World's Dilemma

 For someone who had just escaped jaws of death, Juan was rather relieved to be in the dank, gloomy, smelly Netherworld. Ah, the hard, cold feel of blue stones beneath his feet! The water rushing down the River Styx! The smell of... well, he couldn't describe it, but it was familiar, at least! While he was enjoying his return, though, his heart raced, almost too fast for someone. Almost like he was... afraid?

 He turned his head towards little Shiela, shivering and desperately trying to keep the stink out of her nose. White wisps surrounded her, enveloping her. Juan wasn't sure whether to comfort her through holding her hand or talking to her. Taking her to the Netherworld might have confirmed the idea that he was a God of Death.

 With no other choice, he looked Shiela in the eyes and said, "I know this is scary. You really are in the Netherworld, just like how they talk about in the storybooks."

 "Then you lied," Shiela replied, turning away. "You're a big, fat liar."

 "You're still alive and I intend on keeping it that way, though. A God of Death would just rip your soul out and be done with it."

 "But you didn't tell me you were taking me here!"

 "Had no time to. Besides, if I told you that, you'd either brush it off like a joke or be too scared to come along."

 "But now I'm gonna be-"

 "-taken to be judged and sent to hell or something?" Shiela glared at him as he chuckled. "Oh, no. I'm just taking you to a different part of the Netherworld. The queen herself would like to see you. All part of a plan, and none of it involves you coming to harm." Still glaring, was she? At least the wisps around her died down. Now to deal with her fear once and for all. "I pinky promise that nothing bad's gonna happen to you, okay? And if I break it, toss me into the River Lethe or something."

 Juan held out his pinky for her, taking his sweet time. Shiela thought about it for a little bit before wrapping her tiny pinky around his. "Promise!" she said cheerfully, smiling so wide, it was a wonder that she was scared to begin with. It didn't last too long, as she held her nose to keep out the foul smell. "Does it stink like this everywhere here?" she asked.

"I'd be worried if it did," Juan replied. He dug into his pockets for two gold pieces, then stood by the river and waved. He could feel a pang of excitement as a boat seemingly rowed itself over to the shore, nobody in sight. "Guess Charon's taking a break," he said with a shrug before getting in, leaving his two gold at the bottom before helping Jasper and Shiela inside.  With all guests accounted for, the boat  rowed down the river, leaving Juan to relax and stretch.

 Juan was starting to relax when Shiela  poked at him and frowned. "Its kinda boring," she said, crossing her arms and puffing up her little cheeks. "Can you tell me a story? Mama used to tell me stories aaaall the time!"

 Uh oh. He had to compete with mom? "I can't promise the story I tell will have a happy ending-"

"STORYTIME!" Did Shiela just ignore everything aside from "story"? Juan hoped she didn't, but her smile and all her clapping pointed otherwise.

 "Guess its time to get on with it," he said to himself before taking a deep breath. "Long, long ago, there were seven gods: Yursarsh, God of Gods... Yuran, God of Light.... Ursula, Goddess of Darkness.. Axanon and Eriel, God of Fire and Goddess of Water... and Zephyr and Terra, God of Wind and Goddess of Earth.  They all came from the Elder God Bauriel, who had died and left the job of making a whole new universe to them. They all worked together to do so, and that's how our planet came to be.

 Yursarsh led his siblings, as his dad trusted him to take care of the world they brought. He was a bit rash sometimes and a giant glutton, but nothing was bigger than his curiosity. He liked learning about the world and seeing what happens. He paid quite a few visits to Ursula's library up in Heaven. The siblings knew that they couldn't afford to lose him, so they cast a spell to make him impervious to attacks by other gods, in case they became greedy for power.

Didn't work out too well, though, as he found out about one of Ursula's favorite book. It's said that anyone aside from her who read it would be driven insane from how much information they soak in about the past, present, and future."

 Shiela stared. "Wow, that's a lot of information! But its Yursarsh, right? He can take it!"

A sigh dampened her smile in an instant. "Not even he can get away with reading it with his mind intact," Juan said bluntly. "And of course, when Ursula told him not to, he did it anyway. He went rampant and, well... It's said that he transformed into a giant shark and started devouring Heaven like cotton candy. None of the greater or lesser gods could do anything about him, so they banished him to the world below. And like a big baby that lost a game, he went like a spoilsport and started devouring the continents below.

