“Good. You made it.”
As Chloe tried to focus on something speaking on the ground, a beautiful view gradually loomed up as her eyes adjusted to the light.
There were many flowers, such as roses, crocuses, violets, irises, and hyacinths, blooming all over and garnishing a field, and to her relief, they were of various beautiful colors.
“I knew you could take the first step, but you should hurry now.”
The voice was Celestial Tapir's. It was lounging in the field, basking in the sun. Chloe stepped up to Celestial Tapir to question him, but somebody immediately interrupted her.
“Hey, toots. Are you going to take a ride? If you are, hurry up. We are going to depart now.”
When Chloe turned her face to the voice, she found a huge river flowing calmly, and a bargeman was waiting for her, holding a scull in a small ferryboat.
“You should hurry up now,” said Celestial Tapir to Chloe. “Don't miss the ride, or you will never find your friend.”
“If I miss the ride, I will never find my friend? What do you mean by that? Is Kip somewhere across that river?” Chloe eagerly asked Celestial Tapir, glancing at the bargeman at the same time.
“Maybe...you should find out. Just take the ferry. Charon will ferry you over that river,” said Celestial Tapir, its eyes still closed.
“Hey, toots! Aren't you going? We're leaving now!” the bargeman said in a shout, pushing Chloe to decide.
“Should I go now?” Chloe asked Celestial Tapir, who was the only thing there she could rely on.
“I don't know. That depends on you. If you want to cross that river, take the ferry. If you don't just stay here. But keep in your mind that the ferry is the only means to cross that river, and you can never cross it by yourself.”
“If I miss it now, when can I take the ferry next?”
“I don't know. You'll never know, because thousands of the dead have waited for Charon at various wharves in not only this river, 'Acheron,' but also the other river, 'Styx.' So, if you miss the ferry now, you will have to wait for a long time for it to come back again.”
Celestial Tapir's remark was unexpected, and she asked in surprise, “The dead have waited for the ferryboat? Do you mean this is the land of the dead?”
Celestial Tapir finally got up and shouted, “No more questions! You should hurry up now!”
When Chloe turned her face toward the ferry, the bargeman was pushing the ferryboat away from the dock, using the scull skillfully.
“Could you come with me as a guide?” Chloe persisted.
“No. The place across this river is very exclusive; so it's not somewhere I can go. But if you remind yourself of why you came here, you shall dare to take the ferry now.”
Chloe still hesitated, but Celestial Tapir exclaimed to her, “Move it now!”
She reluctantly started to step backward, keeping her eyes on Celestial Tapir, and then she began to run to the ferry.
“Have a good fright....” Celestial Tapir whispered, but it was too late for Chloe to know what it meant.
Although Chloe ran as fast as she could, it was difficult in high-heeled shoes. When she realized she could not reach the ferry before it went too far to get in, she waved her hand and shouted, “Hey, I want to cross the river! Let me ride, please!”
When the bargeman saw her coming, he just rowed the ferryboat back to the ferry dock without complaint. Chloe stopped running and started to trot to the ferry, but she heard the passengers complain about the bargeman in coming back to the ferry.
There were two passengers in the ferryboat, and they wore cowl-like black clothes, their drooping heads hidden under the gloomy hoods.
“Thank you very much. I appreciate it,” said Chloe genially to the bargeman.
“No problem,” said the bargeman.
When Chloe carefully got into the ferryboat, both the passengers immediately moved aside and huddled together as if they were afraid of her. Although she felt something strange, she didn't know if they had fearfully avoided sitting close to her or if they had just made a space to let her sit down. So, she just said to them, “Excuse me.” Then, she carefully sat down in order not to lose her balance on the unsteady boat.
When the bargeman was sure Chloe had steadied herself, he started to row the boat without saying anything more. Chloe didn't talk for awhile, either, because she wanted to look around to see where she actually was, but the other passengers started to mutter to each other in low voices. Although she didn't know what they were talking about, they seemed to be complaining about her. Pretending to be looking around the river, she glanced at one of them next to her. Then her eyes unexpectedly met the huge green eyes. She immediately shrieked with fear and jumped back away from them. The ferryboat that had been sailing quietly on the tranquil river pitched and rolled and almost capsized.
