Young Writers Society

Kazimir was about to ask Lykos where the heck Apollocia was when the mist came flooding in. The earthquake came to a sudden stop and the cold rocky beach and cave were gone. Kazimir hadn't realized how much he was appreciating the cold weather until it was replaced with muggy heat.

When things cleared up around them, they were in a field of trees. Kazimir found himself leaning against a tree instead of a cave wall, and wearing a toga instead of the normal winter clothes he was in before.

"What the--"

Everyone looked like they had stepped right out of some play about ancient Greece, with Goliath or Zeus or whatever the fake gods were. He couldn't remember much from school. Mythology had never been an important thing for him to remember, so he forgot it.

But now that he was in an oversized blanket of all things, he wished he could remember something. At least then, he would know what he was complaining about.

The toga was like a big blanket, pooling in excess fabric around his legs like an impractical, flowy dress. Sure, it was comfortable. But how was he supposed to fight in something like this? And what if it got caught on something?

While the toga swallowed up his legs (which was probably for the better, considering his leg still hurt - that was one thing that hadn't changed) it left his arms and part of his chest uncovered, leaving the snake tattoos winding up his arms and shoulders on full display, along with - well - some scars.

Even though they apparently had been zapped back in time, Kazimir didn't exactly look like he fit in. If anything, he just looked ridiculous.

With a low grumble he slowly pushed himself to his feet and fiddled with all the fabric around his waist. Now that he was standing, he could see the sandals on his feet. They weren't comfortable. He liked his boots better.

He looked up into the tree he was standing beneath and reached up to pluck off a pomegranate. He didn't have to strain too much to get it, thanks to his height.

He split it open with his hands and dipped his fingers in, grabbing a small handful of seeds that instantly stained his fingertips red.

"Okay, so where and when even are we?" he asked, before tossing the seeds in his mouth.

Annabeth had no idea what Appollocia was, and she was about to say Ithaca only existed in Ancient Greece. But the words died in her throat when the mist swept into the cave, covering them all. Annabeth shut her eyes.

It was gone as fast as it came. She felt dirt and grass beneath her hands and, a warm breeze touched her cheeks. Her clothes didn't feel so heavy anymore either.

Annabeth got to her feet and looked down. Was...Was she wearing a peplos? One of those tunics women wore when she watched those movies set in Ancient Greece?

Granted, it was a nice outfit. And her hair was even tied up in a traditional bun. As an added bonus, the leather sandals fitted nicely.

Annabeth looked at the others, who looked confused at best.

"Okay, so where and when even are we?" Kazimir asked, before eating some pomegranate seeds.

"Judging by our outfits and the pomegranate trees, we are in Ancient Greece," Annabeth said. "Which makes no sense, seeing as the year's supposed to be 2020."

Lykos stared.

The year didn't make any sense - Annabeth hadn't given any context for what kind of year she was referring to - but what made even less sense was the implication that where they were was somehow...

...ancient.

Lykos suddenly started to understand why he had felt so out of place earlier.

"I know where we are. Not the when, exactly. They may seem ancient too, but these clothes are the ones that I regularly wear," he admitted. It was partially a lie. He wore slightly more formal ones most of the time, but these ones had been a comforting change of pace lately. He was just trying his best to hold off on the inevitable; he really didn't want to say the truth. "I don't know how, but, for me, this is the present."

...Which didn't make any sense. Because he very strongly remembered Hecate swearing that "time travel magic doesn't exist because it would mess up everything" (the last part said with an enthusiastic throwing up of her hands like they were a mini-explosion) and someone thinking he was from the past would imply that he had somehow time-traveled.

Lykos resisted the urge to groan/sigh/do whatever you were supposed to do when you found out you had suddenly been transported to the future before being transported back to their past/your present with the people you met from the future.

...Council knew he needed Hecate right now.

"As for the where we are..."

Lykos glanced around the ground.

