Hades

I kept my promise to Persephone, I sat ward on her while she was tripping down in those deep dimensions so far away from the world we can fathom with our normal senses. There were dimensions there which we could hardly figure out, and I understood that some trippers actually became crazy after a while, like Medusa was said to have been. Even I, lending just a piece of my mind, was affected. My cousin held on to that fragment of mind like a security rope, and she was also using it as a telephone line, sending back her impressions. And I was trying to sort these impression with my logical mind, even if everybody said it was futile. Still, I worked that way. I craved logic. I wanted to understand.

This made me change my mind about these trips, and suddenly Persephone and I found ourselves in reverse roles.
"You're just walking around, Athi," she said. "What is it you are looking for?"
"Logic. Sense."
"There are no such things down there. It's another world. We can't apply our logic upon it. "
"There's got to be some other kind of logic. These parts of the universe must have some reason too. Some natural laws. There must be something holding those pseudo-atoms together for instance. "

On my third trip I suddenly had a revelation. It wasn't something these strange creatures out there said that suddenly started to make sense. It was more like the surroundings were starting to make sense. Those extra dimensions, the way the beyond bulged to reach out for you when you were travelling in that direction, the way structures seemed to be bigger on the inside than on the outside and the way time seemed to go slower and even backwards when you were travelling very fast. Wasn't that happening on the 3:rd dimensional too? I tried to remember my  mother's files on these things. She had been a frequent tripper in her youth, before she met dad.

I returned up.
"Persephone," I said. "We must take a break. I think I've found something I want to check. If you want to trip, ask Zeus or one of your parents! I need to do some researches on my own."
"You're not going to trip on your own?" Peri looked worried. "You know I had hard to hold you for a while back then, when there suddenly were two of you. "
"There were never two of me. I only went back in time. And I think I get this now."
"What?"
"I'll explain later. I'm not going to trip though. So don't worry about that, dear cousin." I yanked some of her braids with affection.

That evening when dad came up home I almost assaulted him, asking for mothers files with my breath on top of my lungs.
"Titi, you're overexcited. What's happened?"
"I found something I want to check upon. Can I please have mothers files?"

Dad brought them out, and then I became the one who locked herself in for several days. I was doing mathematics. Filling every paper there was in my house with formulas and figures. Counting and recounting, hoping my calculations would solve out the way I suspected them to. I had all those numbers, those multi-dimensional co-ordinates in my head, and now I was putting them down on paper. And mother's stuff proved helpful. She had actually done the same work earlier on the 3D universe. Now I only had to apply her reasoning on the multidimensional one.

Several times dad, Hera, Peri or some of my sisters and brothers showed up at the bottom of the stairs asking me to come and eat or join in a game. And I was always:
"Gimme another minute!" And those minutes turned into hours and days. Until suddenly on a dawning morning it all added up. I had solved the problem. I actually understood how this multi-dimensional spiritual universe was constructed. It was brilliant! It was logical! It was wonderful! Pure magic! I realised I was crying, because it was so unbelievable beautiful. It all added up. Down to the last decimal.

I wanted to run out and scream so all of Olympos, all of Ekarantanni, all of the world could hear me. I wanted to usurp the radio and the new television wave lengths and tell everybody how great it was, how perfect, how fantastic. But "as it turned out "I could hardly convince my own family.

I told them about my theory at the next weekly meeting. I had prepared pictures with formulas and curves and 2D-representations of 6D objects I figured would make sense. Then I explained it as simple and general as I could without loosing some of the logic.

In spite of that I soon found that I had lost them all. Even dad, Auroanos and Hephaistos who usually grasp this with maths. Hephaistos sat with the sleeping Aphrodite in his knee, toying with her blond curls. (That I had lost her was no surprise, she could hardly understand her own bank account.) Auroanos was looking out of the window, paper half-filled with scribblings (at least he had tried) and dad was playing with paper-clips in magnetic fields. No wonder all these are magnetic at Olympos!

