Amdirlain's PoV - Hades - Crete

Amdirlain emerged from the wormhole to find Damon staring at Medusa with wide-eyed fascination. "No one has ever returned from a trial with someone else before. What's your name?"

"Megaera," offered Medusa, without a glance at Amdirlain.

How would Damon have reacted to her real name?

"Were you part of the trial, Megaera?"

"A monster had cursed me and chained me up." Medusa smiled at Damon. "Other heroes had visited my prison before, but of the options to complete the trial, no one has ever rescued me."

Damon looked between them curiously. "Did you have much difficulty, Am?"

"The only time-consuming part was finding her. I think it was a straightforward matter with the right perspective. While I took one approach to getting Megaera free, I know a few spells that would have equally served." Amdirlain nodded towards the stage. "The seal awaits. Shall we move along to the next trial?"

"Very well. It's the next one along the line."

Damon skimmed above the stone as he led the way.

When Medusa reached the seating on the open amphitheatre floor, she halted.

"Megaera?" prompted Amdirlain.

Medusa fixed her gaze on the blue sky above them, and a faint smile curved her lips.

Amdirlain touched Medusa's forearm to catch her attention. "Megaera, would you stay with Damon?"

Medusa started and blinked as Amdirlain repeated the question.

"Sorry, I was far away. I'll keep Damon company," confirmed Medusa.

Damon stopped and hovered above the nearby benches. "The trials should become more difficult. I don't know the cause, but they can quickly escalate if overcome rapidly. The gods might increase their difficulty, you know, to test the heroes' mettle if they are breezing past their problems."

Or it's because the Greek Gods are petty bastards.

"Are you allowed to tell me that?"

"I'm not allowed to show you the records or tell you what is inside them." Damon floated higher. "Yet you gave me a gift; isn't it right that I warn you?"

Amdirlain smiled warmly. "I appreciate it, Damon, but it's not like I can put in a fake effort."

He sighed and led the way to the next blank stone gateway.

With the white pane visible, Amdirlain stepped through. This time, she arrived on the moving deck of a trireme. Though the two rows of oarsmen continued to row, the pane held its position relative to the captain's chair on the upper deck. On the captain's other side was a sailor handling a massive steering oar, his attention fixed on the horizon. A steady wind that carried the sharp sea air had the lines creaking with tension, but still the oars swished through the low waves at the tempo of a drummer's beat.

As Amdirlain considered the vessel and its crew, the captain stared up at her in fury. "How are you on my ship? Where have you been hiding?"

"A divine trial just sent me here," replied Amdirlain. "So there must be a problem you're facing or about to face. Where are you sailing to?"

"My problem is a stowaway came aboard my vessel, not just any stowaway, but a woman! What sort of ill-lucked fool let you onboard?" spat the Captain. "Someone throw this wench overboard."

Throwing the Captain overboard in bait-sized pieces might count as failure. This place is rife with sexism.

A nearby crewman grabbed for her, and Amdirlain casually brushed his hand aside. "That would be unwise."

The captain yelled for others. In a blur, Amdirlain seized him by the throat, straight-armed him into the air, and held him there for a slow count of three before setting firmly on his feet. "Does that make it clear I can break you in two?"

Wide-eyed, the captain gagged and rubbed at his throat, silent from shock.

The crewman who had grabbed at her fell to his knees, hands raised. He babbled for the goddess' forgiveness.

"Relax, you were following orders," reassured Amdirlain, her gaze still fixed on the captain. "Now. Why don't you tell me where you are going and if there is potentially trouble on this route?"

A cry from high in the rigging turned the captain's complexion ashen. "There should only be open sea, not a strait."

"It seems they delivered me and the trouble for the trial together. Keep on course to the strait. I'll fly ahead and see what problems need to be resolved."

He shook his head and jabbed a finger to the steersman's oar. "No, we should turn around."

If he does that, I doubt it would be a success, as he could have done so without my presence.

"Let me see what the issue is first."

"I've got my crew to think of," insisted the captain.

