Chapter 24: The Guardian of Tartarus
"C’mon, can you go any faster! It will take forever if we go this slow," Kael said.
"This is the fastest it can go," he replied.
They floated across the black, oily River Styx. While the river was hazy—too thick for Kael to see anything—Charon seemed to know where they were headed. The ferryman stood at the back, his skeletal hand holding a wooden pole as he pressed it against the water to move. They were moving, but not as fast as Kael wanted. The thick, cold air of the River Styx hit Kael in the face, along with the smell of death. He was not enjoying the ride.
"How much longer?" Kael asked, losing patience.
"Just a bit more," Charon sighed.
As they moved, something touched Kael’s foot. It startled him. "What was that?"
Charon used his pole to smack it away.
"What the hell was that?" he asked.
"They are lost souls. They all died, but unlucky for them, they were not allowed to cross into the afterlife," he said.
"Why is that? Isn’t your job to take them?"
"It is, but you see, Son of Hades, sometimes they don’t have the payment to cross the river. There are those who defy the gods, break their laws, and are thrown here as punishment. There are some who are forgotten. In this world, a name has power. A name holds power."