“What's going on?” said the bargeman as he tried to steady the boat. The other passengers were also surprised and looked at Chloe.
“The...the...,” Chloe tried to show what she had seen to the bargeman, pointing at the huge green eyes with her finger, but her mouth trembled with fear, and she couldn't speak.
The bargeman, who realized what she was afraid of, said, “Don't be scared. He won't hurt you.”
“Is she afraid of me?” said one of the passengers. His head was actually separated from his body and held by his crooked hand. “None of your jokes! There is nothing crueler than a female! I want you to protect me from her!” he said indignantly and half fearfully to the bargeman, who looked at him quizzically.
“He is right,” said the other passenger, raising his drooping head. “Females are evil beasts! I don't want to ride in the same boat with a female. Let me get off this boat!” he also said indignantly and tried to climb out of the boat.
“If you can fly,” said the bargeman calmly. “Go ahead. I won't detain you.”
“Well, I forgot I couldn't fly....”
“Can't you fly? I thought you were the same kind of insect as your friend there. Aren't you some kind of praying mantis?” said the bargeman.
“No. I am a black widow.” Amazingly, one of the passengers was a huge spider, as large as Chloe.
“Oh, are you?”
“Yeah. And my name is Charlie.”
“Charlie. That's a good name,” said the bargeman. “But I didn't know a black widow was a friend of a praying mantis.”
“We've just now become friends with each other since we've realized we were in the same circumstances before we came to this world.”
“What circumstances were you in before?” The bargeman continued to talk without considering Chloe, who sat terrified in the corner of the boat.
“We were cannibalized by our wives,” said Charlie sadly. “It is commonly said that love is blind, but I should have been more careful. Once I developed a passion for my wife, I couldn't see her beast-like aspect. She married me just for her dual purposes of reproduction and a meal, but not for love.”
“My story was much worse,” said the praying mantis. It was also huge and had no its head on the neck. It was held in the creature's crooked hands.
The bargeman held out his hand and shook the hand of the praying mantis.
“I'm Charon. What's your name?”
“I'm Gray,” said the praying mantis. Its head looked like a head of an extraterrestrial alien often seen in movies.
“Okay, Gray. Tell me your story.”
“I was exploited by my wife...well, she was actually not my wife because I was not in love with her.” He looked so gloomy and showed some measure of repentance. “I am very ashamed of what I did....”
“What did you do?” asked Charon with interest.
“First of all, do you know why I hold my head like this?”
“Well...I don't know. Why?” asked Charon.
Sitting beside the bargeman, who was ceaselessly rowing the boat, Chloe also became fascinated by their talk, and her curiosity started to overcome the fear.
“When I first met her, I didn't have any interest in her. But she suddenly attacked and seized me with her sickle-like legs. She was much larger than I was, so I couldn't escape her grip. Then she chewed off my head!”
“Why?” Chloe interrupted. All the fear of the praying mantis had turned to curiosity.
“Why? You know it, don't you, since you are female?” said Gray indignantly.
“No, I don't. Why did she chew off your head? Tell me why.”
“Because she knew there was a subesophageal ganglion in my neck.”
“What? What is in your neck? What is a subesophageal ganglion?” asked Chloe.
“It is a neural organ which inhibits influence on the mating reflex process. So, after it was chewed off, my body started to mount and mate any stick-like objects shaped like a female mantis. In short, I promiscuously tried to copulate... well, actually I was just looking on my body without its head copulating anything brought into its visionless proximity. I didn't have any control over my body. Can you imagine your body acting involuntarily against your will? What would you think if your body was totally separated from your mind? It was so agonizing to me to watch my body in such nasty conduct. But that was what she made me do in order to inseminate her. And what was worse, after the copulation, she devoured my body for more nutrition! I understand she needed much more food than usual, to reproduce herself, but I was not born to devote my life to reproduction. If I were, what would the purpose of life be? And if it were, would my children be born to reproduce themselves? Would their children also be born to reproduce themselves? So, are those children just the copies of the copies of me? Does this happen ceaselessly forever? Are we just repeating it eternally without having any final goal?” Gray then glanced at Charon with a sigh.
