Chapter 27

Hell – or sometimes called The Underworld – is not a typical place where one just passes back and forth like a mallgoer entering and exiting the venue. When a person dies, his or her soul is guided by a Psychopomp to one of the Four Gates Of Hell, which are not only imposing but also tower above the souls that stand before them.

Souls of people who died in their sleep stood before the Gates Of Horn And Ivory, whose left half is made of polished ivory, while the other half is made from tusks and teeth of different animals that are held together by a tightly knitted rope. Those who died from nightmare will have a brown shade after passing through it. On the other hand, persons who died peacefully in their dreams will have a cream-white shade upon getting through. The road on the right of the gate leads to the house of Chronos – The God Of Time – which looks more like a temple than a house because of the many columns that line its sides. The house floats a few meters above the ground and rotates on ten different axes, like a gimbal, with the inside completely stationary. Unwary souls get lured inside Chronos’ yard full of weird, enchanted flowers: blossom is colored white; branches are brown with a single leaf in dark green like aged fungi. When touched, the blossom of the flower changes color according to the emotion of the one touching it. If that feeling is overwhelming that person, the blossom will shine brightly into that color. Also, when touched, however, the soul freezes, but not with extreme coldness – it freezes in time that it simply stops moving. As a result, Chronos’ yard is lighted in a rainbow fashion, but where also a lot of souls are immobile – trapped in time.

To the left of the Gate Of Horn And Ivory is a murky swamp, which serves as a small basin from the flowing waters of Lethe, The River Of Oblivion. Its clear water may look safe, but one drop of it is potent enough to cause perpetual forgetfulness. Rash souls who drink from Lethe wonder without direction around its banks with their minds completely wiped out. The stretch of the swamp leads to the hut that is the dwelling place of Hypnos – The God Of Sleep. A grid made of dark smoke protects the small house and the surrounding yard. It prevents the smell of intoxicating plants from getting outside. However, there are still those foolish souls who intrude past the enclosure and tries to get close to the hut. Because of their curiosity, they paid dearly. After they pass the misty grid and inhale the mixed scents of the rafflesia, poppies, and other pungent-smelling flowers around the hut, they fall into a deep sleep – an eternal slumber unless someone moves them out and away from that place.

The souls of those who died of old age will stand before and enter the Gate Of Dusk: being old is considered the dusk of human life. When a soul passes through this gate, it will have an orange shade after – the usual color of dusk when the sun is about to set. The soul, then, waits at the bank of Cocytus, The River Of Tears, whose water is so acidic that it can corrode almost anything but one – the enchanted boat of Charon. No god nor goddess live near the Gate Of Dusk, but there are two giants who stand on each side to maintain order. The giant on the right is Kottos, and the one on the left is Gyes. They use their hundred hands to keep the souls in cluster. Kottos, however, has an extra task, and that is to prevent souls from entering by accident to Tartarus – the Infernal Prison. One of the two entrances to it is located at the far end to the right of the gate – where Cocytus ends. On the left side of the Gate of Dusk, past Cocytus, is the end of Phlegethon – The River Of Fire – where the other entrance to Tartarus is.

When somebody died of young age, their soul will have to pass the Gate Of Dawn, which is located on the opposite side of the Gate Of Dusk. A stream separates this gate from Elysion – The Place Of The Blessed – where the souls of the righteous and heroic will remain to live a happy life and to continue the deeds they did when they were still living. The stream is called Mnemosyne – The Stream of Remembrance. It is blessed everyday by the goddess of the same name, who is also the Goddess Of Memory. Those who had their memories blanked from Lethe can have the effects reversed by drinking in Mnemosyne. Souls who pass in this gate will have a shade of golden yellow after – the color of sunrise. The Nine Muses are there to entertain the young souls while they wait for Charon. Souls that passed through this gate have a yellow-whitish aura – the color of sunrise, which is also symbolizes the early phase of human life.

Finally, for those who suffered an untimely death, their souls end up before the Gate Of Shades. Once they enter it, they will have a gray shade, which is close to a smoke’s color. Charon – The Ferryman – waits on the banks of Acheron – The River Of Misery – accepting on his enchanted boat the souls that are able to pass through the gate.

Charon’s route is to stop by all Four Gates before finally dropping all the souls at the Stygian Marsh. Once there, the souls will have officially made it to Hell’s Proper. From there, they make their way to the Pavilion Of The Judges, passing a towering fortification guarded by Cerberus, the great hound with three heads, whose barks and howls caused terror to all the souls that hear them. At the Pavilion, the souls wait their turn to face the three judges – Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus – who will pass their sentence according to how a soul lived on earth. Once a soul has been judged, it will be either sent to Tartarus, where they will be put into one of the Nine Circles Of Hell to be eternally punished; sent to Elysion; or sent to the Meadows Of Asphodel – a place where souls who lived a mediocre life, or those who did not commit any significant crime or achievement, dwells. Beyond the Pavilion stood the grand palace of Hades – The God Of The Dead – who overseas everything that is happening in The Underworld.

Thanatos constantly patrols the Four Gates to check the souls that are there. He holds a parchment that contains the names of the souls that gained entry to each one of them. This list of his is revised constantly and in accordance with the activities of The Fates – three elderly woman who are neither beautiful nor obnoxious but are certainly divine. They are the ones who dictate a human’s life on earth. They are also neither gods nor demi-gods but certainly hold a special place in Hades’ kingdom. They dwell in a great tree at a valley by the river Acheron and is near the cave of Hecate – The Goddess Of Witchcraft And Magic. The Fates is comprised of Clotho – The Spinner – who sits by her spindle and spins the thread of life of all mortals together with her distaff; Lachesis – The Alotter – measures the thread to determine the life span of the person assigned to it and disposes all the good and bad things that the person will receive during its lifetime; Atropos – The Inevitable – is the dreaded of the three who cuts the thread of life at death with her shears. Among the three, Atropos is the one who cannot be turned away from her duty, which is why death cannot be delayed and cannot be avoided regardless.

Thanatos is the God Of Death who ensures that the souls of those who died enters The Underworld for judgment. Whenever Atropos cuts a thread of life, a Psychopomp will go and take the soul from the Human World and guide it to one of the Four Gates. The name of the person gets magically written in golden letters in Thanatos’ parchment after entering the gate it ends up at, and only disappears there when it gets to the Pavilion Of The Judges. However, if a soul refused a Psychopomp, its name will be written in red in his parchment. This has happened so many times like when an aviator and his loved one died in a plane crash and refused their respective guides for the reason that they have not yet completed their tour around the world. In such instance, the soul is henceforth called a Wayward Soul, and it can either remain on earth as a spirit or return to its body to continue his earthly actions. Names in red on his list are sent to Nemesis – The Goddess Of Vengeance And Retribution – to be chased by the Hukoms. When caught, Wayward Souls are sent directly to the Ninth Circle Of Hell where they are punished for committing the sin of refusing to come to The Underworld.

“Ooohh. Five new targets for the Hukoms. I wonder how Nemesis will react to this,” said Thanatos as he waits for Charon in the bank of Cocytus. He sees as the red names in his list disappear, getting transferred to the records of Nemesis.

As he stands idle, he sees a new soul has just entered the gate. At the same time, his parchment felt hot, which means that its name has just been written on it. Inside, the soul walks anxiously to and fro, passing him a number of times.