"Wait… Where are we…"

Eros stepped off the boat in a daze. Whatever island this was that Ares has brought them to, this could not possibly be the right place. This was just a forest, and there was no sign of civilization anywhere. "Where is the village?"

Ares stepped triumphantly off the ship. "We're not at the village. Not yet, anyway. We have to make a stop first."

"A stop? What…" He was not awake enough for this.

"Maybe you should stay and look after the boat. I'll be right back." Waving a hand behind him toward his son, Ares stomped off toward the forest.

"Wait… when you say 'right back'….", said Eros, cautiously looking up and down the empty shoreline, "how long do you mean?"

But Ares did not respond. It will be good for him to wait, he thought. It will be a nice character building exercise.

"At least tell me where you're going!" shouted Eros.

"Tartarus," replied Ares, as he disappeared into the forest.

Great, thought Eros. This trip keeps getting better and better.

Descending into Tartarus was like descending into night itself. No light could enter the cave, and as one climbed down the side, all that could be heard were echoes of barking, growling, and howling. After what seemed like hours, Ares finally felt like he could see the ground before him, on account of a soft glow of light in the distance.

Charon must be close, he thought.

The barking by this time had become a deafening roar, and had not let up since his entrance into the cave. For a mortal, Ares imagined, such an experience was surely terrifying.

Soon, he found himself standing before a sliver of a man, bundled up in a reddish-brown cloak, and hunched over a pole, which he held in his right hand.

Upon seeing Ares, the man stretched out his other hand and in a deep, scratchy voice said, "One obolus."

As if I carry money, Ares thought. His pulled out his sword, holding it so the light from Charon's torch would bounce off the metal and into his eyes. "Care to repeat that?"

Charon groaned and gestured for Ares to get on his boat.

The ferryman weaved the boat around various stalagmites and stalactites, all covered with a garish, green ooze that made the entire river smell like a battle-field.

"You ever think about cleaning up this place?" asked Ares, trying to make conversation.

Charon groaned again. Ares had never known him to be a talkative man, but with the persistent barking that filled the chamber, it was entirely possible that Charon simply couldn't hear him.

"Welcome to the Underworld," said Charon, wafting his free hand toward the large three-headed dog guarding the gate once they arrived at their destination.

"Thank you," replied Ares with some hesitation. He had never taken the Underworld to be an especially welcoming place, which, considering this was supposedly the eternal home of millions of people, had always struck him as strange. He couldn't imagine what it was like for Hades to live there, spending every single day in a place no one wanted to be.

Ares tried to open the gate himself, but the three-headed dog kept snapping one of its mouths at his hands before he could turn the handle.

"Cerberus, heel," cooed Charon, who was quite amused by the proceedings and had no intention of stopping them.

Cerberus continued barking and snapping his mouths, and with every attempt to open the gate, Ares became more exasperated than the next. Seeing that Charon had no interest in helping him, Ares backed away a little from the gate.

"You'll have to forgive Cerberus; he is very protective of his-"

"SIT!"

Ares's voice filled the cave and shook a few weaker stalactites down from the roof.

Cerberus was so shocked at hearing a voice louder than his own that all of his heads fell silent, and he obediently sat down.

With Cerberus sufficiently occupied, Ares finally opened the gate and entered the Underworld, as the stunned Charon looked on from his boat.

Now to see if Hades is in the mood to make a deal. Again.

Meanwhile, back at the surface, Eros was becoming more and more on edge. With every movement of the trees, he assumed that some demon was going to leap out and attack him for trespassing. Even though he knew this was highly unlikely, he stayed crouched in the boat and kept an arrow at the ready, just in case.

When the trees parted for a split second, revealing a man that was not wearing his father's characteristic red tunic, Eros reacted with lightning speed, and let loose the arrow from his bow.

Then it occurred to him… that probably wasn't a good idea…

Looking down at his quiver, he pulled out another arrow and brushed his fingers against the feathered-edge.

Wrong arrow…