Happy Friday, readers! Today I have some Steve for you! Enjoy!

3

I look up from behind the rock wall and wait for the gates to open. I can't exactly tell for how long Antiope and I have been here, but it's been a while. There are moments when it feels like time is moving fast; then it feels like it's passing very slowly and the most unsettling one, when it feels like time has stopped.

According to Antiope, there's a pattern to the gates opening, but they change after a certain amount of time, but since time is weird here to say the least, you must try and figure it out by counting how many souls go through the gates at a time.

The gates are above us, floating there, barely visible since its surrounded by, what I can only describe as grey, almost black clouds. It's quite disturbing seeing the souls come through. Every time the gates open a group of souls are practically dumped through and they fall hard against the floor. After what feels like a few seconds, they start moving and I recognize the same confusion I had in their eyes. They struggle to stand up and when they do, they wander around trying to come to terms with the place they now find themselves in.

I turn my head to the left and see Antiope looking up at the gates with great concentration.

"Hey, why did you say I interrupted your escape? What'd I do exactly?"

Without taking her eyes from the gates, she answers with mild annoyance. "I had spent a lot of time figuring out the pattern of the opening of the gates. After confirming that the pattern was correct, I jumped up towards those rocks over there," She points to rocks that have somewhat of a flat surface and with great equilibrium, you can manage to stand. "I waited and when the gates opened I jumped through them, but you came out of nowhere and pushed me down with you."

I wince and put myself in her shoes. What if I had found a way out and spend so much time trying to time it perfectly, and then have those plans interrupted by some man?

"Sorry. But in my defense, I didn't even know what was happening until you started shouting at me,"

I believe I spot a hint of a smile on her face. As disciplined and hard as Antiope is, she's also kind hearted. I can see that. After all, she was one of the women who raised Diana.

"No need to apologize. I was not wrong with my calculations, which makes me think the Gods wanted you to escape with me. And who am I to question the Gods' plans?"

My eyebrows shoot up at that. "You think so? Cause I fail to see the logic in that. If they wanted me to go back so badly, then why kill me in the first place? I would've loved some divine intervention,"

She shakes her head. "The Gods know what they're doing and it would be foolish of us to question them."

I don't know. I would love to talk to one of them someday, 'cause I definitely have questions. I look back up at the gates and see the same amount of souls go through again. "That's 5. It's been 5 souls for a while now. Now what? What do we do?"

Antiope keeps her eyes on the gates for a few more seconds then nods. "Yes, I counted 5 too. Now we go back and try to figure out how to get you up to those rocks. You can't jump that high. Let's go."

I nod. We stand up and try to look as if we were just relaxing behind a rock wall. According to the Amazons, you never know who or what might be looking.

The Underworld is an eerie place. In general, it feels like we're underground, almost like a bunker of sorts. It's all rock with the odd building-like structure here and there. You can sense it's cold, but you don't feel cold. It's always well lit, but the source of light is a mystery. There's no change to it either, so you can't tell when a new day begins or ends. All souls here have this look of utter impotence. We are all to stay here until the Judges of the Underworld decide where we deserve to go.

One of the Amazons, Penthesilea, had given me a small lesson on how things work down here in the Underworld.

She had said, "There are 3 places the Judges can send us. Elysium, the Fields of Asphodel or Tartarus. Elysium is a place for the especially distinguished. There are no labors and an easy afterlife awaits those who are sent there. Normally, only those who had proximity to the Gods are granted access there, and of course if you are a demigod or hero."

That sounds like the place I would like to go, I had thought.

"The Fields of Asphodel is the place where ordinary or indifferent souls who did not commit any significant crimes or did not achieve any greatness or recognition go. They will have an afterlife with neither happiness nor pain,"

Yeah, no, that doesn't sound as great as Elysium.

She finished with the description of Tartarus, "Tartarus is the place where those who committed great crimes will pay for their sins. It is located far beneath the Underworld, as far beneath as the Earth is beneath the sky. Your soul will be condemned to eternal punishment where you will have an afterlife full of pain and misery,"

Have a nice afterlife Ludendorff.

Antiope and I reach the edge of a chasm. At the bottom there's a cave, which the Amazons have chosen as their refuge for the time being.

"Ready?" She asks me knowing the pain I'm going to be in when I land.

"Not really, but I don't have much choice in the matter. On 3?", I say looking down. We're so high up I can't even see the bottom. I can't wait to get out of here.

She nods. "One, two, three, jump!"

We jump and to try to keep my mind from the pain I'm about to feel I start counting.

One, two

The things one does for love.

Three, four

I know you defeated Ares, Diana. I can feel it.

Five, six

I'm coming back. I won't stop until I do.

Seven, eight

I hope you can forgiv – crunch

We land hard, but I'm the only one screaming in pain. I fall on my back and I can feel my legs dangling when I bring my knees up. I try to breathe, but even that hurts too much.

