Blinded By The Commander
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“You seem to be in a bit of trouble, my lady.”
I turned around and saw the person who had spoken. He was wearing an officer’s uniform with some insignia on his chest that I didn’t recognize—but he looked like someone important enough for me not to ignore him.
His voice sounded like it came from somewhere above us; as if he were sitting up there looking down at us while we stood here below. It made sense since this place seemed to have been built into one of those old-fashioned towers you’d see in paintings or movies about knights battling dragons back when they still existed.
And yet even so…he wasn’t here right now? Where did he go then…? Wasn’t he supposed to come to save me after all these people got themselves killed trying to protect me?! Why would he just disappear without saying anything!? What kind of cruel joke is this?
The man smiled gently before speaking again: “My name is Sir Julius. You may call me by any other title you wish, but please do address me formally unless instructed otherwise.” Then he took out something resembling a business card and handed it over to me.
On the front side was written simply ‘Julius’ followed by a few lines of text underneath explaining what sort of position he held within the organization known as the Knights Templar. There were several different positions listed under the heading, including things like a commander, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, corporal, private first class, lance man, squire, page, knight, etcetera…and also a section labeled ‘other’.
In addition to being able to choose which rank you wanted to be based on your own abilities, apparently, you could change ranks pretty much whenever you felt like changing them too. That said, I couldn’t imagine many people ever actually doing such a thing. After all, how often does anyone get promoted?
In any case, seeing that list reminded me of why Julius was standing there with his hand extended towards me. If only he hadn’t done that, maybe none of this would’ve happened… But no matter. As long as I knew where he went off to next, at least now I wouldn’t feel quite so alone anymore. So I reached forward and grabbed hold of his offered hand, then gave him a firm shake.
“‘Sir Julius’? Is that really your last name?”
He nodded once more before replying. “Yes. My family comes from the Roman Empire originally. Hence our use of Latin instead of Greek lettering in lieu of using their alphabet.”
Huh. Well, whatever. For now, let’s focus on getting ourselves out of here alive. We don’t need to worry about talking to each other until later. The first priority is making sure everyone else makes it through okay.
Next time we meet, though, we should probably try asking him questions about himself. Maybe he’ll tell us interesting stories along the way.
“Okay,” I replied firmly. “Let’s head straight for the exit.”
Even as I spoke, however, I noticed two figures approaching us from behind. They both wore similar clothing, but theirs appeared to be slightly less formal than mine. Their hair color varied somewhat between the two men, but they definitely weren’t twins.
One had black hair and brown eyes, whereas the other had blue hair and green ones. Both were rather tall, although the one with dark skin and light-colored hair was taller by a good margin. Apparently, he was called Gaius (or Julius) by the others. The other guy whose name started with ‘G’ was named Glaukos.
As soon as they caught sight of us, the pair began walking over to join us. At the same moment, another figure emerged from the crowd of people surrounding me. This one was female, dressed in clothes that looked a lot like Julius’, albeit a little more colorful.
Her body also bore markings that resembled tattoos, but unlike Julius, she had her face covered by a veil. Judging by the fact that the woman I assumed must be Saphira was following after Julius and the rest of the group, I figured that meant she was somehow connected to them. She walked alongside the four men, neither speaking nor moving very quickly despite the distance separating herself from the rest of the crowd.
All five of them stopped in front of me, waiting patiently for me to make a decision. Since I was already holding onto Julius’ hand, I decided to take that as my cue to follow them out of the area. Once we stepped outside, I immediately spotted a large number of soldiers rushing past nearby.
Some of them carried weapons, while others had nothing more than spears or swords strapped across their backs. A handful of armored guardsmen rode horses ahead of the main force, patrolling the streets and keeping watch for trouble. None of the soldiers paid any attention to us as we passed by.
This was starting to remind me a bit too much of my previous life, so I tried to keep myself distracted by focusing on Julius’ hand in order to avoid thinking about anything else. It seemed to work well enough; even if I did happen to look up every now and then, I never saw anyone paying any particular interest to us.
Despite the lack of obvious danger, however, I still kept an eye out for any signs of potential attacks, just in case. Fortunately, I didn’t see any enemies around, so I eventually relaxed my guard.
We continued down the street, taking turns passing through various gates into different neighborhoods. Eventually, we came upon a massive building that stood right smack dab in the middle of town. From what I could tell, it wasn’t some sort of castle or fortress, since its walls were made entirely out of stone blocks.
There was a small gate leading inside, which opened automatically when someone approached. Inside, a series of stairs led downwards, presumably heading deeper underground. Although I couldn’t quite tell how far below ground level we were due to all the darkness involved, I got the impression that these steps might lead somewhere important.
After carefully observing everything going on around us, I realized that the entire city itself was built directly above the ruins of something ancient. Just looking at the architecture told me that this place was older than Rome ever was.
I glanced back up towards the surface, wondering whether there’d be any kind of sign pointing towards the entrance to the underworld. Of course, I doubted that such a thing existed anyway, given that Hades himself supposedly lived here. Still, I figured that I might as well give it a shot.
In theory, I shouldn’t have needed to do anything special. All I had to do was find a spot within the general vicinity of where I wanted to go, point upwards, and hope that I would end up somewhere close to the Underworld. Unfortunately, however, I hadn’t been able to come across any clear indication of which directly led to the actual location of the entrance.