"...Please don't panic, but we're in the Underworld," he finally said. "You're all alive - I promise. And it's not taboo for the living to enter the Underworld, either, but it's just not really done because it's hard separating the living from their deceased loved ones."

He glanced over at Kaz.

...He wasn't going to bring up the pomegranates. Ares stole one every time he came to the Underworld, and Lykos had even caught Thana snacking on one once or twice. They were pretty much fair game at this point.

Elias didn't have time to whine about missing out on a relaxing massage, because before he even had the time to swivel around to face her, the mist invaded the cave and swallowed them like a thick, warm blanket.

Like... actually warm. He knew it was like a sauna all along!

Elias felt himself itching to get out of his clothes, but just as fast as the mist covered them up, it quickly dissipated like it was never there. And then...

"What the--" Kaz said, perfectly mimicking Elias's thoughts.

It took a little time for his pupils to adjust from the pure bright white of the mist to the sunlit and muggy place they were in, but Elias could see that they had had somehow transported to a different place.

It was odd feeling content one minute from the warm clothes protecting him from the chilly air, then feeling a sudden attack of hotness, then feeling his hairs stand up from his arms as a shiver went down his spine because it was chilly... but at the same time, totally airless?

One look down at his clothes and it made sense. Well, sort of. Suddenly feeling chilly was easily explained from what he was wearing, which was... uh... Elias had no idea. A fitted bed sheet? The white cloth wrapped around only one shoulder and draped down to his shins, revealing his arms, part of his legs, and one side of his chest. Glancing down at his feet, he realized his shoes were even weirder. It looked like boots purposefully-fashioned to only used half the amount of material needed.

He felt ridiculous, but he glanced around and realized the others were also wearing similar silly outfits, and even had to stifle a laugh seeing tough-guy-Kazimir wearing something so elegant.

Slowly, Elias stood up on he feet and dusted himself off, listening to the others talk as he tried to wrap his head around what just happend. Something-something about time, something-something about Underworld... His head injury was recovering faster every minute since he jumped off the rocks, but it still seemed to want to play catch-up rather than be in the present, because it just dawned on him that Annabeth said the year was 2020.

"Did you just say the year is 2020?" he said, swiveling his attention to Annabeth. "That's so far in the future..." He looked around, noting the odd surroundings. "But also, you said we're way in the past, and Lykos said we're in the present... so now I'm just confused. And also..." He shifted his attention back to Lykos. "You said we're in the Underworld? Is that like... a world under the world? So, you live underground too?"

He bent down to pluck a flower, then glanced up at the sky and felt the strangely familiar rays of the sun beam his face as he rubbed the flower between his fingers.

So many thoughts, so many questions, so much confusion—but of all things, Elias chose to ignore Lykos mentioning being with the deceased. Hey, it's a new place and probably a new culture, so it's none of his business if he wanted to hang out with corpses.

Kazimir's head was starting to hurt.

"I'm from 1996," he said flatly. He couldn't think to hard about what it meant to not be in his year or world anymore, so he didn't, but still. It was freaky.

"The year doesn't matter," he huffed. "You. Lie-cold. You know where this is. This is your home. Is there a way out of here?"

It took Lykos a second to realize Kazimir was talking to him.

"It's not technically my home," Lykos quickly protested - even though it very much was. He wasn't going to address the fact that he was a living person in the Underworld. That would raise too many questions that he didn't want to answer.

He glanced around.

"There is a way out of here," he said, "but something feels...wrong. I could try opening it, but I doubt I'd be able to right now. I don't even have the key with me."

His gaze returned to Elias. Lykos wasn't sure if he was supposed to be grateful about Elias not knowing what the Underworld was or not; it increased the chances of him not putting two and two together.

"The Underworld is almost underground," he admitted. "It's hard to explain. You can only access it by going beneath the surface of the earth, but it's more of a separate part of reality. I don't really know how to explain or fully comprehend it myself."

