Inferno Ascended

The Emperor grabbed the key, which Glax tossed hard to the ground, with trembling hands. He pulled the gold mask away from his face, revealing his bulging eyes at the fateful realization.

"We… are trapped here! The lock outside needs two keys at once!"

Glax shook his head in denial of such idiocy, trying to control his anger. His mind had already thought fast. He would get out of there with the key, using his second clock.

If his power worked properly in there, that is. After all, if the legends were correct, this was a trap capable of trapping gods.

But would it be able to imprison even a time bender?

"If you get out of here, Caius, will you still have an empire to run?"

"Shut up, it's all your fault!"

"Um, I was the one who thought about betraying someone in such a vile way…" Glax snapped.

"You've already decided your side, and you've made it very clear," the emperor retorted.

"Ah yes. And what is your side, Caius?" They heard a voice at the top of the ramp.

'Are there really other prisoners?' By now Glax doubted that. Caius had also looked up nervously, and Glax did the same.

"Wait… Are you Achmeron?!"

"And you are Glax…" An older version of Glax started down the ramp. Malko was right behind.

Achmeron crossed his arms, seeing his older brother face to face. "Ah, the Fates have quite a sense of humor, Caius. You're on the right side of the door this time."

Malko didn't watch the conversation between the two imperials and turned to Glax, "Champ! What have you gotten yourself into?! You shouldn't have come for me."

"Actually, it was good to come. I wasn't going to let my future wrestling partner into this mess… Also, I found out a few things… And I even found Chriseis and Achmeron."

Malko smiled. "Are the kids okay?"

"They will, in time. They are smart." 

The vselys smiled. "Do you have any of your fancy plans?"

Glax winked at his friend, silently asking him to wait for the facts to unfold. Meanwhile, the Athicos brothers argued fervently.

Glax was able to better observe Achmeron. The former Emperor, now a prisoner, acidly responded to his traitorous brother arguing.

Even by simply looking, you could see that he was no ordinary Stygian. There was no heat emanating from him. 

Glax could intuit that what they said about him was true. He had died. 

He was a revenant by now.

"Caius, whoever betrays lives in fear. Ending like this was a consequence of your fears." Achmeron folded his arms, closing the matter with his older brother. Their conversation needed a lot of contexts to be understood in the end. 

Glax finally managed to talk to his 'father'.

"Finally found you."

"Not in the best conditions."

"Don't worry, nothing lasts forever."

"With exceptions." But Achmeron took the time to look Glax up and down. "You were cutest when you were a baby."

"Don't talk like that, women literally fight because of me."

Malko joined the conversation. "It's true, I've already told some of your adventures to your father. The ones I know, I mean. Glax is such a heartthrob haha!"

Achmeron smiled in exaggerated admiration.

"I have a lot of questions and a lot to talk about... AND SINCE WE'LL HAVE A LOT OF TIME AHEAD," he raised his voice unpleasantly hinting at Caius' guilt mind, "Then I think we can start slowly. First, I want to thank you for everything you've done for me. I know there is a purpose in this entire plan. But… what's this place like?"

Oh, it's true. I agree, I think we will have some time to talk. Let me be your host. Come on, Caius. Come see your new home. It will be like old times, the two of us fighting all the time. I can't say I didn't miss you and the old times..."

Caius was silent now. He knew he had to be cautious, as he was outnumbered.

They walked up the ramp, and Achmeron explained,

"This huge box was built a long time ago to imprison a god named Ares, while two idiot giants were up to it. He couldn't get out by himself, but with the help of a brother named Hermes."

"Oh, sure. Always him." Glax smirked.

Achmeron turned to him in mute questioning of his comment, but Glax only gestured for his father to continue. In fact, it was great to have more than one father!

"It looks like previous prisoners got pretty bored here. These sculptures were made of bones and metal. The notion of time is lost in here. Malko's arrival gave me a better sense of reality. In fact, we've spent all the time since he arrived talking. It calmed my mind. I might have gone crazy like everyone else who's been here before… If I hadn't already had a particular experience with Time itself before."

