Chapter 12: Chapter 11 - Hello, Hades

CHAPTER 11

Hello, Hades

Margariti Local Flash Station, Epirus, Greece.

Walking along the side of the dark road outside the small local Flash Station, the quartet swiftly followed Lee Jihoon a few hundred meters before stopping in the shadows of some tall bushes by the road.

The Korean guy waved his hand at the road—cyan light flashed, and a mid-sized pearl-white terracar appeared. It had a streamlined design, with bright cyan line patterns adorning its sides and four translucent cyan wheels. Cool and fine were the right words to describe it.

Quietly, they hopped into the car, with Lee Jihoon in the driver’s seat.

“En route to Ammoudia.” a clear female voice announced as the terracar drove by itself in the maximum permitted speed.

Lee Jihoon let out a long, relieved breath as his seat spun around to face Yuriel and Tie Li, who were sitting at the backseats—well, it faced Yuriel’s seat more than Tie Li’s. The others also controlled their seats to face each other. The considerate AI assistant of the terracar immediately made a round coffee table to appear in front of them.

“So, where’s this portal to the underworld located?” Lee Jihoon asked. “The estuary of the River Acheron?”

“Why ask if you already knew?” Yuriel chuckled.

Lee Jihoon scratched his head sheepishly. “Uh... But how are we going to open the portal? I mean—we aren’t the descendants of the Hades Ancient Clan like our Shining Prince’s ex.”

Yuriel just smiled mysteriously. “Leave it to me.”

“Fine, fine.” Lee Jihoon rolled his eyes, then asked, “Are we heading directly to the Acheron’s riverbank?”

“Yeah,” Yuriel said. “Just pick a save spot not far from the estuary.”

“Alright!”

“Yuriel,” Edward suddenly said. “Around the beginning of this month... Is that the time when you got poisoned?”

“Yeah.” Yuriel glanced at him. “And I suppose you broke up with Celosia Hades around that time, too? It’s indeed no coincidence.”

Edward was silent for a moment. “Celosia... her birthday is the same as you Twin Stars of Cosmos—even her birth time is only two minutes later than yours. That’s why she got poisoned. Because someone is trying to find you, by using the poison to force you to awaken your power.”

“I know what you’re trying to say.” Yuriel sighed. “If I had revealed my identity sooner, there would be no such poisoning incidents. I have to say, I was a bit cowardly—I didn’t want to take on my responsibilities... But anyway, here I am, trying to make it up to your ex.”

Edward didn’t say anything. He just nodded, thinking to himself.

The drive from the Margariti Local Flash Station to Ammoudia took about half an hour. In the village, the terracar’s speed had to slow down, so it took another five minutes to get to a dark corner near the estuary. They got off the car, which disappeared in a flash of cyan.

Then the quartet, led by Yuriel, silently crept along the banks of the River Acheron. In the distance, the roaring crashes of the waves of the Ionian Sea could already be heard through the pouring rain and chilling breeze.

There was a path on the rocks leading up to the sea, separating the river on the left and the sea on the right. They walked on that narrow path, then stopped several tens of meters away from the end of the path. They stood on the rocks, gazing at the calmly-flowing river water to their left.

“Hey, are you not going to let us in? It’s raining heavily here, you know?” Yuriel suddenly said at the dark water.

Just as the others were staring at her as if she were crazy, the river water next to them dropped by a few meters, leading into the sea ahead diagonally downward—the sea water above it acted as the ceiling of the water tunnel. At the same time, a gust of cold wind swept over them from the depths of the tunnel, whispering eerily in their ears.

“Let’s go.” Yuriel said smilingly as she activated the hover mode of her boots and flew into the tunnel.

The others glanced at each other, their faces pale. In the end, it was Edward who went in first, followed by Tie Li, and a whimpering Lee Jihoon. Right after they all went into the tunnel, water closed in behind them, blocking the path back to the surface.

“Yuriel, are you sure it’s safe to... proceed?” Edward couldn’t help asking.

“Of course.” Yuriel said ‘reassuringly’. “Just relax and enjoy our little trip.”

The tunnel was dark, but strangely, the river water below them emitted a very, very faint white light—just enough for them to see the path ahead. Like that, for what felt like hours, they flew with the cold wind blowing them. In no time, their hair and clothes, which were previously drenched in the rain, dried.

“Slow down, guys—we’re nearing our friend Charon.” Yuriel’s voice sounded from somewhere in front of the other three.