"I've my family to think of and must complete this trial. Let me check it out first. If I don't return before you reach the strait, then turn around," said Amdirlain.

The captain snarled. "No, I will not. We turn now."

Must I play the bully?

She blurred away down the deck and returned with a gladius from a weapon's rack. Before his eyes, she squeezed the metal blade and leather scabbard into a misshaped ball.

He gulped and managed a spluttered. "That's a trick."

This guy is being a sexist pain in my arse. Let's go for overkill.

Amdirlain's glare froze the stammered words in his throat. "You want a trick? Typically, I give people a choice, but you already ordered me thrown overboard. If you turn this ship around without my permission, I will reach down your throat and yank your arsehole out through your mouth. Your choice is to die painfully or show patience. Let me know if I should promote someone to the captain's spot before I scout ahead."

"You can't just take my position away."

"I've got the souls of my family counting on this trial. Your replacements' first act would be to give your funeral rites and bury your arse at sea," said Amdirlain coldly, and the man visibly wilted.

Her feet lifted from the deck, and she sped forward. As she moved away, she kept a mental ear on the captain and snorted as he ordered the sails to be riffed in and the slow drum beat for the rowers.

Amdirlain sped forward and found a vast sea barrier of sharp rocks had risen before the ship's course. The thing stretched from horizon to horizon, with only a kilometre-wide strait breaching it that contained a pair of dangers as the only option for passage. Against the left side of the strait, a fierce whirlpool drew powerfully across the strait. The edge of its spiral just reached the Kraken chained beneath the water on the right side of the strait. The Kraken's colossal tentacles turned its side of the strait into a frothing mess.

Analysis provided the Kraken's name as Scylla and revealed her to be the Nymph daughter of Triton, whom Poseidon had cursed for rejecting an arranged marriage. Amdirlain checked the far side from several angles before she caught a clear glimpse. Almost hidden beneath the churning water of the whirlpool was a bound, colossal sea worm whose constant inhalations caused the whirlpool. Charybdis was a daughter of Poseidon. Zeus had cursed her for aiding Poseidon's land theft from his fellow gods. Analysis showed they both possessed the strength equivalent to some stronger balors Amdirlain had seen.

That's typical—you don't have enough power, you get to play scapegoat.

Detection spells found severely frayed traces of divine magic that had survived the deaths of Poseidon and Zeus. The duo's expectation of being there forever reinforced their respective curses to remain in place.

Within Scylla's mind, agony rampaged; the curse twisted the sensation of the seawater and rocks to the feel of acid. Amdirlain flew across the water's surface and grabbed one of Scylla's lashing tentacles, holding it tight above the waterline as others flayed and battered at her. Across the rubbery flesh, she could feel the Mana with the fraying curse and drank deep. The river of Mana she consumed fueled thousands of gaze attacks she sent to strike the bonds of Charybdis's curse.

The reduction in Mana holding her weakened the already failing curse enough that—even wracked by pain—Scylla sensed its fragmenting state. Amdirlain unfurled her Charisma between volleys of spells and focused it on the transformed Nymph she held. With a mental push through Muse's Embrace, she targeted Scylla to allow her words to break through the pain. "Your curse is broken, but you need to remember yourself."

Scylla's body shuddered repeatedly before it shrank towards the tentacle Amdirlain held, and she found herself with a well-endowed woman in her arms. Scylla had bluish-green skin and deep emerald hair that matched her eyes.

"How?" The slurred word was all Scylla managed before she passed out.

Amdirlain frowned down at the Nymph and considered her options.

The ship could get past now, but the captain can't see the white pane to tell me if it's done. Who am I kidding? I will not leave someone behind.

A few spells set Scylla floating in place on the surface, and Amdirlain dived beneath the calming waves to better examine the situation with the other Nymph.

Charybdis's form was a five-kilometre-long sea worm with a maw full of curved teeth; a rock cage kept her pinned, stretched out along the sea floor. As she sucked in water, it rushed away through gills two hundred metres along her body, both creating the whirlpool and a fierce current that would send any ships crashing onto rocks along the strait.

