Hero of Rome

Decimus quietly hands Charon a forged coin that he had in his pocket, offering a humble nod despite the recent, murderous betrayal. He doesn’t need grand gestures—just the relief of knowing his work has earned him peace in Elysium.

The latest Underworld update stopped me in my tracks. Camilla, Marcus, and Bulla all saw it too.

“Decimus?” Bulla said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Does this have to do with your death?”

“I believe so,” I said, the crushing weight of despair growing. If Decimus was betrayed, how much longer till I saw Cleopatra or Titus show up in one of those updates?

In brief, I caught Bulla up on everything that had transpired.

“Emperor,” he said, smiling to himself. “Now, I didn’t see that one coming. You would have made for a fine one, had you lived. I am proud of you Max, truly.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Bulla.”

“At any rate, it pains me that you were betrayed. Although I am glad you took down Elagabalus and the other tyrants before death stole you away.”

“Me too,” I said, though my voice was not as enthusiastic. Seeing Decimus’s name had pulverized any remaining joy I had.

“At least Decimus sails for Elysium now where he can rest,” Marcus said as we resumed our trek down the barren dunes of the seventh ring.

Camilla did not look as comforted by that face. “If he has escaped the jaws of Cerberus, that means Pluto’s dog is not waiting for victims anymore.”

Before she finished speaking, a piercing set of howls tore through the air.

Cerberus.

“Looks like he found us,” Bulla whispered as we approached the end of our ring where a river separated us from the next one.

Location Discovered: Malebolge (8/9)

The eighth circle of hell proved to be the worst of them all. The sloping dark plains for Malebolge contained ten vast ditches stretching all the way to the bottom where an icy gate awaited, presumably to Tartarus. Each ditch had the most egregious punishments for their respective souls trapped inside that I had witnessed so far. Some were severe whippings or being severed by swords from shadowy demons, others were drowning in flaming feces, boiling pitch, and so on. They were grisly sights to behold.

The worst part about the entire circle was not the punishments themselves nor the many demons that we would have to face, but the giant and very angry Cerberus that roamed through the ten ditches, sniffing for us.

“There’s no way we can get through it,” I said, hope dying inside of me.

“Can you peek into the futures?” Camilla said.

It was a dangerous move, especially with Cerberus so close. But what other option did we have?

I sighed, tapping into my Historical Insight.

The futures opened up before me, growing far ahead in my mind. I limited it to only the next ten minutes or so. As I predicted, going directly through the Malebolge would get us all killed. It wouldn’t even be close to fair. Cerberus would see us immediately once we crossed the river. The hounds would destroy at least two of us instantly with its terrible jaws, while the rest of us would be cut down by the shadow demons that took a break from their tormentees to kill us instead.

I was close to giving into the bleak depression that rapidly consumed me. The only other option I could think of was the river separating the two rings. In these futures, I led my friends down its icy waters, hoping for a loop around the ring to the gate of Tartarus. We had no boat, so we had to swim. The moment I dipped into the waters, that feeling of despair magnified to the millionth degree. I almost stopped and let myself drown from how depressing the water made me feel. It wasn’t until the System notification that I understood why.

Location Discovered: River Cocytus

“The river of wailing,” I mumbled as the others followed me. I looked back to see their faces were similarly bleak. “Don’t stop moving. And whatever you do, do not drink the water.”

I had seen numerous futures where if it got in our mouths, it was like a lead weight that dragged us down, in which depression would suffocate us forever.

“Why not just stop?” Bulla said, tears streaming down his face as he halted momentarily. “There’s no purpose to this Underworld. Only pain and suffering. It would be better to sink.”

Marcus shook his head, muttering to himself. “Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears,” he repeated several times. However, even his resolve began to weaken.

I was about to abandon this path when just down the river where it opened into a large dark sea, several figures emerged. Dozens of what looked like seaweed spirits floated along the water, their entire body covered in the slimy stuff while tears poured endlessly from their baggy eyes. As we drew closer, their wailings became louder. Like infectious yawning, I too found myself crying from whatever spell they had us in.

But the most surprising figure was the giant dragon skeleton whose skull barely lifted over the sea water. I had no doubt who it was.

Cetus.

Camilla was the first to speak, though her voice was ghostly. “Is that—”

“Yes,” I said, my sudden fear ebbing away into numbness again as grief depressed my soul. This river was going to be the end of me.

The seaweed souls didn’t seem hostile as they let us pass through unharmed. In the various futures where I tried to whack one with my golden oar, they would only cry harder, which actually would lead to my death. It seemed their misery would drown everyone faster if provoked.

Coming closer to the remains of Cetus, the dragon turned his head to look at us. His bones rattled as if sighing. There was no glee on his skeletal face in seeing I had died too. Cetus refused to even speak to us.

Seeing him though had given me an idea. If Cetus were to be convinced to leave this depressing river, then he could fly us safely across the eighth ring. That way we wouldn’t be torn to shreds by Cerberus which was guaranteed.

But how to free him?

The seaweed souls had extended their green, slippery flesh all across the dragon’s bones. They floated around him like tethers, keeping him bound to the river. The several months that Cetus had been trapped down here appeared to have worn away his will to live completely, even mourn.

