greek mythology stuff

Chapter 24 The Waking Darkness

Charon was a skilled boatman, and the boat showed no signs of tossing.

From time to time, he moved the dead bamboo on the bow of the boat, and the boat moved between the main road and the tributaries.

The surface of the river was covered with heavy fog, and the undead farming on both sides could only vaguely see the shadow of the boat. Even so, they stopped working and saluted the two of them.

Charon is very good at observing words and expressions. He noticed that Hephaestus had been observing the undead farming on the shore, so he rowed the boat very slowly so that Hephaestus could have enough interest to enjoy the scenery along the way.

But Hephaestus suddenly asked him a question of unknown meaning.

"Will the undead at the bottom of the river never be free?"

Charon froze.

He couldn't tell whether he liked this sentence more or hated it more, Hephaestus was expressionless, and he couldn't see why.

But he still honestly replied: "No."

"Human obsessions are limited. As long as the undead crossing the river are willing to give me the gold coins that their obsessions turn into, I will take them across the river."

"The undead at the bottom of the river are unwilling to let go of their obsession."

"But as time goes by, they will eventually let go, and at that time, I will fish them up."

Hephaestus asked: "Is there anything you don't want to let go?"

Charon shook his head: "Not yet."

"At most a hundred years, they will let go of their insistence."

"Most of the undead who sink to the bottom will not be able to bear it in 20 years."

Charon then asked: "Is Your Majesty looking for special materials?"

"Do you need me to help you pay attention?"

Hephaestus stood at the stern of the boat, as if in a daze, before he replied, "Oh, it's all right."

"I'm just asking casually."

All the way without a word, the boat continued to move forward.

Hephaestus noticed that they entered a peculiar tributary.

In the front, the branches of the four rivers of the underworld meet here. On the left is the red river of fire, on the right is the turbid tears of human beings, and in front is the river Styx, which can bind the oath of the gods.

And what they are in is the river of resentment flowing with the undead.

The boat entered the confluence of the four rivers, and Charon, like a dedicated steward, stopped as promised.

Hephaestus leaned over to watch the river of oblivion that makes one forget the past.

The water of the river is very clear, although it is at the confluence of the four rivers, the surface of the river is calm.

He took a handful of river water and could feel the forgotten rules flowing in the water.

Weak, but special.

This special power comes from the Styx, the river of oath, which makes the rules of forgetting in the water weakly affect the gods.

Putting down the river water scooped up in his hands, Hephaestus felt a lot of pity.

Success as well as failure.

When the four rivers meet, the rules of forgetting can be born in the water here, and it is the meeting of the four rivers that dilutes the power of the sworn river Styx to restrain the gods.

Losing the power to restrain the gods, to the powerful gods, forgetting the rules is like tasteless, tasteless to eat, and a pity to discard.

"Go on," he said to Charon.

Charon's obedient sliding boat.

On the banks of the River of Oath, Hephaestus disembarked.

He said to Charon who was waiting respectfully, "Go back, I will go the rest of the way by myself."

Charon asked: "Your Majesty, when should I pick you up for your return journey?"

Hephaestus waved his hand: "You don't need to come, I can go back by myself."

Charon remained respectful, and he asked again: "When should I report the news of your coming to the underworld to His Majesty the Hades?"

Hephaestus: "You can report normally, don't worry, I have no other purpose in coming to the underworld, and I won't embarrass you."

Charon didn't feel the slightest embarrassment of being seen through. He thanked him and punted away.

Hephaestus watched him until the boat was no more to be seen.

Then he raised his hand to cut through the space, and took out a lantern from his temple.

The style of the lamp is like an ancient palace lamp, with a handle that is easy to grasp. The treasure of Hera and the branches of the golden apple tree are used as the skeleton, and the gauze woven with the thread of fate is used as the lampshade.

The lampshade is full of paintings of mountains and rivers, birds, animals, fish and insects, and interesting stories of characters, full of a heavy sense of history.

Staring at this lamp, it seems that the history of the past is emerging one by one in front of your eyes.

It's just that this lamp lacks the most critical part, the light.

Hephaestus did not lie to Charon, he came to the underworld simply to get water from the river Styx.

He wants to perfect this artifact that fits with historical authority, the 'streaming light'.

In order to help him change Linkos' fate, his good friend Cloto can hardly bear the backlash of fate.

Hephaestus had prepared for the worst. If Clotho was accidentally involved by fate, the streamer would be the capital to save her.

As for the things that can compete with the power of fate, the Styx, who can bind the vows of the gods, is definitely one.

Its river water is the most perfect light for streamers.

Under the will of Hephaestus, the river of Styx rose without wind, forming a waterspout in the sky, and then drilled into the streamer, and three flames also appeared on the shoulders and top of Hephaestus .

"go."

Following Hephaestus' order, the three flames left their positions and merged into one in the air. It penetrated into the streamer and released its endless heat towards the condensed river water.

The river water that Hephaestus needs seems to have no end, and the waterspout in the sky not only did not dissipate, but became even bigger in size.

In the streamer lamp, water and fire are intertwined. It is not simply that the fire boils water or pours water to extinguish the fire, but the power of the flame will regenerate the river of Styx and give it new meaning.

In just a short moment, the flames of Hephaestus and the water of the Styx fought and merged countless times.

Finally, as if sublimated to the extreme, the river water condensed into water droplets burned, it was a faint blue flame, and the gentle blue light illuminated the gloomy old trees on the bank.

The three flames had done their job, and they flew out of the lamp and disappeared over the head and shoulders of Hephaestus.

Holding the streamer with full power, Hephaestus let out a long sigh of relief.

Now, even if it is the worst situation, he can deal with it freely.

……

Like all gods who have seen the power of the river of oath, Hephaestus suddenly wondered where the source of the river was.

So he took the streamer lamp and went upstream to trace the source of the river.

He moved forward for a while, and saw a steady stream of river water flowing into the river channel from the void.

Here, ordinary gods can only choose to give up, but this is not difficult for a powerful god.

Following the vein of space, Hephaestus stepped into nothingness and continued to trace back.

In the nothingness, the more he walked, the more surprised he was, stepping out of the nothingness, the outside was outside the world, in the chaos.

A borderless darkness lay here, and the river of Styx flowed from afar through the darkness.

Hephaestus knew this darkness, which was the body of Erebus, one of the original five gods, the god of darkness.

The deity rarely appears in the world, and it is said that he has fallen into a deep sleep.

As long as the gods abide by the rules set by him and do not shine any light in the darkness, they can walk in his body, otherwise they will be expelled.

Hephaestus put away the streamer, not giving up the meaning of tracing back.

But when he was about to step into the darkness, he found that the darkness seemed to have a solid wall, and he couldn't walk at all.

Hephaestus stared at the boundless darkness and swallowed.

It seems... the rumors are false!
This great god-level god is always awake.

And...he was denied entry.

(End of this chapter)