A new age of Divinity: Theomachy

The Underworld

They rode to Hollywood, passing towns that were also confused about the snow. They were all so confused that they never even bothered to ask about the lion they were riding. In Las Vegas, there was so much random nonsense that they assumed people didn't find it weird. While Kenneth was the one steering, Beth was the one who was giving the directions. They rode all the way up to the Hollywood sign and got off of Gulltoppr at the foot of the H. Eden gave Gulltoppr a toy made of roots and pet him on the side of the neck before they went behind the H. If they were simple mortals, they would not be able to see anything but the metal that held the sign up, but because they were Demigods, they could see a door to Hades in the metal. Kenneth tried just pushing it open, but that didn't seem to work, so he impatiently kicked it in. They walked out into the darkness of The Underworld, the place looking much like what Nidavellir was described as. It was filled with mountains and caverns, but not all that much light. They could hear tortured screams and all manner of chaos to their left... and decided not to go down there.
"Thinking that's Tarturus," Mikayla said.
"Oh, how can you tell?" Beth asked sarcastically.
"Well, you see, there's fire, screaming, torture, and gigantic multiarmed and multiheaded guard things!" Mikayla pointed out, drawing special attention to the Hecitonceries.
"Well, luckily, Hades' palace is not in Tartarus," Eden assured her friends "If I remember correctly, it is in the dead center of... Hades."
"So, I would be willing to be, it is not that place," Kenneth said as he pointed his sword to a field with much fewer people than they could see in Tartarus, the field lit up as if it was an unending party.
"Mm... no, that would be Elysium," Mikayla said, then they looked out at the rest of The Underworld, seeing thousands, or likely millions of dead souls just kind of... doing nothing "Maybe the RIver Styx'll get us to Hades's place."
"Probably... has anyone got a coin for Charon?"
"Eh, if we say we need to talk to Hades, we should be able to get him to take us to the big guy."
None of them thought this was a good idea, but it was really all they had. They walked down the black gravel of the cliff they were standing on and went down to the dock. As they passed through Asphodel Meadows, they were worried that some soul would try and attack them, but it was as if they were completely invisible to everyone. None of them truly knew how long it would take for the boat to show up, but in the brief moment they were all looking away, it appeared. When they all turned around, Eden yelped and jumped back, which seemed to amuse the boatman.
"You... you are among the living," Charon said, his voice sounding like a gust of wind, but they could still somehow understand his words "You'll be invisible to the judges of the dead."
"That is fine, because we do not need to see them," Beth told Charon, much to his curiosity "We need to talk to Hades... if that would be an option for us."
"And why, might I ask, would you need to speak with the king of the damned?" Charon asked, clearly not seeing them as beneath him, but his windy tone was filled with curiosity.
"Uh... we need to get up to Olympus for reasons you can probably gather with all the new Demigods down here."
"Ah, yes," Charon said as he began to row them down the river "That haven was such a nice home for the Demigods of the world. Such a shame what happened to all of its inhabitants." The boat ride was long and extremely boring, so a few of them fell asleep in the boat, but then as soon as all of their eyes were closed, Charon said "This is Lord Hades' dock." They all woke up and looked around, Beth having only blinked "You may leave now, I have more of your slain friends to attend to." They all got out and before they could turn to face him, he was gone, the waters being unchurned as if he was never there.
"He is a weird dude," Kenneth said as they walked up to the door and pushed it open.
The place was warm, unlike the seemingly temperature-less area of Hades outside. They looked around at the torches that lined the walls and Shades that floated around the hallway. For some reason, they did not see Cerberus or any of the Furies, and not even Thanatos. Everything was much quieter than any of the four had expected, which made them more than a little weary. The more Eden thought about it, the more she figured out why it was snowing in August. They finally came to the throne room and Beth took a deep breath in, then pushed the door open. In the throne room lit by torches with purple flames, Hades was seated atop his throne. His arms were on his legs and his bident stabbed into one arm of the chair with his famed helmet perched upon it. His head was hanging and while it was clear he wasn't asleep, it was unclear if he knew they were there.
"Well... if this doesn't scream boss fight, I don't know what does," Mikayla said as she conjured some spells in her hands.
The being on the throne was not what they had all been led to believe. Sure, none of them assumed he'd be some demonic force like Satan or Surtr, but they hadn;t expected what they found. What they found was a slim, but tall man in a well tailored suit. He had pitch black hair that fell down to where his neck met his trapezius and a full beard that was just a black. His skin was pale, which made sense seeing as he got no sun, yet aside from that, he looked healthy. It was almost unsettling, but it made sense, him being a God and all, to not really have to worry about self care.
