"Holiday at Elysium" Chapter-4

The Underworld 

Details time!...Let me introduce you to the underworld...

Let’s start with the plumbing. Five different rivers flowed into the Underworld.

The least dangerous was the Cocytus, the River of Wailing, which looked tame enough. Its dark-blue waters wound peacefully through the plains of Erebos, with plenty of nice-looking spots on the riverbank for a picnic; but if you got too close, you would hear the cries of tortured souls churning in the current. See, the Cocytus was fed by the tears of the damned. Just being near it would send you into a state of depression. 

The second river was the Phlegethon, the River of Fire. It roared through the Underworld caverns like a torrent of burning gasoline, cutting channels through the black volcanic rock, lighting everything bloodred, filling the air with smoke and fumes until finally the river plummeted as a fiery waterfall into the deeper abyss of Tartarus, which was like the basement of the basement.

The crazy thing was, Phlegethon water wouldn’t kill you, even if you were mortal. Sure, it would burn like radioactive chili peppers sautéed in acid. It would make you wish you were dead. But the river was actually designed to keep its victims alive so that they could suffer forever—hooray! Many damned souls had to swim through it for all eternity, or be stuck in the fiery water up to their necks. According to some legends, the Phlegethon could eventually burn away your sins and let you go free if you were really, really sorry for the things you’d done. 

River number three, the Acheron, was the River of Pain. If you guessed it was painful, you win a chocolate! The Acheron started in the mortal world, near a temple of the dead in Epirus. Maybe that’s why ghosts were drawn to it and filled the river with their own pain and suffering. The Acheron meandered along until it plunged underground and tumbled into Erebos. There it widened into a dark, steamy, swampy expanse that caused pain to anyone unlucky enough to touch its waters or even hear its current. After a while, the Acheron split into two smaller rivers—the Cocytus and the Styx—that flowed in opposite directions until they both spilled into Tartarus.

River number four was my least personal favorite: the Lethe, River of Forgetfulness. Anyway, the Lethe looked harmless. In most places it was a gentle span of milky-white water that rolled over a shallow bed of stones, softly gurgling in a way that made your eyes feel heavy. You would think you could wade across this river, no problem. My advice? Don’t. A single drop of Lethe water would wipe your short-term memory. You wouldn’t remember anything that happened in the last week. Take a full drink, or wade into those waters, and your mind would be completely erased. You wouldn’t remember your own name, or where you came from, or even that the New York Yankees are obviously better than the Boston Red Sox.  I know—terrifying right? For some spirits of the dead, however, the Lethe was actually a blessing. Crowds of ghosts were always gathered at the banks, drinking from the river so that they could forget their former lives, because you can’t miss what you don’t remember. Occasionally spirits were even allowed to reincarnate—to be reborn in the mortal world for another life. If you took that chance, you had to drink from the Lethe first so that you wouldn’t remember your old life.

The fifth river of the Underworld was the Styx, the River of Hate. The Styx flowed through the deepest, darkest parts of the Underworld. Some legends claimed it was created by the water Titan, Tethys, and was fed by salty springs from the bottom of the ocean. The Styx circled Erebos like a moat, so you pretty much had to cross it to get into the Underworld. The current was dark and sluggish, always shrouded in foul-smelling mist, and the water was corrosive to mortal flesh. Mix sulfuric acid with sewage and a splash of liquid hatred, and you’ve got the Styx.

From where did i get so much information? Excuse me...I read !

The problem was, the souls had no reliable way to cross the River Styx. A few managed to swim it. Others tried, only to dissolve in the water. Many just wandered along the mortal side of the river,

wailing and pointing at the other side like, I wanna go that way!

Finally, one industrious daimon named Charon decided to go into business. And, we were dumped there. Charon ferried souls to the plains of Erebos by charging a small amount. 

I didn't have any!

(Cont. in Chapter-5)

"Holiday at Elysium" Chapter-3

The Fantastic Train Journey

Well, Journey to Underworld was horrible. A huge chariot full of screeching ghosts and live skeletons to keep them in control..........Not really!!!!.
IT WAS AWESOME..!!!!

The underworld express was luxury flying train. It did look a bit creepy.....decorated with skulls and painted with painful scenes of death but it did look like a giant roller coaster flying in the night skies with brilliant lights.

It landed down beside us and doors opened to reveal a cool compartment with dead souls chatting happily and drinking coffee (wait! can ghosts drink coffee....?) However, Mr. T gestured me to board the train. I took a seat besides a girl (hey! that was the only seat empty!) and the train took off.

