"Hmm. Wonderful. I must get the name of the interior decorator." Ankou said as she appeared beside him.
Hediru appeared behind them, still tied up. He cursed as his head hit a rock.
"Right. Everyone's here, so let's go and rescue Saeryph!" Cilan said. He started down the narrow path. Ankou followed, dragging the bound manticore behind her. She appeared to be making no effort to avoid rocks.
They came to a large cavern, with a sign beside the entrance. "Warning! Beware of Dog?" Cilan inquired, reading the sign.
Ankou shuddered. "I hate dogs."
"It can't be that dangerous." Cilan said, stepping forward. He stopped, gulping nervously. "Then again..."
A huge, three-headed dog stood snarling in front of them. Each head was fixed on the intruders, baring sharp teeth.
Ankou walked in behind him, and meowed in fright. Hediru just looked up at the monsterous dog and scoffed. He let out a terrible, loud roar that shook the cavern around them. The dog whined, retreating into the shadows with his tail between his legs.
Cilan and Ankou blinked, staring at Hediru, who smirked. "Never underestimate how frightening a manticore can be."
They continued deeper into the underworld, Ankou still dragging Hediru. "Ow! Hey, watch the head!"
"Is someone there?" A soft female voice spoke from somewhere up ahead. The three of them looked around, but didn't see anyone.
"Over here." The voice called. They came to a door, shut tight. The voice was coming from behind it.
"Who are you? What are you doing in there?" Cilan asked.
"I've been imprisoned in here by Hades. Please, will you let me out?" The voice pleaded.
Cilan sighed. "Step back." With that, he reared on his hind legs and slammed his front hooves into the door. It buckled inward under the force of the centaur's blows.
"Thank you!" The voice said as the creature stepped out. Or, perhaps slithered would have been a better word. The creature's upper body was that of a woman, but from the waist down, she had the tail of a giant snake.
The naga smiled at them. "Thank you so much for letting me out of that prison!"
"Why were you in there in the first place?" Ankou asked.
The naga began to look nervous. "I played a bit of a...joke with Hades. He didn't like it. As a punishment, he locked me in there and refused to let me out."
"Uh huh..." Ankou cocked an eyebrow. "Well, anyway, I'm Ankou, this is Cilan, and the hogtied manticore is Hediru."
"Hogtied manticore...?" The naga stared at Hediru, who just glowered.
"He tried to kill me!" Cilan spoke up. "We're trying to save a friend of mine, a pheonix named Saeryph."
The naga shook her head. "You three are an...interesting group. I'm Astathiel. Come, I think I know where your friend is."
They followed the naga through the endless, narrow corridors of the underworld. They eventually came to a large, ornately-decorated room with a large birdcage in the middle. A large, familiar red-gold bird sat inside. "Bah! When I get out of here, I'll burn the hair off that arrogant bag-of-bones death god. I'll, I'll peck his eyes out!" He was saying.
"Saeryph!" Cilan yelled, grinning.
The caged pheonix looked up. "Cilan! What took you so long?" He asked as the centaur unlocked the door of the cage. "I was bored out of my mind down here!" He glanced up and saw Hediru. "What's he doing here?" The pheonix demanded.
Saeryph didn't even give the centaur time to answer. "Hey! What's she doing here?" He glared at the naga. "Deities, Cilan, do you enjoy dragging in people who try to eat me or something?"
Astathiel protested. "Oh, come on, it was only a joke! Really, it was. I don't like birds, there's too many feathers."
Cilan glared at the naga. "You tried to eat Saeryph?"
Astathiel looked down guiltily. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry, I didn't know the mouthy pheonix was a friend of yours then. Anyway, that's why Hades locked me in the room earlier."
Saeryph snorted. "Serves you right, snake."
Cilan rolled his eyes as Saeryph glared at his companions from the centaur's back.
"Umm, excuse me," Ankou spoke up quietly as all eyes turned to her. "There's an angry death god coming this way. Just thought I should warn you."
The others glanced at each other nervously. "Hades isn't gonna like this." Astathiel stated.
He didn't. "What's going on here!?" He bellowed. The five being already in the room backed away nervously. "Cerberus is cowering in his cave, the naga escaped and now I need a new door."
"You forgot about the rescure party that's come to save me, the hungry manticore in the corner, and I'm now free." Saeryph said. "Also, the-"
"Alright, alright! Shut up, or I'll stuff you back in the cage." He snapped. "What are you lot doing here?"
"Um, well see, I just wanted to save my friend here." Cilan said, motioning to the pheoinx. "The others...kinda came along for the ride."
Hades frowned. "I can't stop you, none of you all are dead. But you can't take the pheonix. I can't just let any dead soul leave who wants to."
"Umm, actually sir," Ankou said. "He's a pheonix, and technically, pheonixes are immortal."
The death god paused, thinking it over. "Damn." He finally said.
"So I'm free to go?" Saeryph asked.
"Yes." Hades groaned. "Thank dieties, you were the most talkactive and loud creature I ever met." He grumbled.
"It comes with practice." The pheonix bowed.
"You can have our manticore if you want, sir." Cilan spoke up cheerfully.
"Hey! What?" Hediru shouted.
Hades cocked an eyebrow. "He's possibly more annoying than the pheonix. I'd be forced to send him back up to you." He glared at them all. "Now get out, and take your manticore with you."
Cilan shrugged and lead the others out. Hades called to him from the room. "And if I see any of you, ever again, I'll make your afterlives a living hell." A short pause, then, "No pun intended."
The centaur ignored the last part, and gulped nervously. "Right."