When Death Comes to Visit |ONC 2021

Giorgio - The Underworld

I followed the girl like a lost little puppy, for all I knew she could've been leading me to my death! I followed her barely visible figure blending into the night as the walls twisted morphed into creatures of my imagination. While it took everything in me not to jump and hide she looked confident and unnerved by the creepy maze they called a Colosseum.

"So, how exactly do you know I'm a demi-god?" I asked adjusting the strap of the backpack on my shoulder and trying my hardest not to cling to her like a little kid. "I only found that out for myself this morning, so how did you know?"

The girl let out an exasperated sigh before she replied, "It was the look in your eye when I got onto the bus really."

What look did I have? I wanted to ask.

"It's this desperate and forlorn look all of us have when we're on a quest," she went on as if reading my thoughts. "What really made me sure was you coming here, at night. There's only one reason why someone who would travel eight hours across the country and beg to be let in at this time."

"Have you been on many quests?" I asked.

The girl turned a corner and I followed, "No, but I've been dying to get one for the last two years."

I thought of how I got my quest and wished the whole thing had never happened, not at the expense of my mother getting hurt.

"Why would you want that?" I really couldn't fathom why anyone would want the attention of the gods. Then again it was nice to know who my father was let along find out that Zeus was alive and kicking. Maybe one day it would be cool to meet him but him abandoning my mum like that was not cool.

The girls head tilted back but she answered me anyway, "My dad told me that my mother is Demeter. Now that I am old enough I wish to meet her, among other things."

I pursed my lips in consideration as I did the mental math, "So, you're like my cousin or something?"

The girl scoffed, "As if, we're related alright but it doesn't quite work the way as it would with full-blooded humans. We're more like very very very distant cousins."

"Do you know how many of us there are?"

The girl spun around and looked me dead in the eye, "Look here busboy, I didn't sign-up for the family history lesson. You're going to have to pick things up on the way."

She didn't leave any room for argument as she marched up to a wall which I quickly realised was a dead end. A simmer of anger bubbled up in me, now was not the time to get lost in this place! My mother's life depended on it. I was about to voice exactly what I was thinking, but when the girl placed her palm on the wall it glowed gold.

I took a step closer in awe and noted that underneath her palm was a symbol engraved on the stone. It was a Greek symbol, one that I did not know, not that I was an expert in Greek.

"How did you know to do that?"

"Enough with the questions." the girl snapped, "You'll do as I say from here on out."

I folded my arms across my chest finally sick of her attitude.

"You don't even know why I'm here." I pointed out, "You can go right ahead into the underworld without me, you'll never win the favour to see your mum."

The girl ran her tongue across her teeth, before saying "Fine."

"Great," I said in an upbeat tone, "Let's get some things out of the way, my name is Giorgio, not busboy. What's yours?"

She glared at me so hard I almost crumbled under her stare.

"Isabella."

I smiled, "That wasn't so hard now was it? It's nice to meet you, Isabella. Here's the mission, we need to open the underworld so that Thanatos can get back in."