Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter XXXVI: We Have a Conversation with the God of Death

You can say whatever you want about Hades, but no one can deny that his palace is impressive. It stood tall and majestic in an "Evil Castle" sort of way, the largest spires reaching for the roof of the cavern. It was made entirely of black marble, except for the gates, which were made of bronze. Said gates also just so happened to be open. Not suspicious at all.

But there wasn't much we could do about it. After all our objective was in the palace. So we walked through. As we did, I noticed another chilling detail about the gates: the bronze was engraved with gruesome scenes of death. There were Greek warriors impaling each other with spears, English ships sinking, French soldiers being shot down, atomic bombs demolishing entire cities. All of them things I didn't want to ever witness.

Beyond the gates was a strange garden. There were several glowing plants and mushrooms growing there, and instead of flowers there were literal jewels growing out of plants. There were also several statues scattered around the place that looked a lot like they had come from Medusa's shop.

At the center of the garden was an orchard of several pomegranate trees. They were the most normal thing in the garden. The only thing that gave away their underworldly nature was their eerie orange glow, the fruit calling out to us.

"The garden of Persephone. Keep walking." Annabeth warned.

I didn't argue. Even if I didn't remember the entire story of Persephone's abduction and her subsequent marriage to Hades, I did remember that if anyone were to eat food from the Underworld, they would never be able to leave. And while everyone inevitably ended up there eventually, I would like to delay that outcome for as long as possible.

We quickly moved up the steps to a long black corridor supported by large pillars of black marble. Along the corridor were several doors, each guarded by skeleton soldiers of different time periods. Some were Greek hoplites, others were French musketeers, others American marines. At the end of the corridor was a pair of large doors flanked by the skeletons of two US marines holding rocket launchers.

Looking back on it, it didn't seem like Hades's security was as bad as it had appeared when we first arrived. Instead, it was starting to feel more and more like the security had been purposely lessened. As if Hades wanted us to get to him. The thought sent chills down my spine.

"You know, I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesmen." Grover muttered.

I nodded in agreement.

"So... do we knock?"

As if answering my question, a hot wind blew down the corridor, causing the doors to open. The skeleton guards proceeded to step aside.

"I guess that means 'entrez'." Annabeth said.

Once we stepped inside, we found ourselves in a large room. It was completely empty except for the throne of bones over at one of the ends, just like what Percy had described from his dreams. And sitting on it was none other than the Lord of the Underworld himself: Hades.

Out of all the gods we had encountered so far, he definitely lived up to his title the most. He was at least three meters tall, with skin nearly as pale as a corpse. On his head of shoulder length black hair was a crown of woven gold. He was clad in pitch black robes, the fabric constantly shifting to show the expressions of horrified faces.

He was scary not just because he was the god of death, but also because of how much raw power he radiated. When he fixed his gaze on us, I felt the age to turn around and just book it out of there. But I managed to get my fear under control. More or less.

"You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon. After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish." Hades said.