The Protector (Niall Horan)

Chapter 17 - The son of Hades

To prevent you guys from getting confused: this chapter starts a little while after the 1D boys ended up in the Underworld. See 'Chapter 1.5 - Kidnapped by a demon' from the Delted Scenes & One Shots book in my profile, one of the deleted scenes from The Protector. Read them if you haven't already. There are 2 so far. First I thought about making this chapter also a deleted scene, but I decided against it.

I'm sorry for the long wait. But here is the long awaited next chapter! I try to make it as long as possible :) Enjoy!

Chapter 17 - The son of Hades

Zayn's POV

The demon had dragged us down to hell. I did not know how it was possible, but it was. Me and the lads were huddled together, looking around at our weird surroundings in a bit of fear. There were trees, but they looked black, death. And I have no idea why, but the sky is a deep purple colour with clouds as sharp as razors.

An annoyed growl escaped the demon's throat and he hissed, "Get up! Up, you stupid mortals!" He roughly pulled us all to our feet – poor Harry was about to cry – and he commanded us to start walking.

"Don't even think about escaping. I won't hesitate to rip out your throat if you do," he threatened. And I believed he would. He does not seem like the kind of person who would drop empty threats. But then again, he wasn't exactly a person... he was a demon, an evil creature.

I shared a panicked look with the other lads when the demon forced us to walk. Our feet shuffled over the uneven ground, crushing death grass underneath our van-glad feet. Once, Harry fell over, resulting into the demon cussing in a language that sounded like crackling flames. The demon gripped Harry's curls in his fist and yanked him to his feet, pushing him to keep walking.

A few tears escaped Harry's eyes and I walked next to him, gripping his shaking hand in my own. Gently squeezing it to show him some support. Harry squeezed back.

I wanted to know badly where we were going, but I was too afraid to speak up. So I kept silent. Louis seemed to think differently.

"Where are you taking us?" He snapped in his own sassy way. I admired him and feared for his safety at the same time.

"I'm taking you to Hades. King of the Underworld and the God of Death and Destruction," was all the demon said.

I remember once reading a book about the Greek mythologies; from the Pegasus to the chimera and from demi-gods to Gods. Hades being one of those Gods. He who rules over the underworld and who watches over the death for all of eternity.

It did not put me at ease knowing we were going to meet Hades. Not at all.

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We had walked for almost five hours straight; over the wasteland of the world we were in right now. The moon had started to rise; I stared. Once it might have been like the moon of Earth, but now it existed out of three pieces floating in the sky; in the shape of shark tooth's. The sky went from purple to a greenish yellow. Hideous creatures flew past the moon pieces; winged creatures that seemed like a mixture between lizards, insects and something alien.

A shiver went down my spine and I looked down, watching my feet step over the dust covered ground. The death grass had made place for sand. Or at least I thought it was sand at first, later on I figured out it was dust. As if a great fire had set this world ablaze, a long time ago.

Hell was a death world.

We walked past a gigantic three-headed dog; eyes burning like leaping flames. I have heard enough Greek mythologies to know that the dog was Cerberus, the one who guarded the Underworld.