This comment piqued Glax's curiosity, but the Valosian chose not to interrupt. Achmeron was agitated and Glax didn't know if he was such a talker by nature or simply because he had people to talk to after a long time.

"This big urn may be big on the outside, but as far as I know, it can be practically infinite on the inside. He pointed to the bottom, which stretched out into the darkness. "I've explored a little bit, and I can tell you that there is a multitude of rooms and…experiences that would occupy a god of war like Ares _ that's what they say he was_ for a long time. Up ahead." He walked a few more meters to a circular inscription on the golden floor. "There is important information. It says that THE RIGHTEOUS WILL FIND THE EXIT."

"Hm," Glax deciphered the writing that was a bit difficult to understand due to its archaism, but not that much. "As I understand it here it says that Hephaestus created an emergency exit after the incident."

"To me, this is just a fib to keep idiots busy." Caius opined.

"Could be, but it makes sense that he was required to do this in case another Olympian ended up in jail by mistake," Achmeron commented. "But it could also just be a red herring, I don't disagree."

"And here it says," Glax noticed a note scrawled in the metal. " 'Hermes was here.' Tsk, so typical of him."

Achmeron went ahead, and they followed. Everything looked pretty much the same until they came to a fork a few hundred yards away.

"Wow, this is starting to get interesting," Glax exclaimed.

"Well, like some of my predecessors, I decided to make an abode here near the door, in the Hebe wing." Achmeron pointed to the left. "But that doesn't mean it's the best option, as you'll see for yourself." Pointing to the right, he commented. "The Ennio wing must be the exit path reserved for the righteous and the brave, if there is one."

Glax was dying of curiosity. He didn't think prison was anything like that, and he realized that even Caius was confused and impressed.

"Basically, is this a maze?" he asked Achmeron.

"From my brief little experience in the Ennio ward, yes. This is possibly one of the most sophisticated traps ever made by the god Hephaestus. And it must have inspired the famous labyrinth of Daedalus."

"I thought Daedalus was a board game brand," Malko scratched his head. "Was he really a person?"

Achmeron nodded to his new friend, and motioned for them to go forward to the Hebe Wing. After turning once more and seeing a bas-relief of the face of a beautiful smiling young woman, they entered a long golden corridor.

"This gold is already making me sick and I'm only 20 minutes here," Glax commented to no one in particular.

But his eyes darted to the walls of the corridors. Drawings, sentences, meaningless scribbles. All the gold-plated walls were carved and etched with cursing, gibberish of mad minds, lewd and creepy drawings. It was easy to deduce that the mad people inhabited that place. 

Did they come there mad, or did they become mad for being there, imprisoned?

Another corner and they came to a room with a round table in the center. The table had food: fruit, wine, mead, bread, freshly roasted meats, foul, and fish. Beyond the table, he could see a decorated fountain where clear water poured from a young goddess' pitcher. Probably Hebe, sister of Ares. Sponsor of ward renovation, perhaps? 

"Don't tell me that's an illusion…" Glax begged, as his stomach rumbled at the sight.

"If it is, it deceives all senses," explained Achmeron. "But as you can imagine, however much you have the basic comforts a god can expect, it remains a prison. There are no windows, no breeze, no view of the sky or company."

The wing ended in a chamber that served as a bedroom. There was nothing else. They returned to the main hall.

"I don't doubt that, even when there was company, eventually friction led to murder," Glax concluded aloud, shooting Caius a provocative look.

But the Emperor surprised him by saying. "I've been to worse prisons. Achmeron is just making drama."

"When I get out of here I'll give you my review in the prison catalog," Glax interrupted, stepping forward and grabbing a juicy peach from the table. "Um, this really is delicious!" he found after the first bite.

"Instead of thinking about how comfortable this might be, we should be thinking about how to get out of here, that's what I'm saying."

"Well, we already know what the Hebe wing is like.." Glax ignored Caius' comment. "Now, what is Ennio wing like?"