“That would be nonsense! I would rather enjoy my life without thinking only of reproducing myself. Am I not allowed to do that?”
“Well, that is the way things work in the world of mortals,” said Charon.
“Because they cannot evade death, they must reproduce themselves before they die. All mortals have a falling-dominoes effect in the eternal cycle of life. Once something happens, everything falls down one upon another. You are merely a bridge between the dominoes, and you will fall against the next domino. You are not allowed to escape your fate.”
“I don't think that's true,” Chloe shot back in response. “Since we are allowed to have free will, we can do anything we like. So, we must be able to decide not to have a child.”
“That's not correct,” said Charon. “Think about it this way. If you hold a mirror in front of another mirror, both the mirrors endlessly reflect each other. All the mirrors in the reflections seem to be made at once, but there is actually a lapse of time, and the mirrors reproduce themselves one at a time, just as a life form reproduces itself within its lifespan which could be considered as a moment in a geological time, although the mirrors don't perish after reproducing themselves like mortals. Anyway, once you hold one mirror in front of the other, everything is set up. None of the mirrors in the reflection can stop reflecting the other mirror. In this way, once life is created, the fate of every single life is already determined. They just follow the path that has already been set up. You are no exception. Your acts have already been determined by the laws of nature. So, I knew you would come here through the tunnel. That was why I was waiting for you.”
“No! You didn't have to wait for her!” said Charlie. “She must have come here to exploit us. She must be so greedy that she ran after us into this world without being dead. Look at her carefully. She still has her flesh.”
“I know she is not dead yet,” said Charon. “But she didn't come here to eat you or exploit you. Probably she came here for the same reason for which Orpheus once came here a few millenniums ago.”
“Orpheus? Who is Orpheus?” asked Charlie before Chloe could ask. “And what kind of reason would both he and this female have to come to this world without being dead?”
“Orpheus was a Thracian poet and musician. It was said that his music, especially with a lyre, was so fascinating it could move even inanimate objects. So, when his wife, Eurydice, was killed by a viper, he came to this world to rescue her. He fascinated the ferocious watchdog, Cerberus, and even the ruler of Hades, Pluto, and his wife, Kore, who is called Persephone in Hades. They were so deeply impressed with his music, they allowed him to take his wife back to the world of mortals by setting terms that he should not look back until he saw the ray of the sun. But the way back to the mortal world was very dark and long, so he was overcome by doubt and turned around to make sure of the presence of his wife behind him. In fact, she was there. But she then started to fade out with a whisper-like wail and disappeared entirely.”
Charon then turned his eyes to Chloe's pendant and said, “Anyway, probably she came here for the same reason as Orpheus. That would be why Hermes gave her the pendant to let her cross this river in mortal form. And that's why I allowed her to take this ferry.”
“Well, you may be right,” said Gray. “But you are not sure, are you?”
“That's right. That's just my guess,” said Charon. “I have served as a psychopomp, that is, a conductor for the dead, for a long time, but I've never seen a living human coming to cross this river since Orpheus did. So, I just speculated that she might come here for the same reason.”
“Even though that is true, I must get out of here now,” said Gray. “Regardless of whether or not you are correct, she is still a cruel female. I guess she is simply not hungry now. Even my wife would not have eaten me if she hadn't been hungry. So before the girl changes her mind, I am leaving this boat.” Gray then took off his cowl-like black clothes, held up his head with both crooked hands, and flew away awkwardly, fluttering up and down with difficulty while holding his head.
“Well, I must run now, too!” said Charlie. He also took off his black clothes and looked for his footing by touching the ground carefully with his legs.
When Chloe looked around, she noticed that the ferryboat had already reached the other bank of the river and that it was growing dark. She curiously looked up at the sky, wondering where the sun had gone.
