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When Ares was no longer in sight, Alex and Crista discussed what belongings they were going to pack for this trip and he asked her to wait for him as he needed to do something before they made their way to the land of the dead.

Before that, however, he kept pestering and pestering her "Crista, no matter what, never eat the pomegranate seeds of the Underworld."

Through some of his research, he discovered that the pomegranates from there would bind you to the realm upon consuming them, which is how Persephone had to spend a part of the year in the Underworld after eating the pomegranate seeds that Hades offered her.

He was once again surprised at the Greek deities and their morals, forming elaborate abduction plans for the sake of marriage.

Alex shrugged, he would not get used to it but at least he didn\'t have people who committed these acts in his entourage, and he was fine staying an unknown figure in Olympus, as he was leading a happy lifestyle he wouldn\'t trade for much else in THIS world.

He wasn\'t surprised that he wasn\'t visited by the bigshots of Olympus despite being Athena\'s child. After all, if Zeus had to visit every relative of his, he wouldn\'t have the time to be King of the Gods.

His current destination was also, in fact, to visit someone of that close entourage of his.

His mentor and friend and \'mother\', Athena. He thought he should probably tell her that he wouldn\'t be here for, hopefully, a short while. He thus walked in the now-familiar direction of her abode and hence found himself in front of the tower he now spent so many of his days in.

Athena usually left the gates to her tower open as there wasn\'t really anyone who would dare barge in her residence and also so he could enter easily. It was more of a \'friendship\' act however as her attendants could just open the gates whenever he\'s here but leaving the door open at all times was like stating that he was welcome to come anytime.

Athena was not someone who was explicit about how she felt about people but she usually left small details like these to implicitly make a person she appreciated feel comfortable.

Alex entered the tower and asked the anxious-as-usual attendants about her whereabouts and they led him to a floor that had an armoury and a empty ring in the center.

Athena looked different than usual. Instead of the scholarly robe she generally wore, she was rather clad in a light full-body golden armour and had an owl-shaped helmet covering her head and hair.

She was performing some movements with a shield in her hand. Whenever Alex saw that shield, his blood would boil from how beautiful and noble it was. The shield was a golden colour and despite having a variety of shiny and matte finishes, it wasn\'t superfluous and the level of detail offered to the face of the Medusa in the center was marvelous, as if the entire shield could come to life.

It was the Shield of Aegis, famous weapon of Athena. It was truly the ultimate shield that could both break the strongest spear and defend itself from the strongest hammer. It was also said to be extremely heavy and none but the major gods, with their superhuman strength, could lift it and among those, only Zeus and Athena could perform so wonderfully with it.

She was moving the heavy shield as if it was made of aluminum, and her placement of the shield in various defensive and offensive poses looked like an art.

Only the goddess of war could make throwing a shield around so picturesque.

Speaking of pictures, he hoped to be able to make his camera when he comes back from the Underworld, as he has many, many things he would like to remember.

By now, Athena had obviously detected his presence and she stopped her movements and put down the shield, \'put down\' of course meaning she almost caused an earthquake.

She wasn\'t too fond of greetings as well as goodbyes so he cut to the chase "Athena, I\'m going to go the Underworld for a bit. I came to tell you this"

Athena removed the helmet from her head, exposing her cold face and simply asked "Ares?"

\'How did she know?\' Alex was surprised she guessed it almost immediately and looked at her, bewildered.

"The letter from Dionysus was sticking out of your pouch. You were practically begging for people to see it." She simply stated.

His face flushed with embarrassment. It was true. If the letter hadn\'t shown then he wouldn\'t have to deal with the troublesome god of war, and her using an unusually high amount of words to tell him that he was dumb really hurt. Knowing her, she was probably smiling on the interior, ridiculing him for his lack of caution.

\'Whatever\'

With this out of the way, he could go back and get ready to start the journey so he turned around and walked away, but he heard Athena\'s cold voice echoing "The eclipse is in 2 weeks, make it back by then.

And bring Hermes and your attendant, if you wish."

This was....surprising.

He turned around to face her and although her eyes were still that very same bottomless pit, her lips were very slightly raised, shaping into a slight smile. It was probably the biggest show of positive emotion he\'s ever seen in her.

He therefore did the same, and suddenly it felt a bit sad going away. He\'d be with Crista, sure, but Athena and Hermes also became rather close friends of his, and he wouldn\'t see them for a while now...

