The man sitting on the throne room ought to be the master of this domain, son of the titans Cronus and Rhea, the King of the Underworld, Hades.
The man in question seemed to be well over 3 meters tall, and even in his current sitting position, he couldn't hide his towering stature that intimidated anyone who would come near him. On top of that, his muscular physique was reminiscent of a bodybuilder and made Alex look thin in comparison.
Hades was a fearsome man and god, ruling over the dead with an iron fist along with his wife, Queen of the Underworld, Persephone.
Right now, he had his fist on his forehead and he looked to have a deep frown in between his thick and dark eyebrows. The man's piercing black eyes haven't even gone far up as to give Alex and Crista a glance, as if he didn't consider them important enough for his line of sight.
Alex felt hurt, but he nevertheless decided to stand up and take the lead this time, planning to use his connections to curry some favour.
"King of the Underworld, I am of the name Alex and have come here as Athena's son and a demi-god of Mount Olympus. I have come here representing the God of War, Ares. On my right is my attendant, Crista." He took on a formal tone he didn't usually use, however considering how angry the man looked, he didn't want to ruin his mission just yet by using impolite speech.
Upon hearing his words, as if stricken by lightning, he elevated his intimidating eyes and matched them with Alex's own eyeline, making the two stare at each other.
Hades then stood up abruptly and paced around the room in slow steps while murmuring something to himself.
He looked even taller and more intimidating standing up, worthy of a direct descendant of a titan.
After a few dozen seconds of the man whispering an unintelligible monologue to himself, he turned to face Alex and asked in a furious tone "So, Olympus takes my Queen for 3 quarters of the year, and now, they sent my grand-nephew here to stir up some more trouble on the behalf of a psychotic warrior?!"
Alex couldn't exactly give any answer so he turned to Elana, who had her face lowered and a hand on her face, though from the small distance that split them apart, he could see her mouthing something along the lines of "Don't mind Him. He acts like this whenever the Queen is not here"
He also found it unreasonable, as in most variations of the myths, he was the person who abducted Persephone down here, and her agreement was often glossed over.
Alex would have to get further insight into the relationship between the two rulers of the Underworld before making a judgment. He thus calmed down his injustice-hating heart and responded to the man "King. I am here to bring the great hero Achilles to the surface with me, and have no thoughts of stirring some trouble in Your realm"
Hades, who was now fidgeting with his hands, approached Alex in slow steps, and he stopped when the two had only two steps of distance separating them.
Alex, who held an above-average height and Crista, who was about as tall as him. The two, who normally wouldn't blend into a crowd, felt like small children in front of a beast.
Hades had long black hair reaching to his waist and a thick beard making his wrinkle-free face look more aged. Most importantly, however, his black eyes were staring at Alex coldly and he looked to be one move away from attacking him.
"I suppose we're family then, huh? Well, how is the surface?" Speaking in an unusually calm tone, Hades glared at him and crossed his muscular arms.
'The surface? What kind of question is tha-' Alex's thoughts were interrupted by the screams of the god in front of him.
"Answer me!"
He couldn't help it, so he answered meekly "Well, i-it's....green."
"Green? and?" Hades went back to the cold and calm tone from earlier.
"S-sunny, yes! Sunny!" He responded anxiously.
"Green....and sunny?" Hades looked abnormally vexed by Alex's simple words. He then proceeded to step back and started walking anxiously around the throne room.
"What is he doing?" Crista whispered to me.
This time, he was murmuring to himself in an intelligible level of sound, and Alex could distinguish what he was saying.
"It's green and sunny? That's what my Queen likes!"
"What if she likes it too much and doesn't want to come back?"
"What if she's sad every time she has to come back.....and never talks to me again...?"
For someone who abducted his wife into marriage, he looked unusually caring of her feelings. Actually, a bit paranoid. It didn't much fit the image of a god, even more-so that of a monarch of the dead.
The paranoia-stricken god then shifted his line of sight to Elana, who looked to be used to this current predicament and said weakly, with his hands shaking "Elana, bring Thanatos here."
Elana, who was bowing deeply, stood up, nodded and left the room, leaving two outsiders and an anxious king.