“You are wondering why there is no sun anymore, aren't you?” said Charon. “That is because this is the place where the sun sets. All the dead are shadows. The direct sunlight is too bright for them. If they are bathed in sunlight, they will become invisible. This is why Gray and Charlie wore the black clothes. But this is the place of the twilight of life. They will lead the rest of their lives here in astral body form without wrapping up themselves in the black clothes any more.” Then, Charon turned his eyes on Charlie who was already out of the ferryboat and going through a gate into the land of the dead. “Look there,” he said, pointing a finger at the gate. “This side of the land is still lit up by the dim sunlight, although you cannot see the sun from here. So, there are still some flowers scattered on the ground. But unlike many kinds of flowers you saw in the field back across this river, there are only two kinds of flowers here. One is a sort of lily. It blooms only in this land, and you can never see the same kind of lily in the earthly world. The other is a narcissus. It is said to be a flower of death.”
As soon as Chloe heard that a narcissus was a flower of death, the scene when Kip had been engulfed by the chasm after he had touched the narcissus ran through her mind.
“So,” Charon continued his talk. “Never pick a narcissus. And don't even touch it.”
“Why not?” asked Chloe.
“Because you are still alive. You are not dead yet. You don't want to stay here eternally or change your form of life to lead a new life in the earthly world, do you? If you touch it, you will never be allowed to go back home in your present form, and you may follow the same fate as Kore.”
“Kore...?”
“She is a daughter of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, fertility, and marriage. While her father, Zeus, couldn't find anybody besides Kore as an appropriate wife for his brother, Pluto, the ruler of Hades, Demeter didn't accept that marriage and committed Kore to some nymphs in Sicily. So Zeus plotted an abduction of Kore in conspiracy with Pluto. In compliance with his will, Gaea, the goddess of the earth, placed beautiful, sublime narcissuses in the field where Kore was gathering flowers. Although many other kinds of flowers such as roses, crocuses, violets, irises, and hyacinths bloomed everywhere and garnished the field, she was fascinated especially by the splendor of the narcissuses. When she put out her hand and tried to pick one of them, the earth suddenly burst and rent with a tremendous roar. Then Pluto appeared in a golden carriage from the chasm of the earth and took her away, in spite of her cry for help. But her cry reverberated through the mountains and reached Demeter's heart. She mourned for her daughter's misfortune and desperately looked for Kore by asking some gods and goddesses and even humans, but nobody told her the truth. Her grief even made her forget to eat nectar and ambrosia, which could impart immortality to her, and she gave way to grief for nine days. But finally on the tenth day, Helios, the god of the sun, told her the truth and tried to appease her. He said, 'Please, don't grieve so much, and quell your anger. The Lord of Hades is not a bridegroom you should be ashamed of, because he is your brother-in-law and rules one of the three worlds.'”
“The three worlds?” Chloe interrupted Charon. “What do you mean by that? What are the three worlds?”
“The one is the celestial sphere, which is the firmament, ruled by Zeus. Another is the main, which is the ocean ruled by Poseidon. The other is Hades. That is governed by Pluto.”
Charon then glanced at Chloe to make sure she understood him, but she seemed to be struggling to figure out who was who because Charon mentioned many names. “Anyway, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, had a grudge against her husband, Zeus, and decided to give humans famine in order to punish him. Zeus then realized that human beings who gave offerings to the divine beings might die out if nothing was done. Thus, he tried to soothe her with some gifts and honor, but she never overcame her anger. So he finally made a compromise and sent Hermes, the messenger god for the other gods, to Hades in order to persuade Pluto to let Kore return to her mother. Pluto, who received Zeus's message from Hermes, laughed aloud and told Kore -- well, her name was Persephone in Hades -- that she could go back home now. However, when she was beside herself with joy, he served a sweet pomegranate to her. Then, he put her in the golden carriage, and Hermes drove it to Demeter's shrine in Eleusis. When they reached the shrine, Kore jumped off the carriage and hugged her mother. Demeter also hugged her back, but she felt somewhat uneasy. She stared at Kore and asked her if she had eaten something before she came back home. Demeter was again grieved by what Kore told her. The pomegranate she had eaten was in fact Pluto's plot to prevent Kore from continuing to stay with Demeter without coming back to Hades. Zeus, however, tried to appease Demeter again by giving her the highest honor among the divine beings and promising to let Kore stay with Demeter for two-thirds of Kore's life, although she had to lead the remainder of her life in Hades. Demeter then compromised and quelled her anger so that humans could again bask in the favor of earth.”
“So...are you somehow implying that...,” asked Chloe, “the ruler of Hades...well, what's his name again?”