If Hecate was here, she'd be able to explain how it worked. She was the one who had set it up in the first place. She knew more about pocket realities than he ever would. Even Thana knew more about it than he did - Thana, who could very much be in charge right now.

"Where I come from it's 2020," Annabeth told Elias, "but Kaz is right. The year doesn't matter."

She took a few steps backward, filling her vision with the Underworld. It looked very different than what she had read in the Greek myths. She had imagined there would be more dead people.

But if the Underworld was real, then...

"So are the gods," she whispered. Annabeth continued looking awed until she almost didn't hear Lykos speaking.

"Something's wrong?" she repeated. "I don't want to put a lot of pressure on you, Lykos, but you're the only one familiar with this place. And we all just met each other."

Annabeth looked at the others and sighed. "But, I have a feeling we're going to be spending a lot together. So, if you need help, we'll help you."

Elias scrunched his face, trying to wrap his head around all of this. The year 2020? And 1996? Separate reality? Gods??

He shook his head, shaking the confusion away. Nothing ever really makes sense anyways, so he'll figure that out later, if at all. Being in the Underworld sure seemed better than being in the previous place they were in, but he had a feeling everyone else also has a far-away home they all wanted to get back too.

Elias slap-patted Lykos's back and gave him a lopsided grin. "That's right!" he said after Annabeth. "We're pals, so let's figure this out together."

One thing to know about Elias: he considers everyone to be his pal.

Lykos froze at Annabeth's comment, but he hoped that she didn't notice.

He knew Annabeth was right. No one else here was as familiar with the Underworld as he was. They didn't have a point of comparison, and they also didn't have any kind of knowledge that would help them leave. Lykos ran over the options in his head. He could find the key and bring them above ground, but he doubted the others would find help there. He could track down Hecate or Thana, but there was no way to say for certain where they were. The only other option was to go straight to Olympus or the others in the hopes he would find someone helpful there, but he wasn't sure he could get away with that.

He looked around the Underworld.

Then he let out a sigh.

No matter what option he chose, there was only one place for them to go now: the palace. The key, the others, and the portal were all in there. He still didn't know exactly what to do, but going there was a start.

"We need to go the palace," he said, gesturing in its direction. "I still don't know what's wrong, but going there is our best chance at getting you back to where you're supposed to be."

After a moment of hesitation, he took a leaf out of Kazimir's book and grabbed one of the pomegranates from a low-hanging branch. He wasn't going to take a bite out of it just yet, but he could do with some comfort food right now.

Maggie slowly processed the situation. It seemed they'd been pulled along the tenuous threads connecting realities once again. At first, she'd thought this reality was for her. A cosmic, twisted joke, so regognizably Greek right down to the clothing. But it wasn't, and she cursed her childish stupidity for thinking it might be.

This was Lykos's home, even if he didn't look quite comfortable with that. Saying that.

The Greek Underworld.

Perhaps it was a cosmic joke after all.

Freeing her mind of such a depressing train of thought, Maggie finally spoke up. "Then take us there." A stray thought wandered to the subject of her roommates. They wouldn't notice her absence for a few hours, they probably wouldn't even notice her gone for several days, so there was little chance she'd return to any drama.

Kazimir's fingers were stained and the pomegranate was gone. Well, not gone, but empty. The seeds were in his stomach now, and he was still hungry. Eating, he found, was a good distraction from all of the pain in his leg.

Well, maybe not a distraction so much as it was a pacifier. If he could occupy himself with eating he wouldn't be as angry at the world - er - the underworld.

He grabbed another pomegranate.

"If there are stairs involved I'm going to kill the god who designed them."

It was ancient greece, but they could at least invent elevators if they were gods, for goodness' sake.

It was a good thing everything they needed was hopefully on the first floor still, then.

Giving an awkward smile, Lykos nodded and started walking down the pathway. The leaves of the pomegranate trees above them swayed in the magical, artificial wind as they walked. Lykos already knew the path so well he could walk it with his eyes closed - he didn't have to keep staring ahead at the palace.

