The Ambassador of Athena

Percy has described the Fields of Asphodel as boring, flat and full of souls. But he never mentioned the monorail tracks that stretched in all direction. Right in front of me a station that looked like it was made of bones glowed in the darkness. A pitch-black train waited in the station.
I walked through the station and wondered why the dead people would need a snack machine with coke, chips and mineral water, but I was glad to have some caffeine to keep me awake. I looked all over the station for a map, but I couldn’t find one.
“You seem lost.” a familiar voice behind me asked friendly.
I turned around, wondering who would be the Underworld Tourist Guide. It was Athena, dressed in a conductor outfit that fit the general look of the Underworld: Grey and Black, with bone buttons and a stygian iron whistle.
My smile froze.
“What are you doing here?” I snapped at her.
The goddess didn’t smile, she seemed sad.
“I am here not only because I have to, but also because I want to help you. I’ve always been the protector of the heroes, and you are one, even if you don’t think so.”
She waved her signal flag at the train and a door opened. She gestured me to board the coach, and after a second I followed her into the train. She sat down on the black leather benches lining the windows while I held on to a pole.
“Welcome to HTS, Hades Transport System; your partner for fast travel in the Underworld. Brought to you by Daedalus Traffic Solutions.” A voice from the speakers blurred when the train set in motion.
Athena looked miserable at me.
“Look, Florian, this is not easy for me, not at all. I tried to trick the fates, but history should have showed me that the try alone would cause the prophecy to become true. Telling Johanna to break up with you only caused you sorrow, her sorrow and finally led to her death: You tried to rescue her because you always loved her, but your effort was also the reason why she…”
Ok, I am not proud of my next action, but I have never been so furious in my life. Not only did Athena showed up and thought it would be all right, she also blamed me for the dead of Johanna.
I had my bow activated and aimed right at her head before she even had the time to flinch.
“Take.That.Back.” I whispered. Somewhere in the back of my head a part of my brain realised that I was threatening a goddess that has turned a woman into a monster with snake hair and created the first spider, but that part was probably beaten up by the much stronger and more violent part of my rage and the more tender but equally strong part that represented my love for the girl I was trying to rescue. It had no chance reaching my consciousness.
Athena stared coldly down the arrow and straight in my eyes, not even batting an eye.
“Just think about what the prophecy said: ‘Love will determine her destiny.’” I said slowly.
“It never said that it would kill her. You overreacted, you were wrong, you made a mistake. And now you blame it on me? Maybe it was her destiny to die and to be resurrected by me, or it was her destiny to die and mine to die fighting for her.”
I took a deep breath. My vision became blurry, as if I was about to cry. But I didn’t care, I was shouting at a goddess.
“You gods have to learn a lesson mankind has learned years ago, by your example: Never try to change your fate. Even if you can do things no other being in the universe can do, you can’t mess with the fates. Neither Saturn nor Kronos could fight it off, so you are ignorant and arrogant if you think you can do it.
STOP THINKING YOU ARE ALWAYS RIGHT, BECAUSE YOU DEFENITEL MESSED UP THIS TIME!”
I was so under adrenaline and other hormones I could hear the blood rushing through my ears, saw every wrinkle in Athena’s face and could feel the tension of the string in my hand.
I let the string go and a millisecond later the arrow hit with a low thump.
“You gods better stop messing with us mortals, one day we might find the guts to fight you with all our strength, and then you will see what it means to meddle with us.”
Athena sat on the bench, not moving a centimetre. The arrow stuck next to her in the wall, touching her ear and still vibrating from the impact.
I was breathing heavily, slowly realising what I have just done. Athena just stared at me, her expression motionless.
“You are right”
That was the least I expected her to say. Maybe ‘Die, mortal scum’ or ‘Any last words?’, but not something that sounded like an apology.
“I was wrong, and I admit that.” She continued calmly “I have no business messing with the fates of mortals or even my kids. Mankind has grown up, and we should stop manipulating them as we please to.”
She stood up and looked right into my eyes.
“I want to apologise for all I have done. Only the fates know what would have happened if I never intervened. Maybe everything would have been the same. Maybe everything would have been different. We will never know. But I will tell you one thing: I will never try to cheat the fates again.”
“If you really want me to believe you, swear it. Swear it on the River Styx.” I whispered.
She looked at me for a few seconds, then she said: “I swear on the River Styx that I will never meddle with the fates again, under no circumstances.”
Thunder rolled in the distance and the train started to slow down.
“Next stop: Hades’ Palace.” The voice from the speakers said. “Change here for the Damnation, Revenge and Central Line.”
Athena looked up and rose from her seat.
“This is as far as I can accompany you, but you will find another guide at the station that might help you.” She said when the train stopped. “Farewell, my hero.”
It was hard to hold a grudge against a goddess that just swore to the river Styx to never mess up again and didn’t blasted me to dust when I threatened her. I considered hugging her, but that would have been way too much.
So I bowed and said: “Thank you, Mylady. Not for everything, but for most you’ve done for me.”
Then I stepped out of the coach and into the darkness of the underworld again.

Notes

The end is near, brace yourself ;)