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Amdirlain rose to the surface and swam over until the whirlpool caught hold, allowing it to drag her in. As she reached the edge of Charybdis's maw, she grew. The lookout in the ship's rigging screamed about the appearance of a Titan. With a foot on either side of Charybdis's head, Amdirlain reached into the relatively shallow water and ripped the cage apart, and she absorbed the broken stone struts into Protean without looking the ship's way.

As the third handful of stone disappeared, the captain decided she was dead to the giant that had appeared.

When the captain screamed to hoist sail, Andirlain projected stern instructions. 'That better be to bring the ship closer since I told you I'd clear the passage ahead. Who do you think your lookout is yelling about?'

The captain fainted.

With no one to argue, Amdirlain mentally warned the steersman and dipped into Water Law to change the sea's current, propelling the ship forward faster than the wind and oars could carry it. Before they arrived, a model-thin Charybdis had joined her cousin, floating safely atop the sea's waves.

They're not dead, just Immortal entities trapped here for an age.

"What should I call you, Titan?" groaned Charybdis, rubbing her hands across pale blue skin. Her irises were the shifting iridescent hue of mother-of-pearl and lent her an air of uncertainty. Back in her natural form, long green locks draped down to her feet, almost completely covering her.

"I'm not a Titan. To my knowledge, there is only Nicholaus in this realm. As for a name, call me Am."

"Very well, Am, if you insist, but I saw you looming over me, where the largest vessels always seemed modest. What do you mean by this realm?"

"Are you aware your family fled their original realm?" asked Amdirlain, noting Scylla stirring.

Charybdis's jaw dropped, and then she looked around furtively. "No! How? Wait, we should get going before Zeus comes to strike us all down."

"Zeus is dead. He won't be striking anyone. Of all the deities you knew, only one is still alive, and two others are much reduced in strength. Though I don't know how many involved with the Pantheon, such as yourselves, linger," said Amdirlain.

The news had Scylla jerking upright, though she swayed so severely she almost tipped into the waves despite the buoyancy Spell. Amdirlain supported Scylla with a hand clasping her shoulder while Charybdis moved to catch her from the other side.

"The other nymphs are dead!" groaned Scylla.

"You can't assume that; it's simply that I don't know." Amdirlain crossed fingers and hoped she wasn't inviting trouble by using her name in Hades. "Hestia might know."

The wind swirled around them, and Hestia's voice emerged. "Where are you? I can hear you as if you're sitting beside me."

"Just on a jaunt through Hades," replied Amdirlain casually.

"What are you even doing in Hades?"

"Rescuing innocents and breaking curses," replied Amdirlain with a meek smile.

"Of course. What can I do for you? I'm sure you didn't mention my name by accident after all these years," said Hestia. The swirling wind solidified and became a silvered pane displaying her visage, and Hestia's eyes flared in shock. "How is this possible? Charybdis and Scylla, I didn't know you still existed."

Charybdis grunted, folding her arms tightly under her breasts. "What did you think had happened to us?"

"I thought you had faded before we left the old realm," advised Hestia. "Hades reported your demise. What else did my brother lie about?"

Scylla ignored that question and looked at the goddess pleadingly. "Do you know where the other nymphs are, Lady Hestia?"

"Those still on Mount Olympus when the others perished are in my Domain." Hestia sighed. "Am, can you find out if there are others that Hades was hiding?"

"Being inside Hades has blocked many of my senses, and I can't even teleport around," advised Amdirlain. "Please tell Sarah and Klipyl that I'm handling myself."

Hestia hissed in frustration. "He even blocked messages out? Damn him. He locked the place down tight to prevent souls escaping, yet I didn't believe he'd taken it that far. I'll send someone who can move you around."

"Please don't do that. They won't be crossing the siege lines," warned Amdirlain. "I'll work out something after I get outside the Domain again."

"What siege lines? Who is defending it?"

