Descent into Tartarus

by David Thompson

  Trying not to breathe in the vile breath, Goering clicked his heels together and rushed to leave the room. The door opened as he approached and it shut behind him. He paused for a moment, collecting himself. He mopped his face with a filthy handkerchief as he hustled down the hallway.

  Themis stepped out of the shadows and entered Sorath's chambers. His face grimaced in worry as he watched Sorath trying to walk. He slid his massive feet across the black marble floor, holding onto a bed post for support.

  "Clauberg said for you to remain in bed until he gave the okay, boss," Themis said, making certain he was well out of reach.

  "Bugger that idiot. Bring me another doctor, now. I should have been healed long before now!" Sorath said through gritted teeth.

  "Boss, I'll look. I can't guarantee I'll find another quickly. Most decent doctors wind up elsewhere," Themis argued. "You were injured with an iron weapon which prevents healing."

  "Leave, and don't come back unless you find me a NEW DOCTOR!" Sorath bellowed, making the entire room shudder.

  Themis backed out of the room and shut the door lightly.

  He turned to a guard demon.

  "Let no one in until I get back. He wants another surgeon, I'll go find him one. Maybe get his head amputated," Themis griped as he took off down the hallway.

  The guard just glanced at the closed door, then simply stood at attention with his back to the door and Themis could still hear his boss bellowing as he ran down the hallway.

  <<<>>>

  Hermes entered the kitchen to find the dishes put away, and Brianna was assisting Delfina with cleaning up the pots and glasses. She turned and took the tray from Hermes and rested it on the counter.

  "Don't stray too far," Delfina said. "We're having a war council as soon as Tisiphone gets back."

  "Where's she off to so late?" Hermes asked.

  "A small assignment," Delfina said. "She won't be gone very long."

  Downtown Los Angeles.

  Night.

  City lights twinkling across the expanse of the greater Los Angeles basin. The streets almost empty on this Monday night.

  On west 5th, a lift with an enormous motion picture light reached its full height, stopped, and swayed a bit as the grips pulled the cables tight. Standing beside the light is a skinny gaffer, listening to his radio as the crew below were shouting directions.

  This was Leroy's third production after getting into the labor union, and he'd finally secured a sweet job as a lighting gaffer. He enjoyed the work, and electricity was easy for him, after working as a contractor in the mid-west with his father, a licensed electrician. After his father's death, he had taken a bus to Hollywood to find an old friend who was in the movie business.

  Tonight's sweet gig was on a television show that caused the closure of the full city block just outside one of Los Angeles' most recognizable buildings: The U.S. Bank skyscraper, towering 1000 feet over the surrounding buildings. The tower's most admired movie role was as a target for aliens in an expensive mid-1990s movie.

  Tonight, it'll be featured in an unexpected and unscripted drama, involving a mortgage executive who had offices on the 68th floor, looking south-west. On clear days it was easy to spot the ocean from this height.

  Leroy heard through the radio they were "rolling" or starting to record the scene on camera. He knew to stand as still as possible and not let the light wobble, as it'd ruin the take by letting the light move when it was supposed to be moonlight. That's when he noticed fine, sparkling glass dropping through the beam of light.

  Was it raining?

  He looked up. A black shape hurtled towards him, just falling past the lift basket.

  The director on this picture had just called action when something smacked into one of the cars parked on the street, making a sickening thud. That was accompanied by a rain of fine glass, lightly coating everything.

  "Cut! What the hell was that?" the director shouted. He twisted to his producer sitting behind him staring at the monitor. "What just happened?"

  Shit," remarked the Assistant Director peering at the monitor as the camera operator zoomed into the wrecked police car. He saw a pair of feet sticking up from the carnage. "Woah, is that a fucking body?"

  A few minutes earlier, and far above the film crew, Darrell Franchino was toiling late, going through a pile of recent foreclosure filings, electronically attaching his signature to each of the 47 filings due to be dropped off at various courthouses in the area.

