Goddess Of The Underworld. Chapter 54

Noah nods and we all lead a very reluctant Lauren through another maze of hallways and another massive staircase leading down further. Now this place…this place looks like hell. The walls look like burning charcoal, jagged stones just out from the floor, the only light sorce is burning pits of fire randomly around the room, though surprisingly, it’s not hot, well for us at least. Silas looks more than uncomfortable, and Lauren’s misty figure is defiantly sweating. Silas leads us past a sort of hellish reception area, picking up a rather large book, one of many, that he shows to Noah.

“This is everyone who currently resides in the underworld and all of the workers who are assigned to deliver their fates daily. In there you will find details of their sins and the sorts of methods that will best inflict…justice. When the souls come from Famine, he will log what he has assessed, and you will then place those people under someone of your choosing here and you may also decide which method to use.”

Noah passes the book to Levi, who leans on Haiden’s back to fill in the log and then passes it back to Noah who’s face pales before he looks angrily at Lauren. The latter pales and recoils. A large gargoyle looking creature comes out from one of the room, spotting us and then bowing deeply. My Kings, My Queen, it is an honour to meet you. I am Darius, here to serve you.”

Noah steps close to Darius, the latter leaning down slightly when Noah motions and he says something in a hushed tone. Darius locks eyes on Lauren, nodding once at Noah before opening a door to his right and looking to Lauren.

“You’re with me. Get in.”

I step towards the closed door, there’s a little window that shows what’s happening inside and I watch as Darius puts one hand on Lauren’s head and she seems to go into a dream state.

“What’s he doing?” I whisper.

“Darius is able to inflict dreams on people. He’s most probably forcing her to replay some of the worst moments of her life.”

“How long will she be down here for?”

“Until you deem her soul to be repented, or if not, then forever.”

“So we can choose to take people out of the underworld?”

“If you wish. If they’re worthy. Here’s the thing, they’re here because they deserve to be here. If you send someone to the beyond when they’re not worthy, they’ll taint that realm like they did on the mortal realm. Thus, causing havoc to the delicate balance we have. Its very black and white. You start in the mortal realm, living a life however you wish. If you do good things, you go to a good place when you die. If you do bad things, you go to a bad place when you die. If you send a bad person, to the good place, will it really still be a good place?”

“Hmm..” I ponder. "So where did Hades and Peresphone go? To the beyond?"

Silas shakes his head. "No, they simply cease to exist. Their whole lifeforce was drained into you. In a way, they sort of live on through you, but not really. They're just...gone."

“So…” Xavier cuts in. “What about our lives back home on the mortal realm? We have a pack to run there too.”

Silas shrugs. “You can do both. Time works differently here. Even though you’ve been here for hours, you’ve merely been gone for minutes there.”

“So we’re just meant to, yenno, rule over the underworld? Just like that?” Haiden questions.

“Just like that. All of this is now your responsibilities, and I would not take that lightly. Now, I have things to do. Explore your palace, start your jobs, go back to your mortal realm, whatever it is you wish to do, but please remember. This place here, what you are in charge of, controls the balance between all three realms and is very, very important.” 

With that, Silas turns to leave, saying over his shoulder, "If you need me, just portal."

I turn to my mates, and we all stare at eachother saying nothing for a while.

"Well...this is kind of crazy."

Haiden bursts out laughing. "You know, you're the most interesting girl I've ever met."

"Technically she's a Queen." Levi points out.

"Queen of the underworld." Noah says.

Queen of the mother fucking underworld...fucking hell.

"As much as I think we need to get this place in order and update some of the methods of sorting here. I think we should go home. Everyone probably thinks we're dead and we should probably clear that up first."

"Yeah, let's go back, sort things out there first and come up with a game plan for all of this." Xavier waves his hand around.

I wave up a portal, picturing our home at the Red Moon pack and we all step through together.

We land at the place where we left, around the bonfire. It's still night time and I'm not sure how much time has passed.

"Mum!" Haiden yells as we hit solid ground.

"Haiden?! Babies?! Oh my Gods!" Mum scrambles to her feet from her place on the ground, her eyes full of tears as she runs towards us.

I'm quickly yanked by my arm to the side and embraced tightly between my three brothers.

"Holy fucking Gods. What happened Evelina?! Where did you go?! We thought you were dead!" Malachi blurts out.

I look between them to where Mum and Dad are fussing over their sons, my mates and we all lock eyes as everyone is clearly wondering the same thing.

"We were in the underworld...our new kingdom where we rule as Kings, and Queen."

Everyones mouths fall open, my brothers taking a step back from me, assesing me head to toe.

"Queen, of the underworld?" Arztec says on a gasp.

"Yup." I say, popping the P.

"Well.. then..." Julius says before they all fall to their knees, bowing low to me.