Chapter 1 – Cerberus
CERBERUS
They’re coming for me, damn it.
I can hear the familiar soft screeching that travels up from the darkness of the Underworld that means Hades has unleashed his cruel Soulless to drag me back down.
The screeching is a sound meant to terrify the souls of the dead.
A sound that I’m ashamed to admit makes my heart race and my palms grow sweaty around the handle I clutch.
I move faster, dragging the tool back and forth as I saw at the metal encircling my neck.
My time is almost up.
I can sense their heavy feet dragging along the ground not far down the tunnel, drawing closer with every precious second that ticks by. Feverishly, I continue cutting the collar around my neck. I’m close. So fucking close.
But if they catch me now, I’ll never have another chance. I’ll be trapped in my own personal hell for eternity.
I can smell them now. The wretched smell of decomposing bodies. Of death and blood. Hades’s own personal guards.
I’m screwed. So fucking screwed!
Once they reach me, the sharpened bones of their clawed hands will slice into my flesh.
I’ll be pummeled. And the more I fight back, the more he’ll send after me.
I’ll be left in a pool of my own blood, in his dark tunnels.
Sometimes the Soulless grab the chain attached to the collar around my throat and drag me the miles upon miles to Hades’s realm.
And sometimes they’re kind and leave me in the darkness, choking on my own blood, waiting for my immortal body to heal itself.
I’ve danced this dance too many times to expect anything else.
Suddenly, the god’s magic tool slices my flesh, and the collar drops to the ground, the sound of metal hitting the earth ringing through the dark tunnels. Tears sting my eyes as I touch my bare neck, slick with my own blood.
It’s gone! It’s really fucking gone!
Still clutching the tool, I rise to my feet and turn toward the surface. Not thinking. Not feeling. I run. My feet pounding against the earth.
I don’t need to see in the darkness. These tunnels have been my home for far too long. I know every stone, every turn of my prison. Several minutes tick by, and I know I’ve almost reached the surface. I can smell the plant life. I can almost taste the mist on my tongue.
Breaking out of the darkness of the cave, I can feel the blood from where the tool cut into my neck leaking down my neck and onto my chest. But I ignore the insignificant flesh wound.
My gaze goes out to the real world. To the island that serves as an entrance and exit from the Underworld. In the jungle of this god-forsaken place, red eyes glow in the darkness, too intense not to stand out from the mist and the scarlet plants. Rotters, Hades’ fucking undead dogs themselves.
Hades created the perfect protection into and out of this entrance into the Underworld: an island covered with a dense forest and guarded by dangerous creatures.
Unfortunately for him, I’m fucking Cerberus.
A creature he decided would make a better guard than a daughter.
He taught me that life was about killing or being killed.
So I’ve become more dangerous than any of his other weapons.
Without a thought, I shift. My bones cracking, my flesh ripping. As a child, this process hurt. But since then, it’s only a whisper of pain in the back of my mind.
This is nothing. I know real pain.
Standing on all fours, I’ve become a massive hellhound, the size of a large human on all fours. And fire leaps from my dark fur. The little beasts in the jungle whimper.
That’s right, fuckers. You might never die, but I can certainly make you feel pain.
The putrid smell of Hades’s Soulless guards float out of the entrance of the tunnel. Damn it, they’re getting too close. I can’t hesitate another moment, or I’m done for.
Using my nose, I push Hephaestus’s tool into the underbrush. It’s the first thing capable of removing his collars and chains, gifted to me by Keto herself. I can’t risk letting it fall into the hands of the wrong person.
When I’m done, I turn and race down the golden path in the jungle, lined by torches. The red-eyed Rotters in the jungle race along beside me, dozens and dozens of filthy creatures, but I’m protected from them on the path. Until it ends.
It takes no time at all to reach the end of the path, and then I leap into the jungle, not caring that I know what will happen next.
The little dogs immediately jump onto my back, but I shake them off. Any that come close enough are crushed by my powerful jaws. I barely slow. I just keep going. Heading toward the water.
Most people get lost in this jungle, wandering until they die.
But my superior nose means that I can just barely smell the salty sea over the coppery scent of blood and the overwhelming scent of Soulless bodies.
The mist curls around me as I run, trying to conceal the tangled underbrush, but my senses are alive in this form. Nothing will trip me up.
The little beasts continue to run at my sides. Snapping at me. Drawing blood. But I’m bigger, stronger, and faster. Slowly, I leave more and more of them behind, until it’s just me breaking free from the jungle. My feet pad lightly on the rocky shore.
I’m free! They can’t reach me out here!
The ocean stretches out in front of me. I’ve never seen it before. My chain didn’t reach this far.
The souls of the undead, the ones I keep from leaving the Underworld, told me stories. Stories of everything in this world, including the sea. But for the first time, I realize how different actually seeing life is. Their stories felt so real, but this, this is real.
This ocean. It’s beautiful… expanding out in all directions. Even the sound of the waves fills me with emotion. Hope, perhaps.
Shifting out of my hellhound form, I’m a woman once more. I’ve swam many times in the sea of the undead, floating among the souls that are cursed never to pass on to the Underworld. But this, I suspect, will be different.
Better, I think.
Taking a deep breath, I run lightly over the rocks, then dive in.
The salty sea is all around me. I kick my feet and move my hands, swimming forward. I know I have miles upon miles to go before I’ll reach land once more. I know Hades won’t just let me go either. He’ll send his people after me. I’ll always have to be afraid.
But I don’t care. I’m free. Free for the first time in my immortal life.
I’m ashamed to say that my tears blend in with the salty sea as I swim forward, never looking back.