Divine Chaos

Chapter 27 - Styx and Stones

I groan inwardly, "Yeah, we're a bit dumb."

"But if we're down here with Hades himself, why did those stupid god's deicide it was a good idea to toss us into the underworld anyway?" Selina asks.

"Maybe they're dumber than we are." Andrew suggests.

Laura shakes her head.

"They're not."

"What do you mean? They tossed a bunch of Olympians down here, including Hades. What do they think we're going to do? Stay trapped down here forever?" Selina replies, laughing a little at the end.

"I knew what they were thinking when they threw us down here." Laura sighs, "They did their research, and it's not good."

"What do you mean?" I ask. I know I did a lot of my own research, I guess I didn't really look into the underworld too much though.

"I didn't get the exact logistics of the whole plan, but I know one thing for certain." She starts, "All I know, is that in order for us to escape from here. We are going to have to sacrifice something..."

"Or someone." Andrew finishes.

Of course, somewhere deep inside I knew this would be the case. Everything about Greek religion and mythology is centred around sacrifice. But this time, I don't know what, or who it is going to be.

"Look, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Luca tells us, a stern look in his cold eyes, "Right now, we have a mission to complete and a hometown to save. We're gods right now, we need to understand that there will be consequences, and in this instance, we're going to have to face them for the sake of our people."

My eyes widen, actually, everyone's eyes widen.

Luca, I couldn't have said it better myself.

For once, he sounds like me. Like Athena, hardly like the brash Ares at all. He appears wise, more like a leader in this moment than I have been so far.

We all nod in agreement at his statement. He's right, we're gods, we're Olympians. No matter our differences, if we manage to cooperate, we might be able to get through this.

There should be no task too great for us.

"So, how do we cross this river?" Ashlyn asks, walking over to Marco and slapping him heartily on the back. There's quite a contrast between the two of them, and it's slightly amusing to watch.

"There are two ways." Marco begins, "Violence, or gifts."

Asthore grins, "I could do with a bit of a fight."

"Yeah, but then again, maybe we should save that for later..." I quickly interject, I'm not really up for fighting anyone unless it is absolutely necessary. I'm sure the boys are itching to use their weapons though.

Marco rolls his eyes, "Or. I could just tell him to let us across. I'm basically his boss."

Laura shrugs, "You know, that could work."

"Oh, come on!" Asthore chuckles, twirling his triton around in his hands, "When am I going to be able to use this?"

"Perhaps Tartarus?" Emma suggests.

"Oh, right."

Marco huffs a little, I bet he's feeling like he's surrounded by idiots.

"Come on. Let's get this over with."

We all fall silent and follow after him, allowing Marco to lead the way through the crowd at the river bank.

There are thousands of people waiting, screaming and pleading as they try to get a ride across the river. Some of them will be trapped on this side forever, without a complete body they cannot make their way across the river, Charon will never allow it.