CHAPTER 187

CHAPTER 187
The flight took hours. Below us, the landscape shifted from dense jungle to open savanna dotted with acacia trees and baobab. The air grew hotter, drier.

"There," Jock said suddenly. "I can see it."

Ahead, two massive rivers converged. One brownish, carrying sediment from distant highlands. The other a striking light green. Where they met, they formed a perfect Y-shape, the waters flowing side by side but refusing to mix immediately.

It was breathtaking.

The Tamzyns descended toward the convergence point, landing on the bank where tropical savanna met the water's edge. Vegetation lined the rivers—thick grasses, scattered trees with wide canopies.

Mother and Pelagius were already waiting, standing exactly where the two rivers touched.

I slid off Nala's back, my legs shaky from the long flight. The air here felt different. Charged. Like the barrier between worlds was paper-thin.

"You made good time," Mother said, looking at the darkening sky. "The barrier is accessible now."

"Once you cross, there's no turning back," Pelagius added, his voice hard. "Make sure you're ready."

I looked at the convergence point. The brownish water and light green water swirling together, distinct yet united.

"I'm ready," I said.

She nodded.

Reya climbed back onto Jock. Ixion mounted Kelin. I settled onto Nala's back one more time.

"May the earth protect you," Mother said quietly.

The Tamzyns moved to the edge where the rivers met.

Then they dove.

The water swallowed us instantly. Cold. Dark. Disorienting.

But I'd sucked in enough oxygen even though I barely needed it anymore.

I held tight to Nala's scales as we plunged deeper, the pressure building in my ears.

Then I saw them.

Three-headed crocodiles emerged from the darkness. Massive, their scales shifting colours; shadow-black, blood-red, earth-brown. Each head moved independently with impossible coordination.

These weren't just beasts. They were cunning.

The first one lunged at Nala. She twisted, but one head anticipated the move and caught her wing. She roared in pain.

"No!" I channelled sun, earth, and ocean together.

The crocodile shrieked as my power tore through it, all three heads thrashing. But another was already there, moving with tactical precision.

They were hunting as a pack.

Jock's jaws clamped down on one, ripping off a head. But the remaining two kept fighting, refusing to die.

"Aim for all three heads at once!" Ixion yelled. "They won't die unless you kill them all!"

One lunged at me. Nala spun, but I felt teeth graze my leg. Pain exploded through me and I screamed, losing precious air.

Blood clouded the water around me.

The crocodiles converged, focusing on me now. The wounded prey.

"Celeste!" Nala's panic flooded the bond.

My vision was going dark. Not from drowning. From blood loss.

"Keep pushing forward!" Ixion shouted. "The boat's ahead!"

Nala grabbed me in her jaws and surged forward with everything she had. Jock and Kelin flanked her, tearing through any crocodile that got close.

Then I saw it. Through the murky water—old wood. The ferryman's boat.

"Go! Now!"

The Tamzyns burst through in one final desperate push.

We broke the surface and crashed onto the deck, gasping and dripping.

Nala pressed her snout against my wound, her healing warmth flowing into me.

"I'm okay," I wheezed, my hands shaking.

The ferryman stood at the helm, showing no surprise at our violent arrival. He simply pushed off from the shore with his long pole.

We were crossing the Styx.

At first, it was stable and then the ferryman cleared his throat.

"Everybody grab something," Ixion warned, his tone forcing us all to look at him.

"Wha—" I trailed off when I saw the plunge we were heading towards. "Shit!"

"Don't panic, we'll be fine!" He yelled above the roar of the waters.

"Nala, Jock, fly!" I commanded as I grabbed onto the rail so tight I felt it might break.

I turned around to check on Reya and she was securely grabbing the Ferryman's chair with a panicked look in her eyes.

And in the next second, the plunge happened.

Fast, whooshing sounds filling our ears and my heart roaring in my chest.

But the boat just slid smoothly on the flat bed surface of the river and glided off, not a splash of water out of place.

"Damn," I whispered, all my nerves coming to a halt.

I lay on the deck, chest heaving, and looked back at where we'd come from.

The barrier shimmered behind us, separating the world of the living from everything below.

"You okay?" Nala asked.

"Yeah. You?"

"A few scratches. Nothing serious."

I looked at Reya and Ixion. Both were bloodied but alive. The Tamzyns were already healing, their divine nature repairing the damage.

"How long until we reach the other side?" I asked the ferryman.

He said nothing. Just kept pushing his pole through the dark water.

"Helpful," Reya muttered.

The Styx stretched endlessly in every direction. Black water, still as glass, reflecting nothing. No sky above. No horizon ahead. Just darkness.

I stood up and moved to the edge of the boat, staring into the water.

Something moved beneath the surface. Large. Following us.

"Ixion," I said carefully. "What lives in the Styx?"

"Things you don't want to meet."

"That's not comforting."

The water rippled. Whatever was down there was getting closer.

"Everyone stay on the boat," Ixion warned. "Don't touch the water. Don't lean over too far. And whatever you do, don't fall in."

"What happens if we fall in?" Reya asked.

"You don't come back up."

The boat glided silently through the darkness. Minutes felt like hours.

Then, finally, I saw it.

Land. A shore lined with twisted trees and muddy sand.

The ferryman guided the boat to the shore and it bumped against the bank.

We climbed off, the Tamzyns last. The ferryman didn't wait. Just pushed off and disappeared back into the darkness.

I looked around.

These trees scared the shit out of me the last time but this time, they were as calm as ever, blowing air all around us.

We climbed the Tamzyns again and began flying towards the place all Underground dwellers avoided.

It took us about an hour to finally see what we were looking for.

Ahead, through a grove of dead trees, I could see it.

The gates to Hades' domain.

Massive. Iron. Guarded.

"Get down Nala," I whispered in the mind link. "We don't want to draw too much attention."

They obeyed, descending from above the trees and down into the forest.

"It's almost like he's not keeping people prisoner for doing absolutely nothing to him in there," Reya bit out, noticing the beautiful forest surrounding Hades' domain.

"I don't think we saw this the last time," I noticed.

"He probably put it in after our escape."

"Who knows what else he changed?" Reya breathed out in fear.

"I don't miss this place one bit," Ixion whispered but I heard him, heard the fear in his tone.

Fear he might get locked up in here for years again.

We started walking toward the gates.