  He read over the last one; regarding a house owned by a retired couple in Burbank, who'd had to borrow against their equity to pay for their daughter's cancer treatment. They made just enough money to not qualify for state assistance, and now they'd fallen behind in the payments. Only thing left was to click submit, and the gears of justice will begin to move slowly, grinding people's lives into so-much hamburger.

  Darrell had no trouble sleeping at night. This evening he was planning on visiting his 23-year-old mistress in her Wilshire condo. A condo he'd given her to celebrate their third week of regular bizarre sexual rituals involving feathers, leather masks, and the occasional traumatized gerbil.

  Tonight, it was just the masks and coconut oil. Oil in considerable amounts.

  He reached out to hit submit when he spotted a figure standing outside his office door. He frowned, shut his laptop, and went to the door to see who was in the office.

  He switched on the lights and illuminated a large outer office.

  Nothing out of place. His secretary had gone home at three, working a flex-hour shift to help her avoid the worst of rush hour. Her desk was spotless, and the rest of the office was immaculately clean. He had few employees, and none stayed past six.

  He turned to shut the door to his office when a hand in a black glove grabbed him by the throat and swung him around. In two strides, Tisiphone had Darrell pinned against the huge window overlooking the city. His head made a sickening thud as she bounced him against the glass.

  "I have to make this quick, but before I deal with you, I'm going to help as many families as possible," Tisiphone said through gritted teeth.

  She slammed him against the window again, his skull slammed into the glass, this time causing him to black out. He slid down the window as Tisiphone turned to the computer. She quickly powered up the laptop. The system was asking for the password.

  "Password?" she turned to Darrell, still leaning his back against the floor to ceiling glass. "No? Hmm. I'll try your dog's name and birthday."

  She punched in a few keys and the screen changed.

  "Seriously? If I could guess that, no telling how many people can break into your system," she pointed out.

  Quickly, she opened the pending eviction cases and deleted all the filings.

  "I know for a fact you won't be making any court appearances, ever." She clicked a few icons and created new paperwork, this time forgiving the homeowners of their mortgages. She immediately attached Darrell's signature to each filing and clicked "submit".

  Tisiphone turned to the prone man: "Darrell, the only reason you own this company is because you used insurance money from the death of your wealthy sister."

  He grunted as he regained consciousness.

  "Predatory lender, yet you got away with it for how long?" Tisiphone asked?

  She reached out and lifted him so that they were eye-to-eye. He squinted and tried to concentrate on his tormentor. She smiled and her green eyes twinkled. She peered over his shoulder.

  "Looks like we may have an audience," she said, smiling. Then the smile turned off. "You rigged your sister's accident quite well. You weakened the leading-edge tube on the hang glider, and when she performed a turn, it collapsed. She dropped over two thousand feet to her death. They ruled it metal fatigue."

  Darrell shook his head. "I was cleared of any suspicion in Monica's accident, how the hell do you know that?"

  "I told her, Darrell," Monica said, appearing next to Tisiphone, her form translucent. She hovered close to her br
other.

  "Eye for an Eye, right?" Tisiphone said, looking at Monica.

  "Tooth for a tooth," Monica answered.

  Tisiphone's enormous black wings unfurled. Darrell struggled, thrashing his head back and forth. She clutched his neck hard and smashed him into the glass. She was grinning as a spider-web of cracks developed. So, she continued beating him into the window.

  "This–glass–is--unbreakable!" Darrell managed to get out between impacts.

  "He's right. They put in unbreakable glass to prevent people from committing suicide," Monica said.

  "Nothing is unbreakable," Tisiphone said. She slammed Darrell even harder and the web of fractures in the glass spread outward from the impact of his head.

  She stopped body slamming him and just pressed him against the glass. Darrell's eyes flickered as he began to regain consciousness.

  He tried to chuckle. "See? Told you! Unbreakable."

  Suddenly, the glass creaked and groaned. The cracks widened and spread outward. He looked to his left as the glass bowed outward. Tisiphone continued to press on him. The glass started to fracture and collapse, gem-like fragments of glass falling away.

  He twisted and looked at the ghost of his sister. She just grinned and waved.

  The glass let go and his eyes went wide as he dropped through the air.

