Nico:
Bringing my new friend to the Underworld for business
I was glad I had apologized to Gabriel before being allowed to work with him. C'mon, I tried to blast him away with a cannon usually outfitted on a US battleship for crying out loud. I was also glad that Percy let me borrow Mrs. O'Leary before we left to go to the Underworld since shadow-traveling was the fastest way to reach it. We arrived to the Central Park entrance in a matter of seconds and soon, we were descending down to my father's realm again.
Charon let us on for free since he already knew we were on a business trip to the Underworld. Plus there was the fact (according to Charon) that when Gabriel was last in the Underworld, things had not gone well between the two of them. We arrived at my father's Palace after a little while on the River Styx and it was a good thing it didn't take long considering the pollution in the river. "Talk about a need for recycling," Gabe joked on the way there.
I had a good laugh and so did Charon though his was a little more uneasy compared to mine. When we arrived, Cerberus allowed us through since the appointment with my Dad and Persephone was prearranged by Hermes. "So Gabe, how does it feel having my dad, Zeus, Poseidon, Chiron for half-brothers?" I asked. "When I first found out, I was thrilled at the idea that I was half-brother to the greatest of the Olympian gods but after a while, it didn't seem so fun," Gabe answered.
"What made it not so fun after the first while after you found out?" I inquired. "Well, I had to serve two of my sisters for a year each and believe me, you don't ever wanna be under the service of Hera when she's in a bad temper," Gabe explained. I was not surprised that he would say something like that because I knew Hera pretty well already. "She sounds a lot like how Persephone is around me whenever I appear in the Underworld," I said.
"Well, they are alike to some extent but I'd gamble on Persephone being more like Demeter and her father Zeus than Hera," Gabe replied. "Wait, Zeus is Persephone's daughter?" I asked. "Yeah, she's the lovechild of an affair between Zeus and Demeter out of the many affairs he had," Gabe answered. I guess that made sense but that sure did surprise me knowing that Persephone is one of Zeus' godly daughters.
"Why, they never told you about that when you returned from the Lotus Casino?" Gabe asked. I shook my head and said that I had never been told about that before or after the Lotus Casino. "I feel sorry for you bud but you're going to be learning a lot from me if you're going to be my coworker," Gabe said. "Believe me, I look forward to learning what you know as fast as possible so I can catch up with what happened in the seventy years between my entrance and my departure from the Lotus Casino," I replied.
My dad awaited us at the throne room of his realm and asked what might make a meeting necessary. "Brother Hades, we have reason to believe from investigation that Prometheus is leading a new regime of the Titans but has deeper plans than just bringing the Titans back together. We also have been led here because we (particularly myself) were informed that you would know where Prometheus would go to hide from us and why he would go there," Gabe explained. "I will help you in this little quest of yours but because I would sooner see the Titans wiped out than miss another dilemma in my family on Olympus," my dad replied with a smile.
"Then where is he and what does he intend to do?" I asked. "Centuries ago, after Hercules freed him, Prometheus came to me and asked me if it was possible to revive Ouranos, ancient god of the skies our brother. I told him that it was possible if you could find his soul deep in the bowels of Tartarus, deeper than where the Titans had been before their destruction three weeks ago. You see, Prometheus knows that the only way to resurrect Ouranos is to go to the Palace of Erebus and offer his soul to the primordial god of darkness himself," Hades answered.
"So he intends to resurrect Ouranos so that he can turn the powers of the sky against us in his fight to avenge our father Kronos. What a piece of crap and is there a way for us to reach the Palace of Erebus undetected?" Gabe asked. "I'm glad you asked that because no Olympian god or goddess is allowed to guide you to the Palace of Erebus. Only one of my souls who knows the way there can guide you there because dead souls are usually not detected until they reach the base of the Palace.
"Then that soul must return to me before being cast into oblivion. However, mortals (with demigods as the biggest gamble) can bypass the base of the Palace and reach the inside before Erebus moves to stop them," Hades answered. "And is there a soul of the dead who knows the way there?" I asked. "Two souls can guide you there since I ordered two souls to remember half of the path and reduce the risk of detection; one is already stationed halfway through the course to rendezvous with you," Hades answered.
"And who is the soul that will guide us through the first part?" Gabe asked. "Perhaps, to at least one of you, the name Bianca di Angelo comes to mind," Hades answered. My mouth in amazement as I realized that my sister would be guiding whoever goes with Gabe to the Palace of Erebus. "Nico, I don't want you going to the Palace of Erebus so your sister will guide you back here unless you choose to stay," my dad said.
