The ever present buzz of the giant wasps carrying Atran and I was making it difficult to think. At this point, even if we killed our captors, since neither of us could fly due to lack of wing, we'd just plummet to my death and his... incredibly painful splatter that might regenerate? I don't even know anymore. The underworld is so dissimilar to anything I've encountered, where plant and wildlife, even space itself, all loosely resembled what I was familiar with, if only to serve the purpose of being more disturbing because I knew what they were was wrong, something that shouldn't be.

Even the hive, which I could now see in detail, was a twisted, mutilated version of what it should be. Rather than the yellow of honey bees or the pale, wood like colour of a wasp hive, it was a large stone spire, with a twisted red bulb at the top which served as the 'hive'. The bulb was pulsating, like it was a living thing in and of itself. I saw wasps coming in and going out, each time ripping a hole in the wall that splattered blood around them. From the bulb, there were these long strands that looked like tendons or nerves, reaching out to the ground, which the wasps were using to carry in heavier creatures, like spiders, and a minotaur or two.

'Calm. Still your quaking heart.'

"Huh?"

"What?" Atran asked.

"Did you say something?"

"No." He replied.

We reached the edge of the hive and were pressed against it's side by the bee's carrying us. The walls seemed to be made of meat, held in place by bone structures set up almost like support pillars, and covered in a thin coat of red goo, like half dried blood or scab. My wasp buried it's mandibles into the wall, ripping up a large flap with a spray of the goop welling out to meet us, before pushing it's way through the membrane to the inside. Atran followed, the hole filling in with that same goo before sealing itself. The air inside was putrid and foul smelling, almost as bad as the scent that wafted up from the battlefield.

"Atran. Whatever this hive is, I don't think the bees made it."

"What do you mean?"

"I think that this... thing, is alive, well, maybe alive in the same sense as you are, and the bees are living in it like parasites."

"So, what does that mean?"

"I'm not sure." Come on Griffin, calm down and think. I paused for a moment and took some deep breaths."There's something here that doesn't add up. For the most part, pepsis wasps hunt in solitude or small groups, bringing their prey back to a safe place nearby to lay their eggs. All the females are capable of laying eggs. For these ones to bring us all the way here, and for so many to be gathered in one place, instead of spread out to maximize hunting area, it means these guys..." I motioned to the bugs still carrying us through the fleshy tunnels. "... have a queen."

Atran looked at me blankly. "Listen. I know you think you're making sense, but I'm not a scientist or biologist. Just tell me what that means for us getting out of this place."

"It means we're a little less fucked than before."

"You'll have to give me a BIT more than that."

"Well, that's all I've got."

Looking ahead, I saw that we were approaching a large open chamber, and in the middle of the chamber, upon a pedestal, was the queen. The abdomen alone was around the size of a house, and she had legs the size of tree trunks. The smaller bees were swarming around, carrying all the things they had taken from the battlefield, while a rare group of three or more would work together to haul in a spider. They'd bring what they'd brought around the rear and place them on what looked almost like a sacrificial alter, made of a flat piece of bone. They were laid face up, likely so they could see what was happening to them. Most were completely motionless from the paralytic toxin, though some were screaming in agony as the poison hadn't completely immobilized them yet.

The first up was a pony. From this distance, I couldn't tell make out any features, other than the larger size indicating male, and having a rust coloured coat. The queen slowly lowered her rear end, a massive stinger the size of a claymore unsheathing from her rear end before she slammed it down, running the poor victim through. Then she retracted the stinger, and gently laid an egg the size of a basketball on the spot.

"This is all kinds of messed up." Atran had been watching, just as I had.

"Oh dear god we're going to die here." We were getting closer to the queen, person after person being laid on the large alter, getting stabbed, then having an egg laid on them. My eyes darted about, desperately looking for some way to avoid this fate. I knew from research that the sting of a pepsis wasp is supposed to be the most painful insect sting in the world, and I highly doubt that these giant ones would be any different, though it wouldn't compare to the anguish of slowly being eaten alive by a bee larva.

"Come on Griffin, think of a plan."

"I can't think of a fucking plan!"

"Come on, you're Griffin, you can do this!"