 The gods knew they couldn't do anything directly, so they tried to help the mortals below to combat him. Unfortunately, before he was sealed away, he devoured all the continents aside from Levia. Not sure if it was because the gods couldn't get to the continents in time or if they did, but the heroes did a bad job at stopping him. That'll probably be lost to history...


Anyway, he was sealed here, as our heroes were pretty old. Back problems, hip problems, the works. Since they didn't have the power to stop him, they sealed him away and hoped that by the time the seal broke, an actual party of heroes would be ready to stop him and his minions."

"And there was, right?!" Shiela asked, almost bouncing in her seat. Jasper wasn't too pleased by all the boat rocking, whimpering as water splashed in.

 Juan thought for a moment as he sent the water back into the river using his magic. Once he spoke again, even Shiela could tell he was disappointed.

 "There was, but... Well... Ugh, its complicated. Yeah, there were a party of heroes that rose up to the challenge once Yursarsh's minions began finding a way to break the seal and throw the continent into chaos while they were at it. Alexander Triden led them, a little knight from Sevalia, no older than 20. His companions were Xavier, a powerful mage who is probably one of those old heroes' great-great-great-great-great...something something grandson, Sarah, a powerful cleric with an equally powerful family, a barbarianess named Garnet, an orator named...Well, in the books, they call her Stel-Stel. I have no clue why... Fanboys? Oh, and there was a bard named Chuck, too! They all worked together to try to stop the chaos wrought by the minions, with mighty Excalibur by their side. Sure, the seal got broken, but even Yursarsh was terrified of what would happen if Alex managed to get to him... And then..."


"And then?" Shiela was hanging on every word, far as Juan could tell.

"And then... he hatched up a plan. Alex made plenty of allies, sure. But Yursarsh was the God of Gods, a title nobody could take until he was as good as gone. All he had to do was promise one of his allies power, money, and fame, and they sold Alex and his friends out in no time at all. The group tried everything they could to keep themselves safe, but most perished along the way. One by one, Alex watched them fall, until only he was left. He didn't want their deaths to be wasted, so he challenged Yursarsh himself, ready to take him down with Excalibur. He got his wish to fight him alone, fair and square...


Yursarsh gobbled him up. All that remained of him was Excalibur, broken in half like a toothpick."


 The man could see Shiela's face change, motes of color around her, rapidly changing as she didn't know how to feel about this twist. "My thoughts exactly," he answered her unspoken confusion. "Its what threw Levia into complete and utter dispair. Nobody could seal him up anymore, so he ran rampant again. Didn't go gobbling people up, oh no. He learned that through his powers, he could corrupt even the most loyal and best of people. Everybody has an ego, pride. Stroke it enough, and thinking right is thrown right out the window. That's how he has an iron grip on Levia today. Sure, he might have made technology to speed things up for the better, but it doesn't change the fact that even if a hero were to arise, he'd squash him like a bug just through influencing their thoughts."


 A bump was heard as the boat parked itself by a dock. The trio could hear the sounds of people talking, yelling, bickering beyond a cavern entrance. They got off the boat and watched it row off again, without a care in the world. Shiela was silent and shivering. Afraid. "There's no hope, then?" she asked quietly, looking Juan right in the face. "Its over?"

 "That's what most people believe," he answered. "Prophets don't bother announcing any good news. They get more money from spewing doom and gloom anyway. All they think they can do is prevent things from getting worse, because it'll never get better."

 "You believe it too, don't you?"

 Juan blinked before breaking into a smile. "I'm not 'most people', Shiela. Especially not with my empathy and unique way of using magic. My friend and my boss aren't like them, either. Most people think we're out of luck and there's no use fighting fate. We think that's stupid and fight against it. Yursarsh isn't all-seeing, after all. We're just biding our time until we can find just the heroes we need and take him and his minions out by the storm. Maybe repair Excalibur too, while we're at it. And it all starts...with you."

 The two stared at each other before Shiela took a step back, eyes wide. "M-me? Starting with me? But I'm just a princess!"

 "A princess who was gonna be part of a bad prophecy if I just left you there. Can't just sit around waiting for things to happen. Take the bull by the horns! Take control of your own fate. Who knows? Maybe you'll end up like Alex!"

 The man almost regretted saying that. Almost. It was funny to see Shiela bounce up and down and shake as if she were about to explode in excitement. She didn't say a word; she just took Juan by the hand and headed towards the sounds, eager to talk to the "Queen" Juan was talking about.


In that moment, Juan knew that she would be one of their tickets out of their mess.