CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINETY-THREE

The Walking Dead, Part 2

The procession continued uneventfully until Sam and Raven Knight drew close enough to the canyon wall to see what was happening by the city gates. Two rows of black spartoi stood at either side of the opening between the heavy metal iron doors. At their head was a spirit one couldn’t call a shade. This spirit didn’t have a hood over its head as most shades did. Sam could clearly see the features of its face. Also, the heavy metal iron behind it didn’t seem to affect the spirit. It shone brightly and seemed more filled with life than even the Phylarch’s people whose forms had been strengthened by their convictions.

He was a man, big like Dr. Hearthstone, but with a belly so large Sam assumed this ghostly figure had lived an excessive life before his death. Long wavy hair flowed down his shoulders. They framed a pudgy face with slanted eyes below a wide brow with zero eyebrows, a big button nose, and thick lips currently fixed in a sneer.

Sam frowned. “I don’t think these cloaks are going to work on that one…”

“Just don’t do anything to catch the eunuch’s attention,” Raven Knight whispered.

“You’ve met him before?” Sam asked.

“He’s the one who sent me into Medusa’s temple…”

“Then he knows you’re not dead-dead…”

“I wasn’t wearing my Deadman Cloak then… It should keep the eunuch from remembering me. Spirits can only see us through our life force.”

Sam wasn’t convinced. He didn’t say it out loud, but he doubted anyone who met Raven Knight once could ever forget her. She had a Thunder-level presence that was hard to overlook.

The closer they moved toward the city gates, the less assured Sam felt and the more certain he became that there was no way they wouldn’t be noticed. The spirit was inspecting every shade seeking entry to the city.

“This one’s presence is too weak… He won’t do,” the eunuch proclaimed in an imperious tone.

Sam wasn’t sure what the eunuch meant by ‘presence’ but he assumed it had something to do with appearance. Unlike most shades he’d encountered, the eunuch wasn’t wearing a ragged dark robe with a deep hood, which, apart from the glow of their eyes, conveniently hid most of the features of the spirit within. Instead, the eunuch wore a stately robe with wide sleeves that trailed down to the tips of his fingers. His robe was white, immaculate, and glowing faintly. In short, he was the complete opposite of the ragged-looking shade he was disparaging.

The eunuch arrogantly waved away the shade standing at the front of the line. “You may return and seek entry once more after you’ve accumulated enough presence in the Wastes.”

Then he smiled in that mocking way Sam often associated with bullies.

“Kill the horrors and gain experience or be eaten by them and give them strength to ensure the surrounding Wastes are well-protected from unwanted visitors. Either way, your efforts will not go in vain,” he commanded.

The shade in front shook its head and it seemed to the spectators that it might refuse the eunuch’s order. But then one of the black spartoi stepped forward and pointed its spear at the shade, leaving it no option but to step out of the line and back away.

Sam saw the shade’s shaking shoulders and he almost rushed forward to help it, but Raven Knight held firmly onto his arm.

“You can’t help it unless you’re planning to defeat a whole unit of underworld spartoi,” she whispered.

Despite breaking through to beta level, Sam didn’t think he could fight that many unkillable monsters. There was nothing he could do but let it go. Only, when the shade that was denied entry passed him—its head bowed, a soft whimper escaping its lips—Sam’s fingers brushed against its sleeve and he poured a tiny bit of life force into it.

The shade froze.

Seeing what he’d just done, Raven Knight sighed, and then she grasped the hilt of her rapier with her free hand.

Sam shook his head though. “It’s okay.”

Surprisingly, he was right. The shade he instilled with life force didn’t cause a commotion after realizing what Sam was, which he guessed was its way of being thankful. Also, they notice that its shoulder was no longer hunched as it walked away, and there may even have been a hop in its step too.

“That was dangerous,” Raven Knight whispered. “If anything noticed—”

“I didn’t give it enough life force to attract the others’ attention,” Sam promised. “Just enough to give it a fighting chance…”

A fighting chance — that was all he could do. It was a hard pill to swallow.

“You gave it more than just a chance,” Raven Knight assured him. “Even a little bit of life force is like a bucket of water to a thirsty soul. Your kindness may have just saved its life.”

Thankfully, that first shade had been the only one to be sent away. The ones who followed it were let in for various reasons, which meant Sam didn’t need to risk exposing himself to give them a boost too.

“Oh-ho, a strong presence,” the eunuch squeezed the arms of a tall shade who’d stepped forward. “Yes-yes, you’ll make a fine recruit for the king’s new army.”

