Tower of Heaven

"The palace is a magnificent place, but I only had the honor of seeing it once. Unless the Lord invites you personally, it is impossible to find. Anyone searching for it will continue walking for eternity without finding a thing."

That was the last sentence Charon said before leaving Atlas at the shore. It was concerning to hear, but necessary nonetheless.

Atlas knew he didn't necessarily have a meeting scheduled with the Lord of the Underworld, but he didn't have any other options.

He'd heard from Charon before. If he wanted to peruse the Underworld carelessly, he'd only ever find the parts meant for torturing the most demonic souls. A living soul could not exist in these places without being either captured or turned into a victim.

The places in the Underworld where a living soul could survive, the various meadows and fields where life could be supported among death, were guarded heavily and impossible to access by outsiders.

There was no point in searching the most terrible realms of punishment. Atlas was guaranteed to die if he tried, and his friends were guaranteed to be dead if they had been left there.

The other realms seemed a bit too dreamlike for Atlas to imagine them there, but they were worth a shot.

And, of course, even if none of these were the correct location, the Lord of the Underworld would be able to tell him where to look.

His problems would be answered with that man's existence, so he resolved himself to meet that man.

So, he walked. He walked without aim in hopes of being summoned to his end destination. Thinking back to how egregiously long he was forced to persevere at each and every step of this journey, Atlas' mind was already in the process of shutting itself down.

However, contrary to his expectations, the invitation came quite fast.

As he ambled the dark plains, a gate appeared before him. He found that there was an ornately constructed high fence blocking his path forward.

The moment he noticed them, the gates swung open. The first thing Atlas saw within…

GRRRR–!

Three snarling mouths of a canine five times his own size. It had three heads, each more terrifying than the other. It was held back by a leash that was no different than a chain made to imprison a giant, but its range of motion was still a little too much for Atlas to be comfortable.

It growled at him and snarled at him, but it didn't try to approach.

Atlas hesitantly approached the doors with his eyes never leaving that beast.

'It must be the one Charon was speaking of.'

It was a gate guardian, so to say. He wondered why it was inside the gate, but that wasn't his problem.

He carefully approached it and moved around it, giving it as much distance as he could.

The beast stared at him, never letting him out of sight, but it had clearly been given orders to suppress itself. The sadness in its eyes at the thought of not devouring him was enough proof of that.

'Cerberus.'

Its name was known to him only because this beast had renown beyond its position. When Charon mentioned it, Atlas was surprised.

He'd learned about it years ago when he was reading about Divine Beasts in the Tatsuya Clan's library.

It was a unique species. There weren't any others like it. Nobody could explain its Divinity and nobody understood its true strength, however, it was still revered by many.

Why? Atlas didn't know. He also didn't know much about it.

All that was mentioned was the fact that it looked like a three-headed dog and was said to have never been defeated by any who challenged its authority.

To see such a beast in front of him was different from interacting with the Tatsuya Clan.

Still, he knew it didn't want to kill him. If it did, he would've already been dead.

He passed by it after giving it one more long look and redirected his attention to the front.

He was truly glad he did.

Present there was the most beautiful garden he'd ever seen. It was several levels above even the garden Veradon kept, which was saying something.

The arrangement of each flower and plant, the patterns and hues created by the blends of their colors and scents; the vitality, the atmosphere, the ambiance…

There was nothing about this garden short of perfect.

Well, perhaps only its surroundings brought down its appeal.

The garden was the entrance to a palace made of glittering black obsidian. It was daunting, to say the least. Its design made use of jagged edges more than rounded corners as if to project an aura of hostility to anyone who approached.

It was too big to even estimate the size of. Certainly, if the Hell Guardian was stood next to it, perhaps they would have been the same height.

If Atlas could see deeper into it, he didn't doubt that it was just as expansive as it was tall. From the front alone, he could see so many defined layers in the architecture that he would be in shock if there wasn't ample room inside.

The entrance to the palace was a raised platform of something like black marble with golden lining. Compared to the building itself and its surrounding decor, the doors were rather simple.

They were black, matching the look of the rest of the palace, but they were ordinary wooden doors that could be seen anywhere.

Was it a show of humility?

Atlas shrugged to himself and approached the door. He noticed the gazes of the undead guards lining the perimeter of the garden, but he ignored them.

Since he was here, they already had no need to antagonize him.

He was summoned into a coincidental meeting with Hel. With Anubis, though the space around him was grand, he himself was merely a servant of it.

This was the first true dwelling of a God that he'd approached personally. The experience was more than just notable.

When he arrived at the doors, he was allowed in by undead guards similar to those around the perimeter. The servants within the palace were skeletal without flesh like the guards, but their demeanor was similar.
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They were courteous and poised like servants who represented royalty.

Atlas felt like the world was moving while he was standing still. They transported him from the palace entrance to the meeting room with that much fluidity.

He was barely even able to get a look at the inside of this place. He could only really see that it was filled with memorabilia and items. It wasn't anything like the dreary appearance he thought would be within.

The colors weren't so dark either. The color scheme was filled with more subtle and gloomier colors, but they were used in such a way that they became homey and comfortable.

It made Atlas wonder more about the one who created this palace.

He was loved by his people and did not feel like the kind of death that needed to be feared. What could he be like in person?

Such thoughts floated through his mind. Such curiosity grew within him until he arrived in front of that door.

To answer any question that arose in that time, he only had to wait for it to open.