turned into a loud roar. How dare they take my child! It shouted. It stood on all fours and snarled angrily. Let's go.
Ares ran after the Cerberus, with Athena on his back. "We don't even know where they went. How do you expect to find them?" Athena yelled at Argentum.
The Cerberus growled. I don't know, it said. Ares, tell me what happened.
"Caudus grabbed your kid before I could get to him. I tried to stop him but Mars showed up, giving Caudus time to get away. Then something happened to Argentum. He was turned back into his avatar and Mars flew off with him," Ares explained.
Argentum's always been Mars' avatar, it told Ares. Mars must have corrupted it again.
"It didn't seem like it. Since they have a connection, I believe Mars must have used that to attack Articulos mentally. He couldn't handle it, and therefore, fainted."
What can we do?
"We need something powerful to snap Caudus out of the spell Proserpine put on him, and to stop Mars. Any ideas?" Athena asked.
Ares thought about it. "I'm not sure," it said. The wolf's paws padded the ground as it walked. "Articulos still has the Sword of Mars. I can become the Bow, so that might help."
"Would that remove the corruption from Caudus?"
Ares nodded.
Then it's worth a shot, Argentum said.
The wolf smiled as Pandora came out of her box. "Where do we start looking?" She asked.
"If I were Mars, where would I hide a hydra, a Cerberus, a female god, my avatar and myself. Where in Rome would I want to hide?" Ares said, in a sarcastic-thoughtful tone.
Pandora grinned. "The underworld."
Ares nodded.
"He has a god of the underworld with him. Why not? And there's a way for us to get there," Athena said, smirking.
"There is," Ares said. It looked at the others. "Lake Avernus is one but there are others."
"Also, since Argentum is a Cerberus, which is a creature of the underworld, he can sense portals to the underworld," Pandora said.
The Cerberus nodded. I can do that, it said. What other entrances are there?
"There are many others, but they are too dangerous to enter. We have to go with what we can safely go through," Ares said.
"We could go though Lake Avernus."
Ares nodded. It transformed into its dog form and ran off as the others followed it.
Deep in the underworld, Caudus was laughing his heads off. Argentum must furious. Oh I wish I could see the look on his face, he howled.
The hydra laughed evilly and saw Hades walk in. He saw Caudus and chuckled, casting a spell on him. "You shall be the Guardian of the Underworld from now on," he said. Caudus nodded. It roared loudly and flew off. Hades smiled and looked at Mars. "They can't get in without them having to hurt their friend. The kid will be ours to raise as a fine warrior when the world is yours, and the avatar will give up and turn eventually," the god said, looking past Mars.
The avatar was tied up on a huge boulder. His face showed the pain he was in of resisting Mars' influence. It was in its human form and glared at Mars.
"You won't get away with this! " It yelled.
"I already have" Mars said, getting really close to the avatar. He sent his conciseness into the Avatar. It screamed in pain as Mars became a split personality. The god chuckled evilly and turned to Hades. He looked at Licnus and grinned.
"When the world is mine, you shall become my son," he said to the kid.
Licnus looked at him, confused.
"That's not your kid. He will never be yours!" the avatar shouted.
Mars laughed. He looked at the avatar and sneered. "Are you sure about that?" He asked it.
The avatar growled. It held its head in pain as its split personality began to take control.