The trip was unbelievably undeadly. Well, I heard that the trip to hell would be as a trailer of the real movie at hell. If its true, this would be like "Holiday to Elysium"! We were offered drinks (yes! it was cappuccino) , sweet music was playing which was clearly not related to death. People were( I mean the ghosts) playing cards, chatting, or even flirting. Then at last,

"Hello, How did you die?". It was the girl sitting beside me.
"well, shot by a gun I suppose. What about you?
"My Stepdad killed me!"
"What?" The thought of step fathers being evil was weird. Only later I found out that this was common for OUR kind.
"What? your stepdad killed you ! That's horrible, my stepdad is really cool. He takes very good care of me."
"Oh! so even you are like me! I wonder how I'am going to be a brave demigod!"

"Demigod!" I did hear that term. Demigods were children of a mortal and a god/goddess.
"Sorry, I'am not a demigod, by the way, who's daughter are you?"
"Persephone"
"Holy Zeus! So you were killed by the Lord of Underworld himself........you mean..."
"Yes, Hades killed me. But don't worry, my mom came before this train arrived. She promised my life back as my 15th birthday, which is today!"

This whole Idea of being a demigod....that too child of 'queen of underworld'........being killed by step dad......getting life as birthday gift.........to much to process.
 Before I came to senses..

"We reached!"- shouted Mr. Thanatos
 All I saw from the windows was..........Hollywood!

The train was above the Los Angeles city and was going straight towards a hill. Panic struck my heart. Did the train lose control?, breaks not working?, driver drunk?, or just a prank to scare us!, .......but no, we were about to bang to the hill.......we are going to die.....(Wait a min.....we are already dead!). So, we went straight into the hill and entered the UNDERWORLD.

"Holiday at Elysium" Chapter 2

The Underworld Express

Alright, before Thanatos comes and picks me up for our ride to underworld let me introduce myself. Hi there, my name is Daniel Drake and I'm 16 years old. I had been going to high school until just now. You can go on and call me a nerd but I was extremely good at academics( I have already my SAT). I was also on my school basketball team. But don't let this blind you. You might be like, "bro that is a perfect life right there"; give me a break alright. Its no use of having such a life if you totally suck at social skills( hi I'm a teenager, try and  understand). Okay may be that was too much. Let me tell you about my family. 

My mother's name is Rory Drake and until now, if some let me give the price of best mom award it will go to her for sure. I mean she is kind brave, after dad left her she was able to coup up with life. I always ask her why dad left her but she always ignores the question and that was the only thing that troubled me through my entire life. 

After dad left it might have been like 7 or 8 years when my mom got married to Bill. 

Wanna ask if I had any problems? Well to be honest no, I mean if my mom was happy then I had no problem. Actually, Bill was the coolest guy I had ever met. He is a hotel manager and he used to take us for out like every 2 weeks or so. I may go on and call him more like my brother rather than step dad. Also did I tell you I had a sister, oh wait she was in the last chapter right?( Daniel you dumb hay sack).  Her name is Casey and she is so adorable. If you have a younger sibling, you know what a pain they can be but in the end you have to say it is the best experience in your life. 

"Hi kid, sup?"

"And may I ask who you are, sir?"

Just then I noticed that he was actually talking to me. But how, I'm dead right? Just then it hit me, he was Thanatos the Greek god of death. But if you ask me, he didn't look much like one. I swear to god he was literally wearing a ticket collectors uniform.

Just then he offered me a ticket. I took it and it read 'the Underworld Express'. 

Next part coming soon........

How did it begin ??? Part 3

She gave birth to triplets. The problem: these new kids defined the word UGLY. They were as big and strong as Titans, except hulking and brutish and in desperate need of a body wax. Worst of all, each kid had a single eye in the middle of his forehead. Talk about a face only a mother could love. Well, Gaea loved these guys. She named them the Elder Cyclopes, and eventually they would spawn a whole race of other, lesser Cyclopes. But that was much later. 

When Ouranos saw the Cyclops triplets, he freaked. “These cannot be my kids! They don’t even look like me!” “They are your children, you deadbeat!” Gaea screamed back. “Don’t you dare leave me to raise them on my own!”

He stormed off and came back with thick chains made from the night sky’s pure darkness. He bound up the Cyclopes and tossed them into Tartarus, which was the only part of creation where Ouranos wouldn’t have to look at them. Harsh, right? Gaea screamed and wailed, but Ouranos refused to release the Cyclopes. No one else dared to oppose his orders, because by this time he was getting a reputation as a pretty scary dude. “I am king of the universe!” he bellowed. “How could I not be? I am literally above everything else.” “I hate you!” Gaea wailed. “Bah! You will do as I say. I am the first and best of the primordial gods.” “I was born before you!” Gaea protested. “You wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t—” “Don’t test me,” he snarled. “I’ve got plenty more chains of darkness.” 

