Chapter 10: The Sorcerer And The Pup

*****Previously*****

Charon: Did you just open a portal to the underworld?

Hades: Yep. She fought well; but she still has a lot to learn about war. Speaking of which, that wasn't a fair move "captain". *All turn to the captain*

Hekate: Dave?!

Captain (Dave): Hekate?

Charon: *Sigh*What are you up to this time?

Hekate: Nothing! It's just a coincidence I swear!

Charon: You're a terrible liar.

*****Present*****

(Its past noon. Eros makes a cool entry; the now setting sun is the perfect backdrop to make the outline of his wings light up a bright gold)

Eros: *lands in front of all four people, with a real arrow pressed against his bow ready to be fired, pointed straight at Hades* Where is Persephone?!

Hades: You must be the other god she was with

Eros: Where did you send her?! Who are you?!

Charon: He's quite young; no wonder he doesn't recognize auras

Hekate: So Dave, how have things been? (Goes about a normal conversation with Dave, who's still on the floor holding his leg in pain, while completely ignoring the young armed god in front of her)

Eros: Don't ignore me! I'm an Olympian and I'm not afraid to use my…

(He watches to his horror as the shadow under his feet raises from the ground with an identical arrow pressed to his bow aimed at him)

Charon: Hekate!

Hekate: What? *with an innocent look on her face*

Hades: let the kid be will you?

Hekate: Fine! *She huffs and the shadow returns to its original position on the ground*

Eros: *voice shaking* who are you? {Realizing they aren't human, and somehow surprisingly; vaguely familiar, although he doesn't quite remember from where?} (Hint it's from Olympus, but he was too young to remember)

Charon: *sigh* Young man, I am Charon, ferryman of the Styx; This is Hades, lord of the underworld; and this thing here is probably the most terrifying thing you'll ever encounter, Hekate.

Hekate: (Sticks her tongue out at Charon) Meany! (With a lot of fake enthusiasm in her voice and expression) Hi! I'm Hekate, goddess of magic and the dark arts. And no I don't do birthdays… any more.

Eros: {it doesn't seem like they're lying, and they do seem familiar. I really need to talk to mom about this when she's done meeting the fates} (To Hades) *trying to sound confident, but it's very clear he's nervous* What have you done with Persephone?

(Hekate and Charon are having a conversation of their own as Hekate cures Dave with her magic, thoroughly bored with the whole situation)

Hades: Listen kid, your friend was fighting that incubus there *points to Dave* and almost had a sword in her heart. Me being the responsible adult I am saved her the pain of re-growing a heart, which I can tell you, is NOT a pleasant experience. She's probably roaming the underworld by now, sight-seeing; so don't worry about it.

Eros: Oh. Well that's alright I guess. When will she be back? {Ok, now I just sound stupid. But for some reason, I feel like I can trust this guy. I have a feeling Persephone is safe, besides she can handle herself}

Hades: you're welcome to join her in the underworld. Do you want me to open up a portal?

Eros: It's alright; I can meet her some other time. I'm just relived to know she's fine. I'll be leaving now. {I think things will be fine here. These are some of the most powerful gods of the pantheon after all. Besides I need to meet up with mom, tell her about meeting them, and that Persephone pricked herself with one of my arrows, and then I have those two from this morning that I think will make a nice couple}

Hades: Hey kid wait, I think this is yours. *hands Eros the arrow that hit him*

Eros: *His eyes widen* Yes it is….. Thanks. {Please don't tell me this is the matching arrow to what Seph pricked herself with! Mom what on earth were you thinking! Is this why you were meeting with the fates?! I knew you looked too happy for things to be normal! We soo need to talk!}

(Spreads out his wings and flies into the sky, happy to be away from the intimidating older gods; but equally worried about Persephone and his mother's idea to set her up with the lord of the underworld)