  Monica and Tisiphone watched as Darrell tumbled, heading for the roof of a pretend police car far below.

  "That's going to leave a mark," Tisiphone muttered.

  People stood around the street, being careful not to walk on the broken glass.

  "Ah hell," the Assistant Director muttered. He turned to the producer. "That's it for tonight. And we're already behind schedule!"

  The producer just shook his head and pulled a roll of antacids out of his jacket. "Jesus, I need a martini."

  <<<>>>

  Hades' Palace

  To Dan, it felt as if they'd only been walking a few minutes, but the giant pyramid was suddenly a lot closer, it loomed over him as they walked the well-worn trail to the structure's base. Then he saw the steps leading to the top.

  "Don't worry. He had those put in to discourage petitioners. We'll enter through a door in the base, just ahead," Persephone said.

  "Petitioners? Like the people who want to talk to Megaera?" Dan couldn't take his eyes off the building.

  "Somewhat. If a soul is condemned to Tartarus, they're allowed to appeal. He prefers to make it as complex a task as possible to those seeking his audience," Persephone said as she stepped to a blank spot in the side of the palace. She withdrew a small dagger and inserted it into a small slot. A click, and a door opened outward. She hid the dagger somewhere in the folds of her gown.

  "Tisiphone gave me a similar dagger, said I needed it here to help release Megaera," Dan said as they went in the palace.

  "That key will only open the cells in the prison block. It was thoughtful of her to send it along with you," she stated as they went down a lengthy corridor formed of marble, with small wall sconces every few yards holding flickering torches. She paused and released Spot. He bounded ahead, soon lost as he rounded a corner, his nails making loud clicks as he ran.

  "Please tell me there is an elevator in this place," Dan said.

  "I have no idea what you are talking about," she replied, puzzled.

  "A way to travel up, like a closet that lifts you up to the higher floors," Dan explained.

  "Oh, we have something similar," Persephone said as they rounded a corner and continued up a slight incline. "We're already on the top most floor."

  "What? How?"

  "Easy," Persephone said, shrugging. "Magic."

  She brought him to a set of double doors and pulled them outward. They walked out onto the plaza overlooking the Underworld.

  Dan stepped forward to the edge of the plaza and stared at the set of steep stairs heading down. He looked back to Persephone and shook his head.

  "Magic?"

  "Magic. Now, let's go inside and try to figure out how to get you into Tartarus. You can easily see it from here," Persephone said as she pointed to her left. In the haze, Dan could make out a red meandering channel, glowing red hot in the distance. "That's the Phlegethon. To your right is Elysian, home of the heroes."

  "How far is that from us?"

  "I can have you at the river's edge in the blink of an eye, but it usually takes a week of travel on foot. It's quite a distance." She led him back inside the palace. The huge doors closed quietly as they continued down a marble foyer towards a set of arched doorways leading deeper into the palace.

  Persephone showed Dan to a small bed chamber.

  "Take a few hours to rest and relax. We'll dine in two hours, and I am expecting Thanatos for dinner. If you require anything, just pull the rope and an imp will be here to serve you," Persephone said as she touched a thick soft rope hanging by the door. "Don't wander too much, it's easy for people to get lost in the corridors here. So, make certain to call and request a guide."

  "So, I'm free to leave if I wish?" Dan asked while he rested his backpack on the bed.

  "Oh, yes, of course. You're not a prisoner, not here." Persephone smiled and glided out of the room, the door closing behind her.

  Dan looked around to take in the room. Tall marble ceilings, beautiful bed frame and a small dresser by one wall. Otherwise, the chamber was without decoration. The light seemed to just exist, no discernible source anywhere.

  Dan took a moment and sat on the soft bed. As he relaxed, he realized just how tired he was. He fell back and his eyes closed. In moments, a gentle snore could be heard in the room. The light gradually dimmed in the room as Dan slept.

  <<<>>>

  Furies House

  Delfina was at the kitchen table, gently scratching Dude between his ears. He was snuggled into her chest, a slight, contended smile played across his lips.