"No I CAN'T! I don't know who or what you think I am, but I'm not! I'm just a normal guy who's good at fixing problems. This isn't a problem, this is a FUCKING TRAIN WRECK! I have put up with ten lifetimes worth of SHIT and I can't take it any more. At least I'm still sane enough to admit I'm IN OVER MY HEAD!" I looked up to find the bee carrying me started buzzing a lot louder, curling it's abdomen up and bearing it's stinger.

"Oh fuck!" I had been too loud. I craned my head to the side and bit off one of it's legs, causing it to lose it's grip and drop me. The fall wasn't very far, though it was enough that I'd be in significant pain when I landed.

*Crunch*

I let out a scream of agony as I broke all my legs on the landing. They were splayed out under me at odd angles, mind numbing pain flowing from my limbs. It was all I could do to roll on my side to get the pressure off them, to relieve some of the pain. This turned out to be pointless as soon the bee who's leg I'd chewed off found me and was VERY angry. It stood over me, gently tapping my face with it's feelers before it turned around, lifted it's rear in the air and stung me.

The first jab of the stinger hit me in my right leg, sending waves of excruciating pain through my body. There was no amount of preparation or mental fortitude that could have helped me withstand that kind of agony. My vision was swimming, my mind an incoherent mess. Nothing else mattered at that point. Not escaping the hive, or getting home, or seeing my son. I didn't have any thoughts that weren't completely devoted to suffering. Not even 'how can I make the pain stop?'. Just Pain. Pain. Pain. PAIN. PAIN.

And then the stinger came down again. And again. I could not longer move, my pain spasms ceasing as my body became paralyzed, not that I had a mind anything other than curling up in the fetal position at that point. And again, the bee stung me, as though taking out it's frustration. I simply laid there, tears flowing out of my eyes. I could vaguely hear someone yelling, but that didn't matter. Just pain. I couldn't even lose consciousness. I laid there for what felt like hours, though through the pain I had no real sense of time, until... something... happened.

It was odd. There was an ever so slight feeling, a feeling that wasn't pain. It was almost drowned out by the other sensations, but not quite. It felt as though my body was light. Was this what it was like to die? I couldn't possibly be dead, I was in too much pain for that, but maybe in the act of dying. Would that make the pain stop, if I died? No matter, I didn't have any control over that anyway. Didn't matter in the slightest. Didn't... matter... My thoughts were hazy, my eyes glassed over, and my mind went dark.

There, in the blessed nothing, I felt a strange calm wash over me. I was wrapped in comfort and warmth, with a soft hand gently rubbing my head and a soothing voice slowly humming a melody I didn't recognize.

'It's time to wake up.'

"But... I'm so tired. I want to sleep, and... it hurts so much." I curled myself up into a tiny little ball.

'Shh... poor thing, you've been through so much, but you need to wake up now.' I felt a soothing warmpth spread through my whole body as the pain just seemed to melt away.

I slowly opened by bleary eyes, my vision slowly coming into focus. As this occurred, I became distinctly aware that I was not where I previously was. Rather than the fleshy walls of the wasp hive, I was laying on a comfortable bed with a stone post at each corner, which connected seamlessly with the room, as though the chamber had been chiseled out and those beams were left attached. The bed itself had silken sheets that made me just want to roll myself up in them.

"Oh good, you're awake." The hand that was cupping my face belonged to a woman, robed in white silk and wearing a silver crown. Her face had soft features and she had a kind of radiant beauty that made her seem to glow. She had an ever so slight smile as she rubbed my cheek. "You should get up, there's someone who wants to see you."

"Am.. am I dead?" The woman gave a light snicker at my question.

"No my dear child. You are alive as ever. All will be explained soon, but first, you have to make yourself presentable. You're a complete wreck. Bathroom is the door on the left." With that, she exited through the door on the right. Looking around the room, it was designed in a kind of greco-roman style, (though to be honest I'm not exactly the most well read when it comes to architecture) with soft light coming in through the windows.

Heading to the bathroom, I relieved myself on a toilet that seemed to be made of bronze, hopped in a ridiculously large bathtub and scrubbed myself with a vanilla smelling shampoo. It was at that point that I noticed my legs weren't broken, as they previously were when I had fallen from the bee. They were wrapped in silken bandages, which I removed to wash my limbs. They felt... alright. The entire experience was confusing. Especially after I had been in so much pain. After falling in the river, I still had a lingering ache that took a while to dissipate, but this time around there was no trace. I wanted answers, and according to the mystery lady, I'd have them soon.