Charon: (Aloud)So you're telling me that someone in this area, probably a part of the royal court here, was experimenting with dark magic that YOU thought was too dangerous and instead of handling it yourself, you send an incubus spy to figure out who it is, for the better half of half a decade. And he keeps you updated on "Dates". Brilliant! (Sarcastic)

Hades: Hahaha. Why am I not surprised

Hekate: Well it's not like they've done anything crazy yet, they were only tests, in the beginning at least. And I allow for experimenting, how else would people learn? But it's my duty to make sure magic isn't misused, especially the dark arts. I need to keep an eye on dangerous experiments, just in case. Dave here was doing just that; keeping an eye out for me. And to be exact, it's one of the king's ministers who is a sorcerer, collaborating with the keeper of the dungeons. They want to use necromancy. *nostalgia* You may not know this Charon, since you were so young during the Great War, but I was the first to use necromancy in battle. But for a mortal, who the underworld does not recognize as a resident, they would have to summon the souls of the dead BEFORE they enter the underworld and become shades. In other words they must be freshly dead/killed.

***** Pause*****

(To the audience) I sense confusion, so let me explain. Shades are souls that are un-judged. So basically on a waiting list. Once dead it takes about a day in earth realm time to schedule a souls 1st hearing. And depending on the complexity of the soul's life could take anywhere from a day to a year for a sentence to be passed. During this trial period the soul is referred to as a shade, and lives temporarily in the underworld. Once a soul is judged by its pears, (aka everyone the soul ever interacted with when alive, who are brought in by Thanatos if dead or by Hypnos if alive and visiting the underworld in their sleep. Don't worry they won't remember a thing in the morning, maybe a mild headache, but nothing more) and the judges of the underworld (who carry out the will of the underworld realm). But once judged the souls/shades are sent to Asphodel, Elysium, Isle of the Blessed, Tartarus, etc. or be reborn in the same realm that they died in based on their sentence. So the thing with "immortals" is that though they have incredible healing abilities, they can definitely "die" (have their bodies destroyed); but they can just be reborn in their own realm since they hold titles in their realms and those duties must be fulfilled, they are almost always sentenced to be reborn. Ever wonder why Helios and Apollo are basically the same person, ya; happened to a lot of gods during the Great War. An exception to this, are the creatures of the underworld, you see the underworld doesn't have any native "live" creatures; but it in itself is alive in a sense. It adopts creatures born in other realms so to speak, like dragons, unicorns, batcats etc. who voluntarily made the underworld their home and are now permanent residents there. And then there are cases like Hades; his title is ruler of the underworld now, but it's a gross oversimplification of things. Though he was born in the realm of Olympus and was originally in charge of wealth (back then titles were basically given at birth). Then he got eaten by his dad and died, obviously; thus becoming the first creature to enter the underworld on accident and at such a young age no less. The underworld kinda adopted him and raised him; and he kinda became its defacto ruler (note, the underworld is very picky and hence none of hades' siblings were adopted). Since then, the underworld has "adopted" a few other gods, including me. Why does it matter you ask? A creature residing in and recognized/adopted by the underworld, can't die. Not in the loophole (being reborn) "immortality" of the Olympians kinda way. As in they actually can't die. So say a resident of the underworld was fighting in a war, even if his whole body is destroyed, he's just going to be regenerated in the underworld as long as the underworld still considers him a resident (or in Hades' case its ruler). Quite like respawning in a video game; actually exactly like respawning in a video game. But this comes with a price; you can't leave the underworld for extended periods of time. Having a job or title that requires you to interact with a different realm might help a bit, but not by much. This is also why he, realistically, couldn't be the ruler of Olympus, the fates knowing this, only made sure of that. Now that I'm done with exposition, back to the story!

***** Back to the story*****

Hades: Charon, you know she's not flippant when it comes to magic.

Charon: I know,…. I just..

Hades: I know what you mean.

Hekate: And what the Styx is that supposed to mean?

Hades: Nothing, look the incubus', I mean Dave's wounds have healed!

Hekate: Seems like it. You ok there Dave?