  His purr was momentarily drowned out by the roar of Tisiphone's motorcycle. She smiled and looked up as Tisiphone walked in the back door.

  "How did it go?" Delfina asked.

  "He made quite an impact," Tisiphone answered.

  "Well, now that you're back, bring everyone down here," Delfina ordered. "Well, except for Gaia. But everybody else needs to be here."

  "Yes, ma'am," Tisiphone muttered.

  Delfina lifted the large orange cat and sat him on the floor. "You run along, I suspect there's mice in the pantry. So, go on and earn your keep."

  He shot her a hurt look and padded quietly out of the kitchen in pursuit of four-footed light snacks.

  Dude passed Alecto and Brianna arriving for the meeting. Hermes quickly followed them and bringing up the rear was Tisiphone. Delfina waved them all to their seats. Brianna stood back, looking at everyone.

  "Sit down, child," Delfina exclaimed.

  "Alecto and I feel she should find a safe location and ride out the crisis," Tisiphone said.

  "Bah!" Delfina scoffed. "She's as much a part of this as you or your sister." She patted the chair next to her. Brianna took a seat, fully aware of Tisiphone's dagger eyes burrowing into the side of her head.

  "I don't have anyplace to ride out this crisis," Brianna said, meeting Tisiphone's glare. "I can't help it if I'm still here, that I'm part divine."

  "Then find a place! Do you need him to escort you to Elysian?" Tisiphone said, indicating Hermes.

  "Shush, both of you!!" Delfina snapped. She stood, which made little difference as she was as tall standing as sitting. "We need to plan for this monster's eventual attack. We will need as much help as possible."

  Tisiphone looked like she would not give in, but eventually nodded and turned her attention to Delfina. "What do you have in mind? It's really just Alecto and myself in this. He'll probably arrive with minimal back-up, which we should be able to handle quickly."

  Hermes cleared his throat. "If I may?"

  Delfina nodded.

  "Thanatos and I have been the only ones who've been in contact with Persephone, and her
spies managed to report that Sorath was wounded rather seriously," Hermes told the group.

  He saw Alecto and Tisiphone exchange glances, nodding. "Good for mother!" Tisiphone said.

  "Not so fast. He's regaining strength rapidly, and it's felt he'll attack in full force, if anything, to overwhelm you and secure ultimate victory. He has four dragons to act as air cover, and his imp and demon army is ready and willing to march where-ever he leads." Hermes looked from Tisiphone to Alecto, then over to Brianna. "His engineers have designed a high energy, wide spectrum portal, so those dragons can accompany him on the surface. So, he's expecting an easy victory, then he'll move on the rest of the Underworld. Thanatos has traveled to the Underworld, to do what he can to help Dan liberate Megaera. It's still not known if he'll be successful. If he isn't, then we'll be facing not just defeat, but utter destruction."

  He paused. "I suggest we set about training this young woman in the art of combat, find what talents she has in that arena and allow her to assist in the coming fight."

  "Seriously?" Tisiphone scoffed.

  "She carries the energy of a goddess," Hermes pointed out.

  Brianna's eyes flashed in indignation. "Thank you for pointing that out, sir!"

  "Only it's Lakshmi, not a real warrior goddess," Tisiphone said.

  "I did some checking," Brianna said. "My great-great grandmother has numerous manifestations, one of which is Vijaya Lakshmi –"

  "So, big deal! She's a goddess of wealth, not war," Alecto explained.

  "Vijaya Lakshmi is the wealth of Victory," Brianna said, sitting back with her arms crossed.

  Tisiphone leaned across the table, locking eyes with Brianna. "Not enough! If you were the spawn of Kali, maybe. I feel I should fly to Mount Olympus and seek council with Athena, see about an alliance. Sorath won't stop at the Underworld, nor the surface, he wants all aspects of the Olympians and Titans wiped out. That includes you, Hermes, and Mother."

  "Granted. I agree one of us needs to approach Athena, perhaps it should be me, dear," Hermes suggested delicately. "The last time you two even talked, you were holding her feet to the fire after losing to Apollo."