Unveiling the Underworld: A Journey Through Hades Realm of the Damned and the Afterlife

Blinking into his domain under the earth, Hades stands on the stone plinth outside the gates to the underworld. Looking over the edge he contemplates once again on taking that step and plunging down the thousands of feet, to quite possibly his death.

Turning away from the edge he looked over to the only side where his view was obstructed. The gate to the underworld, no matter whether mortals are good or bad they will all view this door. Black and foreboding, many a mortal had taken that final step to oblivion.

Reaching out he feels a resistance as his hand gets closer to the gate, it slowly opens before he makes contact until it is wide enough for him to pass through. Hades smirked, he was the only one the gate would open for. It is a simple thing the mind of a human, they see the only door and must try to get out of here, however the moment their hand touches the door they get judged and teleported to where they belong.

Being judged by a door, the humour in it lifted his spirits.

What the mortals now call heaven, was always really Elysium just under a different name. If you do well on the earthly plane and live a virtuous and wholesome life, working towards the betterment of humankind then there was a high chance this is the place that the door would send you to. Welcome to heaven.

Upon entering Elysium, mortals will make the choice of remaining there or to be reincarnated as a new life back on earth before going on their merry way.

Those mortals who commit good and bad deeds equally on earth would find themselves in the fields of Asphodel. It was initially supposed to be a place to repent on the sins in your past life and with the wish to atone for past deeds be elevated to Elysium, where they would be then given the option of reincarnating or getting sent back to the meadows.

Some do manage to make it back to the mortal realm, however mortals are becoming more and more self-centred in recent times and fail to see the deeds they did as wrong.

Spend too much time in those meadows and the spirits there slowly begin to lose their identity and fade away until they are mere shadows, with no hope left for passing into Elysium or being reincarnated. They just exist as empty puppets wandering the dew covered meadows.

If the mortal does not enter Elysium or the fields of Asphodel then there is no redemption for them and no second chances. If you find yourself in this place you truly are in the pits of hell. I, Hades decide the punishment for the residents in this place and that will be the last you see of me as you serve that punishment for all of eternity, Welcome to the fields of punishment.

Those humans that reincarnate back to earth, if they can make it back to Elysium two more times, they shall be welcomed into the eternal paradise, that is the Isles of the Blessed. When the gods die that is the place they arrive at too. It is where Hades will also go when he dies but until then it is barred to even him.

Anyway seeing that the door opened to him, there must not be any new sinners for him to punish. Looking to the side of the door Hades looks up to the guard stopping any escapees from leaving. The Giant three-headed monstrosity would terrify anyone thinking of leaving and with good reason, but Cerberus loved his master almost as much as hades loved him.

He had found the Hellhound unconscious outside the barred gate of Tartarus as a pup after it had squeezed through the bars. Hades did not know which Titan had fathered the strange three-headed dog, but he allowed it to live along with those other hounds that followed since then.

Walking past the faithful guard dog, hades walks to the passage across the open cavern. Passing through it he follows the tunnel down through the dark foreboding passage into the cold, shadowy underworld that had served as his abode for the last few thousand years.

Hades was reminded once again what an unhappy and depressing place it was here, but then again the underworld was supposed to represent the finality of death. It was one of the reasons he was so despised.

Hades enters the throne room. In the centre of this room there is a bottomless sunken pit, forming a circle, filled to the brim with a black liquid that reflects the smooth ceiling above it. Hades had come to hate this room, he vehemently despised it, as it was the symbol that ruled him over death, making him into the Lord of the Underworld and led to him being despised by gods and humans alike.

Hades walks around the pit, giving it a wide berth as he looks around the room.

Dark shadows swirl as they slither and slide in the dark corners of the cave-like room, that the green-bluish flames of the brazier could not light up sufficiently. Looking towards the brazier, he regarded the engravings going around the metal bowl, showing the pictographs of the previous lords of the underworld. Wondering when the next set of drawings would appear nearer to the rim, above the drawings of himself.

Walking around it he then climbs up the two stone steps and sits in the lone seat in the room, placed to overlook the sunken pit in the centre of the chamber. Looking throughout the room, he knows he could have made this place more eye pleasing if he wishes to as it was not outside his powers to do so.

However he had lately found that the dreary, dank underworld was starting to match his attitude more and more.

Looking up, he takes notice when the beasts of this desolate place start to wander throughout the room, before quickly leaving when they sense their master in a foul mood. One of the beasts just watches hades until his master slouches in the tall, dark obsidian throne before wandering over next to him and lies there.

Knowing that his master has plans for him, he lies in wait as he twitches his long slender whip-like tail hypnotically through the air catching the sharp edge of the blade on

Explore my other stories

THE END