CHAPTER 2

-The Underworld-

There wasn’t always an Underworld. For many years the chaos consumed the Earth. Out of this chaos came not only Gaia, but Darkness, Night, and Desire. It was then that Darkness and Night created Brightness and Day. The next set of deities that came were the sons of Ouranos and Gaia—the Titans, the Cyclopes’, and the Hundred-handers. Almost immediately upon birth, Ouranos shoved his children, the Cyclopes’ and Hundred-handers back into the womb of Gaia due to their grotesque appearance. He literally rammed his children back into their Mother’s uterus. This abysmal act essentially created the Underworld. As he pushed the Cyclopes’ and the Hundred-handers back into Earth’s belly, he created a new layer to Gaia, Tartarus—The Underworld. It was then that the chaos started to subside and the balance began to form.

When I arrived, The Underworld was seen as a place of imprisonment. For years, Gods shoved many creatures and sometimes other Gods into The Underworld as a means of entrapment. Tartarus was a large chaotic space underneath Earth’s surface with no stability or order to contain it. However, with the birth of the Olympians, things started to change. As a punishment to Hades for ruthless attempts to steal the throne, Zeus damned him to rule The Underworld.

“If you so wish to be a ruler, a ruler you must be. A throne fashioned for a king. A people with a burning desire for loyalty. A kingdom you are damned to never leave.” Boomed Zeus. With Hades as the new ruler of The Underworld, chaos became organized chaos and the prisoners stayed prisoners. As the years went on, new layers to the Underworld began to unfold.

---

I’m a softy when it comes to the living. Sometimes I actually think I might have a heart. Hah! For instance, Eugene (otherwise known as Freddy, Carl, Ulysses, Benjamin, Trip, and Sean. But, Eugene was my favorite). I’ve resurrected his Soul nearly seven times and his life regrets never seemed to change. You see, humans make a lot of mistakes in their lives; some larger than others. However, I believe that all Souls deserve a second—or maybe seventh—chance.

Upon approaching a dying Soul, as part of my given powers, I can see the life and experiences this Soul has played out in all its lives. Eugene was a cheater. He ruined many friendships and relationships with his unfaithfulness and eventually it jeopardized his work. Every time I put his soul back into the Earth, I restored it with all the same temptations and opportunities for failure. I know what you’re thinking—what an awful dude! Give the guy a REAL second chance! BELIEVE ME. I hear you. But how can somebody truly get a second chance if they aren’t presented with the same life altering decisions? The point is for the guy to learn something and overcome those temptations. That’s truly a second chance. Well, time and time again, Eugene failed. Upon his eighth resurrection, something changed. When I pulled up his Soul to inspect, it looked as if the life had been drained out of it. Although the essence inside the Soul was still prominent with power, the physical properties seemed to have… died off. The Soul was a dull grey color with noticeable smells of rot. After what seemed like hours of useless tries to transform it, it remained the same—lost. This was the first Soul out of many more to come that I deemed as a lost Soul.

As more Souls became lost, even my seemingly bottomless cloth pocket couldn’t contain them. As the days went on, more and more Souls were dimming out. In a sense, it was good population control! However, with my two cloak pockets filled to the brim with lost Souls… it was time to find a solution. Time to negotiate with Hades.

As you can guess, a new layer to The Underworld emerged. The River of Lost Souls—appeared directly above the prison, but right below my office. Office? You heard me correctly. Long before the first lost Soul, I realized that the surplus of deaths on Earth was getting quite overwhelming bearing in mind there’s only one Death. So not only did I employ a bunch of lonely Gods and demigods as my personal Reapers, but every Soul meant to be judged for resurrection was to essentially wait in my large comfortable waiting room to see me. By waiting room, I effectively mean limbo. I was surprised to receive my office as a gift from Hades. He mentioned it being ‘good for business,’ but I think he just wanted to show up Zeus. Apparently, the size of your kingdom matters… bigger the better. Who knew?

Every once in a while, Hades will come to my office to ‘see how I’m doing.’ Really, what he is doing is scolding me for how many resurrections I permit. You see, Hades ‘gets off’ on trapping Souls. Somehow it makes him feel better about the fact that he’s forever trapped in Hell. It’s rare that I will send a Soul that’s not lost down to Hades’ prison, but Hades sure gets excited when I do. I can almost feel The Underworld shake with an earthquake when he receives fresh meat to torture. However, I don’t feel bad for their afterlife of torment since the Souls I send to him are Souls committed to infinite lives of pure evil. As soft as I am, I do believe some Souls cannot be redeemed.

Life After Death