Still processing Yuriel’s words, the three found that the water tunnel’s walls had disappeared—now they were flying above a dark wide river which water didn’t shine anymore. Their surroundings were a bit brighter, though, and they could see gloomy grey fog swirling about lazily. Faintly, they could also hear cries of sorrow and despair from the depths of the river.

“So the Acheron really is real...” Lee Jihoon muttered to himself.

“And Charon the ferryman is also real...” Edward muttered next to him.

The quartet floated in mid-air above the River Acheron, staring at the ancient black boat crossing not far ahead. At the back of the boat, a black-cloaked figure stood like a shadow, slowly and quietly paddling with a long oar. The boat wasn’t that big when seen from the distance, but when they observed the countless tiny translucent spirits huddled on it, they realized that the boat—and Charon—were both much larger than the spirits were.

So, were the spirits really that small, or were Charon and his boat...?

Roaarrrr!! Monstrous roars reverberated through the area, shaking their souls. Hearing these roars, the cloaked figure—Charon the ferryman—halted his rhythmic rowing, then slowly turned his head in the quartet’s direction...

For a long time, he just stared at them like that, silent and motionless. The boys froze in fear, their hearts threathening to leap out of their throats. Then, unexpectedly, Charon slowly nodded at them—or rather at Yuriel.

Yuriel nodded back with a smile, feeling a wave of déjà vu hitting her. Well, it must be her memories from her future self—at a time when she would be recalling the memories of her past lives. (you’ll understand later, I promise)

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Suddenly, the surrounding air froze. A multitude of negative feelings such as gloom, grieve, and depression crept into their hearts. They didn’t know what happened, but the moment they regained their clarity, they were standing in front of a giant throne made of black crystal and white bones, inside an incredibly spacious, tall-ceilinged, gloomy dark hall.

“Long time no see, Elpida.” a voice so deep it trembled their hearts sounded behind them, making them turn around fast in reflex.

With the exception of Yuriel. She stood there frozen, gaze unfocused as if in a trance—the instant she heard the name ‘Elpida’, she seemed to remember some things. Yet she couldn’t grasp any of them. It was such a frustrating feeling—like you knew that you were supposed to know something, but couldn’t bring yourself to remember it.

“Crown of Cosmos.” the previous deep voice woke her up.

She shook her head, trying to shake that feeling off. Turning around, she found an oddly familiar figure standing before her and the others—about two meters in height, with bloodless-like very pale skin, eerie skeletal facial features, dark empty eye sockets, long and thin black hair, a glittering black laurel crown, and long black ancient greek robes. And he was faintly shrouded in gloomy dark fog.

“Hello, Hades.” Yuriel smiled.

“My apologies—I did not expect that you have not recovered the memories of your previous eight lives.” the Ruler of the Underworld said.

“It’s fine.” Yuriel shook her head. “Anyway, my name’s Yuriel now.”

“Very well, Yuriel.” Hades’ thin lips formed an almost visible smile.

Yuriel wanted to say something, but then she glanced at the others, finding them standing frozen in place, foreheads beaded with cold sweat.

“Guys, are you alright?” she waved a hand in front of them.

“Oh, do not mind them,” Hades said. “They are fine, compared to those who instantly fainted or died when first seeing me.”

Yuriel shrugged. “Anyway, you know why I’m here, right?”

“I do not know, Yuriel.” Hades said, his figure flickering. “I suppose you are here to check on the Seal of Tartarus?”

“I’m not here for that... Isn’t it just fine?” Yuriel raised her eyebrows.

Hades was silent for a while. “No.”

“Oh.” Yuriel blinked. “What happened?”

“Ever since one week ago... they have been stirring.” Hades said. “They must have sensed the early arrival of the Crown of Cosmos.”

“How much longer can you hold the seal?” Yuriel asked.

“Not more than six years.”

“That’s actually more than enough.” Yuriel said. “Just beware of the Forces of Darkness—in the original future timeline, they will wake the Titans seven years from now. But now I suspect they will do it within five years.”

Hades nodded. “We will make proper preparations to welcome them.”

“Alright, now I’ll do what I’m here for—saving someone.”

“You know that you cannot take a dead spirit from me, Yuriel.”

“Indeed. But this person is still alive—she just entered not long ago.”

“I... did not sense any living being entering my domain other than you and your three friends here.” Hades’s tone was as grave as his face.

Yuriel sighed. “The Forces of Darkness must’ve pretended to be you and brought Celosia Hades to Tartarus—to feed her to the Titans, I guess.”