Once I left the bath and dried myself off, I got out of the bathroom and went through the other door, out into the hall. The lady was waiting there.

"Good, you're presentable. Follow me please."

She lead me through the stone halls of what seemed to be a very large castle, eventually arriving at a large pair of bronze double doors. She opened them, revealing a throne room. It was a rather standard throne room. Red carpet down the middle, a pair of silver thrones at the end atop a small pedestal. Seated in the larger of the two was a man wearing a flowing black robe. He had a gold crown with two long curved spires, almost like horns, and his eyes glowed with green fire. He held in his hand a large, two pronged fork, and his face wore an unreadable expression. He had a goatee, and his very presence held an air of power.

The woman walked to the other throne and took a seat beside him. She smiled at him, and for a brief moment, he smiled back, before turning his attention to me.

"Griffin Petras, more commonly known as Griffin North. Do you know why you're here?" The man asked. Here I am, in the underworld, in a castle, a big one, with a very 'god-king' looking guy. Looking at the situation, my brain finally snapped out of whatever haze it had been in and actually worked the way it's supposed to, allowing me a realization.

'Holy crap, it's Hades and Persephone.'

"I believe I asked you a question Griffin, and I grow impatient waiting for an answer."

"N.. no, I don't know why I'm here!" Crap crap crap. Persephone seemed nice enough, but Hades is friggin scary.

"Really? I thought you were on your way here to ask me something." He narrowed his burning eyes.

"I was, but I never made it here, so I don't know how I got here." I quickly blurted out. I may be used to Celestia, Luna and Cadence being all willy nilly, but the Greek pantheon didn't fuck around. Okay, actually, they fucked around a lot, but they were always really serious when it came to matters involving mortals. Mostly because they had power and mortals didn't, so they wouldn't put up with any bullshit.

Hades stood and slowly walked over to me, till he was standing right next to me. Is it just me, or did he get taller all of a sudden. Like, a LOT taller.

"Well my boy, that'd be because I rescued you." He pat me on the back and smiled warmly. This was turning out much different than I had anticipated.

"Uh.... wanna run that by me again?" Something, when he said that, something about his words seemed to, fit, strangely.

"I'm the god of the underworld. I know of everything that takes place down here. I saw you got into a situation you couldn't handle, so I came to your aid."

"I.. uh, I understand that, and I'm really grateful but, both you and Persephone have called me 'my boy' or 'my child'."

"Well, that's part of why I brought you here, to explain some things, though before I can get to that, you need to have a history lesson. Come with my to my study."

When we arrived in his study, which was more like a giant library with a fireplace and some couches, he motioned for me to take a seat on a couch, while both her and Persephone took a recliner.

"Griffin, by now you must have figured out who I am."

"Yes, you're Hades, and she's Persephone." I spoke meekly.

"Oh come now my boy, there's no need to be nervous. You're our guest. Try and relax."

"Um, okay." I replied anxiously and I laid down on the sofa and tried to release the tension I felt.

"Let me begin. A long time ago in ancient Greece, Zeus slept with a mortal, who gave birth to a boy who came to be known as Hercules. Zeus didn't particularly care, as he slept with whoever he wanted and to hell with the consequences, but Hera was rather upset at this. So, she set about making Hercules' life miserable. Did whatever she could to hurt or kill him. Eventually, the other gods got ticked off that Hera was tormenting the poor boy, and were furious that Zeus did nothing about it because 'I'm the king of the gods, blah blah blah, I can do what I want.' So, Poseidon and I went to our dear brother and told him to smarten the fuck up and take care of his family."

Hades' story had to be the most informal explanation of ancient history I had ever heard. Well, I suppose it was a personal account, and he did have a rather sentimental attachment to the events. Still, It just gave me this feeling that he was a cool guy.

"Zeus then decided that, in order to protect his son from Hera, that the gods could not interfere with the lives of demigods or their descendants. Of course, this payed off for him as well because it meant he was bound by his own law to have nothing to do with his own son. This infuriated the other gods who had mortal descendants because they couldn't even raise their own children."

"That's... kind of an asshole move, if I may say so."

"Go ahead and say so, your uncle IS an asshole. What's he gonna do about it, send you to hell? Too late! Hahaha." He laughed again.

