Disenchantment 22

The silence hung ominously for several moments before Mark broke it: “I wanted to believe a few minutes ago, now I do. Now I one-hundred-percent do.”

 

“I was going to say earlier, many of the things you mentioned, have much more to do with Hades and the Underworld, more than you can probably guess,” said Floyd.

 

“The Jawa-type creatures?” asked Oren.

 

“I’m not so sure about them. There’s a plethora of gods and demi-gods in the underworld, and some believe the souls of certain mortal individuals can become immortal after death. You know, Heracles became one of the Olympian gods upon his death because he was so well loved. I have no idea who those small humanoid creatures could have been, but I suppose we can guess at it.”

 

“Heracles?”

 

“Today he is much more well-known by his Roman name: Hercules. However, the Greeks called him Heracles.”

 

“Coinage?” asked Oren.

 

“Well, according to myth, when a loved one died, a coin was placed beneath his tongue for the ferryman, for Charon. When a soul makes his or her way into Hades, he or she needs to pay for the ride across the river.”

 

“Styx?” asked Oren.

 

“Maybe, in some versions. More likely Acheron. The River Styx is in the Underworld, or maybe near it, but Acheron is the river that many believed Charon helped one cross. Both Styx and Acheron are actually living gods.”

 

“So now rivers are gods?” Malbourne smiled as he said it, to show his doubt and perhaps to show how silly he thought the idea to be.

 

“Yes,” replied Floyd with barely a glance toward Malbourne, then he directed a question at Oren: “Can you get some ancient coins?”

 

“We’re already working on it, right Malbourne?” The man nodded and Oren continued. “What kind of coins exactly?”

 

“I’m really not sure,” said Floyd. I can’t find anything on it. I only ever read that a coin needs to be placed under the tongue of the dead, and I have never found out more than that. It could be any coin, it may be a particular coin. I would suggest something valuable, probably gold, if you are going back there.”

 

“I’m going back. Look, I’m also guessing some of you are coming with me. I would be happy to pay you for your time.”

 

“Why do you need us?” asked Nannette.

 

“Thanatos said, ‘Two moon’s time. Four shall come. Bring Coinage.’“

 

“So, you need three more people?”

 

“That’s my guess.”

 

“Floyd, who exactly is Thanatos?”

 

“He is one of the gods of death. You know, again, some different versions of this stuff. There are two gods of death. Thanatos is the god, or actually in some instances, daemon, of peaceful death. Keres, a female daemon or goddess is the manifestation of violent death, or death by disease. She is supposed to be some sort of horrific monster.”

 

“Thanatos was scary enough. I would hate to see what Keres looks like,” said Oren.

 

“And...who is Epiales?” asked Nannette.

 

“Epiales is the god, or daemon, of nightmares He is one of the Oneiri. They come into the world at night through one of two gates. If they come through the gate of ivory, they bring premonitions, or truth to dreams. If they come through the gate of horn, they bring false, lying dreams.”

 

“I take it Epiales prefers the horn gate?”

 

Floyd shrugged. “Some believed that he could pass through either gate. If he passed through the ivory one, your nightmares would be true.”

 

Nannette looked at Oren again. “Which of us would you like to come with you?”

 

“I want all of you to come. What if something happens and someone can’t make it? I know I only need three of you, but I would like to play it safe in case someone gets a flat tire or something on the way.”

 

Nannette quite audibly sighed. “This is so hard to believe. I know I suggested that it was all related, the weather, your missing wife, but I study science, the opposite of all of this. It’s hard for me to grasp it, even understand it, let alone believe it.” Nannette found herself wondering if these people were all crazy. It was actually Malbourne’s haughty nature and arrogance that was making her lean toward believing, yet they could all be faking in one large, elaborate hoax. Why would they?

 

“Allow me to say a few more things,” said Floyd. “What animals do you think represent Hades on Earth?”

 

“Snakes?” asked Oren.

 

“Owls?” asked Mark.

 

“Both the serpent and the screech owl are symbols of Hades. Also, I don’t know much about trees, but the white poplar is another symbol of Hades. That is probably the tree that you saw. You smelled mint at one point, right Oren?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Have you ever heard the myth of Minthe?”

