"Easy there, sir. There are lots of stones in hell—watch your step!"
Cerberus's left head said ingratiatingly, carrying Jason's distinctly sleazy air.
"Hey! Hey! You blind idiots, get lost already! Can't you see you're blocking the way?!"
Its right head roared at several passing souls, so violently that they hurried away in fright.
"Sir, would you like some water? Oh, no, that's right—you're alive! You can't drink the Underworld's water, or you'll be trapped here forever.
No, you still have to spread the legend of our loving friendship and get us a raise. We absolutely can't let you stay here!
Sir, if you're hungry, you'll just have to bear with it for a while. I'll clear the way ahead for you first."
The middle head seemed to have the highest intelligence. It was actually so considerate.
Cerberus really was a miraculous creature! All three heads had completely different personalities.
If it got bored, it could even chat with itself. No wonder it had guarded Hell Gate for so many years.
"Cerberus! How can you treat me like this?! Why are you so rude to me, Hermes, yet so nice to my little Thaumas?!" Hermes said unhappily, folding his arms and sounding sulky.
"Stupid dog!" the left head cursed.
"Roar—!" the right head barked furiously.
"How dare a useless piece of trash like you compare yourself to our paycheck?!" the middle head sneered.
"Ah, how can you be like this? We've known each other for so long—we're friends! You're really breaking my heart!" Hermes said, clutching his chest with both hands in agony, as though he had suffered the greatest injustice in the world.
"Don't hold me back! I have to bite him to death today!"
"It's obviously Old Left, that idiot head, who doesn't dare to move. Otherwise, I would've gone for him already."
"Just shut up, Hermes. If Left weren't such a coward and I hadn't stopped him, Right would've bitten you long ago! And you two idiot heads, stop moving the body around!"
Cerberus began arguing with itself. If this continued, it might start biting itself before it ever got the chance to bite Hermes.
Thaumas watched the scene in amazement. So all three of Cerberus's heads had such distinct personalities. No wonder they could fight over a single honey cake.
Sure enough, all these customs were crystallizations of the wisdom of those who came before. Maybe someone had tried giving all three heads honey cakes, but it must have failed in the end.
After all, if Cerberus had to choose between being full at every meal and being full right now, being full right now would probably win by two votes.
"By the way, sir, where are you going now?"
"Mm-hmm, I wanted to ask that too."
"As long as you're not going to see the King of the Underworld, I can lead the way."
As they walked across the land of the Underworld, Cerberus asked curiously.
"I'm going to ask Lady Nyx for a favor," Thaumas answered slowly.
But after Thaumas finished speaking,
"Sir, my stomach suddenly hurts. I must've eaten too many honey cakes. I need to go first."
"Nyx—?!!"
"Th-this... Lord Thaumas, Lady Nyx is far too exalted. We aren't worthy of going there, so let's forget about that.
Right, Old Left's diarrhea is so intense that it's affecting me too. Anyway, Hermes can guide you. We'll see you later! I need to take care of Old Left and make a trip to the toilet!"
As it spoke, Cerberus turned around and ran. In the blink of an eye, it reached Hell Gate and slammed it shut with its dog paws.
"Good thing I was clever!"
"Good thing we asked him!"
"Good thing we ran fast!"
Then Cerberus's three heads stared at one another for a while. Seeing the deep terror in each other's eyes, they sighed over having survived a disaster.
Thaumas, meanwhile, was completely baffled. Hadn't he merely said that he wanted to see Lady Nyx?
What shameful thing had Cerberus done to be this terrified?
"Lord Hermes, do you know why Cerberus is so afraid?"
Thaumas decided to ask.
"Oh, that? I'm not entirely sure about the details. Cerberus never used to tell me.
But once, I used the Seven-stringed Lyre to muddle their heads, and only then did I learn some of the reason.
I heard that when Cerberus had first come to guard the gates of the Underworld, it had just taken up the post and naturally wanted to achieve something.
