7. Midas

CHAPTER 7

MIDAS

I stare at the steady stream of souls sweeping into Under from the various avenues. If you die, you come through a separate portal and then funnel into the River Styx. It doesn't matter which world you come from. If a world doesn't have its own afterlife of some sort, the souls end up here. And lately, there have been far more than usual. I'm getting at least fifteen souls a second now when the average before was about five. Perhaps the other worlds are at war? There's always an uptick during wars.

As for the living, it seems everyone has decided they'd like to come to Under at their leisure. Unlike the souls of the dead, the living come through portals that link to a variety of worlds, usually very difficult to find. Sometimes, they have to make a deal with a wandering merchant to even see the portal. It's a very inconvenient pathway meant for only the most desperate to find. They go through a much different process than the dead, and it's my responsibility to handle their entrance or refusal. When I'd first come to Under, there'd been no organization. Under had been chaotic and Hades didn't have the capacity to worry too much about it, preferring to keep to his own tasks and ignoring everything else. When he chose me to handle it after constant issues, I'd been desperate for a way to stay here, so I'd accepted. Now, I couldn't care less. What's done is done. What monster I am will remain. Doing this job won't change that.

The living shuffle through, giving me their names and their origins. Enchanted Forest comes up the most often. From what I understand, they're suffering the onslaught of a cult right now, a cult that's apparently growing influence by the day. Grimm Forest comes up a decent amount, too. A few worlds I don't get very often come up as well. Camelot. Hundred Acre Woods. Deep Seas. Some of them, I don't even understand the language to know which world they come from. I write down the information dutifully and direct the newcomers where they need to go.

It's just so strange that the number of people coming to Under has increased since Jill left. I'm sure it's a coincidence but it still makes me question if something has truly changed. Why are things ramping up? What's happening across the worlds besides the merges? I only know of the merges because of Jill, but they don't happen often in Under. It's as if the magic of our world interferes with such higher magic. Thank Hades for that, too. I couldn't imagine having to constantly track down people who bypass my entry system.

Pin has seen unrest as well throughout Under, though he deals with different matters than I do. Where I handle intake of souls and people, Pin handles the unrest in Under. He's the executioner, the sheriff, and all the jobs in between. When there's an uprising, Pin is there to handle it with a swift hand. But he only deals with those who do not originate from Under. Hades handles the demons. And it helps that the demons fear Hades. He just kills them if they get out of line, and then their souls wait in the River Styx like goldfish, waiting to be recalled.

I finish for the day and hand off the clipboard to one of the demons I trust to handle things. I know he'll triple check his information, and in the morning, when I look it over, there shouldn't be any problems. He can't handle it for long, but at least it'll give me a few hours of sleep. Plus, I can flip a switch and make everyone wait if necessary. I don't like to do that because it backs up quickly, so fast it affects the stability of Under, but it's an option at least.

My home is situated away from the bustling inner city, as far on the outskirts as I could manage. I don't want anything to do with the nightlife. In fact, past a drink at The Stolen Soul, I want nothing to do with it at all. I prefer my seclusion.

The house I built is modest in stature. When I first built it, it was the same color as the rock around Under. Now, it's mostly golden, an unfortunate side effect of my curse. Accidental touches without my leather gloves on make for dangerous situations. My house is no different.

When I walk inside, my eyes immediately go to the statue standing highlighted in the corner. There isn't a speck of dust on her. She glows as golden as the day she screamed and became this decoration. She looks just as afraid as she did then, her eyes wide, her mouth open in fear, her hand up in the air. I couldn't leave her behind, so she serves as a reminder of my failures, of my greed, of my faults.

When I go to sleep, I'm haunted by memories that linger like the curse in my veins.

Terrible, inevitable, monstrous.