 

Both Mark and Nannette shook their heads and Oren gave a verbal negative. Malbourne just stared at him with a look of boredom.

 

“Minthe was a river nymph. Like some of the other tales there are different versions of her story. In some she was a former lover of Hades before he took Persephone as a bride. In others he seduced her while he was with Persephone, and in yet another, Minthe tried to seduce him. Each of the outcomes depends on who gets mad at her. In some it’s Persephone, in others it is her mother, Demeter, and in even others it’s Hades himself. The end result is that she is turned into a mint plant.

 

“My favorite version is that of Minthe attempting to seduce Hades. Hades declining the advances, Persephone finding out and stomping Minthe to death; at that point Hades feels so sorry for her that he brings her back to life in the form of the mint plant.“

 

“Why is that your favorite?” asked Oren.

 

“It shows humanity in both Persephone and Hades. Persephone, this bland and innocent goddess who had really no personality that we could see, does something rash out of jealousy. Hades, the oh-so- scary god of death, shows compassion. Also, some Greeks refer to a type of mint as hedyosman, which means, ‘sweet-smelling.’ It just puts some personality into the picture, something that Hades, and especially Persephone, were lacking. Also, that would make more sense that Hades’s realm smelled of mint, right?

 

“Why do they need more human personalities? Aren’t they gods?” asked Nannette.

 

“All the gods had human personalities. Zeus was incredibly lustful and had over one-hundred girlfriends. He would also get jealous. As I said earlier, you do not disrespect them, or there are consequences.”

 

“Look,” said Oren, “I only smelled mint for a brief period of time. Most of the time the smells were awful. Why do you think that is?”

 

“The Underworld is the realm of the dead. Hades rules over it. It makes sense that it most often smells like decay and rot.”

 

They all sat in silence for a time after that. Soon Oren finished his drink, and looked to be on the verge of saying something, probably about to offer to refill everyone’s drinks, but then Floyd spoke again: “You know, that breath that you felt on the back of your neck? I’ve been thinking about that. At first I thought it was Nyx, god of night, god of darkness, as he’s invisible, so you wouldn’t have been able to see him.”

 

“I couldn’t see much at that time, regardless. It could have been a highly visible person. Do gods even breathe?”

 

Floyd shrugged again. “If we are made in their image, I suppose they do. I was thinking though, that Hades has the power if invisibility as well. It is either the Helm of Darkness, or it’s a cape, or even a cap. The point is, he can become invisible. He lent it to Perseus, you know, so he could slay Medusa.”

 

Malbourne then spoke again, echoing some of Nannette’s own thoughts. “None of this makes sense, you know? We know the Earth and the moon are not living. We know that there are really no gods. It’s biologically impossible for rivers to be living beings. Are you saying that science is wrong?”

 

“This does go against all we scientifically know,” said Nannette.

 

“I can’t explain this. We can discuss metaphysics for hours, or days, or weeks even. I don’t think it will help us get to the bottom of this very much. The truth is we don’t know. The more science we learn, the more we don’t know or understand. We have billions of people alive on this planet that believe in God. Some of them have argued that God created science, to help us understand the physical world and it doesn’t necessarily negate his existence. This belief flies in the face of physical science. Like I said, I cannot explain it.”

 

“Nannette,” said Mark, “What does the scientific community think of the unusual weather we have been having? What’s causing it?”

 

It was Nannette’s turn to shrug. “Global warming? That’s the biggest theory-slash-opinion out there. Although it’s difficult to explain how the process suddenly sped up. Another recent one is that the Earth’s orbit has changed. We still have night and day, there aren’t any more or less than twenty-four hours, so the Earth is still spinning the same on its axis, but maybe not revolving around the sun the same.”

 

“Has this been checked?” asked Mark.

 

“How would we check it? The Earth is roughly ninety-three million miles from the sun. How do we know this? Did we take a measuring tape to the sun and physically measure the distance to the Earth? No, we checked it over time as the Earth rotated around the sun, applying physical laws...or theories. I’m sure people are looking into this.”

 

“Do you know what they are doing? How they are looking into it?” asked Oren.

 

“No, I’m a student. I’m only an undergraduate student.”

 

Malbourne glared at her.