Hades sighed and said to himself "Cerberus has three heads..." The four were confused that he was talking about something so... seemingly beneath him "And I've only got two hands..." He looked up at the ceiling, completely missing the living Demigods a few feet away from him "I can never pet them all at- oh, what the shit!?!" He finally noticed them "Where did you all come from? And why... are you alive?"
"Lord Hades, we have come to-"
"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there," Hades told Eden "I'm not your lord, you're clearly Demmy's kid, so either Hades or Uncle. I'm fine with either. Now, continue."
"Oh, uh... okay. Uncle, we have come to ask for a way up to Mount Olympus," Eden requested.
"Oh! Really, that's it?" Hades asked, surprised at such an odd yet simple request "Normally souls who find their way into my palace beg to either go to Elysium or back to the Mortal Realm."
"Wait, you can get us to Olympus from here?" Beth asked.
"Of course I can, I do not live there, but I work closely with Hephaestus."
"Wait, why do you work with Hephaestus?" Kenneth asked.
"He needs fire from Tarturus and we get along pretty well... also he makes toys for Cerberus, so that's also a good point in his favor," Hades explained "But out of curiosity, what do you all need to get to Olympus?"
"My mother..." Beth replied softly, which caught Hades' attention.
"Oh, you're that Beth girl Hayden won't shut up about," The God said while standing up at the foot of his throne "Once Persephone gets back with Cerberus, you can ride the furry bastard to go talk to him."
"Really!? That would be amazing! Thank you, Hades!"
"It's my pleasure, grand niece," Hades replied, the familial tie clearly not clicking in Beth's head.
"So... who's gonna tell her?" Mikayla whispered.
"Just let Nate, he'd clearly have no qualms about it," Kenneth replied.
Said one armed Demigod was... actually really bored back in the Haven's burnt remains. He looked around for anything he could do, but there really wasn't anything he could do other than wait. He wanted to go after them now, but he had no way of getting to them. Gulltoppr was gone and he had no other way of transport. Looking through the burnt remains had given him nothing interesting and looking through dead bodies' loot didn't yield anything. He walked down to the lake and noticed a copious amount of bodies on the shore or in the water. He decided to take a dive and see what he could find while his friends were gone.
"Charon!" Hades called out to his loyal companion, who picked them all up, and began to row them down to the Fields of Elysium "I'm surprised you don't remember the first mythical being you truly saw, Elizabeth."
"What do you mean?" Beth asked, still surprised at how much taller Hades was than any of them.
"The man who drove you to camp. You never questioned his ability to appear and reappear in the literal blink of an eye?"
"Oh."
They rode up to the fields and found Persephone sitting at the glistening shore with Cerberus next to her. The Goddess was even more beautiful than any of them had expected. Since she had very few Demigods, much like Hades, she hardly ever came to the Demigod Communions. She had golden brown skin and dark green eyes with long golden brown hair. She was wearing an ornate skirt that was covered in dark colors in the design of leaves and vines and her top was a midriff bearing low cut, short sleeved, armored tunic with the same colors. Cerberus was pretty much what they had all expected. He was massive, roughly the same size as Gulltoppr in length and height. He had the powerful body of a pitbull and each of his three heads were from a different breed, German Shepherd, Siberian Husky, and Rottweiler. While they all had clear minds of their own, they all seemed very friendly to those who showed no aggression. His long tail was actually a python and it too had a clear mind of its own. Persephone was simply looking down at the water and Cerberus was clearly growing impatient.
"Oh, alright, Cerby," Persephone sighed as she got up and stretched "Let's go back now." She turned and was about to get on Cerberus when she noticed her husband and the Demigod squad "Oh, Hades! I didn't know you were here. Who's this?"
"These are some more of the Demigods, but they were lucky enough to have not been in the Haven when it was attacked."
"Oh, I'm sorry you children had to find your home like that," Persephone apologized "I hope we can help in any way you need."
"Uh, yeah. We need to talk to Hayden," Kenneth replied "Would you be able to find him?"
"Yeah, I'll go get him. Persephone... talk to them. They surely have a lot of interesting stories." She nodded and Hades teleported through the fields while leaving Persephone and Cerberus with them.
"Hey, how come you're down here right now?" Mikayla asked Persephone while Eden gave Cerberus belly rubs.
"Hm? Oh, Hades needed help with all the new souls coming in. I had no idea about what Athena had done for a while, though. Wait... is it winter up in the Mortal Realm now?"
"Uhuh," Beth answered.
"Ugh, our mother can be such a crybaby," Eden muttered.
"Yeah, I know," Persephone agreed. "But she just cares about me. Hopefully it's not too bad a snowfall."