Both Raven Knight and Sam glanced nervously at each other after hearing about an army as it meant the black spartoi guards weren’t the only things the Resistance needed to worry about.

“My-my…” The eunuch had his face an inch away from the next shade’s hood. “You’re a pretty little thing… The king likes pretty things.”

Sam wasn’t sure how the eunuch could tell the shade was pretty when the hood kept its face hidden in darkness. Still, he felt sorry for the shade who was being escorted by one of the black spartoi as it was let into the city. He didn’t think her fate was going to be any better than the strong one who’d been denied entry before her.

All the other shades were let in, not because they were strong or beautiful, but because they had enough presence to work in the mines. Sam didn’t think this was a good thing either, and the more the eunuch spoke about his king, the more Sam disliked King Minos. He was thinking that the Phylarch had it right just as it was their turn to be inspected.

“O-ho, your arms are linked,” the eunuch noticed.

Sam was about to pull his arm away from her, but Raven Knight held onto him. He saw the nearly imperceptible shake of her head and decided to follow her lead.

“Yes, we are lovers,” she said softly.

Sam couldn’t help blushing underneath his hood. The eunuch’s reaction, however, was a smile that widened to the edges of his face. It was the creepy sort of smile that made Sam’s skin crawl.

“She speaks,” he said curiously. “That is the mark of a strong presence… or a spy. Guards!”

As one, the black spartoi surged forward to surround Sam and Raven Knight while the shades behind them scattered. They moved so quickly and so smoothly that Sam became flustered. He imagined the jig was up and his free hand was moving toward his belt, but once again, Raven Knight pulled on his arm to stop him.

“Stay still…” she whispered.

A dozen or so spears inched closer to them from all sides, but Raven Knight didn’t look worried.

“We were heroes in life,” she proclaimed. “Of course, we would be strong in death.”

She made sense. All the myths and legends did claim that heroes were celebrated in the afterlife. Most of them got cushy jobs in their respective underworlds too. King Minos, a son of Zeus, would be a prime example.

The eunuch raised his hand, and the spear advance stopped. Their tips remained aimed at Sam and Raven Knight though.

“O-ho, heroes, you say?” The eunuch’s bizarre smile was threatening to escape the corners of his face. “That’s... interesting.”

He shuffled closer. Close enough that his nose was nearly at the lip of Sam’s hood, and Sam could see his nostrils flaring.

“You have the stench of divinity on you.” The eunuch licked his lips. “A descendant…”

He turned on Raven Knight next and smelled her too. He moved back and forth between Sam and her, his glowing beady eyes seeming to bore holes into their heads with how heavily he scrutinized them.

“You certainly have strong presences,” he admitted. “Strong enough to leave a faint impression of life even…”

Sam gulped. Raven Knight stiffened.

The eunuch looked them up and down some more, inspecting the two heroes thoroughly enough that he couldn’t help but chuckle as he stepped away.

“Well, of course, you wouldn’t be living beings… You’d have to be crazy to be living and willingly jump into Ha — the underworld”—he glanced over his shoulders and pointed at the two heroes—“am I right?”

None of the black spartoi laughed at his joke, but their deadpan gazes almost seemed to suggest that they agreed with the eunuch. After all, Hercules, Morpheus, and Houdini—these heroes were certainly crazy people to want to dive into the underworld when they were still alive.

“Hah, I slay myself sometimes…” The eunuch wiped a tear from his eyes before he addressed the two heroes. “Surprisingly, two living heroes did arrive here earlier. No doubt to be disruptive and cause problems as most heroes tend to do.”

His creepy smile went back up.

“But I sent them away on quests that would see them eaten by the worst horrors of the nearby Wastes, so I doubt they’d come strolling back here anytime soon. Not that they could even if they died. Medusa and Euryale tend to keep the souls they devour,” he chuckled.

Sam felt Raven Knight bristle beside him, but she followed her own advice and kept her cool. On the other hand, Sam was at a point where he didn’t mind if she went wild. He wanted to punch this bastard spirit’s lights out too.

“Oh, pitiful heroes who died before your time”—The eunuch raised his arms wide in a gesture of welcome—“rejoice! You have arrived at the gates of paradise at the coming of a new dawn in Ha — the underworld!”

Both Sam and Raven Knight noticed that this was the second time the eunuch stopped himself from mentioning Hades’ name.

“A few of the king’s champions fell in the last attempt.” The eunuch rubbed his hands together. “That means we’ve got openings for new heroes to take their place!”

Sam and Raven Knight glanced at each other. They both looked anxious. Things weren’t going as planned.