Alex left the tower feeling a bit nostalgic and went back to his place, where he found Crista waiting for him on the front porch, and some of his sadness subsided as he saw the person he\'s spent 24 hours of his days here with. She packed her \'belongings\' which were just an amount of scrolls she hadn\'t read yet and few change of clothes.

He similarly did not have much to pack as he only brought some writing materials, some clothes and the most important, the letter from Dionysus.

Crista looked a bit nervous, and for good reason. When she proposed going with him, he wasn\'t so inclined to believe that she would come with him to the literal Underworld just for his presence, they weren\'t at that level of closeness. It was most probably so she could check up on her sisters, who were most likely residing somewhere in the Underworld.

He put his hand on her shoulders and told her that it would be fine. He doesn\'t know too much about how souls are guided to the land of the dead but he was pretty sure nymphs whom were unfairly killed wouldn\'t be tortured in the depths of Tartarus, the deepest hell of the Underworld.

He was also feeling his fair bit of anxiety, as he didn\'t know what to expect...

But he put up his shoulders and resolved to himself that it would go well.

The last time he used the letter, he had to awkwardly scream to the Styx River and he knew he wouldn\'t see the end of the bad jokes about it if Crista heard him.

\'Ughh...\' Alex shrugged as he was conflicted with apprehension.

\'Here goes nothing\'

"Styx River!" Alex screamed to the air with the letter in his hand. Crista was staring at him with raised eyebrows and slightly inflated cheeks, curious at the sight in front of her.

Accordingly, the blood river spilled out of the ground and the familiar boat was headed to their way. At least it did work, as he couldn\'t imagine the humiliation if he just stood there in silence as he screamed like a child.

The devil(literally) in question was making his way to them, on his small boat paddling with the scythe. Crista didn\'t seem the least bit surprised, though.

"It\'s not the first time I\'ve seen Charon. Usually, when someone who has sinned too much dies, Charon personally attends to collecting their soul and take them straight to the depths of the Underworld" She stated as an explanation.

Now, the ghastly figure of the stygian boatman was right in front of them and he stood in silence.

"Ummm, hello, Charon. We need you to take us to the estate of the King of the Underworld." Before leaving, Ares did the bare minimum and informed him of Achille\'s location, as an attendant in the House of Hades.

Charon stared at him for a few seconds then pointed with his finger to the boat, hinting at them to get in.

The two stared at each other then reluctantly stepped on the surprisingly stable boat. As if he completed a transaction, Alex looked to the letter in his hand, and the letters on it were fading from view and turned into short sparks then dissipated into the air.

He presumed it meant that he could no longer use it. It was quite unfortunate as it was incredibly useful but he couldn\'t feel dejected now as he consciously chose to use the letters and whether he wasted it or not would be for the future Alex to conclude.

Then as if to take him out of his trance, Charon started paddling and strangely, the surroundings turned dark and bright again but before he could take sight of the Underworld, he felt his vision darken, his body turn heavy and he collapsed, and the same happened to Crista.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Back in front of Hermes\' place, the boat and river disappeared like they were never there but a few minutes later, a winged figure would land in front of the mansion.

"Alexei-boy, I\'m back! I brought the things you wanted! huh?" If he was here, Alex would recognize the man as his friend and god, Hermes. The god in question looked puzzled and was speaking to himself.

"Alexei-boy is not here, and...Charon was here? Interesting!" He looked intrigued and kept on with his monologue before entering his house.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Alex woke up on the boat, and sluggishly moved his body around and then glanced at his surroundings. They were inside a temple of sorts and there was a red river flowing as far as he could see, but the boat was anchored on a platform that led to 2 large gates.

On the boat, Charon was staring at him with flaming eye sockets and Crista was still collapsed.

Recently, Alex discovered that he could equally induce wakefulness in people, as well as putting them to sleep. He casted his ability on Crista, who\'s eyelashes started fluttering and her eyes opened, revealing her irises and deep pupils.

She looked at him quietly before she stood up and similarly to him, examined the location they were in.

"Where the f**k are we though?" Some things never change, no matter how awake someone is...

Alex supposed they were in the House of Hades but he also had a pressing question.

"Umm, Charon? You\'re going to take us back up when we finish, right?" Alex asked with a strained smile on his face. He had a bad premonition.

Charon stared at him then pointed with his long and skeletal fingers to the now-empty letter.

He was right. The letter would no longer help and they\'d have to find a way out of the Underworld, the land from which only Orpheus has ever left(then went back to, eternally the second time)

Crista, meanwhile, was looking at him with disappointment, but surprisingly, instead of cursing out, she calmly said "We\'d better move the f**k around to figure out how we\'ll get out of here, smart boy."

