Hades Ain't Got Nothing on Us

Ch. 21 - άρετή (Arete)

The riverbank was as Rob remembered it, only now he did not feel lost and alone. Today, he was determined in his quest and confident in the fact that he had the support of three gods. He wore his earthly clothes again, with the same black bar over his lips.

Neatly lined on the edge of the Styx were four distinct items. The closest to him was a green bottle containing a dark liquid. According to its homemade label, it was a potent 190 proof wine from the du Bois Reserve in Pacific Palisades, California.

An acoustic guitar lay neatly next to the liquor. Though the instrument itself looked to be in mint condition, the strings were untrimmed and must have totaled a half mile in length.

A cornucopia of fruits leaned against the guitar. It added an array of hues that the bleak scene desperately needed. It reminded him of Sephy, the one ray of light in the Underworld's darkness. The colors were so vibrant they had to have been plucked from her garden, the only surviving vegetation at the diplobrats' home. The cornucopia was her unwitting contribution to Rob's cause.

Were it not for its intricate carvings, Anna's unmistakable bow would have been mistakable for any other. Without sunlight to reflect, it looked like it was made of unpolished silver that gleamed only dimly in relatively low moonlight of the arrows.

One by one, the other souls noticed Rob and his belongings. In flowing cloaks, they crowded around him with penetrating looks of jealousy and intense curiosity. Sensing danger as they closed around him, Rob gathered everything quickly as he could into a pile.

Like a clap of thunder, a voice rumbled from across the Styx.

"Look who it is."

Startled, the souls ceased their approach. Some covered their ears. For many, the voice was the first they'd heard since their death.

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon. You humans can be so reckless."

Hades' laughter shook the charred trees on the other side of the river. Invisible fingers plucked a nonsensical melody on the guitar and sloshed the wine inside the tinted bottle.

"Looks like you are not the only thing my wife's friends conveyed to my kingdom, but I worry not. I can't possibly see how any of these insignificant knickknacks could help you survive my vast and perilous lands."

The souls assembled closest to Anna's bow and arrow were pushed into each other by an unseen force. They fell with little resistance, leaving the glinting weaponry unguarded.

"I am impressed you seem to have won Artemis' trust," confessed Hades, "but seeing as how this precious metalwork is in my realm, I believe I am going to have to take this opportunity to seize them from you."

A stretch of the bow, roughly the size of a hand, glowed red. As it floated upwards, the carvings came alive, reenacting Anna's most murderous victories. Her victims' gruesome shrieks made the souls cower in their robes. Rob was incapable of protesting, nor did he need to. The arrows rose independently from the quiver and stabbed at the outline of an average sized man. Hades lost his grip, and the bow, gray again, fell to the floor with a loud clank.

"Stop!"

The arrows continued to prod despite Hades' pleas, lowering and concentrating their aim on a shorter, wider target. Hades' agonized cries rose over the celebratory howls of Anna's dogs immortalized in metal.

"I give up! I relinquish my claim!"

The dogs ceased their calls and the bow was inanimate again. The arrows gave one more jab for good measure, then returned to their quiver. Speedily, Rob collected his gifts and looked around him. A minute of silence passed. The eerie feeling that Hades was watching him made formulating a plan to cross the river exceedingly nerve wracking.