Then suddenly someone was saying:
"I think I understand. At least somehow. It's all about 10 degree equations and trajectories." It was Alatheia who had been quite until now.
"You do?" I faced my little sister.
"Somehow. Let me see your papers!"
"But it's just pure nonsense," Astraea said.
"Shut up, Tea, it's not! It's only you who's a pea-brain," Alatheia scorned.

"You came up with all this yourself?" Demeter's husband Oreynadan asked while my sisters started to fight.
"Well, I started with Metis of Warinikia's files. My mothers maths. The theorem of relativity."
"Let me see your figures!" Oreynadan asked. "I knew there had to be some logic behind the multidimensional universe, only that it behaved so different from what we are used to in our physical universe. And I've never bothered with the mathematics behind."  
I lended Orey a copy of my figures. At least there were a handful of co-pantheonites who wanted to try to understand. I started all over with Oreynadan, Sakura and Alatheia as audience, and soon dad, Persephone and Demeter came up too, and after a while Hera and Hephaistos. Aphrodite, who had woken up, took her chance and sneaked away with Ares. I spotted them in the corner of my eye, but couldn't care less at the moment.

"I'm almost following you," dad said after I was done the second time.
"I don't get a dot," said Persephone. "But I don't really care. I only find it comforting that there's some logic behind even these crazy places. "
"I'm not sure I agree," Sakura said. "Some of the magic is definitely gone when Athi has turned it all into maths and formulas. "
"You're such a romantic, Kuri," Hephaistos said.

The mathematics for the multi dimensional universe proved to be more than just a curiosity for math-heads like yours truly and Alatheia. These co-ordinates and trajectory-patterns turned out to be great help for soul trippers.
"Almost like an extra-ward," Demeter told. "If you just memorise the figures in your head you can follow them back if you get lost. You don't have to hang on that hard to your ward's mind."
"And it's easier to go back to places you visited before," Oreynadan went on. "So you don't have to stay in a place because you're scared of not being able to find your way back again, which was very much the case earlier. I believe we can even be able to draw maps over these places soon."

**********************

I sat on Persephone when she went beyond the next time to see this Hades person. Apparently he had been an immortal in dads Order back in the Titan Wars. He had died just weeks before the fall of Chronos and the end of the war. That was nothing rare, those last months of war had been a whirlpool of terror and violence while the Homo Sapiens had clashed with the Titan forces. Among the Homo Sapiens Immortals more than 600 had died the last year before Chronos was stopped, and when Zeus declared the war over in year zero just a bit more than 100 immortals were left, among those less than three dozen warriors from dads Order of Blue Gold.

The rare thing with Hades had been his ability to remain in control over his soul during his fall through the dimensions. When the soul disconnects from the physical body it falls through the multidimensional realm in a way reminding of an object falling to the ground on Earth. This soul-gravitation is usually very fast and causes disorientation and confusion. Add to this death in itself, which usually is horrible and painful, and it's easy to understand that falling souls lose their memories of the 'upper world'.

But for some reason this dead Warbrother hadn't lost his mind or his memories of the world above. When he fell he managed to take control, and now he had founded some kind of nation down there. A nation consisting of the souls of fallen humans, former immortals as well as mortals. A nation where he controlled the laws, the rules and somehow even the territory itself.

"Hades is striving to gain control over the reincarnation cycle," Persephone told. "He wants his world to be a mirror of the one above, a world where law and order rules instead of the pure chaos it was before. His friend Tartaros is taking care of the bad guys, and another ex-Warbrother, Charon, is controlling the Styx-flow to prevent this kingdom from being attacked by all these stray beasts raving around in beyond-beyond. Then there is a woman named Hecate and another person named Acheron something."
"Why is he telling you all this?" I asked.
"He wants contact with the world above."

"He wants to reincarnate himself?"
"Not really," Persephone shook her head. "It's more like he wants to communicate on a regular basis. He wants control over those dying now, so he knows how to handle them. "
"But that's mostly mortals. The last immortal dying was Iwendra's son Sanu. The nutso who killed himself. Before him there was Daelona who died with an exploding airship, and that was even before you were born. So what is it..."

