After they had got me down, Dawn was the first to speak.
"Look, Professor, you were never meant to get involved in this, I'm sorry. I'm not even sure if we could get you out now."
I was quiet, for a moment, then I spoke, my mind jumping ahead of me to push the words out,
"Don't worry, there are bigger problems to deal with here."
Pandora nodded, staring at me intently, and then spoke, looking around as she did.
"I think you should stay here. The problem is we can't stay with you, and my parents have Harpies roaming the corridors, so you can't stay on your own," said Pandora stiffly.
Ace nodded in agreement, but then I took a deep breath and said,
"You either leave me here, where I may get captured, or even killed, or you take me with you, where I may still be captured or killed. I'd slow you down too, you can't take me with you, and I'm not letting you three split up for me," I said, my voice shaking a little as I spoke.
The three Goddesses looked unsure, but I continued before they could protest again. "Look, I'm just one person, there are bigger things going on here than trying to save me, I would rather risk myself getting hurt, or killed, contrary to letting myself live and risking the lives of who knows how many others."
"A noble choice indeed, you're braver than I would be," Ace laughed, barely cracking a bittersweet smile and giving me a pat on the back. Then, she turned back to Dawn and Pandora, who crowded in an uncertain circle, whispering for a minute, before turning back to me.
"Stay safe Professor," smiled Dawn, Pandora giving me another slow nod from behind her as the three moved on.
I don't know exactly what happened on that walk into Hel, I didn't want to pry into their conservation.
However, as the three friends were on their way into the centre of the Underworld, I heard a shrieking noise from my side, and froze, not moving an inch. Then, a lined women's face appeared at my side, attached to the body of a feathery bird.
A Harpy.
I'd studied these creatures before.
With the heads of women, jagged teeth, slitted eyes and a mass of feathery hair. Their bodies are the final clue, the bodies of birds, arms spread wide with feathered wings reaching clawed hands at the end of them.
As the Harpy drew nearer, her yellow eyes blazing through her wild hair, my heart jumped.
I could fight, I could run, I could try and surrender, perhaps?
Each option seemed just as unhelpful as the last.
But the sudden dive from the creature spurred on my decision in a millisecond.
I ducked as the Harpy soared over me, and grabbed it by the feathers of one of her wings, in something I could call a moment of sheer stupidity, reckless bravery, or a mix of both.
Spinning from my pull, the Harpy careered right into the wall in front of us. The hard 'crack' noise lulled me into a false sense of security as I made to run, turning on my heel only to see a fellow Harpy flying right at me.
This time, the duck didn't work.
The Harpy grabbed me, claws tearing at my skin as I was pulled into the air. If my stomach hadn't recovered from the earlier trips up and down the Underworld walls yet, it certainly wasn't about to now.
I struggled to no avail as we picked up speed, anxiety merging with the horrible feeling of motion sickness as we plummeted into the depths of the Underworld corridors.
<><><><><>
As the Harpies pulled me deeper into the Underworld, the three Goddesses came to a heavy door, blocking their path with an ominous stance.
As Dawn shot Ace an uncertain look, Pandora pushed forward with a determined gleam in her eyes, opening the door. Inside, the pitch black darkness that met the friends was hardly any more inviting than the door from which they had came. To make matters worse, the door slammed behind the Goddesses, with a thick 'crash'.
For a moment, silence ruled, quickly broken, as could be expected, by The Goddess of Chaos,
"I don't know what's giving me this impression- it might be the never-ending darkness, or perhaps, it's the sudden cold feeling that's emerged but I think there is trouble in this room, either that or the owner hates the light and the warmth. Could be a vampire, though I suppose that would still be trouble," said Ace, jokingly.
"Ok Ace, I think we've got it," replied Pandora, a tad snappily.
"Now, now don't snap at your auntie Pandora," Ace retorted making the Goddess laugh a little. In the darkness, Dawn smiled too, her momentary happiness, snuffed out, as she let out an ear-piercing scream, making Ace and Pandora jump.
"Dawn!" Ace and Pandora yelled together, blindly scanning their dark surroundings, unable to catch any sight of Dawn.
Then, huge torches blazed into life across the Cavern walls, revealing a formidable sight in front of the two friends.
There, standing ominously before another towering door, was a massive Sphinx. The creature's huge frame lent malevolently over Ace and Pandora, holding Dawn like a limp puppet in her paw, almost in a teasing fashion.
"So, you're the would be challengers then? Well, I must say, I was shocked when I saw you'd defeated Cerberus. He came through here looking very embarrassed, which one of you did that?" asked the Sphinx, her voice smooth and condescending.
Slowly, Ace raised her hand, looking into the golden eyes of the Sphinx curiously.