But those blind fools stopped Lady Nyx. That alone would have been fine—Lady Nyx was very magnanimous.
But they actually dared to bite the hem of Lady Nyx's dress..." Hermes said teasingly, wanting to see what expression Thaumas would make after hearing this.
"Hiss... Their fate must have been terrible, right?"
Thaumas was deeply shocked by that stupid dog. No wonder it had worked so diligently for so long and was still only a security guard. Cerberus's career path had clearly reached its end.
"More than terrible. I heard they nearly got boiled into soup. In the end, Lady Nyx only spared them because she disliked the gamey smell of dog meat," Hermes whispered. Then, after thinking for a moment, he added,
"You mustn't tell Cerberus about this. If a dog gets desperate, it really will bite you."
Thaumas wholeheartedly agreed. No wonder Cerberus had not immediately bitten Hermes just now—it had learned from experience.
Forget it. It was already a dog, so there was no need to make things too hard for it.
Though it was a little foolish, Cerberus had at least successfully made its way into the Underworld's official system. It was a civil servant of no small rank, and it was quite famous in the human world too.
Speaking of which, Lady Nyx was rather kind. She had even found an excuse to spare that stupid dog.
Thaumas suddenly began looking forward to meeting this goddess.
According to legend,
Lady Nyx lived at the entrance to the Underworld, which made her daily travel and work more convenient.
But in reality,
Lady Nyx's palace was located somewhat deeper inside, beyond Hell Gate.
Her palace was also the residence of Thanatos, the Greek god of death. Was this considered a mother and son living together?
It lay at the bottom of a dark cave on the northern shore of the Black Sea, where sunlight never reached, and it belonged to the Underworld.
Beside the palace flowed a tributary of Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness, one of the five great rivers of the Underworld.
It was the magnificent palace now standing before Thaumas.
Compared with the palace of Helios, the sun god—no, he was no longer the sun god now.
Compared with Helios's palace, it was an absolute opposite.
This palace was likewise supported by magnificent columns, but they were inlaid with deep obsidian and gloomy sapphires.
The upturned eaves were also set with snow-white ivory. The two doors, made of some mysterious material, were carved with beautiful patterns and figures, recording stories from the time of the primordial god Chaos onward.
Chaos,
was the primordial creator god, primordial order, time and space, and the vessel itself—the beginning and origin of the world.
At the dawn of the universe, Chaos was born alone first, an endless vessel filled with darkness and light.
In Hesiod's Theogony,
Chaos was the first god to be born.
Through asexual reproduction, Chaos gave birth from within to the Earth Goddess, the god of the abyss, the god of darkness, the goddess of night, and the god of love, among the five great creator gods, thus beginning the creation of the world.
And in the Nasuverse,
Chaos was a colossal mothership for interstellar travel, a celestial-sphere space-time fortress, a Dyson Sphere (an artificial celestial body used to enclose a star and harvest its energy—a natural fusion reactor that used a star as its power source), and also the oldest Machine God.
The actual circumstances of the descent of a god from machinery had been depicted as the mythological stories familiar to mankind.
Ancient history was portrayed upon the palace gates and walls, making it seem even more solemn and profound. The closer one drew, the more one could feel an oppressive, suffocating presence.
It was clear that Hephaestus had put considerable care into forging this temple.
Thus,
Hermes stepped forward, raised the young man's staff, and personally knocked upon the palace doors for Thaumas.
Thaumas did not yet have enough standing to have a god open the doors for him, especially when that goddess was Nyx.
That was why Hermes had to accompany Thaumas.
Otherwise, they would not even be able to enter.
After all, no matter how brightly a hero shone, he was still only human.
P.S.:
I've finished reviewing the draft. I refuse to believe these three chapters still have that many typos. I'll work overtime tonight and fix the earlier chapters too.
There's one more chapter I need to revise a little. I'll post it later.
Before you continue