Sacrifice

Chapter VI: “The other realm”

Legends tell of a small lake somewhere in the vicinity of Mount Olympus; a hidden, uncharted and nameless lake that even if it were to be found, nothing about it would appear out of the ordinary. It’s secret lies within it, in its infinite depths, for, as it is told, this is a bottomless lake.

If someone would dive in and swim straight down to where its bottom should be, that person would soon have the feeling that he is in fact swimming upwards. In the end he would find himself on another shore, and next to him he would see a small boat and a tall figure, completely dressed in black, with a hood covering its head and face. This would be none other than Charone, the one who transports the souls of the dead across the river Stix, for the lake serves as a border between the world of the living and that of the dead.

Hector wondered for what seemed like years through the foggy and deserted realm of the underworld as he had no golden coins to pay the boatman and be taken across the Stix, where he would be judged and sent to the Elysian Fields or to Tartarus. If he had no golden coins it meant that he had not been given a proper funeral. But didn’t he die before the gates of his city? He couldn’t imagine his father not giving him a proper funeral, so the only option was that Achilles had dragged his body into the desert or dropped it into the sea.

He wondered and wondered the barren landscape in hopes of finding another restless soul, but he had no such luck. Instead, he felt he was going in circles. He even tried to speak to the boatman and after some failed attempts he was startled by someone calling out his name.

“Don’t bother Prince Hector,” a woman spoke behind him, stunning him with her presence, mostly because she was literally floating not too far above the ground and she was surrounded by an aura of bright light, giving the impression that rays of light were being emitted by her very body. She was dressed in a long, white dress made of a soft, shinning material and she had long, wavy, blonde hair, dark-blue eyes, her head being adorned by a golden, wreathed tiara. She appeared young and beautiful but there was something about her that denoted the kindness of a mother and the wisdom of an elder.

“It is not in his nature to talk to anyone. He will only receive your toll ...... that is if you have it,” she continue.

“I do not.”

“I know.”

“What are you? A spirit? A goddess?”

“I am a messenger of God.”

“Which God?”

“The supreme god. The one who created the world of the living, the world of the dead and the gods you worship.”

“You mean Zeus, the king of all the gods?”

“No,” she responded with a friendly smile. “Zeus is to God like mortals are to him. You see, almost every nation in the world worships its own gods and these gods worship in their turn a supreme God, who is the true creator of the universe, master over life and death. It his by his orders that I am here. You lived and died with honor Prince Hector, but it is still too soon for you to be here.”

“When you are alive you have a choice: whether to live or die, but once you are dead, you have no choices at all.”

“Yes, that is true but it is also true that nothing is impossible to God.”

“What are saying?”

“The time for you to step into eternity has not yet come. I am here to take you back to the world of the living.”

“No one has heard of people coming back from the dead,” Hector responded on a rather amused tone, but turning suddenly to a serious one. “Gods do not allow that, because it is not right. It is against the rules of the world.”

“You are wise, Prince, but it is still too early in the history of mankind for someone to find such a matter too bewildering. Thousands of years from now, when people will have little faith left and they will grow more and more curious to solve the mysteries of the world, they will see this only as a legend and pay no importance to it.”

“So what is to happen to me? Do you intend to put me back into my human body?”

“I am afraid that would be impossible since your body was incinerated.”

“So I did receive a proper funeral. But if that is so, than why could I not find the two coins?”

“Because I took them away from you. It would have been much more complicated to bring you back to life once you had crossed the to the other side.”

“Then how am I to return?”

“We will have to remold your body.”

“You know everything that goes on in both worlds, don’t you?”

“It is by obligation to know.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“The Greeks used a scheme to enter the city and ....... Destroyed it almost entirely,” she spoke on a sad tone, at which point Hector simply gasped in shock.

“Andromache!”

“She and the baby are safe, as well as Paris, Briseis and Helen.”

“And my father?” he asked with obvious relief, knowing that his wife and son managed to escape.

“Your father finally found his well deserved peace.”

“He is dead?”

“Yes.”

“Who killed him?”

“I am sorry, but I cannot allow you to return among the living with a desire for revenge.”

There was a brief pause in which neither of them spoke. Hector did not know what more to say and the angelic figure that was still floating before him found it best to let him put his thoughts in order and accustom to the new situation.

After a while she stretched one arm forward and said:

“Take my hand. It is time to go.”

Hector didn’t make a move and the pensive expression on his face didn’t change either.

“Hector?” she called again with her soft and tender voice and this time he raised his head to look at her and after a couple of seconds had passed he finally responded, looking very serious and convinced of what he was saying.

“No!”

“What?” she asked surprised, but on the same tone that she had used until then.

“I am not the one who should be given a second chance. My being here is the proper punishment for what I have done.”

“You have a kind and noble heart Prince but the one you speak of has served his purpose in life.”

“No! He did not even find a purpose in life because I took away that right from him. For that I should be cursed, not praised.”

“He has already crossed to the other side.”

“You said it would be difficult, not impossible.”

“The boatman does not bring the souls of the dead back to this shore.”

“If I am to go back I will not do it alone.”

Those were Hector’s final words before plunging into the dark waters and disappearing amidst the thick fog.

“Go after him. If he succeed, bring them both back, if not, just him,” the angelic woman told the boatman.