Amdirlain smiled sheepishly. "If you know any celestials who want to take potshots at demons or devils, there are quite a few armies lined up trying to get into Hades. As far as the defenders go, a few trillion constructs equipped with some powers have been waging war to keep forces out of this Domain."

"What purpose led you to Hades, Am? I'm not asking what you are doing now, but why did you enter it? I know you have other things to tend to," said Hestia.

"I needed to get stronger, but so far, that has been a bit of a bust. While the trials are sending me against challenges fit for Grecian heroes, I'm rolling right over them," said Amdirlain.

Hestia closed her eyes. "Please stop making me play questions and answers."

"We have an audience, so that's as much as I can tell you," consoled Amdirlain.

"When you have privacy, mention my name again," pleaded Hestia. "Please. I owe you, and I want to help. There are places in Hades that even I wouldn't find safe to travel."

"Such as?"

"It still contains the regions of Tartarus," advised Hestia. "Which trials are you talking about?"

Do I tell her?

"I'll tell you the complete story after I get out."

Hestia's lips thinned with worry. "There are acts of desperation in Tartarus that I'd prefer you not see. If you stumble on them, please don't think the worst of me."

"What sort of acts, Hestia?"

"Hundreds of us were fading, and the first that utterly disappeared took all the entities in their service. After that, we did brutal things to buy ourselves more time, things I still regret."

"You told me not to play questions and answers." Amdirlain tapped her chest. "You think I don't know about regrets? Did you hurt innocents?"

"No!" A chastised expression settled over Hestia. She closed her eyes as if to block out her memories. "We feed off our enemies, Am—our parents and others. As we lost strength, the titans locked away in Tartarus continued to endure without worshippers. We feared them, so we consumed their primordial cores. You might find their remains in there, playing sanctuary to monsters."

Whispered memories stirred up from Amdirlain's soul. Overhead, two suns blazed while dozens of enemies lay among the shimmering desert dunes. A wounded Elf with a heavily tattooed face twisted on her blade as she caught the blood from the wound she'd just cut in their side in a bowl. A youngling with cracked lips and sunken eyes sipped at the first bowl she'd passed to them. Around her, tripods were being erected to hoist foes by their ankles.

Were they taking their enemies' strength or desperate for any fluids? Sarah warned me it was a brutal place.

"From your perspective, is there anything else I should know?" Amdirlain swallowed.

"Tread carefully. Hades wasn't the only god who lived in the Domain, and Hecate used Tartarus as her playground. Any other messages you need passed?"

"Tell Sarah I had some cats trying to adopt me and stick me on a tall shelf. I don't know how they tried it."

Hestia chuckled frailly. "Again?"

Amdirlain nodded.

With that, the silvery pane vanished.

"What do we do now?" asked Charybdis.

"Once the ship the trial set me on arrives, I hope it counts this as a success so I can proceed to the next trial."

Charybdis turned her gaze towards the distant sail and beckoned towards it; Amdirlain felt a surge of speed through the mental link she kept on the captain.

"I reinforced the Spell you used to influence the tide. It's clear you've got a lot of strength, but you don't understand flowing water like me," Charybdis deliriously burbled.

Among the rush of words, Charybdis sidled closer to Amdirlain. As she tried to close the last distance, Amdirlain blocked her lips with a finger. "I'm married."

"Spoilsport."

Scylla raised a hand. "You can kiss my frail self better, Charybdis."

"We've been so close for so many years that would be like kissing my sister."

"I've heard that never stopped you."

Charybdis gasped. "You didn't have to say that aloud. It's not my fault Zeus had so many of us. We didn't know until afterwards."

"Then came back for seconds."

"Not just seconds," murmured Charybdis, as she sank into the water beside Scylla, hands tenderly exploring. "Then again, there was that whole thing between Zeus and Persephone after he married Hera. Wait! They are both dead?"

"Yes," confirmed Amdirlain.

"Oh, let me tell you about what I heard then," cooed Charybdis.

