Time Remaining: 20 Hours
Out of respect for their friendship with Adresteia, the rulers of the underworld had been more than willing to forgive and forget the trespassing, tampering, and property destruction. Hades and Persephone had invited the others to dine with them, but (just as Persephone expected) everyone declined. Before they left, though, Penelope did express her genuine gratitude and suggest that the King and Queen of the Underworld visit them in Ithaca someday.
The party returned to the surface by way of the river network above Tartarus, Charon delivering them to the shore near the Necromanteion outside of Ephyra. Odysseus had planned to make camp in the countryside, to avoid drawing too much attention, but instead he decided he needed to do something first. He persuaded Penelope and Adresteia to find them a tavern, while he went to the Necromanteion to praise the masters of the underworld for their mercy.
He climbed the steps to the temple, but he didn't enter. Instead he slipped around the side where he'd be largely hidden from prying eyes.
"I know you're watching," Odysseus said, "I don't know how, but I know you can hear me Athena."
Odysseus felt a breeze on the back of his neck, and turned to see space warping behind him. Athena emerged from the hole in the space, much the way Penelope had when she joined him in the dream world. It was unnerving - it made him suddenly less confident of his reality. Athena tapped a gemstone on her bracelet and the portal collapsed in on itself and vanished.
"I do not ordinarily answer the summons of mortals."
"Heracles went insane and attacked us while we were trying to complete the mission."
"Well, his sanity did have a rather poor record."
"Did? So you already know he's dead?"
"You are alive, I thought the conclusion was obvious."
"Why? WHY would you send the mentally unstable, favorite son of Zeus, on a delicate mission that Zeus was not supposed to know about?
Athena studied him for a moment, "You forget your place, mortal. I appreciate questions, but you should not demand answers of a goddess."
"Oh that's bullshit," Odysseus said, "I don't know what you are, or what Zeus, or Hades, or any of you are, but you aren't gods. Powerful, yes, but not the immortal, omniscient, omnipotent beings you all pretend to be."
Athena smiled. "Powerful enough, still, to turn you inside out," she reminded him of their first conversation.
"You wanted an arrogant, and curious man," Odysseus reminded her, "Can you fault me for meeting expectations?"
"No, I suppose I cannot," Athena said, "You make your case well and you are owed an answer, regardless of our stations. The truth is, while I hired Heracles to help you infiltrate Tartarus, I also tasked him with killing you."
“Why would you pay Heracles to KILL me?!” Odysseus shouted,
“You promised to look after me and my family if I served you faithfully! At
what point did I fail to uphold my end of the bargain?”
“You haven’t,” Athena said calmly, “But there is a vast difference between paying Heracles to kill you and Heracles actually killing you - I think our conversation now clearly supports that.”
“What? I only survived because I had three gods intervene on my behalf!”
“Exactly,” Athena said, “Three gods killed the most beloved
son of Zeus to save the life of a marginally important mortal.”
“So… you paid Heracles to kill me… because you wanted him dead?”
“Heracles was a major strategic asset for Zeus. He was the strongest of Olympus’s mortal agents, and would likely have been promoted to godhood before old age claimed him, making him even more dangerous. He was power and chaos incarnate; removing him from the board significantly reduces the number of consequential variables that could interfere with my long term plans.”
“The meeting with Ladon… you didn’t send us all the way to the garden of the Hesperides to hear his story, did you?”
“No, I needed you to retrieve an apple from the garden and trade it for that lucky coin of yours. However, I did know you would encounter Ladon, so I sent Adresteia with you in large part so that she would hear his story. Knowing her mentality, that story would provide all the motivation she would need to bring down wrath upon him.”
“Why not just tell Adresteia yourself and send her to kill him?”
“Primarily, I need Adresteia’s involvement to remain discrete, and - if discovered - not obviously tied to me. Secondarily, I couldn’t be certain Adresteia could defeat Heracles in a one-on-one fight. I estimated she should be able to defeat him at least three out of four engagements, but those aren’t odds I’m willing to take when gambling with the lives of my two favorite servants.”
“I’m flattered…” Odysseus said.
Athena neither ignored his sarcasm nor rebuked it, “You really should be, Odysseus; you two are among the few friends I have, assuming I really have any at all.”
“You’re awfully manipulative of your friends…”
“You and Adresteia both know my mindset and how I work towards my goals. You’ve had the option to leave my service from the beginning, but you’ve stayed the path, knowing that anything I tell you may be a lie. Is it really manipulation when the other person consents to it?”
Odysseus grumbled a bit, but he did see her point.
“Anyway, I didn’t know for certain that Adresteia could defeat Heracles, so I orchestrated a situation that would not only provide her abundant motivation to kill him, but also give her reinforcement in the form of her two oldest friends. I knew if Heracles threatened you - or your beloved Penelope - Adresteia wouldn’t hesitate to act on Ladon’s request – it would be the straw that broke the camel’s back, as it were – and I knew that if Adresteia was in any danger at all, Persephone and Hades would deal with Heracles for me. So now the pugilistic fool is dead, and if Zeus ever comes looking for the culprit, he won’t find blood on my hands – any investigation will stop as soon as it reaches the King and Queen of the Underworld, because Zeus will be fully certain that his estranged older brother murdered his son. And of course, as powerful as Zeus is, he has a healthy respect for his brother's abilities and resources; he'll be too afraid to avenge his fallen son.”
“And what if he does?” Odysseus said, “What if Heracles’s death triggers a war between Olympus and the Underworld?”
“So much the better if it does,” Athena said, “It makes the rest of my plans much simpler. Now, are you satisfied? Yes? You are missing your honeymoon, aren't you?”
"Was Nyx Adresteia's mother?" Odysseus asked pointedly.
Athena smiled coolly, "Perhaps you should ask her. I have rather important business to attend to in Larissa." With that, Athena tapped her bracelet and left just as she had come.
Odysseus shook his head in frustration. The Olympians toyed with mortals' lives, playing games within games. But Athena was right - he was missing his honeymoon.
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