"Um... wanna run that by me again?"

"In a minute. Now, the gods didn't have any way to keep watch over their mortal children, so they set about finding other ways to protect them. Achilles, shortly after birth, was dipped in the river Styx. This awakened his divine blood and made him invincible to all but godly weapons, everywhere except the heel by which his mother held him. Once a demigod reached the age of one, their Olympian parent had to leave the realm of the living. Now, that brings us to you."

"Um... wanna run that by me again?"

"Please just shut up and listen." I made a motion of zipping my beak. "Good. My daughter, Macaria, who is responsible for 'blessed death', meaning those who die in acts of heroism and the like, grew tired of taking lives, especially of such noble beings, and in turn decided she wanted to create life. Every couple of centuries, she'd travel to a dimension, take the form one one of the beings there, and settle down, have a family. Of course, she'd have to leave when the child turned one, and every time, it broke her heart, but she'd always keep watch over her children."

Hades paused for a minute as though to let what he was telling me sink in. I still didn't have any idea where this was leading to.

"Your grand father met a lovely woman named Marci. She was 'divinely beautiful' and he became smitten with her. They spent years together before they decided they wanted to have a child. They were overjoyed when she became pregnant, and she gave birth to Henry Petras, your father. A year later 'Marci' vanished without a trace, only a note telling her husband goodbye. He became stricken with grief as the love of his life left him and never told him why. He took to drinking, and drugs, and sleeping with prostitutes, and completely forgot the love he held for her and his son. Your father grew up with an abusive, alcoholic father, and that is what he learned, and that is what he became."

I simply sat there with my mouth hanging open.

"There's more. You see, I've been keeping a close watch over all my descendants because unlike Zeus, I actually care about them. And while most of them lead happy lives, yours has been wrought with misery, and because of Zeus's laws, there was nothing I could do about it."

"Um..." I was completely flabberghasted at this point.

"That is, until Discord broke the boundary between the human world and the equestrian one. The draconequus possesses a... unique power... in that he can break the laws of reality. When he tore a hole to bring 'Echo' into the world, he didn't close it, which meant other gods, spirits, and other beings of power could bring their own chosen mortals into the world."

"Wait... the old man in the café!"

"Yours truly. That's the form I often take when dealing in mortal affairs. Easily forgettable. Doesn't leave a lasting impression."

I don't really know what happened next. It was all just a blur. One moment, Hades was just standing there. The next, he had a griffin trying to squeeze the life out of him in a grappling maneuver commonly known as a 'hug'.

"Thank you so much..." I practically whimpered. "Wait... then... back when Malice was in my head, that black fire..."

"That was me. He was breaking the rules, so I kicked his ass."

"I just.. I... Hades..."

"Please Griffin, call me 'grandpa'."

Author's Notes:

First I was going to have Griffin escape by lighting the hive on fire, but then I thought "If he could do that, why not do it before he even got to the hive?"

Then I was going to have Arachne the spider queen rescue him as a 'favor to the gods' to lessen her punishment, but how the hell did she get in the hive when the spiders have been fighting them for who knows how long without a victor yet?

Then I was going to have Griffin play possum and let the queen lay an egg on him, only for him to remove it later and escape, but that didn't really make much sense either.

Then I was going to have the bee queen recognize him and send him to the castle, but it just didn't feel right.

Stuck, I asked Io Kusanagi for help. After some discussion, the best we could come up with is a giant Honey Badger, because they don't give a shit.

So yeah, this sums up what I was doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opcO5edCzZY

I got Griffin into a situation so hopeless that the only logically possible way to get out of it, (and thus continue the story) was deus ex machina. So, I literally had Hades come and get him. If it doesn't feel right, or you think it breaks the story's flow, well too bucking bad. I was hoping to have a little more for the hell chapters, go into some character development, but it feels like dumping punishment on Griffin just for the sake of doing so, which is why I want to get them done asap and get back to the plot.

Also, I haven't forgotten about Atran or the others. Griffin will get to asking about that shortly, I just wanted to get this chapter out because the next couple there's going to be a lot of explanation of stuff and I didn't want it to be too much all in one shot.

So yeah, *facedesk* Writing is never easy, and I found this chapter to be an exceptional example of that.

Also. We finally find out what Griffin's REAL LAST NAME IS. It's never been mentioned before this point.