CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-FOUR

Temple of Doom, Part 1

“Hey, Triple-A… am I using this thing right?” Sam was frowning at the round bronze object he held in his hand.

As a prize for winning against Achilles in the last of three spars, Sam was given an ancient astrolabe that the fallen hero promised would help him find his way around the underworld. It was a complicated-looking device; a bronze metal disc with patterns of wires, gears, and cutouts small enough to fit in his palm like a modern compass might.

Sam wasn’t sure how an ancient astronomical instrument could help him in Hades though as he knew from his time in school that an astrolabe needed stars to perform various functions. There there were no stars in the underworld’s bleak sky though.

“This astrolabe is special. It does not use the stars of the heavens to determine time or latitude but the stars that have fallen across this fel land and taken root here,” Achilles had revealed earlier.

“These fallen stars… they’re pieces of the heavens?” Sam had asked.

“Yes… These would be markers like Elysium and the Cave of Hypnos where the influence of the Olympians remains strong despite being in the domain of Hades.”

“How will I know which marker to follow?”

Achilles had pressed his thumb on the bottom panel of the astrolabe as if it were a smartphone’s home button. As a result, the astrolabe flared with a ghostly light, which then morphed into a floating skeletal hand pointing toward Sam’s right before dissipating moments later.

“Your desires will guide the way,” Achilles had promised.

However, nearly an hour since he parted ways with the fallen hero, Sam still hadn’t found any sign of civilization. It was all just a vast space of craggy ground and patches of dark grass, with only the steel-blue river of the Styx flowing on his left.

The underworld is so vast it is expected that local landmarks would be miles away from each other. You’re also very lucky not to encounter any of the Hades’ denizens during this leg of the journey.

“I know that… distance isn’t the problem here though.”

Sam pressed his thumb to the bronze disc’s bottom panel, summoning the skeletal hand that was now pointing to his back. When he’d pressed it earlier, the hand was pointing forward. Before that, it had pointed to the right of him.

“I think this thing’s broken…”

It isn’t.

“Then why does it keep changing directions?”

Because your desire isn’t clear enough.

“What do you mean?”

The astrolabe guides you to your desired location, but it seems you are unclear on which destination you want to visit first.

It was true that Sam hadn’t just been thinking of Thunder while he held the astrolabe. He was also wondering where his other friends were.

“So, does this mean that the others could be close to one of these markers too?”

Most likely. Otherwise, the astrolabe would only have focused on Elysium, where Thunder is assumed to be.

“Hephaestus’ flaming beard… you’re right!”

Now that he was aware of his error, Sam had another thing to consider. Whether or not to find his friends first so they could all rescue Thunder together or if he was still intent on going into Elysium solo and risking his life in the Contest of Champions without any preparation.

“I swore an oath to Achilles… I can’t back out now.”

Perhaps there is a way to strike two birds with one stone.

Triple-A informed Sam that there was a way to determine which of the markers was closest to him. The skeletal hand was the key. It glowed brightest during the times that it pointed to Sam’s right and toward a path that would lead him away from the Styx.

Who do you think of when this happens?

“The Argo VII… No, Ash, I think.”

It was true that whenever Sam felt lost, it was the seer he turned to for aid. Perhaps that was the reason he was subconsciously thinking about Farsight right now. She was the most reliable companion to have when it came to saving Thunder.

“Achilles said to stay as close to the Styx as possible though.”

Then you should stick to your current path. But it might be more prudent to look for backup first. That way, you would have more options when confronting your enemies at Elysium.

“More options are good… we’ll go with that.”

He glanced forward, his brow furrowing slightly as he recalled his girlfriend’s prone form just before the Medea unceremoniously threw her into the portal.

“Wait for me just a little longer, Sarah…”

Sam pressed a node to the left of the one that summoned Gram, and a foot-long ivory horn appeared in his left hand.

“Well, if we’re going off-road, then I should call my ride.”

