Speaking about Hades seems terrifying for gods on her age. Persephone found out about this when she decided to ask some minor gods of their views about the God of the Underworld. Some reacted in fear, others just told her off, and there are some who warned Persephone immediately about the danger of deliberately speaking of his name.

Older gods on the other hands are very excited when talking about Hades (except Zeus, who chided her about being too curious for her own good).

"Hades is very helpful. He once helped me tracked one of my children, who for some reason decided to enter to the Underworld."

"He seems nice. I don't understand why the younger gods are afraid of him."

"That's considerate of you trying to know about your elders, Persephone. It's such a shame that the others of your generation wouldn't try to understand Hades, the King of Underworld."

"Don't listen to them. Gods of your age probably listened to one of Zeus's drivels. I am honestly surprised that the so-called Goddess of Wisdom, Athena could fall for that baloney."

Persephone was honestly happy that the older gods would willing to help her trying to understand about her estranged uncle, Hades. She just couldn't believe that the others wouldn't even try to find more info instead of just listening from Zeus.

Perhaps it is time for her to find Hermes, the Messenger of the Gods. After all, there are high chances for him to travel to Underworld to deliver message to Hades. He must have at least talk to the King of the Underworld personally, right?

Athena and Artemis didn't say anything bad about Hermes when they listed of the names of gods that Persephone should avoid, but they did mention about the god's hobby of creating trickery. Persephone did not like the way Athena described Hermes as a nuisance, so she decided to hold off her opinion before meeting said god.

She coincidentally found him when Hermes was delivering letters to her mother.

"Morning Hermes," Persephone greeted. "How are you?"

"Hello there, fair Persephone!" Hermes grinned. "Thank you for asking. I am feeling fine on this beautiful morning. Sorry, I don't have any letters for you."

"That's okay. I was actually wanting to ask you of something."

"Oh, an information, eh? Okay."

"What do you know about Hades?" Persephone asked, expecting some gasp or fear from Hermes.

"Hades? Wow, that's the first time someone from our generation ask me about him." Hermes stated, surprising Persephone as he didn't look scared.

"You're not scared of him?"

"Why should I? He's nice." Hermes smiled. "I always enjoy my visit to Underworld. Uncle Hades always tells the best stories. I loved it when he talks about his travels to the eastern regions."

It led to Hermes talking about his many visit to Underworld. It turns out, Hades doesn't really mind having someone visits him, as long as they obey the rules in Underworld and listened to his warnings to stay away from Entrance to Tartarus.

"It's just really sad that only Aunt Hestia and I visit him. Why everyone so scared of Underworld when they never even see it?" Hermes murmured. "Sure, it's pretty dark but it's actually more depressing instead of horrifying."

"Depressing?" Persephone asked.

"Yeah. There are so many wandering souls that traveled through. Souls of the deceased. They always looked sad as they crossed the River of Styx, but I don't see any monster or scary undead in there. Uncle Hades told me that only Tartarus holds the scariest creatures and imprisoned Titans and I shouldn't worry about them. The only thing scary is just Hades's dog."

"Oh, I didn't know he has a pet."

Hermes nodded. "Not many people knows about it. I guess because they never goes to the Underworld that further. You need to traverse across the Styx if you want to actually see it."

Asking Hermes about Hades was the right decision Persephone ever make. Not only the God of Travelers liked to talk, he also a constant visitor to the Underworld. She gained a lot of information about the Underworld, but not enough about its King. At least she now knows of Hades had traveled to other regions quite a lot and how he actually love traveling, but because of his duty he had to stay in his domain.

Maybe she could ask Aunt Hestia about Hades.

Hades smiled as he saw the enormous three-headed dog sniffing around the Underworld, almost startling some of the wandering souls nearby. Truthfully, he really does need more update for the security around the Gates of Underworld. For some reason, living mortals always be found stumbling near the Gates, confused and scared. Sometimes he found minor gods daring themselves to enter the Underworld but too scared to go further. Hades was curious of this. The Gates can only be open to him, those who already dead and gods that he had granted permission. Thankfully, Cerberus only hostile to those with malicious intents and the three-headed dog would not attack the poor mortals who accidentally stranded in front of the Gates.

Years ago, he asked the gods who lived in the Underworld before him. One of them suggested that he needs to get a guard for the Gates. He was given the three-headed dog that he now calls Cerberus. The three-headed dog may look terrifying, but like any ordinary dogs, Cerberus can be warm and welcoming to those who is nice to it.

Hades decided that he might as well let Cerberus playing around outside the Gates. Perhaps, Cerberus would enjoy the change of scenery.

It's probably not Hades's intention when he accidentally scared nearby young gods and nature spirits when he's walking Cerberus throughout the forest. And it's also not his intention when Cerberus chased Zeus' golden eagle when they spotted it suspiciously perching near the Gates. Hades just shrugged nonchalantly as Cerberus swallowed the golden eagle, thinking that it's a chew toy.

'Poseidon will probably laughing when I tell him this.' Hades thought as Cerberus spat out the wet and incredulous-looking golden eagle.

UPDATE 19/4/2019: I noticed that I accidentally wrote Cerberus in this chapter as newly obtained by Hades, whereas he already mentioned of having Cerberus in the first chapter. Re-wrote Hermes's last line and fixed the last paragraph to make it looks like Hades decided to let Cerberus out after guarding the Underworld for so long.