An Old Friend 6

Trance screamed when she found herself in open space without a ship or anything around her. She frantically clung to Harper, who in turn was clinging and whimpering on Tyr's shoulder. After a moment, Trance realized she didn't feel the sub zero numbing cold she should have felt in open space. Nor were her blood vessels popping and exploding as she had expected. She released her grip on Harper and stared around herself in amazement. Thousands of stars glowed steadily around her in every direction. She breathed in and felt air fill her lungs, yet that should have been impossible. Trance realized she was moving through white archways that were suspended in space. She glanced down at her feet and guessed she must be standing on some type of moving invisible sidewalk.

"We're all going to die!" Harper cried in terror.

"Relax. This is the way the Gods travel." Dylan explained to his startled crew. He remembered the time Zeus had taken him to Mount Olympus and had made him a full God. They had traveled the same way. "I did this before and it's perfectly safe."

"Oh, it's beautiful!" Trance said as she enjoyed the view around her. A doorway appeared up ahead and they soon passed through it. Trance found herself inside of a large white room that contained many stone pillars. She looked behind herself and saw the doorway was still there, the stars shining. She wanted to admire the raw beauty of space longer, but was also curious about where she was. Her curiosity won out and she followed the others.

"Ares, this is Olympus. I said I wanted to go to the Underworld." Dylan complained as he quickly followed his brother into a different room. He watched as Ares settled himself on Zeus' throne.

"Welcome home, Little Brother. Time for you to face reality." Ares waved his hand and a golden chalice appeared. He took it out of the air and sipped the Ambrosia tinted red wine. The War God settled his piercing gaze on Dylan. "Things are not what they used to be. Hades is dead, so don't think you can make a bargain with him. No one knows what's going on down in the Underworld these days or if anyone is running the place. Well, I suppose Charon is down there rowing that boat on the River Styx, but he can't help you."

"Look, Ares. I've been down there before. If I can just find Hephaestus..." Dylan said.

Ares interrupted him. "And you'll do what? Get trapped in Tarturas? Because that's where fallen Gods go. You remember what happened to Dear Mother when you shoved her down to Tartarus. Besides, Hera was alive when she tumbled down there. Hephaestus is dead. A ghost can't repair your ship."

"Whoa...are we talking about the place like dead people go?" Harper asked, his eyes wide. "Like dead dead people?"

"Yeah." Ares replied. "It's called the Underworld. Bad people go to Tartarus; good people go to the Elysian Fields. People from other religions go other places."

"And you want to go there?" Harper shivered. "I can't believe this!"

A loud squeal filled the room and everyone turned their heads. A beautiful woman stood in the doorway. She had long wavy blonde hair and beautiful eyes. She wore a pink bikini that was covered by a sheer pink dress with short sleeves. A golden necklace sparkled around her neck. High-heeled shoes covered her feet. She squealed again and dashed over to Dylan. She leaped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Hercules!"

"Hello Aphrodite. It's nice to see you, too." Dylan said a bit red faced. He pulled Aphrodite off himself and smiled nervously. He turned to his crew. "This is my sister, Aphrodite. She's the Goddess of Love."

Rev Bem stared at the half naked woman in shock. "This is a Goddess?"

"Umm, yeah." Dylan said sheepishly. "They're not exactly perfect but they try."

"Hercules, you have to help us!" Aphrodite exclaimed, her beautiful eyes filled with tears. "Things are out of control! Ever since Xena killed most of the Gods, things have slowly gone downhill. Earth is a terrible mess! You should see it. They were OK for a few thousand years, but the longer they were dead the worst things got. Now it's worst than Tartarus down there."

"I got to agree with that. I grew up on Earth." Harper told the Goddess. "It's a burned out polluted nightmare. Forests were a myth. It's not a place fit for anyone to live anymore."

"Aphrodite, I don't have time for this." Dylan tried to tell her. "I have to save my ship."

"But we're your family! You have to help us!" Aphrodite cried. Her lips trembled and her eyes grew puffy as mascara ran down her cheeks. "Ares said you want to bring Hephy back. Well, why can't you bring ALL of them back? Look at how Earth looks! Our Pantheon is broken. Storms run wild and destroy stuff because Zeus isn't here to control the weather. The oceans are polluted and drying up because Poseidon is gone. The forests, wildlife and the wilderness need Artemis. Justice has gone out the back door because Athena is dead. The Earth is a dried up rock! The air is all dirty and people are sick. There isn't enough food or clean water. You are the Champion of Mortals, Hercules! You *have* to help them! You just can't walk away!"

"What am I supposed to do, Aphrodite?" Dylan paced up and back across the floor. He ran both hands through his brown hair. Frustration bubbled up inside him and he felt like punching something, smashing it to bits. This side of his family always got on his nerves. That's one reason he had gone out into deep space, to get away from them. But now he was right back where he had started. "I thought I could make a deal with Uncle Hades, but I can't. I'm not a God!"