If only I knew what the layout of the Underworld actually looked like…
After staring off into space for several seconds, I finally snapped back to reality. As usual, the first person who happened to notice me doing so was Julius. He gave me a concerned smile and held his arm out towards me.
Even though I had no idea why he was trying to help, I took hold of it without hesitation. Then, together, we headed downstairs.
***
The staircase descended further and further down until, eventually, the floor beneath our feet became completely pitch-black. Thankfully, Julius had lit a torch before coming along. Its flickering flame illuminated the way forward, making things considerably easier to navigate.
We followed the path downwards for a few minutes longer, reaching yet another set of doors. These ones were fashioned out of wood instead of stone, and they swung open easily once Julius knocked on them.
Beyond lay a long hallway lined with numerous wooden pillars running parallel to each other, stretching away into the distance. The ceiling overhead wasn’t particularly high, meaning that most of the light sources available were torches hanging from chains suspended between the columns.
They provided plenty of illumination overall, although not nearly enough to fully illuminate the entire hall.
Julius and I both slowed down as we entered the room, giving everyone present time to get used to seeing us again. No sooner had we gotten ourselves situated, however, than the man standing next to Saphiria spoke up. “Welcome! So glad you’ve arrived.”
His voice echoed throughout the chamber, sounding somewhat muffled thanks to the fact that the door behind him remained closed.
“Thank you,” I replied politely.
He smiled warmly at me, but then turned his gaze towards the rest of my party members. “And who are your companions?”
Sophie nodded her head slightly. “My name is Sophie Deveraux. This is my husband, Lord Julius Deveraux, and our friend, Alexander… Wait, what’s wrong? You’re not supposed to know their names!”
She sounded surprised, perhaps because she thought that nobody outside of the group should have known either of those two people. However, the man simply shrugged. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m sure you’ll introduce yourselves properly soon enough.”
There was a brief pause after that statement. Judging by the looks on everyone’s faces, none of them really understood what he meant. Apparently, they weren’t expecting to meet anybody new while visiting the Underworld. Or maybe they just didn’t want to admit that they already knew one more person here.
Either way, I was starting to wonder if I ought to try and explain the situation to them myself. But before I could make up my mind, the man stepped closer to me.
“You must be Perseus. It sounds like you’ve been having an interesting journey so far. Well, let me welcome you to the House of Hades!”
It seemed that he was referring to himself as ‘Perseus’, rather than Hades. That made sense – in Greek mythology, the latter title belonged exclusively to the god of death. Although, judging by how this guy was acting, he probably considered himself some sort of living incarnation of the deity.
Regardless, I couldn’t help but feel curious. Who exactly was he, and what did he intend to do when we got to the bottom of the stairs?
“Ah, yes. Thank you very much for welcoming us here,” I said, bowing my head respectfully.
That prompted the man to chuckle lightly. “Don’t mention it. Now, please follow me. There isn’t all that much left to see, but I think it will still be worth taking the time to look around.”
With that, he began walking down the hallway, leaving behind the three of us. After a moment, Julius quickly caught up with him. Once he reached us, he gestured towards the entrance. “So, shall we?”
We started following him through the corridor, heading deeper underground. Unlike the previous room, everything in this particular area appeared relatively intact. All sorts of furniture stood scattered across the ground, including couches, chairs, tables, beds, and even bookshelves.
Everything looked perfectly normal, right down to the clothes strewn carelessly over the floors. Some of the items might have actually come from human homes, which would mean that whoever lived here had originally intended to return home someday.
Unfortunately, there was nothing indicating whether or not any of these residents ever managed to escape the fate awaiting them within the walls of the Underworld.
I glanced briefly at the man leading us, wondering what he planned to show us now. He certainly hadn’t mentioned anything during our conversation earlier, nor had he shown any signs of being interested in meeting anyone else. In fact, he’d barely spoken since emerging from the stairwell.
And considering that he was apparently aware of the identities of every single member of our party, something told me that he wouldn’t have done so unless he wanted to talk to us specifically. As such, I found myself growing increasingly suspicious. Was this whole thing just part of his plan?
Maybe he was hoping to use us somehow. If so, why? What did he hope to gain?
All questions without answers, though. For the time being, I decided to keep quiet and focus on observing the surroundings instead. The first thing I noticed was several doors set into the wall nearby. They each bore different designs carved onto their fronts, consisting primarily of various symbols and letters.
At least, that was what they initially looked like to me. Upon further inspection, however, I realized that they also contained images of objects, animals, and other things. One door, for example, featured a simple circle drawn upon its surface, along with a few lines representing branches extending outwards.
Another depicted a pair of hands holding a sphere. Yet another showed a stylized depiction of a mountain range, complete with small trees dotting the landscape. Most of the others displayed similar imagery, although I wasn’t entirely certain what most of them represented.
Perhaps someone familiar with ancient languages could figure it out more easily.
Despite the unusual nature of the rooms, the overall layout of the place remained unchanged. We continued moving forward until reaching yet another staircase, descending deeper belowground. This time, the path led downwards past numerous doors, many of which opened to reveal empty spaces.
Eventually, we came to a halt near one of the larger ones, where the man stopped abruptly. After glancing inside, he turned back to face us once again.
“This is the last stop. Please take your time looking around, then leave whenever you’re ready.”
The End