Subsequently, Elena came back a few minutes later with a unknown man who he presumed to be Thanatos.
From some of his research, Thanatos should be one of the most prominent Chthonic gods, being an incarnate of death.
Thanatos's appearance was loyal to his traits. The god looked pale, lacking any sort of colour to his white face and he always had his eyes closed, reminiscent of the tradition of closing the eyes of a dead person. He wore a black and grey toga that only covered his genital areas and part of his torso, showing the atrophied muscles(1) on his body, equally similar to a deceased person.
He was carrying a scythe in his hand that looked exactly the same as the one Charon, which meant that considering his status, Charon's scythe was probably a replica of this one.
Elena, who entered the room following Thanatos, bowed to Hades, who finally stopped in his tracks and greeted the incoming god with a slight raise of his hand.
Thanatos nodded his head and turned to Alex, seemingly being able to see or detect him without opening his eyes, proceeding to speak in a deep and raspy voice "You must be Alex. I have heard you wish to take one of ours back to the surface."
"Yes, Sir Thanatos. I have come here for that exact purpose." Alex stated.
Thanatos nodded and then turned around to Elana, looking at her as if he was waiting for something.
Elana nodded to him and turned around to face the two, then said "Lord Thanatos doesn't like to speak too much. He wants to tell you that you need to beat him once if you want to take back Achilles."
'Beating death? That sounds like a hard task. Alex fell into thought. Thanatos looked quite strong and he feared that if they fought, his deathly powers would hurt Crista, who is mortal.
It was a puzzling dilemma but he would much rather fail the mission than risk hurting a close friend of his.
This dilemma would, however, be resolved by Crista who whispered something into his ear "Alex, think outside of the box. They didn't specify that it would have to be a fight."
That was an excellent proposal, as he commended Crista's intellect and ability to think in challenging situations and whispered 'Thank you' to her ear in response.
"Does it have to be a physical fight?" Alex asked Thanatos.
The god seemed to fall into thought but he then shook his head, indicating that it was a success for Alex.
Now, would come the real thinking.
'What game or challenge could I beat him in? I am specialized in swiftness, but I'm not sure 1 Essence is enough to be swifter than most gods.' Alex omitted the idea of racing him.
'A strength-oriented challenge would be a lost cause for me'
'Bingo! What about an intellect and luck-based game from my world?' Alex knew exactly the game he could challenge Thanatos to. It was a famous game for all ages back in his world where luck reigned but more knowledge about the game still grants players an advantage.
He called out to Elana and whispered the rules of the game to her ear, as she frowned in surprise and flashed him a questioning expression but still transmitted the information to Thanatos.
The latter would show a hint of confusion on his face following the information he received but he nodded.
Alex began a countdown out loud for the start of the game.
3...
2...
1...
Game begin!
The two men held out their arms and made various symbols with their hands.
Thanatos formed a stone with his fist.
Alex formed a scissor.
That's right, they were playing a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors and the winner would win upon achieving victory in 3 rounds.
Right now, however, Alex was on the losing side and the score was 1-0 for Thanatos.
They proceeded to begin the second round.
3...2...1...
This time, though, the results were different. Thanatos still went with stone and Alex used paper, winning this round.
They continued this way until the score was tilted in Alex's favour at 2-1 and one win would be enough to conclude the game.
3...2...1...
It was a tie!
The two gods flashed scissors and this round was therefore voided.
3...2...1...
Alex opened his eyes slowly, afraid of the results but he sighed a sigh of relief when he saw the results.
Thanatos had went with paper and he went with scissors, meaning the final score was 3-1 for Alex and he won this game, completing his primary mission in the Underworld.
He then heard the dry voice of Thanatos saying dejectedly "I....lost..."
His gloats were however interrupted by a high-pitched and unknown female voice "Nyx, I told you something interesting was happening"
This was then followed by another female voice that sounded muffled and deep "Yes, Goddess."
Alex wanted to turn around to see the guests but Thanatos did so earlier and he looked very surprised as he exclaimed in the liveliest voice he could muster "My Queen, and.....Mother?"
'The Queen of the Underworld' That had to be the person he was thinking of.
The Goddess of Life and the harvest, wife of Hades and ruler to the domain of the dead, Persephone.