"It's the mortals he wants to control," my cousin told. "Justice after death. Those who have lived a good life get rewards and those who have been bad get punished."
"Sounds like something dad would approve of," I figured. "But how to recognise these souls? As far as I know there's no finger-prints on souls, and most of them forget about the upper world while falling. "
"That's something he also wants help with. There are unique soul-energy-patterns, reminding of the auras, but beyond this world we can't interpret them yet. "

"Do you think it's possible for me to enter there?"
"Why would you?"
"Curiosity. "
"Oh, I forgot! Athena, the ever-curios girl who poke her fingers into everything and when getting burned invents arms to protect her before going back there again. I must advise you that it's dangerous. Let me talk to Hades first, tell him I'm letting ir an over the top curious, but very wonderful cousin, and that he must be nice to her."

"Ha ha, thanks. As you said, I'm curious. Perhaps I can help him with his ideas. Doing researches. But first I want to have a look around."
"I'll get you one. "

Peri stayed true to her promise, the day after the next I was able to go there. Not alone, Peri came along with me, and we both had double wards, dad and Hermes holding on to me and Demeter and Oreynadan to their daughter.

It was a long way to trip. A really really long way. Intellectually I had known the distance, calculating it by numbers, but grasping it was an entirely different thing. We were not falling, like the death who reaches Hades in about three subjective days. So we spent almost a week going through those strange realities with colours without names, smells beyond terrible as well as flagrances beyond wonderful and sounds and visions also beyond the day-to-day language.

Peri and I were holding hand, feeling the tug on our minds from our wards. Finally we went through a cleft that can best be described as "red but not really". I guess the colour was residing in the infra spectra, not unlike the colour those who can see radio waves call Laxa. On the other side was Styx, the quantum flow. Peri had called it "the black river", but to me it held all colours there were and then some in intricate fractal patterns.

I soon realised what Peri meant with black. The Styx didn't send out any light waves at all. All I saw was sparkling neutrinos, movements in matters below the quark level. So my brain translated it into colours to help me to somehow keep my grasp on reality. Athena was not supposed to be here "and yet I was, drawn by my never-slaked curiosity.

On the other side "two souls. I wouldn't call them persons, because they were not human beings anymore, that part had been stripped off. They were pure souls. Androgynous? Perhaps. Young/Old, impossible to tell. Not immortal, since they were already dead. At least once. One was the entity Persephone called Hades, the other was "his" helper Charon. Hades appeared like a big, semi-transparent bubble with some impressions looking like human eyes and a month. Charon was a blue blurb that seemed oily and changed its shape all the time.

"Welcome Athena of Above," Hades 'spoke' - or at least, transmitted a form of communication. "We have assumed some kind of human form to help you understand who we are. "
"Thank you, Hades. I'm honoured that you're willing to receive me. "
"Persephone has been my highly regarded messenger, the first one from above to understand me and wanting to speak to me instead of being afraid and running away. "

I looked at Peri who was radiating with pride.
"So, Athena," Hades went on, "you're the offspring of my old world leader and good friend Zeus of Dicte. Give him my regards, I'm glad he reached his goal. If Zeus wonders, tell him that Chronos dwells here. In the realm of Tartaros even further away from this place. Because he was never a good man, and he must show regret, which he has yet to do. Then he can be sent back up to start to repay his debt of sin. A deed that will take many mortal lives to live through before he can consider his karma cleansed. "

I didn't understand half of the things Hades was saying. And it was hard to interpret the feelings from a face that didn't move.
"Now tell me, Athena, what brings you here to beyond?" Hades went on.
"Curiosity. And then a willing to help with your quest. "
"And why are you willing to help us?" Hades asked.

I realised that there was no way to lie to Hades, he was reading minds like primary-coloured marquees. So I told him the truth.
"Because it's a challenge. You want things no-one has been able to do before. Like tracing the dead and interpreting soul-patterns from souls who have left the 7:th dimension. Challenges like that have always been hard for me to resist. I have always wanted to master what people call impossible. "
"I thank you for your honesty, Athena. Now you are to go back to give your physical body some rest. It is craving to be here while not being dead. Farewell for now to you daughter of Zeus and to you, my beloved Persephone."