Dave: I am fine lady Hekate. Thank you. What brings you here? But it is good that you are here. I have news I must report.

Hekate: How many times have I told you, it's just Hekate. Did you figure out his plan?

Dave: Yes. He has convinced the king that war with the use of dark magic is inevitable. The country being threatened by its powerful neighbor hell bent on expansion, and the increasing unrest among both the court and the populous, has the king convinced that he can trust no one but his sorcerer; and plans are being made for the inevitable war. He has convinced the king that if his small army is to defeat the large and powerful army of the enemy, they must use necromancy. The date of war I'm unaware of, but they want to attack soon, and that means soon nearly all the soldiers in the army will be killed and immediately resurrected. These resurrected soldiers can destroy the enemy in the single day that they can exist after bring resurrected. The soldiers of course are aware of none of this. There is to be a grand feast on the eve of war, and the food and drink there will be poisoned. The only thing I'm not aware of is the date of war.

Charon: Like Zombies then?

Hekate: Pretty much; yes. Since the underworld is my home, I could call upon the shades or the creatures of the underworld to do my bidding, at any time, for however long; which makes war a breeze. But for human sorcerers, the only way they could use the dark arts effectively in war is to, either kill a large number of people and resurrect them immediately through necromancy, or to summon creatures of the underworld. Dave, why are you not aware of the date?

Hades: (To the audience) Although Hekate is in general extremely powerful and skilled; this unique ability of hers is why she's so feared. She could wipe out an entire army of titans singlehandedly with her necromancy during the Great War. She was so notorious for coming up with innovative ways of using the dark arts against her enemies, or "experiment" as she called it, that Thanatos to this day is low key scared of her.

Dave: The sorcerer caught on that I was spying on him, and has made sure to keep me away from the castle these past few days, and have the king distrust me. I remember you telling me during our previous meeting, lady Hekate, that a creature of the underworld can be summoned for longer amounts of time with the dark arts than resurrecting the dead.

Hekate: Yes but for that the sorcerer would need to physically make a deal (a blood pact to be exact) with the creature of the underworld. And that's pretty much impossible since creatures of the underworld are so hard to get a hold of.

Dave: But lady Hekate, one such creature is being kept in the dungeons right now. My troops and I found a creature of the underworld here in the forest last night. A hound with three heads, about four feet tall when upright. And due to me currently being out of favor in the kings eyes, I wasn't even allowed to present it at court, and don't know it's exact location in the dungeons either. And as expected, the king, under his sorcerer's guidance wants to use it in war.

Charon: So what do we do now?

Hades: Ok so let me get this straight. Someone in this court or whatever is planning on using my poor Cerberus as a guinea pig!*Dad mode activated* I'm not letting those monsters lay a finger on my baby!

Hekate: Da! Of course not. We're going on a rescue mission! Mission save hell-puppy starts now!

Hades: Hold on Cerby, daddy's coming for you!

Charon: Let's not forget, there's also stopping an evil sorcerer and his henchmen from starting a war using forbidden dark arts and killing hundreds of innocent people and turning them into undead zombies. (completely ignored by the other two)

Hekate: Ya! We're coming for you Cerby!

Hades: My poor poor Cerby.

Hekate: (To Dave) Which way is the castle again?

Dave: This way, my lady. *leads the group in the castle's direction*

Charon: *sigh* And what about those humans who're lying unconscious there? Are we leaving them there? {Why do I even bother with these idiots?}

(Hades and Hekate follow Dave all excited, leaving Charon a little behind who begrudgingly follows them)

Hekate: Phew! What a long chapter.

Charon: Our reader must care a lot about us to have read the whole thing.

Hekate: That is true. All that exposition, I'm tired just thinking about it.

Charon: Wasn't the exposition mostly part of your dialogue?

Hekate: Ya, but it's still exhausting.

Charon: *sigh* But I'm curious, what's up with this Dave guy?

Hekate: You'll find out in the next chapter ;)