Instead, he looked off in the distance.

He could see the outline of the town still, but it felt just as wrong as everything else was here. At this time of day, the wind would carry the sound of voices all the way over from it. But he couldn't even hear so much as a whisper, even though the wind was as strong as it usually was.

And the field between the town and the palace seemed so much larger than before.

He looked back at the palace, a heavy feeling settling in his gut.

After another minute of walking, they finally arrived at the entrance. Lykos couldn't help but glance back at Kazimir - there were three little steps that they needed to climb in order to enter.

Lykos silently climbed them and slipped inside the palace.

The palace was cold and empty. Part of him had expected that; the other part wondered where everyone had gone. The pit in his stomach grew. He scanned the hallway in front of him. The decorations were all in their right places, but something felt off-

His eyes landed on portrait near the entrance.

And all that Lykos could do was stare.

The portrait still had one of the same subjects, but it felt like an entirely different person now. The man - the god - in the portrait had long black hair down past his waist. He even had the beginnings of a beard. His eyes were black and cold; his skin was deathly pale. His robes were as dark as night. He looked regal in a way that Lykos could never imagine him ever looking.

All the life was gone from the portrait. There wasn't anyone peeking in from the side. There wasn't a little paint mark on the corner from when his niece had knocked over Hecate's supplies. There wasn't even a smile on the man's face.

That was when it finally clicked.

This was how the Underworld was supposed to be. The way that people always said it was, even though they had never actually seen what it was like below the surface. All the energy had been sucked out of the inside of the palace, and the town-

Lykos went eerily still.

...The town must have become the Fields of Asphodel.

What kind of nightmare was this?

Annabeth followed Lykos into the cold and empty palace. She shivered slightly. Although Greta had brought her into many "haunted" houses as part of her training, Annabeth still didn't get used to it.

She bumped into Lykos near the entrance. She apologized, but Lykos didn't seem to hear her. He stared at a portrait.

The man's eyes were black and cold. Everything about him was black, except for his pale skin. And his unearthly look.

"Is that supposed to be Hades?" she asked. Lykos didn't answer; he froze as something clicked in his face. "Lykos, are you alright?"

She looked at the others, but no one else understood what was going on either. Behind them, the town started becoming grey and grassy.

To the palace!

Normally Elias would hee and haw about what a palace looks like and if it was something that was real, but at this point, nothing surprised him anymore. As they were silently walking down the path, Elias picked up a long stick and playfully dragged it across the dirt, creating squiggles of a path. It was something he was familiar with doing so he didn't get lost, and he knew that they wouldn't get lost because Lykos was with them, but seeing the weird fruit trees sway in the wind with an eerily quiet and unfamiliar town in the distance made him feel on edge, like he was lost, or something felt very wrong.

Elias skipped up the steps into this so-called palace and a shiver went up his spine as he took in the drab, cold, empty place. Okay... he was expecting a bit more glitz and glam than this, but like he said, nothing surprised him anymore.

He walked on a little then looked back and noticed Lykos hanging around a painting. He heard Annabeth ask if that was a hay-dees, whatever that could be.

"Kind of looks like Lykos," Elias mused out loud, squinting at the painting while moving closer at it. Oh. The differences were more obvious now, but still he sticks with his stance. "A paler, creepy Lykos," he corrected himself.

Kazimir would kill for some pain medication, literally. If he wasn't surrounded by a bunch of bumbling, clueless children he would've smashed one of their skulls in already.

The steps were small, and short, but even then they felt agonizing.

In a perfect world, now would be a time where he could just stop and lie down. But instead, he grit his teeth and pushed through it, keeping a stone-faced frown.

He didn't really pay much attention to the palace, but it was hard to ignore the giant freakish painting of Liekos's brother, or father, or whatever. He forced himself to talk. People without bullet wounds were more chatty, and god forbid anyone found out.

"Is that your old man?"