The next moment we were back in our physical bodies again, thirsty and disoriented. I was freezing worse than with any earlier soul tripping event, my nose was running and my ears were popped as if I had experienced a change in pressure unshielded. But dad was there and held me close and gave me water from a cup with a straw. I coughed and spat and felt like I would never be able to ingest food or beverages again. Dad insisted on me to drink again, and soon I felt better.

Persephone came back faster, but she had after all been down several times, while this had been my first visit. In spite of my bad state Hermes was eager to go next. Dd was holding him back:
"This trip took almost 16 hours, and we're all tired and need a good nights sleep. Hermes, talk to Eos and Astraios tomorrow and have them warding you. Asty has been warding Peri before when she was down. And at least Orey needs to hold his daughter if she goes down with yet another first-time visitor. And tomorrow you must tell me about your visit, Titi and Peri.

The coming years I was working with these rather different things, doing mathematics that would help Hades to achieve his goals. I didn't have to trip down there as much as I first thought, Hermes was pleased to help with that part, following and guiding dead soul through what was going to be a kind of high road to Hades' kingdom. I was more of an engineer, doing 7D mathematics to accomplish these things.

Meanwhile my youngest sister Hebe was growing from a cute little girl to a mature and kind goddess. But somehow her teenage revolution went out the window. She was different by not turning the world upside down while groving up. I had been a knows-it-all brat in weird haircuts who got involved in fist-fights or boozing-competitions. And the rest of my sisters and brothers had all been the same. All but Hebe.

"She's too good to be true," Hera told Zeus once, "I don't know what it is I never manage to catch her with."
"Ah, don't worry, Peacock, she's normal, that's all. She's something as rare as a normal child of mine."
"Thanks dad!" I picked on him.
"You're welcome, Titi," he said with that 'I always have an answer'-voice.

*****************

Not long after I turned 100, and was celebrated with the mandatory megaparty. And my reaction was like:
"So this is what it's like to hit the famous 3-figures. Can't say I feel any different."
"Don't you know that life starts at 100?" Hestia said.
"Oh, really!"

***********

Then suddenly we were watching the rerun of an old film. Hera leaving, moving to Helicon yet another time. This time Hera got most of the sympathies on her side "it was easy to understand her distress, since dad had given Eos a child! And no one was interested in launching a big plot to lure them back together again. Instead it was Auroanos' mediatings together with Hebe's tears that made Hera return again.

But it was different this time. Hera was back "at the mountain top. But she wasn't sharing dads bed. She hardly even spoke to him, besides purely work-related things and she spent most of the time with Hestia and me or with her children. Or you could find her sitting on a rock, painting sunsets.

This was the ultimate heart-stab for poor dad. He couldn't go after Hera, plead for her return, because she was already at Olympos. At the same time she was as distant from him as if she had been in Lemuria on the other side of the planet.

I remember one evening, sitting in a living room playing square-board with Ares. He had just blasted two of my charioteers in a single attack when I heard Hera behind me:
"Forget it, Zeus!" She sounded harsh and unyielding, and I turned, looking at dad who stood behind Hera, having moved his hand from some part of her body, hurt look in his face.

"Why? You used to like it when I…"
"Yes, I used to, because I thought I was privileged having you doing that to me. Now I know that you do it to every girl there is. My idea of love and affection involves these kind of things, and I hate to see them misused the way you do. "
"Please, let's not discuss this in front of the children, dad said when noticing the stares of me and Ares as well as from Alatheia, Eleithya and Hermes. "

"Why not?" Hera said. You've showed that you don't respect me, that you're not interested in our marriage anymore. You just want me because I happen to be around, like a candy in a bowl. The only reason for me to linger is little Hebe. When she's old enough I'm off and you and I are history. And this time no songs sung by Apollon or bling in a box will have me back. "