Rosetta Dagotto and the Fight for the Underworld

Chapter Twenty-Two: Erebus

Chapter 22: Erebus

There is fury dripping from Echidna's slitted red eyes. Her tongue flicked in her mouth as she hissed angrily, poison dripping from her fangs. Echidna is livid that Rosetta killed her son, the Nemean Lion, with an arrow. In her defense, Rosetta didn't have any choice but to kill the Nemean Lion. Echidna had sickened him on Rosetta and Nova and commanded him to kill them.

Rosetta had to kill the monster, or else Nova and she would have been sent to the Underworld the hard. Or at least she would have. Nova would have been killed a second time which means he would have been lost forever. His soul would have dissipated like all spirits who die after death.

"Look, we didn't want any trouble," Rosetta pointed out. "We just want to use your portal to get to the Underworld, and you were the one that started the violence. So, just tell us what we need to know, and we'll be on our way."

"Do you think I'm that foolish?" Echidna chided. "If I let you go, then Erebus will kill me for failing to keep my end of the bargain."

"Not if we defeat Erebus first," Nova pointed out.

"Ha! Don't make me laugh, mortal," Echidna mocked. "Erebus is a god, you fool. Even if you did manage to defeat him, which you won't, killing him will only be temporary. After a century or two, he'll come back. And then another generation of demigods will deal with him. You two are out of your depth."

"No, we're not," Nova declared. "The only one out of their depth is you. As soon as Erebus is done with you, he'll send you back to where you came from. He will dispose of you just like everything else that he gets bored of or finds no longer helpful. I've seen it in person."

"You saw it through red-tinted glasses," Echidna snapped. "You cannot see his genius because you refuse to do so. But those of us who are loyal to him will be rewarded. And the first thing I will do to please Erebus is to dispose of two little pests that are trying to get in his way."

"What about the Sphinx?" Rosetta asked. "She isn't siding with Erebus, and she sent us here so that we could find the portal to the Underworld. Don't you want to be on the same side as her?"

"My daughter is not on anyone's side, and if anything, she does her own thing," Echidna rolled her eyes. "She has always been independent. She enjoys sitting in places with knowledge rather than helping her Mother take a stand against the Olympians. I'll have a talk with her about that later. After all of this is taken care of."

"I have news for you, Echidna," Rosetta retorted. "But after all of this is taken care of, you won't be here to do anything. Nova and I will defeat you and go through the portal to the Underworld to stop Erebus. Enjoy Tartarus."

Rosetta pulls back another arrow and aims it at her snake body. It hits, but it doesn't do anything. It poked, but the wound healed as soon as she took it out.

"Nova, go left; I'll take a right!" Rosetta blurts out between shooting arrows at the snake lady.

Nova went to Echidna's left but quickly jumped back when she shot a glob of spit at him. It sizzled where it landed in the spot he had been standing previously. Rosetta shoots another arrow. Echidna spits poison, hitting the arrow in mid-air, causing it to stop in its tracks and disintegrate onto the ground.

"Nova, be careful," Rosetta warned him. "We don't know what that'll do if it touches our skin."

"I can't get close enough to try stabbing her with my sword," Nova called. "There has to be a way to beat her."

Rosetta pulls out Dimi's ax and throws it with great accuracy toward Echidna. It sinks into Echidna's snake-like body but to no avail. It falls out, and the wound heals up, leaving only a smidge of blood where the ax had sunk in.