I'm just going to keep my mouth closed.

Amdirlain let the pair gossip and watched the ship approach. The rowers had shipped the oars to prevent the current from catching them. She could see the white pane was still near the captain's chair, and a jittery captain was back in his seat.

The pane flashed gold when the ship reached the midpoint between where Scylla and Charybdis had lain.

That takes care of this challenge. Do I take them back with me, but what about the settlements they sail between?

"Scylla and Charybdis, will you explore this coastline and find what settlements have souls, not just memories of people within them? I need to know all the locations with souls before the domain decays."

The nymphs looked at each other and shrugged.

"We can do that. Are we allowed to find playmates?" asked Charybdis.

"Ensure you don't ruin any families and that your playmates survive," said Amdirlain.

"We'll get these fine sailors to help us," purred Scylla. "Let's go introduce ourselves, Charybdis."

Amdirlain wafted them to the deck and stepped through the pane as the pair started playfully bantering.

She found Medusa and Damon sitting cross-legged in front of each other, with Damon teaching her a clapping game.

"So quick?" groaned Damon, fumbling the switch of hands.

"It is what it is. I can't control the trial picked, so there is no point worrying about it in advance."

The following white pane stepped her into a flame-charred field where a single Spell slew a fire-breathing bull. Behind Amdirlain, the pane had turned gold, and she returned with a sigh on her lips.

The remaining trials on the left-hand side led her straight into disappointing battles, and she returned from the last with a massive serpent's head and golden fleece.

Damon twitched nervously after each quick return. "I hope you're not making future trials harder, Am."

"First you bring back Aegis, and now the fleece," huffed Medusa. "Are the trials setting you up to conquer something in the maze or to rule it?"

Confronted with a shield that has your head attached must be weird, yet Medusa seems more intent on being a big sister to, if not wholly mothering, Damon.

"The pane didn't turn gold until I dragged the head over," advised Amdirlain.

"It could be the serpent's fangs or poison that was needed," suggested Medusa.

"Did you kill the Colchian Dragon in a single strike to be back so quick?"

This one was a monstrous beast to fight. I bet the Domain births a new one once I'm done.

"One punch. Should I have stood there and let it chomp on me?"

"Just don't get overconfident. The next trial is on the right side." Damon moved from the closed gate.

"Damon, is there a Smith nearby? Perhaps we can turn the fangs into weapons for Am?" asked Medusa.

"A foe in the maze might need specific venom to overcome," agreed Amdirlain.

Damon eyed the items that Amdirlain floated in her wake. "We'll talk to one after Am starts the next trial."

As they passed the midpoint, Amdirlain spotted the outer edges of Hades' emblem partly embossed in gold on the central gate. As they entered the corridor to the gate, Aetos Kaukasios let out a piercing screech.

"Go make that racket somewhere else. Don't be deafening people here."

He fluffed his feathers and settled down again, talons gouging the gate's stone crosspiece as it opened.

Amdirlain stepped through the seventh pane and emerged in the haze of a volcanic caldera—through the fumes, she could see it extended hundreds of kilometres.

Bubbling lava pits lined one side of the central pool where Echidna's corpse lay sprawled back against the volcano's wall, chained in place by her wrists; her serpentine legs stretched out to encircle the vast caldera. Rocky deposits grew out from the skin of her bare torso and across her face. Amdirlain drifted closer and touched Echidna's calcified skin, stretching her senses into the body, she found only an empty void and the scars of millions of parasitic feedings. The intervals between feedings had rapidly shortened from years to hours. Untended in her death, dried blood streaked her sides to show the last wounds from which the Greek gods had fed, thinning to end above a bubbling pool. Her remains were an empty husk.

A giant hand rose from the central lava lake and grabbed the rim as the top of a fiery head breached its surface. A blood-thirsty rage pulsed through the chamber with a physical force, and Amdirlain had to push forward to hold her ground.

Damon kept doom flagging me. Is this from his expectations, mine, or an Aspect screwing with me?

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