Down In The Underworld

 Millie blinked as she found herself at a dock. She hadn’t passed out and woken up somewhere weird, this time. No, it was more an instance of just appearing there. The full moon couldn’t be seen anywhere, but neither could the sun. It was just musty and gray.

But as with any situation where she woke up in a strange place, she started trying to retrace her steps. The moon had turned red, Nibbles went psycho...Oh, hell, had the pup finally played a bit too rough with her?

As she puzzled this out, she gripped her scythe. Somehow, Final Draft had wound up here with her. She wasn’t sure why, exactly, but didn’t question it. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing she’d seen since ending up in this world.

A boat soon made its way to her, and she saw the figure rowing it along. Almost as tall as her favorite werewolf companion, but rather slim. His skin was dark, his eyes a solid red, and his hair in long dreads pulled into a ponytail. On his forehead was what looked like some sort of rune. She didn’t know what the rune meant, but seeing someone roll up to her on a boat when she was halfway certain she’d died gave her some serious flashbacks to Greek mythology.

“...Is that the River Styx…?” she asked as he got closer, sounding more fascinated than anything else.

“Sure is,” he replied with a slight chuckle. “Interesting scythe.”

She smiled. “Lot of love went into making it,” she said. “So...Charon?”

He nodded. “I see you’re familiar.”

Millie shrugged. “Did a lot of reading back in the human world, then got brought to Nightshade, went through some stuff, and now…”

She gestured to the area around her with a sigh. “I mean, it’s cool that I get to meet you, and all that, but the fact that I didn’t get to finish that quest kinda sucks.”

Charon arched an eyebrow. “Well, you’re remarkably calm about this...I’ve guided so many across this river, they’ve broken down, denied that they were dead…”

“It would’ve happened sooner or later,” Millie sighed. “But there is one little problem…the payment thing. I’ve been broke since I got here.”

The ferryman held up a hand. “That only applies if you died in the human world. I’m guessing you were summoned from there to deal with that life-sucking shapeshifting threat?”

A nod.

“You’re not the first to come through here. We’ve had a few of them. So, come aboard.”

Millie stepped into the boat, taking a look at the scenery as Charon rowed along. The fog and mist were consistent, and she was trying to remember what would happen when the ride came to an end and if that was different for people that hadn’t died in the human world.

“So..what happens now, anyway?” she asked after a moment.

“Quarantine,” he said.

“Wait, what?”

“Those that were dealing with those creatures get put in quarantine and monitored. You see, their souls tend to linger a little bit before they suddenly vanish. There was another one like you a that disappeared a while ago. She just suddenly reappeared a couple days ago after being gone for months. And there was a gorgon blacksmith that disappeared and reappeared fairly quickly. Both described the experience when I caught up to them again.”

Millie thought about this for a moment. Did that mean that when one of those creatures came about, its soul was literally ripped away from its eternal rest?

“...That rat bastard,” she grumbled, grip on Final Draft tightening.

“Hm?”

“So, before I got here, there was this one dude—another prior champion, I guess—talking about how he’d learned how to control the beast, started working with it, used to to create a blood moon...If souls around here are popping in and out like that? I’m wondering if that’s his fault.”

“I see...it might be a good idea to take you to the guy in charge around here. Tell him about that theory; he’s been annoyed about it for a while. But you’ll need to hang out in the quarantine zone for a while, first.”

Millie wasn’t quite enthused about that idea. This guy was still out there, still probably creating more of these creatures, and she was here. Yes, the others could likely bring him down without her, but he’d made her dog go nuts. It was his fault that she died.

“How long is ‘a while’?” she asked, voice firm.

“Until I can speak with Hades about you. How is it you died, anyway?”

“Unnaturally-created blood moon eclipse made my werewolf snap and start attacking and she got me just as I got the sleep spell in there.”

“Well. You probably won’t be in quarantine very long, in that case. It’s the ones that got hit directly by it that need to be there most.”

That made her feel a little better, as she relaxed in the boat and continued to take in her surroundings. They weren’t pulling up to a dock yet, but she could see others on the banks of the river. Some appeared to be other souls, looking a bit lost as a figure stood with them. This figure, noticeably, had a few sets of wings: a pair on each of his sandals, and a set on his helmet. Her eyes narrowed as she remembered her mythology again.

“...That Hermes?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Charon said.

“Somehow, he’s taller than I pictured.”

A snort. “You’d be surprised how many people say that.”

Having heard this chat, Hermes glanced toward the boat.

“Hey, Charon!” he called. “Got your next group for ya!”

Since she wasn’t able to continue with the quest at this very moment, and would have to wait until Hades saw some reason to let her leave, Millie decided to take this opportunity to ask a few questions.

“So...what’s it like?” she asked Charon. “I mean, like, the ‘ferrying-people-to-the-afterlife’ thing?”

He shrugged. “You’d think that after so many centuries, it might get dull,” he admitted. “But I get to escort people from all walks of life. Some of them have some pretty stark similarities: unfinished business, curiosity as to where they’re headed. But they’re all different, too. Where you’ve been fairly accepting of your situation, and others have definitely cried, there have been some that stubbornly refused to accept their own death. Those ones always annoy...well, everyone here. The boss is still pissed about the last one that got away.” .

“He doesn’t take that anger out on anyone here, does he?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Nah. There’re times he’ll consider it, but then he takes a deep breath and says ‘No, that’s what one of my brothers would do, and I’m NOT them…’.Broke right out of that cycle, and I gotta say, I kind of admire him for that.”

The conversation continued for a while, as Millie asked more questions about the Underworld in general. He just gave a polite smile as she geeked out over the experience, but it was getting clear that he was ready for the questions to peter out.

Before much longer, the boat ride came to a stop at another dock.

“Alright. This is where you get off,” he told her. “Like I said, I’ll talk to the boss and see what he decides.”

She nodded, thanking him for the ride, as she stepped up onto the dock and looked around. The mists persisted, but she could see a few buildings through the mist. She walked along, slightly curious about where the quarantine area was, and partly wanting to ditch that idea and check out more of the Underworld in general.

There were a few others walking around there, including the woman that approached Millie as she wandered.

“Millicent Miller?” the woman asked.

As Millie looked at her, she could have sworn she had three faces. But the one focused on her had sharp, hawk-like eyes. She wore a robe with a crescent moon clasp at the throat.

“Yes?”

“Follow me, please.”

She followed the woman, wondering if they’d be heading for the quarantine area Charon had mentioned or what was going on.

“I know, you’re probably a bit confused,” the woman continued. “I am Hecate, and it’s fallen to me to get you to a temporary holding area. And once Hades has figured out what’s to be done with you, it’ll be my job to make sure it happens.”

“Because I’m a witch?” she asked.

“Exactly. I’ve had to bring a few witches to the holding area as of late.”

They soon reached a large tent with a fence around it. The gate opened automatically as Millie approached, and she headed inside the tent. It was a little irksome that she couldn’t really check out more of the Underworld right now, but she wasn’t going to argue with a freaking goddess.