ALERT! To summon this sacred beast, one must focus on a specific target that will draw the hind to join in on the hunt.

“A specific target... I guess this horn and the astrolabe have something in common.”

Once more he thought of the snarky teenage seer whom Sam imagined would have made a good friend for his sister. He thought of his other companion too. But mostly, he visualized Farsight’s face in his head.

“Visual locked.”

As he blew on the Horn of the Sacred Beast, Sam wondered if the Ceryneian Hind would hear its bellow. He was fairly hopeful that it would because the blessed beast had even heard his summons back when he was lost in that armpit of the Abyss the hind and Apollo once rescued him from.

“Come on… where are you?”

Seconds ticked by while he searched the skies, but the brilliant golden flash he’d seen pierce the darkness of the Abyss did not arrive in Hades.

“Um, maybe it needed Apollo’s help like last time… Oh!”

This time, a sliver of softly glowing silver light pierced past the gloom of the underworld’s sky to slam into the ground a few feet away like an arrow that had found its mark. Dirt and rock flew upward, sending a cloud of dust to permeate the air and making it hard for Sam to see what lay within. Soon enough, he would notice the silver light within the cloud of dust, and then a deer larger than a stallion strode into view, its silver pelt shining with the same soft glow of moonlight wrapped around its antlers.

“Hey, you,” Sam grinned.

The Ceryneian Hind approached him, with its muzzle dropping to caress his cheek.

“I missed you too, big guy.” Sam patted the hind’s snout. “Will you help me find my friends?”

In response, the hind bent its legs and allowed Sam to climb on. Then, after showing the hind the direction the astrolabe’s skeletal hand was pointing in, Sam urged the hind to run—and run it did. He felt the hind shift underneath him, and then his mount streaked forward at a speed that would have made Jackboot jealous.

With one hand grasping the neck around its fur—because he was afraid of falling off the hind when it was moving faster than a speeding bullet—Sam kept the astrolabe aloft with the other hand, while repeatedly pressing his thumb to its lower panel to ensure they were moving in the right direction. The journey ended pretty quickly though, and the hind came to an abrupt stop outside the entrance of a broken-down temple that reminded Sam of the ones he’d visited on Olympus Isle.

“Is this what Achilles meant by fallen stars?”

It was a typical Greek temple; grand in size with an alabaster white facade and a large portico supported by several thick columns at its front. Much of its exterior was weathered though, with blackened stains rising from the ground to mar the crumbling walls.

“It looks a little like the Parthenon… but with weird garden décor.”

Scattered around the temple’s sweeping steps and front doors were stone statues of men, women, and children. Hundreds of them, with all of these statues perfectly capturing an expression of absolute terror on every one of their faces.

“Satyr-crap… don’t tell me.”

It seems you have found your way to a gorgon’s lair.

“I asked you not to tell me…”

The stories of haunted zones plagued by a horror born of great jealousy were many and varied across the mortal world which is why Sam didn’t doubt Triple-A’s assessment.

“Triple-A… can you tell if anyone’s inside that place?”

The system has detected weak life force signatures from the statues around you, with the strongest signature coming from inside the temple.

Sam sighed. “Of course, she went in… Ash is all about the danger.”

Sensing his mood, the Ceryneian Hind nudged Sam with its muzzle.

“I’m okay.” He patted it gently on its neck. “Wait for me here, okay?”

The sacred beast grunted an affirmative. As if it was happy to stay behind while Sam braved a gorgon’s lair.

Will you enter the haunted zone?

“I’ve got no choice.”

You’re leaving the Ceryneian Hind behind?

“No point in us both getting petrified if I lose…”

He glanced sideways at the hind whose beady eyes were gazing at him with a look of worry.

“In case I don’t come out, tell Apollo what happened, okay?”

The hind grunted another affirmative.

With his probably last request made, Sam began walking up the crumbling steps, and he couldn’t help but imagine that those statues had all turned his way with pitying gazes. As if they knew exactly what would become of him soon.