Don't Back Down Again

LIOZ

Not feeling too great mentally and emotionally. I've been working extra hard for the past week. Mom, step dad, and 5 year old sister are down with the illness making me in charge of the house, taking care of them, and cleaning everything. But I'm still here and writing. Can't forget about you guys right?

Here we go!

Amias and Hades walked down to the UnderWorld. There was clear tension going on, Hades was too quiet for the fun and short tempered guy he usually was.

"What's wrong?" Amias couldn't take the silence any longer. It was clear that there was something terribly wrong and he wasn't saying it.

"I'm the ruler of this place," Hades began, still guiding Amias across the Underworld, "What I say goes. My word is worth millions of souls. But I'm afraid even the lord of the Underworld has his limits."

He led the mortal to a room that was glowing blue. Sounds of cries filling the place in an eerie way. Near the River of Styx was another grown male duck, his eyes a dark black and feathers mostly black with white spots.

"Thanatos?" Amias recognized his cousin right away.

"And Roya," a small female duck looking similar to Thanatos appeared from behind him. Next to her was another male duck that looked a lot older than the others. White feathers but same dark eyes as everyone in the group.

"Mayavin," he said his name as a way to greet his cousin.

"So another poor soul got stuck down here too huh?" Roya laughed as she firmly shook Amias hand.

"At least I'm not alone here," Amias greeted and hugged his cousins.

"Is Lizzette with my boy Abigor?" Thanatos asked after hugging Amias.

"You know those two are inseparable," Amias smiled.

"Alright we can catch up at the party," Hades interrupted everyone, "Right now we have an urgent situation."

"Ah, I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle," Roya gave a confident smile but Hades' worried face worried the cousin's.

"What's wrong?" Mayavin seemed like he was the most nervous out of the four.

"Can you all tell me one thing you four have in common?" Hades asked, clearly wanting to slowly reveal to them what was happening.

"Hmmm, We're ducks?" Mayavin asked, very uncertain. Roya lightly shoved his shoulder and smirked.

"Descendents of the great geek gods and heroes. My blood comes from Oneiroi, personification of dreams." Roya proudly answered.

"Named after my great ancestor Thanatos, God of Death," Thanatos added in.

"My ancestor is Hypnos, personification of sleep," Mayavin said.

"Descendent of Aphroducky," Amias raised his hand slightly.

"And what is our family code?" Hades asked again.

"To follow in our ancestors footsteps and represent them in a positive light." The four said in unison.

"Good, I'm going to need you four to follow that code starting today," Hades said.

"We've always followed that code," Amias sounded confused.

"Today you will follow it on a new level. You see, I keep count of all the souls down here. Thousands to millions come down here every year, and I count all of them carefully," Hades gestured to the River of Styx. The cousins looked down to see a wailing, swirling abyss of souls, nothing unusual, "But today, the count is off."