DEMIS (A Clash With Lightning)

35

"I've been waiting for days," he spoke with a cheesy grin. "I already met your friend."

"What friend?" Ban questioned as he stepped aboard.

"Ah! Ban!" Charon greeted him. "It's an honor to meet Hades' only son."

"What friend?" Ban ignored his statement.

"Well, I guess he isn't really your friend, is he?" Charon asked with a twinkle in his eye. "But I think you know who I'm talking about."

"Alexander is here?" Jasmine asked urgently.

"He's been here a couple of days." Charon shrugged. "No telling what kind of damage he's done while you all were dilly-dallying."

"Where is he?" Ban gritted his teeth.

Charon pointed across the vast river. In the distance, they could see a dark and ominous castle. "He's holed up in Hades' castle."

"Where is my father?" Ban asked. "Shouldn't he be in the castle?"

"The gods' powers ran out about two days ago. They are like regular humans now," Charon explained. "If I had to guess, he's probably got Hades locked up in the dungeons."

"What about Persephone?" Keith asked.

"It's summertime. She's up in Olympus with her mom. Safe... for now, anyway," he said.

"I need to find my armor," Ban spat.

"That's what I'm here for," Charon spoke without ever dropping his white smile. "I'm going to take you straight to your armor."

"Even without our soul coins?" Jasmine asked. She didn't trust this man.

"I'm a reasonable man," Charon responded. "Plus, we'll say Hades will owe me a favor when all this nonsense gets straightened out. Now hop on, the rest of you. We've wasted enough time."

Keith, Jasmine, Josh, and Rose all entered the boat behind Ban and took their seats. Charon began to steer the boat in the direction of the castle. Everyone's nerves were on edge. There was a real probability that they would all die today. Everything they had worked toward would be for nothing. What terrified them the most was the reality that they may have wasted precious time with their families before the end of the world.

The lake was eerie. The water was black and seemed like it would pull you in if touched and never let you go. Luckily, their trip across the lake only took fifteen minutes. They couldn't wait to get off the boat and away from the scary water.

"This is as far as I go," Charon said. "Good luck."

"I thought you were taking us to the armor?" Rose asked in disbelief.

"I did." He shrugged. "It's right at the gate. Apologies, I won't be joining you. Cerberus doesn't like me very much."

"Cerberus?" Keith squeaked.

Cerberus, a monster tamed by Hades, guards the gate of the Underworld. He keeps the souls that enter from trying to escape, but more importantly, he guards the gate to prevent the living from entering.

"Again, Ban, it has been such an honor. I wish you all tremendous luck on your journey." Charon waved to them before his boat took off to the other side of the river, leaving them to take this journey alone.

"Let's go," Ban said. "It looks like the gate is only about a half mile away."

They made their way up the hill. The sky was dark gray like it had been on the surface, except now it wasn't storming. There were volcanoes surrounding the Underworld, likely to keep people from coming here. One would erupt from time to time, but they were far enough away that the lava would never reach.

When they reached the gate, they could see Cerberus asleep inside his doghouse. He was a giant dog with three heads. His fur was black, and he had black smoke surrounding him. On closer look, they could see that the smoke was actually emanating from him. A tongue stuck out lazily from one of his heads as he snored.

"He's bigger than I thought he would be," Keith whispered.

"Shh!" Rose shushed him. "Let's try not to wake him."

"Yeah. Maybe we can sneak past and avoid fighting," Jasmine whispered back.

They tiptoed around his giant paws, watching their steps to avoid making any noise. Suddenly, they heard a thump! They turned around to see Keith had tripped and fallen flat on his stomach. They cringed as they checked to make sure Cerberus was still sleeping. He stopped snoring for a moment but continued his rhythmic breathing.

They gave Keith harsh looks as he stood back up. He rolled his eyes at them and ushered them to keep going. They reached the gate. Ban reached for the handle, and everyone else held their breath. To everyone's horror, the gate made an ear-splitting squeak when it opened.

They turned around slowly as they heard growling behind them. Cerberus began to stand, causing the ground to shake slightly under his feet. With his eyes now open, they could see that they were glowing red. He looked down at the five below him and snarled.

When he bent his head down, Rose prepared herself to grow. Even at her biggest size, Cerberus would still be the size of a large dog to her—and very dangerous. She paused when she noticed the dog heads sniffing the group. Their mouths fell open when the middle head licked Ban's entire body before beginning to pant happily.

"What the fuck?" Ban looked at his arms, now covered in slobber.

The dog did a jump spin as if he wanted to play. When he landed, the ground rumbled and knocked them off their feet. Cerberus barked playfully before bending down, ready to play.

"I guess he likes you," Jasmine breathed out. "Thank the gods."

Ban flicked his arms to get the slobber off of him. Cerberus responded by licking him again.

"Or he thinks I taste good," he complained.

"At least he isn't killing us," Rose said, not taking her eyes off the beast. She'd never seen anything like it.

Ban held his hand out, and the dog monster lowered his middle head so Ban could pet him. Ban rubbed between his eyes. The dog went to lick him again.

"No!" Ban shouted. "Bad dog!"

Cerberus whimpered and covered his eyes with his paws. Ban felt a little bad, so he gave him another pet. Cerberus seemed to forget about the scolding. He sat up happily.

"Do you know where my father's armor is?" Ban spoke to him. He wasn't sure if the monster could speak or if it understood language.

The dog tilted his head and looked toward his house. He trotted inside and came out with the armor in his mouth. He dropped it at Ban's feet and let his tongues hang out.

Ban picked up the slobbery armor. It began to leak black shadows before illuminating with a bright white light. He felt faster, stronger, better.

"Thank you," he spoke to the dog again.

Cerberus used his leg to scratch behind one of his ears as a response.

"We have to go now," Ban told him.

Cerberus then bent down and used his nose to push the group through the gate. He panted happily on the other side. Ban smiled at him.

"Alright. Maybe you're a good boy," he said with a smile.

Cerberus howled proudly as Ban shut the gate behind him.

"Alright, let's get going," he said.

"I can't believe you have a monster dog as a pet now," Keith spoke, jealousy lacing his tone. "Must be nice."

"He's not my dog," Ban argued. "He's my father's."

"Seemed like your dog to me," Rose smiled at him.

"I suppose." Ban shrugged.