“This girl has my name as her surname?” Hades was taken aback. “Then she must be a descendant of that person I blessed centuries ago.”

“Don’t you know that you have a clan full of people devoted to you?”

“Are you not aware that I know nothing about it?”

“Hey, my current weak mortal brain can’t bear all of the memories of my original future self yet!” Yuriel protested. “I only know some major events that are supposed to take place in the original future timeline.”

Because Yuriel’s current ‘weak mortal body’ isn’t strong enough to bear both the power of the Crown of Cosmos and the memories of her original future self, her original future self placed a seal on the Crown of Cosmos’ power and also those memories. So, as Yuriel would gradually assimilate more of the Crown of Cosmos’ power, those memories would naturally come to her.

Of course, like she said, there were some major events of the original future that she could faintly ‘remember’.

Now, you might be wondering in annoyance, what the hell is the Crown of Cosmos? Well, my deepest apologies—the other main character of this story, the other Star of Cosmos, will be the one telling you the details...

“Anyway,” Yuriel said. “Celosia Hades might have gotten here via the River Phlegethon, as she has ultimate magma attribute—I think.”

“That is a logical speculation.” Hades agreed. “If that is the case, then it makes sense that I did not sense her arriving here—her pure magma power means her aura is close to the Phlegethon’s.”

“Now that I think of it... If the Hades Ancient Clan has been worshipping you for centuries, and you never even knew of its existence, then it means all of their faith to you all this time have been going to the Forces of Darkness.” Realizing this, Yuriel exchanged a ‘glance’ with Hades’ empty eye sockets.

The lord of the Underworld’s sigh echoed eerily. “I actually know of this clan’s existence... However, more than a millenia ago, they disappeared.”

The two went silent. The Forces of Darkness, composed of all the evil deities and beings in the world... what exactly were they planning to do?

“Don’t worry about this clan—I’ll make sure their faith doesn’t go to the Forces of Darkness anymore.” Yuriel said.

“Then I shall thank you beforehand.” Hades said. “As for that Celosia girl, I have sensed her aura—I will send you and your friends there.”

“Alright.” Yuriel smiled.

Dark fog engulfed the quartet, and they disappeared from the hall.

***

Fiery, molten-glass-like liquid gurgled, coursing through some black-soiled rocky hills and valleys. Faintly, cries of pain, terror, and anger could be heard from within its depths.

This was the River Phlegethon, one of the five rivers of the Underworld.

At this moment, the quartet stood on the riverbank in silence.

Yuriel cleared her throat, “Are you guys alright?”

“Kind of.” Tie Li muttered.

“I’m not.” Lee Jihoon crossed his hands. “Yuriel, how in the world do you know the freaking Lord of the Underworld?”

Edward and Tie Li both nodded, also wanting to ask the same question.

“And what’s with that serious discussion about what Forces of Darkness, seal, Titans, and the Hades Ancient Clan? Is the world ending?” Lee Jihoon didn’t wait for Yuriel’s answer, and asked again anyway.

Yuriel glanced at them. Well. She had to explain.

She cleared her throat again. “First, you need to know that the so-called ‘Twin Stars of Cosmos’ have actually descended upon the world for eight times. Each time, we were called by different titles, but our mission were always the same—save humanity. In one of our lifetimes, we got to know Hades—I hope this answers your first question. As for your second question...” Yuriel paused, thinking about how to answer.

“As you know,” she continued. “We the Twin Stars of Cosmos will either save or destroy the world. Long story short, in the future, we’ll fail to save the world, so my ‘original future self’, as I call her, called me during my awakening previously and asked for my permission to awaken the power of the Crown of Cosmos ahead of time to change the future. Now, you must know, this power can only be awakened once in each lifetime.”

“Simply put, what my original future self means by ‘awakening this power ahead of time’ is ‘giving up the original timeline’—this is because my original future self, who awakens this power years later than me, can no longer exist. Thus, the original future timeline has also disappeared, and now, many things will change—hopefully for the better.”

“But previously you said that you ‘sort of merged with your original future self’. What does that mean?” Edward frowned.

“My original future self passed all her memories to me. So yeah, I sort of merged—with her memories.” Yuriel shrugged.

“What about this Crown of Cosmos power? What is it, exactly?” Lee Jihoon asked.

“It’s hard to explain,” Yuriel smiled wryly. “It’s like a representation of what my responsibilities are—but it’s also a real entity, bearing half of the power of cosmos. The other half is in the Scepter of Cosmos—Tang Tianjue’s.”