"But why don't you want me going?" I asked. "My children share the powers of darkness with Erebus so if you went to confront him, you would die for sure if no one else did," my dad answered. That didn't make sense but I knew better than to argue with my dad on matters that he knew better than me on. Besides, I thought it better to stay and wait for some time to chat with Bianca after she guided Gabriel to the Palace of Erebus.
"So who will go with you, Gabriel?" I asked. "Well, Thalia is going to go with her Hunters to see what she can find out about anything Prometheus has done before this, Percy is too injured to be traveling again just yet, you can't go because your father forbids it so that leaves me with just Annabeth," Gabe answered. "I can go with Mrs. O'Leary and have her brought to the Underworld to join you on this final stage of the quest if you want," I suggested. "Splendid idea Nico, that way we don't have to wait too long for Annabeth to show up in the normal way," Bianca agreed.
I called for Mrs. O'Leary and rode on her back to Camp Half-Blood to pick up Annabeth. It was a little difficult finding her at first so I improvised on having Chiron send a Hermes kid to find her for me. When she met me at my cabin, I told her about what Gabriel needed her for and where they were going. She paled at the idea of going into the domain of the god of darkness himself but quickly changed her mind when I told her it was the only way to reach Prometheus and attempt to stop him from fulfilling his plan.
As soon as she agreed to come to the Underworld and join Gabe on the quest to the Palace of Erebus, we boarded Mrs. O'Leary's back once again and descended back into the Underworld. The good thing was that there was a shadow at my dad's palace so that way we would end up there rather than have to take a boat across the river Styx again. When we arrived, my Dad welcomed Annabeth and told her what she had to do if she was to reach the Palace of Erebus alive. "Look Annabeth, the only reason we're asking you to go with Gabe to the Palace of Erebus is because we found out what Prometheus intends to do," I said.
That got her excited at once and she demanded to know what we knew about Prometheus' intentions for humankind. "Okay, so remember Kronos' dad Ouranos? Our friend Prometheus intends to resurrect him and use his power to destroy us in a final battle for control over humanity. Now, the only way he can bring Ouranos back to life is if he takes the soul of Ouranos and bring it to the Palace of Erebus where the body is slowly piecing itself back together at," I explained.
"Have any of you ever heard of the Sky Sword?" my dad asked. I shook my head no and so did Annabeth but Gabriel nodded to our surprise. "The Sky Sword is the weapon that embodies all of the lethality of the skies themselves. Because Ouranos is the sky, only he can bring up the Sky Sword whether to aid himself like it did when he fought Kronos or to aid someone else like Prometheus intends to have him do," Gabriel added.
"So I take it that your guess is that Prometheus doesn't want Ouranos so much as the Sky Sword?" Persephone asked. Though we were not expecting her to say anything only because she hadn't said anything, Gabriel nodded. "But he doesn't need just Ouranos' soul to bring the sky god back to life and obtain the Sky Sword. He also needs the Black Sword of the Night with Ouranos' soul contained in it in order to bring him back to life," he added.
"The Black Sword of the Night?" Annabeth asked. "According to a legend that I was once told, the night goddess Nyx forged a sword called the Black Sword of the Night to bring some lethality to the powers of the Night. It is also said that Hephaestus aided in forging the sword although this is unlikely since it existed before Hephaestus was even born," Gabe answered. "So you were indeed not in the service of the Special Five for nothing," Hades said, teasing Gabriel.
With a smile, Gabriel nodded and suggested that we be going on our way to the Palace of Erebus. Bianca assured me that she would be back but I begged my dad to let me go with her so that we had more time to talk. "So how do we reach the halfway point in your ability to guide us if the five rivers of the Underworld block us off?" I heard Gabriel said in the distance. "First, we pay Charon to take us down the River Cocytus to where it ends on a shore of black sand," I heard Bianca answer before their voices faded from my hearing entirely.
"So dad, why would I be no match against Erebus if I ever had to fight him?" I asked my dad. "Because he can very easily strip of your powers and use them against you. It is the price I pay for sharing the realm with him as well as the god Tartarus," my dad answered. "Wait, there's a god named Tartarus?" I asked. "Yes, he is the reason I have the realm of the same name where evil souls and the Titans (formerly) resided," my dad answered.
"Tartarus and Erebus are two very powerful primordial deities. They are up there with Gaia and Ouranos and so is Nyx," Persephone said. I nodded my head in understanding but truthfully I was confused. Oh well, one more thing to do kill time here.