Weird relatives

Chapter 16: A tale about beaten God of War

Danny liked the Underworld so far. Most would call him insane for loving this depressive piece of land, but he liked it. His home wasn't much different at the time. Besides the fact that you can easily trip, fall down from floating chunk of the ground and be damned for eternal suffering in case you hadn't learned how to fly. One place was a pretty strong reminder, namely Fields of Asphodel. The black grass, trampled by eons of dead feet. A warm, moist wind blowing like the breath of a swamp. Black trees growing in clumps here and there. Yeah, that's pretty much how his homeworld looked like. But, Danny learned to like it the way it was. He was also amused at the fact that he probably liked the Underworld more than its ruler.

The main question remained, how come that one dead appears here, and other in his kingdom? Well, for the most part it's a very random thing. It depended on many factors, such as the strength of emotions in the moment of death, remorse and guilt, and most importantly, presence of ectoplasm in the air. And becoming the full fledged citizen of the Infinite Realms was certainly better than just spending an eternity standing on one place like middle class Hades' subject.

Phantom viewed the appearance in his world as the chance to start everything from a clean sheet. So he didn't care who the person was during its life. As long as they didn't break the laws. Warden didn't share his point of view, but Danny didn't care about his opinion for that matter. All in all, Phantom's kingdom represented mortal world a lot.

The group tried to blend into the crowd, keeping an eye out for security ghouls. Their faces shimmer. They all look slightly angry or confused. They will come up to you and speak, but their voices sound like chatter, like bats twittering. Once they realize you can't understand them, they frown and move away. Little did they know, that two white haired kids could make out what they were talking about. Danny thought that only because you 'just lived' doesn't mean that you must exist in such conditions, for him the Fields of Punishment seemed better. Heck, that WAS the main punishment back at his home.

They crept along, following the line of new arrivals that snaked from the main gates toward a black-tented pavilion with a banner that read:

JUDGMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION

Welcome, Newly Deceased!

Out the back of the tent came two much smaller lines.

To the left, spirits flanked by security ghouls were marched down a rocky path toward the Fields of Punishment, which glowed and smoked in the distance, a vast, cracked wasteland with rivers of lava and minefields and miles of barbed wire separating the different torture areas. Even from far away, Danny could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches or listen to opera music, the last one seemed weird, though. He could make out a tiny hill, with the ant-size figure of Sisyphus struggling to move his boulder to the top. Good luck, man.

The line coming from the right side of the judgment pavilion was much better. This one led down toward a small valley surrounded by walls, a gated community, which seemed to be the only happy part of the Underworld. Beyond the security gate were neighborhoods of beautiful houses from every time period in history, Roman villas and medieval castles and Victorian mansions. Silver and gold flowers bloomed on the lawns. The grass rippled in rainbow colors. Danny could hear laughter and smell barbecue cooking.

Elysium.

In the middle of that valley was a glittering blue lake, with three small islands like a vacation resort in the Bahamas. The Isles of the Blest, for people who had chosen to be reborn three times, and three times achieved Elysium.

"That's what it's all about," Annabeth said, "That's the place for heroes."

The group left the judgment pavilion and moved deeper into the Asphodel Fields. It got darker. The colors faded from their clothes, not that Phantom's had any. The crowds of chattering spirits began to thin.