"But your so smart!" Aphrodite wrung her hands together. "You *always* came through for me. Always! You solved any problem that was thrown at you. I believe in you, Hercules."

"Trust in the Divine, Dylan. Perhaps you are meant to solve this problem, too, and restore Earth to its former glory. If you will just give yourself to the Divine perhaps a solution will come to you." Rev Bem stood in the center of the large room, his clawed hands folded in front of his red robes. He was humbled at being inside the home of the Gods. Although these Gods were not the Divine, they were still Gods. Perhaps they worked under the Divine, that is, they were of a lower rank. He knew it was a great honor for a mortal, especially a Moggog, to be in this place. He wanted to ask Dylan about this talk of Destroyers but now was not the time. The captain needed his council, as he was clearly troubled. Rev Bem understood Dylan; he had trouble with his family, too.

"The Divine? The Divine is what caused this mess!" Dylan shouted. He punched a nearby pillar with his fist. It cracked and toppled to the floor with a loud bang. The room rattled as it hit the floor and shattered into three pieces. "Them and the stupid Fates!"

"I doubt if that is the case, Dylan. You must be mistaken." Rev Bem said. "The Divine loves us all greatly and wishes us to live in peace."

Becka, Tyr, Harper, Trance and Rommie stared at the broken pillar in shock. They exchanged startled glances with each other.

"Whoah! I never imagined he was that strong! He must be stronger than Tyr! Now that's one guy I don't want mad at me." Harper remarked.

"Yes, and he has a bad temper." Tyr noted. "I wonder what else we don't know about our captain? This is getting to be a very enlightening voyage."

Well, I remember the time the Divine let loose the Four Horsemen on Earth just for a test! They were willing to let every person on the planet die a horrible death just for a test. I can't approve of that." Dylan stopped and stared at Rev Bem. Something stirred in the back of his mind. It floated to the front and Dylan grabbed it. He smiled at the Rev. "Maybe I don't have to trust in the Divine but you do. And maybe that's all that we need."

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Rev Ben told his captain.

"You'll see." Dylan turned to Ares. "Where are the bodies?"

The War God had been patiently sitting in his thrown all this time drinking his wine. He knew Hercules too well. The DemiGod often got roiled up about stuff. When Herc had been a teenager it was so easy to get him angry Ares had done it often just for fun. Of course, it also gave Hercules lots of experience fighting, which he really needed in order to be the Champion of Mortals. "Down in the Catacombs, in the basement of Olympus."

"Good. That's where we're going then." Dylan stated.

"Hello? Am I wrong or have these bodies been down there for like thousands of years? I mean, shouldn't they be skeletons or dust or something?" Harper asked Dylan. "It's nice and all you want to fix Earth, but what can you do with bodies that old?"

"They're sealed inside special glass coffins." Ares explained as he walked over to them. He waved his hand and the room shifted suddenly. Space twisted around them and they were somewhere else. "The coffins perfectly preserve their Godly bodies while their souls are in the Underworld."

Trance collapsed to the cool stone floor, her head spinning from the teleporting. She had enjoyed the moving sidewalk in space, but this had been different. Harper helped her to her feet and she noted that most of the others looked a bit green, too. She looked around and saw she was standing in a huge subterranean room with vaulted ceilings. Flickering torches provided light and threw shadows onto the dark stone walls. Round stone pillars were equally spaced throughout the room. The objects that caught Trance's attention were the coffins. There were so many of them. She had never thought a God could die. They were eternal. But yet here she was in a roomful of dead Gods.

Dylan walked over to one of the glass coffins and brushed the dust off it. He peered inside and saw Discord. His sister appeared to be sleeping, except her head was a bit lopsided. Dylan moved to the next one and dusted it off. This one held Athena. He remembered the one time he had meet her when he had been going to Chiron's Academy. Ares had been on trial and Athena had been the main judge. The third time Dylan got lucky and found Hephaestus. He gazed down at his brother and hoped his idea would work. If it didn't, he didn't know what else he could do. It *had* to work!

He leaned lightly on the glass coffin and examined the sides. He saw how he could open it. Carefully he slid the lid back and breathed in awe. His brother's body was perfectly preserved, even his clothes. He knew that as long as the body was inside the glass box it would OK, so he wasn't worried. He shifted his gaze to Rev. "You know, I think you're right. The Divine can solve our problem."

"Of course, Dylan." Rev Bem moved closer and peered down at Hephaestus. "When your faith in the Divine is strong it can do almost anything."

"Yes, it can." Dylan remembered a story his friends had told him of a different man whose faith was strong in his God, of the miracle the man had done. Dylan himself had never met the man, but he had heard. That story had inspired him today, thousands of years later. He reached out and grasped Rev Bem's three-clawed hand. He placed the Rev's hand on Hephaestus' forehead. "And now you are going to resurrect him