Alex felt a bit embarrassed but he nodded vigorously and the two left the boat, landing their bodies on the stone platform.

The boatman Charon then started paddling away and when he thanked him for the ride he only responded with a hoarse-sounding groan.

\'Now what?\'

There were only two gates in front of them, and he wanted to proceed with caution, Crista straight-up knocked loudly on the gates.

After a dozen minutes of silence, after they almost gave up waiting, one of the gates opened and a young-looking woman greeted their view.

"Who is it that wishes to enter the House of Ha-... Crista?!" The woman screamed out the last part of her sentence when she saw Crista.

Alex looked at Crista and she had an equally bewildered reaction and her eyes were red.

"Elana...It\'s you...." Crista put her hand on the taller woman\'s face and spoke fervently.

"Crista....What are you doing here? Did...the witch kill you too?"

"No, Elana. I\'m here on a mission. I\'m still alive, and....you look well" She said passionately.

"Well, you could say that. The nymphs have had a better life without the oppression of the witch on our species...." \'Elana\' spoke in a bittersweet tone.

"I\'m....happy that that is the case. I have so much things to tell you" Crista went in a for a hug and Elana reciprocated.

Elena, from her point of view, then looked at me and asked Crista "And, who is this?"

"Alex. I\'m kind of his attendant but I\'d like to think of us more as friends" She responded.

"It\'s great that you\'ve made friends...Now, come in" The two stopped hugging and Elana hinted at us to follow her but she then turned around and looked at us with a scary expression "Oh. And, don\'t you ever eat any pomegranate!"

Crista, who was now by my side, turned around to look at me then giggled.

She then said "That\'s Elana. She\'s my older sister"

Alex nodded and the two followed the nymph inside, and Crista inquired "And, what have you been doing here?"

Elana responded as we were walking down an ornamented corridor "Well, we\'re part of the Nymph Chorale. We\'re essentially the House of Hades\' orchestra group."

Crista was listening attentively and kept asking questions "And does he treat you well? The King of the Underworld?"

Elana fell into deep thought and lightly nodded "When our Queen is here, He treats us extremely well. When She goes back to Her mother, Lady Demeter for the rest of the year, let\'s just say....He can be prone to anger problems"

Crista nodded.

\'They must be speaking of Persephone and Hades, I suppose\' Alex thought to himself.

And when silence descended, Elana gave a prayer to the god and goddess of silence and they made their way silently through the seemingly infinite corridor.

After walking for god-knows-how-long they found themselves in front of another gate, which was swiftly opened and they found themselves in an opulent and crowded corridor.

"This is the outer part of the House. When our King is not around, the rules are quite relaxed and sometimes the dead from Asphodel and Elysium come to hang out here. The inner part of the House, however, is restricted to attendants and people who have an audience with our King, such as you"

As they walked through the unexpectedly vibrant hall of the outer House, a lot of the people would greet Elana and it seems she was quite liked here and seldom they would meet another nymph with whom Crista would have a heartfelt reunion.

Speaking of the people here, some of them had ghostly feature while others maintained physical form. When he asked Elana about it, she informed him that souls that inhabit Asphodel, the equivalent of limbo, would become ghost-like creatures while the souls that were sent to Elysium, the equivalent of heaven, would maintain their appearance and body from their youth.

Elana then led them to a waiting hall that had less people than the one from earlier and they entered through an antechamber, where they found strong-looking guards and no one was walking around.

"This is the inner House. It contains the personal chambers of our King and Queen, Their throne room, and the living quarters of some of the Chthonic gods."

The two nodded and kept on following Elana, who said she was leading them to the throne room, where they would meet the master of this domain, Hades.

The inner house was arranged in a square shape, with the throne room and personal chamber occupying the entire center of the structure, while the other facilities dotted the doors of the four corridors.

After introducing them to the whole place, she stopped in her tracks in front of a door that had a creepy taxidermic tiger face on its front, and it was guarded by two men who are lesser gods, according to Elana.

She then knocked, and soon enough, they heard the deepest voice they could imagine ordering her in a loud tone "ENTER"

Elana then entered then hinted at them to remain in the front and it seemed she was speaking to Hades.

A few moments later she came back and asked them to enter, which they did.

The throne room had very simple decoration, and in the other side of it was a throne that was sat on by a gargantuan figure that they came here for.

The two then heard the voice of Hades ringing out in an impatient tone.

"Who is it? Who are the living that DARE to infringe on MY domain of the dead!?"

This was probably going to be a hard mission, the two thought simultaneously...