As you can guess, Gaea threw a total earthquake fit, but she didn’t see what else she could do. Her first kids, the Titans, were almost adults now. They felt bad for Mom. They didn’t like their dad much either—Gaea was always bad-mouthing him, with good reason—but the Titans were scared of Ouranos and felt helpless to stop him. I have to keep it together for the kids, 

Gaea thought. 

Maybe I should give it one more try with Ouranos.

Continued in part 4......

How did it Begin ??? Part 2

Part of the problem was that Chaos got a little creation-happy. It thought to its misty, gloomy self: Hey, Earth and Sky. That was fun! I wonder what else I can make. Soon it created all sorts of other problems—and by that I mean gods. Water collected out of the mist of Chaos, pooled in the deepest parts of the earth, and formed the first seas, which naturally developed a consciousness—the god Pontus. Then Chaos really went nuts and thought: I know! How about a dome like the sky, but at the bottom of the earth! That would be awesome! 

So another dome came into being beneath the earth, but it was dark and murky and generally not very nice, since it was always hidden from the light of the sky. 

This was Tartarus, the Pit of Evil; and as you can guess from the name, when he developed a godly personality, he didn’t win any popularity contests. The problem was, both Pontus and Tartarus liked Gaea, which put some pressure on her relationship with Ouranos. 

A bunch of other primordial gods popped up, but if I tried to name them all we’d be here for weeks. Chaos and Tartarus had a kid together (don’t ask how; I don’t know) called Nyx, who was the embodiment of night. 

Then Nyx, somehow all by herself, had a daughter named Hemera, who was Day. Those two never got along because they were as different as…well, you know. According to some stories, Chaos also created Eros, the god of procreation…in other words, mommy gods and daddy gods having lots of little baby gods. Other stories claim Eros was the son of Aphrodite. We’ll get to her later. I don’t know which version is true, but I do know Gaea and Ouranos started having kids—with very mixed results. 

First, they had a batch of twelve—six girls and six boys called the Titans. These kids looked human, but they were much taller and more powerful. 

You’d figure twelve kids would be enough for anybody, right? I mean, with a family that big, you’ve basically got your own reality TV show. Plus, once the Titans were born, things started to go sour with Ouranos and Gaea’s marriage. Ouranos spent a lot more time hanging out in the sky. He didn’t visit. He didn’t help with the kids. Gaea got resentful. The two of them started fighting. As the kids grew older, Ouranos would yell at them and basically act like a horrible dad. A few times, Gaea and Ouranos tried to patch things up. Gaea decided maybe if they had another set of kids, it would bring them closer…. 

I know, right?

 Bad idea. 

Continued in Part 3

How did it Begin??? (An Extract from The Greek Gods by Rick Riordan) Part 1

IN THE BEGINNING, I wasn’t there. I don’t think the Ancient Greeks were, either. Nobody had a pen and paper to take notes, so I can’t vouch for what follows, but I can tell you it’s what the Greeks thought happened. At first, there was pretty much nothing. A lot of nothing. The first god, if you can call it that, was Chaos—a gloomy, soupy mist with all the matter in the cosmos just drifting around. Here’s a fact for you: Chaos literally means the Gap, and we’re not talking about the clothing store. Eventually Chaos got less chaotic. Maybe it got bored with being all gloomy and misty. Some of its matter collected and solidified into the earth, which unfortunately developed a living personality. She called herself Gaea, the Earth Mother. Now Gaea was the actual earth—the rocks, the hills, the valleys, the whole enchilada. But she could also take on human like form. She liked to walk across the earth—which was basically walking across herself—in the shape of a matronly woman with a flowing green dress, curly black hair, and a serene smile on her face. The smile hid a nasty disposition. You’ll see that soon enough. After a long time alone, Gaea looked up into the misty nothing above the earth and said to herself: “You know what would be good? A sky. I could really go for a sky. And it would be nice if he was also a handsome man I could fall in love with, because I’m kind of lonely down here with just these rocks.” Either Chaos heard her and cooperated, or Gaea simply willed it to happen. Above the earth, the sky formed—a protective dome that was blue in the daytime and black at night. The sky named himself Ouranos—and, yeah, that’s another spelling for Uranus. There’s pretty much no way you can pronounce that name without people snickering. It just sounds wrong. Why he didn’t choose a better name for himself—like Deathbringer or José—I don’t know, but it might explain why Ouranos was so cranky all the time. Like Gaea, Ouranos could take human shape and visit the earth—which was good, because the sky is way up there and long-distance relationships never work out. In physical form, he looked like a tall, buff guy with longish dark hair. He wore only a loincloth, and his skin changed color—sometimes blue with cloudy patterns across his muscles, sometimes dark with glimmering stars. Hey, Gaea dreamed him up to look like that. Don’t blame me. Sometimes you’ll see pictures of him holding a zodiac wheel, representing all the constellations that pass through the sky over and over for eternity. Anyway, Ouranos and Gaea got married. Happily ever after? Not exactly.