“Cetus?” I said, quickening my pace in fear of becoming just like him. The dragon’s skull turned ever so slightly to acknowledge me, but that was all.

“Cetus,” I repeated, struggling to speak, “I need your help. We are in need of crossing the eighth ring. Can you help us fly over it?”

To my surprise, the dragon shook with laughter. The sound was like metal grating against metal, sending chills down my back. When he finished, his response was simple.

“No.”

The futures extended as I looked for other ways to request him. Unfortunately, no matter what I tried to say or promise, even to restore him to life with me, nothing convinced the dragon to help, let alone attack me. There existed no desire, no motivation within the skeletal remains. Cetus had become a husk of what he used to be.

Just like all who had drowned in this river. The seaweed souls never ceased in their depressing cries.

Perhaps that was the problem.

The only way that I could imagine Cetus leaving this river is if the seaweed souls let him go. I had a really strong feeling that they wouldn't do so willingly.

“I need you guys to take out any of the souls on the surface,” I whispered, preparing to swim down to attack the ones tethering Cetus beneath the water. There were three down below I would need to undo. “I think we can free Cetus, and he can fly us over the eighth ring.”

“Won’t he try to kill you?” Bulla said, his voice lacking any motivation. The others looked similarly empty.

“I have a feeling he’ll be grateful,” I said. “Ready?”

For a moment, no one said anything.

“If you think it’s worth it,” Camilla whispered. Her vacant eyes looked like she had been mourning. From the effects of these lamenting waters, I didn’t want to know what was brewing in her mind.

Feeling somewhat convinced they would follow through, I dove into the icy water. With my head fully submerged, the aching and raw grief in my heart began to widen, like an ever increasing hole. It made me feel empty as I swam, like everything was meaningless. While I smacked the golden oar against the seaweed soul tendrils, turning it gold and then ripping off the non-gold parts, the hole in my chest became unbearably huge.

I had no desire to finish freeing Cetus, or to live.

Perhaps that’s what these lost souls were doing to Cetus. Ensnaring him in their web of lies to keep him down. I could only imagine how much worse it could be if their seaweed skin wrapped around me.

Just one more, I thought, my mind completely bored and ignoring the pain of not breathing.

Reaching the second seaweed soul, who wept quietly to herself, I slowly swung the golden oar at her tendril, turning it gold.

The reality replayed itself.

Again I swung the oar, only for it to happen again.

I sighed, letting the weapon drift, only to be repositioned in the next loop to eternally repeat it.

Random things, random things…

Something I would never do would be breathing water. It was the irrational choice, and the only one that emerged in my grieving mind.

The tasteless water gushed into my lungs making me cough. The shock was so severe that it momentarily freed me from my depressed stupor and shattered the chrono loop. I quickly snapped the tether from the seaweed soul, who only stared at me with a lonely expression.

Breathing in the water had dropped my health and would be out in the next twenty seconds. As if that weren’t punishment enough, the enchanted water made me want to stay and drown in the river. All of my motivation for life, for revenge, for everything washed away once that water splashed into my lungs. I couldn’t remember what I was doing down here in the first place. All I felt was the overwhelming doom that was life. My wife was destined to die, so were my kids, so was Camilla, Decimus, Titus, Livia, everyone, including me and this ugly dragon. All of my life had been pointless, and I really was not a man of consequence. It had all been a waste.

My hands unknowingly reached the figurine of Cleoaptra on my neck. Immediately her spectral image emerged underwater with me. She wore an elegant dress that revealed her baby bump. Though she could not speak, her smile spoke volumes of her love for me. She cupped my face with her ghostly hand, kissing my forehead.

I started choking from my lack of oxygen and the longing for my wife, for her to live and for everything to be alright.

Death was unfair, unjust, and immoral. Death had to be defeated. It could not remain unchallenged.

The sudden swell of anger awakened me. Suddenly, the lost souls around me were pitiable, having given up on life to wallow in misery. No, that would not be my path. Death could be overturned. I would do it. Cleopatra deserved it.

The strength burning like a roaring fire within me propelled me forward. I effortlessly snapped the last tether of the seaweed soul and kicked back up to the surface. Before I could breath, the skeletal remains of Cetus began to move, churning the water.

“Max!” Camilla shouted, all hints of the depressed waters gone from her cry.

“At last!” Cetus roared, his bone wings rising above the waters and smashing some of the lost souls.

“Hold onto him!” I said, snatching his ribcage as the others did the same.

“Neptune shall not curse me again!” Cetus continued, roaring with excitement as the four of us were lifted into the air inside of his ribs.

I had to laugh from the sheer adrenaline coursing through my veins. Or at least it felt like it, as a result of launching rapidly to the Underworld sky. Cetus roared again, this time triumphant as he carried us over the Malebolge. Cerberus with its three heads looked up and howled. There was no way that monstrous hound could reach us.

“You cannot defeat death, Maximus,” Cetus growled. “But, if I am damned to roam these plains of hell because of you, I will surely watch you try!”

Well, that was better than nothing.

The towering icy gate of Tartarus rushed at us. In just one powerful flap of his bone wings, Cetus launched us across the Malebolge and swooped into Tartarus.