Chapter 2 - The Resistance

Big news came into Hades underworld a couple of days ago, that Typhon has been defeated on top of Mount Olympus by some human. Everyone was shocked. However Hades was happy. Now that the big Titan was gone from the overworld and Hades’ brother Zeus stopped spying on it, Hades decided to assemble a massive army of daemons and to march it into the overworld where he can steal a lot of human souls to power his shrines and magical mechanisms, such as an ethereal toothbrush.

He began everything by cutting out the already dead humans’ souls from their supposed resting places. He bribed Charon to stop working the boat and to smash the only bridge linking the two banks of the river. Charon, the fool he is, tried to do so with his oar. It’d take him thousands of years. He also tried to bribe the judges to stop judging the souls, but they defied him, so he set up Cerberus in the Tower of Judgement to make sure that no-one passes through to the judges.

All the shades who were stuck in the Plains of Judgement and Erebus areas have gone annoyed and angry. Some were confused and scared about what’s going on. Others wanted to show their dissatisfaction out loud. They began forming armies and marching for the Tower of Judgement and Hades’ Palace. They formed a massive resistance.

Hades found out about the resistance quickly and so to stop them from ruining his plans, sent some portion of his daemon army to deal with them. That meant that he had to slightly delay his invasion on the overworld and to only send a few scouts to go topside and clean the coast.

The war between the resistance and the daemons has been going for a few days now and so far it wasn’t looking so good for the resistance. A lot of shades were getting killed. It was just a matter of time before Hades will march his army to the overworld. However one clever shade named Pylades had discovered the interesting mind of Keuthonymus. It all happened when the resistance were retreating from the battlefield and Pylades accidentally stumbled into a dead end. Packs of machae were behind them, but he couldn’t go back now. He could hear them approaching. He was waiting for his doom, until he saw one machae reach him. He was looking machae in the eyes with hatred and waiting for that one to stab him. However machae didn’t kill him, and instead went back and told the other machae that it was clear.

Pylades told the news to Callicrates – the leader of resistance, and both of them decided to utilise this rebellious machae for victory. That machae was indeed Keuthonymus. Keuthonymus knew that the arrival of resistance was a good chance to overthrow Hades. Even though at the moment they were weak, with his help they could triumph. And if not then he had to keep a low enough profile and wait for the next golden opportunity to overtake the throne of the underworld. It was the best of both worlds for him.

- “What’s next then?” Pylades asked Keuthonymus.
- “My machae brothers are escorting a caravan full of supplies that is heading for the daemon camp. Make sure that enough of the resistance will be there to intercept it.” Keuthonymus replied.
- “How many machae are delivering it?”
- “Not many. But they’re all Wardens, so make sure you have some solid fighters in the army. I was also given orders to send a message to a daemon general in the overworld. I am delaying it as much as I can, but I’ll have to send it eventually. I’ll wait until you guys deal with the caravan first and then send it. I’ll send the messengers along the same path, so it will be easy for you to come across them.”
- “Brilliant. Thanks Keuthonymus. Have you heard that apparently a mortal hero who killed Typhon has entered Hades?”
- “If that is true, then make sure you get his help. If he is strong enough to defeat Typhon, then I am sure he’ll be very useful for us. And then we will defeat Hades’ army and I WILL BE THE NEW RULER OF THE UNDERWORLD!!! Mwhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!...’
- “Err, Keuthonymus?”
- “Yes?”
- “Someone’s coming.”
- “Oh right, sorry. Go back to your friends and tell them to intervene with the caravan.”
- “OK, I will. Thanks for your help.”
And on this note, Pylades left Keuthonymus to go back to the central plaza of the City of Lost Souls. Keuthonymus headed back for the daemon war camp. Two other machae were on his way.
- “Who were you talking to?” one of them asked.
- “What are you on about?” Keuthonymus played it dumb.
- “I’m sure I’ve heard two voices.” That machae justified.
- “Nope, you must’ve heard someone’s agonising scream at a distance.”
- “Maybe so. Hey, you gonna come to the pub tonight and get smashed?”
- “Sorry fellas, I’ve got work to do.”
- “How come you are so committed to stopping the resistance?”
- “Because they are a menace and if I stop them then I might get promoted. I am sure this is what all of us want.”
- “I guess so.”
And at this stage, the two machae left him and kept on scouting around the area. Keuthonymus went back to the daemon war camp, getting ready to send that message for the daemon general in the overworld.