Continued in the next Part !!!!

"Holiday at Elysium" Chapter- 1

IT IS A SHORT STORY THAT MAY BECOME LONG.

  

         Disclaimer

Now you can call this a short tutorial on how to get in Elysium and may actually workout for you but mind it things may go wrong, and you can end up in fields of punishment (sorry I don't remember the correct name) and that means I'm not guarantying anything.

So let's just say I was a regular human,  living my so called life. And as a story always starts let's begin ours.

               Chapter 1

           He missed the shot

Riding a bicycle back home, on a windy day is not the best idea alright,  especially if you are riding it to the opposite direction of the wind.

Welcome to a new day in my life, which was about over as it was already 8:00 o'clock in evening and I was returning from my daily tuition. As I approached my apartment, I saw my sister waiting for me, near the entrance gate. And suddenly out of no where a maroon van, came rushing down from the alley.

And before I could blink my eyes, the van  stopped near the front gate of my building and pulled my sister inside. Before my brain could process it, they had kidnapped my sister in front of my eyes. Well I will have to say, buying the electric bike for Christmas was totally worth it, cause you never know when you have to chase a random van which has kidnapped your sister, right?

I might have to say, my sister and I got lucky that day cause we had geological advantage. You see where I lived you always have to exit from a gate to exit the complex and there is always security guards available over there. Now allow me to explain what happened next.

First off the security closed the gates because either the van looked very suspicious from a distance rushing towards them or, it would have been me screaming like lead heavy metal singer to close the gates. Well anyways they closed the gates and the van came to a  screeching stop but still managed to hit a tree. All I wished was that, my sister is alright inside there. I jumped off my bike and started running towards the van. A man with iron rod started to make an exit from the driver's seat but I punched him in the head with my 12 kg schoolbag. I will have to 12 kg of knowledge coming at you must have been pretty  frightening scene, because he looked as if he had just seen his worst fear(which must have been studies obviously). Next I took the iron rod and hammered it inside the window.

I don't know what had gotten into me, but that was my life's biggest mistake. Look if you have seen an actor, pull off some really cool stunt in a movie, don't even try to do it unless your sure that you can pull it off even in your sleep. Well I got quite a shock when I hit the window. Little bits of glass had penetrated inside my skin and I was sitting down holding my hand in pain. Do you know much it hurt? Imagine a 100 needles trying to stitch inside your skin, that's how much it hurt. The door opened and a man held a gun directed towards my head. I jumped to doge the bullet but he missed and didn't at the same time. The bullet sure didn't hit me in the head, it hit my shoulder, but burst my aorta(which is the main blood vessel which caries your blood from heart and spreads it across the body, in case you didn't know) in process. The next thing you know is that I took a broken glass shard and punctured it through the guy's abdomen. You may say "man that's cruel", but you can't help it because that same guy has kidnapped your sister. Also I had one more thing to say before I start writing the next chapter. The guards took care of the last guy in the van and secured my sister while I died from internal bleeding on the road. I can say at least I got to take revenge before I started my journey to the underworld.

Next chapter - (Click here)

Percy's Opinion About Demigods - (An Extract from "The Lightning Thief")

Percy Jackson, our Demigod hero has a very good piece of advise for all his juniors. Let's listen it in his own words-

"Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.
If you’re reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now.
Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.
Being a half-blood is dangerous. It’s scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.
If you’re a normal kid, reading this because you think it’s fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for
being able to believe that none of this ever happened.
But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something stirring inside-stop reading
immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it’s only a matter of time before they
sense it too, and they’ll come for you."

Sounds Fun Right ? So, lets begin - 

Trails of Apollo: The Dark Prophecy(What to expect?)

Don't mess with your dad, especially if he is Zeus! 

That is the moral  of the book 'The Trails of Apollo'.

Origins:

During his tour for, The Sword of Summer, Riordan announced his next project a five book series about the god Apollo. The was released on May 3, 2016. 

The second book The Dark Prophecy is set to release 

on May 2, 2017.  

Synopsis