"That would be me, and if you don't let Dawn go the Dragon may just have to come back out again," said Ace, maintaining eye contact with the Sphinx as the former laughed raucously.
"There will be no need for that. I will ask one question. You will have three chances. Win- I let you and your friend here go through. Fail- you face my wrath. Starting with this one here," finished the Sphinx, flipping her sandy-coloured paw lazily catching a bruised, unconscious Dawn seconds before she hit the ground.
Ace and Pandora looked at each other, for a second, as Ace broke off eye contact with the Sphinx.
"Did you know she was here?" The Goddess of Chaos, asked frowning slightly.
Pandora's eyes widened, and she shook her head firmly, eyebrows knitting together. "Of course not. I only knew about Cerberus and the Harpies," replied the Goddess, her frown alleviating slightly as Ace spoke again with a nod,
"I'm sorry," said Ace, quickly, but sincerely.
As the Sphinx spoke, her golden eyes seemed to cut through Ace and Pandora, like two of Loki's sharpest daggers.
"The riddle is; what starts walking on 4 legs, then walks on 2 and finally walks on 3?"
Ace's jet-black brow furrowed as she spoke, "I don't know that one and trust me, I know lots of riddles. What about you, any ideas?"
Pandora stood for a moment, trapped by silence. But, a moment later, Pandora's eyes flew open, the green pools alight with excitement.
"Wait! I know it... I just don't know how to phrase it."
Pausing for a moment to consider, the Sphinx spoke up,
"Well, since I'm feeling very generous today, have some more help."
And with that, the creature threw Dawn to the others, the Goddess slowly coming to as Ace and Pandora held her up a little, pulling her up to her feet when she was ready. Before anything else, the three friends found the pull turning into a hug, an embrace that kept them safe, if only for a second.
The answer drifted into Pandora's head from a memory, forming further as she wrapped herself further into the unfamiliar feeling of a hug.
Pulling herself back into the past, Pandora could feel practically the hard stone that had lined bed beneath her.
She remembered that day more than others, though she wasn't sure why. Perhaps, since it was of the bearable ones, her brain had bypassed the option to throw it away.
Hel had been spinning her axe around, typical behaviour on her part.
Pandora was convinced that woman put more love, if it could be called that, into her weapons, than any living creature.
"You're going to do things those spineless fools in Olympus could never dream of doing," Hel said to Pandora, not even bothering to take her eyes off the axe twirling in front of her.
"Indeed, you started on four legs and now you are on two. Just like the old Sphinx riddle, but there won't be any ending up on three legs for you, not like the humans on Midgard," Hades had said, his lips curling distastefully as he finished his words.
"Well, surely the answer is humans then? I mean they start on four legs, then three could be if they were using a walking stick, right?" Dawn said, still looking a bit shaken, but marked with a determined gleam in her eyes.
"Yeah, but it could mean us too," Pandora said, uncertainly.
"I think the two of you are forgetting that we have three guesses, so, how about we try humans and if that doesn't work, we try something else?" said Ace, reigniting the dilapidated spark of hope in Pandora and Dawn's hearts.
The three Goddesses turned to the Sphinx still towering above them, ready to give their answer.
Pandora spoke, a confident expression painting her chalk white face,
"The answer is humans."
At this, the Sphinx gave a screeching roar, filled with anger, and blew a plume of flames dramatically into the air. The creature howled, swiping a large paw at Pandora who didn't dodge quickly enough, ending up with two rather nasty cuts across her cheek. But, as the Sphinx writhed and twisted, her body began to turn to dark stone and her growl turned to a horrific snarl as the stone covered her mouth and the rest of her head then she was still, a glorious statue of black stone.
After a small moment of pause, cracks danced across the stone and the Sphinx's stone form shattered into millions of pieces, falling to the floor dramatically.
"Poor her," said Dawn, suddenly, looking down at the scattered remains of the Sphinx as she spoke.
At her words, Pandora shot Dawn an incredulous look, somewhat mirrored by Ace.
"She just knocked you out Dawn, she was going to kill us, and you STILL pity her?" Pandora asked, more bemused than anything.
"Well, I think you'd do your job if you knew that's what was coming for you otherwise, wouldn't you?" Dawn asked as the three Goddesses drew themselves towards the large door before them. "Fair point." Pandora conceded, her voice quietening a smidge.
"I'll bear that in mind if I ever want you to do something Ace," said Dawn, making Ace chuckle as she finished, while Pandora tried (and failed) to hide her grin.
But the grins and laughter stopped as they drew up to the door in front of them. This was even more grandiose than the last, covered in intricate symbols, snaking their way across the cold surface like tattoos.
"I know this door," said Pandora gravely, her eyes narrowing as she continued, "We're here."