“Pluto. He is occasionally called Hades or Aides, too.”
“Yes, that's right. Pluto. So, do you think Pluto took Kip away when he picked a narcissus in the virtual image I saw in the hospital? Not the sinister man wrapped up in the black cloak?”
“Well, I don't know what you are talking about. I guess the sinister man you mentioned would be Thanatos, but usually ordinary people cannot see him with their eyes unless they come to this world in immortal form. So, I doubt you know Thanatos,” Charon dismissed her, but she shouted as soon as she heard the name of the sinister man.
“Yes! I remember he was called Thanatos!”
“Really? So... did you come here to save the person you call Kip from Hades because you saw Thanatos taking him away?”
“Please don't ask me. I don't know who took him away. That's why I am asking you.”
“Well, I don't know anything about it. I even don't know the person you call Kip,” said Charon in confusion.
“Don't you know him? You saw him coming to this world, didn't you? The sinister man or the young man who looked like a sleepwalker might bring him here. Or this Pluto you mentioned might, too.”
“No. I haven't seen any human beings coming here except for you.”
“Why not? You must have seen many dead people coming here since many humans die every second all over the world.”
“Well, I don't know why, but I haven't really seen any humans coming here recently. The ones I saw today are the praying mantis, the black widow you just saw, and you...and Hermes's son. But he is not a human.”
“Hermes' son? Who is he? Well, I actually wonder who Hermes is, because you told me that Hermes gave me this pendant. And the fairy I saw before told me that my future father-in-law had given me this pendant. So, if the fairy and you are both correct, that would mean Hermes is my future father-in-law,” said Chloe in confusion.
“Oh, I see,” said Charon. “I see what you mean. Everything is clear now. I see why Hermes hasn't shown up here now.”
Chloe was just staring at Charon without understanding at all.
“Well, Hermes is the god of commerce, travel, invention, cunning, and thievery as well as the messenger god. And he even guides the dead as a psychopomp because he is a supervisor of all sorts of roads. He should be here now to take you to the place you should go, but in fact he just asked me to let you cross this river and to tell you where you should go now.”
“Where did he ask you to tell me to go?” asked Chloe.
“To the recesses of the mountain near the Cimmerian land.”
“The Cimmerian land? Where is it?”
“It is the land of darkness. Because it is located far from Oceanus, there is no sunlight there.”
“Oceanus? Where is that?” asked Chloe, wondering at the same time if there was some relation between the land of darkness and the profound darkness where the sinister man in the black cloak said Kip might be.
“Oceanus is the largest river surrounding all the continents in the world. Some people even consider it a polar sea. But mortals will never know exactly what Oceanus is like and where the Cimmerian land is because they are beyond their perception. That is why Hermes needs to guide all the dead when they come to this world after their deaths. However, you don't have to worry about it. Since you've got the pendant from Hermes, I believe you can go to the land without a guide.”
“Why do you believe so?” asked Chloe.
“Because he just gave you the pendant without appearing here, although he wanted you to come to the land. I suppose that's because he put some power in the pendant so you could go to the land without his guide,” said Charon. Then he put out his hand and held up her pendant. “Look at this pendant. This is a caduceus. Do you know what caduceus is?”
“Well, it is an emblem of peace and medicine,” answered Chloe simply.
“Yes, that's right. But it is also Hermes' emblem-like staff. It is not merely an ordinary staff. It actually has powers of necromancy like a magic wand. That is why Hermes has power with the staff, for example, to make a person sleep or wake him up and even to lead mortals to death. So, I believe your pendant also has some sort of power in it. That would be why you could come to this world without being accompanied by Thanatos or Hermes. I think you can even go to the Cimmerian land, too, without a guide because of the pendant you have. So, if you walk through the gate through which the black widow went, and if you go toward the west, you will see Oceanus. I don't know how you can cross Oceanus, but since you have the pendant, I believe you can somehow cross it without drowning. And when you see the Cimmerian land, look for the mountain near the land. It is the place where Hypnos and Oneiros -- well, Oneiros is sometimes called Morpheus -- it is the place where they live and also the place where Hermes's son has gone.”