"Just a few more seconds, Captain. Just a few more seconds," I hear Antiope telling me, but two more seconds of this pain and I will lose my mind.

I feel a tingly feeling on my toes that starts climbing up my legs and just before I start clawing my eyes out, the pain is gone. I finally get a chance to inhale and slump back down on the ground.

"This sucks. This really sucks," I say opening my eyes to see Antiope and Aella looking down at me.

Aella stretches her hand out to me to help me stand up and I take it. "Hopefully you won't have to suffer for long. Were you able to find a pattern again?" She asks looking at Antiope.

"Yes, we did. Now we have to figure out how to get the Captain up to the rocks closest to the gates,"

Aella nods and says, "We were thinking about that too, General. We have some ideas," She moves deeper into the cave and we follow her.

They proceeded with explaining to us the ideas they had, but on further thought, they realized that many of them were useless considering the fact that I'm a mere human. So most plans were dismissed with me saying: 'I can't jump that high' or 'I can't punch through rock'.

There was one though that seemed quite plausible and involved teamwork.

The idea came from a quieter Amazon named Hebe. She suggested we use the 'shield technique', much like Antiope had asked Menalippe during the battle at the beach for me to get to the rocks. When I exhaled loudly at having to remind them again that I am not an advanced human like they are, she looked at me exasperated and said,

"I know, Captain. What I was thinking is for maybe three of us to throw you upwards using a big enough piece of flat rock or any kind of flat surface, where you will be able to stand up properly. You stand on it, we pick you up and push you upwards hard enough for you to reach the rock, where the General will be waiting for you to assist you, should you require it,"

"Oh" I cross my arms awkwardly at my now stupid reminder. "Yeah, that'll work."

Antiope contemplates Hebe's plan and nods. "I think that'll work. Good work, Hebe."

The next couple of… hours? Minutes? Days? Or however long it was, we spend practicing our plan. Getting out of the cave is not a problem because Antiope jumps to the top of the chasm with a rope and then she throws it down at me. The only thing I have to do is hold on and she pulls me up. The same cannot be done to get down to the cave since, for whatever reason, the rope magically becomes shorter. I'm not sure why the Gods are playing with me like this, it's almost as if they wanted me to feel the pain of the fall.

We use an almost rectangular shaped rock, so thin, I wonder if it'll snap under my weight. Three of the most muscularly built Amazons wait for me to stand on the rock, then they lift me and ask me if I'm ready. When I say yes, I feel them bend their knees and I do too, to try and add a little more strength to my take off, and then with a warrior scream from the Amazons, I feel myself flying through the air, upwards towards a waiting Antiope.

Six tries before I went high enough for Antiope to hold on to me. And six times when I thought I was about to die all over again. When she finally took hold of my hand and pulled me up with incredible ease, we actually hugged and shared a victory scream that the Amazons below must've heard since we could hear theirs.

I didn't even think twice before jumping down the chasm, my mind stronger now since I knew the pain awaiting me below. The intensity of it never changes, but the way I handle it does. Maybe that was the point all along. Get used to the pain.

This time I stand up the moment the pain is gone and smile at the soldiers. "We make a great team, huh?"

They all smile at me and someone at the backs says loudly, "Maybe we should get you an Amazon armor so you fit in a little better, Captain!"

They all burst out laughing and I answer back, "I've been told I have great legs! I'm sure I would look great in it!"

I join them on the laughter and we move to sit around the fire. We never get hungry or tired down here. So we don't eat and we don't sleep. We mostly talk and share stories to fill our time and get to know each other a little better. But not right now, right now is a council meeting of sorts, where I'm being briefed.

"Captain, there's something else I haven't told you yet," Antiope says looking at me from across the fire.

"What?"

"I told you the chances of getting out of here were slim, and the reason that is, is because of what we'll find beyond those gates."

I look to the burning embers. Yeah, I figured crossing those gates was only the first obstacle. "What should we expect?"

"The gates we can see from here are the first set of gates. The ones that will get us back to the land of the living are guarded by Hades' hound, Cerberus."

That doesn't sound good. "Cerberus is a dog?"

"Cerberus is a monstrous three-headed dog, with a snake as a tail and snakes protruding from parts of its body. He is as tall as 10 horses combined and his many heads make it quite difficult to sneak past him,"

"And I guess telling him to sit down and be a good boy won't work?" She doesn't laugh at my attempt of a joke. Why would she? That dog is what will determine whether we go back or not. "What do we do then? Any ideas?"

She shakes her head and stares at the fire. "I don't know what's beyond those gates. I was just as unconscious as you were when I crossed them. We will only know once we're there. That's were the danger truly begins," She raises her eyes to me and asks once again, "Are you 100% sure this is what you want?"

"My answer is the same. I'm sure. Are you?" I ask trying to reignite the flame of determination we both had when I first got here.

She smirks, understanding what I'm trying to do. "As sure as I'll ever be,"

AN: How was that? Let me know in the comments and see ya Monday with some Diana!