Planned?
Hades rarely voiced his plans, and when he did, it was never in the company of others. Cerberus flicked his eyes towards his lord—the only indication that Cerberus was thrown off—before returning to watch the party.
Asking for further information under the scheming gaze of the undying was out of the question. It was already questionable and dangerous when they were alone. Despite being Hades’s confidant, his lord shared very little. Even with Cerberus.
“Yes…my Lord,” Cerberus fumed.
Hades ignored his slight. “What do you think of the party this year?”
Cerberus sighed. “Lavish, successful, like every year.”
“Always so frugal on compliments, Cerberus. Will you not enjoy yourself for me?”
“Who will feast on those trying to leave if I’m preoccupied?”
“I remade you in human image, and you squander the gift.” Hades laughed. “You’re no longer beholden to that monstrous form. Go, converse with a”—Hades scanned the ballroom—“a lusty Cocytus nymph, or better yet, one of the Erinyes. Make use of the gift you’ve received, or I shall become offended.”
Cerberus straightened. “It’s my duty to protect your realm. I find no pleasure in becoming a spectacle, not even for you.”
Hades swept his gaze over his guests before landing on Cerberus. “You deny an order from the lord of the realm?”
“Was it an order?” Cerberus countered. “Or a request of me to alleviate your boredom?”
They glared at each other. Hades’s jaw ticked. Cerberus usually stood at his lord’s left, which was his place since Hades had taken a queen. The fact that Cerberus stood over him now was not lost on either one of them.
Hades threw back his head and barked out a laugh. “Well done. My boredom has fled.” He returned his attention back to the undying crowd, where some now eyed him and Cerberus with curiosity. “I’ll get my way with you eventually.” A threat. “Now go, for we will speak when Styx’s waters glow with daylight. I have a feeling my guest of honor is about to arrive.”
Guest of honor? Cerberus narrowed his eyes and began composing clever words for his departure, but he never had the chance to use them.
A prickle slithered across his flesh, an internal alarm telling him that something dared move back towards the gates of the Underworld without permission. Cerberus vanished from Hades’s side.
He appeared on the shore of the river Styx, where the rocky, underground gates of Tartarus welcomed its visitors. His xiphos materialized in one hand, and his shield appeared strapped to his other arm.
The river Styx swirled and misted beneath the gates where it bridged the gap between the mortal realm and Hades’s castle. In the far distance, the water turned into a black and red ocean that encompassed the entirety of the realm. Hades’s castle rose up from the waters of the dead before it, malformed and warped, overlooking the gate, while also overlooking the ocean.
The peaks of the castle didn’t blend into the rocky cavern above, but sharpened into wicked points, much like his lord’s throne. The castle itself was a weapon, awaiting the day the mortal realm fell from above to catch it in its sharpened embrace. The stones always glistened, as if they continuously bled, waiting for such a day to come.
Everything here hungered, even him. Even the castle.
Those who resided in the castle were trapped inside unless they had another means of escape. The river goddess Styx, also forever ravenous, rested in eternal slumber. To bathe in her was to be cursed and eternally dirtied. No one, not even another god, would risk such a fate. Although, sometimes, Styx would delight in those who bathed in her and would reward them instead.
But those who dared to enter the waters seeking such a rare blessing—or were thrown in—often found themselves cleansed of all their memories, consumed with unending pain and tears, or enveloped in fire. The black of her waters reflected Tartarus itself, while the red was her blood—and the blood of all the mortals who’d ever died.
The only ones who were unaffected were those who were already dead and waiting for judgment.
Water splashed, and Cerberus’s vision sharpened. One such soul swam even now. They fought the current that led towards the castle and the Erinyes, away from the gods who would judge their fate.
His nostrils flared.
Desire gripped Cerberus’s belly, his throat, as he watched the white creature swim upward from the depths. All other concerns fled from his mind.
Harpies yelped from the tops of the gate and descended to circle the trespasser. The swimmer reached the surface with an unearthly scream. A chorus of high-pitched shrieks assaulted the air in response, the screams coming from all around. The cries echoed out into the distance.
Feast.Delicious.His teeth ached as his stomach hollowed out for the incoming meal, being devoured was a suitable punishment for any being who dared defy the laws of nature.
Cerberus lowered his sword a hairsbreadth as the bobbing head fought to stay above the surface.
Something was off.