“Why do I need to go to the Cimmerian land?” asked Chloe. “If Hermes wants me to go there, why doesn't he come here to take me to the land? Well, I just came here to find my friend, Kip, so I have nothing to do with Hermes. I think he should know that I may go back home without going to the land to see him since it has turned out that Kip is not in this world.”
“You cannot go back,” said Charon.
“Why not?”
“Because I won't let you cross back over this river. I have to make you go to the Cimmerian land. That's what Hermes asked me to do.”
“Why does he want me to go there? Will he somehow help me to find Kip if I go there, as the fairy I saw told me I would always have his help?”
“Well, I honestly don't know why. But that is the god's will. You will always act as the god wills. So, regardless of whether or not you want to go there, you will definitely go,” said Charon flatly.
“I don't believe it. Unless I know why Hermes wants me to go there or why I should, I don't want to go. So I can choose not to go there against his will.
Nothing must be able to force me to go if I don't want to. You won't force me to go there, either, will you?”
“Of course, I won't. But as I said, I won't let you take this ferry to cross over this river, either. So if you can't go back, and if you don't want to go to the land, either, what are you going to do in such a place?”
“Why won't you let me take the ferry again?” asked Chloe.
“Because that is the rule of this world. Nobody can go back to the world they came from once they have crossed this river. If I allow them to do it, that means they are revived to return to the mortal world. That must not be done. That's why I don't allow anybody to cross back over this river.”
“But I know some people have actually been revived after a moment of death. They all say that they came to this world through the dark tunnel. That is the so-called 'near death phenomenon.' And, although they actually came here, they went back and returned to life. So, they crossed back over this river, didn't they?”
“Well, in such a case, they actually didn't cross this river to reach this side at all. Some of them just strayed off through the tunnel and came to this world, but they hesitated to cross this river, so they fortunately returned to life. And some even heard a voice saying 'Never cross the river, and come back.' It is sometimes a parent's voice and sometimes a spouse's voice. There are many different cases, but I have never allowed anybody to cross back over this river once they took this ferry to come to this side of the river.”
“So, are you saying that I must stay in such a place forever although I am not dead yet?” asked Chloe, worried.
“No. That's not what I am saying,” said Charon. “Because Hermes made you come to this world before you die, he will let you go back to the world you came from some time after he finishes what he must do with you.”
“That does he need to do with me?”
“Well, I honestly don't know. But I think you'd better meet him since he is the supervisor of all roads and must know the way you can go back home without crossing back over this river.”
Chloe became silent for a while; she felt that what he said was plausible and Hermes might help her to go back to the earthly world -- hopefully with Kip, if he was in this world.
“So...,” said Chloe. “Do you think Hermes even knows where Kip went since he must know the way Kip passed through here?”
“Well, maybe... or maybe not,” said Charon.
“Why maybe not?”
“Because he seems to be busy lately. I guess he is doing something important in the Cimmerian land. That would be why he didn't show up here.”
“What is he doing there?”
“I don't know. But if I integrate all that I know and what you told me about the relationship between you and Hermes, I speculate that he is preparing for his son's wedd--” Before he uttered the last word, Chloe's pendant suddenly started to emit a bright red light. He covered his eyes with his hands in surprise and said, “I guess I told you too much. I might have told you something Hermes doesn't want me to tell....”
The red light was not too bright for Chloe, but as it grew intense, Chloe's body began to levitate slowly over the ferryboat.
“What? What is happening!?” Chloe was driven into fearful confusion.
But Charon was still calm, giving the ferryboat a shove with the scull as he started to row the ferryboat away from the bank of the river. “I must go now....”
“Wait! Don't go away, please!” shouted Chloe desperately. “What is going on now? What is happening in my pendant?”
“It is too bright for me,” said Charon, squinting his eyes, and rowing away slowly.
“No! Please don't go!” shouted Chloe, but Charon didn't turn back to her again. As his figure got smaller in her sight, the red light from her pendant faded and changed its color to a royal purple light emitted from the pair of wings attached to the staff of the pendant. Then her body flew backward to the gate through which the black widow had gone as if she had been blown away by the wind. It was out of her control, and there was nothing she could do at all until she was set free from the levitation at the front of the gate.
